Last Weekend's Camping Trip....

...but before I start talking about camping.
This is Jack and Wyatt many moons ago. I believe it's almost exactly 2 years ago. These 2 kiddos are 6 weeks apart. So cute.

Now, back to the camping trip...

...We were invited to join some friends, Chris and Marisa, and Art and Sylvia (Chris' parents) on a camping trip to Cove Palisades for the weekend. I spent all day Thursday packing up the trailer and getting everything ready, so we could leave right after Ryan's softball game.
And we did pretty good too.
We arrived to Cove at about 11:30pm, although it was late, it was so nice to just be there on Friday morning.
So we had 2 full days of camping fun ahead of us.
As luck would have it, their campsite had a huge volleyball pit right behind it. The lucky part of that was that it was the biggest sandbox Wyatt had ever played in for sure.
Jack and Wyatt spent hours digging in the sand. There were a few spats, but for the most part these 2 played very well together.





































































This is the "ice cream cone series". These shots were taken on Friday evening, it had been a 90 degree day.
So they sat on the steps, contently and messily eating their ice cream.
Wyatt got bored after awhile though and decided to try to share with Jack.
When Jack didn't want to, he figured it was perfectly natural and ok to just share it with him anyway. But instead of sharing it with his mouth, he smeared it onto his neck and into his hair. This didn't go over well with Jack. But after Wyatt said sorry, they got over it...eventually. :)

























Sitting at the "campin fire"





















Jack and mommy, Marisa, sitting at the campfire after the huge hurricane-esque storm passed by. See the sunshine coming through the trees. Saturday had been extremely overcast and muggy. It felt like a storm was coming all day long to me. So I'd say about 5 o'clock, finally we felt the rain, and then shortly the thunder and lightning and then the wind. Oh, the wind was howling. It was bending the trees back and forth, and we all were scrambling to bring our awnings in. It was over with in about 20-30 min. All that wind cleared out the clouds and we were left with a gorgeous evening. It was a beautiful sunset. I really wanted to drive up to the lookout and take some pictures of the sunset, but...I suppose I should keep that to myself.

Chris and Marisa brought their boat and it was Wyatt's first boat ride. He loved it, and once again, had no fear. He kept trying to hang off the side of it to touch the water. It was so much fun to be able to cruise around!
Chris let both the boys "help" him drive the boat. As you can imagine for any 2 1/2 yr old little boy, it was a delight.











We had a great camping trip and now are looking forward to the next adventure we have planned. Stay tuned!

*Edited* My Precious Grandpa...

*My grandpa passed away yesterday around 1:45pm. Please keep our family in your prayers as we make plans for the funeral. (edited 6.27.08)*

...he's 92. He is in the hospital right now with pneumonia in both of his lungs.
Wyatt and I spent a good part of the day there yesterday, just helping out in anyway we could.
I was so scared I would wake up this morning to bad news.
But, he made it.
I don't have any updates, but I know that yesterday, he hadn't improved as the day went on.
I am still waiting for a call back from my mom, but things have been pretty chaotic and she's been very busy.
My grandma gets really forgetful when she is under heavy stress, and that has been really coming out in the last couple days.
She has been very confused and unsure of why they are even there.
They both tend to get agitated and my grandpa has a fear of being at the hospital.
If you get a chance please say a prayer for them.
My poor grandpa is a sweet, but stubborn old coot (said with love).
He has come a long way, but is still unsaved.
I really want to see both of them in heaven someday.
Please pray for that!

31 Users Online....Really?

So, on my last post, 5 min after posting, my ticker below said that there were 31 of you out there on my little blog at the same time.
Who are you?
That's what I want to know.
Who is reading my blog.
(I wish there was a ticker for that) ha.
I am just wondering if I know you or if you're just visiting out of curiosity.
Let me know, by dropping me a comment.
I love the comments.
It's disappointing for a post to go un-commented on.
Is that weird? Now I'm asking fellow bloggers.
The comments make me feel like I'm not doing this for nothing.
Plus, I love reading what you have to say!!!

Camping pictures will be on here sometime today....hopefully!

I Once Was Lost, But Now I'm....

...FOUND!!! Last week sometime, Wyatt "lost" his Croc.
We had went to the gym in the afternoon...only to find that the daycare didn't re-open until 4pm.
So, we went back home and I made my salsa and let Wyatt play by himself around the house.
When it came time to go back to the gym, one of his Crocs was no where to be found.
Seriously, I looked for about 45 minutes.
I came home from the gym and looked some more.
I was so frustrated.
Ryan looked when he got home.
You know the old saying..."I looked EVERYWHERE" (but the place it was of course)
So, I swore that I wasn't going to buy him new shoes, we were going to find those dang Crocs.
But, Monday I broke down and bought him a cute new pair of Nike sandals. They were half off, and we have special plans for the weekend.
So this afternoon, I was on the phone with Jackie, complaining about how I still hadn't found the stinkin Croc. I was getting frustrated about it again, so I started pulling the couch cushions apart for the 10th time to no avail. So anyhow, I was talking still, and rounded the corner of the couch. Then the lightbulb moment, (mind you, I'm still complaining that I hadn't found this dumb thing) there is a place in the back of the couch where there are a couple staples missing. Every once in a while we will find some "treasures" tucked behind the fabric of the couch. Sure enough, there was a telltale lump...and wouldn't you know, it was the shape of a Croc.
I started laughing hard, "I found it"!!!
Funny.
The little stinker.
I had myself convinced that he had thrown it down one of the heat registers, never to be seen again.


On a different sidenote.
Check out this picture I took of the moon last night.
I know it's not that great by any professional standard. But I have always been fascinated with pictures of the moon.
So, I decided to give it a go.

Father's Day Fishing Trip

Ryan really wanted to go fishing for Father's Day.
He kept talking about going fishing.
He keeps trying to plan something.
So....we went on Saturday.
My brother Jeff is the "master" fisherman. So, he suggested that we go to North Fork Reservoir just past Estacada.
They have a super cute kiddo lake that they call the "small fry" lake and it's 14 and under only.
It's a step between going to a trout farm and fishing with the big guns.
Anyway, Jeff said that they had just stocked it with 300 fish.
So, before the adults went over to the big kids lake, we took Wyatt to catch his first fish.
Honestly, it was naptime and he was really bored and wiggly, he just wanted to dip his fishing pole in the water and play in the mud. He really didn't like being held down on daddy's lap. Thank God, it didn't take long for a fish to take the bait. He didn't understand that he needed to reel in, but he loved seeing the fish once we finally got it out of the water.
After Wyatt had successfully landed 2 fish, we went in search of a good place for the adults to go fishing.
Dad caught 2 fish right off the bat, we were there for another 2-3 hours with no luck.
But, no one else was catching fish either. Well, no one but the birds.
There was an exchange with a couple Bald Eagles and an Osprey. We saw the Eagles harrassing the Osprey, watching, trying to figure out what they were up to. Then, we saw the Osprey drop a fish, and the Eagle swooped down and grabbed the fish out of mid air.
Not too long after that, it happened again.
It was pretty amazing actually, they flew right above us and I was able to get a pretty good close up picture.
During this time, Wyatt took a much needed nap. When he woke up, him and my mom had fun playing by the water and throwing rocks and such.
After all the fishing festivities were over, we went back to our house for pizza and homemade strawberry shortcake (by Jeff).
Ryan had fun cooking the 4 trout that Wyatt and dad caught.
So, all in all it was a great day, with some great memories.
I am not going to put very many pictures in this post, but look for an album on the side.
I took 178 pictures, so I just picked a few of my favorites!

Taco Salad w/ Ground Chicken

Ingredients

3 TBSP Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 Package Ground Chicken (about 1.25 lbs)
3TBSP Ground Coriander
1 TBSP Ground Cumin
1/8 Tsp Cayenne pepper
2 Tsp Poultry Seasoning
2 TBSP Chili Powder
1/2 Tsp Black Pepper
1/4 Tsp Salt
1 Head Romaine Lettuce, chopped
2 Tomatoes, chopped
1 Avocado, chopped
1 C Olives, Sliced
1 15 oz can Kidney Beans, drained and rinsed
1 C Cheddar Cheese
Catalina Salad Dressing
Doritos Chips
Sour Cream
Prepared Salsa (try Cilantro Tomotillo Salsa)
Directions

Heat olive oil on medium high heat in a large skillet, add chicken, coriander, cumin, cayenne pepper, poultry seasoning, chili powder, black pepper and salt. Cook all the way through, transfer to a bowl and refrigerate.
In a extra large bowl, add lettuce, meat mixture, tomatoes, avocado, olives, kidney beans, and cheddar cheese. Combine.
Add Catalina salad dressing, (use as much as you usually would in a salad) combine.
Serve and top with crushed chips, sour cream and salsa.

Cilantro Tomatillo Salsa

Ingredients

28oz whole peeled stewed tomatoes
Cilantro, whole bunch, rough chopped
2 cloves Garlic, peeled
1 Jalapeño, do not seed if you dare, just cut off the stem
6 Tomotillos,(divided) 1/2 halved, 1/2 diced
1 tsp Balsamic Vinegar
Salt to taste
2 tomatoes, chopped
Directions

Place stewed tomatoes, cilantro, garlic, jalapeño, halved tomotillos, Balsamic vinegar and salt in a blender. Blend on high until all is combined.
Pour mixture in a large bowl, and stir in tomato and tomotillo chunks.

Black Eyed Peas *Edited*

Have you ever had a black eye?
I don't think I have.
I can't even say that this is Wyatt's first black eye...I think it's his 2nd.
Bright and early yesterday morning, I was in the kitchen pouring my coffee. Wyatt was in the living room watching Veggie Tales, and all of a sudden I heard a major crash. He was screaming, which means that he really got hurt. He normally just pops right back up and starts playing again.
I still don't know what happened, but I think he fell off his chair and hit the wooden rocking chair going down. It was instantly black and blacker in the middle. This picture was taken at 8:16am(6/4/08). By the way...have you ever tried to take a picture of a 2 1/2 year old's eye? Not easy.


12:12pm
Please disregard my failure to wipe off the morning oatmeal before I took this picture.
Please also disregard that I took this picture at 12:12pm and he still has morning oatmeal on his face.
But, instead, take notice of the shade of purple that this shiner is.
Everytime I see him in the corner of my eye, I think he has eyeshadow on.




6/5/08 7:51am
The bruise moved this morning from the side of his face to over the eye and under the eye.
To me he looks like he got hit square in the eye with a baseball.




6/5/08 10:21am

But...all in all...he is still my little sunshine boy!
How could I not love this little goof ball.















*6/6/08 8:14am
It looks like a deeper purple to me today.
Sorry, I know I keep talking about this eye.
But seriously, it's fascinating to me how much this thing keeps changing.

The Course of a Tantrum...

I have been planning on doing this post for about a week now.
This didn't happen today, so I don't even remember what this was all about.
Wyatt throws these major tantrums and seconds later, he's totally happy and fine.
I've been told he's just like a certain mother of his.
I don't know anything about that.
But I do know that when I looked at these the order of them cracked me up.
There were 2 little outbursts in a row, and the order that I put them in the montage, is the order they happened.
He went from mad, to silly, to happy, to mad to happy all in a matter of minutes...heck, it could have been a matter of seconds.
All I know is that this little collection makes me smile. Even though it might not have been funny at the moment.
What a little stink!

Hey Let's Talk Bokeh!!!

Bokeh is a photography term.
Here is the definition.
There has been alot of talk of Bokeh on the blogs that I like to frequent. Here and Here
So...I went out in search of this beautiful thing.
Basically it's when you have something in focus and the background is out of focus. The out of focus part is Bokeh...and it has a lovely effect on a photograph.
So, Wyatt fell asleep in the car on Friday afternoon. He doesn't transfer well anymore.
So I left the car doors open, and grabbed my camera. I took the following pictures of some flowers in my front yard, and was really quite pleased with the outcome.







































So here is a quick run down of our weekend.
Friday - Went swimming at the gym with Wyatt. (this kid has absolutely no fear, kinda scary for me)
Saturday -
"planting morning"
Spent the rest of the day at Becky and Ray's house helping with their kitchen remodel. Ryan got a good start on a tile backsplash and I posted their old appliances on craigslist for them.
We didn't get home from there till about 11pm.
Wyatt and I did take a little break and meet up with Jackie and Luke at a little park in their neighborhood.
Sunday -
Church.
Lunch at Pat and Jackie's house. We had a great time with some good friends. It was such a good idea to do lunch instead of dinner, because we weren't dealing with bedtimes so soon.
Us girls left the boys with the kids and went to Peet's for a caffeinated beverage and some girly browsing around a stationary store.
I dropped Ryan off at Becky and Ray's so he could work on the backsplash some more, and Wyatt and I went to church.
Wyatt had his Aunt Dada all to himself in the nursery. They were having a good old time too...I could faintly hear them playing in the sanctuary.

And last but not least, Ryan's cousin Jennifer had her precious baby girl in Tennessee this morning.
Here's the stats...
10bls on the dot (eek they were right about that, that's a big baby)
21 inches long
Her name is Shaeleigh Maddlyn Phillips (Shae for short)
I do have a picture, I'm sure it doesn't do her justice, because it looks to be a cell phone pic and through the glass of the nursery. The first thing that hit me was....wow that child doesn't look like a newborn at all!!!
She is a sweetie, and I can't wait to see some better pictures.