We have been busy!
Let’s see, where to start? Grandpa Terry came up last weekend to visit, which was lots of fun. It took Lily a little while to warm up to him — she is skeptical of beards. He had not seen Lily since she was about a month and a half, so she had grown and changed a lot!
Then, Andy’s friend from high school, Erik, came up to visit on Wednesday. We told him we were going to drag him on our roadtrip.
I (Stacey) was teaching a two week chess camp for kids, which ended on Friday. However, Friday I had a substitute and we took off. Erik, Andy, Lily and I headed to Crater Lake. One of my best friends (and roommate from college), Josh, was getting married at Crater Lake. Friday was the wedding ceremony, which was shot and sweet. The wedding ceremony was very small, they only invited close family and friends, but had a bigger party planned for Saturday. I only managed to get 8 mosquito bites — I expected more. The wedding was beautiful – we are very happy for Beth and Josh.
Then, we took off from Crater Lake and headed over to Klamath Falls on Friday night (after the weeding cermony). We stayed with Andy’s cousin, Heather, and also got to visit with Andy’s aunt Margie who was visiting for the weekend as well. All very fun.
I did a great job of packing and preparing for this trip. But, of course, it couldn’t be perfect. I had thought everything through except one thing: where was the baby going to sleep? It has been a long time since she slept with us, but we figured we could manage. She is a little steam-roller! She would roll left and right, up and down, all in her sleep. The problem was that every time she felt me, she would wake up and want to nurse or play. After discussing the situation with Andy, I realized what would happen: Lily would sleep with us, keep us awake all night, all to have me give in a go buy a portable crib in the morning at Wal-Mart. The solution? To go buy a portable crib that instant. Why waste a night of good sleep just to do it anyway the next day? So, at 11pm, it was off to Wal-Mart. Portable crib purchased, worked perfectly. She was so exhausted that she adjusted fairly well to the new crib and the new environment.
Saturday afternoon was Beth and Josh’s wedding reception. Their reception was at this beautiful house/”ranch” which had a pasture of sorts, an outdoor gazebo as a dance floor, covered picnic areas that sat 100+, and a 700+ foot zip-line! We later found out that this was Josh’s aunt and uncle’s private home — it looked like a professional reception site. We had a great dinner, hung out with the married couple, I gave a toast, and then we took off before it got too late. Travelling with a baby can be tough (especially in the heat and with mosquitoes).
Back to Andy’s cousin to spend Saturday night. Lily was exhausted from the heat and the partying, but I could not get her to sleep. She would fall asleep in my arms and the second I would put her in her crib, she would pop upright and refuse to sleep. I couldn’t figure out why!?! This never happens at home! And then it dawned on me — music. I put Lily to bed with music on every night. There was no music. I ran to the car, grabbed my iPod and my new portable speakers (see Andy? they weren’t a waste!) and turned on some nice classical music for her. I can’t believe I didn’t think of this sooner. Instantly asleep.
We watched Sweeney Todd and fell asleep not long after.
Sunday morning we drove home. Andy did nearly all the driving – there and back! My job was to keep the baby happy and provide snacks. Erik controlled the music. Worked out perfectly.
We are sad that we missed Da Vinci Days and all of the bands and festivities — really just sad that it all happened on the same weekend. Also, my cousin Sonja’s wedding fell on the same weekend. It was in Montana, and that trek would have been way too hard with the baby! Shauna and Colin drove to Montana for the wedding (stopping in Utah to visit Colin’s dad). Mom and Dad also drove to Montana for the wedding (stopping at Yellowstone on the way back). They all won’t be back until later this week.
While we were all away, Lorna had to hold down fort at our house with Keillor the dog and Annie the cat. She seemed to keep all of the crazy animals in-line!
Erik will be staying a few more days, so this means lots of late-night heads up poker games for Andy and Erik while I fall asleep on the couch (this is what is happening right now).
Wow. Now you are caught up. You know all that we did. Hopefully this post makes sense and isn’t too much of a run-on sentence.
For those of you that just come for the photos, here they are:
The view from Josh and Beth’s wedding
Our sweetheart and all of her teeth! She has two on the bottom and four coming in up top:
The view:
Typical:
Daddy and his girl:
With the groom in his Airforce Uniform:
The bride!
And then, the camera died. That is all!
