30 Things I Love -- September Edition

1) Kings of Convenience, and Angus and Julia Stone--perfect soundtrack for fall
2) Halloween candy
3) Library books
4) Digital Photography information sources...so much to learn for my new job
5) Oh yeah, the fact that I work at a camera store!!!
6) My fantasy football team...oh wait, scratch that...they are 0-4-1. But I still love the league that I'm in because everybody gets really into it. I don't even like football that much and it's fun.
7) Cleaning, must be getting old because I actually enjoy it sometimes
8) Thursday date nights with Josh...sometimes they are family nights with Oliver, but we set aside that night for just our little family
9) reading Ollie halloween books
10) Nightmare Before Christmas
11) Boo at the Zoo
12) taking Ollie trick or treating for the first time this year
13) spiced apple cider
14) Pumpkin pie
15) Maple bars
16) We got a PS3 for 50 bucks! Which means blu-ray and even more video games!
17) Maybe someday sitting down to watch Gangs of New York, which we got from Netflix about 2 months ago...seriously it's like a four hour time commitment...but Scorcese is usually worth it right?
18) Planning some fun trips for way in the future
19) Imagining who might play at the Sasquatch music fest next year
20) Two straight days of Ollie time every week
21) Some good shows coming to Boise...Ghostland Observatory and Guster
22) Warm socks
23) Getting excited for Thanksgiving, Oliver's birthday, and Christmas
24) Actually being able to buy people presents this year
25) Pumpkin patches and corn mazes
26) ebay
27) photo frames
28) zucchini bread
29) music that makes me want to dance/spaz out (Matt and Kim, Passion Pit, old school hip hop)
30) Last but certainly not least, God's love

30 Things I Like - August Edition

1) Having a job!
2) Sugar cookies
3) Fair food
4) Ollie's new robot shirt
5) Redecorating
6) Taking Ollie on play dates
7) Only 3 months until Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt. 1, Woo hoo!
8) Redfish Lake and the Sawtooths
9) Floating the Boise River...must do at least once this year
10) Canoes...hopefully will have one some day
11) Top Gear...that show is hilarious
12) The red flowers that are still alive in our yard
13) Bob Dylan
14) Tin Man miniseries on instant netflix
15) Despicable Me
16) Shooting Stars--saw some during the Bob Dylan concert
17) Workin'
18) Coldplay's "Viva La Vida" album
19) Green Tea
20) Giving coral catnip and watching her freak out
21) Playing tennis with my dad
22) Hikes and walks
23) Naps anytime
24) Air conditioning
25) Mountain streams
26) Painting again
27) Learning new things
28) Ollie's using his potty chair
29) Pizza Pizza Pizza
30) Playgrounds and parks

Dudley Reunion

So, every three years or so the Dudley families get together for a week of outdoor activities. This has been going on for a very long time, and I'm proud that our family has this tradition. They've been held in various places over the years, primarily California, Idaho, and Oregon. I've been to a couple in Lake Tahoe, one somewhere else in California, one in McCall, one in Flagstaff, and the last couple times have been in Bend (Sunriver). This should also illustrate to you, that I'm getting old :) The basic criteria of the place is that it has to have tennis courts as many of the Dudleys are quite fond of it, as well as other outdoor amenities like horseshoes and softball fields and such.

Sunriver is a good place to hold them. The housing is located in a very wood-sy area with bike paths weaving through it. Families can rent their own house for the week and we're all just a bike ride away from eachother. There are tons of mountains nearby to hike to keep the mountain lovers happy :) Some of the planned activities were mountain biking, floating the Deschutes River, basketball games, tennis every morning, softball games, golf, etc.

There is a village that is kind of the center of the resort. It's a little cheesy but it had a bouncy house village that Oliver absolutely loved playing in. We rode our bikes a lot while we were there and Oliver loves his new bike trailer and wearing his helmet. My mom, Oliver, and I rode our bikes down to the Sunriver Airport for an airplane show on the day that the guys were hiking the Sisters. Ollie got to see a lot of planes and classic cars and even got to see a jet fly by which he found pretty amazing.

We also had banquets at the park shelter 3 times that week and it was nice to see all the families get together. It's great to know that even if we can't afford to go see our relatives we have an opportunity to see them at least every three years.

30 Things I Like - July Edition Pt II

16- Cereal
17- Mandarin Oranges
18- Cashews
19- In short, lots of food
20- Benjamin Gibbard's voice
21- Charcoal
22- Martin and Epiphone guitars...it would be nice to have one of these some day
23- Old cameras
24- Children's books
25- Actual cd's, cassette tapes, records...tangible music. Though digital music is nice because it can't get scratched
26- Oliver is starting to have favorite songs...He likes Passion Pit, The Killers, and Tegan and Sara the best.
27- Men Who Stare At Goats
28- Inception
29- Actual photo albums...most of the photos I have aren't printed anymore
30- It was extremely hard to think of 30 things this month...my brain feels mushy

30 Things I Like Pt. I -- July Edition

I know, I don't write much in this blog other than these lists.

1-Hermione Granger. Ten times the woman that Bella Swan is. Just saying. That being said I reluctantly admit that I've been reading the Twilight books and actually find them entertaining.
2-Speaking of nerdy things, the new Harry Potter trailer is going to make it really hard to wait until November...


3-Rootbeer floats
4-Drawing with Oliver
5-The Quiet Book by Deborah Underwood...a book I read to Ollie before bedtime that has some great illustration
6-Apple Jacks
7-Chips and Salsa
8-blowin bubbles
9-Camping with Oliver
10-Paper mache
11-This song...and video...

12-Dirt roads
13-"Summer" movies: Now and Then, The Sandlot, My Girl, National Lampoons Vacation, Jaws,Stand By Me,Grease...
14-Watching thunderstorms from our garage
15-Blimpies, Deli George, Quiznos and Gandolfos...yum

Belated Father's Day Post

I just wanted to take a moment to say how much I appreciate my husband for being such a wonderful father to our son. Josh is a perfect dad. Josh loves playing with him, reading to him, carrying him on his shoulders. They do this really cute thing where they lay on their backs under a blanket and look at the holes in the blanket and those are the "stars." Then they say the whole "Starlight, Star bright..." Really, it's so cute I could vomit.

The best thing of all is I know that Josh will always be there for Oliver.


Here are some of my favorite photos of the two of them.

30 Things I Like -- June Edition

1-Oliver's good health
2-Sandwiches...preferably ones with avocado, sprouts, cheese, and crisp veggies
3-Riding with the windows down
4-Vacuuming
5-That there are maybe 2 movies I want to see in theaters this summer...makes it easy not to spend money. Thanks for making crappy, unoriginal, moneygrabbing blockbusters this year Hollywood!
6-Running (once in awhile)
7-Turkey Dogs
8-When my hair smells like campfire long after the campfire
9-S'more gatherings :)
10-Josh's farmer's tan
11-Taking naps in my backyard
12-Impending awesome vacation
13-Finishing a book in one or two days...no easy task being the mother of a toddler
14-Modern plumbing
15-Naps on rainy days with the fan blowing in the rain smells
16-Pretty much napping, in general
17-Fantasizing of owning a 160 gig ipod someday
18-Dancing all spastic like
19-Kickball...I think there needs to be a kickball game soon
20-Mimosas
21-Netflix
22-Making baklava with my some of my besties
23-Youtube videos of Sasquatch...I'm not ready to let go
24-Playing tennis with my dad
25-Fried foods...unfortunately
26-Kool Aid popsicles
27-Long walks with Oliver
28-Pine Cones
29-Oliver reading his "Brown Bear Brown Bear" book to me
30-Fantasizing of owning even a cheap bbq grill