What should have been on my list: Spencer's Butte

I made a list on a post a few months back of places that I wanted to visit in Oregon in 2012.  You can see the list HERE.  I should have added Spencer's Butte to that list.  While our friends Nick and Brandi (A.K.A. Nick Nick and Aunt B) were here from Alabama, we decided to explore something new in Oregon. None of us had ever been here before and I can not wait to go back.  We started off with a nice stroll through the woods.

Holleigh and Alec

Our family. Notice we are using the carrier for Journey.  Best Thrift Store investment yet! $14.99!

 It actually turned out to be a pretty good hike.  We took the easy hike since we had the kids but it still was quite a hike.  It was only a little over a mile but it got pretty steep towards the end. (The other path was 1/2 a mile but straight up.)

 Q and Deci, mainly Deci, decided to take the road less traveled and this is where I called for Alec to take Journey off my back.   When I got up and saw this view I got a little dizzy...plus my legs were like jello at this point from carrying the 25(ish) pounds on my back.

Holleigh

Deci, Q and Luis

 

 We made it to the top and this was our view!

3 Sisters

 Journey was exhausted.

Alec carried Journey back down.  He said at one point her head hit his head. He didn't know what was going on until Brandi told him that Journey had fallen asleep. So funny.  With her Raisin's in her hand. :)

I can not wait to post about the rest of the week with Nick Nick and Aunt B.  (So check back in tomorrow! :)  They are already back in Alabama now and WE MISS THEM SO MUCH!! I can't wait until they come visit again.  I hope you enjoyed pictures of Spencer's Butte and if you ever come visit this will probably be a place we take you.  I completely agree with Q, "One of the 10 top views I've seen in my life!" BEAUTIFUL!

Portlandia...and other things.

This post is going to be random.  Consider yourself warned.  My goal is to post a blog every day this week.  Not because I want to blog everyday but because this past week SOOO much has gone on and I want to remember it all! I am so behind on blogging...how does that even happen?  (1.) We had guest for 6 days.  I've been busy.  (2.) I want to blame it on editing.  I've never edited a picture in my life until a few weeks ago and now I'm addicted.  BUT now that I can see the difference It's so hard for me to put a picture on my blog that hasn't be edited, especially if it's from my cell phone. (Which if I haven't said lately, it takes HORRIBLE pictures. I miss my old phone.)  Editing pictures takes so much time.

Random: Have you ever seen the show Portlandia?? It's pretty funny.  Mainly because we live in Oregon now and get most of the jokes.  They exaggerate a little...maybe...  I want to do a post one day on the difference between Oregon and Alabama. 

The picture below I took of the T.V. When we were watching Portlandia. Check out the Pillows!

 

Now check out the pillows below at our house!!

 

We have the same pillows!!  haha! Ok, cheesy, I know!  Gotta love IKEA!

Portland's IKEA is where I got our pillows.  (and our curtain rods for $1.99 each and our curtains!) 

Okay, I told you it was random.  (and just think, I could have spared you guys this blog and actually wrote about something important! ha!)

Our Neighbors

We have some really great neighbors.  I've talked about them on my blog before.  Here, where Joanna and the boys came over for our Christmas gathering and she took the pictures that were inside our Christmas cards...the very few Christmas cards that we sent out this year. Then Here, where I start back blogging and introduce her blog.  You can read the story HERE from my neighbors blog, on how we met.  One of the best things about where we live now is our neighbors.  We get the chance to babysit our neighbors sometimes and I wanted to share a few pictures from the last time we kept Jedidiah and Matheson.

 My girls are mesmerized by these boys.  We say we are finished having kids. We dream of adopting older children one day.  A small...and I mean very small, part of me, looks at these pictures and would like to have a little boy.  I've always said that I would love a house full of girls.  Even if we adopt, we talk about adopting girls.  Nothing against boys, honestly I always thought I would have a boy first.  I always thought that if you have a boy first you get the protective older brother to watch out after the other siblings.  Then I thought I would love to have a house full of all boys or all girls.  It just so happens that I had the girl first so that's where I say I want a house full of girls.  I do realize the teenage years will be hard. Anyways, sometimes I wonder if I'll miss out on all the baseball games, football games.... building forts in the woods, playing cowboys and Indians...  Who knows what God has in store for our family. I'm not writing anything off...even though I'm pretty sure I don't miss those sleepless nights with a newborn.    :)

Jedidiah (sometimes called Jed), Journey, Matheson, and December.

 Side story: JoAnna went into labor early with Matheson and her mother-in-law wasn't in town yet to help with Jedidiah so we got the privilege of watching Jedidiah for the night.  :)

This one is my favorite picture.  Jedidiah is trying to figure out what is going on. Journey is cheesing it up! Matheson is wondering when this mini photo shoot will be over and Deci is trying to keep Matheson from falling over. :)

 In Alabama we had neighbors.  We actually lived beside Q's dad's (and his wife, Hilde) house and on his 13 acres.  So we could see houses around and maybe knew the people that lived in them, but we really could hide away if we wanted.  The joys of living in the country.  Here we are just a few feet away from our neighbors.  It's been a lot of fun getting to know all of our neighbors.  When my mom was in town we got to go out with JoAnna, Isiah and our neighbors across the street.  We have plans to have a block party this summer in our neighborhood.  I never knew living in a neighborhood like this could be so much fun.

Ok, this is getting long and I'm rambling...I usually try and post at night (or during Journey's nap time) while the kids are asleep so I can focus. Right now the kids are running around screaming... The  good mom in me needs to get off here and spend time with them.  I'm not sure if this post even makes sense but I'm WAY behind on blogging and really wanted to post these cute pictures.  SOOO...if the words don't make sense, just look at the pictures. :)  Off to play with the kids! AND MAKE COFFEE! How did I write this post without it?? That could be the problem!

Fighting injustice with fashion

 Saturday night we got invited to go to watch a fashion show.  It was a fashion show raising awareness about sex trafficking, slave labor and soldier trafficking.  I've heard a little about this before but never to this extreme. The fashion show part was amazing.  There was a girl from Hawaii and Brazil showing the clothes they made (along with others).  I ended up crying my eye's out in the in-between parts.  One of the ladies that spoke is over Hope Ranch Ministries. Her name is Diana. You can read her story HERE.  Holleigh has recently got to meet up with her about helping in this ministry.  Hope Ranch Ministry is opening a house in the area for those women coming out of sex trafficking that have no place to go.  We got to meet Diana after.  I would love to be able to help out in some way.  This whole thing becomes even more scarier having 2 girls.  The statistics are heartbreaking.

"In today's world, there are 1.2 million children being sex-trafficked every year and 27 million in slavery."

"Portland, Oregon is the 3rd largest sex trafficking area in the United States."

"There are more than 30 million slaves in the world today,
more than at any other point in human history."

"Each year fans from around the country converge for the biggest sporting event in the United States, the Super Bowl. While the Super bowl is an exciting time for football fans across America, there is a dark side to the major sporting event as well. It is a time of increased exploitation for trafficked women and children. A staggering 100,000 – 300,000 people are trafficked each year in the US, and major sporting events like the Super bowl increase the demand for sexual trafficking up to 80%."

This happens to CHILDREN! I can not even think about it without being disgusted with these people that put children in these situations.  I also can not just sit aside and do nothing about this.  So, my first steps are educating YOU. It's not just over seas. It's here in the United States.  Lets all educate ourselves and find out what we can do in our own town/state to help. Please Join me in praying for these women and children.

Slavery- Not for Sale: End Human Trafficking

Children of the Night/Rescuing Americas Children from Prostitution 

24 hour Hot line: 1-800-551-1300

Marriage Letters: Opposites Attract

Join me and Q, along with Amber from The Run a Muck by writing  Marriage Letters every Monday.

Q,
  Those words couldn't be more true for us.  Opposites Attract.  In some ways more than others.  I'm sure of it, that you're the one who has to compromise the most.  I'm pretty stubborn and you are more laid back (for the most part).  I say for the most part because just the other day we were trying to plan a one day road trip to the Redwoods.  It's 4 1/2 hours there and 4 1/2 back.  I said, "Lets do this!" and you said, "Audrey, that's 9 hours for the girls to be in the car in one day."  Oh, yeah...that could be a problem.  I seem to jump into things when you are the one to really think things through.  I'm so glad you are the one who thinks straight.  I'm sure I could have talked you into the adventure (because you love a good adventure) and then we would have been 4 hours away from home with 2 really fussy girls.  At that point It would have hit me that maybe that wasn't a good idea.  I would have no solution and you would come in and save the day.  Thanks for thinking ahead, babe.  (But seriously, lets plan a 2 day trip to see the Redwoods soon!)

I'm pretty sure I'm the paranoid one.  Flying with our girls stresses me out more than anything in this world.  Ok, maybe it's not the actual flying.  It's more of taking that first step into the airport until we get on the plane.  I'm terrified of what might happen if I take my eyes off either of our girls at any point in time.  This tends to be a problem now that we have 2 kids.  Before I could be the parent that was latched onto the one kid.  Now, I stress you out by telling you not to take your eyes off the other kid. If she does take one step away from you SHE COULD BE ABDUCTED! ok, I'm VERY paranoid around a large crowd when it comes to our girls. You tend to bring us balance.

How about all the other little things like the fact that I would vacation at the beach EVERY single year when you prefer the mountains.  It's our hot/cold issue.  You are always 100 degrees and I'm always freezing.  You always want the air on and I always want the heater.  We really need one of those cars where we each can control our own temperature.

I'm glad I have you in my life to bring balance and stability.  You're calm and I lose my temper.  You're strong and I'm so weak.  You're thoughtful when I can be inconsiderate.  Thanks for being YOU!
                                                                   -A

A week review in pictures.

Qwelf!

If you haven't ever played this game it's SO much fun!

Alec and Holleigh.

We went on a walk with our neighbors one day.

Tattoo's!

Albertville, AL fire hydrant! (That's were I grew up!)

I was painting my toe nails the other day and Journey came up and pointed and said, "Draw!" so I decided to paint her toes! First time ever.

Eating at the Granary. Great atmosphere and best Pizza around, in my opinion.

Our friends Nick and Brandi came into town on Wednesday night! Yay for visitors!!!

Journey and Nick Nick.

Journey and Aunt B. :)

December

and I don't mean the month... If you don't know this already, our oldest daughters name is December.  We just call her Deci sometimes.  She's 4 and in case you haven't been around her, or any other 4-year-old for that matter, I will just tell you that she says the most random things.  For instance, a few days ago she asked, "Does God have superpowers?" and I asked her why she asked that and she said, "Because he can hold the whole world in his hand and see us all." :)  I love the way her little heart see's God.

This girl seriously picks out her own clothes...almost everyday.

Then one day I told her she needed to clean up her dress-up toys and she said, "But God wants YOU to."   Hummm....really??

this is one of her favorite dresses...it's a summer dress but as you can see she finds a way to wear it in the winter.

        

This is her Pippi Longstocking dress. She wants to be just like Pippi and I LOVE it! 

When we went to Mount Pisgah she wanted to run way ahead of Q on the way down.  I told her we needed to wait on him simple because I wanted us to stay together.  I asked her what we would do if we saw a bear and she said, "It's ok mommy.  I'll hold your hand."

I should add that I think all of these pictures where taken within the past month. :)

Just a few days ago Q was getting ready for work and he heard the girls wake up.  He went to get them and fixed them breakfast. (yeah, I know, I was in shock too! ha!) Before Q had to leave Deci came in to wake me up and said, "Mommy, wake up! You've been sleeping for a whole minute! Mommy, get up! You've been sleeping ALL day!" It was 7:20. yep.  No concept of time. :)

I think I picked this outfit...but it fits her well...and she picked the headband (below). Always got to accessorize.

All of these pictures were taken from my cell phone and it takes HORRIBLE pictures so excuse the blur...but I like it in this pic. :)