Coming Soon.....

TOMORROW I WILL UPDATE THIS BLOG!!! Obviously working full-time has taken it's toll on my blogging time! Pictures and details of the last three months coming soon =)!

First Days of School......

Abigail started school September 7th. The night before we put curlers in her hair, which has become a tradition at our house! She was in her bed for almost 2 hours "trying" to fall asleep...she went from SO excited to SO nervous..... She was very excited to be going to CAP before school, since I have to start my work day earlier this year. It's so great to see her off and on all day at school, although sometimes I don't quite believe this tall, coordinated, smart, grown-up looking girl is actually mine! She had a great first day and loves her teacher!! It's going to be a great year!!!!

My little Norah didn't start school until today. She came in last week for her "interview" with Miss Johnson, which she was pretty nervous about! Today was actually pretty tough on me. I took pictures at school and then dropped her off with sister at CAP and drove off to my other school......yikes! This the first day of any school for my girls that I have not been able to be apart of. Since Norah is my more shy child I was feel much guilt this morning! At lunch I text Miss Johnson and found out that she had done just fine! Daddy took her out for a celebration ice cream cone and she told us she made a new friend.....whose name she couldn't remember! She was very proud of her coloring project and is excited for day 2!!!!

Belated 11 year Celebration!

Near the entrance to The Oregon Garden!
Creative architecture!

Me in the hobbit hole......

Creative Bathroom Design!

The sculpture trees were very cool!

Brett and I have been married 11 years and a few days! We celebrated early in August with a gift from my parents and now we're celebrating again about two weeks after our actual anniversary. (Brett was in Vegas with his good college friends over our actual anniversary!) I include this detail not because I'm grumpy he was gone but because over the course of our marriage we have both learned how important time apart alone or with good friends can be. But to celebrate this day is also VERY important to us. 11 years of marriage is quite an accomplishment in a society where the vows of marriage seem temporary for many people. We have seen dear friends go through divorce and we know it takes a lot of effort to work through challenges in every relationship. I am thankful that our focus has been on Christ and our family through the years and I look forward to celebrating many more years!

Brett's parents gift to us was an overnight stay at the Oregon Garden....SO BEAUTIFUL! We left work a little early on Thursday and drove to Silverton. We enjoyed a delicious dinner - I had hazelnut encrusted mahimahi with blueberry sauce....Brett wished he had ordered the same =)! The restraunt sit above the Oregon Garden and has a nice view. We then took a dip in the pool and soaked in the hot tub.....a little too warm outside for the hot tub, but very nice =)! We ended the evening in the lounge listening to live music and enjoying a brownie with ice cream on top....YUMMY!!!

The next morning we headed out early to walk the grounds and see this beautiful garden. We were glad we got an early start because it was almost 80 degrees by 11:00 when we headed out. We enjoyed the ride around the grounds that helped us understand why and how the garden had started and where it is headed in the future. We also walked through most of the developed acerage and it was beautiful!

As we drove back toward Turner to retrieve our kids we made a quick stop at Sonic for a yummy lunch and a delicious Strawberry real fruit Slush........yummy!!!! Here's MANY MORE years my love...........

Swimming Lesson - finally a GREAT YEAR!

Both girls jumped off the diving board without fear!

Abigail started learning how to dive!

Norah worked on kicking across the pool!

Abigail with the kick board!

We started the girls in swim lessons the first summer we lived in Albany, Abigail was 4 and Norah was 2. We took them to The Albany Tennis and Swim Club. Brianna, a former student of Brett, was teaching there and he thought she would be good with the girls AND the class sizes were small. We have NO IDEA how important that last component would be.....

Abigail would not leave the steps in the corner of the pool for the entire two weeks. She cried, negotiated, was defiant and genuinely afraid. Brianna was AMAZING. She worked one-on-one with Abigail everyday! On the last day she would move around in the 3 foot area a little. We immediately did another 2 week session saw a little improvement. (Side note - this was AWFUL for Brett and I. We tried being patient, we tried being tough, we tried igoring her, we tried sitting near her, we tried leaving the area, we tried bribing......it was EXHAUSTING!!!!)

The next two years was a little better, but still Abigail needed one-on-one lessons and there was some form of drama every day! Norah on the other hand has always done what she's asked and since she was so young her tasks have not been very hard =)! She has had a different teacher each year and has done great for each one!

So coming into this year I feeling pretty confident. Abigail is now 7, she swam a lot during our trip to Hawaii and we have a pool in the back yard now! When I called to set up her lessons time I told Brianna that I thought she would be in level 2 and that we should try a group lesson. I'm sure Brianna hung up laughing and thought I was a little crazy! BUT I WAS RIGHT!!!! I made a deal (note to parents...after the previous 3 years I would have tried ANYTHING for this to be successful! You may agree or disagree with this parenting philosophy, but I was desperate!) with the girls that if they did everything their teachers asked without negotiating that I would pay them $ .50 a day and they would only have to take one session!

Both girls did AMAZING!!! Abigail is swimming like a pro - front crawl, elementary back stroke, regular back stroke, breast stroke, diving!!! I can't do half of those! She is a VERY graceful swimmer and for the first time I enjoyed going to swim lessons!!! Norah made a great progress with front crawl and started working on her back float and back stroke. The girls asked to attend a second session and continued their swimming growth!!!! SO EXCITING!!!!

FULL TIME.....

For the last 7 years I have worked 20-28 hours a week (well that's what I was paid for anyway....) as a music teacher. Next week I return to the work for as a full-time employee! I'm experiencing a variety of emotions about it right now....nervous, excited, overwhelmed, curious and mostly anxious. The opportunity is great, I'm combining two schools that are less than a mile apart and I have the same administrator at both schools. It also comes as Norah begins school, which is the right timing, although I was hoping for one more year at part-time.

I LOVE my job, there is nothing I'd rather do and I know God has placed me in this position at this time so I'm believing this will be a GREAT year. I have a brand new adminstrator, one brand new school, I'm explanding the choir, I have a students teacher and both of my daughters are in school....OVERWHELMING....but not impossible! I've been into both of my classrooms quite a bit over the summer, but come Monday it's ready or not....here come the meetings!

Brett's parents are keeping all the cousins next week for "Grandpa and Grandma Camp"! What a great idea.....and it will help us out SO much! I know I will work WAY too many hours next week and unlike many teachers....I LOVE THIS WEEK! I love organizing my classroom, meeting with the staff, meeting with the music teachers, going to potlucks almost every night with different staff groups and designing my vision for the year...I LOVE IT! I'm looking forward to routine, order, early bed times for the girls (and me) and my job!! Here we go full-time.....bring it on 2010-2011 school year....I'm ready!!!!!

While Daddy's Away......The Girls Did Play!!

Our new pets.....see the story below!

On Saturday morning we got up and first headed to Staples for Teacher Appreciation Day, the loot was not great.....but free anything I'll take for my classroom =)! We then headed down to Harrisburg for the neighborhood garage sale my friend Janna and I started 5 years ago when we lived there. It was fun to chat with people I rarely see AND I found some great clothes deals! I'd pretty much given up looking for clothes for the kids at garage sales because they are usually worn out and stained. This day however I found some amazing items! This gal was selling almost all Gymboree clothes that looked like they had been worn maybe 2 times and never been stained! I purchsed four adorable outfits for Abigail and one for Norah for $23.00!!!! I figure brand new these outfits would have cost at least $150.00....YEAH!!!!!

On Friday the girls spent a fun filled day with Katiemarie while I worked in my classrooms and met with my new principal! They had all kinds of fun without me....Cool Pool, McDonalds, Frogs & Pollywogs.....I think they were hoping I wouldn't come pick them up =)! Above are the frogs they purchased with a months of saved allowance and some birthday money! Norah named hers Fatty and Abigail named hers Vanessa.....hmmmm..... I'm hopeful that I can help them take care of these "pets" without a dramatic fatal ending as with our fish Azul.....who has been "swimming" in Mexico for the last 5 years =)!!!!

Saturday afternoon my friend Heather came over with her kids, Callie and Conner. We had a great relaxing visit and it was fun to watch the kids play!

Norah, Callie and Abigail

Nothern Light to see "Ramona and Beezus".......

......with Miss Johnson!

On Sunday after church we headed to Salem to have lunch with Miss Johnson at Northern Lights, while we watched "Ramona and Beezus". Such a cute movie, the girls LOVED it and I thought it was great-better than I expected! After the movie we stopped at Walmart to get the girls some school shoes and school supplies! When we arrived back in Albany we made several stops...the girls were tired! I found two pairs of Sketchers for me that were 50% off the clearance price....sooo cute and comfortable AND inexpensive considering the quality! My old Sketchers are three years old and still in GREAT shape!! It was an early bed time for the girls and I stayed up cleaning, scrapbooking and watching chick flicks until WAY too late!!! It was all fun, but I'm SOOOOoooooo glad the Brett is on his way home right now!!

Day 13 & 14: HOME SWEET HOME!

So I apparently fell of the photo wagon at the end of our trip! I did not take a single picture at our last camp ground (well it was more like a hotel except we slept in our trailer)!!

On Saturday morning we packed up and got a fairly early start. Good-bye California - HELLO Oregon. A pretty quick drive and most beautiful scenery on the way to Grants Pass. The girls were in DS land, which was ok for this leg of the journey! We met our friends, Nevin and Vicki and their 3 boys, for pizza lunch in Grants Pass. It was delicious pizza and so fun to catch up and see how their boys have grown. We see Nevin and Vicki once a year at the annual music conference, but wish it were more often!!

From there we decided to drive just a little further North to Canyonville and camp at the 7 Feather's Resort. When we arrived it was 96 degrees!!!!! WOW....not really camping, but a great way to end a long trip! A big pool, hot tub, family style showers, play ground, fitness room, internet (still not fast enough to uplaod posts!), communal fire pits that they light and maintain for you and beautifully maincured grounds. We played in pool/hot tub for about 4 hours....SO RELAXING! Brett and I each took a trip over to the casino - where they give you $5 in slots if you join the player's circle - so we each took $5 of our own and Brett came back with $10 and I came back with $15!! It was fun and we came out ahead =)!

Sunday morning we woke up to a light rain....hmmm, not sure where that came from! We ate a quick breakfast and loaded up to get home before it got too hot! After unloading and cleaning a little, we got in our own pool and relaxed! So ready to sleep in our own beds!!

As I reflect on this trip I must say I LOVE OREGON! I have taken some things for granted having been born and raised here. I always remember the Oregon coast as being drizzly, overcast and gloomy. I think back to my teen years - the weather killed every hair style I tried, made football and soccer games miserable, and in general made life gloomy. I had fun being home this time, inspite of the poor weather. I loved driving down the coast - I realized how little I've actually seen and appreciated! This trip was wonderful and created great memories for all of us.

I want to travel more and see exotic places - Hawaii, Mexico, Europe, The East Coast, New Zealand - and I hope to get to most of those places some day, BUT here in Oregon we are a short, inexpensive trip from some amazing places. I mean I LOVED Hawaii, it was great, however this trip reminded me that I can find the same beauty here and keep some money in my pocket and not sweat constantly =)! OREGON IS BEAUTIFUL!!!!

Day 12: Hiking in the REDwoods!

Girls Hiking

When you look up....

Brett with his girls!

All of us on the hike!

We had hoped to get up early and go tide pooling in Crescent City, but the girls were simply too tired! Norah didn't wake up until 8:00 and believe me, SHE NEEDED THE SLEEP! We would have had to be on the road by 7:00 in order to get to the best tide pool locations, so we'll have to do that on another coast trip! We started the day with a hike on a 1 mile loop near our campground called The Simpson Reed Loop. It was AMAZING! At times the size and beauty was completely overwhelming. No picture can grasp the beautiful sights we saw on this trip, so I am only showing you a glimpse at God's great creation with the pictures above!

Our truck passing through.....

Family photo at the Tour thru Tree!

We then drove further South on HWY 101. Had we known we were only 3 miles from this yesterday we would have done it then! The girls REALLY wanted to drive through a tree, so we made the 30 minute trek South again so we could experience driving through a redwood! It was VERY cool and a little nerve wracking, as we didn't think we would actually fit through! A family from Iowa was there and we took turns taking pictures for each other, which was GREAT! It was well worth the $5.00 it costs and certainly a great memory!

All the girls on the beach trail.

Brett and I!

We then stopped at another trail head to do some hiking by the beach. It was a beautiful location and we hiked about 3/4 of a mile to a look-out point and then headed back. You might notice the girls have garbage bags with them.....they were collecting trash to earn their Redwood Junior Ranger Badge! We were certainly impressed with how little litter there was....but the girls were hoping for more =)!

The girls walking.....

All us girls in the woods!

Our final hike for the day was down a gravel road where there were several trail heads. We had a difficult time understanding the map, but thought we found the right trail. It looked to be about 1 mile total, but we now think it was maybe 1 mile to where the actual loop started! The girls were real troopers and once we got a little over 1 mile in we determined it would be in EVERYONE'S best interest to turn back and call it a day! We again saw beautiful green foliage and more amazing redwood clusters, roots, burls, and streams. Back at camp the girls finished more assignments and earned their jr ranger badge!!!

The girls swimming in the Smith River

The view!

The girls with their friends in the "hot tub"!

Now it's just a MUD BATH!!!!

We decided to then hike down to the river for some swimming and refreshing. It was beautiful. The girls swam, Brett and I waded, and the sun was out. We stayed for about 2 hours. The girls made friends and together carved a "hot tub" in the bank, which they later called "sand chairs"! Such imaginations!

We are sad to say goodbye to this beautiful scenery, but VERY ready to head home and sleep in our own beds soon!!!!

Day 11: CALIFORNIA! The Redwoods....

We got an early start packing up the trailer and were on the road by 9:00 a.m. We had planned to scout out the town of Brookings a little more as we had been told a retired coast gaurd gentleman had purchased the lighthouse there and convereted it to his home. Due to the extensive fog and some whiney, tired little girls we decided to just get into California and experience something new. It was a FOGGY drive!! We headed past our camp ground to the Trees of Mystery.....

The girls by Babe the Blue Ox!

Norah and Brett by Paul Bunyan! (Well by his foot!)

The Cathedal....AMAZING!

Check out that BIG TREE!

Aww....the girls!

The Trees of Mystery was GREAT! Well worth the money. We saw 12 trees growing out of one tree, a lightening bolt tree (shaped like a lightening bolt!), the Cathedral trees, a tunnel tree, and some amazing wood carvings. At the peek of the hike we took a gondola ride to a much higher point where you could look out over the tree tops and take in the peace of some of God's beauty! It truly was breath taking and a wonderful place to visit. Once we completed the tour there was a Native American museum, which was neat as we are reading the "Little House on the Prairie" series right now! The girls selected a souvenir to place on their shelves to remember this day!

Lighthouse.....

....NO ACCESS!!!

On our way through Crescent City we saw a sign for a lighthouse. As we have learned so much about lighthouses and have seen everyone thus far, Brett and I decided an extra stop was necessary! So we followed the signs and came to a nice rocky beach. We headed toward the lighthouse and quickly realized we would NOT be touring this one.....it's on an island surrounded by heavy crashing waves! This lighthouse is only accessible 2-3 hours a day at most when the tide is at it's lowest - CRAZY! I took some pictures through the fog to give you an idea of what we saw!

Jedediah Smith State Park

We arrived mid afternoon to our next camp ground. It felt so different to be surrounded by HUGE trees, as we have been camping so close to the beach for a week! It is VERY beautiful here and it only took 2 minutes before I had my first mosquito bite! We set up camp and took a trip over to the information center to learn about the hiking opportunities and gather more information. During our walk back to the campsite we wandered down to the Smith River and determined there would be swimming tomorrow as long as it's warm enough!

After a delicious spaghetti dinner we played some games, enjoyed the fire and went to a presentation by the ranger. They offer free hot cocoa and light a nice fire at the site of the slide show presentation! It was GREAT! We learned a lot about the animals and foliage here and found out that tomorrow morning should be excellent tide pooling - SO our goal is to be on the road by 7:00 a.m. to explore the tide pools in Crescent City.......sea stars, anemones here we come! Then for LOTS of hiking!!!

Day 10: Even further South

We enjoyed a delicious breakfast of HUGE pancakes and sausage this morning served at the KOA. We then loaded up and headed South - again =)! We didn't have to go as far since Brookings was our destination today. We wanted to surprise the girls and take them to the Prehistoric Gardens! Ready to go in!

Look at the size of that dinosaur!

Walking the trail!

They had a good time and Abigail said it was the best part of the day! They kept saying, "Oh yeah, we've seen ones like this in movies....." OH MY! But we also saw a couple live bunny rabbits as we toured the area and the girls were super excited by that! We started out reading all the history to them.......it was a little over kill!!

FOG......

Most of the drive was very foggy, so we couldn't see the sights we hoped for. But when we could see it was BEAUTIFUL!!!!

Harris Beach!

Girls watching the waves....

Brett and I.... (Norah took the picture)

Climbing a rock!

SCARY attack grey squirrels!

We were able to get a camp site at Harris Beach State Park! This campground is WONDERFUL! We have thoroughly enjoyed each place we've stayed, but I think this one is the BEST! The beach is beautiful, the camp ground is great - complete with laundry facilities and a great play ground and many trails that I would love to drag the girls down! We spent a relaxing afternoon on the beach, watching the waves crash onto the sand and the girls played! We were amazed at how similar this beach felt to being on a beach in Hawaii. A few more degrees of warmth would have been welcom, but all in all it was a wonderful afternoon! Tomorow we cross the border and enter CALIFORNIA!! REDwoods (as Abigail says) here we come!!