August Endings

Tonight is my last official night of summer- and I am cranky. Its so sad and hard to believe its over! But, it was a very good summer- my first "off" since before being eligible to legally work! I have established a routine that hopefully I can keep- staying on a routine sleep schedule (and no headaches since my ER migraine!), exercising, reading the Bible, etc. Of course, there are things I didn't get to or things I didn't do enough of.

I still have a pile of reading. Right now I am reading "Marry Him: The Case for Settling for Mr. Good Enough". It makes me realize how lucky I was to find Bryan at such a young age...I won't ever take advantage of that as he keeps getting better with time! :-)

However, I feel good with where I am at. The things I have left are projects I can look forward to doing- I got all the icky house projects out of the way and my office is so much less cluttered now! The last week or so we celebrated two very important birthdays: both of our dads. We were so glad to be able to have a party for my Dad with most of the grandchildren present (except 1) and we also got to go to our first demolition derby in Banks for Bryan's dad's birthday (on the same day as the airshow, which was flying over our house, and Fuz was not too excited about)!

The above are just a few of the pictures lately :-). Heather also had a 30th BBQ at her house last week as well! In September, we will celebrate two niece's birthdays! Happy End of August (kinda)!

Beach Trip! Lunch Date!

Lately I have been juggling a massive influx of family into the Beaverton area, but it has been a lot of fun! Our nieces and nephews are all so adorable and of course brilliant! Yesterday the only ones missing on my side of the family at the beach were the Nicole, Gabe and Miranda Ripley (of Idaho; we saw them last week-see previous post) and Alex Calle( my sister's husband and father of the three little brunettes in the pictures; working in Texas)and Dad, who is no longer able to walk on the beach ( :-().

Today we did a few wedding preparations and had a girls lunch on the Heinrichs' side. Only girl missing was Brandon's future wife, who he has not met yet (we think) and all unborn granddaughters :-).

Seriously...how cute is this kid?

This is turning out to be a great month for families to get together! Bryan and I had the opportunity to drive to Sandpoint, Idaho for last weekend, where we got to spend time with my sister, her husband, and her three (almost four) year old who amazed us with her brains and talents. What other preschooler can read and identify states by name? I think its because her mom runs an five-star daycare :-). We had a chance to hang out with lots of kids, eat good vegetarian food, explore the town and various festivals happening, watch a couple movies, eat lots o' ice cream, and play in the nearby lake! I also got beautiful flowers at the town farmer's market, which brought back great memories of family vacations past, so that explains that picture. And on the way home we saw a huge wildfire and/or crop burning. It was a fast weekend but lots of fun catching up! Now we have Naomi's visit to Oregon with her three little ones on Wednesday to look forward to, which is also my sister-in-law's birthday and they are in town to celebrate with a BBQ as well!

One month until school with the kids (prepping starts sooner)....sigh.

Garage Sale- Check!

It is over and done- what a huge relief! And this week I feel lazy again, but I think it is because last week I hauled booty to get our house thoroughly inspected. Every closet, room, nook and cranny was interrogated for excess junk. That took two and a half days, plus another full day of pricing and organizing. Throw into the mix significantly less sleep than I have become accustomed to this summer, plus other junk from several other families, and three days in a (not too) hot garage, and I am pooped! But it was fun and we made a decent amount of money! Bryan of course has already spent his proceeds in his mind, while I am opting to save my profit for awhile. :-)

This week, other than being lazy, I am getting ready for a trip away to Idaho for the weekend to visit Nicole, Gabe and Miranda. The last time Bryan and I were there was before getting married, so it is long overdue. The past several plans for going were interceeded by circumstances such as weather (the big blizzard of 2008) or not having the proper cars for driving long distances, or simply not having the time. We are looking forward to it! I was hoping to get my files shredded this week, but it looks like that will be moved to next week. However, that is when my OTHER sister from Texas is arriving with her three little ones, and my sister-in-law will be here as well from Seattle.

I am starting to sweat over the fact that I have less than four weeks left of summer. However, as observed by my kick-ass motivation last week, I think I do better when deadlines are looming dead in front of me...I still anticipate having a spotless house by summer's end. At least one thing for sure I have accomplished this summer so far is fun and relaxation!