Thirty Four (Part 2)

Since my birthday fell on a Wednesday, there was a pretty good chance I would have a cross country meet.  Sure enough.  A dual meet against Forest Grove @ Forest Grove.  So, when my hubby asked me what I wanted to do for my birthday, it was a no brainer.  Lunch at the Olive Garden.  Before lunch, Benji surprised me with my first pumpkin spice latte of the fall. Then I was off to get my CrossFit on.  We promptly arrived at the Olive Garden as soon as they were open for business, so we had a relaxing lunch with time left to spare for opening presents and eating a red velvet cupcake before the girls' afternoon naps.  Benji was super sweet to let me pick out and order my own birthday gift this year. I've had my eye on a hand-stamped necklace from The Vintage Pearl ever since we got pregnant with Piper.  After the festivities, I got on a bus with twenty high school girls who serenaded me.  They gave me the best gift ever: a win over the girls from Forest Grove (last year's district champs).  The cherry on top of an amazing day was coming home from the meet and eating my tiramisu to-go with an ice-cold glass of milk.

What a cheese ball.  McKinley holds up her after-dinner mint before devouring it.

Momma and her girls outside the Olive Garden.

Lovin' my labor-day-sale dress from Zulily!

Lady in Red cupcake from Sweetest Thing Cupcakes.

The lady tigers at the start line.  Yeah Newberg!

Part of the course was through a tunnel of Poplar trees.  Very cool.

And they're off. 

This might be my longest blog absence ever. Almost three weeks between posts. It's not like me.  However, we took an unplanned trip to California last week and the days leading up to and following the trip have been filled with cross country practices and meets, overtime shifts, house projects, potty training, Crossfit workouts, and birthday celebrations, on top of our regular daily routine. We've been busy.
We went to California to attend Boppy's funeral.  He died unexpectedly. Although the reasons for our trip were sad, we saw a lot of family we don't usually see. And the blessing in disguise was that we got to meet our new niece.  Here are a few pictures from our trip.

McKinley enjoys a homemade, watermelon popsicle from Dumpa.

 Abby, Lizzie and McKinley help Ahmma make some breakfast muffins.

 Staying cool by taking a dip in Nana's pool.

McKinley and Micah-moo warm up after swimming.

 Abby is all smiles during a walk on Nana's property.

 McKinley plays football with her Uncle Travis and Uncle Eddie.

 Our last day we goofed around at Crest Park.

Thirty Four (cont')

Dadda's birthday was definitely Dadda's day.  He chose Famous Dave's BBQ for lunch, and then we had another dose of barbecue for dinner from Bert's Chuckwagon, a new foodtruck in Dundee. Dadda was in sweet and spicy heaven!  Before the girls' naps we sang Happy Birthday, followed by homemade chocolate cake and greek frozen yogurt.  Dadda humored us all by letting McKinley feed him a small bite of both. After Momma's cross country practice Dadda opened his present (a steel carbon wok), and we had another round of cake and frozen yogurt. Unbeknownst to us, McKinley was getting hyped up on caffeine from the cup of strong-brewed coffee that was in the cake.  So, while Dadda and I planned to spend a quiet evening watching Master Chef, McKinley thwarted those plans, and we all didn't get to sleep until after 10 pm (3 hours past her bedtime). 

Happy Birthday to my better half and older half....at least for another 9 days. 

G Day

Props and kudos to all of our Grandparents! We love you and miss you.

Thirty Four

 Happy 34th Birthday Dadda!

More to come on Dadda's special day.

Ready for fall?

 School starts this coming week. Where did our summer go?  However, I must admit, fall is my favorite season here in the Pacific Northwest.  Our days range from warm and sunny to cool and crisp, but with a colorful backdrop of reds, oranges, and yellows.  The following pictures have no cohesive theme, just cuteness, perhaps?

 Piper thinks she's all that when she has pulled herself into the standing position.

 The girls are goofin' around in their play area while I check email.

 Sisters who don't look anything alike.

 Dadda and his Desert Rat (an affectionate nickel-name that spawned from Piper's 'sandy brown' hair)

 Crazy hair!

 Slide break.

 I wish I could say that I spontaneously captured them in this pose, but alas, it was staged.

The girls and I were taking a walk at Champoeg Park during Momma's cross country practice.