summer solstice

Jon and I celebrated the longest day of the year by setting up the hammock he got for Father's Day. Among the perks to living in the PNW is that we're far enough north to enjoy light well into the night hours during the summer. The sun didn't set until about 9:15 and we enjoyed the gorgeous views of the sunset, Puget Sound, and the San Juan Islands while swinging, suspended between two trees in what will be our yard. Another beautiful sight from our hammock: the finished foundation for our home. We are so blessed.

he was born in utah but he's a pnw boy at heart

Last weekend Jon carved a golf cart race track into the tall grass in the far pastures. We spent a good chunk of our afternoon going for it, timing our races and competing against each other. Jon came in first, naturally, with Kendal second (but if you add in her off-course penalties she came in last) I came next, and then Amber brought in the rear, but with her gimpy arm we should have subtracted at least 15 seconds. Anyway, all that playing in the tall, loose grass that has gone to seed led to a massive allergy attack. Thankfully, we live on Camano Island and a trip to the beach to breath in the clean, salty air is only a few minutes' drive from our house.

As soon as we let Emory loose on the rocks, he marched straight for the water, gracefully making it over the slippery seaweed-covered rocks. He crouched and threw rocks into the water, tasted seashells, played with seaweed, got soaked, and loved every second. I'm not sure why we haven't been to the beach in the past 6 months we've been here (must have been the cold, rainy weather that lasted so long this year and the nearly freezing temperature of the water in Puget Sound), but with warm enough temperatures, we were able to just let our little boy play and get as wet and dirty as he wanted. I hope we're breeding a webbed-toed kid. And I'm so grateful to live surrounded by water and so much beauty, even if that means his diapers will be full of gravelly sand all summer.

eye candy

I stumbled on this video today and have now watched it a couple times. Not only is it beautiful, but it makes me have nostalgic feelings towards my mission because of the scenes of Montreal at the beginning. Make it full screen and watch it in HD. It's worth it.

Timelapse - The City Limits from Dominic on Vimeo.

ps I promise we haven't dropped off the face of the planet. We're just really busy lately, which is good. Jon with the dealership, me with Emory and Zumba (did I mention I'm getting certified to be an instructor this coming Saturday?), and Emory with growing and watching "ZDoom" or as common folk would know it, Cars.

this is where i live

Sometimes it still feels like we're on vacation. Maybe that's because we are currently staying with Jon's parents for a slightly longer time than we originally planned. Maybe it's because this time after Christmas always seems to mesh all together and I tend to lose track until April or so. Or maybe it's because we still have Utah plates on our car. (Hey, they expire in March, and we may as well make them last, right?) Regardless, when I remember that living here is what I wanted for so long, I feel pretty fortunate that I do live here. For good.

we interrupt these messages

the song of the day messages, that is, to talk about Emory's hair.

We took these photos post-nap last week, to show the glory of the one and only curl Emory has ever experienced in his life. Unfortunately, most of the time, the back of his hair literally looks like a rat's nest, and conditioner hasn't been helping much. Plus, his bangs were actually starting to hang in his eyes, and when he would maneuver a certain way, he'd have the Bieber look going, and we're just not cool with our kid looking like Justin Bieber at such a young age. Or any age, for that matter.

So tonight, we took him to get a real haircut, in the chair and all. Originally, we had made appointments with a barber... Jon needed a cut too, and we figured that a father/son barber outing would turn out well. Until we showed up too late and landed at Wal-Mart instead. I had serious doubts about the endeavor, but thankfully, the stylist was willing to work with us well, and handled Emory's cut and my particular opinions well.

And so we give you Emory's haircut, in sequence.

(We took our small, outdated point and shoot, and under the florescent lights, the photos didn't turn out well, but you get the idea).

As you can see, Emory was thrilled to help comb his hair, and I came armed with mini m&ms to distract. The result: a pretty happy little man with a colorful mouth until she got to the part around his ears and tried the clippers. He was pretty much done after that. It's still long, but definitely cleaner looking, and hopefully much easier to manage now. I guess we'll see what tomorrow morning has in store when he wakes up.

savor the state: national park tour fall 2010 day 3, part 1

On our third trip to Bryce Canyon NP in the past year, we finally got to hike amongst the hoodoos. (Last year we had a tiny baby and I was too recently postpartum to want to take a strenuous hike and our trip at the end of February was accompanied by feet of snow in southern Utah). Anyway, the hoodoos are so much larger than they seem from above. And the stone is much harder and colder than I would have imagined.

we started out on the Navajo Trail, but when we found it partly closed, we trekked through the park onto the Queens Garden Trail


I know I'm such a geek; I just couldn't get over how different the hoodoos are from what I imagined them to be

Emory thought holding hands on the trail was great and then he fell asleep
(thankfully he slept in his backpack since he boycotted naps in the car seat)


see how tall?


what goes down must go back up

After about 3-4 miles and an hour or two, we decided to head to the Grand Canyon. Jon really wanted to feel satisfied with the trip, and what can I say? He talked me into it.

savor the state: national park tour fall 2010 day 2

As we packed up the car to head onto Byway 12 on Friday, Emory tried to explore outside our cabin again and again. This year, we really hoped to catch more of the aspens on fire along the route over Boulder Mountain (last time we got there just after a windstorm and missed so many of the leaves but still loved the scenery). Our earlier arrival this time worked in our favor!

unfortunately, the lighting mid-day didn't work for good photos among the aspens. and I swear, when we dressed that morning, I did not plan for us to match all the leaves.
I know what you were all thinking, based on my matching fits for most of my life.

we love Emory's shirts made by his auntie Jessalin



we stopped for lunch at the Burr Trail Grill: such. amazing. food. too bad we ate it too fast to remember to take a picture. just imagine burgers made from local, organic, grass fed beef with such toppings as crispy bacon and gorgonzola or sharp cheddar with sauteed mushrooms and onions. and then picture a green apple and carrot slaw or herb roasted-to-perfection new potatoes. and the ham hock and potato (and vegetable) soup we fed Emory.

and Emory may or may not have had his first taste of soda. (at least it was mexican coke made with pure cane sugar).


notice the size of the lizard in relation to the bolt. tiny.

we took a side road towards Hell's Backbone Bridge, but not knowing much about the gravel path, and after tiring of not getting anywhere fast we turned around just past this old home and gate that men once built "horse high and hog tight."

Emory slept (not a common occurrence on the trip, and we're still trying to get back into nap mode, a week after our return home).

on the road.

walking (one handed!) to the view point at Bryce Canyon

throwing fits over not getting to eat the rocks and sticks. you know, the usual.