Portlandia

Portland has been an adventure. Darrin and I have gotten the chance to explore a lot while we have been here. To think that we have less than 2 weeks left here is an odd thought. It went by very quickly and soon we'll be off to our next adventure. I've been bad about posting while we've been here and The Work and the  Glory series is mostly to blame for that. I have engrossed myself in those books so that I can finally finish the series and move on to my endless "books to read" list.

But...here are a few things we documented since being here. Some of them are a little odd, like this one:

While walking through one of the many many parks here this lady bug landed on Darrin.  If the saying about dots and their age is true, this one would be really old!

Portland seems to have an endless amount of flowers. Darrin especially loves these:

A hike that is in Payson Canyon is called the Grotto, so we couldn't pass up this opportunity to go to "The Grotto" in Portland, which happens to be a monastery :) It had beautiful grounds and gave us another thing on our "free things to do in Portland" list (which is mainly where we've been finding activities from).

A copy of Pieta --one of my very favorites, one I actually got to see the real thing while in Italy.

One of the main buildings of The Grotto.

To keep Logan and I busy, we go to the nearby park at least two times a week. He would sit in the swing for hours if I let him.  Usually I'm the one that calls it quits so we can leave.

Logan can't get enough daddy time lately. He's always begging to play with daddy or read with daddy. I don't think Darrin minds too much :)

Logan is obsessed with hats lately and will ask you to put one on if he sees it. This was one of those times.  I just thought these pictures were funny...

This last one reminds me of when I got my wisdom teeth out...ha!

independence day

The 4th of July has always been one of my favorite holidays. When I look back it is one holiday that it seems like my family has the most traditions. For that reason, it definitely made me homesick this year being away from home. 

That being said, we still had a lot of fun and it made it feel a little closer to home. We started out the day with a ward breakfast--much like the one I'm used to at home! We got to know more ward members, eat good food, and serve a little as well. Later, we took Logan to the park.

For dinner, I decided we should have some things that remind me of summer--bbq ribs, corn on the cob, chips, and Darrin wanted some rootbeer.

Logan loved his corn on the cob. I had to post all three:

Here's a picture of our meal

After dinner, we did some sparklers that my kind friend, Maren gave to us before we left. Logan wasn't too interested, only a tiny.

After putting Logan to bed, we watched a few fireworks on tv, but they just aren't the same so I fell asleep :)

Not too fancy of a holiday, but it sure was great spending it with my two boys!

this guy

has been doing this for a little more than a month now. 

We took this video on May 23rd.  Now he walks everywhere.  Ever since Logan and I visited my sister in St. George the beginning of June, he has preferred to walk. In fact, now he rarely crawls. 

babies and more babies

In the last 6 months there have been a lot of babies born into Darrin's family (and to their next-door-neighbor). Since I like making things and I also wanted to save money, I decided to make all the gifts that we gave them.  It has given me a lot of new experiences with sewing--sewing tiny things, re-purposing, re-sizing, etc. I thought I would share what I made.  It also gave me lots to work on as we lived in Payson to keep me busy. Warning: Lots of pictures!

This one was a while ago: My neighbor gave me some hand-me-downs and this cute sweater didn't fit, but I had to use it some way.

So I followed this tutorial on the Make It and Love It blog and made this:

Here is our sweet little niece wearing it:

My good friend Kaitlyn had an adorable baby boy.  I was invited to her shower so I made this rag quilt.  I used fabric I already had (left-over from Logan's bed skirt, curtains, and quilt). I got the idea for the design here. 

the back:

This was my first time doing a binding on a blanket. I did it by following youtube clips. I was really happy how it turned out.

The next two are not the same picture, just to clear things up. I made the first dress for Darrin's step-sister who had a cute baby girl and the second one for our neighbors in Payson who had her first girl. I made them both from a jersey knit tube dress that had stretched out on the top so I could no longer wear it.  The rest of the material was in good shape so I made these with it.

For the dress I followed this tutorial. (Yes! I love her ideas!)

And for the shoes this and this.

Darrin's other step-sister had a baby girl also, so I made her this outfit.  I made the dress a lot smaller than i had planned, but luckily it fit! I used this tutorial for the dress. (they have sooo many cute patterns and tutorials on their site...just so you know!)

These shoes were from the same pattern as the zebra ones above, but I love how they turned out with two different colors.

 And lastly, I had another friend named Kaitlin have a cute baby girl.  I took this shirt:

And made this dress:

I didn't follow a pattern for this one, just picked apart the dress in places and took it in on other places. Here is Logan modeling the dress. He was too wiggly to get a good shot.

And just for your entertainment...

Not for those easily grossed out...

When Logan was born early they had me pump and they gave him my milk through his feeding tube.  Well, they told me to pump too often so I made more milk than Logan would ever need. (sorry tmi) I heard about a breast milk donation program and I ended up donating all the extras to them. (They give the milk to babies that are born prematurely whose mothers for one reason or another cannot give them their own).  It was good to know I could help little babies. 

Anyway, as a thank you they sent me this cookbook. haha.

Portland:First Impressions

We got to Portland for Darrin's internship on Wednesday afternoon.  We stayed the night with my grandma and had a good time catching up.  Grandma had a good time meeting Darrin and Logan.  She loved being entertained by Logan and laughing at his silly side.

I grew up going to Portland about once a year to visit family, but this time is completely different. I want to write down my first impressions so I don't forget them.

First, the positives:

1. Love our apartment. It's a one-bedroom but the closet is big enough for Logan's crib and our clothes! It's clean and feels more like home than I anticipated.

2. It's great to see family. It has been a while since I last saw them.

3. The yummy pizza smell outside our apartment.  We live in a building with a pizza place.  We can't smell it inside, but when we step outside--yum!

4. Traffic isn't as bad as I thought it might be.

5. I feel proud of the fact that I've been able to find my way around a big city :)

6. It feels like an adventure, and I'm excited for it!

Now the negatives:

1. No plastic bags at Fred Meyer. Really? I care about the environment as much as the next person, but I use those plastic bags as garbage bags.  Paper bags are hard to carry groceries in with a baby, too.

2. The toothless lady who was talking to herself right outside our apartment. It was a little frightening, but maybe she's nice?

3. The neighborhood feels a little sketchy. Darrin said no going outside after dark for me. :S

4. The cigarette smoke. Don't people know those things are bad for them?!

5. Just a little homesick being around an unfamiliar place.

I have a bunch to catch up on, so I'll be posting soon and hopefully more often!

may 3rd

was Logan's 1st birthday! It really was a fun day and I think Logan enjoyed himself too :)

Here he is looking at his first present of the day from Aunt Angela and Uncle Tom.

He looks a lot more interested in this picture than he actually was.

What was inside the present: (the pants) 

Thanks Angela & Tom!

 He thinks he's pretty handsome.

After Daddy got home from work we had dinner then opened presents. 

He just kept crawling away from the presents to get other toys and things.

We resorted to opening presents for him.

One of his favorite presents, a xylophone from grandma and grandpa Bronson--Thank you!

A train station from Grandma & Grandpa Enos--Thank you! 

He really liked the train inside the package.

Then came the cake! We stripped him down and let him dig in.

He was interested from the start.

And had no problem digging in.

The piece he put his hands all over:

As you can see, he really enjoyed his cake, although the sticky frosting all over his hands really bothered him, so after he got a few huge mouthfuls, he was done and wanted clean.

Happy Birthday to our big boy!!!