NOA

There is an organization called the National Onion Association (NOA).  They meet twice yearly in different places throughout the country, and this meeting happened to be in Portland, Oregon.  It is attended by farmers and lots of other people associated with the industry.   If you are furrowing your brow right now I completely understand.  I distinctly remember when Ryan and I were dating and he mentioned the NOA (and then had to clarify for me what exactly it was).  I was sort of chuckling  (okay really laughing) inside simply because it seemed rather odd to me.  A whole organization devoted to a vegetable that costs less than $1.00?  Weird.  Anyways, a lot has changed since then and now I appreciate onions as  the means to our livlihood.  I no longer see farmers as pitchfork toting, overall wearing old guys but rather saavy businessmen who go to college, dress totally normal and have a great love for agriculture.  All that to say, I had to devote a moment to explaining the NOA.  The first night of the meeting was a banquet and auction.  Our good friend Dan was the auctioneer and it was a blast.  Truth be told, I was thrilled to throw a dress on and get out of the house.  Great food, good friends and fabulous entertainment.  The second day included a Willamette Valley tour with a lunch stop at our shop for lunch.  Greg and Judy (Ryan's parents) hosted a fabulous lunch with 250 people, a catered lunch and an antique car show.  It was a really good time! 

Happy Birthday Papa!

High School Reunion!

I finally got around to posting some pictures from my 10 year class reunion!  It was so exciting to see my gal pals (and other classmates too)!  We had a family picnic that morning and a dinner (minus kiddos) in the evening.  I didn't take any photos at the picnic earlier in the day (which I am super bummed about) but these are some of the pictures from our evening.  Our family stayed with Denee's parents along with she, Travis and Aksel.  Staying up late with Denee', working on projects, laughing (you get the idea) totally took me right back to high school.  It was a wonderful weekend to relax and enjoy my family while also reminissing with friends.  I am so grateful to the Lord that I look back on my high school years with fondness.  I truly enjoyed my years at TBS and loved the opportunity to revisit my old stomping grounds and great friends! What a blessing!

Me, Denee, Kristin and Becca! Now if we had just had Molly and Heidi, we would have had us all!

Everybody was cracking up at how much Ryan looked like this guy I went to high school with.  I figured that we better take a picture so that you guys could decide.  What do you think?

Look like twins?  Or is it just the dark hair?

Cheers!

Denee', Elya and I worked together to plan the reunion for our class!

Still Besties after all these years!

Signature Tutorial

I have mentioned to a few of you that I would share the tutorial I found on how to add a signature to the end of your blogger post.  I AM NOT good at coming up with anything fancy for my blog, but adding my signature was so stinkin' easy (thanks to the great tutorial). 

http://shabbyblogsblog.blogspot.com/2009/05/tutorial-how-to-add-custom-signature-to.html

I opted to create a signature online.  I thought this site was awesome and so simple!

http://mylivesignature.com/ 

Good Luck!

Stars and Stripes...

Happy 4th of July friends!

Signature Excitement!

I'm so excited! I finally figured out how to add my signature at the end of a post! WooHoo!

Joyfully embracing where we are at...

This might sound strange but the other day it dawned on me that our kiddos are growing up. 

While sitting at Red Robin the other day, I began reflecting on life.  Suddenly our children looked like kids and not babies to me....  Cognitively I knew our children were in the process of growing up (obviously), but it hasn't really FELT like that to me.  Having twins and a 22 month-old meant that I couldn't go anywhere alone and things were ALWAYS crazy and someone was always upset about something.  At any given time somebody was napping, or getting ready to nap...eating or getting ready to eat....spitting up or getting ready to spit up....going to a doctor's appointment or coming from a doctor's appointment. Getting three little ones ready and in the car felt like way more effort than it was worth.  Life was just hectic with a house full of babies (at least that's how it felt).  I felt like we would be in the 'baby stage' forever. 

As I looked at my three kiddos that afternoon all sitting in a restaurant booth, eating their own kid's meals (chosen by them), and coloring their menu, it occured to me that they aren't babies anymore.  For the longest time I couldn't really take the kids anywhere by myself and now I can take them all without a stroller if I have to.  I say all this because I am LOVING LIFE! I am loving this new stage of life that is bringing more outings, more adventure and less time at home.  I relish the time I have with our precious kiddos, and savor all the memories, but I have to admit that I joyfully say good-bye to the baby stage and say hello to having 'kiddos'. 

Faces of Summer!

Summer has it's own special tastes...popsicles, ice cream, watermelon and on and on and on!  I love watching the kids chow into their favorite treats with a reckless disregard for messes...As I was scrolling through the pictures on the camera, these delightful summer faces brought a huge smile to my face!

Mmmmm...Ice Cream!

What's not to love about those lips?

A delightful watermelon treat...

Sticky watermelon hands feel great on the cheeks!

Visit from Aksel!

Travis, Denee' (my best friend since middle school for those of you who are just joining us) and Aksel came for a visit the other day and we LOVED every minute of it!  I feel like I have a special connection with Aksel since I got to be part of his debut entrance into the world.  He will always get great birthday gifts from Auntie Tara!  Trav spent most of the day working with Ryan while Denee' and I hung out with all the kiddos here.  Thanks to the precious Ax man, the Bennett kiddos now want a baby brother or sister.  Naturally they are completely VETOED by the mommy and daddy of the house, but the pictures are still darling!

Six Years Already!

On June 19th (a little late, I know) Ryan and I celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary.  In some ways, I feel like we just got married yesterday.  In other ways I feel like we've been together our whole lives.  I am probably the luckiest girl in the world! I have a husband who is a wonderful husband and an amazing daddy too! 

The evening of our anniversary Ryan and I had dinner at Kyoto's.  They cook the food on a grill right in front of you.  The chef throws eggs, tosses his utensils, catches food in his hat...cool things like that.  Eight people eat together around a cooking grill so you kind of end up making friends with the other people at your table.  We met two other couples who were so stinkin' fun...we already made a date to meet at Kyotos again next year (they were both celebrating birthdays).   

                                     

 Debra, Chris, Harold and Donna...we will be there next year

Evenings in the park!

Who doesn't love playing at the park?  We love to get dinner (typically Homeplace pizza) and eat it at the park.  When the weather is nice there is nothing better than a warm summer evening in the park! 

Bauman Farms!

So serious! 

Mya waves at them from a distance...

Mason was waiting for a hug from one of the goats...needless to say, they didn't take him up on the offer.

We love Bauman Farms during the summer!  It's free, there's a coffee stand, they have homemade strawberry doughnuts, a play structure, petting zoo and a wooden fort that the kids love to explore.  To top all that off...it's only a few minutes from our house! 

Frustration floweth over!

I am so stinkin' frustrated.  I was trying to experiment with creating a 3 column blog...then I was checking out the new design tool.  To make a long story short(er)...I ended up with crazy formatting and all of the info on my sidebar is gone!  AHHHHHHHHHHH! I don't even know where to start....It's late so I will tackle this tomorrow.  Anyone have any good ideas for me? Help!