T's 1st artwork!!

T found a pen the other day and, much to my surprise, started drawing a picture on a piece of paper laying around. I was so shocked that he was able to recognize what it was for and knew what to do with it! I thought that would start later, maybe around two. So of course I had to capture his first artwork. I'm not sure what it is supposed to be, so I will just call it, "T's masterpiece"!

SO SAD - after looking and looking through all of my pictures, I cannot find his first artwork!!! We'll have to capture future art projects from now on!

Has it really been 32 years already??

Wow, I cannot believe I am turning the ripe old age of 32!! Funny enough, I remember when my mom was this same age. I was in third grade and to me, anything over 30 sounded so ANCIENT. Well, I'm here now and to me 32 is just the beginning of the next chapter in my life. My 20's were for finishing college, getting my Master's and establishing and succeeding in my career (okay, and having fun while doing that, too!). But now I look ahead to my 30's as a time to be my best for my family. I feel like I accomplished many goals in my 20's and look forward to setting new goals in this new stage of my life. So no, 32 is not old, it's just a new part of my life :)
We had my birthday dinner over at Trav & Bridg's, but decided to go to the duck park in Sellwood before heading over. It was so much fun to see what T Man thought of all the ducks :)

Family visit

We were so excited to have a visit from G'ma & Papa George as well as cousins, Emma & Eli! They got to see Tristan's cool new walking moves as well as celebrate Brian and my birthdays at our fave new southern food restaurant, Delta. We love their visits!


Emma & T at the park


Emma, always a poser any time a camera is around :)


Our attempt at a family pic before dinner


Cousins T & Eli, walking to dinner


Is this what having three kids would be like?? Even Emma looks a little concerned...

June Birthday Crew

This weekend we went over to Lawrence's to celebrate the June Birthday Crew! I think this may be the 14th year that Falks, Lo and I have celebrated together - wow! Falks, Brittni (bday same day), Lo, Brian (bday same day) and I were spoiled as we had good food and drinks with our friends.

I always love this time of year because there is so much to look forward to!




Part of the June Birthday Crew - Brittni, me, Falks and Brian

Zoo Day

Since this was the first nice day we've had in quite awhile, we decided to take the Zervis fam up on their offer to go to the zoo. We hadn't been since T was 8 months old, back in January, so we knew this would be a much more fun visit! Here are some pics of all of us not only enjoying the animals, but also a train ride and a bird show/picnic. Gotta love the zoo!

We have a walker!

Even though T Man has been taking a few steps here and there, yesterday was the official day that he was cruising all by himself! It happened a little while after our zoo trip (see next post) and then he started cruising everywhere while we were shopping before going to the June Birthday Crew's celebration! He acted like it was the coolest thing he had ever done - and it probably was! He went up to every shopper at the store and gave them a big smile or laughed out loud as he almost ran into every post, mirror and item of clothing. He had such a great time! Here are some pics of him walking at home the next day:

Happy Father's Day, Happy Anniversary, Happy Birthday, Happy Anniversary!

Wow, we have a lot to celebrate in a few days time!

We started the celebrations at Dresel's wedding since that was Father's Day (19th). Even though we didn't get to hang out with our Little Man that day, it was a nice getaway for Mom & Dad.

Then a few days later we celebrated a late Father's Day, both of our anniversaries (dating-20th & wedding-22nd) and Brian's birthday (21st) by going out to dinner a few times. The first time to a Mexican restaurant (since we were married in Mexico) and the second to our new fave southern food restaurant (since we used to frequent one in the early days of dating). Of course we had to have Tristan come for the celebrations, too :)

We have so much to be thankful for and love being able to celebrate these blessings with our little family!


Early stages of walking independently!

Dresel's wedding!!

I can't believe Dresel's wedding is already over - what a fun and beautiful weekend!

Even though the Big Day wasn't until Sunday, we decided to go to Cannon Beach on Saturday for pre-wedding fesitivities. We started the weekend by having a girls' wine tasting event at a local wine bar. Can't think of a better way to begin her wedding events!

It was also a lot of fun to catch up with her friends and family from Southern California who were up for the big event. Some of them I hadn't seen in years, so it was great to reconnect with all of them!


The bride, Trac and I at Steph & Ryan's (Dresel's sis & bro-in-law) wedding-eve BBQ. And yes, the red eyes are from crying. Perhaps a little too much wine??

Lawrence and I in front of Steph & Ryan's view of Haystack Rock. What a beautiful sight to wake up to each morning!

The next day, some of us girls woke up early to help set up for her reception. I never fully appreciated hanging tissue balls until now! I think Annie and I may have over-analyzed each ball's heighth, size and distance from one another :) It was so much fun to see her ideas come together that morning. She may have been one of the most organized and calmest brides on their wedding day!


The bride being escorted by her dad :)

In the 14 years since I've known Dresel, she had always talked about wanting to get married on the beach. Her wish definitely came true in Cannon Beach!

The new Mr. & Mrs. Knutson!


The guests walking from the beach to the reception at Haystack Gardens


View of the tissue balls set up by the Hanging Queens - oops, I think I see one too low and off-centered...dang...

Loved all the reception details!





This was used as the guestbook - a tree of thumbprints with each guest's name!





Us girls having a bathroom line dance party! And wow, someone's legs haven't seen the light of day in way too long. This would have been a good time to utilize a spray tan, or at least a little Jergen's...

What a fun and beautiful wedding! Congrats, Knutsons! We love you!!

Mowing the play room

I took the cutest video of Tristan "mowing" the playroom today! My email wouldn't take the whole video, so here is just a clip of it - pretty sweet!

A Day at the Park

While Grama Candy was here, we took advantage of the nice weather and went up to the park for some fun. Can't wait to take advantage of this more if the weather continues to cooperate!

This boy loves to swing! (And wow, looks like mom needs to buy a bigger hat :)





Grama & her boys!

Rose Festival

Even though I've lived in Portland for 14 years now, I had never been to the Starlight Parade until this weekend. It was quite an amazing event! I think it was even more enjoyable because my Mom was able to get us up front seats along the parade route, due to Alaska Airline's support of the Rose Festival. I'm not sure it would have been as much fun for three adults, two children under the age of 2 and one huge stroller to try and find a spot among the packed, packed crowd. SO glad we had the hook up! And definitely hope this will be a yearly thing for all of us (if Grama Candy is able to come through again!)


Not too sure he's thrilled with his first Starlight Parade.

Parades are SO much better with chairs!

Grama Candy with her boys!

The Starlight runners before the parade. Brian totally missed out on the run this year - could have been good practice for the upcoming H2C!

Portland's infamous Darcelle

Didn't realize how HUGE these horses were until we were feet away from them!



Thanks for the seats, Alaska!


Grama Candy & Lincoln - both boys were really good during the whole parade, especially considering it didn't start until dusk and we stayed out two hours later than bedtime!