Lincoln City Getaway! (just the two of us)

On the 25th and 26th of June, Paul had his first "sleep-over" at grandma and grandpa's house without mommy and daddy. In other words, Blair and I got to spend some alone-together time at the beach this week! ;) 

It. Was. Wonderful!!!



We stayed at the Looking Glass Inn in Lincoln City, right on the bay. (Notice my new shirt I bought at the outlet mall. Yes, we actually went shopping! Gasp!)

Blair and I laughed when we first saw our room. It was spacious and comfortable... AND it had a jacuzzi tub right in the middle of the floor! I tried to capture the exposedness of it all in a picture, but it was hard to get a good angle. (Work it, Blair. )

 I guess that counter was the extend of privacy the architects dubbed necessary. I was trying to imagine someone washing dishes in that kitchen area while somebody else was taking a bath. How romantic...(?)

Here's the view from our window. Yes, there's a parking lot, but look back there! It's the bay!


Not to sound overly positive or anything, but the weather really was perfect. It was warm enough for short sleeves and flip flops for the whole two days we were there with the most pleasant breeze. Not to mention, we had beautiful billows of clouds between sun breaks.

Blair's really good at taking the good ol' arms-length pictures.

A nice fellow with a black poodle insisted that he take a pictures of us "two love birds". We gladly complied.



When you're out of town without a baby, of course you have to eat out at delicious restaurants. We did not want to break tradition and decided to dine at the Blackfish Cafe. I got a salmon caesar salad and Blair got some sword fish. We switched dishes about halfway through our meal and concluded we liked both of them a lot!


My creepy-happy face.

Blair's sword fish.

Looks good! (The fish doesn't look too bad either.)

Gotta get dessert! (raspberry... cream... cake... something or other... yummmmm!)

We rented the movie Hugo that night and enjoyed not having to put Paul to bed. The movie was alright, but we would have liked it a lot more if it were shorter. They dragged it on for ever!


In the morning we went for a barefoot run along the beach. Yes, we actually did run barefoot along the beach during out romantic getaway. And, no, we were not able to take pictures of that activity. You  try running with a camera. After our run, we skipped rocks into the bay. Well, I helped find smooth rocks and watched as Blair skipped them. 


Look at this awesome rock Blair found. It has a hole in the shape of a heart! The other awesome finds are mine.



 After checking out of our room, we walked along the shops, bought some books, chocolate, and a gift for my mom. Not wanting the magic to end too soon, we stopped at a Crazy Sushi for a tasty lunch.*

After lunch, we watched Brave in the theater which happened to be right next to the sushi place. I think the last movie I saw in theaters was Harry Potter. It had been a while!

Getting away together was so incredibly fun! It's times like this that I'm reminded - yet again - of how much I love Blair. I can't get enough of him! How did I get so lucky?



*Notice the foods we've been choosing work with our new, healthy lifestyle change. I know I know, "what about the raspberry dessert"? That was an intentional splurge for a special occasion. Other than those occasional treats, we're sticking with this way of eating and loving it!

Family diet change

Things have been pretty monotonous around here lately. Blair goes to work. Paul crawls around and pulls everything off of, and out of, everything. There's always laundry, dishes, jogging, ballet, e-mail, facebook, groceries, dinners, etc. etc... etc.......

...no...

...change...

...no...

...energy...

Don't get me wrong. I LOVE my life. We have it so good, it's hard to believe sometimes. But it's in those times of sameness that one realizes what changes aught to be made to improve one's self. We were lacking energy and motivation. Not to mention, I still haven't lost all the baby weight. We've always been fairly healthy with our food choices, but after hearing about some greatly admired friends' diet change, we felt inspired and decided act!

 That's right. We're ditching the dairy, shunning the sugars, warding off wheat, and hauling in the whole foods.

We're saying hello to things like radishes, peppers, kale, spelt bread, fish, seeds, nuts, fresh berries, spinach, almond milk, vegetables sauted in coconut oil, quinoa dinners, brown rice pasta, nut butters, toasted flax seeds, and steel cut oats.

We were talking about making these changes around the last week of May and officially started on June 1st. (We had to use up the rest of our yogurt, cheese, sugary snacks, milk and breads before saying goodbye for good.)

I'm actually really enjoying this lifestyle so far. I like getting most of my groceries from the produce section. I like checking the ingredients lists. I like making my own snacks and energy bars out of nuts and dates. It feels good to go grocery shopping with limits and purpose.

Okay, so it's only been a few days, and we haven't had the real tests, like actual time or eating out with friends. But even this early, we're noticing a difference in our energy levels, our appetites and cravings are noticeably decreasing, I haven't been getting any stomach upsets, and living this way is feeling surprisingly manageable.

Even Paul is feeling more energized and motivated. Here he is helping me with the laundry.

Family Photo Shoot

Here are just a few gems from our photo shoot with Kathi Knowels. She did a great job! Especially when you consider the super bright sunshine and the ten-month-old baby who only smiled when he was eating a clump of dirt or when someone was dancing around like a lunatic.

Warning: There are twenty pictures below. If you make it through them all, let me know if you have a favorite.

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Congratulations! You made it to the end!

Airplanes and baby therapy

So Paul has been on an airplane three times this month, and we've learned that he has a gift for cheering people up.

On the way to Utah, we sat next to an old man named Joseph who was on his way to his brother's funeral. He was pretty forlorn and reserved at the beginning of the flight, but by the end, he was smiling and shaking Paul's hand.

Coincidentally enough, we sat in the same configuration on the flight back, next to a man named Jo who was coming back from his cousin's funeral. How weird is that? The thing is, I was worried that this Joseph would be cranky during our whole flight. As Blair and I filed in, there were no two seats together and it wasn't until the prompting of a flight attendant that anyone moved for us. The man, Jo, seemed very upset by the fact that he had to sit next to the couple with a baby. The flight attendant apologized and offered him a free "drink". When Blair tried opening a conversation with him, we were both so surprised by Jo's response. He turned out to be the friendliest most talkative person I've ever sat next to on a plane! He was talking about his Italian family and was showing us pictures of his cousin on his phone.  By the end of the flight he was saying things like, "thanks, you guys, for getting me a free drink!", "It was so nice to meet you." and "Paul, you're such a good baby. You've cheered me up!"

Here are some pictures we took at the airport.



Sorry it's dark...




Yep, he's a happy kid. :)

The event crammed month of April

April was a super busy month for us.

1. We flew to Utah for Reana and Sravan's wedding. This picture was taken with my phone during her reception. She was waiting to have the tares in her dress fixed, while I was trying to put Paul down for a nap.



2. We ran in the annual Running for Risa event.



3. Blair flew to Michigan on a business trip.

4. We had the Green's over for dinner. (Thanks, Laura, for this great picture of Benjamin and Paul!)


5. We also had one of Blair's coworkers and his wife over for dinner on another day.

6. Spent a sunny Saturday at Raleigh Park to celebrate Uncle Rob's birthday.


7. Flew to Boise and drove the rest of the way to Rexburg with Blair's family for Charles'and CayLee's wedding.


8. Went swimming for the first time at the hotel. Paul loved it! Unfortunately, all the pictures of him smiling were totally blurry.



Paul got to hang out with two of his three cousins while in Rexburg.



9. We drove through the night from Rexburg to Portland with Blair's parents and younger siblings. Paul did pretty well during such a long car trip.





It was a tiring and fun-filled month, and we're glad to be home for May!

Tomato Treat

Paul's learning to communicate to get what he wants. The other morning, I hear his little voice, "dah dee dee biddle bah dee dee", as he crawled into my bedroom. He taps my foot with his little hand and says "mama!". After I pick him up, he clearly says, "num num!" as he points to the kitchin with his hand, then sticks his thumb in his mouth and waits for his orders to be carried out.

Paul is a funny baby. Instead of teething biscuits - or, in addiction to teething biscuits - I give Paul tomatoes to keep him happy while I get things done.







Yay! A tomato!