baby Claire

We had such a nice time visiting Corey and Sarah and spending time
with our newest niece, Claire. She is such a sweet little baby.

Katelyn (or, Kate-as she is now requesting to be called), Ezra & Audrey
Sleep over!

little stinker (this is truly a term of endearment) with daddy- basically
kicked me out of the bed onto Ezra's twin bed. Surprisingly, it was
a great place to sleep, for me :)

Claire in her blessing gown

Alaina has a strong affection for her Uncle Corey

Justin's parents were there as well as his younger brother Travis and his family.
Ezra, Kate, Isaac, Alaina, Audrey

Poor Sophie was having a bit of an emotional day :(
Isn't her hair beautiful?
(in case you didn't catch it, she's the one not facing the camera)

little stinker

Oh my child...



Saturday, after our getaway at the Mansion, we picked up the girls and drove over to Roslyn, WA to my brother and sister in law's home for two nights. They blessed their newest addition, Claire on Sunday (I should probably do a post about that).

Monday morning we were all getting ready to head over to Spokane so Justin and Corey could help Sarah's dad build a carport. Alaina came around rubbing at her nose and acting as if something was bothering her nose. I tried to get a look, but she wasn't too happy with me. I thought I felt something hard from the outside of her nose, but she just started crying and trying to escape me every time I tried. Corey tried to have a look, but didn't see anything. She seemed fine enough, so we left and I told myself I would just keep an eye on it. I was still skeptical.

Last night I was holding her while she slept in my arms and I could hear something was obstructing the air in her left nostril. As my husband will tell you, I am a "picker", so this was really bothering me, and I was feeling slightly obsessed about clearing her nasal passage, but I wasn't about to disturb her sleep.

My mom told me she cleared some "stuff" from Alaina's nose today, but at bedtime, I took another look and got out the q-tips. I could feel something hard up there and it was high time to get it out, whatever it was! I decided to grab a flashlight and sure enough, there was a green bead of some sort stuck in there. I knew it! I KNEW IT! Luckily I still have a dental instrument from my working days and was able to snatch it out just like that. My poor baby. I just have a feeling that with Alaina we will probably see many, many more instances like this throughout the course of her life. There's just something about her personality...she makes me laugh.

this is a beauty

I would love this:



Rarely do I look at the Pottery Barn catalog or website. Too expensive. However, today I was looking online for white beds and came across this. I fell in love. We have been feeling (literally) the need/want for a new bed lately (lots of weird back pains going on). We have a small home and an even smaller bedroom and I thought this would be a fantastic solution for extra storage space. Six good size drawers right in the bed. Awesome! I wonder if we could DIY this bed and make it for less??? (stop rolling your eyes Justin!)

What do you think?

7th Anniversary Getaway

Justin and I just celebrated our 7th Anniversary at Cameo Heights Mansion.
I have been wanting to go here for quite some time and let me tell you, it
was worth the wait! I have a new happy place, and this is it!

We decided to leave our BMW home this time (wink, wink)

Justin and I had fun taking pictures of ourselves on the back patio.

Relaxing by the pool, waiting for our dinner reservations.

This is the kitchen/dining room area. They have their own restaurant,
"The Vine" and their chef, Penny-is absolutely AMAZING!

That hunk of meat back on the counter is what became someone's dinner.

We definitely splurged on this dinner. The food was just so incredible.
This was THE best artichoke dip I have EVER, ever tasted.

I ordered the "Bing Cherry Chicken" stuffed with, well stuffing, and served
with fresh green beans, corn and seasoned rice. Delish!

Justin ordered the prime rib. He nearly wept because it was so good.

They talked us into a bottle of Sparkling Cider made locally. It was also excellent.

And who can pass up dessert? Well. Not us.
Peach Cobbler and Mud Pie.

Yes it was delicious. Yes it was slightly gluttonous. And yes! It was worth it!
(dinner is not included in the price of your stay, so be prepared to drop
some cash)

So, lets take a peek at the room we stayed in:
Come on up!

neat key, huh?

Love this room. A lot!

Beautiful, beautiful decor; the most plush linens I have ever slept on;
I love the white trim and brightness of the room.
This room is at the very top of the Mansion, so it feels a bit more secluded.

so lovely

Awesome bathroom.

Air jetted tub for two.
We also got a little gift box with bubble bath, a bath "bomb" and goats milk
soap that they make there at the mansion. The fragrance is very nice.

Here are some views from our balcony, so to speak.
(you can't really go out onto a balcony, but the french doors open and you
can look out over the railing)

The mansion is surrounded by acres and acres of orchards and vineyards

Looking down on the patio and hot tub

Pool with water feature.
Since we were only staying one night, we wanted to do as much as possible.
Our dinner event lasted two hours and afterward we took a walk around the
orchards to let our very full stomachs settle. After our walk it was dark
and we went down to the pool for a swim underneath a starry sky.
It was so much fun!

I am so glad our Anniversary is in August. It's always nice weather.

I was giddy, giddy, giddy.

before dinner

Next: The Wake-Up call:
They give all the guests a wake up call at 8am. They serve you fresh,
home made danishes, with your choice of beverage
right to your door-with a little knock and a friendly "good morning".
Also included is the local weather forecast.

This bathrobe was so luxurious

Breakfast is then served at 9am. Started with a fresh cup of delicious fruit
and whatever beverage your heart desires.

Followed by a hot meal. Ours was: Italian Sausage Fritatta, chive buttermilk
biscuit, and finely shredded hash browns.

Here is a view of the back of the mansion from the highway

It was such a romantic, cozy place. It just did not last long enough.
Justin and I both LOVED it and really enjoyed our stay.

burnout

I have been lacking the energy to blog lately. But! For today, I will say that I am thankful for meeting new people who I can relate to and who inspire me to be better. Really thankful.

finally, a ragnar post :)

About the RAGNAR

My team: Speed Sold Separately

This is Cami, who was our team captain, who also ran the RAGAR at 5 months pregnant with TWINS! She was pretty much our hero.

I loved this! (I am a LOTR fan)

putting on our ragnar tatoos

sleeping on the gym floor

This is at the last hand off, waiting for runner #11 to come in

********

(sorry for the layout of this post. sometimes blogger is irritating, and I'm too impatient to switch all the pictures around)


OK. So because 1 person requested to hear about the RAGNAR I will do a post. It was a little over 2 weeks ago, that I piled in the van with these 5 lovely ladies to embark on my first RAGNAR experience (notice I didn't say last). We did the Northwest Passage Relay, which as I mentioned before is a relay race that starts in Blaine, WA and ends on Whidbey Island, WA. It was a total of 190 miles. There were 12 of us on our team. The 6 of us in the picture below are from Van #2.

Our van only had to drive to Bellingham, WA because that is where our first runner would start. Between all of us, we each ran 3 times in the same rotating order. I was runner #8. We all had different miles and each of our legs varied in difficulty. My legs were: 2.8 miles, 7.7 miles and 4.8 miles. Mentally, the 7.7 mile run was the hardest. And it was at night (I started around 11pm), but I felt pretty good after it anyway. Physically, those last 4.8 miles were really hard for me. After doing the half marathon and prior to doing the RAGNAR, I got into a running rut (frankly, I am still trying to climb out of it) and so I didn't really "train" as hard as I should have for this relay. My body was sore from my 1st two legs, I had only gotten roughly 2 hours of crappy sleep on a gym floor (hey, that's part of the experience I guess) and to top it off I got my period. Anyway, I struggled to finish those last 4.8 miles. I tried to pep talk myself and AC/DC myself the entire way. I just realized that I had never pushed my body this much before and when I finally finished that leg, something came over me and I just started crying. It was really weird.





























































So, more about the RAGNAR. It was a lot of fun. I definitely recommend doing it. Everything from the individual team names, to the costumes, to the decorated cars, to the lack of sleep, torturing your body (just a little). It was all just a great experience. There as a great feeling of team spirit among all of the participants. It was fun being at the major exchanges (where the last runner in van 1 and the first runner in van 2 would hand off) because they were the biggest and everyone was cheering for each other as we all came in.

So, in a nutshell, I would do it again in a heart beat! Pure fun, even amidst the painful parts.





(below: me finishing my first leg. I was running down hill. there was a lot of bounce going on in this picture...ugh)