What we have been doing instead of blogging!

A catch up of the summer activities that have kept the blogging to a minimum.  I don't think, until this week, that there has been a week since the end of May that I have not been working, on a trip, getting ready for a trip or cleaning up from just getting back from being gone.  So here we go.  I've already posted the pics from Hawaii, didn't have many from Brad's graduation so we start with;

Trip to Roseburg:

Took a few days to visit Oma and Opa with Fiona, (dropped Tasha off at her brother's in Corvallis on the way down), to hang out at the "farm".  We hadn't been down since just after her first birthday so it was a totally different experience with a walking, talking toddler.  She loved feeding all the animals, holding the bunnies and giving the horse carrots.

my little outdoor girl

Cousin Rylie came over to play

Fiona's rabbit Abbott (aka Abby)

Trip to Salt Lake City:

The end of July saw my first solo trip without monkey or Matt to visit my friends Catherine and Ian and their 6 month old twins.  These are the friends I met while studying in New Zealand and they have since moved to the States.  I decided not to bring Fiona so I would have more time to help/play/visit without running after a toddler.  What cute kids, and such good babies but it was still overwhelming with 2 of them!

Serafina and Taine

 Happy 6 month Birthday!!

Happy Family

Favorite pic of Mr. Taine

Fav of Mom and Serafina

Can't visit SLC and not go to Temple square...what an amazing building

Trip 3, Surprise 30th in Bend:

At the beginning of August, Fiona and I flew down to Bend to surprise my friend Susie for her 30th birthday.  It was great fun planning with Cambria (my other partner in crime and pharmacy buddy) how and when to make the great "Surprise".  It was hard for everyone to keep their mouths shut....Susie and I were planning a trip to Vegas for middle of August and many times I almost said "when I see you in Bend" or something like that.  Susie's mom Sheri and a couple of moments of trying to figure out a reason that Susie shouldn't or couldn't make a hair appointment for one of the days I would be there.  It was great getting together with my 2 best friends and their kiddos and just hanging out.  We went to the county fair, to a BBQ and floated the river (kids were with grandma Sheri).  

Surprised at work

Blurry but you get the idea :)

 Hanging with Broch-man

Apparently Brooklyn said something pretty funny

Fiona and Chase

Their first lunch "date"

Kiddos with Grandma Sheri

The crew at the fair

We were the BOB stroller clan...

....see what I mean!

my 2 besties and all the kiddos (Susie is 8 weeks preggo here too!)

Fiona loved snow cones from a cup

Her first pony ride

The kids loved all the animals...although Chase wasn't too impressed when a pig sneezed all over him :)

Cambria and Broch

Grandma Sheri and Chase

Cute pic of Chase

Fiona a Brooklyn...best of friends, until....

....she becomes a pest and throws grass all over her.

Cutie Brooklyn

Trip 4;  Las Vegas:

I actually don't have any pics to post from LV.  I took a few on my I-phone but haven't got them downloaded yet.  Matt and I went down with our friends Susie (yes the same one I had just visited) and her husband John to go see Garth Brooks.  Oma and Opa came up to watch the munchkin while we had a very relaxing 4 days of laying by the pool, eating and going to KA and Garth.  KA was great but Garth was just so awesome.  So happy we were invited to go because I don't think Matt and I would have ever made the trip to see the show otherwise and now we are thinking about going again!

And although I am out of trip pictures, this does not mean the trips are done.  Fiona, Oma and I will be heading down to San Diego in a couple of weeks for a visit and the next day Matt and I are heading off to Boston for a friends wedding!  Oh, and did I mention the pharmacy I work at is being remodeled and so everyone has been working overtime?  But so you all don't think we have any down time and just enjoy the day, here are a few pics from this past weekend at the park....

Fiona loves her big "sis" Audrey

gotta get the sleeves rolled up to play

 Our sweet little girl

Congrats to Stacy and Paul on their new little girl!  Good luck to "any day now" Liz and Laird with their first. You're almost there, can't wait to see you guys to Beth and Jacob!! And, just a couple of more months for Jenny and Jesse's first little girl :)  I want to see photos from everyone!

Hawaii!!!!

We want to move....what can I say.  Turquoise waters, perfect weather (no jacket needed!), and for me...SHAVE ICE.  I would have eaten it everyday if I could, I'm even thinking about buying my own machine to feed my addiction :)  The plane ride was long, but bearable.  I packed so many snacks and toys that we were well prepared for anything.  We got extremely lucky and had all three seat to ourselves on the way there and my parents flew back with us so no poor soul had to sit with the squirmy thing!

Well, this is going to get cut short and I will let a few photos tell the story....want to get something down since I'm working the next 5 days and probably won't have time to.  So until the next time I have a few more minutes to tell you all how awesome Maui was :)

 Wild Monkey playing on the bed

 Mom and Dad...yes the water really was that blue!

 Gotta have the sunset pic

 Lov'n the fruity drinks

 Matt loved surfing...I think he went 4 times during our week stay!

 My favorite Hawaiian flower, Plumeria

 Going to a Luau

 This little monkey was on the go every minute she wasn't asleep...chasing birds, cats, looking for Papa, just enjoying the outdoors

18 months, Mothers' Day and first ER Trip

I know, long and intriguing title but I figured that if I don't get this all done now then it will be strung out for another month.  So I will go in chronological order:

18 Months:
Monkey had her 1/2 birthday at the end of April and we decided to do a little celebration...ok, so just an excuse to buy cupcakes!!  I also took her in to see Dr. M on the day for her check up and some shots.  She was a little over 25 lbs and 35 1/4 inches tall....no surprise, a tall little girl!  She also got her head measured...don't remember what the result of that was but Fiona wanted me to hand her the tape measure after the nurse left and was trying to measure her head :)  Everything looked great, she is talking up a storm and in the past few weeks been stringing a couple of words together; Mamma juice, no more, Tasha out.  She even told Matt the other day while handing him her juice "here you go".  It was much more run together and little kid like but pretty clear.  I think a lot of this has to do with the little kids she hangs out with.  I have been doing a "boot camp" two days a week for a couple of months and we drop our kids off at the trainer's house with the other participants' kids.  Most of the kids are older than Fiona but just by 3-6 months and she seems to really pick up on things they say and do.  So here are a few 18 month photos and a video of Fiona's 1/2 birthday;

"where's Tasha?"

 

 

We even got a little video of Fiona and her cupcake :)

Mother's Day:
Was super quiet and relaxing.  I worked on Saturday and so we spent Sunday at home just hanging out.  Matt made breakfast and dinner (scallops at my request) and I spent the afternoon on a super chocolate cake :)  I had to laugh though as I was strolling the aisles at the grocery store picking up the ingredients for my decadent cake since the bakery had a beautiful assortment of goodies at a fraction of the cost and no time.  But I was determined to bake, and bake I did and probably gained 10 lbs in the process! 

 And even a couple with Daddy :)

First ER trip:
And now to the crazy stuff....of course things always happen on a Saturday/Sunday night after the MD's office and urgent cares closes.  I was lifting Fiona up the back stairs by her wrists when I heard a pop and she immediately gave me that "that hurt" look.  I figured I must have twisted it wrong or something so I brought her inside gave her some IBU and iced her wrist.  We sat on the couch for an hour or so and she seemed fine....until she moved her arm and then I could tell something was wrong.  But by this point Matt had already left to go to a soccer game and my friend Tami was on her way over to hang out for the evening.  I called Tami and told her I was going to take her in and she said she would go with me, so as soon as she arrived away we went.  Luckily the nearest hospital is 3 blocks away.  They got us in super fast (even ahead of the people sitting there but I guess a little one gets them moving), and doctor seemed to have her figured out right away.  I was pretty sure after looking some stuff up online that she had "nursemaids elbow", and sure enough that's what the MD thought too.  It is essentially a dislocation at the elbow, not the wrist like we originally thought.  Doc did some manipulations, waited 15 minutes, did them again since she still wasn't using the arm fully and seem to still have discomfort, waited another 15 minutes and she was back to her normal, happy self.  All in all the process took 1 hour, so I felt pretty lucky.  So now we have our first ER visit under the belt....I guess it could have been worse and happy that it was an easy fix.  It can be so hard to make that decision of whether or not it needed to be looked at.  In this case I was happy we took her in, instead of having her wake up all night long in pain.  I even have a few photos of the trip.  While waiting in the room Tami was playing with some photo applications on her Iphone....here you go :)