Camping!

We went camping with my family this weekend at Sun Lakes.  It was a beautiful place.  I love central Washington, not just because I hate rain, but because I love hills.  I like looking at the hills around my town, and around the other river valleys in this part of the state.  I have veered onto the rumble strip more than once because I'm too busy staring at the landscape to realize that I should actually be driving.

Little C in her cage playpen.

But it was hot too.  We got there before my parents and set up camp.  We were one of the only sites with good shade.

Yay! we're all set up!

 It was fun to spend some extended time with my family.  Especially my little brothers and sister.  They are 10 and 14 years younger than me, so they aren't to the age where we can have conversations on the phone and stay in touch very well.  I hear everything that they do from my parents, but they are starting to grow up, and I  like hanging out with them.  It is funny though, how much they remind me of my other siblings, Maggie and Jeff.

me and Little C early Saturday morning

Abby and Paul adore Caroline, Sam was probably following Nick around waiting for him to say a bad word.

My brothers love to talk to Nick.  They think every word out of his mouth is either jaw dropping, knee smacking hilarious, or very wise.  They especially like talking to him about sports.  Sam is like his shadow, quietly taking in everything that Nick does.

See, here's Sam sitting behind Nick.  He was reading a book (The Hunger Games!!), but he still wanted to be near him.

 We were about 100 yards from the lake.  It was a good thing too because at 90 degrees that's where I like to be.  Nick and Caroline too.

We think there was some kind of dead fish somewhere close.

That's better.

In 2 months C and I are going to take swimming lessons at the city pool.  That will be the "take a class" I cross off my list.  The girl loves water and I aim to keep it that way.  She loves to be on her tummy, kicking and paddling.  Even sticking her face in the water.  Blah, blah blah, I know.  My baby is the best, I know, you're sick of it.  My blog, so there.

Side note:  I try to get people to say C is "the best baby" whenever I take her places.  It has to be those exact words.  My record is 4 in one day.  If you have kids you should try it.  I swear it will make your day.  If you don't know where to start try the doctor's office or the bank.  Those guys and girls are suckers for a baby.

Isn't she great?

 

In conclusion, I love camping.  I love my family, and I can't wait to go again.  

no pics but...

take my word for it, everything was great.

The shower was beautiful, and the food was good.  I made pulled pork, cookies, and my mom made her delicious chinese chicken salad.  Everyone wants the recipe so I am gonna give it to ya:

Mom's Chinese Chicken Salad

Dressing:
1/2 cup oil
1/3 cup rice vinegar
3 T sugar
1 T soy sauce
1 1/2 t salt
3/4 t pepper
2 T sesame seeds
1/2 t minced garlic

Whisk all until sugar is dissolved.  Pour over salad parts and refrigerate.

Salad parts:
Broccoli slaw
snap peas
water chestnuts
cooked diced chicken
uncooked ramen noodles
carrots
cabbage

You name it and it would probably be good in this salad, but these are the things we use.  It is best the second day.

We did a great hike for the bachelorette party.  Here's a map
It was about 7 miles and I'd say a moderate hike.  Not too bad, but 7 miles is kind of long if you aren't really prepared.

Then we camped overnight.  It was a great preview for next weekend. I got to practice setting things up, so Friday will be a breeze.





I also got to check a few things off my list!

1.  Pick fruit
2.  Go camping
3.  Organize my crafting/sewing supplies
4.  Set up a college fund for little Little C
5.  Make a will
6.  Do something with my wedding dress
7.  Take a class
8.  Can something for the winter
9.  Read a book
10.  Build something with my husband
11.  Go hiking
12.  Cook a new dish
13.  Plan a quilt
14.  Grow a giant pumpkin
15.  Make something with the tomatoes I grew
16.  Spend one day with no computer or TV and with my family
17.  Get feather hair extensions  like Ke$ha
18.  Do something with my sister, Maggie
19.  Drink with my little brother, Jeff
20.  Go wine tasting
21.  See the new Harry Potter movie
22.  Be in a wedding
23.  Get my guitar out again
24.  Run a race
25.  Donate to a good cause


#2: Go Camping.  This wasn't really full on camping, but we did have a fire, sleep in a tent, and I got 2 mosquito bites.


#11:  Go hiking.  The hike counts.  My legs were sore the next day and I was semi out of breath at times.  The first 2 miles are to a cedar grove, then you go 1 more up to a 35 foot waterfall, and another 1/2 mile to a cabin.  After that it is flat for a while and then loops down to the beginning.  The trail on the way back was better than the part up to the waterfall, probably because people turn back there.  A family saw us looking at the map there and seemed very worried that 4 girls (we are all about 25) would even think about continuing on at 7pm.  I think we ended up beating them back. :)


Nick and I picked out a project to do too.  So #10 is in the head lights.

finishing touches

Finally!  I've been planning a wedding shower for my best friend Amanda for the past few weeks and it is going down TODAY.
I have decorations to hang, food to prepare and my brothers need to move all their bikes...ahem, excuse me, their "business" bikes.  Then the back yard will be ready and people can come over.

Side note:  everyone in my family has an entrepreneurial  instinct.  My sister and I sold everything we could think of.  We had dog watching business, babysitting business cards, you name it and we tried it.  Now my brothers (age 11, twins) have a bike business where they go to auctions and buy bikes to fix up.  There are about 14 bikes in the backyard.  They also gave some away to kids without bikes.  I admire that.

We're also going camping tonight for the bachelorette party.  I will be glad when this weekend is over.  I want things to be nice for Amanda, but this has taken a lot of preparation.

This is also the first time I am leaving C over night.  She'll be with her dad so it's not like I'm worried.  I'll just miss her.  And I'm dreading the pumping.  She still breastfeeds so I will have to pump.  But I forgot the handle so I have to grab this teeny tiny nob and hold a part together and push on one thing and pull on another....it's going to be a hassle.

Oh well, the party should be nice.  And I made a new-ish shirt to wear.  It's a refashion posted on Happy Together. 

Lots of pics on Monday.

25 before 25

I'm turning 25 in November.  This is some kind of milestone right?  So I'm going to treat it like one, not the kind that makes you feel really old (I feel like I'm too young to be doing most of the things I do every day), but as motivation to live intentionally.

1.  Pick fruit
2.  Go camping
3.  Organize my crafting/sewing supplies
4.  Set up a college fund for little Little C
5.  Make a will
6.  Do something with my wedding dress
7.  Take a class
8.  Can something for the winter
9.  Read a book
10.  Build something with my husband
11.  Go hiking
12.  Cook a new dish
13.  Plan a quilt
14.  Grow a giant pumpkin
15.  Make something with the tomatoes I grew
16.  Spend one day with no computer or TV and with my family
17.  Get feather hair extensions  like Ke$ha
18.  Do something with my sister, Maggie
19.  Drink with my little brother, Jeff
20.  Go wine tasting
21.  See the new Harry Potter movie
22.  Be in a wedding
23.  Get my guitar out again
24.  Run a race
25.  Donate to a good cause

I have 4 months and 5 days.  That means a little more than one a week.  Here we go.

pinterest=love

I have found a new way to waste time while little C sleeps:
Pinterest

I browse the DIY, hair, and style boards.  I have a few going myself.  I even have followers...creepy or flattering, I'm not sure yet.

During the day I am home mostly with just little C.  I go to work about the time Nick gets home.  My dog Heidi used to be my friend during the day, especially during nap time.  She's gone now, and I miss her so much, but I am trying to stay busy.

This is Heidi. 

I would like to better organize my crafting supplies.  Right now the fabric is folded shoved in a rubber maid container in C's closet (cause her closet is bigger that mine, and i have to share!) and everything that isn't fabric--buttons, ribbons, zippers, pins binding, needles, even a dang hot glue gun--is in a shoe box...kind of.  It doesn't all fit anymore.

I need some of these.
And maybe some of these.
Or basically just this.

Oh well, by this weekend a lot of stuff will be cleared out of our house.  I'm making shower decorations in the living room.  Our kitchen table is covered in sugar cookies.  The laundry room has a pile of things to bring with us too.

And I'll leave you with this:

Miley Cyrus is My Religion (clipped to polyvore.com)

when it rains...

it pours.

my dog died today.
my grandma died 2 weeks ago.
my husband's grandma had a stroke.
i'm trying to plan a wedding shower for this weekend.
our car needed major repairs.

it really piles on sometimes.

but in this time I have tried to remember what we do have instead of what we don't.  My immediate family is really lucky.  We're all healthy, happy and secure.  It's jsut everyone we love around us seems to be having a rough time.  Which means we are sad for them (and a little for us, I mean, my dog was part of our family.)

We have done some fun things in the last couple of months though

The Baptism

Camping

Walks in the Sun

Appreciating our Babysitter

Learning to say the word, "MOM"

I'm ready to get back to normal life.  Back to going to work and cooking dinners.  And having my head spin off with wedding details.  My 2 best friends are planning weddings.  One this summer and one next summer (H is very organized).  

Finally some good weather!

It was 70 degrees here.  Finally!
We usually ahve good weather early, but not this year.  My parents even got snow the day before yesterday, and they are only a couple of hours away.
Unfortunately I had to work all weekend.  I'm trying to put in some extra hours before Little C's baptism next weekend.  It's also my sister's birthday so we are going to spend some time together too.
But when I got home it was still warm so I put on some shorts and we played outside.

This is Little C in her darling sun hat.  I'm so glad she lets us put hats and bows on her.

I am working on her baptism dress using two different tutorials.
The Charlotte Dress
and
Blessing/Confirmation Dress
And I got the pattern for the sun bonnet from Made By Rae here.
She's gonna look good.
I see lots of bonnets in her future.