Catching up

So I have been really bad about keeping up with our blog lately. We have been busy, busy, busy and it would take me far too long to fill you in on everything we have been doing. Instead I will just include some pictures from Thanksgiving, Clay's trip to Switzerland, and some of the random things Harris does to crack us up! Think of it as a photographic journey. I will try to be better in the New Year. (I am sure that is one of many things I will try to improve, but will most likely fail miserably!)

Pumpkin Patch

We took Harris to the pumpkin patch a couple of weeks ago. Here are a few pictures of the day. Plus a random one of Harris eating a little snack.

"It's a Good Thing"

Yes, yes, yes, I stole the title of this blog from the one and only, Martha Stewart. It's been awhile since I reported on any my favorites and I have stumbled upon a few things that I wanted to share.

1. Sally Hansen Insta-Dri nail polish
The brush is extra wide so only one stroke is needed to cover the entire nail!

2. Town House Flip Side crackers
These are pretzel on one side and regular cracker on the other. Ingenious!

3. Dexter Season 3
If you have never watched this show, go rent season 1 right now. A bit gory, but so worth it.

4. Anything written by Pat Conroy
So Pat Conroy is not exactly new to me, but I recently rediscovered him. I cannot put The
Prince of Tides down.

5. My sewing machine.
I have always wanted to learn to sew and wish my grandmother were around to teach me.
(She was amazing!) Clay bought a sewing machine for me awhile back and I finally got
around to using it. I made Harris an owl shirt for his birthday and am now inspired to
attempt to make more. We shall see how it goes!

Then and Now

When Harris was born we began taking pictures of him with his giraffe stuffed animal in our chair in the living room. This way we could look through the pictures and see just how much he had grown and changed from month to month. As you can see, a baby undergoes a lot of changes in one short year!

3 Days Old




1 Month

2 Months

3 Months

4 Months

5 Months

6 Months

7 Months

8 Months

9 Months

10 Months

11 Months

ONE YEAR OLD!!!!

This past year has been amazing in its joys and yes, a few challenges. It is wonderful to see that our tiny infant is turning into an joyful, smart, and opinionated toddler.

Happy Birthday!

We recently celebrated Harris' 1st birthday. Clay and I cannot believe how quickly the past year has flown by. It seems just like yesterday that we were bringing him home from the hospital and waking up all hours of the night. Now we are following him as he crawls up the stairs and watching him go through our cabinets in search of the ideal piece of tupperware. The past year has been the best of my life and I cannot imagine the adventures we have to look forward to.

Happy Birthday Little Man!

Poppy and the heat wave

We have had a fun few days. My dad, aka Poppy, and his friend came into town from Texas. With them they brought their friend the heat. That's right. They thought they were coming to Oregon to escape the excessive heat, but instead just brought it to the northwest with them. At one point it was 107 degrees...an all time Portland high. Oh, let me also mention that we do not have air conditioning in our home. Fun stuff! Oh yeah, one other thing. Our electricity went out not once, but twice. Even more fun! It really wasn't that bad though and we did not let it stop us from having a good time. We just escaped the heat by heading to the beach and Mt. Hood. We were able to do some tide pooling and hiking. In fact, Harris did his longest hike to date, 7 miles! I think that is pretty impressive for an 11 month old. It was great having Poppy (accidentally wrote "Poopy" first) in town and can't wait until we see him again.

Our travels

Jessica, Misha, and Harris

I'm on a boat!!!

Jody's beautiful backyard

Jody and the H-man

I love DeeDee and G-dad!

1st time in the ocean!

Beautiful cousin Ensley

Eating sand....delicious!

Sunrise with Daddy

All tuckered out

Harris loves his crab floaty

Higher Daddy!

Yay for the beach!

The whole gang


On May 21st Harris and I headed to North Carolina to visit my best friend Jody. It only took 10 hours to get there.....geesh! Harris was a champ traveling....where to go next? Misha and Jessica also came into town and we had a little girl's + baby weekend. We stayed in our pj's until the afternoon, went boating, and basically chit chatted the days away. I know it doesn't sound like much, but it was perfect. The girls and I don't get much time together anymore since we now all reside in 5 different states (Amanda wasn't able to make the weekend) and it was just like old times. You would have thought we had been together just days before instead of years. We have been through so much together.... stressful classes, BAD boyfriends, worse haircuts, weddings, overseas deployments, and now babies. Such exciting times! It was so special to have to girls meet Harris. He LOVED them!!! It didn't hurt that he got the undivided attention of 3 new, lovely ladies. He is definitely a flirt.

After our time at Jody's, Harris and I headed to Charleston to meet Clay and the rest of the family. It was a 3 1/2 hour drive which seemed like a breeze after our day of flying. We spent the night and next day walking around Charleston. It was such a beautiful town and I would love to go back and spend some more time there. We then headed to the beach. It was perfect! Harris was able to play in the sand with his truck and tools, float in the pool and ocean, and hang out with G-dad, DeeDee, Uncle P, Aunt Ashley, and Ensley. Who could ask for more?

(I need to remember to do pictures first and then write so the pictures are at the end. Oh well, I am not going to fix it!)