THE BIG BOYS' BIRTHDAY BASH

Silas and Devon decided to have a joint birthday party this year for some ultimate frisbee and dodgeball fun. They also decided they wanted dump cake, and lots of it, as the dessert that was served. So Tim and I made lots of dump cake!

I was busy chatting with people the whole time we were at the park and failed to take a single picture of the games or guests. Oops! I did, however, get a few different combinations of Ws. First up, Tim and I before the party started.

Then all six Ws with Tom and Linda, my bonus in-laws, during the dessert break.

One shot of all 6 Ws as the party ended.

And one of our family with Gabi, one of our bonus Ws, before we headed home.

Perfect weather and fun people made for a great day to celebrate two little Ws!

DEVON & SILAS MADE ME SMILE

Check out this awesome bouquet of hydrangeas that Devon brought home from work for me yesterday afternoon! There's a fifth bloom in the back that you can't see, but they're all big and beautiful.

He'd gone straight outside to chop wood when he was done arranging the flowers and I was in the middle of making freezer jam, so I didn't think to take a picture with him and the flowers until nearly 10:00 last night. Better late than never, right?

Silas had to take care of some Water Wars prep later in the evening, so I asked if I could come along to help. It was the second day of thunderstorms and the sky was gnarly, but the thunder, lightning, and torrential rain let up and we stayed dry while we got our work done.

We finished our project at the church and then he treated me to my first Salt & Straw outing. The skies opened and we got completely drenched in the half a block from where we parked to the front door. That's fine. Water dries. And because I know people will ask, the three flavors we shared were pear & blue cheese, strawberry honey balsamic with black pepper, and almond brittle with salted ganache. 

It's a good day when I get fresh flowers from one of my big boys and ice cream from the other!

THANKFUL THURSDAY

I'm thankful for powerful summer thunderstorms that rage for an hour and are followed by gorgeous sunsets. What's something that you're thankful for?

DAD CAME TO TOWN

Dad rolled into town on Thursday afternoon for a visit. It didn't take Gabi and Tyler long to turn the bed of Dad's truck into a playground.

Tim and Silas eventually got home from work and we all had a low-key evening at home, including Dad and Silas spending time strumming together.

The plan for yesterday was Dad and I to go on a bike ride at Champoeg with Naomi, Tyler, and Gabi. Our morning looked like this, but with multiple bikes.

We finally had to accept defeat. No bike ride. Super frustrating for various reasons, but we decided to go to the park anyway to hike and hang out. I chuckled as I got out of the car at the park and saw this tucked in my window.

I'd put it there the day before, knowing I sometimes need a perspective shift. Perfect timing. What's weird is that it blew out the window in the parking lot as we were leaving, but none of us could find it anywhere. I guess it was just meant to be there for that morning.

We spent a couple hours walking trails, checking out the river, rolling down hills, watching various wildlife (a doe and her two fawns, squirrels, several neat birds), and eating a picnic lunch.

We had some down time after the park. Gabi went home for a while and Dad played word games with Naomi and Tyler.

Silas and Natie showed up later. We spent some time looking through old pictures and running errands before Tim got home from work and Gabi came back over. Our evening was filled with games, dinner, popsicles in the front yard, playing with superballs, talking about all sorts of things, watching YouTube videos, and using (or trying to break, depending on who you are) secret codes.

Devon's out of town and didn't get to join us, which was pretty disappointing, but the other five Ws and two bonus Ws enjoyed our time with Dad (AKA Bruce and Papa) before he headed back home this morning.

THANKFUL THURSDAY

I'm thankful for dry roasted almonds. What's one thing that you're thankful for?

DEVON'S BIRTHDAY - 2019

Devon had a milestone birthday last week.

That means I took this picture of him as we returned from his first time behind the wheel. Here's to round two of teaching a little W to drive!

Schedules were wonky, but he and Tim finally got out for their traditional doughnut date on Saturday.

And I snapped a quick birthday outfit picture of him yesterday morning before he left town for a week. Better late than never, right?

UPDATE - Due to the big boys wanting a joint birthday party and Devon being out of state for eight days, the boys' birthday bash happened a couple weeks after Devon's birthday.

FATHER'S DAY - 2019

Three kids gave Tim some Father's Day gifts yesterday morning, then I snapped a quick picture before we all headed off to church. 

The fourth kid's gift was a concert on the Unashamed Forever Tour, which is where this picture was sent from later that evening.

THANKFUL THURSDAY

I'm thankful for a chance to sit on the church lawn last night and watch a gorgeous sunset while eating cake. What's something that you're thankful for?

TIME WITH LAURA

Laura was the first friend I made when we moved to the Portland area almost 14 years ago. Her family headed to another state last summer, but she came back for a visit and last night a group of gals were able to spend the evening with her. While everyone knew at least one other person in the group, no one knew everyone. That made for a fun evening of getting to know new people as we all chatted about trivial things, delved into some more serious topics, laughed, and ate good food.

Not only am I thankful for a chance to see this sweet friend, but also that two other friends were there - one who's moving out of state this weekend and one (another who was one of my first friends here) I rarely get to spend time with. It was a great four hours!

BIRTHDAY BAGS

I got a BMoff package in the mail yesterday!! I knew it was coming, but happy mail is fun even when you're expecting it.

I think this card and sticker that were in the package are so fun! 

Happy (early) birthday to me!! My sister said she wanted to make a cinch bag for me as a birthday gift. She let me choose the design and she stretched the comfort zone of her artistic spirit to satisfy her Type A sister's preferences. I love it!! 

Not only did I get the custom cinch bag I wanted, but she surprised me with a zippered pouch! I already have one with fir trees on it, which I just started using in place of my wallet this week, but now I have her mountain design. 

I love BMoff's OR/PNW art!

THANKFUL THURSDAY

I'm thankful I decided to spent twenty minutes sitting alone in my back yard, relaxing with a hot drink in the cool morning air, before tackling the responsibilities of my day. What's one thing you're thankful for?

TWO SIDES OF DEVON

We saw a couple sides of Devon last week. 

First, the classy side. 

Devon's the most casual dresser of all the little Ws, but he chose to wear a buttoned shirt and tie for the completely low-key Memorial Day ceremony we attended at Belle Passi last week. His reason? It's Memorial Day! Of course, that's never been cause for him to dress up at all before, but whatever. He was in tennis shoes and had his shirt untucked, but still. A dress shirt. And a tie. Of his own accord.  

Second, the sweaty side.

He swapped the dress shirt for a t-shirt as soon as we got home from the ceremony and promptly started splitting wood.

He warmed up, changed into shorts, got a new tool, and kept at it.

His face is covered in the next picture, but something about his stance just makes him look so grown up to me.

He's thoroughly enjoyed this new opportunity to split wood and I'm really thankful for all the time he's spent doing it!

TIM'S A KEEPER

I was working in the yard on Friday morning when I noticed some flowers I'd never seen before. They were in a little patch of dirt that someone had roped off quite a while ago, but I'd assumed the area was just another one of Devon's wheat crops. It wasn't wheat that I saw there on Friday, though. It was irises. We already have some huge irises, but these were small like wild iris. In case you haven't caught this little tidbit along the way, my mom loved wild iris. 

I was on the phone at the time and interrupted the conversation to say I thought one of the Ws may have planted a bunch of iris bulbs as a surprise for me. Curious, I asked each family member about the flowers in person or via text until the process of elimination proved Tim had planted them. How sweet is that?

But it gets sweeter.

Not only did he plant them, but he attempted to bury the bulbs in a way that would spell out "mom" when they bloomed. That's a somewhat lofty goal that didn't work out the way he hoped, but the fact he tried is neat.

But it gets even sweeter.

He planted them in January, which was the 27th anniversary of my mom's death. 

Seriously awesome.

The purple one is my favorite because it looks the most like all the ones found growing in the wild.

But there are also yellow ones.

And white ones.

Such a thoughtful thing to do!!

Later that evening he asked if I wanted to go on a date. If so, we'd go. If not, he was hunkering down for the night. We were both pretty wiped out, so it was tempting to just lay low at home. We haven't had a date in a while, so we opted for going on a short, mellow date. 

We decided to walk downtown for ice cream at Paleteria El Paisanito. It was our lucky night because I found a dollar bill on the sidewalk, then he found one just down the block.

Then it was ice cream time. This dairy-deprived girl was pretty excited for this gluttonous treat! Cappuccino and coffee for Tim, lime and raspberries and cream for me.

The weather was dreamy, so we sat on the plaza to chat while we enjoyed our ice cream before walking back home.

We're human, so our marriage is definitely imperfect, but I'm really grateful Tim consistently works at being a good husband.

MEMORIAL DAY - 2019

We have a tradition of going to a Memorial Day ceremony at Belle Passi each year. It's a beautiful cemetery, so I usually take a picture of some part of it before we leave.  

Gabi came along this year, so we also took a group picture for an album we keep of things he's done with us.