Ten on Tuesday

{1}

Please laugh with me over my awesome thrift store find this week.
(the game board, not the kiddo)

For $8 I simply couldn't resist. I burst into laughter when I spotted it in the store.
Have you ever seen a cribbage board this big?

I have something fantastic planned for it.

{2}

I hope you'll forgive me but I love bragging about our "he'll eat anything" kiddo.

Kendry now asks for feta cheese by name.

I wouldn't even eat feta until I was 25.

{3}

Just you watch. Our next kiddo will be incredibly picky.

{4}

Is it just me or have the comment captchas on blogger become crazy difficult to decipher?

Some days they make me feel completely illiterate.

{5}

Calling all our LC Valley peeps!

This week I pinned my first fresh idea for Harvest Party 2012.

Pin

Fall is just one cool breeze away...

{6}

And speaking of fall, take a look at these beauties!

{7}
Confession:
I quote Jim Carrey in my head every time I have to spell beautiful.
"B-E-A-utiful!"


Google




{8}
One more week until injection go time!

(2008 IVF photo)

Who says you can't have a sense of humor about infertility?

{9}

Kendry was a walking accident this weekend.
First it was two asphalt crashes at Justin's race on Saturday, then he connected the side of his noggin' with our concrete patio (this one was a doozie). Last but not least, the toilet seat toppled closed and smacked him on the back of his neck.


Don't ask.

I certainly didn't.

{10}

This Week's Blessing:

Two boxes of fresh hand-me-downs from my sis and cousin Caden in Alaska.

Angel, you have made our week. Thank you so very much!

GO DADDY GO!

This weekend Justin competed in his first duathlon at Hells Gate State Park.

Race day started out with (what else?)... a flat tire. So we squeezed in a Walmart stop to purchase a new inner tube before heading to the park.

By the way, green goo is wonderful stuff, until you have to remove the inner tube. What a mess!

Daddy's little helper:

Ready to run!

This duathlon was a two mile run, twelve mile bike ride (w/ hills), followed by another two mile run.

There was also the option of entering as a team of two - one runner, one biker. Justin and I are entertaining that idea for the next race.

Here is hubs after completing the bike portion.

Off and running again!

Still smiling:

Finished at last!

Justin finished at just over an hour and a half.

Let me tell you, an hour and a half is more than enough time for a three year old to hurt himself multiple times on rough asphalt.

This is Kendry's "I've got an owie and I'm milkin' it" pose.

We are so proud of you, Justin!

Seattle Times

The craziness of summer has seemed to carry me away from the blog lately; but tonight I'm sitting (and slowing) down to tell you about two of our Seattle adventures.

Back in June we had those three crazy weeks during which I left my boys to their own devices for two weekends in a row.

Funny how bittersweet it can be to have them function so well in your absence.

After my whirlwind trip to Texas on June 16th, I was home for three very short days before jetting off to Seattle to visit my girlfriend Amanda.

Amanda and I both grew up in Alaska and first met each other at a junior high volleyball game. Later in high school we took a lot of the same classes, played on the volleyball team, and all too often found ourselves lingering after school together, waiting for our older brothers (also friends) to finish wrestling practice or football practice.

After high school, I stayed in the northwest while Amanda headed off to New Orleans for college. Lucky for me, about ten years ago her work transferred her out to Seattle.

It was a lucky move for her as well. Three years ago she met the man of her dreams and they were engaged in 2011.

June's trip to Seattle was for  -- you guessed it -- the bridal shower and bachelorette party!

Amanda's future mother-in-law hosted a beautiful shower for her at The Georgian.

The flapper-girl themed bachelorette party followed later that evening.

It was a fabulous weekend!

Fast forward to August 9th and we were headed to Seattle again, leaving Kendry at the halfway point with Grandma and Grandpa - and cousin Paxton.

Justin and I took in Discovery Park on Friday, before heading down to check in to our hotel.

That evening we tried out the lightrail for our first time and traveled downtown for the rehearsal dinner.

Our friend Ashleigh, also a former Alaskan girl, flew in from D.C. with her husband that evening.

After walking 5 blocks from the lightrail to the restaurant in new shoes (silly, Jody!), I had horrible blisters on each foot. My knight in shining armor left the restaurant and trekked a few blocks until he found a Ross store with some flip-flops in my size.

My hero!

 

Finally, the wedding day!

The photo of me with the bride is still with the professional photographer so this photo will have to suffice for now:

It was a wonderful weekend celebrating and catching up with friends, and the hubs and I enjoyed some quality time as a party of two.

On our drive home the next day, we stopped off at Snoqualmie Pass to hike to Snow Lake.

This was a trip well worth the 6.5 hour drive both ways.

I love Seattle.

And if all goes as planned we'll be making the drive again in a month for a visit to our clinic! Please be praying with us. -JJ&K

Ten on Tuesday

{1}

Caught the kiddo sitting by himself (quietly!) in the front yard;

no doubt pondering something serious...like world peace.

{2}

Justin is competing in his first duathlon this weekend.

Go, hubs!

{3}
I hardly know what to do with myself when I'm on the sidelines of a race.


I wonder if there will be wi-fi.




{4}

I feel like I am discovering something new every week.

First the oxiclean, then steel cut oats.

This week its Nutella.

Oh my yumminess!

{5}

Who needs real bases for baseball when you can just burn the imprint into your grass?

{6}

STOP THE ITCHINESS!

STOP THE ITCHINESS!

I have forgotten how bad sunburn itches as it heals.

Stupid fair-skinned me forgot the sunscreen on our hike last week.
(Hike photos will be posted tomorrow.)

{7}

Currently cannot live without:

my Cool Gear tumblers.




I use these babies for everything now. They help me drink a lot more water throughout my day, and they're great for my homemade frappuccino.

If you don't have a dishwasher (like me), I would not recommend these tumblers for the green monster smoothie - those tiny bits of spinach really don't like coming out of the straw.

{8}

New favorite family pastime: Bocce Ball!
It feels like its been a summer of more yard work than yard games. In an attempt to remedy that fact we dug out our Bocce set this week. Kendry loves it!

{9}

This Week's Blessing:
Getting to enjoy breakfast out on the patio now that we finally have a patio set.

{10}
Getting a three year old to eat while sitting in a swivel chair is comparable to herding cats.

Seeing Orange

It all began with that orange door.

I loved the orange contrast against our house paint color so much that I needed another dose of orange somewhere.

For awhile now this little storage bench (a $5 purchase from my neighbor's yard sale) has been sitting in the carport looking pretty drab.

It has been incredibly useful for seating in that location, but the dingy white was so blah. Not to mention that we couldn't really store anything in it because the bottom board was busted out.

By now you know that I like my furniture to be useful and have character.

Voila!

She got the same orange paint as the door (Bird of Paradise). Then I roughed her up a little around the edges before a final coat of rub-on poly.

Once she was thoroughly dry I installed some new wood slats in the inside so we can finally fill 'er up with some outdoor essentials: gardening gloves and clippers, sidewalk chalk, water guns and a surplus of baseballs.

Can't find the outdoor pillow/cushions your heart desires?

Make your own!

I searched the clearance racks high and low for a pillow in the color/design I was looking for; finally, I took my 50% off coupon to Joanns and picked out a fabric to suit my fancy.

I love how welcoming our carport looks with these punches of color.

Before and After:

This was my first attempt using the paint sprayer Justin got me for my birthday last year.

I would love to provide you with a review of this little contraption but I think I'll need to use it a few more times to really form a final opinion. All I know is that my coats went on too thick for my liking (probably operator error since you can adjust the spray settings), and the contraption started clogging a bit on my second coat. I was not impressed with that mess. However, the bench still turned out great. So until I use the sprayer again I remain an impartial consumer.  (Sorry, Jaim!)