Our community garden plot

We've had so much fun over the last few years gardening in our community garden plot. This year, we had a bumper crop of peppers, tomatoes, tomatillos, squash, broccoli, sunflowers, pumpkins, leeks, spinach, etc. Just before the first hard frost of the fall, we all headed out to the plot to get the last of our produce and Cat had the great idea of getting a classic fall harvest family shot. We took a few and had a great time. Happy Harvest!

Sibling love

The love between a brother and sister is something special and incredibly hard to break. These two love each other in a way I haven't had the pleasure of experiencing, being an only child.

Summer camping

After finding in August that Jeremiah would be laid off from work, we decided to finally purchase the tent trailer we'd been dreaming about for a couple of years. So the day after his last day at work, off we went into the woods to go camping with our new-to-us 1997 Jayco 8D (8') tent trailer. We found ourselves up the South Santiam river just over the Tombstone summit in a little campground called Lost Prairie. It was a little too close to the road for us so the following morning we decided to head East just a little further. Just a couple more miles up the road, we turned off onto the Old Santiam Wagon Road and found the perfect site next to the creek and away from the road.

The kids had so much fun being right next to the creek. Finn and Papa got to fish whenever they wanted, and little Jeremiah got to throw rocks in the water at will. One late afternoon, we all decided to walk along a stretch of the old wagon road. We daydreamed of finding old stuff discarded along the trail by pioneers, made up stories from years gone by, and picked wild strawberries and both red and blue huckleberries for pancakes the following morning. On the twilight walk back, Papa stopped and and asked everyone if they heard those sounds, too. Sounded to him like a man talking to his horse, then telling it to "Whoa!". We all waited along the road for a spell but when nobody came along, chalked it up to just hearing things. Still, it was spooky-cool to think that the voices of settlers from a bygone era might still be hanging around...

Sense of wonder

Finn and Mompba Ty at the coast

Finn and little Jeremiah on the trail

Finn at Heceta Head lighthouse

Jeremiah at Heceta Head lighthouse

Red mountain huckleberries

Finn bathing in an old ceramic tub by the fire...

The family game of checkers

Finn's well-loved tenny-runners

Anyway, we had a wonderful time and spent 10 of the next 14 days camping and spending time together as a family. So much fun and an incredible way to touch base with each other again. We even got to meet up with one set of Jeremiah's parents over at the coast. Wonderful memories.

Nurses that deliver mail?

Today after little man's two year appointment, Cat mentioned that she liked having a male nurse since it shows our children that it doesn't matter your sex, anyone can do anything. Finn was quiet for a moment then piped up - "You mean, a nurse that delivers mail?" Kids say some of the most wonderful things...

Finn's first pajama party

Finn's first pajama party sleepover started off with a bang. A short trip up Kings Valley Hwy. 223 and a stop at Ritner Creek park and covered bridge for some creekside playing and geocaching. The girls found a small geocache (GCW5E5, Country Fried Monkey) and each grabbed a goodie, Finn a pirate eye patch and Julia a toy egg.

Little man woke from deep sleep just as we got back into the car and was fascinated that someone else was in the car and he had no idea when it happened - he couldn't stop looking at her (she is a cutie pie)! Then up to the Dallas Motor Vu drive-in theatre to watch Cars 2. All three kids snuggled in and were wide awake for the first 40 minutes or so but as darkness really settled in, little Jeremiah gave up the ghost and passed out in his chair. Finn eventually did the same around an hour and a half into the show but Julia stayed awake for the whole movie and loved it. She even stayed awake on the 20 minute drive back to Corvallis (what a trooper!) and finally passed out snuggled with Finn in her bed.

Morning arrived for the girls around 730 and Cat and I awoke to the happy sounds of the girls playing and giggling together in their room. Thirty minutes later, they were in Finn's "artsy-fartsy" area coloring and generally being creative. An hour later, they were using watercolors and creating marvelous pieces of priceless art followed by building the world's best train tracks! Then some farm fresh scrambled eggs and wonderful  10-grain pancakes (Bob's Red Mill) with MaraNatha almond butter and real maple syrup from a friend's farm in Maine! Yum!

The morning concluded with the kiddos dancing around the house while listening to some Rick Meyers' Old Time Music Show and Amadou and Mariam, then splashing in a tub and getting dressed in their Sunday's finest for a day of exploring and rodeoing at the Philomath Frolic and Rodeo. For all intents and purposes, Finn's first pajama party was a smashing success!

Happy Anniversary

Happy 14 years my love. I was going to write or pen you a card with some kind of beautiful picture on the front but let's face it they get put into a drawer and not looked at again...so why waste a tree. So...in the spirit of the modern age...I'm going to give you an anniversary blog post.

I wish you could see the transformation I've seen in you over these past 15 and a half years. The young boy I first met...so unsure of himself and the world but full of life and wonder. The amazing man who has laugh lines from laughing at life...always the dreamer...the loving and caring father...the romantic husband :) I've been gifted to watch you go from a boy to a man...and see the love you have for me in your eyes.

You are the next John Muir my love...you will in your own way change the world just like we talked about on that park bench... late in the night all those years ago. You will change how people see nature and the natural world around them. You will change how they think about it...about how they protect it...how they become a part of it. God has given you many gifts...but your strongest is your love of nature and your natural ability with people...those two things are going to make the difference in this world...the question is just how. You are a light...you walk into a room and you light it up.

Thank you for taking the chance on me...an onion to say the least. I may not always admit to my faults, I may take you for granted when I shouldn't, say things I regret, and even make you question why in the heck you said yes to my proposal all those years ago...but I will spend my life thanking God that you did. I will give you my heart and soul. I will fight harder than anyone ever has for you and love you harder than anyone ever has. I will be your best friend and lover, I will hold your hand when you are sad and hurt, I will fight away the demons in the night, I will laugh with you, cry with you, give you babies, and help you raise them into fine human beings. I will literally give you my life...you are that wonderful.

Happy 14 years of marriage and 15 and half years of partnership!

Dreaming

Art by http://vxside.deviantart.com/

Dreaming.
I never want to stop dreaming.
I won't.
The what ifs and the plan B's,
they often whisper to me
from afar -
more of a conversation as of late.
And it brings me hope.
Dreaming.
Dreaming...