Never a dull moment

You should hear him on the recorder.

Brotherly love

I came from a family of 3 girls and Aaron from 3 boys. You could say our sibling relationships growing up were a little different. My mother in law talks about growing up with all sisters as well and then, when having 3 rambunctious boys, calling her father and asking, "Is this normal!?" I've asked myself the same thing at times. It's just innate in a boy to chuckle at potty humor, turn everything into a sword and to wrestle. Not that we didn't wrestle all the time with my dad but we turned it all into pretty tumbling routines and fancy lifts. Not so with boys.

And I'm told it usually starts quite innocently...


...but turns into something else in no time flat.




Winner?
Or just hiding from Mom?

I tried to stop them and put them in time out...

But they didn't seem to mind too much.


It calmed down just as quickly as it began and these brothers, like all others, are closer for it.

Runaway Bride

Anyone remember that movie? With Julia Roberts who left 3 men at the alter and Richard Gere, the reporter, who comes to write a story about her only fall in love but then gets left at the alter himself? One of his explanations of why Julia runs from marriage is that she doesn't know herself, case in point The Eggs. He asks each of her ex-fiances how Julia likes her eggs and each one have a different answer. She liked them how they liked them. She herself didn't know how she even liked her eggs because she conformed to whomever she was with.

I realized when it comes to design, I am Julia. I walk into someone's home and love their retro feel and clean lines. That same day I go into someone else's house and love their kitchy, old world feel. Some days I love lots of bold colors and funky patterns, and other days I adore calming neutrals. Some days I really go for the classic drama of dark woods and other times lots of white call to me.

When I decided to redo my dining room, almost a year ago, I found myself stuck. Completely. I didn't know what I liked. How do I redo a room when I have decorating ADD? So I went out to search for rooms that struck me. I started collecting pictures just from other blogs and other homes sites, and I began to see a pattern.

I really love whites and light and blues these days. I love the neutrals with splashes of fun color. My house right now has been so dark...dark woods, dark furniture, dark accents. But in our home, even with the sun out, we don't get much direct sunlight through the windows. So maybe it's the dark grey winters that have gotten to me or maybe just my tastes have changed, but I need light and white and to get rid of so much dark. We started by painting our dining room a great white, suggested by my dear friend and decorating guru, Cher. And it's taken off from there. Light is beginning to take over our home and I love it! I have also realized I LOVE thrift stores and garage sales. I love going through junk and finding things I can make new again. Really calls to me these days. But it also makes the redecorating process slow as I search for just the right thingy to put on the wall. I have a few projects I will post but some are still a work in progress. It's become and hobby and a bit of a passion to learn how to refinish furniture, sew slipcovers and spray paint anything. We'll see where it takes our little home. Stay tuned.

Newport has a beach?

I guess I was so focused on the marathon that it didn't quite register that Newport was yes, on the coast and yes, there would be a beach and yes, the weather might not be cold and rainy like it is in Seattle. Therefore on the first day when the weather was beautiful and perfect we were found on the beach with no sunscreen, beach toys, swimsuits or towels. But we truly enjoyed ourselves anyway in the sun and surf.

Well, maybe not all of us....



But he was a good sport and didn't seem worse for the wear.



He just spent the rest of the afternoon waddling around like a jawa.

The afternoons on the coast were wonderful and relaxing (except for Jonah's constant need to explore the outermost recesses of the shore, the farther away from our little "camp" the better)and it was the perfect little getaway before and after the race.

And I'll be better beach-prepared for next year's marathon. Right, Aaron?... Aaron??

26.2

This last weekend we traveled down to Newport, Oregon to run what would be Aaron's 4th marathon. Granted it had been more than 13 years since his previous marathon but Logan, 1/4 of the DitWills, convinced Aaron to sign up along with his brother Brent and his wife Deena. The weather in Newport was perfect, the company was great and the scenery was beautiful.



We got up around at 5:45am so we could be ready to leave at 6:20am. We walked to the start and the race began at 7am sharp. Off they ran.

We caught them again about 2 miles into the race when they looped around near our hotel. Logan is in the blue and Brent is in the red. Deena was not far behind.

Lucas, Jonah and I strolled back to the hotel, had a hot breakfast of waffles and fruit, and watched a little TV. The boys wrestled while I dried my hair.


And they were still running.

We showered for the day, got dressed and cleaned up the room. Lucas packed up the car for me and I checked out of the hotel. We drove to the rental house to catch up with Julia and their kiddos.

They were still running.

Julia and I chatted about her new calling and my dining room renovation, played with the kids, chatted some more and ate some chocolate.

And they were still running.

We rounded up the kids, crammed the strollers into the cars, packed snacks and drinks for the finish line and then we drove off to figure out where this finish line was.

And yes, they were still running.

We parked, packed the six kids into strollers and back packs, hiked the quarter mile to the finish and then sat and still waited for 45 minutes before our first runner came down the hill.

Logan came, then Brent, then Aaron and then Deena.

So proud of them!

Aaron wore the first race t-shirt he ever got (though he didn't even run in that race - he was a volunteer) from November 23, 1989. This 21 year old relic has been with him on every marathon. He was extermely proud that he must've been wearing the oldest piece of clothing in the race.

Running a marathon has always been on my life list, something I've always wanted do just to be able to say I did it. But after seeing the runners this weekend (before, after and during the race), I had a realization. I don't like running. I get bored and running gets tedious. And I have never felt what people call a "runner's high." So I really don't want to run a marathon. With the months of training let alone the grueling actual event that makes you want to die... No, I am self actualized enough to just prematurely check that one off my list and not feel guilty in the least. Life is too short and I am comfortable in the fact that my boots were made for walking, not running.

But my lack of desire to run makes me all the more proud of my running fool.

Remember my last post...

...and all the wonderful talents and abilities that I just love to watch develop?

Well, learning to climb on the table is NOT one of them.

So Blessed

The other night I came home late from some meeting and found Lucas still awake. I went in and cuddled with him while we talked about his night, how he likes to sleep with the blanket up over his head and how the dog gets jealous when I lay with Lucas. I asked him where Dad was because the house was dark when I walked in. "Oh, Jonah had some trouble falling asleep..."

So I went into our bedroom and found this. Doesn't Jonah just look huge?

I crawled into bed with them and cuddled to my heart's content. I just curled that sweet boy right up next to me, put his hand on my face and reveled for 20 minutes.

It was one of those peaceful, soulful moments that I will always have with me. It made me think of when Jonah was first born and how I holed up in my home for that first month and just held our baby, literally for hours a day, doing nothing but loving that feeling of him nestled against my neck. I feel so blessed. And so grateful for a loving Father in Heaven who has helped me learn patience, the joy of motherhood, what faith really is, and the indescribable joy that can come from our families.

I think back to the timing of us having Lucas 10 years ago. We had just gotten married and had decided to wait at least a year before we even started trying to have kids. But a month after our wedding, I kept getting this strong impression we needed to start trying right now. Infertility runs in our family and thought it would probably take us a year to get pregnant anyway. Well, 3 weeks later we were expecting. We took Lucas to our first wedding anniversary and what an absolute joy he has been. My older sister had just had her first son 10 months earlier and unbeknownst to us, their births would be the start of many sad years for both of us unable to have more children. I see Lucas as such a tender mercy of the Lord. We were so blessed the two boys have had each other. He knew Lucas needed to come when he did. Lucas led me to a special, deeper relationship with my dear sister as we struggled with infertility and raising an only child. Lucas and her son Jackson now also have a tight bond as the oldest cousins on our side and will always be close.

After 7 years of hoping and praying and too many shots to count, we were blessed with this amazing, wonderful spirit. I cannot express in words my emotion and love for this child. He fills a place in me that had ached for so many years. I love that Lucas finally has a brother and I love that Jonah will have such a fabulous big brother to guide him and play with him and mentor him. I love all the little things I had forgotten from Lucas' time as a baby and everything that comes flooding back, like the thrill of each new milestone, our awe of each new word and his amazement as he discovers the world, renewing a love for picture books read a thousand times to Lucas, the ever-needed vigilance and the panic when things get a little too quiet.
It's not always been easy to "start over" with a baby after so many years (forgotten were the long, weary nights of teething, trying to get him to eat regular food, and the never ending mess) but it literally fills my soul. Fills me with deep purpose and a joy in my role as mother.

What every marriage needs

My wonderful mother came out from Spokane last week to watch the boys while Aaron and I took off to post-celebrate our 11th wedding anniversary and pre-celebrate my birthday. Couldn't have asked for a better get away.


Starting our trip on the Victoria Clipper....3 glorious hours of quiet sleeping and reading.


Aaah, beautiful Victoria, BC. The weather was perfect, the food was delicious and the company even better.


My parents are real "do-ers" when it comes to vacations. We always had exciting, adventure packed vacations growing up where we got to see everything and do everything. Loved it! Yet it's taken me a while to realize that as an adult on vacation with no kids it's okay to not see everything and do everything. My life right now calls for trips of sleeping late, lots of reading and slowly enjoying each meal. Within a few city blocks of Victoria there are a hundred different tours you can take (whale watching, sea plane, zip line) and a hundred different museums (Bug Museum, Underwater Museum, Miniature Museum, Wax Museum) but our choice was just to sit by the water and read, listen to the street musicians and just unwind. We took naps, went to a late movie and had fish and chips while we watched the sunset. We watched a pro life protest down Main Street, ate breakfast at 11 in the morning and bought chocolates to eat on the afternoon.


We did make it to Craigdarroch Castle. Basically a mansion built in the late 1800's. We made the 40 minute walk out there, stopping by antique shops and getting cold drinks. I'd say worth the trek. We walked a ton those 3 days since we took the ferry and had no car but with the weather as perfect as it was, we loved it.


The entire place (all 25, 5200 sq ft of it) was paneled with beautiful wood but was much too dark for my liking. It would make me go nuts. (yet in this picture I sure look happy about something.)


Contemplating who knows what in the library.

Devouring gelato was perfect on the way back to town.



We rode out to Buchart Gardens one afternoon. Beautiful and peaceful.


This ginormous tree made we want to take the kids down to the Giant Redwood Forests in California. Put that on our to-do list before Lucas leaves home.


Sweet man.


Wonderful weekend with my honey.

Thanks, Mom!!