Wordless Wednesday: Painting

 working on some Valentines... 

{more on that to come}

of course he had to taste the paint

Flooding

I'm sure most of you have heard about the crazy weather we have been having here {especially if you live in the state of Oregon}. Or about the sad accident that happened last night, {just down the street from our house} the creek that flooded and a car got swept in and there were 2 fatalities. It is so sad and unbelievable. 

It's been wild that's for sure. Sunday and Monday we started off with snow {which is pretty unusual for us}. Then by Tuesday afternoon it turned to rain and has been raining pretty steadily since. {We did have a nice 3-4 hour break from the rain today in which we made it out the park.} Thankfully we have stayed dry and stranded free so far. There are several streets around us that have had high water. Corvallis has gotten pretty bad this evening. 3rd Street going into South Town has closed for several blocks and schools in Corvallis were just cancelled for tomorrow! {Crazy, canceling school due to rain and flooding!} The scary thing is the rivers aren't suppose to crest till tomorrow night. 

Russ spent the day driving around looking at project sights they have worked on... all of them flooded. Here are some pictures...

Mary's River

{this river is what is causing a lot of flooding in South Town. It usually flows just right down the middle of the picture not the whole width of the picture}

South Santiam

{it's almost to the bridge}

McDowell Creek

{yes this was/is a creek and has made its own new path through a field}

On a side note... remember last summer when we put on a new roof? Praise the LORD it has held up through all this rain!!! Russ just went up to the attic to check it out tonight and there are no leaks to be spoken of!

{as I wrote this OSU has announced they are closing campus for tomorrow... that never. ever. happens}

"No"

Remember back a couple months ago when I said B had learned to say no. Well he really knows how to say no now and says no for just about everything. And when I say everything I mean everything. Anything I ask him is "no".

Me: Do you want to go outside to play? B: No

Me: Are you finished eating? B: No {then I proceed to take his food away and he screams}

Me: Is your name Blake? B: No

Anyways it goes on and on all day long. He still doesn't get what it means or he hasn't figured out that he can say yes when he wants something. We've been working on the saying yes a lot. I'm hoping he gets it soon because believe it or not, I am getting pretty sick and tired of hearing NO all. the. time. 

We had snow again today!

Church

Church this morning was a winter wonderland! 

It was beautiful.

Here is a verse Pastor Rob encouraged us to memorize...

Only in returning to me and resting in me will you be saved. 

In quietness and confidence is your strength. 

Isaiah 30.15

{isn't it amazing to know that by resting in God we are saved?!}

Weekend Recap

This weekend started off great! But ended not so great...

Saturday we woke up and hung around the house anticipating the arrival of Nana and Papa (Russell's parents) and Aunt KK (Russell's sister). We had given Russell's Dad tickets for the OSU vs Standford basketball game and it was this weekend. 

We hung out here in the afternoon for Blake to nap and then headed into Corvallis to eat dinner our favorite pizza place {shocking surprise, I know}. After dinner we said good-bye to Kacie and Danny and headed to drop Blake off at the Hammagren's. With the game not starting till B's bedtime I figured it would be best to not take him with us.

View from our seats: 

Yes, we were pretty much as high as you could get. Only one row behind us. 

{that would be the cement wall of the top of Gill behind us. We moved to the very top after half time to lean against the wall and cool off a bit because it was so warm in there and the wall being cement was nice and cool}

The game went in to QUADRUPLE, 4 overtimes, that's an extra 20 min of playing time!!! It was insane. We lead most of it and should have won, had many, too many chances to win but lost by 2 points. It was the longest game played in the history of OSU basketball! It felt more like the length of a football game then basketball. It didn't end till after 10pm. Thankfully B was not with us, he was sound asleep at the Hammagrens.By the time we picked him up and got home it was after 11pm. That's one late night out for us! 

Sunday morning we were planning on going to church. But B wasn't acting quite himself. I took his temp and he had a fever of 101. 

Church was a no go for us. 

So we had a relaxing morning at home with wagon rides and some cartoons. B went down for an early-ish nap and I broke out the new sewing machine while everyone else went to Home Depot {I don't think Don and Pam can come here without a trip to Home Depot}

{I only had time to figure out how to thread it and sew two lines, but I love it! It's quite the step up from the 60 year old Singer I was using.}

B had a mild fever all day Sunday. Sunday night we put him to bed and an hour later he was still awake. I went in to get him and when I picked him up I could tell right away why he hadn't fallen asleep... he was burning up! I took his temp and it was 102.8.

Long story short he's been doing a lot of this...

and this...

I talked with the nurse twice today and she said there is a virus going around that's just a fever and lasting 3-4 days. Today being day two, I'm hoping we just have one more day of this. I'm just so thankful he is not throwing up too, now that would be horrible. Hopefully he'll be back to normal tomorrow.

Heaven is for Real

Here's my very first "book review"!  One of my new years goals is to read more. Surprisingly I have already finished a book. 

Last week I finished what I would call an amazing and powerful book;
Heaven is for Real. 

Heaven is for Real is a true story about a little boy who while in surgery has an out of body experience and recounts going to heaven. The story is told by the little boy's father. I am sure most of you have heard about it. I would love to go into more detail but don't want to for those who haven't read it.  

It is an amazing story. You should to read it.

Wordless Wednesday: Popcorn

{Had to get the tires rotated on the car today. Blake sat for 30 minutes, yes, I said 30 minutes [for him to sit longer then 30 seconds in one spot is a rare occasion] eating popcorn. Apparently he loves popcorn. I might be packing popcorn for our plane ride to Virginia in 6 weeks.}

New Years "Resolutions"

Happy New Year!
Wow! I can't believe it's 2012. Wasn't it just Y2K?! {and my mom was stocking the pantry shelves incase the world came to a screeching halt} Isn't it hard to believe that that was 12 years ago? What's even more hard for me to believe is this year marks 10 years since high school graduation. How is that possible? It is just crazy to me how fast time really goes by.

So here we are January 2nd 2012 the beginning of a new year. 

I always enjoy the beginning of a new year. I like the feeling of a fresh start. I think that's why I always liked starting a new school year or in college a new term. Every year I usually have some sort of "resolutions" but I have never written them down or kept any sort of track of how I've done with keeping them. So this year I thought by maybe blogging about them {or at least making a list} I might do a better job at keeping them. {we'll see. no promises are being made. hopefully this won't be the only time I write about them. Ha!} 

Okay so here are my goals for 2012...

1. Read more 

There are so many books I would love to read. And I need to just start making the time to do so. Less TV in the evenings = more reading. Easy enough. {maybe I'll even blog about a book review!}

2. Organize all our pictures

There are currently over 10,000 pictures on our computer. 10,000! That's A LOT. I've been slowly going through them and deleting the bad ones. Eventually I want to start burning DVDs of them all to get them off the computer to have more space for the new ones for 2012.

3. Clean out attic/closets

We have been in our house 2 years now. And I know there is stuff in the attic we don't need/or used in the past 2 years. This spring there is going to be one BIG garage sale at our house. 

4. Workout

I think this is on my "list" every year. Even just going for more walks would be good enough for me.

5. Go to bed earlier

There are many nights I'm not in bed till 11pm or later. That's too late. 10pm needs to be my new bedtime.

6. Try one new recipe a week

I feel like I make the same 12 things for dinner over and over. This year I would love to find a few more good recipes to add to my 12 staples.

7. Stick to a budget

We have attempted a budget many times and usually we fail/give up. We are trying new software called YNAB (You Need A Budget). We sat down yesterday and wrote out a budget. I really think this will help us realize where our money goes and make us more conscious of what we are spending money on {there is an app for it!}. And hopefully in return we will become more wise on how we spend our money and hopefully save more then we have before.

Well, there they are. We'll see how this goes. Maybe I'll track my progress, maybe I won't. But it will be interested to look back a year from now and see where I'm at with these goals.

I'm looking forward to all the adventures God has for me/our family in 2012!