California Christmas

Early family Christmas at home

GG Marian got Lucy a Barbie Dream Car!

Lucy and Evan made a gingerbread house together. They both enjoyed sampling the goods. :)

Christmas Eve! Lucy is already a runner.

So happy to be in the sun and sand!

Karr family clockwise: Mom, Dad, Diana, Katie, Marc, Nick, Lucy (and Hank), Koree

Good times with my family

Oh Lucy!

Yea, we are back at the beach!

Happy little family, soaking up the sun in the hours before we had to fly  back  to Portland, and winter.

Momma and little buddy!

Marc is such a good Dad

Happy New Years! At Tiffany's party.

New Years Day, both Daddy and Lucy are sleepy!

 Lucy was soooo excited about Christmas this year. She was very aware from the start of the season what was happening. We decorated our "Charlie Brown"  tree together, which she had anticipated all day. All of Lucy's decorations were hung in one spot, and she loved looking at all of the decorations this year. A couple of days after putting up the tree she said to me, "Santa is going to bring a lot of toys for under that tree." It was pretty cute, but also surprising that she had somehow figured that out.  We taught her the song "Better Watch Out" and she still sings it often, at the top of her lungs. She loved, loved, loved Christmas lights. "Mommy, Christmas lights!" She would exclaim this all over town as we drove places. It was fun having her so much more aware of the holiday.

This year we were able to travel to Southern California to celebrate with both my family and Marc's. Before we left, we had our own Christmas in Portland, and it was fun watching Lucy open her gifts, playing with each one as she opened them. When we arrived in California on Christmas Eve, it was very nice and sunny out, so we first hit the beach before the big Simonson family gathering.  It felt so good to feel the warm sun, and stretch out in the sand. That evening we had a very nice gathering with my Mom's side of the family, and on Christmas Day Lucy was spoiled with presents by my parents, sister, brother and sister-in-law. Lucky girl! That afternoon we spent time with my Dad's side of the family. It was so nice to see everybody, and catch up. I tried to keep the pregnancy a surprise from my greater family, and while I was able to see a few genuine reactions of surprise, I found that both my Mom and Dad had had trouble keeping the secret! Oh well, I know it was a hard one to keep.

We then were able to go and spend some time with Marc's family, which was nice as well. We got lots of good visiting time on this trip, as Aunt Ronda hosted an after Christmas dinner. We love all of our extended family and are so lucky to be able to maintain connections, even though we live so far away. The day we left we headed to the beach for a little more fantasy time before traveling back home to the cold NW. Lucy loves the beach!

Fall 2011

Panther Creek Falls, Wa

Daddy and Lucy!

Falls Creek Cave

Dress up! Grampy Dave got Lucy this Ariel mermaid costume.

Further shows

Tea party time!

Auntie Katie came to visit.

Happy Halloween, love from Snow White.

Lucy and Evan in the woods. We went mushroom hunting, and found tons of chanterelles.

Lucy with the Cauliflower mushroom I spotted. It was yummy.

Helping prepare Thanksgiving dinner, Lucy liked helping with the "big bird!"

Yum, Thanksgiving with Marc's Mom and Dad.

Lucy's drawing of Sponge Bob

Grammy Tutu and Lucy

Snow bunny!

Sledding fun. Lucy really had a good time! Dare devil!

Fun in the zoo play area.

On the train for Zoo lights.

This past fall we had lots of opportunities for good times. On the first really "fall-like" day, we drove over the Columbia River into the Washington side of the gorge and visited Panther Creek Falls, explored a cave (we were not able to go in too far as it was too difficult for our dog), relaxed at Bonneville Hot Springs and bought some fresh salmon that we brought home and had for dinner. It was a perfect Northwest day. We also were able to travel to Eugene for a couple of nights with some friends for the Further shows (think Grateful Dead). It was great fun and we ran into several old friends that we had not seen for a while.  Then I found out that I am pregnant!!! Yea!!! This was very exciting news. :) My sister Katie came for a visit and I had Lucy say "I'm going to be a big sister!" Katie's eyes got sooo huge. :) It was so nice to have her visiting.

Lucy has really been enjoying playing dress up, and she has several costumes to choose from. Marc's Mom Randy was at our house for Halloween, and she decided to be Snow White. Lucy was so into this. She loved trick-or-treating, and as we walked the neighborhood she kept saying "I'm not tired." How cool for her to knock on a door and have a huge candy bowl held down near her face. She loved it!! I could not get her out of her costume until about 1pm the next day.  Randy was also with us for Thanksgiving, as was Marc's Dad Bob. It was a wonderful meal and some nice family time. I was thankful that Randy had come and spent several weeks with us as I was in the depths of nausea/vomiting misery, and basically incapable of doing much around the house. Compared to then, I am feeling so much better now, though I still get sick every other day or so. It's worth it. 

Lucy is growing so much and is such a joy to be around. Back in the fall is when she really went through a language explosion, able to really express herself verbally. She loves to sing, and even sings along with her music, or makes up songs as she plays. Artwork is still a favorite activity, and her art is progressing. :)  She loves to play with her dolls and stuffed animals. We love her so much, and are so excited that she will have a baby brother! She is going to be a great big sister.

Conrad Meadows Backpacking Trip

Rachel, Marc, Tiffany, Kurt, Katie, Koree
Heading out on our adventure

Katie and Kurt, backpackers extraordinaire!

Katie, Tiff and Rachel surrounded by wildflowers

Lucky shot!

Conrad Basin

The girls!

Just one of the dozens of wildflower pictures I took.

There was even some snow fields to cross!

Footloose and fancy free!

Kurt, who suggested we take the trip in the first place. Thanks!

Marc and I could not resist a quick dip. Rachel followed, but felt a bit betrayed by the way Marc and I made it seem less freezing then it was! :) It felt so great!!! Appropriately the lake is called Cold Lake.

The crew

My sweetie

Rachel, wonder woman!

Our campsite, Wow!

Secret waterfalls

After a dip in the falls

Another shot I could't resist sharing

Late afternoon hike

Just beautiful

Tiffany, always ready for fun

So glad to have you all in my life!

Meanwhile, Lucy spent a long weekend with Grammy Pam and Grampy Dave. Thanks!!!

Over Labor Day weekend, my parents came up to Portland and Marc and I got to go on a backpacking trip with some good friends. It was our first trip away without Lucy. We love our little Lucy, but a trip of this nature would have been impossible with her.

We headed to the Goat Rocks Wilderness in Washington State, where our friends Tiffany, Rachel, Kurt and Katie joined us. We hiked about 11 miles, of which the last 1 1/2 miles was steep climbing. Oy! It was challenging, with full packs, but totally worth it as our destination, Conrad Meadows, was really quite beautiful. A glacially formed basin, it was a lot like Glacier NP. The wildflowers were peaking, and there was an incredible diversity of blooms.  There were peaks all around, and clear water creeks. The weather was perfect, and we were pretty much the only people out there.  On our full day there we kept a base camp and explored the basin without the heavy packs. Wow! It is hard to describe how truly amazing and special this are is. 

Marc and I have always felt so lucky to have so many wonderful friends, and our group for this trip was great. We love to go to shows with this crew, and it was fun to do something different. Katie and Kurt are inspiring as this was probably their 7th or 8th backpacking trip of the season.  Rachel is my old friend from Humboldt, who came to Portland and has continued to spread her passion for living an adventurous, active life. Tiffany is great as she is always up for a good time, but also always available for a good chat about life (as are all of these friends!). I love you all and am grateful that we got to get away together. 

Thanks to Mom and Dad for giving us the opportunity to escape, relax, sleep in and enjoy some adult time. :)  We love you!

Summer sadly had to come to an end...

Summertime!

Watermelon!

Elowah Falls

Sunrise when camping at the beach

Evan and Lucy!

Evan and Rose. Look at those eyes!

My girl

I am so far behind in updating my blog here, but I am still determined to "catch up" in order. In ten years when I look at this, it will not matter. :) And it is nice to reflect on all the fun things we have done.

When we got back from our vacation, the weather was great. Lucy and I had lots of fun playing in the front yard in our little swimming pool, eating watermelon and enjoying the sunshine. I took a bunch of pictures of our garden, which I would love to post here, but then my sister would make fun of me for taking pictures of flowers, and accuse me of turning into an old lady. :) The yard looked great though, lots of beautiful flowers. We took a hike out to Elowah Falls in the Gorge with our friend Katie, and it was so beautiful. An amazing falls that is "off the beaten path" and so we were the only ones there when we ate our picnic lunch.

We also took a last family camping trip with a bunch of friends out to the Oregon Coast. I was so excited as the weather reports were calling for 70s, which is amazing for the coast up here. I was picturing playing by the water...relaxing on the sand and reading a book...building sandcastles with Lucy...and while the weather did hit 70, if you walked out to the ocean the wind was so fierce that is was difficult to just hang out. We did manage to for a while with an umbrella set up as a wind break, but it was not what I was imagining. Sometimes this California girl misses the sunny, warm beach. The second day was not as warm, but calm out on the beach, so we explored some tide pools. We all had a great time, I feel so lucky that we have the chance to experience so many things, and have so many great friends to do them with. I realize I don't have any pictures of Marc...I suppose that is because the guys were off crabbing while the girls watched the kids. Dungeness crab sure is yummy!!! Mmmm, crab!!!