the "cold" that just won't leave

So sadly, fun memories are not the only thing we brought home from camp 3 weeks ago.  The kiddos all caught some sort of NASTY, morphing, bug, and brought it home as well!  All the cousins seemed to have it right away, and Olaf got it about 5 days later.  We're talking runny eyes, fever, coughing, snot galore.  You moms, you know, the good stuff.  I thought I was going to escape it, but I did not.  I got it about a week and a half in.  Not too bad -- I got everything but the fever and cough and thought - why this is nothing more than a bad cold, right?  But noooooo, for the last three days I have had no sleep, and dry racking cough day and night.  Low grade fever.  Achey.  Headache.  No energy.  Honestly it feels like the flu, except I had my flu shots so it can't be that.  I tell you what though, this thing is putting me through the ringer.  I keep thinking all this coughing and stomach flexing is going to put me into labor!  Luckily it hasn't yet, and Steven is on his way home to help us out.  So if you are wondering why I am lame and not posting anything, like the amazing progress on our landscaping outside... now you know why.  I will hopefully be back in the swing of things again soon!  (and hopefully all the cousins and their sick parents will be too!)

Family Camp 2010... AKA Playground Time

We spent half of last week up at Tall Timber Ranch at Family Camp.  It was fun!  Refreshing.  Relaxing.  I always think about camp (remember it) as the place where you go to play like crazy - rock wall, ropes course, zip line, giant swing, canoeing...  maybe talking to some cute boys...  but these past few years my idea of camp has had to morph a bit, of course, because we have a 2 year old now as part of the family.  He still naps.  He can't canoe so well.  Giant swing?...  = Terrified Toddler.  Not going to try.  So... we spent a LOT of time at the camp playground.  Swings, merry go round, slide, giant tires to climb, tetherball... you know, the playground.  But you know what, Olaf LOVED it.  And it was great because he was playing with 4 of his cousins most of the time, and a bunch of new friends.  And when we weren't at the playground, Steve and I were able to relax.  Read books.  Talk to friends.  Do puzzles (well just me and Jenny and Kristin, Steve has no patience for those).  NOT cook.  Or clean.  To listen to a great speaker.  Sing silly camp songs with summer staff, who look like they are all about 12 years old.  Then I remember that I probably looked like I was about 12 too :)  You know, back in the day.  It was new experiences, but still fun ones.

The only really terrible thing, not gonna lie, was the MATTRESS.  I slept SO terribly the whole time.  Preggo + bad mattress = back pain.  Yuck.  But I would do it again.  How about next year?

Anyway, I know this is jumbled and not well written (sorry all you English majors.  Jenny.), but I just wanted to share that we had a wonderful time, and can't wait to do it again next year.  Come on friends, join us!

We came down to the White River to throw rocks and sticks in the water.

Trygve, Ingrid and Micah search for perfect stones to throw.

A quizzical Serenity.

We are cheezy!

Ingrid = dirty gerty.  They liked to roll in the sand.

Step 1 - Push Daddy over in the meadow.

Step 2 - Daddy falls over and Oly gets a little bit of flying time.

Mommy!  I LOVE CAMP!!!

why we love the country

We love that we can play with track-hoe's from the inside instead of just viewing through the fence at a construction site :)  Yay for daddy's that know how to drive them!

Hello and happy June!  Good gracious, can't believe it's practically July already...  We are having a nice weekend.  Steve is home, and though we are busy and people drop by the house and are in and out, it's just so nice to have the 3 of us here this weekend.  We got tons of work done around the property too - mowing, weeding, watering, planting etc.  A snapshot of our day today:

Swimming lessons!  We had a great time with Oly in the pool.

It started off nice and quiet until daddy told Olaf to squirt me.  He has lethal aim as you can see!

A tree climber in the making?

Or perhaps just a tree hugger?  It is Leavenworth after all :)

33 weeks along.  Good night that tummy is getting BIG.  Luckily my face and arms haven't followed suite yet.

writers blockage.

I know that I really need to post something new up here, but I can't figure out what to write!  I swear I think of great topics and leading sentences all day long at work, but never write them down, and then I get home and can't remember a lick of them.   So. 

I am 30 weeks pregnant now, pretty dang cool.  I can feel body parts a little.  Baby's head is down (yay!), and his back curves around the left side of my belly.  All the action happens on the right side of my belly where the limbs are, with an occasional poke right in the middle.   I am looking forward to meeting the little fellow.   Last night I was gifted with the CUTEST set of jungle print newborn onesies, and a full baby carhartt ensemble (thanks Deanna!) for little dude.  I really don't need any more clothes, but she said she couldn't resist and seriously, neither can I.  So cute and TINY!

Olaf is getting the second of his 2 yr molars right now...  which means he is not sleeping as well, but I think he must be used to it because these teeth seem way easier than all his other ones, even though they are way bigger!  I am hoping and praying he has Steve's teeth genes instead of mine.  So far they look a little crowded in his mouth... uh-oh...  well they are just baby teeth.  But seriously, if he takes after me he'll have braces from 4th grade through 9th grade, headgear 3 times, retainers, gum-cutting... yeah I was pretty cute... but I do have room for all my teeth in my mouth now! 

Hopefully I will get over my mental block soon.  All sorts of fun things coming up.  Like Joanna visiting!  And my birthday!  And Olaf's birthday!  And Cousin Zachary Saugen's wedding! And Steve comes home!  And Father's Day!  All in the next 10 days.  Phew. 

Peace out.

love me some cheesy smiles.

And I also love me some hands-in-pockets roly-poly-Oly.  Just can't get enough of this guy.

now we're talking...

Tonight, for the first time, I used some of the beef we purchased (1/4 of a cow) to make dinner!  I mean, seriously, I hardly ever cook during the work week, so this is exciting.  Olaf and I mostly subsist on leftovers from the weekend, mac and cheese, pizza, and relatives taking pity on us and inviting us to supper (thanks Mom and Christie...).  It is just so un-inspiring to cook for just myself, since the chances of Olaf eating whatever I put in front of him are only in the 50% range, it's all for me and then I end up eating it for like 4 days straight.  BORING. 

And try as I might I just can't get Olaf to just put the food in his mouth if he doesn't like the look of it.  I mean seriously.  I have tried force (no good), tricks (no good), bribes (no good) and talking logic to him (no good).  The thing is, he actually understands that this is dinner, and he can't have anything else, but he is happy to just say "All done mommy, please scuse table mommy."  And he'll be just fine until breakfast with no food in his belly.  Sigh.  So... back to the subject at hand.  I cooked!


I knew it was going to be good when I opened the white paper labeled "stir fry" and saw a bunch of super red colored meat with (Kendra shut your ears) blood still on it.  I am not going to lie, I don't much like the sight of blood either, but I do like knowing that the meat is that fresh to be that lovely red!  After sizzling it up with not a single spice, I snitched a piece and boy did it have flavor!  I may be hooked on this grass fed Yakima valley beef thing. 

Then I simply grilled up some peppers and onion in the same pan, added the meat back in, and tossed in the good old McCormick seasoning and voila, fajitas for me!  I am sure there are better spice mixes out there but I have to give it to good old McCormick.  It never fails to come through for me. 

mmmm, supper.

So anyway, if you are ever wondering how exciting my life is... cooking dinner is enough of a storyline for me to blog about :)  I pretty much rock.

PS.  I even got the cheeseball to eat some steak, cheese and tortilla.  Success!