Tulip Fest

This weekend was beautiful and very fun filled for the whole family!

We started off with the Tulip Fest on Saturday. The festival was filled with gorgeous flowers, tractors and play things.

Gunnar's favorite was the hay slide tent. A genius idea of combining bales of hay with plastic drainage tubes for the kids to climb and slide on. Kind of like a kid sized hamster activity tank! Here is my favorite action shot:

And then the tractors. Are you sensing a theme on the blog yet?
These steam tractors were amazing:



And of course the John Deere:

And then to prove we really were in the middle of a million tulips:



On Sunday the beautiful weather continued so Nick and I headed up to Meadows for some spring skiing. It was so much fun and everyone was going crazy with the first spring weather - bikinis and bbq in the parking lot! I got one good pic on my phone that I will have to try and upload.

Today I took the day off so G and I hit the town. Grocery shopping, birthday present shopping and trips to both local parks before hitting Chella's birthday party. Needless to say G was quick to bed tonight.

Easter Extravaganza

Since Gunnar is a big boy we were able to really celebrate Easter this weekend. And boy we went all out.

Friday at daycare they had an egg hunt for the kids. Nick and G arrived in their usual leisurely fashion just as it was about to begin. Nick had to quickly toss his eggs into the mix so and then he got to help G hunt. Very fun and we got an egg filled with Play doh. Yay!

On Saturday we went to the Resort on the Mountain for their annual egg hunt. There were tons of people and eggs. Since he already had one hunt under his belt Gunnar did very well.


I think my favorite part of the hunt was all the picture taking (myself included obviously). In the age of the smart phone it was ridiculous how much coaxing and phone pic taking was going on.

After the hunt we wandered around and of course had to do some time with the Easter bunny. Gunnar was not about to get close!
The struggle:

The good as it gets pic:

Today Gunnar and I headed to church. He looked dashing in his Easter outfit. It was his first time to go to church and he was not a big fan of being left in nursery. But we both survived.

Last but not least, this afternoon we had lunch with our neighbors and friends across the street. The weather was so beautiful we all sat outside and snacked through an entire turkey and ham. And of course there was yet another Easter basket for G!

Under Construction

Oregon is again being stingy with her Spring so we are still battling the cooped up blues. Lately our indoor passion has been building.

Nick and I broke out our generic Jenga last weekend and Gunnar had a blast. Of course with such a handy papa how could it not be fun:



Then this week we got a set of XL building blocks from Grandma Darnelle. They too have been a hit:


Of course his favorite thing is to knock them all down as you start to build something! We did come up with setting them up and then having his excavator run into them and knock them all down.

FUN!

Hope you all in the rest of the country are enjoying your warm days. We will be sure to send you some of our snow! Actually, never mind as we don't want you hot humid summers.

Birthday Recap

I can't believe how fast time is flying and how extremely busy I am! Finally getting around to my birthday post. My birthday was amazing!

Dinner at Olympic Provisions was amazing. We maxed them out with a party of 15 and they were wonderful. We have a four course meal with a meat mix and match appetizer plate, amazing beet and citrus salad, scallops, chicken, chorizo, pasta and to top it all off a champagne ice cream and chocolate cake for dessert. All of it was so amazing.

Nick's mom was kind enough to keep Gunnar for the night so we got to stay at the Avalon and it too was great. Due to availability we were upgraded to a room with a river view which was very nice.

You will think this very odd but these are the only two pictures I took of the night:

The beautiful flowers my brother and sister in law had delivered to the hotel:

And the view from our balcony:


I had my camera in my coat pocket but was so busy having such a great time that I never got it out. I think too many people spend too much time trying to document all the great things in their lives versus just enjoying it. I clearly just enjoyed it!

Birthday Sneak Peek

This week I have a noteworthy birthday coming up. I have gone back and forth between doing nothing (the responsible thing to do) and going all out. With Grandma here to watch the kiddo I decided to opt for the latter this year.

I have a room booked at the Avalon hotel on the waterfront and a delicious dinner lined up at Olympic Provisions NW. Olympic provisions is one of the meat purveyors from Nicky USA's Wild About Game that Nick and I went to at The Resort awhile back and loved. When I called to reserve for a large party they really went above and beyond! They were super friendly and will be sending me a menu crafted especially for us. Four courses and I am sure each will be to die for.

More to come!!

Family Time

We have been super lucky to have Grandma Darnelle visiting us these past couple of weeks. It is so wonderful to have an extra set of hands to help wrangle our little bundle of boy!

Here are Grandma and Gunnar watching 'the Gunnar show" on the ipad. He never tires of watching his own slide show!
G holding Aunt Shanna hostage to read the poop book one more time:
Giving the good doctor a run for his block stacking money:
Last weekend Gunnar, Grandma, Papa and I all made the trek to messy art class. It was great! Here we are painting with ice cubes:
Today the museum was SUPER packed so G and I had a picnic in the car before hitting the road. He ate like a champ and was thrilled that I let him control the radio:

MIA

Geez it has been forever since I posted. There just never seem to be enough minutes in the day. And then when I do get some down time I tend to simply fall asleep!

One reason for my lack of posts lately is that I misplaced out camera. I knew it had to be in the house, because I remembered the last pic I took was this:

Gunnar in our new bed!

Luckily after me searching high and low for a couple weeks, Nick found the camera. Right by the bed and where I had looked no less than one million times previously. Argh!

So anyways, the bed. Oh my am I in love. We got this beauty from an amazing bed company actually based right here in Oregon, Parklane mattress. We went for the memory foam KING and have slept like a baby since it was delivered. After months of chiropractic appointments and Nick sleeping on the couch, it had to be done. Best decision of the year by far.

Want to nap?

Test Drive

It is snowing! Finally! G and I took advantage and hit the mountain this morning to try out the sled. It was an overall success. Next phase will definitely be to get something to keep his feet up. And I will put him in the 2T bibs as the 12-18 mo let his ankles get cold. Here are the pics of us having fun:

Getting ready to take off:


My view as the lead musher:


Pic of us on the bridge:


Unfortunately on the way back it started to snow and Gunnar got super upset. I ended up walking, arrying him and pulling my gear to the truck. We will cut it shorter next time.

Night Out!

This year my company decided to hold its Holiday party after the Holidays in order to avoid scheduling conflicts. No one could decide what the attire should be so me and my team took the initiative to make it a trashy prom. We had a blast! The party was at a small casino in town and then we took the after party to a local bar that was doing an all request DJ night. Need I say more?

Here is the whole crew:


The happy couple:

I had two dresses. This one which was what my girlfriend wore to her 8th grade dance and then another funkier one. I think we rock the outfits well as 8th grade dance King and Queen.

The original owner of that amazing floral number strutting her stuff in a most amazing dress:


Dress #2:


From a parenting perspective the night was a huge success. We had the teenager from down the block babysit. Gunnar LOVED her and she was able to play with her while I got the house cleaned up. I got him all set in bed and she just had to keep watch. He didn't wake up which was great. So nice to now have a second set of hands around when we need it.

Kah-Nee_Ta

Yesterday Gunnar and I headed over the mountain to Kahneeta Warm Springs for a friends birthday. Daddy needed a break (see previous mention of nap strike)so we struck out for the day.

The water is amazingly warm and the water slides are super fun. G had a blast swimming (and even slept a bit in the car). So nice to be in the sun and warm water as a nice getaway. We will definitely be adding this to one of our favorite places!

A Hit!

Sorry for the lack of posts recently but Gunnar's (now going on 3 weeks) nap strike has taken its toll on my ability to get anything done. I have high hopes but by the time he is in bed my bed is just too tempting!

Here are some shots from the Chrostmas mele. Gunnar had a great time and thanks to all the generous friends and family he made out like a bandit!

The opening shot of him discovering all the goodies Santa had left:


ELMO!


An awesome motorized excavator from papa:


Two of his favorite things - Zoo from grandma and grandpa Pruitt and his KITTY:


We tease him that he is out little homeless boy with his super cool shopping cart:

How hilarious is that pose?!

I think next year we will probably space out the present opening over a few days as it was incredibly overwhelming but of course tons of FUN.

Happy New Year!

Just busy living it

It has been forever since I posted it seems!

We haven't been up to much, just caught up in living the dream I guess.

We had a great Holiday party with tons of friends and food. I cooked up the ham Nick won at the sausage making contest earlier this year. Add on some home made stuffing and it was a hit. Of COURSE my oven would decide to lose its mind and up itself 50 degrees so the ham was maybe...a little dry in spots but the platter was licked clean so I guess all was well.

Nick's cousin Jason and his girlfriend came bearing Gunnar's Christmas gift from their family so that kicked off the season just right. My girlfriend's older boys (Gunnar's favorite entertainment at the party) found the present and were sure to show Gunnar the present opening ropes. As you can see it was not forgotten. Here he is tearing into his third present so far this season. Thanks Phillips':


We were also able to attend a huge bash earlier this week with Gunnar's #1 girlfriend Chella's family. They closed down their restaurant in Welches and put on an amazing spread!

What else? We have all three been passing around a very nasty cold. Gunnar is asleep right now in a humidifier Vick's cloud trying to clear up a bit before another Holiday party this afternoon.

These past two weeks have been unusually dry and sunny. I had to pull the curtains when I put Gunnar down for his nap at 12:30! Bad for the ski resorts but awfully nice for our vitamin D starved souls.

Now some pics of us just hanging out:

Gunnar has really come into his reading genes lately. He went to the library this week with Nick and had a great time reading with a little girl he met there. I am eagerly waiting for him to be able to enjoy all my favorites - Harry Potter!

For all the Granpas reading this blog - his shirt says "Grandpas or bust!". Love you guys!

As with all 1.5 year olds each day is a whirlwind of ups and downs. I snapped this shot of G and his papa enjoying his favorite computer games after one particularly rough evening. You know the routine - I don't want to eat, you don't get to eat and throw in a good measure of crying to boot.

It is this redeeming sweetness that keeps us all going for sure!

Last but not least, the amazing clotheshorses of Brightwood in action. Apparently camo was the theme this day:


Hope all you "virtual" friends and family are doing well and will get a chance to unwind this Holiday Season.

Love you all!

The Londons

The Finished Product

We had a super laid back Thanksgiving this year. Just us and some turkey dog pigs n a blanket for the big day. Nick did have Gunnar's sled already to go in case it snowed. We had beautiful warm weather instead!

Here is the finished product:



And a departing shot of Mr Monster hands on the tractor:

Snow!

This weekend we welcomed our first snow in Brightwood. It was only a couple inches but super wet and perfect for playing in.

Here is G and papa with the snowman we built (that sprained papa's back!):

Wet snow is HEAVY!

Nick had some welding to do and the snow inspired him to get some work done on the cross country sled he has been dreaming up.

His assistant at the ready:


Some general shenanigans:

Damn daddies are fun!

And the frame is done:



Now he just needs to get the frame secured to the skis and we will be ready to hit the tails. I can't wait!