I feel FALL Fever coming on...

I can't help it...
It's not that I don't LOVE summer...
Because I absolutely do!

But I am glad I don't live in a place where its always summer...
That would be just too dull for me...
And I'm really not wishing summer away...

Because that would just be silly...
And this summer weather wise, has been simply AMAZING!
Nonstop sunshine for days on end...

However.....

My pumpkins are turning orange....
And my sunflowers are blooming...
And there are school supplies for sale on the shelves...

and there is a little tiny budding in my soul...
which is the beginning of Fall Fever...
I realize its simply my restlessness and my never ending need of change...
But crisp fall days are starting to whisper to me...

Frychik

If your friends told you to jump off a bridge....

Would you do it?
 

Sometimes we encourage peer pressure :)

When I was a teenager this would have been me...standing up there but unlike these guys I would have been the one that really, really, didn't want to be up there...but there was no way I was gonna be THAT girl!

In my teenage mind I never ever wanted to be seen as prissy, wimpy or any other form of weakness...

I wanted to be just as tough and brave as the boys...so I often found myself in these sorts of situations...

And I enjoyed bragging about them afterwards....

But now I am entirely content cheering from the boat and being the photographer!


However, there is a tiny part of me that wishes I was that supper cool grown up that was up there with the kids....never mind.... :)

Frychik

iphone pics

I absolutely LOVE my iphone camera...

I'm amazed and dismayed how great these cameras are and how anybody anywhere can look like an amazing photographer just by clicking their phone camera and then adding a filter or two from instagram and wala you look like a pro...

But beside that it is an awesome way to document your life - and let me tell you my life is EXCITING these days! ;p

PUMPKINS!!!!!!!!!!! I have the biggest most gorgeous pumpkins I have ever grown this year!  I am mildly concerned that they are already turning orange in August...is that a problem?  I don't know it just seems too soon...I should look it up.

My tomatoes are coming on! And they are delicious! I only get a few a day and we usually gobble them up immediately and I mean immediately often I don't even get them into the kitchen before I have devoured them.  I LOVE THEM!

I went shopping with my mom the other day and we went to the coolest furniture store! The had a huge range of items including an obstetric table and confession booth! Of course if you needed a dining room table or couch they had that as well :)

Probably about 8 years ago we planted our grapes...
And for those years it has grown and has the most gorgeous shinny leafy vines that grow and grow...
However, noticeably absent have been grapes...
Until this year!
We have about 3 cluster!
I'm still doubtful as to their quality but it is exciting!

As a result of being home and outside in the yard so much I have found a deepening friendship developing with my sweet Teddy Rose...She faithfully helps me water as long as I promise to water her on the hot days :)

Two of my nieces stopped by the other evening and we began playing imaginary beauty salon and then of course we had to take pictures :) handing my camera to my sweet 4 year old niece would have been scary no matter how much I adore her! Handing her my iphone was less scary :)  About 400 pictures and these are the best two :)
Love them so much!

Photo Credit: Paige Ritz

 Photo credit:  Payton Ritz

Another super cool thing about the iphone camera is the availability! On a bike ride no problem you just whip it out and tada you have documented your sweaty red face forever more :)

Frychik

Summer time blues...

I'm not gonna lie...
This summer sucks in many, many ways....

However,

I cannot escape the fact that I am older and wiser and as a result I can see God's blessings even through it all...

1.  Time - while it is many times my enemy one way or another...I am really trying to embrace it... With Joshua's departure from my daily routine I find myself protecting, embracing and cherishing the time I have left with Ty before he abandons me as well... :) And as my ever optimistic husband points out "enjoy it now because you are gonna be crazy busy before you know it"  - of course neither of us knows what that will be...

2.  I feel my trust in God growing...I trust more that I can have temper-tantrums and He doesn't mind...He just loves me and is there....

3.  I have an AMAZING husband and mother and I'm so very blessed that they are both in my life in a very consistent and available way.

4. Music - I am consistently amazed how many times a song speaks to my situation.
Sidewalk Profits has a song "If there's a road I should walk help me find it, if I need to be still give me grace for the moment.  Whatever Your will can you help me find it?"  - Perfect...

5.  God is leading...where I don't know...but He's in charge.

And because I like to focus on the positive here are some things that I am really appreciating about this summer

1. Weather - it has been AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
2. Garden - tomatoes are red!!!!!!!!!!!
3. Pumpkins!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am growing the largest pumpkins I have ever grown (not Charlie Brown giant pumpkins but still they are big!)
4. It is so fun to see Ty emerge from his brothers shadow and step up!
5. Thankful I have the time to be available for Ty and others that need me.
6. Thankful we have had the chance to camp, bike, boat, hike, visit with friends, etc....


Focusing on the positive today...

Frychik

Big Lake

We headed to Big Lake this weekend to camp with some friends who also have kiddos working at Big Lake Youth Camp...

Our camp was located on the opposite side of the lake from the youth camp - which was perfect! 10 min drive and we could see our kiddos and have a flushing toilet! I'm not telling which I was more excited about... :)

I had never been to this side of the lake and the campground had amazing views...

It was I think quite possibly the prettiest campground I have ever stayed at...

Mountain views, lake with crystal clear water, it was gorgeous!

One of the funnest parts of the weekend was being able to watch Josh at work :)

He had 14, 10-12 year olds all to himself for the week... :) and he's good at it!

Being "female" I was forbidden to see his cabin in the Boy's Village (grrrrr) but Jeff and Ty were able to and they witnessed him organizing all 14 of them into some form of cabin cleaning for inspection...

He seemed very organized and sure of himself...

He had 14 little ducks following him everywhere he went...

The down side of that is when you visit him you don't have his attention :) 

 Apparently the counselors are not to tell the campers their age...
When they found out I was his mom that was their first question "how old is he?"
I asked how old they thought he was - answers ranged from 23 - 35 !!!!
Which made me laugh! My baby seems so old to them :)

 

Here they are lined up before dinner...

They eat family style - Josh serves his cabin at every meal....

Lined up after dinner to head back to cabin to get ready for campfire...

Josh helping out during songs at campfire....

Sabbath afternoon we went with Josh's cabin on their excursion to some caves about 30 min away on unmarked dirt roads that ended near a hole in the ground...How do people find these places?
I'm not a big fan of caves....but the part where they ate lunch had cool sky lights which gave me peace of mind...

Big Lake is a beautiful place to spend your summer.

Josh is working his tail off which makes me happy :)

 

He also has some sweet benefits to the job if he is willing to get up at 6 am and take advantage of the very impressive wake board instructor who has come in for the week....



We didn't get to spend much time with him and when we did see him he was busy but it was really cool to see him at work...
To see him happy and content in a safe/fun/Christian environment did my heart good.:)

Frychik

Banana Slugs

It was an amazing weekend.  Unexpectedly we were childless...so we had to fill our time doing things that our little darling boy just doesn't appreciate at the same level we do - like hiking :)
We decided to explore Mirror Lake on Mt. Hood.  When we got to the lake it was pretty much a white out because of the low clouds....

So we hiked higher to a peak called Tom, Dick and Harry and then we sat there for 30 min before the clouds parted to reveal an impressive view.  But the clouds would blow right back in so we could only catch glimpses of the mountain which was kinda cool.

When we came down from Tom, Dick and Harry Mirror Lake looked like this! Amazing what a difference some clouds can make!

Then we ventured over to Timberline Lodge.  Mt. Hood really is a beautiful mountain any time of the year...
I tried to climb this mountain once...lets just say it was a VERY humbling experience which did not end with me summiting...I still hold a bit of a grudge about that...

Mt. Jefferson and then the Sisters way back there.  Our oldest boy is somewhere between those mountains.

My husband threw a snowball at me!

While we were hiking up to Tom, Dick and Harry we met some people on the narrow trail.  I noticed as one passed me that he almost stepped on a banana slug...he also noticed that he had almost stepped on "something" and was peering down trying to figure out what it was...
I said "did that slug almost get you?" (cause I'm funny that way) and he said "oh, is that what that is?" I said yep its a banana slug, which got his entire group interested - which of course led me to the conclusion that they just weren't from around here...when I asked they said they were from Chicago.  I then felt the need to let them know that you do not have to be in the middle of the Mt. Hood national forest to spot a banana slug...I didn't want them bragging to their Chicago neighbors that they had spotted the rare and decidedly ugly banana slug...I informed them the banana slug can also be found on my front porch at home...to which they seemed mildly impressed...

Yep..the NW is pretty fantastic slugs and all!


Frychik

Summer time...

Yea It's summer time!

So grab some friends...

And head outside...

Swim....

Jump off a bridge....

Or grab a rope swing and go or a ride...






Or...

The point is enjoy :)

Frychik