My Baby

Happy Birthday to my Baby Boy Brayden!

 

                                                                                Brand new

                                                                        Around 1 year

18 months

                                                                             2 years

                                                                         3 years

                                                                                4 years

5 years

.....and today he is 7 years old!  I can not believe 7 years have gone by since he came into this world and changed my life forever.  I never knew the depth of love that can grow instantly, until he was put into my arms.  He has been by far my easiest child (possibly because he came all by himself).  He came into this world a happy go lucky baby, and he has mostly kept that personality.   Brayden is a sensitive, loving, funny, energetic, smart boy.  I am so  proud him, he is a wonderful big brother and son!  We love you Brayden Goo!
     

Thanks G & G!

We got a package in the mail from Grandma and Grandpa Wagener!  New school clothes and new first day of school books!  We were all SO excited, who would have thought to do that?  My mom, that's who!

 Here are my girls in their new outfits,does this scream 80s to anyone else?  This looks like something I would have worn in elementary school, crazy!  Although we didn't have those cute hats!

Brayden got new school clothes too, but he wasn't dying to try them on.  He did LOVE the books though!  One week in counting before B starts, 11 days for the girls, but who is keeping track?  :)

Other big news with G & G, they SOLD their house!  Out of nowhere a realtor knocked on their door and asked if they wanted to sell.  They thought about it, and decided, YES!  A few weeks later it was a done deal.  We are heading over this weekend to help pack up the colossal piles of STUFF, wish us luck, it will be an adventure!  Maybe I'll post some pics.  (They will be thrilled)! 

Enjoy your long three day weekend, Summer is coming to a close.  :(

Race the River/Girls weekend!

                                                                  Pi and Jocey

                                                                   Kym, Lins and Megs 
                                                             Missing:  Kathy and me

Girls, girls, girls!  On the last weekend of July my 'Couve girls headed my way so we could compete in the Race the River triathlon!  1/2 mile swim, 11 mile bike and 3 mile run.  We were all stoked and so excited to spend the four days together!  There was seven of us here and five of us ran the race.  Pi had little Riley in May, so she wasn't quite up for the training, and Jocey didn't compete because the race was held on a Sunday.  Such a bummer, but it was so nice to have fans cheering us on!  They made all the difference in getting me across the finish line!  Unfortunately I couldn't figure out how to get all of their great pics. onto my blog, so I am using Kent's, which are great, but he doesn't have quite the fancy camera that those chicas had.

 Me heading out uphill on the bike....sorry girls, I didn't have access to any of your shots on the bike.....

                                            Meghan Simmons finish time of 1:24.  She ROCKED it!

Kathy Fry:  finish time of 1:27. Way to go Kathy, she was a SPEED runner!

Christy Phillips: Finish time of 1:32

                                                            Kym Langford: finish time of 1:40

                                                             Lindsey Kralj: finish time of 1:42

We all agreed it felt like a tremendous accomplishment to complete it, but we could do without the horrendous swim in the freezing river.  Next year, no triathlon, just a girls weekend away, Lins, do you have the house all squared away for us????  Sunriver here we come!?!

It was a fun filled weekend, that included lots of catching up, laughing and filling our souls with "goodness" that only lifelong friends can fill.  It's amazing how many people come into and out of your lives and I feel very fortunate to have great friends in my life right now that surround me and support me, but it's these girls that have been through it all with me!   I had to laugh at how we are now moms and have families of our own, but we are all the same as we were in high school.  The planners, the stressers, the easy going ones, the pleasers, the care takers, we all have our little quirks or personality traits that make us us, and we all love each other for them! 

I can't wait for our weekend next summer where there will be no anticipation or stress involved with a race.  Maybe just spa treatments and giggling with my 'Couve girls !

The best cheer team ever!

Dirty Dash

The first annual 10k  Dirty Dash was held in Spokane this year!  I'm pretty sure I was one of the first ones to sign up, our number was 65 and there were 4000 participants!  Let me just say, it was a little nutty!  Luckily we were one of the first heats so we were there before 9 and outta there by 1......yes that was quite a while but it got crazy!    

 We were supposed to wear costumes and do fun stuff, this hair do was about as wild as I got.  The girls thought it was soooo cool, so I did theirs too.  I included this pic. cuz it's my new favorite one of Dani.  I think her eyes look so gorgeous in it....Ellie and I are struggling a bit, but Dan looks beautiful!  Love that girl!

Kent and I did the race with our neighbor friends, Jackie and Chris.  They came to pick us up and Chris bounded out of the van looking like this!  Kent and I were dying,  pretty sure he chose this "bro-zeer" because Kent HATES having attention called to him... there were def. lots of comments throughout the day!  :)

 Kent and I gearing up for the 6.2 miles through the woods.

 Jackie and I ready to roll.

 First obstacles, hay barrels, Chris attacked them!

 After the first mud obstacle, pools of mud then crawling through huge pipes!  No way around that.

 This was less than 1 mile into it.  These girls already had ditched their shoes and were going bare foot.  I couldn't believe it, we were in the woods, lots of rocks, branches.....owies!  However, little did I know a mere 3 miles later I would be walking it in my socks.  The problem is, once the mud is encased inside your shoe it hardens and there is no room for your little tootsies.  I had a few blisters that were something fierce, and mind you, I was doing the sprint triathlon the next morning.  Not so good....my feet were so bruised and hurt after walking 2 miles in socks, it made for a difficult tri.

 Jackie scaling the wall.

 Balance beams, I really love this guys swim cap.  I so want one, I just don't know what I would do with it....

 Pit stop!  At mile 4 they had kegs and root beer.  Lots of people hung there for a while!  :)

After the final water slide and mud pit!  It was a GREAT time and I would definitely do it again.... with different shoes, maybe Keens?  Let me know if you're in for next year!

Driveway s'mores

 A few weeks ago we were invited to an impromptu s'more roasting driveway party.  Our neighbors drug their fire pit from their backyard to their driveway.  I have to say, I really love our neighborhood!  There are about 10 kids that are Brayden's age.  I met their moms last year at the bus stop and we have all become good friends.  It's funny that it took 6+ years to meet ALL of them.  Now we are one big happy family, my kids are very lucky.

 Brayden got a JUMBO  marshmallow that he thought was pretty cool.

 Miss Manners, Ellie Bella

 Heather and Hayden

 Ready to roast, Dani is standing behind Brayden and Ellie.  I didn't get a good shot of her the whole night.

Half of the party.  What a fun night!

Rafting on the Salmon River

We put a Groupon to good use a few weeks ago.  In the Spring we purchased an overnight rafting trip!  Our friends, Keith and Stephanie James joined us.  We weren't sure what to expect, but the trip exceeded our expectations.  We got up at 5:30am on a Saturday morning so we could meet the group at 6:30 and head to the Salmon river in Idaho.  I didn't realize it was a 4 hour drive, it's a good thing I got shot gun in the 20 passenger van or I would have been hurling on everyone.  The drive was long, but the guide that drove us was super friendly and I got to learn lots about him and our trip.  I got first dibs on the double kayak that he said would be an awesome adventure, he was right!  I found out that the 19 of us were not in fact sleeping in one giant tent, which put my mind at ease.  All the information (or lack of) was quite vague.  They gave us a list of things to bring which included, clothes and a sleeping bag.  Needless to say, I was a little bit concerned.  But it was AMAZING! 

We got to our destination, they fed us lunch, we got on the rafts, or kayaks and were on the river for 3 hours.  We stopped at a remote beach, and they unloaded ALL our gear.  Two rafts were so LOADED down with gear, food, chairs, and tents the guides had to stand up and paddle to see over all the stuff.  When we got to the beach they set up a full kitchen, pitched all the tents and cooked dinner.  Kent, Keith, Steph and I played in the river and talked for hours.....it was really quite crazy.  A fellow rafter actually came over and said in disbelief, "There are all these new people here to meet and you guys are over here by yourselves."  It was true, we found a little cove, put our camp chairs in the river and sat.  I replied, "This is the first time we have ever hung out ALONE as two couples in four years, WITHOUT children.  We are having conversations without being interrupted by children.  I don't think we'll be moving anytime soon.  Sorry."  We did eventually move over closer to the group at around 9 pm. but we mainly visited with each other, everyone else had pretty much shunned us by then anyway.  :)  It was so pleasant none of us cared.   

 In the river, thrilled to be hanging out together with friends!

 The tent they provided, with cots!

 Stephanie and Keith

 Happy as can be!

The actual rafting was fun too!  I did love the kayaks more than the raft because it was alot more exciting.  You were right on top of the water and right in the middle of the rapids.  I loved the thrill of that, put together with not exactly knowing what to do.....there's a fast learning curve.  Kent and I made it through without any major upsets.  (They call the double kayak "The divorce boat")  Steph and Keith had a little trouble navigating one of the rapids and Keith fell out, he is still blaming Steph for it.....after that, I got in the kayak with Steph and we pretty much rocked the river!

The trip really was memorable, we had a great time and I would recommend Flow Adventures to anyone in the area.  They took great care of us and were truly nice guys.  Oh, and I love Groupons!

Summer Fun!

Summer is a crazy time for everyone!  I just wanted to make a huge post with a bunch of random pics. to document some of our Summer activities so when the kids go to school they have evidence that we DID do fun stuff!

Celebrating Brayden's "friend" B-day.

 Dani learned how to ride her bike!

 Family Spokane Indians baseball game.

 Hanging out.

 Silverwood with cousins!

 Brayden and Dad camping out in the backyard.

 Blue wall completed!

Cruise to Alaska

 'Couve girls and race the river sprint tri (full post to come soon)!

 'Couve girls: Jocey, Kathy, Amanda, Meghan, Kym and Lindsey

 Liberty Lake days: Brayden

 Danielle

 Family day at Silverwood!

 Dani

Brayden

 Ellie

 Kent

 My girls

 My boy

 Concert in the park at Liberty Lake!

 Big Bad Voo Doo Daddy!  Yes, the same band from when I was in high school.  Still together after 18 years!  Their music is so fun and happy, it just makes you want to shake it.  Shake it they did, you go girls!

Liberty Lake County Park with the WHOLE neighborhood.  I think there had to be at least 20 kids between 6 moms.  It was a GOOD day!

There are still three weeks left of Summer, who knows what is still in store for us, but we are loving every minute of this memorable Summer!