Week at the coast

We spent the first week of September up North.

Our schedule:
Monday--drive to Portland, swim in hotel pool
Tuesday--Oregon Zoo, Taylor take boys swimming while I shop frantically during final business hours of the day
Wednesday--Return almost everything I bought the night before (never shop with a deadline), drive to Newport, swim in hotel pool
Thursday--Newport Aquarium (definite highlight! amazing, amazing place--way better than the zoo!), beach, swim in hotel pool
Friday--Beach, tidepools, drive home

This was a great family trip. It was a little tough with Carter--there were times when it was just better for me to stay in the car or hotel room with a sleeping or nursing babe (rather than try to sit on sharp rocks at the tidepools with him!), but I was resigned to that. Taylor got to have tons of quality time with the boys. Plus I have an iphone. Hours of entertainment, reading, shopping, and instagram--which I put to good use on the trip:

Rog at the tidepools near Yachats.

Blaine with some of his ocean treasures

One of many meals out. Even with all the 'sights' we saw, some of my most tender memories of the trip are just these little moments eating fluffy pancakes together.

cutest image ever

in the shark tunnel. awesome!

The touching tide pools at the aquarium. We went back 3 times--probably spent half the day there! We're pretty much experts by now.

August

Yesterday we enjoyed a perfect, quiet evening with my parents at the ranch. Homemade chili and biscuits, then some runnin' around...

As far as I'm concerned, blackberry season is the best time of the year.

Road Trip Re-Cap

We welcomed July and celebrated our nation's independence with my whole ginormous family at Yellowstone Park. It was no small fete, considering we are two and a half dozen people and some of us hail from Chile!

There is nothing like the grandeur and majesty of the American West, and Yellowstone is the ultimate. It was a week of adventuring and swimming, laughing and snacking, story telling and loving. {For my poor mother I think it was mostly a week of worriedly counting heads, but we all survived!}

I'm a huge advocate for family reunions. It's a ton of work to haul food for 30 for a week two states away. It requires hours of planning and communicating. Sometimes it's pure chaos. But to watch my boys forming relationships with their far-away cousins and laugh my guts out with my siblings I would do just about anything.

{from the top: Rog and Blaine are BEST friends these days, Uncle Brian with the 3 amigos, Blaine adored cousin Bridget (as did I), me + 4 boys at Yellowstone's Grand Canyon, cousies wating for Old Faithful to erupt (totally lived up to the hype!), Seamus the 14-year-old giant (was darling with Rog!) and my twin brother, Steven, Blaine the Science Kid couldn't get enough of the geo thermal landscape}

{Jon works the bedhead (at the breakfast table where 3,476 bowls of lucky charms were consumed--GROSS!), baby Steven and baby Carter, Nana and Carter}

On our last day there were gifts from Chile and North Carolina and a big fat talent show.

And, because I love you, here is a video clip of my sister, Liz and me doing a 'tap-off' for the talent show. It has been a decade plus since we've tapped and it was all we could do to not laugh our heads off. Wow, thanks for the lessons, Dad. Totally worth your money, don't you think? {Liz, can you ever forgive me for posting this?}

Now, try to stop laughing at me while I tell you about the second, more solemn part of my trip. Taylor, the boys, and I cut out of the family festivities early to dash down to Utah for the funeral of our dear friend, Wes. His wife, Lori, has made several appearances here at Bloom, so I thought you'd want to know about her loss. We can't stop crying about it and hurting for Lori and her children. It was a privilege to know Wes. We hope you'll remember the Trumans in your prayers.

xoxoxo
anne

Jessie+Rog+Blackberries=LOVE

I pledge my allegiance to Girls' Camp

It's tough to re-cap camp. But I'll try.

friendships strengthened

sleep missed

nature appreciated

firesides given

delightfully obnoxious songs sung

mountains climbed

luxury granted (see above pic. nothing better than a post-hike foot soak.)

pranks pulled (my favorite was the ginormous brazier...)

waistlines widened (ah, those glorious scotcheroos!)

girl drama tempered

memories made

virtue promised

Spirit felt

I love camp. I always will. It's harder when you have to leave your babes--that's for sure. I have a new appreciation for the sacrifices these women all made for me when I was a girlie. It was a pleasure to be up there among such extraordinary women and girls.

Gone to camp

Ah, summer. There is nothing I love more than the hot, sunny days and all the fun they bring. Only trouble is, it keeps me so danged busy that I've been neglecting my blog.

If I had the time right now I'd write a whole post about the glorious Children's Festival (pictured above) that I grew up on and now have the glee of taking my boys to. I'd do a post on our yard, and how much I love my hydrangea, hanging geraniums, state fair zinnias, and Taylor's amazing landscaping know-how. I'd tell you all about swimming with the boys, about making awesome tacos and french bread (not together). I'd show you my sweet flip-flop tan line, which is--let's be honest--a total miracle. I'd inform you of Taylor and my movie marathons, which have included The Lord of the Rings (who knew? I actually like it now.) and Harry Potter (still haven't seen the new one, and am DYING to!) while folding laundry. I'd share with you my happy moments with my family--including the pool and scones for dinner and a pinata (just because), all in the expanse of my parents' gorgeous, forest-like yard. I'd certainly dedicate a whole post to So You Think You Can Dance, because let's get one thing straight--we are obsessed! Best show on TV as far as I'm concerned.

But sorry, can't. That little summary will have to do. Because I am off to Girls' Camp with my church gals tomorrow. If you know me from the days of my youth, you know that G's Camp is pretty much my favorite thing ever. Only being totally in charge of a little flock of the girls and leaving behind my own tender little flock makes camp a lot more stressful than it used to be!

Anyway, enjoy your summer. Drink it up. Let's reconvene in a week or so.

Loves,
Anne

My best idea yet

First Annual Hall-Cropper Easter Egg Hunt

at the Ranch

(this year we got to have Halls, Croppers, Hall-Browns, Hunts, and Lamberts!)

A charming 'venture

Owing to the facts that we have enjoyed glorious weather this week and that I am trying to be more of an in-the-moment kind of mother, we have spent hours and hours outside this week. It has been heavenly. (Also stressful due to the fact that something goes haywire in my nervous system when my kitchen looks like ground zero. Which it has all week. I am working on this nervous system malfunction.)

So we have scooped sand, sunburned our cheeks, touched the clouds from the swings, climbed up slides, and eaten several a picnic. Best of all, we spent Tuesday afternoon at my parents' house. While the corned beef was cooking and Rog was napping, Blaine and I went on a 'venture. My parents' place is a child's paradise. We sat on the patio eating Lucky Charms (Blaine helped himself to a heaping bag, which I just laughed off (don't tell Taylor) seeing as how it was St. Patrick's Day after all). Then Blaine took me exploring. We crossed the bridge that goes over the creek, checked on the garden and blackberry bushes, hid in nature's forts, and peeked at Nana's daffodils.

Then Blaine said, "Oh ackshully, I 'pose we could take this other secret passengerway," and we did it all again, only in a different order.

And I even remembered my camera.