Holiday Weekend Adventure: LaPine State Park

Thank goodness for holiday weekends.  I really needed a break.
We went to central Oregon this weekend and stayed at LaPine State Park.  It's a really nice park, it's just unfortunately 4 hours away.  We had a camp site that backs right up to the Deschutes River.  So, we did quite a bit of hiking along the river on Saturday morning.

Why yes...that is Levi's robot grabber in the picture.  He insisted on having it while we hiked just in case "someone needed rescuing."  He calls it his "rescue grabber."

On Saturday afternoon we met up at Lava Butte with our friends, Mark and Mindy, who recently moved to Bend.  Levi really loved walking around in the 7,000 year old lava flow.  He has a pretty big obsession with volcanoes.

Love the view of Mt. Bachelor in the background of this photo.  Have I mentioned how much I really love central Oregon?  The smell of Ponderosa Pine gets me every time!

One of my favorite moments of the weekend was Levi making a "camp fire" and roasting his own marshmallows.

And of course he was very excited to help daddy build the real fire.  This was all that remained of the two marshmallows daddy roasted for him!

Overall a great weekend.  Levi's last day of school is Friday and I have 13 more...
Summer is almost here!

He's Here!

Baby Elijah arrived this afternoon!
He was born at 1:13pm.
Weighed in at 8lbs 4oz.

He's wonderful and handsome!
My sister, Tricia, is doing fine.  Pretty exhausted but very happy about this amazing little guy she has in her arms now!

FYI-Elijiah is yawning here not crying...it's really hard work coming into the world!

Now Levi gets to be the big boy cousin who teaches his little boy cousin how to arm pit fart.
I'm sure these two are going to have a lot of fun together!
It was a quick visit tonight since the new family is pretty tired.  I can't wait to get some more snuggles with this baby boy later!

Congratulations Tricia and Travis!

Welcome baby Elijah!

Mom's Day!

I sure am one lucky Mommy.
So happy I get to be this silly little boy's mom.

Levi's really big right now on being a "rescuer".  So when we saw this mask at Target yesterday we had to get it.  Not sure why he's so into rescuing...maybe because of the fireman who visited his class a few weeks ago?  The mask was definitely the best $3 I've ever spent!  He loves it!

Levi sure has done a great job making me feel loved and special today.  (With some help from Grandma)

Levi and Gabe also let me stay in bed this morning while they made yummy cinnamon rolls!

Now we're waiting for dinner to finish...Gabe made one of my favorites!

We got our garden all planted and some weeds whacked down this weekend.

Also had a fun little picnic at the park today.

Someone is really close to being able to ride a pedal bike all on his own!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

Another beautiful weekend

We have been blessed with some amazing weather the last few weeks.  It's felt more like late July than early May around here.  Loving it.  But it does have me worried about what June will bring.  Blessings come with curses in the Pacific Northwest!

It was a great weekend for racing.

Although, the racing didn't end well.
I got a phone call this afternoon from Gabe.  They rolled out on stage today and are done for the weekend.  So disappointing!

And a perfect weekend for doing a short photo shoot at the Hoyt Arboretum with two (almost three) of my favorite people.  Baby Elijah could come at any point...although his "due date" is May 19th!
Here are a few of my favorites.

Wish Travis wasn't out of focus on this one...guess the 50mm lens I dropped really needs to be replaced!

And a perfect weekend for finally getting the pea plant Levi planted in a pot at school a month ago, in the ground.  It sure needed it!  We definitely waited too long since it was trying hard to grow one little pea pod in a tiny little pot.  Hope it survives!

Since Daddy will probably be home early tomorrow, we'll have to get an early start on planting some pea seeds so Levi's little plant won't be all alone!
I am so thankful for beautiful weekends.  And that my husband will be making it home safely!