3 Day Getaway at Eagle Crest!

WARNING: This might be my longest blog entry yet....so just beware!

Monday early afternoon we headed on over to Eagle Crest Resort in Eastern Oregon to hang out with AJ's mom, dad, and sister. We could only stay until Wednesday due to other activities and things going on here, but it was so much fun to get away! We usually just hang out, eat wonderful food (that I never cook!) watch movies, read books, and shop! Here is Lily eating away:

And Auntie Andrea helping feed her too :)

Grandma Barb 'walking' with Lily (sorry it's sideways, I couldn't figure out how to rotate it!)

AJ and his Dad, Dan, watching sports

And me, actually getting a chance to sit down and read!
Then on Tuesday,we gals went to Sisters to do some shopping. I do love that town, not so much for clothes, but little cutesy things. I got some great finds and had coffee and enjoyed the beautiful sunny weather!Our great finds...minus Lily's 'car' :)
Our view of the canyon from the condo we always stay in-so beautiful!

We are working on getting Lily to crawl-yes, I said crawl. I know, she's 13 months, but this girl doesn't crawl or walk! And I'm ready for her to be mobile!

Going for her new ball she got from her Grandma in her Easter basket (plus lots of other fun stuff too! Thanks again Grandma Acker!)

Then, I tried experimenting with little sponge curlers because Lily's hair can sometimes get out of control. And I'll be honest, it looks like she's got a bit of a mullet in the back! So here we are testing them out.

Isn't she cute in curlers?! As I took them out later, I didn't realize how hard it was to unsnap them! So, I made her cry and then her hair looked crazy. It didn't work at all-plus, I inflicted pain on her! Maybe I'll wait till her hair gets a bit longer! Or I just need some other creative ideas to do her hair with! Any ideas?

The finished 'look'....not the best! But at least her 'mullet' is curled up!

Then Wednesday, the day we left, we woke up to snow! It was so pretty but by the time we left it had all melted.....The same canyon from before...isn't it beautiful with the snow?!

Well, we thought the snow would be gone....until we hit the road! I figured the pass going home would be bad...but it was BAD. Seriously, super white, as in you could barely see the cars coming! I was worried and so glad AJ was driving! We had to pull over and put on chains, and then AJ was a good Samaritan and helped a woman who pulled over behind us put her chains on her car....so he was outside for like 30 minutes. We got on our way, saw crazy drivers trying to SPEED by us and everyone else (do they not realize they're putting themselves and others in danger?!!) and were so grateful as we got closer to Salem to see rain. I'm so ready for springy, sunny weather. The snow was fun to look at, but bring on the sun! Here are some pics that show us on our journey home:

The view from inside our car as we're driving

That's from my side of the car when we pulled over....it was seriously a hill of snow right next to us!

AJ looking at Lily while taking out those chains...he looks happy now....until he gets out in that crazy weather!

AJ putting on the chains

And last, but not least, me! I was only out there for 1 minute, and look how much snow got on me!

It was such a FUN trip and I look forward to going back in June! Thanks Ackers for a great time again!

Happy Easter!

Too bad Easter wasn't celebrated with the beautiful weather we had on Saturday huh?! Oh well..we still a wonderful day to celebrate our Risen Savior. We started the day off with going to church and then heading over to my parents for Easter dinner with the entire extended family. It was lots of fun, especially to see those we don't get to see on a regular basis-and I know they love seeing Lily too :) I tried to get a family shot of all of us, but completely forgot after we were out of our Easter attire! But I managed to get a cute one of Lily:

I just love her sparkly shoes! But it's amazing to me why all those adorable Easter dresses are always sleeveless?! I mean, seriously, it's cold here in Oregon! I just had to put her in a little sweater to cover her little arms! Then at my parents, my mom wanted Lily to go on her 'own' egg hunt (she is the only little one there-my youngest cousin is 14!) So my mom got a few eggs for her to 'find', you know like on the middle of a table, or sitting on the couch. Lily got the hang of it after a while and was putting them in her basket!

Chewing on her basket with her Great Grandma!

Finding those eggs and seeing what they are

She's getting the hang of it!

Pulling out the goodies from her egg hunt!

We had a fun day and got lots of candy! I'm sure it'll stay in our pantry until next year! :)

Is this week over yet?!

Well....I think I'm officially the WORST mom ever! Oh my let me tell you....actually, I will show you :

This detergent...

Plus Lily...

EQUALS:

Yup, you read that right. Lily decided she wanted to try the soap and EAT it! I could have DIED! The morning was already rough for us, and Lily has had diarrhea for like 5 days now (the flu is going around the church nursery again!) so she wasn't doing good anyway, and then this happens! So, she was riding her 'car' all over our house like normal, and I was in the family room and all of a sudden I hear her start to whine/cry from the laundry room. So I said "Lily come here" cause she usually does. She didn't and was still whining, so I'm starting to panic a bit as I'm walking into the laundry room. Side note: We have two cats, and their litter box, food, etc. are in the laundry room as well, so I was thinking maybe our cats decided to lash out on her (they tolerate her pretty well as of now). Anyway, I go in the room and see her sitting on her car near the laundry soap that's on the floor like usual (I know, that won't be there anymore!) and she managed to pull the lid off, and there was powder on the floor, some on her hands, and some around her lips! I freaked! I thought the worst of course, like "will we have to get her stomach pumped?" and "is she going to die?". I overreact a bit I think! AJ had just left the house so he wasn't around to help. I immediately picked her up and washed her hands and her face. I grabbed her sippy cup and filled it with water and basically shoved it down her throat! I also noticed she had some spit up/throw up on her shirt (it wasn't much). So I thought at least she probably threw up most of what she ate right? I looked on the detergent and it said if eaten to wash with water-duh! And to contact your doctor. So I called and they referred me to the Poison Control place. I called them and they were so nice to me! They said I did everything right and to monitor her for the next hour in case she does throw up, so that she wouldn't choke. They also said they would call back in a few hours to check up on us, and if problems were worse to call them back. She assured me these things happen...but still! How stupid could I be?!!! She's doing great now, and we've had no problems-yet! Hopefully it'll all go back to normal. Now if I could only stop her diarrhea....any ideas?! Hopefully she'll start to feel better before Easter Sunday with all the family that will see her!

Really though, this week hasn't been that bad. We've definitely had our ups and downs, but God is soo good and faithful to us. I mean, thank goodness Lily is ok!! But I want this week to be about Jesus....celebrating His resurrection and that He died to save me-and all of YOU- so we could spend eternity with Him! How awesome is that? So, as we go into this Easter weekend of family, food, and Easter egg hunts, let us remember why we're truly celebrating: because of the Risen Savior. Our church's Easter programs are this Saturday night at 7 pm and Sunday at 9am and 11am. We'd love to see all or any of you there! The address is 375 Madrona Ave. S.-right behind Salem Heights Elementary. Happy Easter to you all!

Manic Monday!

Monday is always a good day for us....mainly because I think it gives all of us a chance to start over on a new week (and yes, I think Monday is the beginning of the week!) Anyway, it's kinda my 'catch-up' day to do laundry, dishes, bathrooms, etc. I always fold laundry on our living room couch, and as I was putting some of the piles away I came back to this scene: Little Lily decided it'd be fun to ride her 'car' over to my nice, neat piles and throw it on the floor! Acutally, when I came back she was in the middle of all the clothes and by the time I got my camera, she had basically bull-dozed her way through the clothes! Oh well! Luckily, it wasn't a big load to re-fold, but it was kinda funny. And as I do this, she follows me over the house as she's on her car. This is what she decided to carry with her as she rode her car over the house-her socks! She's holding them up to show me :)

Then, as most of you know, we're taking a big family trip to Disneyland to celebrate my mom's 50th birthday. You see, she is OBSESSED with Disneyland, she actually has an annual pass! This woman goes like 5-6 times a year, I'm not kidding! My dad goes to California a lot on business, so he can easily take her with him and while he works, she plays :) (he too has an annual pass and will sometimes go to D-land to have dinner, even with my mom isn't there...it's cute). So it's been my mom's dream forever to have her family all go together to Disneyland-and it's happening this May! Anyway, I have really been wanting a jogging stroller-mainly because I hate going to the gym and when it's nice outside I actually like to go running outside-call me crazy! I've been borrowing my good friend Anna's stroller, but was trying to find one for my own. I looked on craiglist and they had some good ones, but none I loved (so I'm a bit picky!) AJ's mom was so nice and gave us some money towards one for Lily's birthday, and as I was looking online at Target and such to dream a little, AJ said "why not just pay the difference and let's get a new one you know you'll love?" WHAT?! For those of you who know my husband, you know this is not something that is in his vocabulary-"NEW". He is a penny pincher and very smart with money (it's a trait I actually LOVE about him!) So when he says go ahead, I went! And got this beautiful jogging stroller, that now I will run with (I really will....you all can hold me accountable!) and that we can take to Disneyland! Wow...long way to get to the point of my story, but it'll be nice when we go on vacation because this troller has a swivel front wheel-and when you run you can make it not swivel so it stays in place! Amazing right?! I'm just a bit excited! I put this together on my own yesterday after it was on my living room floor for a week! Ususally I'd ask AJ to do this, but he's been so busy it's one more thing on his plate he doesn't need. I was so proud of myself!! Here are some pictures of Lily in her new stroller (yes, I'm a bit silly)

It's almost as if she's saying "cheese"!
Check out that front swivel wheel!
And a close up of her....she's just chilling in the stroller (yes I know she's buckled in inside the house-but this girl was itching to jump out! Safety first right?!)

So, all in all, I realized it really wasn't a "manic Monday", but an accomplished day! We got laundry done and had some laughs, put a stroller together, I even got my oil changed (my dad came along for the ride...thanks dad!) and made dinner and had it ready before AJ came home from track practice! Yay! It's the small accomplishments that make me happy. And the rest of this week our church is providing our dinners! They always feed the cast and crew of our Easter production before the nightly rehearsals start-such servants! And yay, because I don't have to cook for a whole week! That's all for now!

Finally.... a new post!

I realized it hasn't been that long since I last posted. But, I was doing good there for a while, and really was wanting to do this blogging thing everyday! I basically got busy and/or lazy and just haven't found the time! But, it's Sat. night, my tummy is full from having dinner at my sis-in-law's house (she makes awesome food), Lily should be sleeping, and I've got some free time before bed.

Last night my wonderful husband took me out for a nice dinner at Creekside. For those who don't know what it is, it's a local golf course and has a nice restaurant inside. My mom-in-law actually gave us a gift certificate there for Christmas. So we had an early dinner, rented "Dan in Real Life" (quite good...I recommend it!), headed to downtown Starbucks to sit in the comfy chairs (although, I'm the only one to get a drink because AJ can't stand coffee!) and then went back to pick up Lily from my in-laws. It was so much fun for just the 2 of us to hang out. But, a lot of our talking is centered around Lily. Funny how when we're away from her, she's always on our minds! I guess that's the joy of parenthood right? And I hope we're not the only 'lame' ones to talk about our kids at dinner! Oh well ;) The best thing about last night, was watching a movie in bed! I know that sounds crazy, but I don't like the idea of a TV in our room so we never have had one in there. Anyway, AJ got a smaller TV with vcr/dvd combo for Christmas and decided to set it up in there. There's really no surface for this TV to sit on, it's too big for my dresser, etc. So, my inventor husband built this thing for it to sit on! Note the picture below:

Yes, it's sitting on top of this wood platform on top of his ladder! Not the prettiest thing, but very functional! It was fun....yes I know, we're kinda lame!

Next week is Easter of course, which means AJ will be super busy (he is the worship leader at our church). There are rehearsals every night this coming week and a performance of an Easter drama/music thingy on Saturday night and than 2 on Sunday morning. Plus, he's got track practice and a track meet! This guy is on the go-which is kinda scary considering his 'health'. But, I know God's in control, and AJ's being really smart about taking it easy as much as he can, eating well, and resting. Plus, his dad's been helping out a lot -seems AJ listens better to him than me! AJ just can't sleep very well though-mainly because he's got a nasty cold. But, it's like since these seizures started happening, he can't fully rest. He'll see the neurologist April 15th, and we're on the cancellation list if something were to become available sooner. It'll be nice just to get some testing done, cancel anything out, and hopefully get some answers. After Easter, we leave for Eagle Crest (right past Sisters in Eastern Oregon) to stay in his parent's condo time-share thingy with them and his sister Andrea. That will be so nice to get away for a few days! AJ is looking forward to resting and not working, and I'm just looking forward to relaxation! And having other people watch Lily besides me! WOOHOO! I'm crossing my fingers cause I'm hoping to get a massage at the spa there-AJ just doesn't know that yet :) Maybe I can consider it an early birthday present for me!

As for Lily, she's still got that cold! She can't seem to get rid of it. Her nose is leaking, but it's clear. So hopefully they won't reject her from going to the nursery tomorrow! It seems all the babies have runny noses these days. She's sleeping really well though praise God! And she's also getting extremely frustrated because she can't walk. She's been riding her 'car' everyday all day lately. It's her way of exploring and getting around on her own. Yes, my child can't walk but she can steer that car, pedal on carpet, hardwood floors, cement, and go super fast! Weird. These are some pictures of her riding it the other day. And she always has to have something in her hands while steering. Usually she'll find a diaper, or she'll dig in my purse and grab a container of mints. It's hilarious. We started taking her car everywhere we go, because we know it'll keep her occupied and happy!

Look at her face, she's so excited! And she's holding an empty cracker box! She carried that all over the house with her!
Pausing for her mom to take a picture!
Riding off into the sunset ;)

And finally, this last picture is just plain cute. I was changing the sheets on our bed, and Lily was needing some attention. So I put her on our comforter that was on the floor and she was having a ball. Who knew? Maybe because it's a king sized thing, it just felt like she was lying in a giant feather bed! (it's a down comforter) It's quite funny the pose she ended up in!

I got tagged...

A - Attached or Single: Attached ...yay!

B - Best Friend: AJ, my sister and sis-in-law, and Anna

C- Cake or Pie: Cheesecake! (good one Keri!)

D - Day of choice: Saturday, days to spend with all of us together!

E - Essential Item: my hair straightener, I know that sounds superficial, but it's true

F - Favorite Color: PINK!

G- Gummy Bears or Worms: ooh, tough one, but I'll go with worms

H - Hometown: born in Seattle, but Salem is my home

I - Indulgence(s): GOOD coffee, getting my eyebrows waxed

J - January or July: July is a fun month-it's warm, it's our anniversary, my sister's birthday, and my sister-in-law's wedding is this July too!

K - Kids: Lily -13 months and not walking :(

L - Life is incomplete without: my Savior, Jesus Christ

M - Marriage Date: July 26, 2003-I can't believe it's gonna be 5 years this summer!

N - Number of Siblings: 2, 1 brother and 1 sister-I'm the middle baby

O - Oranges or Apples: Oranges

P - Phobias or Fears: spiders and drowning

Q - Quotes: '"Do not fear for I am with you, do not anxiously look about you for I am your God; Surely I will help you, surely I will strengthen you, surely I will uphold you with my rigtheous right hand." Jesus said this in Isaiah 41:10

R - Reason to smile: Lily is happy today and my eyebrows got waxed :)

S - Season: Summer, although I like the fall too!

T- Tag Three Friends: Kaytee, Anna, Jamie

U- Unknown fact about me: I hate doing laundry (I know it's a lame answer, but I couldn't think of anything!)

V - Very favorite Store: Target!

W - Worst habit: watching "Friends" over and over again -but it's such a good show!

X- X-ray or Ultrasound: Easy, Ultrasounds are the best! How cool to see the little one God has created!

Y - Your favorite food: Starbucks and/or Dutch Bros. -Does that count?

Z - Zodiac: taurus-but I don't really follow those silly horoscope things :)

So, I know this isn't about Lily, but it was fun to do! And now I will include some pics. of Lily that I took today. She was trying to put these minnie mouse sunglasses on and couldn't do it. So of course I help her, and then as soon as I put them on, she takes them off! The pictures are not the greatest, but you get the idea!

Notice me holding her arm from taking her glasses off! I'm so mean :)

She got them off, oh well! She sure is cute. And please ignore the red owie on the side of her left eye. That was my fault! We were outside on our back patio and she was riding her bike. There is a slight dip that goes from the patio to the lawn and she got one of her wheels off the patio, slid to the side and landed the side of her head on the stepping stone that sits on the lawn. She cried and then I cried because I felt horrible! I basically saw it coming and just sat there! I don't know how that happened, it's like I froze. But it looks better than it did, and she doesn't even know it's there! Phew!

Home Sweet Home

Well, I did it. I went to our church's women's retreat at the coast! I felt guilty at first, leaving my seizing husband and daughter home alone ( I know you all think I'm terrible!) But it was so nice for me to get away for the first time away from Lily. I love her...but it was wonderful to be on my schedule and not hers! The coast was so much fun! The weather was beautiful! It was a lot of fun fellowshipping with other women, eating nummy food at the hotel we stayed at in Newport, learning some great things about God's grace, and of course shopping at the Lincoln City outlets during our 6 hour free time on Saturday! I got some good deals for me and some fun summer outfits for Lily. It's so hard to not buy her anything! Especially because girl clothes are so cute! I was glad to get home though, because I was missing my family! I mean look at how cute this girl is! I guess I was going for that Pebbles look when I left Friday. Mainly, because I figured AJ wouldn't know how to put bows in her hair!

Back to AJ....it was hard leaving them all alone this last weekend, but really, he is fine and they are both alive and well. My mom helped out Friday night, and then AJ's dad was with him most of the day Sat. and they drove up to Portland to see AJ's grandma in her care home. She hardly ever sees Lily, so that was fun for all of them. And then while AJ went to church yesterday, my wonderful mom came over to watch her all morning. No way I was going to put that girl in the nursery because she is sick! She somehow came down with a nasty cold and it's oozing out of her poor little button nose! It's so sad when they get sick, because they hate what we as parents do to try and help them feel better! Such as :The dreaded bulb syringe! She HATES it when we do this to her! But it truly helps! Ahh....what would we do without infants' tylenol? It's wonderful!

And the humidifier! Makes her room all steamy, but I think it works wonders!

Anyway, these are a few of my favorite things! :) I sure hope she gets over this sickness fast! And lucky me, I got it too! Oh well. I'm still glad to be home! As for AJ, he's doing "fine" as he says. His memory is a bit messed up, just with little things. He saw his doctor last Friday for a follow-up visit. He didn't give us any new information, which we didn't think would happen anyway. He did refer us to a neurologist, but THEY have to contact US! Great. His PCP said they'd try to get him in within 2 weeks. We haven't heard anything yet. He wants him to see a neurologist to do some testing or to at least rule out things. He said just to be careful with the amount of physical labor he does. And he's working on the dump truck this Wednesday! A week after the accident. He says he'll be careful, drink gatorade (he thinks it's his magic drink :) ) and take lots of rest. I'm so worried, but I got to leave it in the Lord's hands. I think he just gets low blood sugar. His dad bought him some sugar tablet things. I think they are called Glucose Tablets. You are supposed to take them when you're feeling a bit faint, to try and prevent fainting. I hope they work, actually I hope he won't have to take them! I will keep you all updated on what we hear with the doctors. Thanks for all your prayers! God is still so good!

ER visit

Ok, so most of you know last Halloween AJ was working, fainted, smacked his head so hard on concrete that he seizured. He was fine, tests came back normal, and life was good again. WELL, today it happened again! This time he didn't faint, but was feeling dizzy. He sat down and the guy that was working with him, saw him start to 'wig' out and helped him lay down. He convulsed for like a minute. He bit the side of his tongue, but other than that he's fine. He did say his neck is stiff. I wonder if that was from the seizure too? Anyway, again this happens while I'm at Bible study at church! I couldn't believe it. I guess it's by the grace of God though because those ladies that were with me prayed, offered to drive me to the ER, pack up my stuff, etc. My mom was able to leave work and come get Lily, and I met Barb (AJ's mom) at the ER. His dad soon followed, and lots of other people from the church to stop by and encourage AJ and pray with us. After 4 hours there, they determined pretty much nothing. I think he's just stressed with life, working too hard and too long of days, and doesn't slow down. It's a good quality that he's a hard worker, but not when he works and works. All his bloodwork came back normal but they want him to follow up with his regular doctor in the next couple of days. And no driving!That means I'm the taxi :) They said could be epilepsy (i doubt it) and/or a mild case of hypoglycemia. Again, I think he's just pushing his body too hard, but I'm not a doctor! He's doing good and napping right now. Thanks to all of you for your well wishes and prayers. They mean a lot to us. The other thing about this is it's our church's women's retreat at the coast this weekend and it was going to by my first time away from Lily and I was looking forward to it! My mom has graciously offered to watch her all weekend so AJ won't have to (plus, I don't know if I trust him to do it, just in case something happened you know?) so I still might go. I feel like a bad wife! But his dad assured me he'd hang out with AJ,and AJ's such a fighter, he's saying he's fine and I'm sure he'll be good to go by this Friday. Anyway, we'll see. No final decisions about retreat yet. But I'd sure like to go :) Just pray for wisdom with the doctors, but that we'd continue to trust the Lord has a plan and we've got to lay our worries at His feet. It's funny I say that, because just last night I changed my verse of the week. Check it out on the side of our blog. God is good!

Family Fun

This past Wednesday was my brother Joel's birthday. He turned 23! That is crazy because he's still my baby brother...and I'm only 24! (Although, I will be 25 in April) Anyway, last night we got to celebrate his 'birth' at the Cheesecake Factory in Portland. My sweet husband graciously let me leave a few hours early with my mom and sister so we could go shopping at Babies 'R Us (which I had to buy stuff for Lily, mainly because I had a gift card there-thanks Uncle Joel) and shop at Washington Square Mall. That is also the best place. A little 'rich' for my wallet, but fun to dream about shopping there :) AJ, my dad, and Lily met us at the restaurant later that night and Joel came with Katie and Danny. Even though we put our name in at 4:30, we didn't get seated until 6:15!! I couldn't believe it. Luckily, I had brought Lily's dinner so she was able to eat that in her stroller. But the poor girl was dying. We didn't leave the restaurant until 8:00! And she normally goes to bed between 7:30-8:00. Needless to say, she slept the whole way home. But, it was still lots of fun, and because of the giant portions of food we got, I have enough leftovers for 2 meals! That's the best! And we also took home some delicious cheesecake of course. Anyway, besides the super long wait, we had fun! Unfortunetly, I didn't take any pictures, so the one I am posting is of Lily with her new toy she got from her Great Grandma and Grandpa! (she loves it too!)

By the way, we rented a fabulous movie the other night, one we had actually seen in the theatre a while back, but we liked it so much decided to rent it. I highly recommend it to you all! A very clean and fun movie! It is called "No Reservations" (should this be underlined? Ahh, having a flashback to my school days of English class!)