Friday, August 28, 2015

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!


3 comments:

  1. Great memories! Great pictures. Love the one of Jack. Beautiful summer!

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  2. Great memories! Great pictures. Love the one of Jack. Beautiful summer!

    ReplyDelete
  3. All good on the summer bit and we can help make it last. I loved my time with Olivia, especially this past Friday.

    ReplyDelete