Roadtrip to Yachats, OR

One of my best friends, Lindsay, got married last Saturday. (Congrats Linds!) She opted for the "destination wedding", and so we got to take a road-trip to the remote location of Yachats, OR on the coast. (between Newport and Florence, for those of you who may be familiar with the area)
The Frog was pretty happy in the beginning, but it didn't take long for him to get restless. I had to get creative to help keep the sun out of his eyes so he could sleep.
Who knew nursing shields were so versatile? I also noticed that in this "new" carseat, the Frog's head tends to flop over in an uncomfortable (looking) way and so I used what I had to fashion a make-shift pillow.
Turns out, I forgot to bring any diapers (other than what was already in my diaper bag) so we had to make a trip to pick some up, and a number of other things I forgot. I walked around by myself at Walmart, and when I finally met back up with my boys, this is how I found The Frog.
We pulled off to get gas at a place advertised from the Highway, and when we got there, we found the most ghetto gas station I've ever seen.
It was completely abandoned.
(Did gas ever really only cost 16.5 cents per gallon?)
We finally made it to Yachats and there was a really cute little paved path between our Inn and the ocean that we went for a walk on every day.
We were surprised to discover that it was MUCH colder up there than what we've been used to in Utah- highs in mid 60s the whole time, and some days the sun rarely peeked out from behind the clouds. The first night we were pretty cold, until the next day when we discovered where our heater was. Here's Jay enjoying the warmth. :)
Jay had a temperature of 103 degrees the night before we left on our trip, and so (as you can imagine) he was sick the whole trip and he did a lot of extra sleeping and lounging around. (probably more than he could have gotten away with at home.) Notice The Frog taking his nap too :)
We spent one afternoon in Newport, OR- there is much more to do there. After eating lunch at a very interesting "bakery" (that turned out to be an Afro-Cuban cafe with only half the items on the menu being available) we stopped in at the kite shop nearly next-door and found this lovely gem. Wouldn't that be the envy of the park? I think it's amazing that this could actually fly- kind of gives the scene at the end of Peter Pan more credibility ;D
Since there wasn't much to do in Yachats, and Jay wasn't feeling very well, he spent a lot of time on his DS while I read. The Frog is learning how to play Mario :)
Once the sun came out, we finally went to the beach and found this little natural formation ;D

The water was absolutely FRIGID, so I didn't let The Frog get in farther than his knees. My ankles went numb after only a few seconds of submersion, so I wouldn't let The Frog endure much more than that at a time. He didn't seem to particularly like or dislike the experience- I think he was more intrigued.
The Frog's first sandy feet!
Here we're walking on the path only moments away from seeing whales in the ocean! (I forgot to pull out the camera for proof. To busy being in awe :D)
Here we're on our way down the hike from the wedding rehearsal in Heceta Head, near the lighthouse.
I sadly don't have many pictures of the actual wedding as I was participating and Jay had his hands full with The Frog, but here is one. See the headband? :D
That's about it! It was fun to see a new part of the country, but really, there's just no place like home! (and nothing like home cookin')

Raising the Barre

I just wanted to gloat about my new installation! I'm excited to be able to workout at home :)

I just used a thick dowel and hand-railing supports: both from Home Depot. Works great!

Sewiness

Just want to show off my mad skills :)

This first one I'm not really sure what to call it... a skirt extension? Remember that brief time when it was cool to wear a shirt with lace trimming on the bottom that helped lengthen your otherwise tummy-exposing shirts? Well, I thought, why not for my too-short skirts? This particular dress is from H&M and seems fine for length, until you sit down. My little skirt-extender does just the trick.
I got this idea from here and wanted to try making one for Lindsay's wedding (since my hair is really too short to do anything fancy). This was my first attempt. Notice that I used elastic instead of ribbon.
(Thanks Jay for being my model :D ) And this is what I ended up doing for the wedding- I used exact fabric that matched the dress- J.Crew sent me a free piece :)

I also V-necked a round-neck T (from Down East Outfitters) by sewing a piece of elastic at the neckline.

And finally, just today, I finished the scrapbook cover for The Frog. I've been toiling over how I should do his scrapbook- buy an album at a craft store... make a digital album... I finally decided it would just be easiest to use a 3-ring binder so that I can add to it as I get pictures. My mom covered ours for us, growing up, so I thought it was kind of a family tradition too. Here's how it turned out.

First Year almost over!

I can't believe The Frog is already 11.5 months old and his first year is rapidly coming to a close! :( They weren't kidding when they said it goes quickly! I just want to remember some of his recent milestones...
In the last month The Frog started pointing at things he wants or things he wants us to notice (he really likes pointing at the birdies).
He can drink from a sippy-cup (two kinds: one with a straw and one without) completely on his own and is interested in using silverware. If I stab the item for him with a fork, he'll put it in his mouth. Sadly, he also knows how to take off his bib, and does it regularly before he's done eating. He also likes to try and share his food- it's very cute.
His motor skills are so much more coordinated now! He really enjoys putting lids on containers, though has trouble taking the lid off and often comes to me to do it for him, so he can then put it back on. I also looked over and found his ring tower like this:
He loves to open any cupboard or drawer and empty all the contents on the floor, tasting some of the more intriguing ones on the way. Every day, he is able to reach higher and higher places- I'm running out of spots I can put things to keep them away from The Frog!
One day while reading a book, there was a picture of a baby clapping and then all of a sudden he did it too! I couldn't believe it, because I had been trying to get him to clap for several months!
He has also started waving bye-bye and hello.
He can completely climb up and down our large flight of stairs by himself. He can stand by himself long enough to drink from his sippy-cup. If Jay and I are joking about things and laughing a lot, he'll join in the laughter, even though he has no idea what the joke is. Sometimes he'll just start laughing at things I say, and I have noooo idea why.
Every day, I've been going outside and sorting through the fruit that drops from our apple and pear trees and The Frog loves to eat them. However, he is not discriminating and will try to taste the first one he sees, no matter how old and withered or worm-eaten, so I have to strategically place him near a nice one.
One of the best repercussions from our road-trip is that The Frog was trapped in his seat with few things he could do and finally started showing interest in books. He now frequently brings me books (often by putting his hands on the book and scooting it across the floor) to read to him and loves to turn the pages (almost more than he likes listening to the story) :)
And one of his favorite places to be is on one of our shoulders. On daddy, he holds onto his ears for handles, and on me he holds onto my hair.

We love you so much, little man! We can't believe how you're progressing!

Welcome K1!

The Frog got a new cousin on July 26th, my little sister's first son. Since they were moving to VA shortly thereafter, we got to have them come and stay with us while the daddy drove their things across the country. What a trooper.
I made a peach pie in honor of Kid 1. Do you see the resemblance?
We took a road-trip to Logan one day to squeeze in one last doctor appointment and to pick up the birth certificate for K1. Since the McCarthy's are planning a long road-trip soon, I thought I'd put The Frog in his forward-facing car-seat a couple of weeks early, in hopes of making him a happy traveler and to test it out on a shorter trip first. I think it made a BIG difference.

My sister, sporting the nursing cover I made for her while "dining" at Adam's Park in Logan.
The Frog loves picnics because he gets to run around play with the tupperware while he eats.

The Frog just LOVED looking at his new baby cousin. For some reason The Frog was constantly trying to touch K1, but only ever with his pointer finger.

On our way to the airport, we stopped to visit Gigi (short for Great-Grandma) so she could hold K1 one last time before we headed out.

Best Aisle Walking Ever

Watch this.

First Swim

Even though I bought swim diapers for the Frog as soon as it got warm, we finally made it to the pool on August 1st. We invited the Day family to come along :)

Even though he basically clung tightly to me the whole time, we did get him to relax a bit when Jay swam around with both of us on his back (Frog sandwich style). He seemed to really like that.
It was an indoor pool, but we went to dry off in the sun and The Frog wanted to try out my $6 shades.


His feet got super wrinkley!