Proof

Proof that we were there too!

Strawberry shortcake, The Verizon Guy, and our kiddos!

And the bees....too cute!

Blevins Halloween Party and Pumpkin patch

We had our annual Blevins Family Halloween Party--costumes and all! We dressed up, ate, painted/carved pumpkins and then made and ate homemade doughnuts. Everyone was able to make it except for Ryan's wife Ashley who had studying to do and Kretha who had to work and couldn't find someone to close for her. We missed them but at least Kretha could join us later for doughnuts.

We do our party on a Sunday so we have the best chance of having everyone there. I was sick so wasn't feeling all that well and Dane had the roughest evening he's ever had so it was a bit stressful with him. As soon as we got him in the car driving home, he calmed right down so we're thinking he was overwhelmed with so many people in a small space. Poor guy. But we had a lot of fun.

Here's the costume rundown (didn't get a pic of Ryan, Chris/kim/Hannah or the Stefaneks, sorry!):

Scary Grandpa Gary and the Queen Bee Grandma Brannies


This ware wolf sat out on the front porch waiting for all the grandchildren so he could scare the living daylights out of them. As soon as Cade saw him, he ran all the way back down the lawn to the cars and wouldn't come up to the house until we insisted Grandpa take the mask off. He likes to scare the kids any chance he can but it's all in good fun!


D Flash and his beauty Wonder Woman.

ow owww! Love D's navy thong and Britt's tall red boots!

Getting ready for the party. Cade's a space ranger this year. He loves to wear his costume as often as I will let him. Should keep him warm in the rain and cold while trick or treating this year.



Dane has this bee costume I got him for 25 cents at a used children's store and a really cute lion costume Cade wore his first Halloween. We're bouncing back and forth between the two since we have 4 chances to dress up this year. Blevins party, Cade's school party, ward party, and trick or treating. fun fun! You know I LOVE a chance to dress up in a costume!



And this is from a few weeks ago when Cade's school had a pumpkin patch day. It was cool but not rainy so it was great! We took a hayride out to the patch, chose a pumpkin, and then got to enjoy the corn and hay mazes and pet some animals. It was a fun day and Dane was such a sport in the hiker pack.

Wow, when I get the motivation to sit down, upload a ton of pictures and write a lengthy update on Dane, bloggers image loader won't work. Great. Who knows when I'll get time and energy to do it again. Sorry Dane, your Ode to Dane post will have to wait. :(

New Moon.....coming soon.

I'm pretty excited. :) And the short-haired Jacob's not looking too shabby too!

School days, school days.....

Yesterday was a BIG day for Cade. He started preschool!

I really like his school so far. I was given a recommendation by 2 other mom's in our ward who's boys were enrolled in the 3 yr class so I quickly looked into it and got Cade registered and in the same class. So starting off, he has 2 friends already, his teacher is really nice and has been teaching for a long time and seems to still have the passion and enthusiasm for teaching so that's reassuring. :)

He goes Tuesday and Thursday for 2 3/4 hours. Has sharing time on Thursdays and gets to bring the class snack every 10 weeks. They have free play, crafts, outdoor play, story and song time, etc. I'm really excited for Cade to have this time away for himself, to meet and socialize with other little buddies. And it gives me alone time with Dane which is wonderful--I'm so excited!

Here we are out in the driveway, he's on his way!....

When we got to school, right outside his classroom they have coat hanger pegs with each child's name on them and a plastic bag for their coats, hats, etc. Cade's putting his jacket inside his.

Jacket and school bucket are hung on his "Cade" peg and he's all ready for class! Isn't he a handsome little fella?! I can't believe my baby is 3 already and going to school.

He was so excited it was hard to get his attention for pictures but I was able to snap a few of him at the table playing playdough with his church (and now school) buddies.

From left to right: Joshua Walker, Cade, Owen Fuller. Teacher Dianah far right.

And just one more with the gang before I left him there.

He is so independent, I knew we'd have no problem with tears. If he was a little weepy, I know it would have made it harder for me to leave him but no problem here! After school he wanted to tell m all about it.....how he played with cars, and had cheese crackers for snack, and I even heard a few unfamiliar songs from him throughout the day so I know they did some singing too. He can't wait to go back tomorrow and bring something to share with his class. I think this is going to be a really great school year for him! :)

And after school, he had his 3 year well child check with his new doctor.

He's 37.6 pounds -- 75th %

He's 41 1/2 inches tall -- 95th %

He passed the Denver Developmental Screening Test with flying colors and couldn't be any healthier! What a blessing!

Mt. Pisgah hike 2009

About a month ago, we did a hike together as a family, the first REAL hike for Cade. Mt. Pisgah is a constant incline, most adults huff and puff their way up the mountain so we had no idea how Cade was going to do. We came prepared to carry him piggy-back every so often while the other carried Dane in the hiker. He did an incredible job--walked a bit slower than daddy wanted to go--but only was carried twice the whole way up and down. This kid has energy!

in the beginning

dane took a little snoozer

halfway up

(cade 3, Dane 9 months)

Dane was amazing, as usual, and we enjoyed a really nice summer eve together and watched a pretty remarkable sunset on top as well. This is how I like to spend summers with my family--together, doing anything outdoors!

Living/Dining Room

Okay, so I believe it's time for a few updates.

We'll start with the main room which is our living room/dining room and flows into the kitchen. Picture window and sliding door looks out on the backyard and patio so we're located on the bottom, backside of the house.

Before:

Walls used to have wood paneling and red foil wallpaper beneath. Big brick fireplace with big wood stove, dirty dark brown shag carpet with cracked white tile underneath, kitchen had linoleum floors, only 2 old light fixtures, benches built into the wall under main window........just a strange looking room.

After:

Wood paneling, red foil wallpaper, dark brick fireplace, wall benches, old light fixtures, wood stove, shag carpet......GONE! Aaron and his dad drywalled every wall in the room, texture, painted, and now it has nice white trim top, bottom, and around windows. fireplace has been primed and painted, wood stove is removed because main chimney pipe is cracked and we couldn't use it anyway. Warm colored laminate wood floors replace the carpet and linoleum that was in the kitchen---it now looks and feels great! Aaron wired new outlets, light switches, and installed new can lighting throughout the whole place. Super nice!

Two hardworking men!

This room looks and feels brand new! It's not totally done but I knew I needed to show what has been going on for the past 2 1/2 months of our life!

Oh dear. Soooo much to blog about. We have floor all throughout our place now. a picture really speaks a thousand words so I'll post one later today. And I'm SO SICK of painting and will be glad when my door frames, and trim are DONE! My mom is an angel, watches my boys so I can get work done. LOVE THAT LADY! Anyway, we're not "moved in" yet but getting real close! By next weekend we'll have our OWN SPACE. Hooray!!

Dane's amazing and so much fun--can't get enough of that kid and Cade's signed up for fall sports and I'm searching for a preschool.......we're jumping into real kid-life around here....things are about to get real busy!

Pictures to come this afternoon! I PROMISE!!!

Wednesday evenings at Oakway

It's late and I don't know where my camera is at the moment so I found this picture off of a friend's blog. I want to post about it cause it's one of the things I've especially been enjoying about the summer so far here in Eugene/Springfield. Every Wednesday evening at 5:30 the Oakway Center has a free mini outdoor concert in their lovely courtyard. The musical groups and genre of music changes from week to week....jazz, Jamaican steel drums, big band, Latin flavor, etc. The boys and I usually go by bike and meet up with my mom there. Every Wednesday we enjoy these concerts in the warm summer evenings. This picture shows a day when I watched Cade's little buddy Easton.....I had him until about 7 or so, so I just took him along with us, in the car this time. Good to find out my Camry fits 3 car seats in the backseat. :) Anyway, my friend met us there to pick him up and listened for little bit. These concerts have been a great way to enjoy summer outdoors here, bike ride and all. Matter of fact, we just enjoyed it tonight and I've decided the big band group from tonight was my favorite overall. Great music for Swing, Charleston, and Lindy hop. I didn't have my partner (aaron couldn't come) so I didn't do any dancing but I sure boogied in my seat while all the kids around us shook and shimmied. I love summer and will be sad when it's over.

i have pictures of a few things that are coming along here at the house but would rather post before and after shots when they are all done. dane is 9 months now so I'll do a post on him soon
and we've been up to lots of fun stuff this summer that needs blogging. i'm really behind but hope to catch up soon!

Baby blessing and good friends

Last Sunday we had a great reason to visit our old stomping grounds in Salem. My great friend Erica and her husband Stephen had their new baby Stephen blessed in church and invited us to come so we were able to attend our old ward again. Before leaving right after Sacrament (i know, sounds bad but we did an "after the blessing BBQ at Erica and Steve's....a legit reason to leave early, right?) I gathered my Salem girlfriends together with all their boys for a group picture! Yep, you heard me right....B.O.Y.S.

In picture from left to right (kinda): Sharon with Calvin and Grayson (to your right of Cade), Emily with Max, Erica with Stephen, me with Dane and Cade in front, Capri without her cute Wyatt. :(

All 5 of us girls have boys only. Erica's baby Stevie was the last addition to the group right before we moved so I wanted a picture of such a unique situation. Us girls and our boys spent the the past 9+ months together enjoying play groups, swim days, library visits, morning walks, etc. and loved every minute of it. I sure do miss you girls and Cade and Dane miss their buddies too! Thanks for being such wonderful friends to us up there in Salem!

This week we've been doing a lot of this......

Cade doesn't usually wear a life jacket but in this pool he has to--NOT exactly kid-friendly. Sweet goggles too, eh?! Dane and his cousin Hannah. Her first time at the pool! :)

and we're going again tomorrow increasing the number of days we've swam this week to 6 times in 8 days. Wow. Do we love to swim or what? :) It's the only way to beat the 105 degree heat we've had this week. :)

We love summertime!!!!

Back from Utah and back to work

So we just returned from a great trip to Utah. I know I say this all the time but I will post pictures soon since we did some REALLY great stuff: new temple open house, family BBQ in the most gorgeous setting, A day and a night in the mountains, girl time.......it was a memorable awesome trip that deserves a post all of it's own! I'll for sure do it soon!

Following up on our place and paint colors....I was pretty set on doing a bright orange accent wall with white, chocolate brown, and silver gray but now I'm having thoughts of going back to a neutral color so I can decorate with anything I want. Choosing to go with orange would be totally fun and SO me but would be more difficult to find a choice rugs, curtains, tile for a back splash in the kitchen, etc to choose from. We might find like 1 or 2 rugs to choose from and what if I don't LOVE either of them? Going with a light tan, cream, or other neutral color seems as though my options would be wide open for choosing matching decor. So I'm still struggling with my decision. Thanks to all of you who have left detailed suggestions. I have read them all and have found some great advice. I've even looked online to see swatches of your specific paint colors if you told me so thanks for your help! :) We're still working on the bathroom but the wall color is pretty much decided so I still have time before having to choose paint for the living room. I'm searching magazines for living rooms that look light, beautiful, clean, and relaxing. I hope to find the perfect color for me. I have plenty of pictures of the renovations so will upload some soon!

Need help!

Help! What is your dream living room wall paint color? We will have a warm cherry wood floor and the room has white trim (like crown molding) but I'm going crazy and can't decide on wall color. It has to be lightish cause the room has very little natural light as it is so I'd like it to stay bright in there. And I plan to decorate with chocolate brown/green apple green or chocolate brown/RED. Please leave your BEST ideas! thank you!!!

A little bummed

I have to keep reminding myself that blogging is my journal...."blogging is your journal Brynne, don't worry that you only ever get 1 comment." It still sucks though. Thank you Em for being my one and only reader.

Phew! We made it!

We made it. We're here and all our stuff has been either unloaded and stored in any possible spot we have so far or in a storage unit. Most of it is in the storage unit since this afternoon. We didn't have one lined up on Saturday so everything got loaded into the house, upstairs and down, and I've been going through every box one at a time, organizing what we have room for, getting rid of stuff we don't need, and repacking it back up to take to the storage unit. My brother helped quite a bit yesterday but really it's been Aaron and I since Saturday. We get a lot done when the boys are asleep at night. Thanks to some guys from our Salem ward we packed up quickly and then the girls came in to help me clean. It was soooo nice to not have to do that alone and a huge thanks to Sharon for watching the boys while we packed the trucks and cleaned AND Capri who helped clean and stay after to see me off. Love you girls! My mom had guys lined up here in Eugene so that when we arrived, they were all ready to help unload. Thanks guys and thanks MOM. You're the best!

There is still alot to do but we're making progress. I'll post pictures when I get a breather.

p.s. Next post meant to be read right after this one. Tells what we've been doing SINCE the move.

Nonstop workin'

Been working from 8am to 2am every day since Saturday. Our rooms are coming along well and we will soon be able to sleep in them. We have a storage unit full of things that will go in our living room and bathroom once it's done. It's total chaos but will be nice when everything is done and all put back together. A HUGE thanks to my mom, my sister, and my friend Brenley for watching the boys here and there so we can get the hard work done. We could never have done what we've done so far without them. We're hard at work now with the closets in the bedrooms and cutting a huge doorway in the wall to the kitchen or I would upload some pictures. Maybe tomorrow and I'll include DONE closets and doorway. whoohoo! :)

To my salem girls: I MISS YOU TONS!!!!

Late night or early morning??

Tomorrow's a big day. It's 1:50 am. My back hurts. My legs ache. My eyes are SO tired...and we're not done packing. Well, the main packing is done, it's just taking down our TV system and organizing all of Aaron's work stuff. It doesn't even seem like we're ready to load a truck at 8 tomorrow morning but I think it's because all the furniture is still inside. As soon as it's out, I think I'll feel like we're getting somewhere. I'm done with all the house and my stuff but Aaron still has things that I'm really no help with because I don't know what it all is and where it would go so I'm debating whether to go to bed or not. I'll feel bad but really, I wouldn't be much help with it anyway. Plus, I have a lot of cleaning to do afterwards. Oh, the cleaning...... :(

Boatnik 2009

In an attempt to update for my journal, this post is for exactly that. Just as a warning, there are a TON of pictures so if you can only handle scanning for pictures instead of reading the words, I won't be offended. :)

Boatnik, the Memorial weekend festival in Grants Pass, Oregon, came quickly this year and was packed with adventures! To save me time I'll just let the pictures stay as I uploaded them. They're quite backwards in the order originally taken (for instance, this first one of Dane was on the ride home) but at least they're here and documented. :) I'm trying to get caught up so yay for me for even posting about it being it was a few months ago.

My family, the Blevins family try to get together in Grants Pass for Boatnik every year. This year, my brother Chris and his wife Kim welcomed their first baby a week before and my brother Ryan and his wife couldn't come for a reason I can't remember so they all stayed home. Those who came were us, my youngest brother Derek and his wife Brittany, my sis Kretha and her family, and my mom and Gary. We always stay overnight with my mom's parents Grandpa and Grandma Kruse but enjoy the daily festivities at my Grandma Mimi's house. The best of both worlds, really! :)

I feel really fortunate to have taken so many wonderful pictures, especially those of my grandparents with us and my children. Those are a treasure forever. :)

Let the backwards pictures begin!!!

Cute Dane peaking up at me on our drive home.

Me, Grandma Kruse, Derek and sleepy Daneboy.

On our last day in Grants Pass, Grandpa barbecued hot dogs and hamburgers. We hung out on the back patio eating, enjoying homemade ice cream and visiting before left for home.

Cute boy Dane.

My mom, Derek with Dane, Kretha and me down on the deck on the river. It's a small spot so we had to take turns in shifts. Where else would we want to enjoy the festivities and see the F-15 flyover from?

Daddy and Dane enjoying an afternoon on the river.

On Saturday night, we crossed the river and went to the carnival. It was just Kretha and her girls Emma and Natalie, Derek and Brittany,and me and Cade. It was Cade's second year at a carnival and he finally was into it! So much fun! But what's a carnival without mmm, elephant ears.......enough said. :)

Riding the alligator roller coaster with cousin Natalie. They're in the second seat from the front. He had a nervous face for most of the ride so I'm surprised I caught him with a smile. He was brave for trying it so I was proud of him.

Cade's favorite, the airplanes. He rode them three times, but only once with scary spider man face.

Kretha dared Derek to ride the mechanical bull at the carnival. He finally accepted the challenge when she pulled out a 5 dollar bill and said she'd pay for that kind of entertainment! :) It was HILARIOUS!!!

Edward Theodore Kruse and Derek Theodore Blevins holding Dane. Dane was almost an Aaron Theodore Andrus. Wouldn't that have been fun, especially after taking this picture. Don't worry Grandpa, our next boy will be a Theodore. :)

Cade with cousin Garrett.
All four kids spent three days straight on these swings over looking the river. I can't blame them cause I love me some swinging too, especially with a view like that! These two are good little buddies!

Dane enjoying Derek's glasses and big hair beard! Holding Dane is Britt, D's cute wife.

My grandparents, Hazel and Ted Kruse. My mother's parents. We will celebrate Grandpa's 90th birthday this August. And you'd never believe it because he still walks 9-18 holes of golf 3 times a week, bowls every Friday night and is good, travels (road trips) to all the grandkids graduations, weddings, and baby blessings, attends golf tourney's, barbershop shows, and even occasionally comes to my mom's house to help her build a shed or set up sprinkler systems. These two are something else and I HOPE I got there long-living, healthy genes. :) We love you guys!!!

Speed Boat race.

Down the river, in and out and around the buoys, and back up the river....definitely my favorite of all the boat races to watch.

My beautiful niece Natalie and me. Both of Kretha's daughters are gorgeous girls!

Brittany, Kretha and me.

Our view of the river (see the buoys? that's where the boats race) can you believe it? We see ALL the action from here!

The guys relaxing.

In back is Aaron and my brother-in-law Adam and down front is Gary, my mom's husband. Sorry Gary, I wanted to post a picture of you but this is the only one I have. You can often times find Gary snoozing....he just gets so comfortable that he can't help but nod off. :)

Both my grandmothers.

In pink is my mom's mother, Hazel Kruse, who is 86 this year. In blue with dark hair is my dad's mother, Arden McConnell. Not sure how old (or young :) she is this year. We watch the boat races from her house. Thanks Mimi for always giving us front-row seats to Boatnik!

The parade.
Grants Pass is never short on tractors. :) Cade liked them the best!

Me, Aaron and Dane. As you can see, the street was PACKED!

The kiddos at the parade on Saturday morning. It was long and hot but really fun!

Grandma Andrus' Birthday

"Happy Birthday to you,

Happy Birthday to you,

Happy Birthday dear Fishhead.......

Happy Birthday to you!!!"

On June 11th we drove down to Eugene to celebrate Aaron's mother Julie on her birthday! She chose dinner at McGrath's Fishhouse (YUM!) and Aaron's dad Craig and brother Phil were there too.

Two handsome devils!

Is there really a kid under there??? Cade wanted to be a fishhead too!

We love you Grandma Andrus even though you're getting old! Haha! Just kidding! :)

2 BIG achievements in our house!

Cade's an underwear-wearer!!!

Today Cade is on day 4 of wearing underwear and in all 4 days, he's only had 2 very small accidents. We've had many outings including JoAnn Fabrics, Walmart, the park, friends houses, and even CHURCH yesterday in underwear! He's waking up dry each morning which is a great step to being totally trained but until I get a plastic mattress protector just in case, he'll remain in pull-ups overnight.

I can't tell you how happy this makes me since we've been kinda at this potty training business for a LONG time now. It's SO MUCH EASIER when they're in underwear! Woohoo! Yay for Cade!!!

Dane's a SITTER UPPER!!!

As soon as he turned 7 months on the 19th, he has made significant progress with sitting up. His core muscles are incredibly strong and we knew the day would come soon. Yesterday on Fathers Day, Dane sat up for minutes on end alone and as he wobbled side to side and front to back, he pulled himself right back into the upright position without any assistance. He loves to be up and interacting with us all instead of on his tummy or back. He's much smaller in size than Cade was sitting at 7 months so it's fun to see this little person just sitting like everyone else!

Way to go Dane!!! We're so proud of you!!!

Potty Training

Yes, we're still at it but for the first time ever, Cade spent ALL day yesterday in underwear! We even had a few outings and I braved it and kept him in his Tomas under-oos and he did great! His only accident was when Grandma Andrus came for a visit and I think he was just too excited and busy to even realize he had to pee until it was too late. No biggie! He went right in, sat on the toilet and let out the rest. We're so proud of you Cade!

(picture not from yesterday but from an earlier attempt at wearing underwear)

Yesterday morning while changing Cade from him overnight pull-up to his underwear, he got loose while naked and ran around the living room. He noticed his reflection in our big window and turned around to check out his backside in it and said, "mom, I'm showing the window my bum!" It was the funniest thing! I laughed so hard. Then today, same thing when he was naked in front of the closet mirror in our bedroom...."mom look! I'm showing the mirror my bum." :) What a kid!


Since Cade has turned 3 and become somewhat of a challenge, he has upped our need to modify the way we discipline him almost on a daily basis. "That doesn't work, now what? Okay, that didn't work, let's try this......" (you get the idea :) So we are all about giving him positive everything and dishing out compliments left and right. Who knew that would work so well? :) And especially since he's been potty training, he's heard a lot of "Cade, I'm so proud of you!!!" so today while on the phone with daddy, he was talking all about his success with his Thomas underwear yesterday and how he got a special chocolate treat when he went poop in the toilet. Daddy said, "oh cool! I went poop in the toilet. Can I get a special chocolate treat too?" and Cade answered back, "I'm so PROUD of you!!!" :) You had to hear his voice, he really was excited for his dad to go potty on the toilet. I could hear Aaron cracking up laughing on the other end of the phone.


We've all been told how compliments and being positive is the best way to encourage kids and it's fun to see them doing it back to us. And it sure feels good too!

The Daytime Crew

Here we are.

It's the three of us all day, every day.

I can't think of anywhere else I'd rather be! :)

7 months and a side-sleeper to boot!

Dane's new favorite sleeping position is on his side. He's been doing it for close to 2 months now but I can still remember the first time I walked in to check on him and found him on his side........here he is. I thought it was the cutest thing ever!

Now we find him every now and then on his tummy and the doctor says it's okay. I guess if he's strong enough to make it from his back to his tummy on his own, his tummy and lungs are strong enough to handle that position so I don't worry.

But yes, occasionally we still see him sleeping on his back like I found him today. Here he is today, 7 months old, and cuter and sweeter than ever!

He smiles and laughs ALL the time. He loves to eat anything and everything I give him and at all hours of the day. He's sitting up on his own with close supervision, he takes 3 great naps and sleeps all night long. Like his older brother Cade, he loves to rock his body back and forth....on your lap, while sitting on the floor, while in the high chair, anywhere and he can really get going! He's a grabber and can snatch anything near his hands faster than you can blink an eye. :) He's okay playing in a jumper or on his tummy with toys but would rather be held so he can do whatever I'm doing. Best of all, He LOVES Cade. :) Dane works hard to get Cade's attention by making the same noise over and over again until Cade looks at him. Once Cade has noticed him, Dane lets out a loud gurgly laugh and smiles from ear to ear! I love to see their excitement with each other as they interact. I can't imagine only having one child. The love I have for my boys is inexplicable and I know it will only multiply the more we have. I love it!

7 month stats

weight: 16 lbs 7 oz 20%

height: 27 inches 50%

Just call him the "Long, Lean Dane Machine" :)

Santiam Hospital Fun Run/Health Walk 2009

Summertime means race time!

(From left to right: Sharon and Ben Stewart and boys Grayson and Calvin, Emily and Kris Sperry with my Dane and their Max, Me and Kristen Short)

The one and only run I have found in Salem is the Santiam Hospital Fun Run and Health Walk and it's only $5 so I like to do it each year. My friend Kristen Short and I (me in white and her in black next to me) did this a few years back and decided to do it again this year. But this time, I encouraged some of my other friends (who I walk with each morning) who then encouraged their husbands to join in on the fun too! This was our crew for the 5K walk (Stewarts and Sperrys) and 8K run (Kristen and me.)


Aaron had Cade in Eugene with him so it was just me and Dane. I ran and pushed Cade in the stroller last time I did this race so since I just had Dane and now have an awesome BOB, I asked Emily if she and Kris would mind pushing Dane and their little Max in the double. It worked out perfectly! I ran stroller-free for once and Max had a little buddy to ride with which made him really happy! Emily said they held hands the whole time. :) Thanks Emily and Kris for taking such good care of my Dane and my BOB!



Dane and Max, BOB buddies!



Dane and me after the race. I ran the 5 miles in 41:20. Not too shabby considering there were 3 killer hills on our course!

Hannah growing....

Baby Hannah

This beautiful little girl has changed so much since the first time I saw her. She was all chubby and swollen on her first day of life in the hospital. Now, 4 weeks later, she's looking more baby and less newborn, petite, and oh so pretty! We all think she looks a lot like my brother Chris (her father) when he was a baby. So Chris, I guess you were a pretty baby too. Sorry!

Dane's 7 months but it feels like he was just born a month ago--I've forgotten how tiny they are at 1 month old. Thanks Kim for stopping by so I could snuggle with your sweet little lady!

"trouble, trouble, where'd'you go?"

It's 11pm and I really want to update. I have tons of pictures from past adventures but for some reason, blogger is making it hard to organize my post once I've uploaded my pictures. I can't drag and drop them into the place I want them. Is this happening to anyone else? If you were wondering WHY I haven't updated in a while, THIS is why! Super frustrating! Please help if you want to see fun pictures. :)

So........

We're moving!

I guess since half my house is packed in boxes, it's about time to let the cat out of the bag and tell you all that we're leaving this town, this neighborhood, this home and heading south. Yup, we're moving back to the Eugene/Springfield area at the end of the month. I say that with mixed feelings. We have come to enjoy certain things about Salem. Our ward is wonderful and I'm not sure we'll ever find a ward quite like them again. We also have finally gained a small group of friends that have boys Cade loves to play with so that will be hard to let go of as well. We are blessed to have been here and to have known the people who have welcomed us into their hearts and homes and hope to carry that same spirit with us along our journey of life.

Aaron has had an opportunity to expand/refocus/whatever-you'd-like-to-call-it his business and he gave me the choices of moving to Eugene or Portland. Knowing me and how I love Eugene for the city that it is and our family that live there, I chose the first! :) It is the prefect fit for us and we can't wait to start enjoying the summer down there.

We (and when I say "we" I mean "Aaron and his father") are renovating the downstairs area at Aaron's parent's house into an updated apartment living space. We will have 3 bedrooms, a large laundry room, double sink bathroom, large living room and smallish but new and nice kitchen. We have a large covered patio great for barbecuing and entertaining friends and family and a large grassy backyard to enjoy. Aaron's dad has planted a beautiful garden so we will reap the benefit of that as well.

Springfield's Willamelane is a wonderful summer recreation program for families with all types of concerts and activities to enjoy all summer long. There are tons of races for me to train for and run and the bike trails close by will be perfect in helping our little family stay active and healthy. Cade will be taking swim lessons at the outdoor Amazon pool this summer and will start preschool in the fall.

Living in Aaron's parent's home, the boys will be loved and spoiled even more by Grandma and Grandpa Andrus. We will be a 5 minute drive to Grandma and Grandpa Brannies (my mom and Gary) and also close to my brother Derek and my sister Kretha and their families. The boys will be able to spend lots of time with their cousins and my sister and I will be able to start running together again.

We are very excited about the move -- to be close to family, meet new friends, and see Aaron's business continue to grow and be successful -- but want to thank everyone here in Salem for being our friends and supporting us in every way possible. We feel loved and blessed and know we have made friendships that will continue even after we're gone. Capri and Erica, you both know you're already tossing around the "moving out of Salem" idea so I'm gonna be pressuring you big-time to move to Eugene. :)

So there you have it!

Anyone need a laugh?

Are words even necessary? :)

Making them

I'm making the before mentioned granola bars right now. I'll take a picture and follow up on how I like my creation (I'm altering the recipe a bit) and any tips on what to do and what not to do based upon my experience. Here's to healthy homemade snacks! Stay tuned!........

p.s. we have wind, heavy rain, thunder and lightning, and a tornado watch in our county right now. Regular Oregon spring weather? I think not. :)

Granola Bar Update: The bars turned out great--so easy to make, delicious, and filling too! One bar and a piece of fruit really is a perfect snack. I halved the recipe and it made 10 bars in a 9x9 pan. I'll do a full recipe next time since I like them so much.

My alterations/suggestions: I didn't have wheat germ so left it out and sprinkled in some flax seed to the oat/nut/seed mixture. And instead of peanuts, I used sliced and chopped almonds and pistachio nuts and only toasted them in the oven for 8-9 mins. My fruit mix was dried cherries, cranberries, and raisins. You really can do any nut or fruit you want. I think I'll try a tropical mixture next for a new flavor.

The only thing I would really do differently as far as the isntructions goes is to use a little crisco instead of cooking spray on the wax paper before dumping the mix into the wax paper-lined pan. The bars stuck to my wax paper with cooking spray and ripped when I turned them out on the cutting board which was kind of annoying to peel off. And I spread and pressed it in the pan with a clean greased hand instead of dirtying a wooden spoon. SO fast and easy and worth it--try it for yourself! See? You know you want some!

Storm Update: Storm pass in about an hour. It left flooding in some areas of Salem, power outages, and some trees down but we were spared all of that in our neighborhood. The Lord continues to watch out over us and bless our little family. We are so grateful for his mercy and love and watchful care.