Family Reunion Part 2

Our first full day at the Oregon coast, and we had some time that morning to ourselves. So, we loaded up the kids, cranked the radio, and drove south down the coast, and visited the lighthouse at Yaquina Head.... it's a really pretty area.

Gotta love those coastal breezes that are continual!

We saw a ton of sea birds there, hanging out all over the rocky areas, And also, the sea lions were sunning themselves out on the rocks:

(Is that the life, or what? Laying out in the sun, surrounded by surf and all the food you want is as close as a dip in the water. Who wouldn't like that?)

For our day's activity that afternoon, we went with the whole family a little ways north, and we went for a horseback ride on the beach. Emma was super-excited to go horseback riding. This is way more than just a step up from a carousel ride!!

Emma on "Foxy"

Darcie on "Charley"

Darcie hadn't been riding in several years, and it had been even longer than that for me.

Me on "Sunny", and Indri in the background

I can't figure out why we all look like we're leaning back in the saddle!!

It felt odd to follow their instructions (rules!) about how to hold the reins. I've never held reins vertically & two-handed like that when I've been riding, and it felt like I was reining the horse in rather tightly by holding it on the color-coded sections of the reins. Plus, I've usually neck-reined a horse, so turning the horse kind of felt like sawing on his mouth. But --- their horses, their rules. I just do what I'm told!!  

The younger kids all had to wear helmets, and the very youngest ones were also on a lead rope with one of the girls that took us on the ride. Makes sense.

Alexus thought her horse was being a problem, but she did great with him.

 

My horse was the "mischief-maker" and had to be kept back from following the others too closely. Darcie's horse didn't like being approached from the right side, and would kick any horse that came too close. A perfect match-up for my horse getting kicked. Yep! That happened!!

I get such a kick out of this photo of Lane -- his horse is smiling for the camera!!

Still all smiles when she got back!!

It was a ton of fun!

(And I think it's safe to say we were all a little saddle-sore afterwards!)

Dinner that night was really good, we enjoyed eating a whole lot of seafood that week! (This is half our group -- the only way they could fit us in was in two large booths.)

Yum!

Good food, Good company.

Love family!!

See more of our Family Reunion Week in these posts:

Part 1, the beginning

Part 3, Day 2

Part 4, Day 3

Part 5, Days 4 & 5

Wrap-Up and Family Photos

Family Reunion, Part 1

I love all our extended family, and I really love getting everybody together. For this year's Huffaker Family Reunion, we went a little crazy, and we did a Destination Reunion.

Oh, yes.

Most of the time, we go camping for our reunions, and while I love that, this year's reunion was over-the-top fun and truly, TRULY one of our most memorable times, ever. I give full credit to Todd's sister Kerry!

Kerry & Jason!

Kerry did all the legwork and planning for us. She made the arrangements with the hotel, set up our day trips, and put deposits down where needed. She was a huge facilitator, and without her, our trip would not have been nearly so amazing!! So, huge kudos, and hat's off to Kerry!!

Everyone traveled separately to get there, and for us, this was interlaced with a trip to Rexburg, right before. So we made a quick trip for this:

Couldn't miss that! Pretty darn proud of Brandon, and what he has accomplished. We look forward to the next stage of life for him!

We also helped this guy get packed up, ...

... and loaded to move back home. He is off-track from school from now until the end of the year. WOO-HOO!!

There was also some of THIS happening while we were there.....

(Emma loves the splash park and carousel at Porter Park in Rexburg!)

On the way back, we swung through Boise for an overnight stay, and to see Alyssa & Andrew. Got to do a bit of school shopping, and a bit of this, too......

..... aaaaaand a bit of this, also:

(Having the hotel pool to ourselves was super fun!)

And then it was back home for JUST OVERNIGHT. We scrambled to unpack, do some laundry, water the yard, re-pack, grab Darcie, and the next morning, we were OFF again!! It took all day, but we pulled in that evening to Lincoln City, Oregon -- ready for our week of fun and relaxation, and FAMILY.

Here's what greeted us in our room ......

And this fancy concoction on the bathroom counter:

Creativity abounds! (I so want to try making a towel-swan!)

The kids and I went right down to to beach, and stuck our toes in the Pacific Ocean...

Emma loved the biggest sandbox in the world....

It was a gorgeous sunset that evening....

... and the cousins had fun with it, too...

Also that evening, we played games together, which is one of our favorite family activities:

They were really nice about letting our family use the breakfast room during those evening hours. (It's usually kept locked.)

The younger set have their own version of games, too!

Temperatures were so nice and mild, especially when you compare them to our triple-digit heat that we'd been having at home. It was such a welcome break!!

Our rooms at the lodge all overlooked the ocean, with un-blocked and un-paralleled views. Beach access was super-close: we easily walked right down, or brought the vehicles for drive-onto-the-beach parking, when we were bringing more stuff with us. Some of us explored the tide pools which were also right at the beach access, and had fun with that.

We slept each night with the balcony door open to the ocean breezes and the sound of the waves steadily crashing on the shore. (And occasionally a little sea mist for good measure!!) Come to think of it, we never really ever closed that balcony door. It was so, SO nice!

Next day .... the adventures began!!

See more of our family reunion week in these posts:

Part 2, Day 1

Part 3, Day 2

Part 4, Day 3

Part 5, Days 4 & 5

Final Wrap-Up & family photos

Five Photos.

I'm so behind, and I have that guilty-I-need-to-get-the-blog-caught-up feeling.  And there are posts I'd like to write that will catch up with life. But, in the mean time, I'll do things a little out of chronological order, and I'm challenging myself to summarize a few months in five photos. I'll go back later and write full posts, but..... you should know that all this is part of what has made life so crazy here.

FIVE PHOTOS

1.

This girl here had her senior softball season. So proud of her, and she had a really great year!!

2.

Then she went out and got herself graduated. Honor cords, ASB officer collar, Valedictorian medal, and I'm forgetting what the other cords were for.....

3. 

Working so hard to kind of get the newly-renovated laundry room somewhat finished before the wedding. (We're still not done, but it's functional!) Todd really pushed to get the room closer to "done".

4.

Coaching Somebody's T-ball team. (See the cute assistant coach on the right???)

And, finally, ...

5. 

This guy graduated with his Bachelor's degree!! Couldn't miss THAT!!

The next few posts will be a bit out of order.

I'm sure you'll get over it.
I'm already over it.

Haha!!

happy Pearl, baby! {30 years!}

We pause for a moment in our blog catch-up theme, because 30 years is kind of a big deal.

Today is our 30th Wedding Anniversary!!

Yep --- we look at each other and think, "how is this possible?", yet we also think that it's kind of been almost -- forever! Totally looking forward to many more years of "Forever"!!

(I think that last one remains my favorite photo from our wedding.)

We were so YOUNG!!

(and so skinny!)

And now.....

We've come a long way, Baby!!

"Love you" doesn't seem to do justice to it.
LOVE YOU!!!!!

(P.S. -- in reference to the post title: your 30th anniversary is your "pearl" anniversary. Got my pearl last Christmas. I think I'll wear it to church today .....  )

Keepin' it Real -- June 2015

I first thought I'd make a Facebook post out of this. Then I thought again, and decided that the blog was a better place for it. It's not the first time I (or others) have brought up this subject. But it bears repeating. Even if it's only a self-reminder. And I didn't want my Facebook friends to get upset at me, assuming that I was referring to them -- when I'm not.

A couple of days ago, I was clicking through Pinterest, and got to one of those "Summer Home Tours", where bloggers post gorgeous photos of perfect summer homes, with current colors and furnishings, decorated to the hilt, non-existent clutter, or even any evidence of real, actual people living there. Sometimes, there's a token pet, looking lovingly at the camera. After about 4 of the homes on the "tour", I closed it out. It was making me ill.

Nobody lives like that. Nobody.

And if you live like that ---- I don't know you. I don't even know your friends. And you probably already don't like me. Because I don't live like that.

Then the train of thought moved down the tracks to the Facebook Station, and I thought about all the amazing photos that I see on my timeline from friends who are vacationing and visiting wonderful destinations. Fun is the name of that game. And those that aren't traveling? Well, they're on there showing beautiful parties, lovely children, days spent on the river, and other great home-scenes.

And I get it -- we want to share our good times. And we want photos of us from our "good side". I have very FEW friends who are down, depressed, sarcastic, or negative. At least, they generally don't show it on Facebook. So everything on the timeline is all happy-happy-joy-joy --------- and Perfect.

I know my friends and family don't really live like that, either. They are not Perfect. They are REAL.

I thought about my own Facebook (and blog) posts. Yes -- it's my "good side" that shows, too. But there's also the OTHER side. The side that doesn't get shown to the public. But it's just as real. In fact, it's even MORE real than what I show.

In the interest of still Keepin' In Real --- here's a few REAL moments from our lives lately .......

•  Emma finished out t-ball. Sure, she had fun. What's REAL? The other night, she totally tripped and fell on her face, while running from first to second base.
  
•  The yard looks good? Well yes, it does right how -- it's a direct result of prepping it to look nice for a wedding. And it's a good thing, because we're kind of out of time for working on it right now. But what's REAL? Real is: Todd digging out the leaking sprinkler head [in the dark, in a hole fully of muddy water] to fix it. REAL is also the layer of tiny red weeds that is overtaking the garden. It reminds me of, "War of the Worlds".
• Darcie mowed that cool pattern in the lawn? Yes, she did. REAL? She got an interesting sunburn on the top of her knees from it. **Just** the tops of her knees. Sitting in the sunshine at the kiosk at her new job is probably not helping that.
  
• Sleeping out on the trampoline? Yes. I'm actually kind of surprised that it's not killing my back to sleep out there. Been out there 3-4 times now this summer. What's REAL? Trying to sleep out to catch the Aurora Borealis, and discovering at 12:18 am that one of the sprinklers did *not* get turned off for the night. Oh, yes, .... it hit us, and by 12:30, we were camped out in the family room. Never did get to see (or get photos) of the Northern Lights.
• REAL is being behind on the blog, And being SO behind, that you don't know where to start. Or what to include. Or how to even get caught up.
• REAL is knowing that you're living proof that acne doesn't stop at age 20. Or age 30. Or even age 40.
• REAL is bread and buns that go moldy before we can eat the whole package.
• REAL is suicidal trees or flowers in the yard that are determined to die.
• REAL is the six-year-old that manages to chop off a potted plant at soil level, simply by "watering" it. (What??? No witnesses on that!)
• REAL is piles of outgrown or worn out clothes on the floor. For DAYS.
• REAL is dried out play-doh -- not just on the counter, but all over the dining room floor.  
• REAL is gallons of fresh cherries and raspberries -- that you give away to other people, because you don't have time to deal with them. (Remind me why we're growing these if WE don't get any of the benefits?)
• REAL is the phrase, "I'm bored! There's nothing to do!"  You may also hear that phrase. But this isn't coming after a dull morning at home -- this is less than TWO minutes into a five-minute-long car ride. Gimme a break!!
• REAL is the entire cup of lemonade hitting the garage floor.  And late-night hose-downs to eliminate the stickiness.
• REAL is a really big project that lands at your feet, and supercedes all other pending projects.
• REAL is un-made beds, un-washed dishes, floors that need swept and laundry that needs done. It's aches and pains, sore knees and sore backs and toenails that get removed.

REAL is other things, also.

REAL is sleeping in -- but not exactly, as we head outdoors for peaceful, cool, early-morning walks.
REAL is penny-wishes at the fountain outside the library.
REAL is watering and weeding and spraying (and spraying some more!), and feeding, and mowing (and mowing some more!).
REAL is making homemade ice cream with the ball-style maker.
REAL is reading one of your favorite book series to your six-year-old, and she loves it, too.
REAL is your sweetheart surprising you with a new book that you love.
REAL is really, really big Father's Day gifts that the whole family can share in. (more on that later)
REAL is beautiful blossoms on the shrubbery.
REAL is fancy lettering on sidewalks and envelopes -- because, hey! It's a cheap hobby!!
REAL is starting piano lessons, the Tooth Fairy, and learning to ride a bike. (Well, sort of.)
REAL is late-night runs for slushies and milkshakes.
REAL is snuggling with people we love at the end of the day, and counting our blessings.

Life happens.

We take what we're dealt, the good with the bad, and thank our Heavenly Father for all our blessings. We try not to compare ourselves with others. We don't lead jet-setting, fabulous lives. We don't get to travel that much. But we do live comfortably. And we do appreciate what we have. And we have each other -- which is a lot.

More from our Wedding Weekend ...

We are officially in Wedding-Recovery Mode! Most stuff has been put away, or returned if it was borrowed. Leftover cake is in the freezer. (Oy!!) Our Happy Couple is back from their honeymoon and settling into their apartment together. Whew!!

If you're looking for the post about Alyssa's wedding, please click HERE.

We were sure glad to have our adult kids back in the house, as well as some of the extended Duerden family members in town for Alyssa & Andrew's wedding, and having them stay for an extra day before heading back home. It was so nice to visit and eat and just talk. (This was a definite plus for having the wedding on Memorial Day Weekend.)

These are just a few of the photos I grabbed while they were here. I quite frankly missed any photos of Cheryl's family, and of Cecilia. (How did that happen??) It was not intentional. I really need to start paying more attention to photo subjects. I blame it on having wedding-brain. I'm lucky I could string two sentences coherently together.

I definitely didn't miss getting pictures of the grandbaby! We were so glad to get some time with the adorable Giselle!

I'm pretty impressed that she will come to us, mostly. She's still a little iffy about Todd. That goatee is a bit intimidating!! I think she'd get over it if she saw us a bit more often. She was almost 11 months old here. Not quite walking yet, but it will be soon!

Cheryl and I grabbed the bride's and maid of honor bouquets for a little sisterly bonding....

(don't we look cute?)

I still love those flowers. They turned out so nice!

Emma loved playing with Giselle, and showing her the toys at Grandma & Grandpa's house. (That still sounds so weird for me!)

And the boys were in the HOUSE!

(Were they ever!!)

Never pass up an opportunity for a good set of chorus line kicks.

Or an opportunity for some charming baby pictures.....

Love those little chubby arms!