March 31, 2015

... This is Happening ...

Believe it or not, I'm actually updating our blog ABOUT March on the LAST day of March.

I know. Miracles never cease.

Actually, you can blame this nasty virus that I have. Because of it I'm required to stay up another 30 minutes before I can take more medicine to put me to sleep. Everyone else in the house is sleeping, or attempting to (in Nate's case) and I needed a "quite time" activity - alas, here I am (with some gummy bears at my side - I love those things so much)!

Anyway - March has been a crazy good whirlwind of a month! On March 14th we welcomed two new kiddos to our home - a 6 year old boy, who we refer to as Mr. Tease, and his 19 month old sister, who we have dubbed Wiggler and/or Tiny Tornado - both are very, very fitting! We are LOVING having them here and feel so blessed to be having such a wonderful experience this time around. We are keeping up our "Operation Freckles" blog that talks more about our Foster Parent journey, so feel free to check it out to learn more about these two amazing little people that are in our lives right now!

Here are some other things that happened in March!

A Ukulele Club was started up for the kiddos at work. I joined in the first few classes to take some pictures and ended up learning how to play a few chords as well - I'm pretty sure I need a Ukulele now ...

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The first weekend of the month I was able to head up to Galice Lodge with my work ladies - we spent the night and had a wonderful time talking & laughing and scraping logos off of hundreds of wine glasses to use at our upcoming events! I'm so grateful for these women!

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Nate & I finished up our "official" Foster Parent Certification. When Freckles was placed with us we were provisionally certified to have her in our care. Now we are certified for any child(ren) that may come along. We told DHS that we are open to babies because we had so much fun doing respite for Mr. Tease & Wiggler before they came to live with us! This is a picture that I texted to my friend as Nate & I were pricing all the big ticket baby items that we'll need to have in our arsenal! Luckily, when Mr. Tease & Wiggler moved in, we were able to purchase most of what we needed from another Foster Family at a VERY reasonable price.

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Our crazy talented friend at work made this bowl in his pottery class and thought that we would like it! This picture doesn't do it justice, it's pretty darn amazing!

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My boss got a baby Miniature Labradoodle on Valentine's Day and she gets to come to the office most days! Snuggling this sweet puppy definitely takes the stress level down on those days when there is too much to do (i.e. non-profit life all the time).

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Nate & I celebrated our 15 year anniversary! It was pretty low key because I had to work, but he surprised me with these gorgeous flowers! There are no words to describe how in love with this man I am - I'm so grateful for him and for the relationship that we have built together. He truly is my best friend, the love of my life, my soul mate!

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Shortly after our anniversary I came down with a viral infection - it has had me "down" for going on 3 weeks now. I have made two trips to Instacare, missed work, had many sleepless nights thanks to the horrible cough that is accompanying the rest of the symptoms and have just felt outright miserable. Taking in two little people during this time has not helped my recovery, but there is no way we would go back and change it. I feel like I'm FINALLY starting to come out of it, but as I'm typing this, I hear Nate coughing in the other room - I only hope and pray that he doesn't get it as bad as I do. He's already had it once this year, I sure hope he doesn't have to suffer through it again.

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There is something that I love about this picture so much. This was last week - we were both exhausted after a long day with the kiddos and I was feeling like I had been hit by a bus - we were snuggling and talking and Nate fell asleep - I took advantage of my "selfie cam" so that I could snap this.

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Spring time is here! This GORGEOUS tree is hanging over our driveway and every single day I marvel at it's beauty as I pull in and out of the garage. The town is riddled with beautiful blooming trees and it makes my heart and my eyes happy - although our allergies aren't liking it so much ...

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Today is the last day of March. I don't know where this year has gone, but it is sure going by quickly. I feel that I have so much to be grateful for. Life is not without it's struggles and it took us several months to recover from what happened with Freckles, but I feel so blessed to be able to recognize the silver linings and to keep my positive attitude at the forefront of everything that I do.

March 30, 2015

Great Interstate

Back in January, Nate & I went on a date in Medford to the "Great Interstate" Concert! This concert was super exciting to us because his cousin, Tate, came with his band from Salt Lake and played! It was so much fun to meet up with Tate and although our visit with him was short, it was good to see family!

His band was amazing and we had a great time!

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Back in December ...

Back in December my parents came for Christmas! We had some fun times and I didn't want to skip over blogging it, so I'm catching up ... AGAIN. It seems like it's all I do these days.

Anyway! Yes, my parents came for Christmas! The anticipation leading up to their visit was huge and I was so excited to pick them up in Eugene! We had a wonderful few days together! They enjoyed seeing more of where we live and meeting Freckles, and we enjoyed their company and playing cards!! :)

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They're here!!

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Our Christmas Eve Drive around GP to see the Christmas Lights!

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Christmas Morning!

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Nate & Freckles having some candy cane fun!

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The PERFECT gooey roll!
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The resurrection of "Phublathan."

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A Christmas Morning selfie!

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Wherever my dad goes, NOEL gets turned into Leon!

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Ahh! A proper game of Hand & Foot!

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And it's a win for the ladies!

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Showing off our beautiful Rogue River!

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A walk downtown for lunch at the Laughing Clam & to see the giant Christmas Tree!

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Some of my favorite treats from Logan!

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We spent an afternoon with them at the Great Cat World Park (because we're in love with the animals that reside there) and it was a very fun day!

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A rare sweet moment!
I'm so grateful for my parents and that they came for a visit. Traveling during the holidays has always been a resounding "NO" for my mom, so the fact that they came over Christmas was a huge gesture of love and caring and I'm so grateful to know that no matter what, they have my back. Their visit fell during some of our roughest times that we had with Freckles and having them here made me feel safe and somehow not as terrified of this little girl who had taken over our home.

Freckles has since been reunited with her bio-mom. The transition came exactly when we needed it to and not a day too soon - we have seen her a couple of times since she went home and are happy to report that she is doing well. We are cautiously optimistic that their little family will continue to grow and learn together and that we can play the role of friends and supporters in her life.

February 7, 2015

BGCRV Staff Christmas Party

Do you want to know a secret? I really L O V E my job! Oh wait, that's not a secret ... oh well!

Yes, I am one of those fortunate souls who really happens to love her job. I love most everything about it! I love the mission, I love the kiddos, I love the community we serve and I love the people that I work with!

We are so blessed to have a family within the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Rogue Valley. These people have seen me at my absolute worst and my absolute best and the fact that I still wake up excited to go work every day tells me that I am where I need to be at this point in my life right now.

Back in December, we on the Admin Team worked really, really hard to throw an awesome Christmas Party for the entire BGCRV Staff! We held a mini silent and live auction, passed out "Diann Dollars" (based on our boss) and had such a fun evening with our families!

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Great Cats World Park

Several months ago I was talking to a friend at work about his most recent weekend. During the conversation, he said, casually, "my wife and I went and met some baby tiger cubs! We even got to pet them." He tried to continue on but I was quick to stop him and press for more information ... hello ... petting baby tiger cubs? Yes, please!

That is when I learned about the Great Cats World Park ... an amazing establishment that is home to over 45 of the worlds most predatory and beautiful cats!

Suffice it to say, as soon as I told Nate about the Park, we planned a Saturday and took Freckles (this happened in November - sorry for the delay in posting). To date, taking her to the Great Cats World Park was one of the best days that we were able to have with her.

Here are a few pictures of the AMAZING and beautiful animals that we got to interact with ... and those baby tiger cubs, SO darn adorable, and yes, we got to cross an item off of our bucket lists and pet them!

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January 3, 2015

2014 Mishmash Continued ...

... hmmm ... for some reason blogger cut my last post off - perhaps there was just too much awesomeness there. So I'll just continue it here! Aren't you just so happy?

Medford Cruise


Just a few pics from the annual Medford Cruise ...

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July Fun

So it's a little out of order ... July was just as crazy as the rest. We took our Foster Parenting Classes, we had a visit from our awesome friends, the Wilkies (that will be a different post) and we moved into a bigger home in anticipation of having a little person around!

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Schmidt Vineyards


Don't hate me ... more pictures of vineyards for yet another work function! This one was a "Celebration of Success" for our Board Members & volunteers because it was truly an awesome and fantastic year!

Here are just a few pics:

My co-worker has a convertible ... whenever I get the chance, I ride with her!! :)

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It really is a photographer's dream to live in such a beautiful area!

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A Visit from Carl & Lynnette


We were SO excited when we received a message from Carl & Lynnette asking us if they could come down for the Labor Day weekend to hang out and to meet Freckles! We enjoyed having them here SO much! While they were here we went up to Crater Lake and one Nate's day off we drove over to Jacksonville! Their trip was much too short, but we are so grateful that they got to come and spend some time with us!

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