I Want To Be This Guy When I Grow Up

I have never been much of a runner. In Middle School I remember running a 14 minute mile, walking half the time. I'm not sure why this is either. I can walk or hike all ALL DAY. I can even do sprint/walk intervals for 40 minutes straight, but ask me to run for more than 10 consecutive minutes (still not reaching a mile all these years later) and I'll be red-faced and huffing and puffing while coming up on that 9th minute, ready to start walking the rest of the way.

I've even set a goal to jog for 3 miles, and gradually tried work my way to it over a month's time. By the third week I realized that I jog too darn slowly to reach the 3 miles in a reasonable time, otherwise I would be jogging for an hour just to log in 3 miles. So then I said to myself, "Thats OK. This is a big goal for me. I will be proud to jog for 30 minutes straight and I don't care how far I go."

Almost three months later, on the stinking treadmill at least 4-5 days a week, 10 minutes is all I've got and I STILL can't run a mile in that 10 minutes. Hmmpf.

So you can imagine how I felt when I read this headline in the local paper a while back. But once I started reading past the photograph caption, I started feeling a little bit better.....I guess while 91 year old Mr. Lauderback was in highschool and then while attending the University of Oregon in the mid-1930's he tried out for track and awaited a varsity letter that never came. He ran too slow. Near the age of 43 he started running a mile every day for 20 years. At 65, he was running a 6 minute mile. Then at 91 he broke the world record for the 1 mile run in the 90-94 age group! He ran a mile in 10 minutes, 52 seconds! Better than I did when I was 12, better than I can do now at 30. And now here he is running up the 1 mile, 500 foot incline of Pilot Butte in the local Pilot Butte Challenge in under 19 minutes! I have yet to walk up that old volcano since we moved to town.....but now I have hope knowing that time is on my side, even if it takes me another 10 years to run a dang mile in 10 minutes or run for 30 minutes straight. So I decided that this is the guy I want to be when I grow up.

What Day Is It Again?

Its October 10th. OCTOBER. 10TH. And it started snowing last night........And you thought it was getting cold where you live....silly, silly, silly. Well, unless you're the one in Wyoming. Then you are most likely more chilly than me :)

Rise & Shine Boys! They lasted a whole 5 minutes out there this morning. Such Brave Little Toasters.

What's That on the Back of Your Head?

Carter's morning hair, before & after:

Who are you? Carter, or Brayden? Brayden, or Carter? Could have been twins I tell you.

A Few Random Shots

Jim recently drove to La Grande for work and along his 10 1/2 hour round trip commute these were my favorite pictures he took. I have never been on the route he took to La Grande, well, I've never actually been to La Grande and these pictures are a part of the Eastern Oregon Outback that I've never seen. Really, what a huge, diverse and beautiful state Oregon is.



Here are the boys having fun, Carter swings like a maniac and Brayden thinks he is doing life defying tricks on the bench swing.

Auntie Jessica (Jeahss-ja-ca as Brayden says) reading her favorite book to the boys, titled "I Am NOT Going To Get Up Today"

Uncle Brandon snuggling with the other boy. (i.e., leftovers)

New Phrases & Tumalo Creek

Brayden is a fun, innocent, bright and growing little guy, however, he is....well, two. And along with being two years old he is broadening his conversational skills. He tells us things like "I lub you" & "You best". We have a special family thing that we tell each other "You're the best [fill in a name] ever, in the whole Universe!". Also, in tune, he is singing a couple of verses from his favorite song called Moon, Moon, Moon. And he is also telling us (ok, mainly me) "NO Mommy, NO. Cop it Mommy, cop it!" (Cop it means Stop it and he says it REALLY loud)

But the newest phrase that only I have had the privilege of being told is "I be mad at you Mommy, be mad at you" He says this in a warning tone, much like a tiger gives a warning growl before attacking. In either case, you must learn to walk away when given the warning....before its too late. So here I am trying to record him singing the Moon, Moon, Moon song and this is what I got:



I actually have another video of him right after this, where he told me "COP IT!!" and I told him that its not nice to talk to your Mommy like that and he quickly said "Sorry, Mommy, Sorry..." Then finished the clip with more of his be mad at you's - but the video was too long and wouldn't upload to blogger. So sorry.

Tumalo Creek

Tumalo Creek is so much prettier than I thought it would be, the creek sits below that natural rock wall above. Its really nice to find a shady place like this on a hot day, it can be hard to find a good amount of shade around here sometimes! Going to Tumalo was our last little outing before school started, we drove out to Prineville Reservoir first that day, but Jim and I are lush, green Valley people at heart who happen to like lots of trees and we found the place to be too barren, dry, and hot (pictured below) and we have no desire to go back. This made walking around Tumalo Creek spectacular.

But let us not forget.......Brayden is still mad at you Mommy. Little Stinker.

Crescent Lake & The Cabin In The Woods

We just had the best family vacation ever! Thanks to Uncle Chuck and Aunt Judith for letting us stay at thier home in Crescent Junction and more thanks to Grandpa who unbelievably entertained us with boating, beaches and food! Here are the boys at Grandpa's house ~

They even got to operate the excavator! This was a true boy's DREAM vacation ~Here is the family on the deck with a view of the forest (Nana, Jessica and Brandon, Aunt Tina, us and John with the silly face)...a big black bear was seen on some of Uncle Chuck's additional property just over our shoulders a couple of nights before, and left some paw prints and bathroom remains that were found even closer....so exciting, HA! The boys fed the horses who detected the bear not far from their little enclosure. They were the nicest horses, the black one is the mommy and the spotted one is her son. Thank you Steve for letting us feed them a little hay snack!~

Some views of Diamond Peak and Crescent Lake from the top of the neighborhood ~
Grandpa took us out on a pontoon boat and this was the first time Dillon and Carter have ever been pulled behind a boat (with their cousin John holding on to them of course!) They LOVED it and we had such a good time that we now have to figure out how to get our own boat now.....ok and our own cabin too....eventually, right?!
This was a pretty long vacation from home for Brady, and by the time we had gotten out on the boat he had missed his daily nap for the fourth day in a row and got scared and cried everytime somebody jumped in the water thinking they were going to get hurt. Then he cried about wearing the life jacket and couldn't stop himself until he fell asleep while still standing up :) He was much happier when we reached the sandy beach and Jim made him a shade hut to hang out in.

This was such a great getaway, and I wasn't quite ready to come home. So we will be bringing the boys back soon! Thank you so much Uncle Chuck, Aunt Judith & Grandpa! This was truly such a special time for us :)

Interesting Perspective...

Cultus Lake

Jim turned 35 on Sunday and took Monday off, so we decided to do something new that we've never done before.....go for a little boat ride! What a great day :) The water was almost warm and so clear, it was just beautiful. Cultus Lake is right below Cultus Peak about 35 minutes from Bend off the Cascade Lakes Highway, you can see Mt.Bachelor and South Sister from the lake (except that the air happened to be a little smoky from it being fire season the day we went) and you can rent little motor boats, jet skis, paddle boats and kayaks, next time we go I want Jim and I to rent a jet ski together, I've never done that before!

This was all during Brayden's nap time and he dozed off for a few seconds while on the first leg of our boat ride. That humming motor must have done the trick...
At our picnic and swimming spot -
On the boat -
Carter and his string -Dillon and his stick -

"What? I can't hear you Mommy!"

Somebody found q-tips out of a travel bag and thought he could sneak them to the back yard (see the pile on the ground behind him?) I couldn't help but take a couple of pictures before invading his sneaky plan....

Loving the Valley

Is it strange that I miss views like this and the smell of the freshly cut hay and mint fields at night?

It was my mom's 59th birthday and Jim's mom's 60th so we all went to visit the valley and spend some family time together, I just love our trips there :) Isn't that sunset so pretty?

Lemme tell ya, its pretty cool when you have an uncle who is a police officer - you get to sit in and explore a real police car and learn about tasers. Seeing a taser was Dillon's life long wish for about a month and he finally got to see it.....whoa, watch out!

All tuckered out....I remember the last times that Dillon and Carter fell asleep on me like this and I'm hoping that this wasn't the last time for Brayden....

There were a few other REALLY entertaining pictures that would have been loads of fun to post - but my better judgement told me not to :) Oh well....

The Dirty Donkey Story

My Aunt Michele sent me this email, I just love it!

One day a farmer's donkey fell down into a well. The animal cried piteously for hours as the farmer tried to figure out what to do. Finally, he decided the animal was old, and the well needed to be covered up anyway; it just wasn't worth it to retrieve the donkey.

He invited all his neighbors to come over and help him. They all grabbed a shovel and began to shovel dirt into the well. At first, the donkey realized what was happening and cried horribly. (oh my gosh!) Then, to everyone's amazement he quieted down. A few shovel loads later, the farmer finally looked down the well. He was astonished at what he saw. With each shovel of dirt that hit his back, the donkey was doing something amazing. He would shake it off and take a step up.

As the farmer's neighbors continued to shovel dirt on top of the animal, he would shake it off and take a step up. Pretty soon, everyone was amazed as the donkey stepped up over the edge of the well and happily trotted off!

Life is going to shovel dirt on you, all kinds of dirt. The trick to getting out of the well is to shake it off and take a step up. Each of our troubles is a stepping stone. We can get out of the deepest wells just by not stopping, Never giving up! Shake it off and take a step up. Remember the five simple rules to be happy:

Free your heart from hatred - Forgive.
Free your mind from worries - Most never happen anyway.
Live simply and appreciate what you have.
Give more.
Expect less.

NOW ............. Enough of that crap. The donkey later came back, and bit the farmer who had tried to bury him. The gash from the bite got infected and the farmer eventually died in agony from septic shock.

MORAL FROM TODAY'S LESSON: When you do something wrong (and mean!) and try to cover your ass, it always comes back to bite you. And that we have to be willing to be at the bottom before we can teach ourselves how to get to the top.

"Now, wait a minute... why wasn't I supposed to get wet?"


Oh well. Wet clothes are the least of my worries - Right before this I caught him drawing with markers on his feet, legs, hands, and face and now the pool water is washing it all off :)

Just A Beautiful Summer Day

This summer is so drastically different than last summer. It is so nice being able to have such calm days with little obligation and lots of relaxation. We have been coming and going as we please and I have purposely not signed the boys up for any summer sports or classes, because I'm loving the freedom of our days and there is no better place to spend beautiful mornings (while its cooler) than this park about 5 minutes from our house. These are pictures from Farewell Park right along the Deschutes River. As you drive down to the park you can see the river getting closer and the setting is canyon-like and there is everything for a handful of boys to do there. You can see Dillon on one of the climbing rocks in the picture above. It is probably my favorite place to take that certain handful.

This outstreched dock is perfectly enclosed so the boys can run around freely over the water. They can't get out......Love it.

This is a popular trail we took along the river, you get to climb over rocks and along little bridges, through catails taller than you can see (if you're 6 or under) and perfect little resting and snack time areas all along the way. We even got to see a hawk dive into the river from high above and catch a fish, we could see the fish squirming in the hawk's grip and the bird almost lost him, but then flew away with lunch. Brayden's little legs went for a full 2 miles with very few requests for Mommy to "Hold Him, Mommy...hold Him." We could come here everyday.......