My hiatus is on hiatus

So, it's been quite a while since I posted anything. Babies are demanding, kiddo started school, holidays came and went. Wow... typed out, it doesn't seem like that much, but in the scheme of things, we stayed pretty busy! Now, here we are, on the cusp of Spring and it's time for another busy season to start.

Last year I tried my hand at gardening. Thinking, "Oh, my newborn baby will just hang out in the front pack/bouncy seat as I weed the rows and harvest my crops" kind of flew out the window as the realization of a needy, always wanting to be held, screaming if I EVER put her down, baby came to light. It also didn't help that there was really no warm up period to the summer. It stayed about 70 degrees and then one day shot up to 90+ degrees, where it stayed for about 3-4 months. I couldn't justify even trying to put the baby in the bouncy seat when the sun was streaming down in our yard and we have no areas of shade. I shouldn't put the blame only on the baby. The area that I was trying to garden didn't play so nice either. I would dig down and up would come clumps of roots and HUGE stones. Naively, I still tried to plant my garden, only to see it wither away in a mere matter of weeks.

I've been doing my research, and I'm getting a head start on the growing season, so here's hoping I can do a lot better this year. I have decided to make some raised beds. I plan to attach some weed blocker on the bottom of them and fill them with rich potting soil, so there will be plenty of nutrients for the plants to thrive. I've also decided to try and grow my plants from seed instead of using starts. Maybe this will get me more in touch with them and really care about what happens.

Yesterday I started buying seeds with the kids and collecting empty bottles to store up in the garage. I was pretty amazed by how ambitious I'm planning to be, considering my experience last year. I've noticed that is a running theme with me though. When I do something, I just go for it. None of this "let's just take it a step at a time and wade into the deep end" for me. I'm an all-or-nothing kind of gal. I kinda think it makes it more fun :-P Besides, I think it would be better not only to have a wide variety of plants to harvest, but to also see what will/will not be successful in our growing conditions.

So, now for some photos (these were taken at night, so please forgive the atrocious exposure):




I have already made 2 raised beds and put them out in this area. I think I should be able to fit 2-3 more up there and plan to put 2 more down on our patio. This will give me a lot of area to work with and thus increasing our yield :-)

When I get all the boxes built and in place I'll show how I built them and take photos of them in their new home. Stay tuned :-)

Quinoa salad = YUM!

We went to a BBQ at a friend's house not too long ago. One of the sides was a quinoa salad. For those who don't know, quinoa is a grain, but it is also a whole protein. If any of you are non-meat eaters, this is a great way to intake the protein you miss out on by cutting out delicious animals :-P



2 parta cooked/cooled quinoa
1 part cooked/cooled beans (black, garbanzo, white)
1 part diced cucumber
Dress with lemon juice, extra virgin olive oil, salt, pepper, fresh parsley
Add to taste: feta, diced red bell pepper, halved cherry tomatoes, etc.

When I cooked my quinoa, I didn't use water. I used chicken stock (vegetable stock would work as well). I also ended up making a couple of changes to this. One I made by accident was putting cilantro in the salad instead of parsley. It was surprisingly good. I think if I were going to make it again with the cilantro, I would probably use lime juice instead of lemon juice. We also used some Parmesan along with the feta. What can I say? We LOVE cheese!

116. Sydney sleeping in her bed on her own for the first time!
117. Having God answer my want right after it came out of my mouth. God is amazing like that :-)
118. Having access to sermons online to feed my desire to learn more about Him
119. Sitting down and having a family dinner. I love learning about what my kid's highs and lows were for the day
120. An amazing trip to the beach! It was Sydney's first time and it was such a blast! Next time I think we'll take extra clothes though ;-)
121. My kids have such a zest for life! I hope this continues as they get older and are able to do more
122. Dan is such a trooper with maintenance for the car. He is always the one to take it in for an oil change, get it washed, fill it with gas and vacuum it out
123. My eyes were opened to how humorous the Bible can be. I can't wait to read more and find out where God has used his subtle sense of humor
124. Quiet time to myself to reflect and veg after everyone has gone to bed
125. Getting more involved in activities in our town. I hope to soon join a MOPS group that meets down the street.

More to be thankful for

101. Dan getting large amounts of overtime at work.
102. Beautiful weather to give us an actual summer
103. AC to cool down our house on said beautiful days
104. Sydney is to the smiling/cooing phase
105. Family members willing to watch all the kids, even with Sydney screaming when mom isn't nearby
106. Slowly getting back to my old self. I've had energy to cook, clean, organize, bake and sew.
107. Being married for 6 years to my best friend :-)
108. Dan's schedule working out with us only having 1 car
109. Receiving a check from Dan's work that helped us pay a huge amount of our car note
110. Having an area that the kids are able to ride their bikes without too much worry of cars hitting them
111. The Ghia is now back at our house!
112. Getting tools to work on the Ghia. Interior is mostly stripped and the rust on the floorpans only looks like surface rust :-D
113. Having family members who will continually put us up at their house. Thanks, mom and dad!
114. Finding great deals on CL and at garage sales for things we decided to get
115. Going blueberry picking with the kids for the first time. They were very well behaved, which gives me hope for future trips

6 years!

Today was mine and my husband's 6th anniversary! In that short amount of time we have:

- Had 3 kids
- Moved 4 times
- Owned 7 cars (only 1 of which we've had the whole time we've been married)
- Earned 3 degrees
- Had 4 beta fish
- Had 13 people added to the family (through marriages and births)
- Made some great, very close friends
- Started rebuilding a car
- Began homebrewing beer
- Found 558 geocaches!

There is no one else I'd love to be on this ride with. My husband is my best friend, confidant, sounding board, lover and playmate. I had no idea that married people could have so much fun hanging out together and doing nothing or even pursuing hobbies together. I am so thankful that God designed my husband for me and am looking forward to as many more years together as He will bless us with :-)


Our first anniversary

Our 3rd anniversary

Our 4th anniversary

Our 5th anniversary

Our 6th anniversary

August is among us

I can't believe that it's already August! Time has really been flying since Sydney was born. Things started out slowly adjusting to life with 3 kids. I think we are starting to get the hang of it though. I have even ventured out with all 3 for some couponing trips! Most times I will wait for Dan because with all 3 kids being in the cart, there's never enough room for food :-P

We have been taking advantage of Dan's time off on weekends, including trying to find fun things to do in our new area. We have gone out geocaching a few times and have done a couple of hikes. Dan was such a sweet husband and insisted on going out to Gresham to bring our 4th "child" home. This child is my 1965 Volkswagen Karmann Ghia. This will start keeping us busy more often, especially as it gets darker earlier in the evening. The first weekend she was home, I went to it and started ripping out the interior. We decided to check out the floor pans and makes sure they weren't rusting through. To our surprise, they looked VERY solid. There was some surface rust, but that should be easy enough to get rid of an put down some sealant to make them rust-proof.

Sydney is such a fun addition to our family! Gabe and Izzy absolutely LOVE her. They are constantly trying to give her hugs and kisses and we have dubbed Gabe as the "baby whisperer" because he is usually the one that can calm her down in the car :-) I think they will be even more excited when she is able to move around with them, but for now, we are all trying to take advantage of her being so little and immobile. Gabe is still so excited for kindergarten. This month we are supposed to meet his teacher and he will get to see his classroom. He's also becoming a lot more helpful around the house. He will help us sort laundry, put dishes away, help prepare lunch and other various things around the house. Izzy is becoming a fun little kiddo, too. She is becoming more and more interested in being a little comedian. She loves to make us laugh. She enjoys playing dress-up and doing puzzles. Today was a very exciting day because she used the toilet successfully for the first time! To celebrate, we are taking her to buy a Rapunzel barbie doll that she always is drawn to when we go to Fred Meyer. I'm hoping this will help her stay excited about using the potty and she will wear underwear full-time now. Sydney is starting to hold her head up and can even look around occasionally. We took her to the VW show in Portland the other day and she had her first definite smile! The last few nights she has slept quite a bit. I've been able to get a solid 5 hours in a row! All in all she's been a pretty good baby, but you definitely know when she's not happy.

Things I'm thankful for:
86. Air conditioning on hot summer days
87. Constant beautiful weather so we can get out and enjoy family time
88. The last few months our electric bill has been really low!
89. Dan's unexpected bonus from work
90. We've all made new friends who live only a few blocks away from us
91. We had the opportunity to buy the exact couch we wanted for a very discounted price! Now there's seating for the whole family!
92. Healthy checkups for all the kids
93. Feeling like my "normal" self again after having Sydney. I actually have energy to do things now!
94. My regular jeans fit me only 5 weeks after having Sydney
95. A full freezer of groceries!
96. Our Volvo is almost paid off!
97. My husband is such a helper around the house. God has truly blessed me with someone who knows what it means to be a man!
98. Family members who will babysit, so Dan an I can go on a date
99. Having kids that are friends and care about each other
100. Napping girls so that I can spend alone time with Gabe :-)