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.

Saturday Adventures

Every Saturday we make plans for an adventure. As I mentioned before, we're trying to take advantage of the nice weather, but it's also imperative to Ben's mental health that he get out and do something in the outdoors every weekend.

So last Saturday we drove into downtown Portland to go to the Farmer's Market. They had such great samples at each booth that Ben (Mr. Frugal) almost purchased peaches for $2 each. Luckily, I was able talk him out of it, but the rest of the time I could hear him muttering under his breath, "Those peaches were so good!" over and over. Not two-dollars-a-piece good though, I can assure you.

We also got the great opportunity to see my old roommate Brooke. She lives and works in the city and writes Super Bowl Ads. Yeah, she's pretty cool.

Nayeli's free flower

We then did a short visit to the Portland Saturday Market down by the waterfront. It's made up of more crafts, clothes, art, etc. I love Farmer's Markets and getting to see the creativity of others.

Ben and I then drove to Multnomah Falls, about 30 min outside the city in the Gorge (the area to the east of the city where the Columbia River runs). It's a beautiful falls and a pretty iconic Portland-area tourist attraction. I don't think we'll go again because it was a madhouse, but it's worth going once for sure.

 Remember my post on how to choose a good citizen photographer? When we lived in DC Ben was a master at picking a good one, but he has since lost some of his skill because he asked a guy holding a disposable camera (do they even make those anymore?) to take this picture. Look, there's our family standing in front of a bridge and... wait... is that a waterfall in the back?

 Ben's second Citizen Photographer choice was much better...except that Ben's eyes are closed. As they say, you can't beat 'em all.

Blurry but I love it.

 Looking over the Gorge. We hiked up to the top of the falls.

 At the top

This is an extremely common place to find Ben- in some obscure spot trying to 

capture a photo or video of Nayeli.

This photo perfectly captures Nayeli's annoyance at being interrupted from her play for a picture.

More of the Oregonian Life

Some of you have been wondering what we're up to so I'll tell you- a whole lot. The weather is really beautiful right now so we've been trying to get out and see all we can. Plus we've already had visitors. It's been a whirlwind first few weeks here and I'm loving it.

Here's a recap on a few of our recent adventures:

Blackberry Picking

The blackberries are out and growing everywhere! We often go on walks at night and find patches we can pick. We've been eating them on cereal, with yogurt, or for dessert with milk and sugar. Delicious no matter how you eat them.

She loves them! Luckily I've found a good stain remover.

He's so great. I'm so happy to have him by my side for all of this.

Sunday Drives

We live in the greatest place. We're 20 minutes from metropolitan Portland and 10 minutes from the most beautiful countryside you've ever seen. One drive we love takes us past million-dollar homes built on rolling knolls and massive lots. There are farms, cows and horses, and sunflower fields. It is breathtaking.

Camping

For Ben, camping is a part of life. So we found a good excuse to camp when our ward held a campout the weekend after we arrived. We went to the Willamette (pronounced Will-AM-it) Mission State Park and had a great time getting to know other members in the ward. And of course it was beautiful. No surprise there.

 We camped near this pretty pond.

While we were driving to the campsite we kept seeing these fields full of tall plants.

We couldn't figure out what they were- probably because we had never seen them before in our lives. They're called Hops and they're used to make beer. They grow them all over in the area where we went.

 They look like mini pine cones.

They grow them in massive fields like this. 

Mark's Visit

And last but not least my brother Mark and his family came to visit us last week. We had so much fun. He has the greatest wife and kids and we crammed all ten of us into our 881 square foot apartment for two nights (with one bathroom mind you :) ). We went into Portland most days then headed for the coast on Friday. 

On Thursday Malinda and I took the kids to the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI). It was a great museum and the kids had a good time.

That night we went into the city and took the aerial tram. The view was beautiful, as you can see. We could even see Mount St. Helens from the top.

Our whole group

We then headed to a place called "Salt and Straw" for ice cream. It's original to Portland and has ice cream flavors like strawberry and black pepper, sea salt and caramel, olive oil, and honey and lavender. I went with chocolate, Ben was more daring and got the sea salt and caramel.

After ice cream we went down to Waterfront Park and walked along the river.

Friday we took the kids to the Zoo. This is the only picture I got. Lame. 

But can you see the lion in the background? Sort of cool, right?

Like I said, on Friday we headed for the coast. We didn't reserve a place to stay until Friday morning and got probably the last rental unit on the entire Oregon coast. It was a nice place... for being a double-wide :) Really, we stayed in a trailer near Tillamook, Oregon. And it was awesome. But we got a good laugh out of the fact that Mark reserved a double-wide for us to stay in.

Saturday we went to the Tillamook Cheese Factory. They had a fun tour and free samples. Mark and Malinda bought cheese so we went back to our double-wide (ha ha) and made grilled cheese sandwiches. Delicious.

Outside the factory.

 We made our child be the cow. We are great parents, aren't we?

Then we went to Oceanside to enjoy the beach. It was overcast but breathtaking all the same.

She fell asleep in the car and continued to sleep when we got to the beach. She seldom sleeps on my chest like this anymore. It is one of my favorite things about being a mom.

Cousin Jared and Nayeli 

Our awesome setup

Ben playing with Makayla and Emma in the 50 degree water.

 

 Love this one. These two are the best things that ever happened to me.