Hello October!

Fall is, by far, my favorite season. I love the crisp, cool mornings. I love the just-right warmth of the afternoon sun. I love the beauty in the changing colors of leaves. There's a sense of newness and of starting fresh as kids return to school. I love even this season of harvest and the comfort foods that go along with it: apples [pie], pumpkin [bread], corn [muffins... to go with the big pot of chili that's been in the slow cooker all day], potatoes [whether mashed with chicken and gravy or cut up in homemade beef stew]... everything is so scrumptious! And the upcoming holidays are so fun to decorate and prepare for! I also love being able to enjoy things that make me feel warm and cozy!: Hot Chocolate or a Chai Tea or Pumpkin Spice Latte, soup for lunch, new slippers or fuzzy winter shoes, and the best thing of all... the thing that most of us gals of the plus-sized variety truly love about the cooler temps: sweaters, fleece vests or jackets, cardigans, and sweatshirts!! YES!! :) Although... I'd have to say... even when I'm totally slender (one of these days, Lord willing) and living in my most fabulous swimming suit the entire Summer, I will never loathe Fall... or Winter for that matter... for making me cover up. Each season has it's own beauty. And they all need each other. Really. So here's to Fall! My fave!!



Beautiful Fall day along the Boise Greenbelt.



July 4th - Weekend In Crouch.

It really was a FABULOUS weekend away from the "city." We always have such a relaxing and fun time with our friends, Brian and Jen (and kids), in their cabin when they've invited us up there. And, apparently, the 4th of July is THE time to be there! I don't know that I've seen such a huge celebration & firework display in my life! Not only does the town of Crouch have a pretty amazing display, everyone brings their own and sets them off - right in the middle of town! Yep. Even the "illegal" ones! No one gets in trouble though. Law enforcement is just there to regulate things; making sure everyone is staying safe and not getting too crazy! Most likely taking precautionary measures just in case something does get out of hand. We just had to make sure to find a spot that was upwind of all the smoke floating around. It got quite hazy in town. But it was fun! The only disappointment? I didn't take ANY pictures the entire weekend!! Not until we were in the car and headed home! I grabbed my bag, opened it, and saw my camera sitting there at the bottom staring back at me! Frustrating!! So, here's what you get: a few insignificant shots from the car on our way back into Boise. Brent asked if I wanted to stop and get out. Eh. What's the point. It's not like we spent our time there. The things that really mattered: our friends, our retreat, our fun, the excitement of watching fireworks - none of that was captured on film. Click here for a little bit of what was captured... and here are a few pics for your immediate viewing pleasure:



Quaint little town.



At least the scenery was pretty!



Mac didn't feel too great this morning so he slept most of the way home.



Joys of Gardening.

How fun to feel the earth between your fingers! Even more fun when the experience is shared with your dad. Must be the dirt-boy thing I was talking about earlier. :) Nothing like getting some dirt under your fingernails for the sake of a beautiful garden though! Even I can handle that.


Dad + Dirt = FUN!



Taking a bread from the dirt to sit on a ball.



Good times!



At The Park.

Headed down to the park this evening just for a change of pace. The weather was nice, so off we went. There's lots of things to explore and fun stuff to do. Swings. Slides. Jungle gyms. Even ducks! (We tried to feed them but tons of other folks had the same idea, and they weren't hungry.) Oh. And here's my rant for the day: Where do people get the idea that it's okay to leave plastic bread bags on the ground after they're done feeding those ducks the stale old bread that's inside?!?!? Have we, as a human race, really not gotten any smarter when it comes to disposing of our refuse? REALLY?!?! Wow. I am seriously appalled and embarrassed by this city. Ok. Rant concluded. Now for pictures... of which there are several... so I'll put a couple here now, but click on this link to view the rest.

Random Road Trip

What a great day to just go for a drive! We were feeling a little restless so we decided to head out. Not necessarily out of town... just out. Sometimes it does wonders to just take a look at our surroundings and reconnect with nature. I took quite a few pictures of just random things - too many to post here - so click here to see the rest. Here are a couple of teasers:

Back atcha, babe.

A bit chilly out... but lovin' it!

Pheasant?

Saw this in the yard today. The pictures look phoggy because I took 'em through the window. Didn't want to scare off our new phriend. ;)

Oops! Looks like we scared him off after all. :)

Yay For Snow.

It hasn't been an overly cold or wet (i.e. snowy) winter and I'm afraid the summer may get quite dry if we don't get some more precipitation soon! So I say "Yay!" for any rain or snow we do receive! Bring it on!

Mac's First Snow!

Yay!! It snowed last night!! Everything looks so beautiful under newly fallen snow! I love looking out the window in the morning to see a white blanket covering my world. :) And of course, we had to go outside today so Mac could at least experience it! What fun! And he didn't even seem fazed by it at all. :)

Winter Is...

... just around the corner, you know! Here's what we woke up to this morning:

I realize it's just a dusting... but it's snow nonetheless. We were even out late enough last night to be driving in/through it. And at that moment, we were thankful that we had the foresight (and weather forecast, I suppose) to change the tires last weekend. In a world that doesn't come to a stand-still when it snows a few inches (unlike most parts of western Oregon), it's nice to have our trusty snow tires when our little corner of the globe becomes white. :)

Fall Leaves & High Fives

When Brent got home from work this evening, he took Mac for a stroll outside to look at the new trees that have been planted along our road out front. They are really quite pretty as the leaves are already changing colors. As they were walking back, I snapped a few shots.



Also, we had to show daddy what Mac learned today. High Fives!! I think after all is said and done, he gives you about 25 or 30. ;)

To Portland ...... And Beyond!! (Part II)

Tuesday, Sept 1: Well, this is what I get for not blogging during vacation. I can't remember now if it was really last Sunday evening that we went for sushi or today for lunch. I'm thinking it may have been today. Hmm. Well, no matter where we ate, I do remember getting Jamba Juice drinks (YUM!) on our way to Powell's Bookstore in downtown Portland. This particular bookstore outing would've been fun... but we forgot that 8 month old babies don't really care to just "hang out" in bookstores for any longer than, say, 10 minutes or so. We were there for 45. Mac was not impressed. He was fussy, however. So we left. Bummer. Oh well. Onward to Chad and Nichole's place! ~

I must say. Their house is quite the place! Located in the West Hills of Portland, it's beauty and grandeur left us oooing and aahing well past sunset! It's 3 levels... Sort of. If you count the outside patio below, it's 4 levels. Ok, we'll compromise and call it 3.5. ;) But that .5 is at the veeerrry bottom of the steepest hill ever!! It's a beautiful flagstone patio with ample space for seating. If only they could get some chairs down there. Because the only way to get down there is by hiking, no, rappelling down the hill/ cliff at the side of the house. ~

The rest of the house is quite lovely. The bottom liveable level is actually above the patio and is very nice with a deck of it's own. The middle level is the main living quarters. This level also had a deck. If you're scared of heights, however, you may not want to step out onto this deck. On it, you will be face to face with the tree-tops! And it's a loooonngg way down! Then there's the top level. No deck on this level. Prob'ly a good thing. :) ~

We had a fun night out at Red Robin with them. Nichole is about 3 months pregnant so we had a great time talking all about babies! :) Mac got to meet the Red Robin mascot: that big red bird. I thought for sure he'd be scared of him... but Red didn't seem to faze him a bit! And a good time was had by all. :) ~

*~*~*

Wednesday, Sept 2: This is the day we determined that we would go to the coast! Yay for the Oregon coast!! This just happens to be Mac's 8 month birthday, too! So what better way to spend the day?!? Lots of "firsts" for Mac today, as well. First time at Mo's - YUM!! First time wiggling his toes in the sand. First time to experience the ocean!! And when daddy stuck Mac's feet in the cooooolllldd water, he didn't even jerk away! Brave kid. :) Oh yeah, and Brent found a deceased (pretty sure, anyway) jelly fish. Slimy. Weird. ~

But first things first. We had to come up with a plan on how to spend our day: We went up through Beaverton, stopping off to see my old boss, Dr Stanchfield, for a few minutes. It was so good to see him... he's such a nice guy. By the time we got to the coast, it was time for lunch... ok, a late lunch... so we went to the Mo's in Cannon Beach. And again I say, ♪♫ YUUUM!! ♫♪ It was such fabulous weather, we decided to stay in Cannon Beach and do our playing there. It must've been about 80° with only a very slight breeze - just perfect!! And rather than doing lots of driving (like originally planned) we wanted to really enjoy the time we had there. ~

Next stop: Tillamook Cheese Factory. Stopping by a viewpoint or two on the way, of course. I think we pulled into the Factory around 6pm so we had almost 2 hours to browse the gift and food shops. And of course we had to get ice cream... so we sat in the food court and enjoyed that sweet, creamy goodness. Lincoln City would've been next on the agenda but we'll have to do that next time. Our coastal trek ended with a drive out to Cape Mears just west of Tillamook. Neither of us had ever been there before so it was a new and fun adventure. The sun was just setting at this point so we didn't actually get to the Lighthouse up there. I'm sure it would've been closed anyway. We'll have to do that next time too. We ended up getting home pretty late but it was such an awesome day! Love, love, love the ocean!! It's the best! ~

*~*~*
Thursday, Sept 3: Well, this morning was a lazy morning. We slept in. It was nice. By the time we had gotten ourselves together and finished eating brunch, it was almost time to meet mom in Canby. She's been going to the same chiropractor who used to adjust my back years ago. Anyway, mom told him that we'd be in town and he wanted to meet Mac. So we stopped by his office and chatted for a couple minutes. It was nice to get caught up. Afterward, we went to Burgerville for a late lunch. I think the lady behind the counter was enamored with Mac. She was completely thrilled that there was a baby in her store! She was so nice and she told us all about her granddaughter who was about the same age. She noticed that we had a camera and offered to take our picture before we left. Fun. And we couldn't leave Canby without stopping by the Dahlia fields. Talk about an endless sea of flowers! It was beautiful! Pictures don't even do it justice! But I'll try and give you a glimpse. ~

*Thanks for your patience, everyone! After about 10 days of working on this post, I'm finally DONE! ;D

A Walk In The Park

Beautiful day for a walk! Of course we just had to stop by the swings and play structure! We took lots of pictures. Here are a few of our favorites:

Walkin'

We've been going on walks lately. Every evening. It's been nice. We try and wait until dusk, that way it's not as hot outside. Brent and I walk and talk and check out the progress made on NNU's campus. Mac just enjoys the ride. I think it's his favorite time of day. If he's not asleep by the time we get home, that peaceful slumber is certainly not far off.

Tonight, the evening was particularly beautiful. I find I'm consciously taking note of the more pleasant things around me. Perhaps it's just my way of coping with the stress of waiting for biopsy results... I don't know. But I happened to take my camera tonight and got some nice shots of a few vibrant colored flowers and one of the sunset. And, of course, a couple of Mac. :)