Last weekend, some friends and myself took a road trip to Eugene, OR for the Oregon vs. Boise State college football game. We had a GREAT time watching BSU take down the Ducks. I absolutely loved Autzen stadium and it’s big and loud, but yet intimate atmosphere.
GAME OVER!
Camping in Ponderosa over Labor day weekend has become a family tradition, so who are we to break that tradition?! We left on Thursday evening set up camp with Dick and Joyce and settled in for the night. Brian and Eryn joined us the next day which we spent boating, water-skiing (way to go girls!) and wakeboarding. So fun!
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After a dinner of roasted hot dogs we had SMORES! And for those of you who didn’t know, s’mores are one of my favorite desserts, and I have so much fun getting my marshmallows to the perfect tan before squishing it onto chocolate and graham crackers! I’m getting hungry just thinking of it!
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The next day was spent on the lake again and ended with the Boise State vs. Idaho State football game, which we won by the way.
Saturday night was a long night for most of us at the camp site. When the thunder and rain storm moved through, Brian and Eryn were woken up and stayed awake concerned that it would wake Liam. Kevin on the other hand loved it and slept through almost the whole thing. Braden and I were in Dick and Joyce’s trailer because the night before we’d had a rough night in the tent (crying every 20 minutes or so). So in the interest of the rest of the campground Braden and I opted for sleeping in the quieter trailer. This didn’t seem to help much and he still woke up crying about every 20 –30 minutes. At 4 he woke up screaming and nothing I did could help. So there we were 4:15am and both of us sobbing in the trailer. Needless to say after breakfast at The Pancake House we packed up and went home. It was a good decision because it rained all day up there. The weekend brought long nights with fun days. Hopefully next year we will have more fun with more sleep!
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| Neither boy liked the trailer. (Can you see the straps going right over Braden’s face?!) We did one loop and came back to camp. We’ll try again next year… | This was the first idea for night sleeping in the tent. What you might not see is that it didn’t quite fit… his legs are curled up and completely cramped into the bottom of the sack. I decided to go with the brown sleeper instead. I called him my little toasted marshmallow. Here he looks like my un-toasted marshmallow! |
The month of July brought lots of firsts for Braden. First tooth, sitting alone for long stretches of time, saying dadadadadada (everything is dada except Dada), and rolling front to back and back to front. Here are some we have pictures of.
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| First time in the ocean – on his first 4th of July | First bike ride, not fond of the helmet |
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| First solid food, green-beans, sweet potatoes and apple sauce are the favorites | First car trip, 5.5 hours to SunRiver Oregon to visit Mom’s family |
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| First time in a boat and in the lake, loved the life jacket, not the water so much. |
Now he’s 6 months old (17.5 lbs, 27 3/4” tall) and I can’t wait to see what August will bring!
I know this is really late, but we just are downloading pictures from our thumb drive onto our laptop. So here they are!
While in California we got the chance to spend the day with my cousin Lisa in Santa Monica, and her husband, Kevin, joined us for dinner later that day. We had a wonderful time catching up with them and shopping in the great stores on the promenade. Thanks Lisa for showing us around! We can’t wait to see you again soon! P.S. You made the cut! 
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The ocean won. On the 4th of July we went to Santa Barbara to visit the beach and watch the fireworks. It was Braden’s first time at the beach and since he loves to be in the water, we figured he would love the ocean. We were wrong, it guess when you are a little over 2 feet tall, the waves are slightly intimidating, loud, cold and rushing towards you. If you look closely, he wouldn’t put his feet down, it was so funny. But he was a real trooper all day long. He even slept through the entire fireworks show!
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When we were in California last week, we had the great pleasure to visit some of our dear friends the Timmons and also the Waters. We went to Manhattan Beach with Luke and Steph on Saturday (thanks Mom and Dad for watching Braden all day!). It was a beautiful day and the beach was sunny and warm, is there anymore one could want? We also got to see their new place in Valencia, pretty nice guys, and spend the afternoon of the 4th with them in Santa Barbara. We loved getting to see you in your new life in California.
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We got to spend time with Chris & Elizabeth Waters. Chris took us to the Griffith Observatory which was a great way to see the LA skyline and learn a little about space while we were there. We joined Elizabeth for dinner at Buca di Beppo. So good! It was so wonderful to see you and catch up on life. Hope to see you in Boise this summer!
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| Braden, my mom and I flew to Portland to visit her sisters and take part in our traditional MS walk. He was a great flyer! Slept the whole way there! |
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| Braden with the girls on the walk. I think he got the best seat in the house! |
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| Once again, he’s got the best seat in the house! Thanks Great Aunt Wendy and Diane! We love you and hope to see you again soon! |
Well, here I am on my last day here in Bangalore, India after a week and a half. It has been quite a trip. I had a great time and met some great people but it was EXTREMELY hard being away from my family and I can’t wait to be home with them again.
I’ll write again soon about my actual trip and about the crazy traffic and driving, but for now I’ll link to some photos I took and a video …
The photoset is here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kmturner/sets/72157604143468920/
You can get a small feel for the traffic in this video.
After the stay with the Bergman side, we drove to Longview WA to see my dad’s parents. It’s always great to see them! It was a great relaxing trip that was probably the last trip Kevin and I will take before we become parents! Thanks to everyone for keeping the secret and making it a wonderful trip!
My Grandparents live in a home built in the early 1940’s and consequently the ceiling in the basement is really low. My poor hubby who is 6′4″ kept hitting his head on various places around the room. My ever resourceful Grandpa decided to help him. This was my grandma’s old bicycle helmet. Doesn’t he look thrilled! His poor head. He kept saying that the house was built for midgets!
A family tradition on my mother’s side that we just love to participate in is called “the box”. Yes, a little scary sounding, but it’s so great! My mothers sister Diane works for corporate Nike in Beaverton and throughout the year has the opportunity to collect free items that would be thrown away or given away. She brings these items home and puts them in, you guessed it, the box. This year we had 14 people participating and we each got 4 high quality items. We draw numbers and go around the circle in order, shutting our eyes and blindly reaching in and picking out an item. Each piece can be stolen 3 times then is “frozen”. It is so fun, especially when the men grab out something like a sports bra or gold lamay pants! We all came away with so many great Nike items. (the retail value of the average persons stash is over $150!) Thanks so much Diane!
Yes I do feel just that big, if not bigger!
I’m guessing there was a football game on…
Always so much food and gathering in the kitchen.
Kevin and my cousins son Christian comparing their digital cameras
Wow, no need to get so excited ladies! (Aunt Wendy on left, Mom on right)
