The summer fun continues!

Nick and I are currently on our way to Oregon to meet up with my parents and Niki's family for a week of camping! We'll be there later today and coming back home on Friday. We're camping at a place called Paulina Lake which is near Bend and a volcanic monument. This is the first time that my parents have been camping in about 15 years! Since they are riding the Harley down there, Nick and I are bringing most of their stuff and it was funny to see what they packed. Do we really need 60 granola bars Mom?!?! They will be sleeping on our Aero bed (which is amazing for an air mattress) so we'll see how they sleep.

On this trip Nick and I are bringing our 5th wheel!! It's our first time taking it out of LCP and on a trip. I'm pretty excited about having it there with us even though my sister Niki is giving a lot of shit for taking it. She's just jealous. ;-) It's funny, Niki is determined to keep the camping "real" so she brought her percolator for coffee even though we have a coffee pot in the trailer. She says that she prefers the percolator when camping. I'm sure after a day or two she'll stop giving us shit and be happy with what we brought it.

We'll keep you posted on how the trip goes! Next weeks blog will be fun. We'll have tons of pictures to share with you along with some funny stories, I'm sure. Let's hope this time there are no bear stories!!

Here's a picture of Keri (Barb and Tim's daughter) and Shannon. This was taken on Memorial Day weekend after we all got waxed. The whole nose hairs being waxed wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.

Soaking up the sun and enjoying the time by the river. Moni and Julia. It was really nice to have Julia up visiting for the weekend. This was the weekend that we discovered that we have river access. Whoo Hoo... I would much rather go to the river than swim in the pools at LCP. So many kids.. kinda freaks me out about all the pee.. but that's just me. Nobody else seems to mind the pools. LCP is very good about keeping them clean and sanitary.





There's the look that I was talking about a few posts ago. Did you just throw up a little in your mouth? haha!

Isn't it funny how you can give a kid just about anything and they'll make a mess out of it. Okay, so the plum Amelia is eating was bound to be messy no matter what.. but boy, did she get it all over her!

Monkey see, Monkey do. Joey was enjoying a plum as well and wow! He really had the plum juice from ear to ear, no joke. Shannon had asked Joey to wash his hands and face after he finished the plum. He came back to the table with clean hands and managed to have about 70% of his face wiped off. He just missed a bunch near his ears. Oh Joey!!

Eat your heart out Julia Childs!! Oh yeah.. that's right. This is a fantastic mousse that I made last week while I was on vacation. I made it from scatch and was the first time I have ever made it. I never knew there were raw eggs in mousse. Interesting. I also made peanut butter blossoms and used melt-away center Hershey kisses! They turned out great and Nick got to take all 4 dozen to work with him to share! It was nice having the week off to hang out around home. I ended up baking a ton and we had the Hudson's and Nick's parents over for dinner on different nights. It was really nice to have company over, being that it was the first time that we've had anyone over for dinner since we moved in.

One of my favorite pictures of Gizmo. I know I have already posted a picture like this.. but I wanted to share it with you again. Isn't it funny what you can do with kittens and not cats. Chester would let me put a shirt on him but would kick my ass for doing it. Gizmo could really care less about being dressed up. haha!

The chair that Gizmo is on is usally Chester's place to sleep during the day and night. Last night while Nick and I were watching some TV, Chester was sleeping on "his" chair and Gizmo jumped up there to sleep next to him. Chester ended up giving Gizmo a litte bath. It was really cute and nice to see them getting along.

Normally I am not a fan of the cats being on the counter (Gizmo can't get up on the kitchen counters yet, thank goodness) but this night I could NOT keep him off. Yes.. those are JUMBO prawns. I was peeling and deveining them in the kitchen sink and Chester was FREAKING out. He would not stop meowing and had jumped up on the counter about 20 times by the time I was done. He didn't want to eat them, he just wanted to lay next to them. Strange, right? So I had to take a picture and share it with you. We did end up giving him a few bites after they were cooked for being so good.

Dinner turned out fabulous! We had fresh tortellini with garlic, olive oil and prawns along with a nice salad. Doesn't that make you hungry, Ryan? ;-)

The bandana. With it being so warm lately, we've taken it off of him for now. Chester is sitting on my dresser which is about 5 feet tall or so. Wether I am in the kitchen or the bedroom, Chester like to be in the highest spot possible. When I'm in the kitchen Chester enjoys sitting on top of the fridge. Silly cat!

Bring on the July Sun!

So, I know it's been a couple of week since I've posted an update! We've both been very busy and the weeks seem to fly by.

Nick has been traveling a lot for work during the last couple of weeks. It's nice that at most, he's only away for 3 nights. It's nothing compared to when he was in London for 2 weeks!

On June 15th, I renturned to work full-time. Good timing since the blackout period for vacations is now over with. I have a lot of staff on or going on vacation now through September. My back is still sore and often times I get reminded that I am not 100% yet and still need to take it easy. Looking back at the month of March and April, I can see how much my back has improved. So.. little by little.. it's getting better.

Chester and Gizmo are getting along like brothers. We find Chester rabbit kicking Gizmo's head and has him in a headlock almost everyday. It's funny to watch Gizmo hide and jump out on top of Chester too. Since Nick and I are spending most of our weekends up at our lot, it's nice to know that they have eachother to play with! We got home on Sunday after spending the weekend up at Lake Connor Park and found a plastic ziploc bag on the living room floor. Chester had pulled the bag of treats from the cupboard (there was a corner of the bag sticking out) and had pretty much shredded the bag and the treat bag that was inside. The treats were long gone and I'm sure Gizmo had something to do with that! Isn't Gizmo getting big?!?

Tim and Renee are currently in China finalizing the adoption of their 2 little girls! It's been a long time since they started the process of the adoption and we all can't wait to meet them. Willa is 4 years old and is on the left. Esmee is 6 years old and is on the right. Ethan turns 7 in Dec. so he'll be the oldest out of the three kidos. A family of 5! Nick and I are so happy for all of them and are looking forward to having the girls in our family. Tim, Renee, Esmee and Willa return on the 17th. Ethan has been spending time with his Grandma Ardis, Grandpa Mike, Grandma Sue, Nick and I. Between all of us - I'm sure he's having a blast!

Sushi Land!! Nick and I have discovered a sushi resturant right around the corner from our house. It's conveyor belt style and the color of the plates represent the cost of each. $1.50 - $3.00 per plate. We would have to vote this as one of our favorite places to go. The wasabi that you see is Nick's.

On Father's Day, my dad and mom came over for a wonderful breakfast with Nick and I. I hadn't even thought about it, but it was their first time coming over to our house since we moved in and had unpacked. With everything made from scratch and the OJ squeezed fresh.. haha.. just kidding. Breakfast was good though!

This is after we were done with breakfast on Father's Day. Gizmo will pretty much sleep anywhere and in any position. Since we got him, we've found that he loves to be held like this. Yes, he is passed out in this picture!

Julia joined us up at LPC this weekend! She came up on Friday and left on Sunday. It's nice because she didn't have to set up a tent or anything. She's able to sleep on the couch in our trailer.. or should I say passout? We had a great time with her up there. It was her first time up this year and everyone enjoyed seeing her! We had this picture taken right after I was done braiding her hair in very small french braids. What's camping if you don't have some braids?

Oh Danny Sue! Barb and Tim who live across from Shannon and Ryan's lot just lost their little Stevie. She was 13 years old and had lived a long and happy life. After losing Stevie, Tim brought home Danny Sue to join the family. She's 13 weeks old and weighs 2 whole pounds.

What do you mean we have rights to a river? So.... On Saturday, Ryan mentioned to Nick about a part of a river that we have access to being Lake Connor Park tenants and being able to go down to the river to do some fishing. Nick said "What do you mean.. a river?" After that, the boys went and checked it out... sure enough! A River. I'm not sure what the name of it is.. but all that matters is that it's a river that we can swim in on a hot day!

This is Julia next to her nickname that Nick came up for her.

Some of Nick's artwork.

Courtnie!

She's so cute. Now, look to the right of her and up.. see the little frog? We left it alone but were able to get a couple of good pictures of it. I mean, Nick did! He got a national geographic shot of it.

Ahhhh... Nick wrote our names on the wall of sand.

Priceless. ;-)

Monika, Courtnie and Luke. We all had such a great time hanging out at the river for a few hours on Sunday. We're all looking forward to going back there once the weather warms up again!

With Ethan's parents in China, we were able to spend some extra time with Ethan. He spent the weekend with us and had such a great time. I swear, these two boys are part fish. Ethan is such a strong swimmer and Nick would spend all day in the water if you let him.

He's watching Nick and Ryan play holey board.

I think Nick and I end up with about 20 or more pictures of Amelia each weekend that we are up at Lake Connor Park. She's so fun to watch. She'll be 2 in October and is all about doing things all by herself right now. Wow, they grow up fast!

I just LOVE this picture. From the moment that Joey woke up on Saturday, he was asking his dad if he could ride his quad. (a little 50cc zuki... would be MUCH cooler if it was a popo, but he can grow up and get a cooler one than dad at that point) After breakfast, Ryan followed Joey around in the golfcart making sure he stuck to the speed limit of 5 mph. I just think this is a great father and son picture. =)

Big brother, little sister will follow. Amelia will sit on this for hours whether it's running or not. Like her shirt? Yep. Happy 4th of July!

Another favorite picture. I tried not to focus on the vodka bottle on the right side.. haha! I think this picture was taken on Saturday morning after breakfast. We just love being up at Lake Connor Park!

Me, Bailey (Monika's niece) and Julia playing Rumicube. It's a great camping game that Julia and her sister, Lesley introduced Nick and I to. It's a thinking game.. so not one to play too early in the morning.