Crappy Running Partners

I'm training for my first half marathon. I like signing up for races. I like training for them. I like being in races. I never race to win or beat anyone, it's just nice to have a goal. I like the feeling of finishing a race, even if it's "just a 5K." I'm disciplined, I take my training seriously, and even though sometimes it gets difficult, in general, I enjoy the process and find it motivating and rewarding.

I often reflect on how running has taught me a lot about planning, perseverance, and drawing on the strength I never knew I had, both physical and emotional. I tend to view running as a stress release - even a form of therapy. There is a shirt which says something along the lines of "no matter how you're feeling, just run." That's typically me. I have a strong relationship with running.

But today something happened. Something I didn't expect, and something I definitely wasn't prepared for. Actually, it started last week, maybe even the week before.

Last week, I ran 7 miles, which is longer than I've ever run before. I was excited. Nervous, but excited. It was my first time running with the little energy gels and a Camelbak, and I thought I looked like an idiot, but I did it. And afterward, I felt awesome. But once, maybe twice, I heard a little voice: "You're too slow." it said. "You're not ready for this," it said. I heard it whispering the week before, too, but it wasn't really intelligible yet.

I've been having pain in my shins and calves for the past few months, both running and not running. I've tried to ignore it. I've worked to strengthen both those muscles and the others involved in running. I've changed my eating habits. But still, running is painful for me every time I go out, regardless of distance, new shoes, or warming up, stretching, whatever. And I feel slower than molasses, even though my aerobic fitness has improved greatly in the past months.

Wednesday, as I went out for my regular 3 miles, I heard it again: "You're too slow. You can't do it." First, though, I felt the twinge of shin pain. I felt the fatigue that comes from other muscles compensating for those sore shins. I hadn't even finished the first mile. I stopped dead in my tracks. Shaking my head, I turned not for Mile 2, but toward home. Walking. Angry. "You're a quitter. You're out of shape." I got home and my legs hurt for the rest of the day.

Maybe it's my shoes. I definitely feel a difference between my newer shoes and my old faithfuls. I chalk it up to my shoes. I'll get new ones. The old ones felt so much better on those 7 miles than the new ones on 1.75. I'll wear my old shoes until I get a better pair fitted to me.

I got sick, and derailed, but not too badly, so I went out today for an easy 3 miles so I could still do tomorrow's 8. But Wednesday still lingered in my mind. Before I even left, I heard it "Are you sure you should be doing this? After all, tomorrow you have to run 8. Somehow." The voice had a little smirk to it this time. I headed out anyway. I had to. I can't miss my trainings.

Mile 1: "I told you you couldn't do it. Why are you even trying?" No, I am determined. I'll back off, try not to run so fast. I'll be OK with a slower time if it means no shin pain, finishing the 3 miles. I slow down. I can do this!

Mile 2: "You're too slow and you know it. You're too overweight. Still. You're not strong enough. You don't run often enough during the week. Work is too crazy for you to try to add this in." No, I am! I strength train, I stretch, I fit in everything I can to stay fit for the long runs! I want this! I want it so bad!

I grind to a walk. I realize I'm sobbing. Yup, in the middle of my run, along a field full of middle schoolers and their parents, I'm sobbing while running. Coooool. But I keep walking. I don't turn off my watch. I'm stubborn. I will finish these 3 damn miles. After a few feet, I start running again.

Mile 2.5: "You hate running. You always have. None of the songs on your playlist are inspiring. Why are you wasting your time? You don't even look like a runner anymore." No, I love running. It's my solace, my companion, my release! And running is for everyone...right?

I walk again. Damn it! No crying this time, but I'm pretty sure every car that drives by is looking only at my ill-fitting clothes and how my stomach still jiggles too much for the outfit I chose today. How my arms are just a little too wide for these sleeves. How my cheeks are a little too red for how slowly I'm going.

Mile 3: "Well, you made it. Barely. Do you feel better? Pshh... Good luck with your 8 miles tomorrow." WHY is this voice still here?! Isn't running supposed to make me feel better? Why am I still angry, still sad, still terrified that I will fail?

I've never had my confidence shaken in this way before - not with running. With other things, yes, absolutely. Work? All the time. Being a mom? Every day. Relationships? Constantly. But not running. Running has been sacred. I can always rely on running to help me heal, forgive, relax, cope. Not today. Not lately.

Lately, I've been running with fear. With cracks in my confidence, in my joy. And into those cracks has seeped self-doubt. Let me tell you, fear and self-doubt are pretty crappy running buddies. Where I used to enjoy crunching over leaves in the fall, I find myself worried that I will trip or slip and fall. Where I used to hop up and down on and off the curb, I find myself avoiding any disturbance in the flat cadence of the asphalt to spare the physical pain that even a slight change of terrain brings.

I wish I could round out this post with a resolution. I wish I could say, "and then I thought ________, and I knew how to banish the fear and doubt I have been experiencing!" But I can't.

I'm terrified for tomorrow's 8 miles. But I'm going out anyway. Because if nothing else, I'm stubborn.

Maybe this is common for runners. I've never run or trained for a half, so I don't know. All I know is, I don't like it, and I'm ready to move on and enjoy running again.

Here is a good (although getting heavy) running buddy. At least she has fun with me!

A week (almost) of Crock Pot Meals

Our family is in a rut. A dinner rut. Here's how a typical weeknight goes in our house:

I get home with Olivia around 4:30, let the dog out, and follow her around the house for some time, trying to prevent her from dying while she roams from electrical outlet to sharp corner repeatedly, usually while running and screaming, all the while I'm realizing exactly how exhausted I am after a full day of teaching. I then factor said exhaustion level into how lame our dinner is going to be. Will we have canned or frozen veggies? Are there enough leftovers in the fridge that we can all scrounge something together independently? (Of course not, we've done that the past 3 nights). Nothing comes into my head.

Rob calls. Either between clients or at the end of his last one for the day: "Do we need anything from the store?" A simple question. But do you think, at 5:15, or 6:28, or ever, I can think of a coherent response? Nope. So I say, "Not that I can think of, but maybe." Rob: "What's the plan for dinner?" Me: "I don't know, what do you want?" Rob (equally exhausted): "I don't know, what do you think?" And around we go, until he gets home, and the only thing that is certain is that we're all 3 hungry and there is absolutely NO dinner on the table.

Long story short, our dinners lately have, well, sucked. Lots of microwaving, take-out, pre-packaged, very little fresh, plant-based, or healthy going on. Lately, spaghetti and meatballs has been our gourmet. Salad is a bonus. Even if we go to the grocery store, we have to go every day because there's been ZERO planning done so we're always missing something. It's exhausting, and not at all delicious.

On Sunday, I had a stroke of creativity and sheer genius. Where that came from, I'll still never know. But as I thought about what barriers I had to preparing meals like I used to do before our little bundle of joy, lack of time, energy, and attention came to mind. So, what can I do to get yummy, healthy, home-cooked food onto the table while maintaining my sanity and keeping my child from eating dishwasher pods and poking her fingers into electrical sockets? Boom! Crock pot.

So, to Pinterest I went. I have pinned SO many slow-cooker recipes it's not even funny, but I've only made like 2 of them. So I started there, and came up with a plan to use the Crock Pot 4 out of 7 days this week to prepare meals for our family. Plus freeze half so we can have them later, too. Here is our (almost) week of Crock Pot meals:

Sunday: Vegetable Soup... technically this was not done in the slow cooker, but I made it the same day, and it will contribute to our meals for the week
Monday: Chicken, Corn, and Potato Chowder (with bacon, because duh.)
Tuesday: Beef Stew
Wednesday*: Turkey Chili
Thursday*: Chicken "Tortilla" Soup (tortilla in quotation marks because there's not actually tortillas in it. So it's super inauthentic, but it is also yummy.)
Friday: Dinner out? Like I said, almost a week of slow-cooker meals.
Saturday: Leftovers, if there are any. Otherwise, back to square 1. I have no clue. C'mon, I haven't planned like this in over a year!

Armed with my plan, I went to the store, and spent only about $55! Admittedly, we had 6 packs of chicken from Costco in the freezer, and I forgot a few cans of this or that. I also did not buy the beef for the stew until the day before. (It ended up being in the neighborhood of $14 for nearly 2lbs) But still, I thought that was pretty good for a week of dinners (and leftovers for lunch!). And after my tiny monster went to bed, I threw on some Harry Potter, opened a beer, and got down to prepping for a week of delicious, *mostly healthy* dinners.

Harry Potter, Pinterest, Oregon Beer, and dinner prepping. Not bad for a Sunday night as the rain sets in.

So here goes, each day with each recipe. Enjoy!

Sunday: Vegetable soup. This is something I improvise every time, but I have a basic recipe that I follow from memory:
1 can beans (this time I used Pinto, because that's what I had, but Kidney is my favorite)
1 can diced tomatoes
about 1-2 cups chicken broth (like I said, I improvise!). Vegetable broth would work just as well
1 large zucchini
2 handfuls green beans
1 small onion (yellow is my favorite, but I used white this time)
3 carrots
3 stalks of celery
2 bay leaves
about 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
about 1 tbsp garlic powder
salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:
I have thrown this into the slow cooker all at once many many times on low for 6-10 hours and it turns out great, but tonight I did it on the stovetop. Sweat the onion, celery, carrot, and spices over medium heat with some olive oil until there is a little browning - just enough to add some richness. Then pour in the chicken broth to de-glaze, add the other ingredients, and pour in water to cover all the veggies. I tend to add salt as I go, or later when I eat it in individual portions, to taste. I bring it to a low boil over medium/med-high heat for about 10-20 minutes until the zucchini become slightly translucent, then simmer for at least 1 hour. After that, I put half into individual containers for lunches, and the other half into one big container to freeze for later on.

Veggie soup, cooking away on the stove. Slow cooker works just as well.

All packed up for lunches and the freezer!

So there it is, Veggie Soup, all ready for the week ahead!

Monday: Chicken, Corn, and Potato Chowder.

I love creamy soups. As a kid, I loved clam chowder... minus the clams. So I loved potato soup. And Trader Joe's used to make this corn chowder that was just phenomenal. Imagine my joy when I found a recipe for Potato Corn Chowder! Enter my husband, who doesn't consider anything a meal if there is not meat involved. So I took this recipe and modified it a little, adding chicken and, of course, bacon. Because what recipe wouldn't be made better with bacon? The healthiest? No, but still, leaps and bounds better than what we were doing.

I chopped and prepped everything, tossed the veggies and broth into one bag, chicken and bacon into another, and tossed it into the fridge for Monday morning. I measured out the flour and put it into a little tupperware so I could toss it in the next day.

"The Before"

 Monday morning, I emptied the chicken and bacon into the Crock Pot with the flour, and mixed those up together. Then I poured in all the other ingredients EXCEPT the cream (following the instructions in the recipe) and turned it on low. When I got home, I switched it to Warm because it was done, but it would be a while before everyone in the family was ready to eat. Rob gets home late, so Olivia and I often eat first, then keep things warm for him, another reason the Crock Pot is essential for our family - things don't go bad or get cold or turn gross from being kept warm.
Here's how it turned out:

Yummy!

*A few things I should note about making this soup:

• The recipe calls for heavy cream - use that. I thought I could get away with whole milk and a little bit of corn starch slurry to thicken it, and it looked right and thickened up, but wasn't as good as I had hoped
• Cook the bacon before you put it in. I didn't, and although the soup got the bacon flavor, the bacon pieces themselves weren't very appealing in texture. Rob suggested waiting on the bacon altogether and using it as a garnish, which would have been equally as delicious, I think.

All in all, though, not bad for a crock pot dinner and we served it with some french bread and salad. So easy! And it was nice to have a meal ready to go on a Monday night.

Tuesday: Beef Stew

The Before. No beef yet - wanted to buy it on Monday night right before

This is another one I frequently improvise, but for this week, loosely followed This Gluten Free Recipe for Crock Pot Beef Stew... but took out the mushrooms and used regular flour so it wasn't actually gluten free. The best modification I made though? I subbed half a cup of the beef broth it calls for with a little less than half a cup of red wine. Made for a richer, more hearty stew, if you ask me. I added a few more veggies, too, since I had them: zucchini and corn. Because in my mind, more veggies can never hurt. Confession, though, I was so hungry I forgot to take a picture! I guess you'll just have to take my word for it: it was really delicious!

Wednesday: We fell apart. I forgot to put one of my bag-o-ingredients into the crock pot! We had Little Caesar's Pizza. Let the judging commence.

Thursday: Turkey Chili
I am often asked for my recipe for chili, as I'm known to serve it often. This is another one of those improvising things, so I'll do my best, but mostly I just adjust as I go.

One of our favorite meals at our house. After it's cooked, of course. ;)

1 lb ground turkey
1 can each: Black, Pinto, and Kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1 can diced tomatoes
about 1/2 can of tomato paste
1/2 diced onion
any diced veggies you like - I think I threw in a small diced zucchini this time, that's one of my favorites because it's easy to "sneak" in just to up the veggie count a bit. I may have tossed in some carrots too
garlic
salt and pepper to taste
1 small can sliced olives
chili powder
cumin
about 1 cup chicken broth or water with a little extra salt
about 1/2 cup or less of beer - I used an IPA this time, and I do like to use a "real" beer (no coors or budweiser here!)

So that's it. With the exception of the ground turkey, I threw everything into a bag, then the turkey and bag contents into the crock pot on Thursday morning. Viola! Thursday evening we had chili with cheese and sour cream, and it was so nice to have something to take to work the next day.

Here is the "after"

Hearty but not too heavy, I love turkey chili!

Friday: Confession again. Olivia and I spent what felt like the entire afternoon on Coburg Road, going one direction or the other, and I caved. We got take-out on the way home. And it was delicious, and we all fell asleep early. Oh well.

Saturday: Chicken "Tortilla" Soup
So this one is really not authentic at all (hence the quotation marks), but I've made it before, it's simple and cheap, and it's pretty yummy. Unfortunately, this is the one that I failed to prep except, basically, for the chicken, because I didn't buy enough ingredients at the store. Here is the recipe I started with, and I added lime* and cilantro. However, I didn't have any of the other ingredients left to add to the bag, so had to go back to the store for everything but the chicken and the enchilada sauce. :P Oh well, here's what I started with:

I did write the missing ingredients on the bag, so I could quickly check it before hitting this store - or in the event that we had another "what's for dinner?" conversation and Rob headed to the store on his way home.

*Even the best laid plans get derailed. As you can see in the photo, I tossed the limes into the bag with the enchilada sauce after squeezing their juice into the bag. That was a mistake. This morning, I got all the other ingredients necessary, tossed them in with everything in that bag, and turned on the Crock Pot. Rob went to the game. Olivia and I were home alone. I invited my parents for some delicious tortilla soup at our house, and took off the lid to taste the soup... and spit it out immediately. While in the bag with the enchilada sauce all week, the limes had gone bad, and the whole soup was ruined! This recipe, apparently, is NOT one that can be prepped ahead of time.

Olivia and I had the craziest dinner, but it was still nutritious and yummy. But it was definitely NOT Chicken "Tortilla" soup. What's life if you can't laugh at yourself, right? We treated ourselves to some ice cream for dessert as a reward for our resourcefulness at dinner prep.

We take our ice cream very seriously.

So there you have it, folks. I started the week pretty idealistically, but we still did 3 days of crock pot meals, and attempted the 4th. Lesson learned, limes, lesson learned! The best part is, we have another 3-ish days worth of dinners and/or lunches waiting in the freezer. I'm not sure what I plan to do next week, as this Sunday won't give me as much time as last Sunday to prep, but I'm happy to be back into a pattern of planning and cooking real food again. This was just the jump start we needed!

This isn't my typical type of post, but I hope you enjoyed it, and perhaps there will be more like this to come!

Hello, Fall! Our first trip to Detering Orchard

Fall. Autumn. Otoño. The season when leaves change and the air becomes crisp. When kids head back to school. When "holiday season," the goodness and the craziness of it begins. When the days get shorter and the pumpkin spice lattes sell like hotcakes.

 I have friends who love Fall. Embrace the early morning fog, the onset of rain, the crisp air, the transition and buildup to Thanksgiving and Christmas. Many of them reference the feeling of new beginnings, the warm memories of family, the relief from the heat and dryness of summer. I have friends who dread Fall. The end of the warm weather, the lazy summer nights, the fresh produce from the garden.

We have a complicated relationship, Fall and I. I am somewhere in the middle of my Fall-loving friends and my Fall-dreading friends. I love Fall running, and the colors in Oregon are really beautiful. I also look forward the the holidays, but I am not a cold weather or rainy weather loving person. I'm just not. I don't like the dark, cold, long and dreary days that seem to drag on forever. By the time Spring rolls around, I've been ready for it since mid-January. I love the new beginning of a new class of students, but the push from Day 1 until Thanksgiving is really really hard work. Not that the rest of the year is easy, but those first months are busier and require more energy because it's worth the hard work at the beginning to make the rest of the year smoother.

But I'm trying to embrace Fall. I'm getting into it, and starting with a tradition that I really do love, and one that I'm expanding upon with my own little family. Going to the farm for harvest time. I used to take my preschoolers to the pumpkin patch every year for a field trip, and I really loved it. The animals, the Fall produce, and of course, seeing little ones (try to) carry giant pumpkins in their little arms. So I decided to start that with Olivia last year. She was only 3 weeks old, but we headed out to Thistledown to take some family photos. Here's a picture from last year:

It was at least 80 degrees, and Olivia slept the whole time. But it was a really fun experience, and I loved that we had some family photos among beautiful Oregon scenery. Rob was there too, and my sister and dad came along to help.

This year, I had been seeing so many posts from friends taking their under-5's out to Detering Orchard, which we'd never been to before. So this morning, I called up my sister and invited her to come with Olivia and I to "test drive" Detering while Rob was golfing with his buddies. We can always go back again, right? Today was their "Apple Days" celebration, and we are sold! Detering is the place to be, folks! Here are some photos from today...

I'm always amazed by how big cows are. Maybe that's dumb, but it's true. And we could have reached out to touch these ones they were so close!

Olivia wasn't sure about the cows.

There was this one very small but very beautiful chicken there who was hanging out right by us.

The goats were super cute, but not feeling very social today.

Well, of course we had to play in the water feature!

Runny nose be damned, Olivia was having a great time! The pumpkins were so big compared to her!

Apples and pears for days

"I want this one... and this one... and this one..."

Our little "Pick of the Patch!"

Thanks, Auntie Sarah, for coming with us!

A little bigger than last year!

Chewing on the lens cap. Nice.

Bottom line, today we had a lovely time, and I got excited about Fall. I got out our fall decorations and set them out (up as high as possible, so we're a little underdecorated this year...), and I'm ready to settle in to this season. One step at a time.

I'm still glad the weather is still warm. :)

Happy 1st Birthday, Olivia!

To my darling Olivia, as you turn One:

I can't believe you are already a year old! In a few days, you will have been on this earth for one whole year. And what a year it has been! Your "Dada" and I are so happy to celebrate your time with us so far, and are so excited to see what the next 365 days have in store.

I want to start by saying that we love you. We love you so much it hurts. But it hurts in the best way possible. There really are not words to describe the love a parent has for their child, so I won't try, but hopefully a simple "we love you," will be enough for now, and forever. We are doing our best to show you that love.

I have so many things I want to say to you, so this letter might be a little disjointed. For this letter, I just want to speak from the heart - me to you.

Olivia Mae Anne, you are precious. You bring me unlimited joy every day. I love watching you learn, watching you grow, watching you change, and watching you play. I love your laugh, and your little "words," and your smile and the way you scrunch up your little nose and raise your eyebrows at the same time. I love your fuzzy hair (everyone loves your fuzzy hair). Your smile is infectious, your zeal for life makes everyone around you smile. I truly enjoy being with you and hearing what you have to say. Even if I don't understand the words yet!

Fuzzy hair and infectious smile. <3

I love the way you look like everyone in our family all at once. Last weekend, over the course of 48 hours, different people said you look like me, like your dad, like your grandma MaryAnne, like your grandpa ("pa-pah") Jeff, and like your Auntie Sarah. I see your dad's family in you too - your cousins Sydney and Katie, your grandparents, and your Aunt Kelly too. It's amazing how little babies can present so many "faces" of their family without even knowing it. You represent where you come from, but you are also your own independent self. I hope you can feel that your self is enough. Be true to yourself, but always remember where you came from. And always remember that we are all here for you, all of the time, either in body or in spirit.

When you were first born, a friend told me that "Motherhood is excruciatingly beautiful." She could not have been more right. Raising you has been a privilege and a challenge. The most joyful and most difficult thing I have ever done. And you're only 1! The sleepless nights, the endless nursing sessions, the countless diaper changes, the realization that I probably had some postpartum depression that I denied... It has been a hard year. But I can honestly say, after the first moment that I met you, I have never looked forward to anything more than the challenge of being a part of raising you up to be whatever you choose to be.

I've talked a lot about me, and my feelings. Let's talk about you, and who you are right now. You are curious and adventurous. You love being outside. Each day, you hold your little shoes up as you waddle towards me, and grin like all get out until we put them on and go outside. Today, I didn't move fast enough, so you took my hand and touched it to your shoe, then sat down and waited for me to put it on your foot. When we are outside you explore everything. You touch plants and dirt, and taste them too. Tiny rocks and flower blossoms hold your attention, and you watch the birds fly by and listen to dogs bark. And you taste anything that has been picked off of a vine, sprout, patch, or plant. Blackberries and grape tomatoes are pretty popular with you, but only when picked fresh. I think you are going to miss our garden in the winter.

Curious as you are, you are also cautious in the right situations: with new people, in new places, and anytime something is unfamiliar. First, you watch and listen, and you hold my hand or hug my leg or your dad's, and just take it all in. Once you have a handle on the situation, you ease into being your normal self. You socialize and engage, but first you evaluate. You find what is safe, and right, and familiar, and go from there.

You love to learn. You watch, listen, mimic, or just think about new words, sounds, sights, smells, tastes, and experiences. And then you make them your own. It's almost like we can actually see your brain forming new connections, and it's fascinating. Once you are ready for something, whatever it is, you take off. You did it with crawling, walking, waving, and talking. You do many things your own way, and are and not afraid to fall down or do something wrong until you get it right - even if "right" is a little bit different. I love that about you.

Finally, you have some things you really love, and with no other tool but to name them off, I'll just list them here: You love the PBS show "Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood," and you stop in your tracks anytime you hear the theme song. You love blueberries, bananas, pears, waffles, yogurt, and oatmeal. The dog and cat are sources of endless joy and entertainment for you, much to their chagrin, and you love to chase them around the house.

You like to "wrestle" and do "baby attack," when me or your dad are lying on the floor with you: You run over to us and hug us tight, slobbering all over our faces and giggling. You also love to carry things that are bigger than you, or push them around across the floor, and you wear yourself down until you lay on the floor breathing hard with a huge smile on your face. But only for a moment, then you're back up and ready to go again. You also love to play on big person beds by crawling right up to the edge and nearly falling off. But somehow you never have (yet), even when we don't catch you right away. Then you burrow into the pillows and slide across the blankets in the most luxurious way, and I don't think I've ever seen anyone enjoy themselves so much.

Sometimes you let me rock you to sleep still. Even though you can totally do it on your own. I love that we can do both.

This past year has been a whirlwind of love and learning, of triumph and humility. You are truly one of a kind, and we wouldn't change a thing about you. Right now, we are the center of your world. I know that the older you get, the less that will be the case, and it should be - that's what growing up is about. Still, I hope that you will always save a little corner in your heart for your mommy and daddy. Because you will always have a big part of ours. Happy Birthday, little one. Here's to many, many more!

Summer at the Baker House

Today was technically my last day of summer break. Tomorrow and Sunday don't count because they're weekends. I would have been off anyway. Plus I'll probably work one or both of those days, too.

The past few days I've found myself reminiscing about the summer that we had, so I thought I'd document the memories I've made this summer, because, ya know, I haven't put enough on Facebook and Instagram, so they've got to go somewhere... heh. heh.

So here goes... The Baker Family Summer 2015:

One memory that really stands out to me from this summer was going to our play group with St. Mary's Episcopal Church: Itty Bitty Bible Study. Although it runs year round, Olivia and I are only able to go during breaks, but when we do, it's so easy to just slide back into the group, like we never left. These parents and children have become our "tribe," and I have as much fun as Olivia being around them. I learn from them, I enjoy their company, and sometimes, we even talk about Jesus. ;)

Whether "big" kids or little like her, Olivia loves being around this group. She is so comfortable with them, and they all treat her with so much kindness.

We could have also called it Itty Bitty Snack Club, because someone was always sharing snacks of some kind!

Something significant to me that happened this summer was that Olivia started sleeping through the night... mostly. She wakes up at an ungodly hour, but at least there are few to no interruptions until then, and it's the time I'll have to be getting up for school anyway. We also got her to nap in her crib by herself, which was bittersweet for me, since it meant a lot of freedom for me during nap time, but it also meant she wasn't my teeny tiny baby anymore and didn't need me to put her to sleep.

You can't see it very well because it's mostly hidden under her arm, but one thing that really helped Olivia start sleeping independently was Baby, with whom she sleeps every night.

I did a lot of work in my garden, and provided lots of food for my family in doing so. This was the first year I have ever had success growing food, and growing enough to actually save us some money on groceries. Maybe only a few dollars here and there, but not buying tomatoes, cucumbers, strawberries, lettuce (for a while), and herbs seemed to make a difference to me. Plus, food fresh from the garden is SO much yummier! In any case, I have really enjoyed working in the garden, often after Olivia is in bed, watching the sunset and learning as I go.

Olivia picks a grape tomato off the vine to snack on it while I work.

We spent time with some of our good friends and family. My uncle came to visit from Alaska, and our good friend Makayla's parents came to visit all the way from Seoul, South Korea, and we had dinner with them. Also, Olivia's cousin, April, spent the night with us for the first time - first for us and first for April! The girls had a blast, and it was adorable to watch them play together.

My mom and her brother. He's gonna love this shot.

Although they spoke no English and we no Korean, it was a lovely evening. It was a honor to share a meal with them.

Olivia Mae Anne at 10 months and April Violet at 2 years

Speaking of friends, Olivia has quite a few now, especially in the boy department! ;) Seems as though many of my friends had boys within a year of Olivia's birth, and they connected this summer as well. Meet Owen, Marco, and Patrick!

Owen's mom, McKenzie, and I went to Pacific together. Isn't he adorable?!

Patrick is about a month and a half older than Olivia, and his mom and I chaperoned a church youth pilgrimage to England together in 2012. Olivia shared Baby with him, and also stole most of his grapes.

Marco's mommy is one of my best friends, and we're secretly hoping he and Olivia get married so we can actually be sisters. That's how it works, right?

I ran a 10K! And I even got a PR! The Butte-to-Butte 10K was what I ran, it was 4th of July, and it was awesome. And we went to the Kozy after, and I ate WAY more than I burned off. Which was also awesome.

I actually AM running here, you just can't tell. I walked 10 steps at the top of the butte, but ran the rest of the way. Not that I was counting, or anything.

Finished!

I got a new camera, which is really fun. And I kind of love it. A lot. Here are a few of my favorite photos I've taken this summer:

Olivia in my great-grandmother's rocking chair. It has been passed to the eldest daughter in our lineage since then.

Hydrangeas from our garden. My favorite flower.

This one makes me laugh every time. Every. Time. Our dog is such a dork.

Lightning over Park City Utah. Messed with the shutter speed to capture it.

Sunrise in Park City.

Olivia watching the ski jumpers in Park City. I love this photo of her. I think it perfectly captures her personality.

Speaking of Park City, we went on vacation! We drove hundreds of miles to get to and from Park City Utah, and had some great adventures. Olivia is NOT a car kid, but she did great, and we made it. Once we got there, it was so nice to be close to family, and have a lot of other grown ups to look after Olivia, who really got going on the walking while we were there! We relaxed, we ate well, had a lot of fun, and wore ourselves down in the best way possible.

Dinner on our last night.

The Bonneville Salt Flats in Nevada. Or, ya know, Olivia in the snow in tank top and shorts. You decide.

Fort Rock, in Oregon, on the way back. The little rocks were way better you guys.

Saw this little guy just hanging by someone's porch at our resort on my way back from shooting the sunrise. He hopped off the moment after I took this, and I didn't see any rabbits that close again.

We went to the Olympic park and watched people doing ski jump trick practice. So awesome.

Not the best place for a photo, and we trusted a stranger to the photo, hence the bad framing, but we hiked up around this area after having the best waffle I've ever had from a snack shack at 7000 feet elevation.

I don't have photos of all the memories I'd like to remember, but I do want to jot down a few other things:

• Working on knitting Olivia's blanket. No, I'm not done. Yes, I'm close. But not that close.
• Olivia's swim lessons and swimming a couple of times this summer. She loves the water now, because of her swim lessons, and I have developed a love of the pool because of her joy in being in the water. Bath time has gotten a lot more fun as a result, too.
• Olivia started daycare, which we call school. So of course, we had to buy her a new lunch box and backpack. Which is adorable.
• Spending time at night with Rob, just talking, like we used to do when we were first together. One night we stayed up chatting until almost midnight. It was so fun.
• Little chunks of time in my classroom. After this past year, I was afraid I'd never want to teach again. I was so tired, and so burnt out from trying to both mother and teach. But as the summer wore on, I stepped back into my classroom and was reminded of the passion I have for teaching. And people have stepped up for me and watched Olivia for an hour here, 2 hours there, so I could go in and do my thing. I'm really excited for school to start.
• Dinners on the porch, and fires in our fire pit. Oregon is an extraordinary place. We spent so much time outside this summer, and I loved it.
• Our early summer trip to Florence and Woahink Lake. We tried to go to the beach, and it was freezing, foggy, and windy. I know what you're thinking: "Florence? In June? No way..." But it's true. So we drove a little bit north and a tiny bit east, and it was sunny and 68. Perfect.
• Getting to know our neighbors. The house next to ours is a rental, but the "kids" (you know, they're like 23...) who live there are really sweet people, and we've shared garden harvests all summer, watched one another's houses during vacation times, and chatted in the driveway. It's nice to have nice neighbors.
• Helping my sister and her boyfriend move into their new apartment. It was nice to help them since they've helped us so often.

So there it is. Our summer in a nutshell. A really big nutshell. I love summer. I'm not quite ready to let it go, but I'm sure we'll make the best of fall and the school year too!