{12.31.09}

two christmases

1. home

if you look close you'll see Brenner's report card with a legend included, you know in case Santa needed help understanding our schools grading system.

 

 

 

 

 

Christmas Morning from Mel on Vimeo.

2. home - john day

{12.6.09}

o christmas trees

tate + ridlon family tree cutting in the ochoco national forest.

{12.1.09}

2009

{11.17.09}

thankful

25 things I’m wicked thankful for; in no particular order...

1. part-time status.

2. indulging in reminiscing about my new york city trip with allison last november.

3. dark graphite opaque tights from gap.

4. brenner’s independence in the kitchen, although messy, thankful.

5. merlot night cream.

6. twitter breaks.

7. o-sticks.  

8. my family; they rock.

9. adam; for the laughter, joy and silliness he brings into my life.

10. misguided perceptions kicked to the curb.

11. the definition of empathy.

12. the doggie door; why in heaven did I not get one 12 months ago?

13. my friends; you know who you are and why i love you.

14. us weekly magazines; they make my time at the gym relatively enjoyable.

15. sharpies.

16. sir winston’s high fives.

17. god’s kicks to my shins when i want to give up.

18. brenner’s love for his colorful skinny jeans despite what adults say.

19. my very mustard “conversation” handbag.

20. regained trust.

21. facebook friends i’ve never met but adore.

22. brenner telling me that the best part of his day is me!

23. on-demand chick flicks.

24. internet on my blackberry.

25. learning to never say never. ;)

{11.11.09}

 proud parade participant

brenner was in the veterans day parade with the boys & girls club of redmond. and yes, i was "that" mom running down the sidewalk with both the chamber's camera and my blackberry snapping pictures and calling his name. i'm sure he was happy to see me and a little embarrassed at the same time.

happy veterans day!

{11.9.09}

if at first you don't succeed

buy, buy, buy again!

until you find the perfect one that doesn't make your head throb by noon.

 i got it here.

{10.29.09}

pumpkin patch

last weekend we met up with the tate family for a fun afternoon at the pumpkin patch. we stood in line for what seemed like hours for these two monkeys to launch pumpkins from a cannon. thank goodness dinner at terrebonne depot was the adults' saving grace!

 

 

 click to enlarge.

{10.28.09}

mr. and mrs. daniel hickey

 

 

 

 

 

as adam would so perfectly say, "nailed it". enough said, here are more photos in no particular order. click here and enjoy!

{10.16.09}

new england

seriously, east coast rocks. we had such an amazing time with friends and family and the memories made will last a lifetime. if you followed my twitter and twitpic updates then you pretty much got the gist of our adventures. hope you enjoy the rest in the photo album. p.s. dan and sandra's wedding pictures coming soon, well, relativity soon.

{9.30.09}

scott + lori + family = love

on 9.19.09 we witnessed two people, so right, so perfect, so in love with each other say their "i dos" on pier 14 in Astoria, Oregon.

The cannery pier hotel, the facial, the waterfront cruiser bike ride, the food, the laughs, the Goonies tour, the farmers market...all made for 1000+ perfect pictures. Thank you Scott and Lori for an amazing weekend. Love you guys!

click here for the complete album.

 

{8.31.09}

whispering falls

last weekend we went camping, our first this summer, at whispering falls with our good friends cheryl, ronnie, and their son, zach. what a wonderful weekend with friends, good weather and the usage of the word "burnage".

this was winston's first camping experience and other than everything sticking to and in his white fur, pitch included, he was a champ and so well-behaved.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

while I was going through the photos from our trip, I came across the following pictures Brenner took with my camera while he was hiding in our tent from bees.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

{8.19.09}

386

The number of photos I took during our "summer school is out" celebration vacation at Newport, Oregon. We couldn't have asked for better weather (as you can see) and the cottage we rented was just so perfect for us.

We spent most of our time on the beach soaking up the sun and spending quality time together as a family. Our scheduled crab fishing trip was cancelled due to high water swells, per captain sawyer's "let's play it safe" recommendation. After brenner's heartbreaking look of utter disappointment slowly wore off we strolled down to the historic bayfront to check out the sites and smelly seals.

I couldn't possibly post all the pictures in one blog entry, so I created a photo album for your viewing pleasure. To view them in a slideshow just click on any picture and voila!

(click on the thumbnail pictures to enlarge)

{8.12.09}

over the hill, in style

monday night we celebrated scott's 40th birthday, starting with a rad limo ride with yummy champagne, dinner at terrebonne depot then back to scott and lori's house for cake, homemade blueberry pie and gifts. i heart these people!