Rehearsal Day!

The gorgeous couple, Larissa Saemenes (now Shoultz) and Westley Shoultz.
(my sister)

Daddy walking her down the aisle for rehearsal.

Bridesmaids and such . . . Katy, Jessye, Linnaea, Deanna and Nora

Patiently waiting their turn to practice walking down the aisle
Deanna, Katy, Nora, Elie and Josiah

Hunter was getting sleepy . . . Grandma has a great shoulder to rest on.

Katy and Deanna

Brother and Sister... Aunt Joyce and Daddy

Pretty Flowers

Pretty Shannon!

All is set! Well, the chairs at least! :)

The day was warm . . . hot really, but we did have a breeze for most of the morning, so it wasn't too bad. The rehearsal went well, and we were all ready for some good food when it was over . . . what we got was GREAT food! The pulled pork was amazing! (Thanks to West's mom!) And everything else was great too. It was a fun day, to quickly meet West's family and friends and to build anticipation for what would take place on Saturday! A WEDDING!!! (Stay tuned for pictures of their wedding day!)

So we are home, and getting caught up on sleep . . . or at least trying! We had an eventful two weeks back home, and I'll try to get some more pics up soon, but as for now, know that we are home safe and sound. Thanks to everyone who put up with us and our crazy family this vacation! Love you all!

Poet's Garden Work Day

Day Four: get up, get dressed, eat breakfast, pack EVERYTHING, load up the suburban, drive to Salem, have lunch with Grandpa and Grandma Ward, divy up the kids to aunties houses, drive to Albany, stop by Coastal (like Tractor Supply, but WAY BETTER!), and arrive at Poet's Garden to help ready the grounds for the wedding! Whew! And that was just the first half of the day! When we arrived, we made the rounds, saying hellos and exchanging hugs, and for Karl and Katy, meeting many of the friends there, for the first time. ( <-- how's that for a run-on sentence!) We got to work quickly though. Katy washed windows and scrubbed terra cotta pots. Karl scrubbed the play structure and some buckets and made a makeshift easel for a sign to go on. I spent the day painting signs for the day of the wedding. The had amazing weather . . . maybe 78, and there was a slight breeze too! PERFECT! We ended the work day with a little BBQ and fellowship. There is still much to be done in preparation for the wedding on Saturday, but much was accomplished. Thanks to everyone who was there . . . Larissa, West, Mom and Dad Saemenes, Mom and Dad Dunbar, Ben and Shannon, Katy, Karl, Nick and Jessye, Linnaea, and I'm prettysure I'm missed someone, but you are great! Thanks for letting us work the day away with you!

So, we arrived! Just a little bit behind schedule, but not too bad. The kids did amazingly on both flights even though Andrew's ears hurt quite a bit. We spent day one at Grandpa and Grandma Saemenes' house, and while grandpa had to work, we kept ourselves busy. Sleeping, playing in tick-free grass, having a picnic in the backyard, playing the piano, taking naps, and helping Grandma with some things around the house (so Grandpa could play when he got home.) It was fantastic! Day Two was spent at Multnoamah Falls and the Bonneville Dam. The kids were amazed at how "huge" the falls were, and loved hearing the history and stories there. We climbed about 1/2 the way up and the kids did fine, until we lost sight of the falls. :) Then we headed back down. The Bonneville Dam proved to be quite educational and the kids had lots of fun watching the fish ladder from underground! Day Three was spent riding the Max (lightrail) to the Oregon Zoo. It's almost an hour on the Max, and the kids had lots of fun seeing new things, and the different sorts of people who ride the Max. A TriMet officer was on one of the trains, and gave each of the boys a Junior Crimesolver sticker badge . . . you know that was one of the highlights of the day! :) We arrived at the zoo, just as the rain was starting to let up, and the timing couldn't have been more perfect. The weather was cool, and the animals were almost all out moving around, playing, being fed, or doing stunts! It was fantastic. The highlights of the zoo day for Karl and I was to watch our kids faces light up, and see the intrigue as they had their first real zoo experience. We ended the tour at the tigers, my personal favorite! And then we hit up the Zoo Store, and hopped back on the Max to head home. (Joe slept almost the entire first leg of the train ride!) That night, we hung out with Aunt Linnaea (my little sister) and went to bed early - relatively speaking, as tomorrow, everything would change!

This is HUGE!!!

I know, I know, I already wrote a stupid meaningless blog post for today, but hear me out . . . So, we drove up to the hospital, about 45 minutes away, to see a friend and her baby. We had fun, chatting and retelling birth stories, and because it is the new "Mommy's" Birthday, we had cake. The kids were delighted! I held that sweet 9+ pound child for I don't know, maybe an hour . . . all the while realizing how perfect our family is. I no longer have the desire to carry another child for months on end inside me, and then again months on end outside of me. The miracle of a baby's birth will never become less mesmerizing to me, but I no longer desire for it to be a miracle that demands my personal participation. This is HUGE!!! (<-- just ask Karl!) I love babies, and I always imagined having a few . . . but once we started, I never imagined stopping. But now . . . . The baby itch is gone! I'm happy to move into to "auntie" stage of life where I hold them when they're happy, and return them to mom or dad when they are unhappy or messy! (Although I would contend that I am still completely adept at handling either of those situations even still.) So to all the newer mommies out there . . . I am officially into the baby holding stage! Yours, not mine! :)

Vacation

So we kicked off our vacation in style! We slept in! Then when we finally starting moving, we didn't stop! We are just under 24 hours until we depart the house for the airport and a couple flights out to Oregon. We are about 95% packed and organized already! We've had a great, but busy weekend . . . Saturday was spent getting things around the house in order for a couple weeks of neglect. So mowing (lots of it!), laundry, cleaning, weed whacking and the sort. Sunday was to church for the early service, then straight to the farm for a riding lesson for Katy (yes, in the 100 degree heat!), a four-wheeler ride and fishing for the boys and then berry picking . . . blackberries - yum! Today has been . . . up early, packing, more packing . . . a little more laundry, soaking Bacon's pen, watering the garden, dump run, packing and again, more packing! Now we are off to visit a friend, do some last minute snack shopping, and back home to try to relax and get the kids cleaned up before tomorrow and all it's excitement! Oregon . . . . HERE WE COME!

Finishing up!

Okay, don't worry you blogaholics . . . this is not a proclamation that I am finishing my new blog! It is just a statement summing up a to do list that has seemed never ending. We are heading to Oregon next week, in preparation for my sister's wedding July 10th, so we have had a miriad of things to accomplish before we leave our mini farm for a couple of weeks. Today, we made Bacon(our, not-so-much a pet, but dinner, pig) a new water trough . . . he had decided that the first draft was a suitable bathtub, so as you can imagine, the fresh water didn't stay fresh for long. So, we semi-covered the new trough in the hopes that he won't bathe in it . . . seems to be working so far. We then put up some wildlife netting around our garden . . . something had been eating our cabbage and broccoli, and we can't have that! On a side note, our tomatoes and cucumbers are growing like crazy! We can't even fit the tomatoes into the wire tomato stake things anymore! They are overflowing out and over! Our cherry tomatoes just started producing little bits of red yumminess, and the larger ones are coming up in just a couple weeks! Anyhow . . . we then got invited to the neighbors house to see the third of the triplet kids (goats) being born! Birth is such an amazing thing to witness. This was particularly fun, as when we return from Oregon, we will likely be picking out which goat we will be adding to our little farm! :) After all that drama, we headed to the horse farm we work at. It was our last day for a few weeks, and as much as we love it there, we were excited to not have that on the agenda for awhile. When we got home, we ran over to check on the baby goats. They're doing well. Dinner, feeding animals, watering the garden, Karl is mowing the back field, Hunter is mowing with the push mower (just enough to give Bacon and the chickens something to munch on), and I am here blogging. We got lots done today, but there is so much more to be done tomorrow. More mowing, cleaning, packing, laundry, more laundry and more packing, and maybe a little bit of relaxing! :) But for now . . . it's time to help in the yard and with the animals.