Garden Update

It is getting hot here.  I really do not like the weather when it gets above 90 degrees.  I could just stay inside and hibernate, but I try not to.  For quite sometime I have avoided standing on the scale for fear of what it might say.  In January I broke my fear and because of what the scale said I became very inspired to exercise.  I do enjoy food but as I age I find myself having to cut back on what I eat.  So, I started getting up every morning before the family and exercising.  It took me two months to loose 10 pounds but I hit a plateau and have had trouble loosing the rest I would like to loose.  I admit I have gone back to eating normal yet watch what I eat, but I continue to exercise almost every morning.  This has kept me from gaining it back but still I am not at the weight I would like to be.  My quandary is should I just be happy with where I am or go to where I would like to be.  Regardless, back to the heat, once the weather got a bit nicer I started walking/jogging outside.  I enjoy being out in the morning and going for a nice jaunt.  When the path is uphill I walk and when it is down I jog.  I seriously have no desire to become one of those obsessed with jogging, so I just do it for fun, down the hill, to save time, and reach my distance goal.  My time is precious to me and I need to stay on schedule.  As it gets hotter though I have to get up earlier and I can only handle so much. :) Some days I just stay indoor and do my 1990 exercise tape.  Yes, we still have a VCR.  As the heat increases the more Kathy Smith (my exercise tape)  and I work out together.  We also have a tread mill and it is good for exercise in adverse weather.

The weather is good for my garden though.  My plants have taken off and I trim them to keep them from overtaking their neighbor.  It's all good.  We have been harvesting quite a bit of raspberries, sweet peas, Kale, zucchini, and rhubarb. Several of the other plants are getting there, also.  It is very fun to watch my garden grow and I feel healthy eating and feeding my family the fruit of my labor.

Well, I hope you are all enjoying this summer. Have a blessed day.

Alicia

our garden

August's Birthday Vacation pt 3

Day 8:  August first birthday/beach day.  For August birthday Latisha choose a lumberjack theme.  We started the day with flap jacks and bacon.  My parents were wonderful about getting the breakfast ready.  While they worked on breakfast we were able to get ourselves and the little ones ready for the beach.  After breakfast we made sandwiches and headed to the beach.  One of the joys of going to the beach is we quite frequently passed deer.  So cute.

see the deer

We headed to the beach, with buckets and kites in hand.  The water is quite chilly but still so fun.  We chased waves then began the sand castle.  Cassandra likes to make things into competition so she was on a quest to build her own, with a little help from Daddy and Isabella.

us on the deck with our grandson

castle building

August loved the beach

Alex, Brent and Brent's brother jumping in the ocean

the finished product

Cassandra's finished product

the girls in the water

sierra buried in the sun

 Then we came back and started decorating

 It all turned out so cute

 we had a tape the axe on the lumberjack game that the adults got to participate in.

 Aidric was ready to catch the candy from the piñata

August got the first swing

The cute cakes and chocolate dipped pretzel sticks

mean while grandpa cooked

the good food

present opening 

August got his own cake

he just wanted to play with it

Then it was time to hit the road.  We are so thankful for our first grandchild and loved celebrating his birthday.  Now we look forward to the next two grand babies and are very grateful for all the blessings God has given us.  Have a great day and God bless.

Alicia

August's Birthday Vacation pt 2

There are lots of pictures in the post put if you stay till the end you will see our next little surprise.

Day 6:  It was so wonderful to finally arrive at the beach.  Driving through Portland was long but worth it when we saw the waves and sun and God's beauty of "the beach".  My parents, and Brent and Latisha were already there and we all had a wonderful evening, dinner, and walk to on the beach.

walk to the beach

playing at the beach

Grandpa and Aidric throwing rocks

Silly little August

Beautiful sunset

Day 7:  The next day was full of fun and excitement as we started with a trip to the Yaquina head light house.  I really enjoy seeing light houses.  We were unable to go inside because they have made it so you have to sign up for a tour, we got there at 11:00 and the next opening was at 3:00.  Too much more to do for the day so we walk around and enjoyed the outside.

our family at the lighthouse

my mom and I

The sun shining on the lighthouse

Next we went to the Newport Aquarium.  I had told Aidric we were going to go see sharks.  He has a t-shirt with sharks on it so I thought that would excite him.  Nope, he did not want to see the sharks.  You actually get to walk through a tunnel to see the sharks and they swim over and under you.  It really was neat.  After we went through, Aidric said, he never saw the sharks.  So, I took him back in there and showed him the sharks.  He did not believe me, and said "these are not sharks, they are fish."  We had a science lesson and hopefully he now knows what sharks are.

going through the shark tunnel

the Aquarium

August loved his new stuffed animal

From there we headed back to the beach house in Lincoln City and had a lovely dinner then dressed for pictures.  The pictures turned out great.  The weather was wonderful for pictures and we were so thankful.

my lovely parents

Ivy, Alex and baby

our family

cute little birthday boy

We went back to the house, Alex quickly edited the pictures, and showed us his work on the tv for all to see.  When we were on the beach Latisha and Brent asked him to take some special ones of them and sent us all back to the house.  Special pictures they were.  As Alex played the slide show he got to this very special picture...

baby on the way

the girls taking belly pictures

the silly boys doing the same

Yes, Brent and Latisha are having another Baby!!!!!  We were so excited.  What a fun way to announce it.  What a great birthday present for August.  Definitely the highlight of the day.  What a blessing.  God is so good.

I'll finish our trip tomorrow.  Have a great day.
Alicia