Happy 4th of July 2013!

The 4th of July was filled with all the things a decent Independence Day should be filled with: parades, sunburns, candy, naps, BBQs, homemade rootbeer, and fireworks.  You go America...you go.  

The fam of four - Steve tried to wear a yellow shirt...who wears a yellow shirt on the 4th of July?!!  Okay - maybe that guy in the background...but we are a patriotic family! :)

We went for a round two of the Hillsboro 4th of July parade this year.  I was really tempted to go to Seaside for the festivities, but my disdain for the traffic that would have been involved outweighed the pluses.  I decided in my mind that we will come back one year for a 4th of July and spend it on the Oregon coast - and it will be lovely.  I'm already excited for it.  Okay - back to Hillsboro.  We got there just after it started and squeezed our way in with our good ol' optometry peeps and settled on in.  Ross was immediately mesmerized by each and every car/truck/tractor/float.  Every time one would pass he'd turn to look at me and say, "Anodder one!"....EVERY time.  It was extremely adorable.  
 

He won't even take his eyes of the parade for a second...and my hair looks extremely long here...hmmmm.

A boy seeing a tractor - visualizing being that man driving it - a dream to come true someday?

This little beauty was supposed to be taking a nap (I know - during a parade - I should have thought for like a second if that would have really been a possibility.)

The Rosarians representing - love it here in Oregon.

Steve socializing in the back with Rubes.  I actually served my mission with Oliver here!  Small world right?

Some sweet airplane balloons.

THIS is the way to do a parade...seriously!

There were lots of religious floats again - even the rock music one - the missionaries from our church were even in it!  I, of course, didn't get a picture because I was cheering the whole time. :)

Yeah for people's obsessions. :) 

A helicopter car...Ross's dream.

My patriotic boy!  I die for little boys in baseball hats...it's so stinkin' cute!

Ruby enjoying the festivities.  This is her camera face...she wants to know what this black thing is trying to do.  Also - I love her sunhat. :)

He loved seeing everything...until the end.  There were two enormous blasts - one from a horn and the other an engine revving.  I was holding Ruby at the time - she jolted, but kept her cool.  I laughed and turned to my friend, Kristen, and started to tell her how Ross bawled his way through his first 4th of July parade because of all the loud noises...only to turn around and see him crying his poor little eyes out again from how loud the noises were.  Oh my sweet, sensitive Ross - how I love you, you sweet boy.  Ruby seems to enjoy the lemonade in life a little more than Ross when life hands her lemons.  Ross doesn't really forget the lemons...he seems to suck on them a bit longer than necessary.  We love them both all the same. :)

After the parade we were tempted to join our friends at the splash park...but our small children need naps...or we all pay.  So we headed home, ate some lunch on a picnic blanket outside of the kitchen, and then all settled down for some much needed rest.  The sister missionaries came over for a bit to visit - always always a happy surprise, and then I got to get a nap in too - woot woot!  We had a BBQ at 5 in our apt complex.  Steve was extremely excited to BBQ steaks and we enjoyed a potluck of sides - and our personal favorite - homemade rootbeer.  Seriously - that stuff is incredible.  I suppose when you combine rootbeer extract with 5lbs of sugar...of course you're going to love it. Haha.  Ross enjoyed steak as well (he's a high roller when it comes to meats) and then seemed to sneak just about every sweet of the table possible - oh well - it's the 4th of July right?!  
 

Watermelon is a must...especially with it dripping down your face and shirt.

I love this random picture :)

The Blancos BBQing it up with their cute new addition too :)

My patriotic girl

Some more socializing and refilling of homemade rootbeer...mmmmm

Cutie

Accepting accountability for his popcorn ball right AFTER a rice crispy treat...I LOVE this face.

He has no eaters remorse whatsoever...I wish I had that freedom after eating too much dessert. :)

Afterwards we chilled and waited to head out to the fireworks.  Ross got it super good that day, because we let him stay up watching The Magic School Bus (oh the sentimental days) until we left for the show.  We slipped Ruby into her carseat where she thankfully stayed asleep, and showed up at the school for the show.  We ran into our friends, the Jaggis, and met up with the Listers and Hughes.  Ross was wide awake throughout all of this.  Jack, Ross's little friend, was dead asleep since he had opted out of a nap that day.  His dad pretty much had to shake him awake to get him to see the fireworks.  Ross shouted "Whoa!" after every firework...he has a thing for commentary during events I've decided.  Again - it was adorable!  
 

Ross captivated regardless of the insanely bright flash in his face.

Hooray for fireworks!  Ruby slept THE entire time...amazing

Blinding the Jaggis

Jack fading

The Hughes and the Listers

Ross's face is classic.

About 40 minutes into it, Ross decided he was "all done" with the fireworks and made me cover his eyes so he could relax I guess.  He then proceeded to cover his head with the blanket and attempt to go to sleep - which didn't happen.  
 

Ross has checked out.

Steve - dealing with the flash haha

Afterwards we chatted with our friends for a bit and then headed home.  Ross didn't get to bed until 11:30!  He didn't even fall asleep in the car.  That kid!  He woke up the next day at 9 too...silly boy. It was a fabulous 4th of July to say the least.  Happy Independence Day!

Japanese and Rose Gardens, and Baking in Every Sense of the World

My nice, cool Oregon has broken tradition and heated up along with the rest of the world.  The last few days we've been battling 90 degree weather...which isn't so terrible if you're in Utah dry heat (well - it's still pretty bad), but when you combine the heat with the humidity it's like when you get shortening on your hands and you can't get it off, even with water...except it's your whole body slathered in the Crisco and no amount of showering will get it go away.  Hopefully that portrayed just a little of what the stickiness is like with the humidity here.  We've pretty much gotten used to it - we're addicted to fans and spend lots of time in our room where the wall air conditioner is.  Ross and Ruby run/roll around in nothing but, and we have smoothies, sandwiches, and salad for dinners.  Going to church on Sunday was a treat (it's a treat anyway) with the central air there.  It would have been nice to stay there all day!  Anyway - that pretty much is how Oregon is doing right now.

I was a bit heartbroken last week.  We showed up to the farmer's market ready to get more strawberries for me to can this time...but the rain the week before had ruined any that were left for the picking.  We hoarded on the raspberries instead and I canned (for the first time) 15 jars of raspberry jam.  Yum!  Now it's time to start experimenting with the different berries now that we have the staples of jam done. :)

We decided to go visit the Japanese Gardens in Portland last Friday.  The library here has a sweet pass to visit some of the great museums and gardens here in Oregon - so we decided to test out the Japanese Gardens.  Of course we decided to go on one of the hottest days ever!  At first we were embarrassed of our sweat stains...then we looked around and everyone else was sweaty too - sorted!  We hiked up to the gardens, and after about 10 minutes of trying to keep Ross on the path and not IN the gardens, we found the Koi fish.  He was good the rest of the time.  If we wanted to go somewhere else we'd just tell Ross "Let's go find more fish!" and he'd get on going. :)  Don't worry - we only duped him a few times and let him see the fish again at the end.  It was actually very calming.  They keep all the gardens and greenery down to human scale "so as not to overwhelm the human spirit" and make you feel at one with nature.  They had fascinating little fountains as well.  It would be a great place to go and relax - I told Steve we should go on a date there sometime - it's quite soothing.

Love my boys :)

The Koi fish...$1000 each - seriously?!

Daddy and Ruby hangin' out watching the fish.

Love my cute boy in a baseball cap.

 

Looking for more fish. :)

Ross LOVED the stairs through the natural gardens.  He counted all of them and walked them all by himself...twice!  Since we couldn't take the stroller, Steve and I each took a turn going through them.

A Ruby red rose

 
We had some lunch, and took a quick peek at the Rose Test Gardens.  I can't get over the sweet smell of all the roses there that hit you the second you walk in them.  Ruby - our little trooper - was starting to lose it since we robbed her of a decent nap that day - so we headed home and let her finally have one.  It was quite a fun day.  I love exploring Oregon.  I'm so not done with it yet. :)

Love me a cute baby in a bed. :)

Sparkly :)

Cute flower girl

Ruby trying out the johnny jump up. :)  Ross was a little jealous.

Trying to keep cool - diaper style!

Sunday Steve was teaching a class, as was I, so to sweeten the deal, cookies needed to be baked.  Ross was extremely excited to help.  He did pretty much all the dumping of ingredients and cracking of the eggs.  We were very proud of the finished product. :)  

Excited to get some baking done!

 

Watchin' it mix

This apron is too cute - especially with this cute boy in nothin' but a diaper. :)

Still masculine in the apron - showing the muscles!

A little flour escaped. :)

Have a cookie! :)

In the update department, Ruby is now saying "dadadadada" all the time now.  I've tried to get her to say "mama," but "dada" is the way to go.  She's so adorable.  She has rice cereal or oatmeal  three times a day now and does really well with the spoon if she's paying attention (still Quasimodo style though - haha).  We broke out the high chair since she has joined Ross in the "legs too chubby for the Bumbo" club.  She gets stuck and doesn't like sitting in it for very long.  She does much better in the high chair.  If she's been awake too long, she's very unhappy going to sleep, but if you get her at just the right time - she goes down like a dream.  

Ross continues to be hilarious.  We're attempting to get him familiar with the whole "potty" idea.  We got him a little potty chair which he likes to sit on if his pants are on...but doesn't want to take them off in the slightest.  I got a bunch of books from the library - they even have a "book kit" complete with dvd to try and get him excited about it.  He likes to let us know when he poops and wants to be changed right then - but doesn't want to go in the toilet in any way.   Hmmmm - this will be interesting.  
He likes to sing lots of songs, play with his trains, building tunnels for them to go through, and bounce the ball outside with his daddy.  I love seeing him with his hat on, a ball under his arm, saying "Come on Dad, Come on!" It's too cute.  He has dance parties with me and Ruby.  He is her biggest comedian I think.  We cannot get her to laugh like he can.  She LOVES watching him - it's hilarious!  

Steve got a pretty sweet stethoscope for his birthday, it finally came.  He looked like a kid on Christmas - he immediately took all of our pulses, heart rates, and listened to our breathing....multiple times.  So fun.  We've finally got a chore/dinner chart in order and have been pretty good at keeping it so far.  It's nice to have some order in our house. :)  So life is still good in the Whitehouse.  :)