Fall in Oregon

This fall has been so beautiful here in Oregon. The weather is just perfect; crisp weather that only requires a long sleeve shirt or, at most, a jacket. We've been trying to get out as much as possible since we know the rainy season is just around the corner. Here are some of our latest (or not so recent) adventures.

 What is it about a child that loves to push something around? 

I found this stroller at a yard sale for $2 and it is Nayeli's favorite toy.

We have a playground by our house that has a gigantic volcano slide. One evening at the end of the summer I got this great picture of Ben and Nayeli at the top. They are best buds.

I am guilty of bribing my child with Cheetos so as to enjoy a trip to Target without any interruptions or tantrums. It worked like a charm and it's become my secret weapon when my sanity requires it.

Nayeli loves books. I can often find her alone in her room "reading" to herself. It makes my book-loving heart happy.

Another day when she put on her pumpkin hat and wore it around the house.

I love my girl

On my entry table I had a beautiful white pitcher with flowers in it as well as a porcelain fall pumpkin. The flowers sang the siren song to Nayeli and before I knew it they were in a pile of glass on my floor. I just try to think of what my mom said when I broke things as a child; "I love you more than I love my... (fill in the blank)". Wise words.

Ben and Nayeli after dinner. One of her favorite things is watching videos of herself on our phones. Yes, we're raising a narcissist, but can you blame her? 

Her latest obsession is dogs. Our sweet neighbor, who adores Nayeli, gave her a stuffed Chihuahua. She carried it around for days.

General Conference this year was wonderful. With a toddler, it's its own challenge but I think we did okay. Besides trashing the house to keep her entertained. But that probably would have happened anyway. Here she is leading the music (notice her blurry hand).

There are lots of pumpkin patches in our area with free animal petting zoos. A friend and I took our kids to see the baby goats at this one. Nayeli loved to see them but refused to feed them.

She also refused to look at the camera. Oh well.

She loves swings, or "wee", as she calls them. This tire swing was no exception. She held on for dear life while giggling excitedly. She's got such a life in her that I love.

As of late I've become mildly addicted to Pinterest. I found a tutorial for a pompom garland but you had to make your own pompoms. Since I have no patience for that, I bought a package of pre-made pompoms at the dollar store, used some twine I had on hand, and voila! I love how it turned out! I think I'm going to make one for every holiday. Can't get enough of a good thing right?

Last but not least, this is video of Nayeli saying her favorite word. She will walk around the house saying it over and over. Despite excessive coaxing she only says it once in the video. Notice her tone. That's how she says it every time.

Been There, Seen That

This post is mostly for those in our family who don't have Facebook/Instagram. For many of you, this will be a "been there, seen that" post, so you can feel free to tune out whenever you'd like.

 Nayeli has become my little mime lately. Here she is using my headphones.

This picture was taken about a month ago when I decided one morning to cut my own bangs. I don't know what inspired my moment of hairstylist delusion, but they actually turned out pretty good. In fact, they're the bangs I've wanted for years but never had a hairstylist cut right.

Ben's first response when he saw them: "They look good but... are they crooked?" Leave it to Ben to tell me the truth in the most innocent way possible. And yes, they are a little crooked but I don't care. I don't think anyone notices anyway.

Nayeli is going to be a pumpkin for Halloween this year. I got the costume for $3 on the after Halloween sales last year. I pulled it out early and she hasn't been able to stop pointing to it since. She especially loves the hat. This particular picture was taken one morning when she put her hat on first thing.

Get Going

Mondays are my stay at home and get things done days. I get the laundry started, plan my meals for the week, make my grocery list, do the dishes from Sunday, etc. It's like a weekend recovery day.

Although today it was especially difficult to get going. I got a few things done, then realized about 11am that I needed to make it to the store. However it was just so nice to be in my pajamas in my warm apartment. Nayeli was entertaining herself so well and I didn't want to go out in the rain.

So I kept putting it off. Finally by 1pm I knew I needed to go to the store before Nayeli took an afternoon nap. I dragged myself into a pair of jeans and put on some mascara. The following were my attempts to get out the door:

Attempt #1- Ready to walk out the door when I hear the dryer stop. I take a second to take the dry clothes out and put a new batch in.

Attempt #2- Walking toward the door when I smell that Nayeli's messy. Change a poopy diaper.

Attempt #3- Already out the door when Nayeli signs she wants milk. Knowing she'll be signing it until she gets it, I unlock the front door and enter the house again to fill her sippy with milk.

Finally we get into the car. We're on our way when I realize that I forgot my reusable grocery bags. Oh well. I'm not going back a fourth time.

We drove the one mile to Fred Meyer and arrived by 1:30. I was sure I could run in and do some shopping all before Nayeli was sleepy. Then I turned around to this:

I laughed out loud. She's been so hard to get to sleep most afternoons (yesterday she didn't nap at all) I didn't have the heart to wake her up and drag her into the grocery store.

So I drove home again. I put her in her crib, put back on my pajamas, and sit here blogging. I guess the grocery store will just have to wait.

Silver Falls

Our major goal right now is to have an adventure each Saturday before the infamous Oregon rains begin. Last Saturday we drove an hour southeast to a state park called Silver Falls. It's a beautiful collection of 10 waterfalls along a 8 mile path. Unfortunately I was not feeling up to walking 8 miles on Saturday so we took the short two mile route instead. Still beautiful and not exhausting.

It's been the place that the most people have recommended since we moved here. Now we know why. The falls are breathtaking, and we only saw two of them!

South Falls. 200 feet high.

 The path goes behind the waterfall, as you can see here. Beautiful.

 

Ben's been getting into photo editing lately. It's fun to see what he comes up with.

Behind the falls. We look like a high school couple posing for a Homecoming photo.

We also hiked to Lower South Falls but by then we were pictured out. No photos from there. However I'm pretty sure these will suffice.

What's our next adventure? We've been told we should visit Sauvie Island, an island in the Columbia River north of Portland. It supposedly has great pumpkin patches during the fall so we're going to take Nayeli. The great thing about living here is that I feel I'm never going to see it all. But I'll be darned if we aren't going to try :)

No More Monkeys

Since we've moved away from essentially all of our family, I've decided to post more videos so that those who are interested (aka grandparents) can see how Nayeli is changing and growing.

Lately she's begun to mimic our actions. This is her version of "No More Monkeys Jumping on the Bed".

Labor Day

For Labor Day we were invited by a couple in our ward to hike to some beautiful waterfalls in the Gorge. The Gorge refers to the area east of Portland where the Columbia river flows and I-84 drives into the city. It's a gorgeous area with waterfalls, hikes and great views. Our last hike to Multnomah Falls was in the Gorge.

The falls we went to this time was Punchbowl Falls. There were three couples total with five kids between us. It was the perfect sized group and we had a great time chatting together on the two mile hike up.

Ben carried Nayeli in the Kelty

She braved the cold water and loved it

Upper punchbowl falls. Ben decided he wanted to swim to the falls...

so of course the two other men weren't going to be left behind. We women opted to stay with the kids. That water was COLD!

Nayeli's obsession: dogs. She recently learned to say "dog-gie".

The falls are beautiful but carry a hefty fine if you jump around them- $300. Apparently there have been some deaths of people jumping from the 60-80 foot cliffs above these falls.

However the lower falls are free game. 

I don't think I have to mention that Ben was the instigator for this jump.

And he did the 20 foot ropeswing. I love having Ben as my husband. He keeps me young... and on my toes :)

As we hiked back down Ben told me, "That was my favorite place we've been to so far!" He loves adventures. I love that about him. 

Thanks to the Gough and Clark families for a great Labor Day hike!

Daddy's Girl

Last night Ben put Nayeli in new pajamas. Since she awoke this morning, she's been walking around the house pointing to her pajamas and saying "Da-da" over and over. Although I couldn't get her impromptu performance on camera, I think this video clip gives you an idea of how cute she is.