Trip to California: Redwood Forest

On our way down to see my family in California, we took the scenic route to see the trees of mystery; the Redwoods.

Maren's face expresses her excitement not only for the beach but for the chance to get out of the car.

We stayed the night about 2 hours from the forest so we drove through it in the morning when the fog that looms over the trees was battling with the sun rays forcing their way in. It was a beautiful time of day.

More excitement to be out of the car. We made multiple stops. I don't have a picture of her getting back in the car but you can imagine it would be quite the opposite of the sheer joy you see above.

Paul Bunyan and Maren

One giant tree trunk. This was not some tourist stop of some famous tree, it was just on the side of the road where we got out and explore a bit.

I just loved this adorable forest! I say adorable because it looked so picture perfect like it would look in a Disney movie. The picture just doesn't do it justice. It was beautiful.

I tried to capture the amazing twisted bark and the tree juts into the sky.

We stopped at a little tree house that was contained inside one hollowed out tree.

Now this was scary. Our car barely fit without scraping. I had to get out to help Spencer through. You can see paint scraped inside the tree from other cars.

Images of Our Garden

This summer has been one of many first for me. It all began with this garden. These pictures were taken about a month ago so the garden has changed significantly. The tomatoes that are green above are now not only red but burgandy, orange and yellow variations (we grew fancy heirloom tomatoes by Spencer's request). They are delicious. It seems that everything we have grown has turned out to be amazing. Much of the credit goes to Brother Mitchell who is the expert and the one who waters every day! Though it has been A LOT of work hauling a 2 year old over there every time it has been worth it. I think the best part is how excited Spencer gets when he whips up these fancy meals. This is where the work pays off. His excitement for food makes it so fun. His favorite is when 90% of the meal all came out of the garden. I will write another posts especially for the other firsts I mentioned. As for now hopefully these images make you want to grow a garden! 

Maren has her name carved in one of her pumpkins for Halloween already. The pumpkin creates this scar that makes her name stick out.

Recently had Danish red cabbage for dinner.

A friend told me these were the best English cucumbers she had ever eaten. It is so rewarding to share your produce with others. It just makes you feel good inside.

We heard that melons don't grow great here but we wanted to give it a try anyway. We grew small watermelons and cantaloupe. They both taste amazing. We were quite surprised.

Brother Mitchell really likes radishes.

Spencer's beloved fennel. I heard about this stuff all our dating and married life and now I am eating it about every other day!

Berry Picking Once More...

Maren has come to know Duyck's Peachy Pig Farm really well and loves it. In fact I could probably say it is like heaven for her. She feels like she has all the freedom in the world with a yummy treat to go with it. That little smile of hers is truly genuine.

Our purpose for going once more this summer was to hang out with our dear friends Robbie and Jessica Shaack. It was so good to spend time with them and her siblings. Memories for sure.

Maren never does this for me! Although I can't say I would want her to pose like that in every picture either, so maybe it's a good thing. She must sense that Jessica is a photographer. Work it Maren, work it.

Party at Oswald West

So when it matters my camera dies on me and I don't get the chance to take pictures. Luckily, a friend took these for me of Spencer and a friend suiting up to go surfing. The wetsuit was way to small for Spencer but nothing was going to stop him from getting out there in the freezing water!

What a hottie my husband is!

I don't think they were able to catch too many great waves but they had fun anyway. It was a great day with friends. Memories we will never forget!

Pickles!

As you may know this summer I have been working hard in a garden shared with a couple in our ward. Through a misunderstanding I bought pickling cucumbers thinking Brother Mitchell wanted to make pickles. He told me to buy the plants thinking WE said we wanted to make pickles. So here we were with an abundance of pickling cucumbers needed to be canned! I am proud to say they turned out really well. Here are a few pictures of them before the brine and sealing of the jars.

Here is the finished product! Spencer has already eaten a whole jar himself and does not want me to give any to friends! I love that domestic feeling you get as a wife and mother when something turns out successfully!

Another great day at Cannon

I love how the angle of the picture draws all focus to my giant legs!

Quotes of the Month

So I was just reading a blog of a friend and loving her latest post. She posted famous quotes from her children for the month of July. I cracked up laughing cause she has darling kids and immediately wanted to start this tradition on my blog. We keep a record of what Maren says in a little journal but I can imagine that family would love to hear what the little girl says when it comes fresh from my mind and her mind for that matter.

1. Maren woke up and said to Spencer: "Daddy, nose big." Spencer felt a bit better when she soon said "and neck big." When Spencer came in to tell me what she said she looked at me and said: "Mommy nice, daddy big"

2. I was out running errands and Maren in the back seat completely out of the blue says: "Mommy, sister, baby, in tummy." We have talked about a baby in the tummy but no one talked to her about whether it is a boy or a girl. She must know more that we do!

3. 8-11-11 Daddy: "Look Maren I caught an itsy bitsy spider." As he holds up a jar with a spider in it. Maren looks at Spencer with a face that says: "I no like spiders. They scare me." Her face was very serious as she stared at the spider.  For a 2 year old it came out so clear that she was officially scared of spiders.

4. Mommy: "That's good bread isn't it?" Maren: "It's not bread it's toast."She was right, it was toast.

5. Mommy: "You have stinky breath!" In a teasing way. Maren: "Daddy stinky too." She knew from experience!

6. "Maren, how old are you?" "I six." (Always)

7. We have a lot of friends who just had babies that we frequently hang out with and today was one of those days. I reminded Maren of all the cute babies she had seen today and said to her: "Mommy is going to have a cute little baby too, do you want one?" She immediately jumped off the floor and yelled: "Yeeeaaa! Let's go!" and ran for the door as if we were going to the store to buy one.

8. While on a hike we rounded a switch point where an older man was resting, Maren stopped to say: "Grandpa, are you okay?" He didn't hear her but we laughed all the way down.

9. While driving on Pacific Ave in Forest Grove we pass both Pacific University and the public library. Maren looks over to the university and yells: "Daddy's school!" and then looks to the other side of the street at the library and says: "My school!"