Seattle Road Trip

Conner and I took a quick road trip to Seattle yesterday, and we had such a great time! The purpose of our trip was to get some driving hours for him and to also see my college roommate and her family. Conner did almost all of the driving except for about 1/2 hour on the way there and a 1/2 hour on the way back. He did fantastic - I can't believe that our 16 year-old just drove me through downtown Seattle and 150 miles on the interstate....yikes! He got to pump gas for the first time and was thrilled that I wanted to take a picture of him doing it :). We only had one close call out of the 7 hours that he drove, so not too bad. The close call was pretty scary for both of us. Two semis were broken down on the side of the freeway, so the semi driving next to us decided he wanted over into our lane just as Conner was starting to drive next to him. Conner started speeding up to get passed the semi so that the semi could come into our lane, but then the traffic in front of us started slowing down....thank God, the cars in front of us weren't slowing down too quickly or it could have been bad. Anyway, we survived with only a honk from the semi driver. It was great spending 7 hours in the car with Conner, just hanging out together. At church on Saturday we had a message about looking for God's goodness during the day, so a couple of times we just listed off the good things that we had seen on our trip. It was really cool. We had a great time in Seattle - Conner went bowling and to a hockey game with Reed, Cade, and Patrice. Katie and I went on a long walk around Greenlake, got pedicures (thanks, Katie!) and went for coffee. We came home for delicious French Dip sandwiches. Katie and I pretty much talked non stop for the 10 hours that we spent together. It was so good to spend time with her.

Taking Time to Notice

My guided meditation class on Tuesday nights has been amazing. I have learned many things about living in the moment rather than thinking about the past and thinking/worrying about the future. Our teacher always talks about how we spend so much of our lives living in the past and future that we hardly ever really enjoy the moment we are in. I had never thought about this before, and then, over time, I noticed how true it was for myself. A lot of times I find myself thinking about how the kids will do in school, will they go to college, will they have good jobs, marry the "right" person, etc. I spend time thinking about what I could have done differently as a parent, wife, etc. While it is important to learn from the past and prepare for the future, I have found that I have dwelled too much on both of these and then miss out on enjoying the moment. Through my class, I have learned how to notice things around me that I'd never before taken the time to notice or even thought about noticing - like closing my eyes and listening to all the different sounds around me, noticing small details in flowers, focusing on breathing, etc. When she taught us how to do this, I didn't believe it would really help me that much. I decided to give it a try, and it's amazing how much doing this has helped my anxiety. I have slowed waaaaay down over the past several months and appreciate each day a lot more. I notice that I am so much calmer, patient, and happier. Today Peter and I went up to the Rose Garden and then walked around NW 23rd for awhile. The picture of this flower is something that I noticed on today's walk.

A Friday Date

For the past 4 weeks, Peter and I have gone on a date on Friday afternoons. I don't work on Fridays during the summer, and he always has Friday afternoons off. Today, I talked him into going to the Lavendar Festival in Helvetia. He said he would go as long as we could do something else afterwards :). It was beautiful up there - the weather was amazing, and the view incredible. We sat in the garden and drank some lavender iced tea (not that great), walked around to the vendors that were selling things, looked at some strange art, and mostly just enjoyed the scenery. Afterwards we went on a short walk at Jackson Bottom Wetlands and then to Insomnia Coffee shop to have some coffee and a chocolate espresso cookie. I wish I could take every Friday afternoon off from work because it has been so nice to have a little special time set aside during the week just for each other.

Off to Camp

Yesterday we dropped Kelsey off at church for her week-long camp in Olympia, Washington. She is the first of our kids to go to an overnight camp, so it seems really strange to have her gone. She has been really excited for this, so I hope she has a great time. She said that she was looking forward to learning more about God and making new friends. She was very organized with getting all of her camp supplies and packing. We did forget her pillow (which we discovered while in the check-in line), so Peter made a quick trip to Grandma and Grandpa's to borrow one for the week. They do not get to bring cell phones, so it is very strange to not be able to talk to her or text her whenever I want. I kept thinking about her today and already miss her. I can't wait to hear all about her experiences when she gets home on Saturday.

Beach Day Trip

It was absolutely beautiful at the beach today. I took McKenzie, Kelsey, and 5 of their friends to Seaside for a few hours. McKenzie and her friends spent most of their time shopping and eating, and I didn't ever see them on the beach, so no pictures of them :(. Kelsey and Sami had lots of fun playing on the beach after they did their share of eating and shopping. Those two hardly ever sit around - they always are thinking of fun things to do with each other. They are such great friends and have known each other almost 10 years. While the kids ate lunch, I wandered around Seaside and found a knitting store and great coffee shop (surprise, surprise!). It is so different now that the kids are older - they can walk around without needing a parent to be with them. I loved being on the beach with them, as I got to watch them have lots of fun and listen to them laugh. It was very relaxing which was important before driving home with seven girls in the car who wanted to listen to some pretty loud music!

Golfing at Edgefield

For a couple of months Peter had been talking about our family going out to Edgefield to play golf on the very short course. Since we decided not to go camping this weekend, we had quite a bit of unplanned time. Yesterday was the perfect day to go. We started off with lunch at Pizza Schmizza and then Conner drove us out to Troutdale. We all had such a fun time "trying" to golf. We did lots of laughing as Kelsey swung the golf club like a softball bat, and Kenz took about 5 swings every time before hitting the ball off the tee. I almost hit one into the parking lot but luckily did not! Peter and Conner were much better than us girls. We only had a couple minor arguments and times of discouragement which was pretty amazing :). Conner was a great coach and gave lots of good advice. We all enjoyed taking pictures of each other, and Kelsey and I especially liked taking pictures of the flowers in the gardens. We finished the afternoon off with chocolate milkshakes and a nap. We love vacation!