Photo a Day July 7-13, 2014

We are all finally healthly (knock on the biggest piece of wood you can find) and I declared Monday morning that summer was starting immediately.  Taelin started her swim lessons for the summer, the garden got some attention, we had a couple of play dates that included popsicles and we ended the week with a camping trip to Beverly Beach which is my favorite place to go camping.  It was a fantastic week!

july 7, 2014
taelin was SO excited for swimming lessons...I think she is part fish

july 8, 2014
blossom rot on our zucchini...hoping that the spray I used works

july 9, 2014
maddie (and jocelyn) came over in the afternoon and the girls had so much fun
 with the slip n slide and sprinkler.  and of course a few fruit
bars (known as popsicles in this house) rounded out the afternoon

july 10, 2014
bangs cut! do they look uneven to you?
that's because they are...it's going to be awhile before the hair
 on her head grows enough to be even!

july 11, 2014
i seriously love this girl.
we were leaving for swim lessons when she asked me to take a
 picture of her.  she asked me if I liked her outfit and then told me it
 was called "really ready for swimming lessons"

july 12, 2014
we spent a few hours playing at the beach and was
 lucky that Nana drove down and joined us. this girl
loves her beach time.

july 13, 2014
we had this awesome tree across from our campsite that my climbers
 loved all weekend.  taelin likes to be safe so she decided
 to wear her bike helmet while climbing.

I have SO many pictures this week that I am going to have to add an insert to my Project Life album.  I have continued to work on getting caught up and am so excited to have a couple of days on the calendar to get together with friends to scrapbook.  The time with friends and the time set aside to scrap is very much welcome!  

Photo A Day July 8-14

What a great, busy, full week of living!  We are certainly trying to cram all we can into our summer.  The weather has been great and I am so grateful that we live in Salem.  It is a big enough place that there is a lots to do and centrally located to other great stuff that isn't far away!  

july 8, 2013
I had other pictures from our zoo trip but her
wearing my shoes when we got home is my favorite from the day.

july 9, 2013
soccer practice #2

july 10, 2013
my friend Mary brought over this doll house since her girl
is passed dollhouse stage.  Taelin was in heaven.

july 11, 2013

july 12, 2013
camping dominoes

july 13, 2013
<3

july 14, 2013
Devil's Lake in Lincoln City
It would have been a perfect time to kayak...but it was 7:30 a.m.
Not Joe kayaking time.

Photo A Day...for June so far...or at least most of it!

Surprisingly I had more pictures in June than I thought I had but there are a few days missing.  I am officially getting back on the Photo A Day bandwagon today so I thought I would update the three weeks in June that I am missing!  We have had a busy month with a couple of camping trips, a trip to Nana's and the beginning of summer!

Enjoy!

june 1, 2013
camp dakota ziplining

june 2, 2013

june 3, 2013

june 4, 2013
i love tiger lilies!

june 5, 2013
end of year presents for our teachers

june 6, 2013
a first...french braids! 

june 7, 2013
girls day at the children's museum

june 8, 2013
a day a Nana's!

june 9, 2013

june 13, 2013
on my way from work on the last day of the school year

june 14, 2013

june 15, 2013

june 16, 2013

june 17, 2013

june 20, 2013

june 21, 2013

june 22, 2013

june 23, 2013
recommitting to a photo a day!

Camping Anyone?

Until this last weekend, it had been four years since we camped.  We used to go a couple of times each summer but I was so sick the summer I was pregnant with Taelin that there was no way we could have gone.  The idea of taking a baby camping just didn't see like fun, especially with diapers.  I think I might have been a little worried that our hiatus from camping would turn into a permanent thing which is why it ended up on the list. I am SO glad that we waiting until she was this age and I am SO glad we went.

We went to Beverly Beach on the Oregon coast.  It is my favorite place to go because it is a 5 minute walk to the beach and there are bathrooms with hot showers.  (I never said I was a hard core camper.)  We went with two of our friends that got the site next to us but pretty much just hung out at our site.  We got there late Friday night and were on the go until we left on a pretty soggy Sunday morning.

We toasted marshmallows, ate, went on long walks, ate, played on the beach, ate, kayaked, and ate some more. What is it about camping that makes you want to eat constantly?  I knew that and so I spent the better part of Friday pre-cutting fruits and veggies to have on hand.  We didn't have a ton of down time, although Joe and Taelin took a pretty good sized nap on Saturday afternoon and I spent the time walking around and then later reading/falling asleep in my camp chair.

Here are a few pictures from our trip:

Our new tent!  Our old one was TOO big and was missing the fly!

Joe's headlamp turned Taelin into Ironman!

Dug a hole to find the ocean. 

Yes, a shower was necessary after this!

She was convinced that she could carry the wood over.

Being instructed in the finer points of fire building. 

When did she get so big?  *tear*

The promised root beer!  Now we had a real happy camper!

We had a lot of fun camping even though it rained Sunday morning.  It took a whole day to get ready and a whole day to clean up, but it was so worth it! I was so grateful to have the time as a family on Father's Day weekend! I asked Taelin what her favorite part of camping was and she said, "All of the parts!"

sacrosanct: extremely sacred or inviolable

While not a new word, sacrosanct is not in my everyday vocabulary.  But when I walked by my counter to check this for the third time in 10 minutes I realized that I needed a word for this week and this one fits the bill.

What you see above is my camping checklist.  The first page is the meals we are going to eat with all the ingredients I am going to need to make said meal.  The last two pages is everything else that I think I will need...organized by categories.  I think it is safe to say that lists (for any reason really) are quite sacrosanct.  

I will let you know on Sunday night when we get back if there is anything I forgot.