Go Tell It on the Mountain.....

That I turned 34 (!!!!) and Jon and Sarah became Mr. and Mrs!!!

Such a happy weekend up on the gorgeous Mt. Hood... lots of love and a little bit of aging.

Friday, 2/27 was my birthday and the day before Sarah and Jon's big day. It was a pretty awesome way to spend my birthday, if I do say so myself.

Neal and I got up, got the kids packed and headed down to Salem to meet my Mom and Grandma to drop the boys off with them for the weekend. I was nervous leaving Owen (picturing him waking up 6 times a night and a weekend of no-sleep hell for my Mom), but Austin was all ready to go. He told me "I'm going to Gramma's and you don't come, Mommy!!!"

I cramp his style.

Anyways, the boys were off to Gramma's, Neal and I headed home to pack ourselves then off to the mountain we went!

I was happy to see snow when we got to Timberline Lodge... the bride wanted snow!

Snowflakes like to pretend they are big white boogers....

The next picture cracks me up because it was one of several.. it was really bright out and someone had trouble opening his eyes..

Haha! Laughing at your husband is one of those important things to do in a marriage, right?? Hopefully.. since humor came into play later on in the day... you'll see.

We checked in and there were several other guests there, and the bride and groom so we had a fun day sitting in the lodge with drinks and food and watching the snow fall.

Happy Birthday Bloody Mary to me!!!

We had the rehearsal walk through that evening (the rehearsal dinner was the night before back in Portland) and the bride and groom were all smiles and ready for their big day!

Please direct your attention to Sarah's bow bouquet. It is probably the best one I've put together. It was difficult, with a lot of big bulky ribbons and when I was done, Neal looked at it and said "way to go" and I said "damn it feels good to be a gangsta."

The drinking and merriment continued on and outside turned into a legit blizzard. The wind was HOWLING and snow was swirling and hitting the windows like mad. It was nuts, but awesome to watch.

Happy Birthday to me again!

I was starting to get tired so I decided to go to bed since the next day was a busy one. Neal stayed behind to hang with his friends for awhile longer. As I opened the door to our room, I was hit with the biggest blast of FREAKING TUNDRA air ever.

What the heck??

I turned on the light and there was our room window.. in all it's no-screen, no-double pane, 1920's Depression-era glory... OPEN DURING A BLIZZARD!!!

My darling husband thought it was stuffy in our room when we arrived earlier in the day and opened the window. To leave it open all day and into the night.

His open suitcase was under the window and was covered in snow. He was not pleased.

#Karma

So needless to say, our room was frigid. All night. Again, the lodge was built during the Depression (cool story, it was government funded to help give men jobs) so the walls and windows are all original. Thank god for down comforters and wool blankets. I hid completely underneath and felt like I was camping.

You know it's a bad sign when the snow in your room doesn't melt.

Mt. Hood the day of the wedding!!! This was our view from the lodge.

Anyways.. up the next morning and it was wedding day!!! All the girls met in Sarah's amazing (and much warmer) suite for hair and makeup.

I think getting ready is my favorite part of weddings. The casual feel, the glamour squads, the champagne.. love it.

We got the bride into her dress (it took 3 people to get all those buttons buttoned! We told her good luck having Jon get her out of that thing later that night!!)

And we braved the weather for some outside pictures. The weather was gorgeous, but windy. So it was a little rough being outside... but it was so, so, so worth it. Look at these!!!

photo by Hazelwood Photography

photo by Hazelwood Photography

As Sarah and Jon were having their first look outside, we were all inside in a lobby area and one of the workers at Timberline commented, "I think she is the prettiest bride we've ever had here."

#duh

The lodge has two resident St. Bernards and they let wedding parties take photos with them, so we got to borrow Heidi for some of our outdoor shots.

She was SO SWEET AND FLUFFY!!!!! Gah, I wanted her. I love St. Bernards. Other than I wanted her to have a little barrel of whiskey around her neck like you see in cartoons. :-)

We had some time to kill before the ceremony so my handsome date and I got some pictures.

I tried to capture how good my makeup looked... the makeup artist did such a good job! So I got artistic with the new Kate Spade mirror Sarah gifted me. Umm... I guess I kinda pulled it off.. you can see my eye makeup fairly well.

So, finally it was wedding time! We lined up, we walked down the aisle.. here comes the bride... and Jon SOBBED as she walked toward him. Red face, gotta look at the ceiling and take deep breaths SOBBED.

It was adorable.

The ceremony was sweet, heart-felt, emotional and just perfect... and my sweet Sarah became Mrs. Jon Pierson!!!

We had a fantastic cocktail hour down in the lodge's main room with beef skewers, salmon cakes and shrimp and plenty of cocktails.

Lovely ladies Monique and Mel!!

The reception area was beautiful.. I had to take a picture of the tables because my Dad and his friend Ron supplied the wood rounds. My Dad was worried if Sarah would like them, and if they were the right color wood... so I had to prove to him they were perfect.

Dinner was delicious.. we had prime rib, chicken, roasted veggies and garlic mashed potatoes.. and amazing fresh bread.

Sweethearts at the Sweetheart Table!!

Love my Mo and Daniel!!!

The speeches were great the first dances were sweet... everything was just elegant and lovely (like the bride herself)

These two... they are so special to me. I have known Sarah for 8 years.. I saw her at work, thought she was the most beautiful girl I'd ever seen and set out to make her my friend. I started talking to her, and inviting her to girl's nights...and I'm so glad I hunted her down! She is so like me... and understands me in a way no one else does. She is so beautiful inside and out, and deserved a man who appreciated her and made her feel special.

Enter Neal's brilliant idea of setting her up with his long time friend Jon. They met at our wedding and I knew it was meant to be from that very day. The way he was smitten with Sarah immediately, and she with him.. I knew we would see them married someday. He was always one of my favorites of Neal's friends because he is so warm, so kind, so quick to hug you hello and be excited to see you... he is an amazing man and I am so, SO thrilled their worlds collided.

The evening continued with dancing shenanigans...

Isn't Sarah's mom beautiful??? And her brother.. I call him my gay husband who will never be. Because, well.. obviously. :-) 

Our crew, and Sarah's amazing sweet and funny sister Nicole!!

There was even an after party at the downstairs bar... like the party would end when the DJ went home!! Jon seemed quite smitten with his new wife!!

So that was our weekend.. picture overload... but there were so many moments of happiness, I just had to include them all!

Oh, and back at Camp Gramma, the boys did great! Owen slept 12 HOURS STRAIGHT AT NIGHT both nights (seriously????) and Austin behaved like a dream. They had nice weather so they went on a lot of buggy rides!

Project 857- February 14

I just realized I skipped over this Saturday!

Not that it was super eventful though.

Neither Neal or I are big on Valentines Day. Usually a card, a small gift.. that's about all we do. Growing up, my favorite part of Valentines Day was getting something special from my Dad. He'd get me a huge bag of Skittles (my favorite) or a gift card... flowers... he was always my favorite Valentine. So I'm excited to do things for the boys as they grow up and be their favorite Valentine too.

We had a fun day, despite it being low key.

I needed some new bras so we headed to Ross... and of course I had to look at shoes, and of course Austin had to join me and he loved trying some on.

Good call on the nude pumps, son. Perfect shoe for any wardrobe! He told me they were "fancy."

After shopping we just headed home and played inside.

Owen got lessons on how to build a perfect racetrack, according to his big brother.

Neal stayed with the boys and I got to sneak outside in the beautiful weather for a power walk!

Early Spring in Oregon??? Yes please!!!!!!

When I was back from my walk, the big boys did manly things around the yard... picked up stuff, mowed..

This is Austin declaring "Daddy needs help" so Austin to the rescue!

Get that lawn looking sharp, boys!

Owen and I stayed on the deck and watched. It's what we do best. And had a snack. The other thing we do best.

"oh what do we have here???"

"It's a banana!!"

"Hey... guys.. keep it down!! Little loud down there.. I'm trying to eat a banana here!!"

Then there was this one... Princess couldn't decide if he wanted to be outside with the action or inside, shivering in a pathetic way.

The struggle is real, guys.

Back inside we all just cuddled and played and watched a movie. Kinda a perfect day and evening with our family.

Once the boys were in bed, Neal and I sat on the couch and it dawned on us... what the hell happened in our living room???

There is a hula hoop around the ottoman.

Spatulas and whisks are strewn everywhere.

The pillows are piled up as a landing pad.

Random articles of clothes, and cups are everywhere.

And right in the middle.. is a spatula stuck upright in a toolbox.

#AustinWasHere

Just another day in the life...

Project 857- February 21

My Mom came up for the weekend!

Neal was out of town... he went to the coast to help his friend (who runs the Cornhole tournaments) with a National Championship.

I thought with Neal out of town, it would be a good opportunity for Gramma to get some time with the boys, and vice versa.

It was so hard waiting for Gramma to arrive though..

#torture

We tried to pass the time.. it's hard when you wake up at the butt crack of dawn and have to wait to actually a reasonable hour for someone to arrive..

Yeah! Gramma arrived! Austin jumped right in and wanted story time.. He loves reading books with my Mom.

We had a pretty laid back day. We went to lunch, ran some errands and just played and had fun at the house.

I knew that the boys were going to be with my Mom the next weekend when I was at Sarah's wedding so I made sure my Mom fed Owen a lot so he got used to her as a "provider" for him.

Gramma and Owen spent a lot of time bonding.. but he still is obsessed with me. He has to have his eye on me all the time. Even if he is being entertained. Or even if it means bending and contorting his body in order to see what his Mama is up to.

It was cracking my Mom up.. she kept saying "he just has to look at you!!!" He is my obsessive fan, for sure.

I made dinner that night, and Austin helped carry in the wood rounds my Dad and his friend cut for Sarah to use at her wedding.

Austin kept saying "oof, Dese are heavy!! I can't carry da big ones, but I can carry da wittle ones!" He was so proud of himself!

We also had a little spill... and since Austin was the man around the house, he whipped out Neal's hand vac and showed us all his impeccable vacuuming skills.

Not. A. Crumb. Left.

If we ever need to entertain Austin... give him a vacuum. He will go on and on FOREVER until we wrench it from his hands.

The next day we went out to breakfast and learned that certain places don't really mean kids' size portions when they offer a kids menu.

Holy pancakes.

His expression cracks me up... he's literally like "ummm........." about these huge pancakes. He drank his milk, had 2, maybe 3 bites of pancake and declared himself done. He wouldn't even touch the whipped cream. Whipped cream is like ice cream and yogurt to him... #poison

The day was beautiful so we went for a walk and Austin rode his bike, and then by the time Daddy was home...

In case you need a closer look...

Oh yeah. Dead fish sleep.... Gramma is so good at getting the kiddo nice and tired! thanks for coming up Gramma, we had the best weekend!!!

Project 857- February 6

This was a fun Saturday... my Dad wanted to come up and go to Portland's Sportsman Show, so he, his friend Ron, and my Mom drove up for the day!

They dropped my Mom off at our house and Neal went along to the show.. so while the boys were off looking at outdoorsy things, we got a day with Gramma!!

And since we had a day with Gramma, we did what we do best with her... shopping!

I had some things I needed at Target so we loaded up the car and headed off.

When we got there I needed something to drink so I let Austin pick something out of the cooler as well. He chose this:

Barbie for the win.

Probably against our better judgement we let him ride around Target on the outside of the cart.. and lo and behold... he fell off and the toddler proved once again that toddlers will always do something in public that makes you look like a failure of a parent.

Oh I see you let your child injure himself by riding on a cart in a very un-safe way. You must be such a good Mom. Thanks, Austin.

Anyways... Owen got a bottle during our trip. He's so good at holding his bottles now! It's cute and very convenient.

We got what we needed, I dabbled with the idea of if I wanted to spend $40 on a one piece swimsuit... I mean, the "mummy tummy" ain't pretty... but I don't swim a lot so I couldn't really justify it.. I will never understand why swimsuits cost so much money.

After Target we went to the mall so I could spend my gift card at Sephora. Austin had fun walking around the makeup store with me, pulling out all the makeup samples and looking at them and making me go "put that back, don't touch that, that's makeup and it's messy. Austin, come over here. Stay by me. You need to stay by me."

Somehow I was un-distracted enough to find a lip gloss.

Then we wandered around JC Penney's and I looked for jewelry to wear in Sarah's wedding. Austin was cracking me up because he was LOVING the jewelry section.

"Mom, did is pretty!!!!"

"Mommy, do you need a boo brwacelet?"

"Mommy, can I put dis neckwace on?"

After we had lunch, and let Austin ride the rides... he went on the Merry-Go-Round and the Ferris Wheel!

We had fun at the mall!

Back home Owen napped and Austin helped me make cookies.. so there were warm cookies coming out of the oven when the boys got home from the Sportsman Show! They kinda loved us at that point... :-)

Come up and spend the day with us again, Gramma!