Couple of Things

You know the saying (or the Cinderella song) "Don't know what you got 'til it's gone"? Yes well, I have experienced this phenomenon with tomatoes. While I appreciate that every store and restaurant is removing them from shelves because they don't want to be liable for the Salmonella poisoning I may get, I really, really miss tomatoes. Now I can still buy them on the vine at the store, but no restaurant is serving them. I have discovered that I don't like salad without tomatoes and this evening I ordered a BLT and when I remembered that tomatoes were not an option and told the sandwich maker that I would like to change my order he said that it was too late. So I had bacon and lettuce on bread because I like a good juicy tomato instead of any kind of sauce. Please bring back my tomatoes, preferably Salmonella free.

A couple of months ago Jake said he wanted a PlayStation 3. I said he would have to sell his worldly possessions because that was definitely not in the budget this year. So, he sold his gun and PlayStation 2 and proudly reported that while he had enough money to buy the PlayStation 3, he would rather buy a Wii. So that's what we set out to do last Wednesday. We wanted a Wii and a WiiFit, which are not so easy to come by. Many thanks to Joe, who called every place within 20 miles of our house. We actually saw an area we had never seen before, downtown Nampa, when on our quest. Anyway, I'm not sure how we lived without a Wii, and more specifically the WiiFit. It's fun and exercise. What?! I always thought those terms were mutually exclusive. I honestly never thought a little gaming unit could be so fun. We actually haven't watched TV since we bought it and anxiously look forward to putting Mason to bed so we can get some solid Wii action. I highly recommend this device to just about everybody.

Oregon Wrapup

As promised, here are some photos from our recent week long trip to the Oregon Coast. Mason had so many firsts on this trip. First time swimming in a pool, first carousel, first time swimming in the ocean, first time piloting a Coast Guard Cutter, to name a few. He absolutely loved the ocean, every part of it: the sand, the waves, the shells, the water. He was so cold and yet would not stop running full speed into the waves. He didn't even care when they washed over him. We may have left him in just a hair too long though because as we were walking up to the beach with him naked and bundled in towels he looked to the sky and said "doggy! doggy! doggy! doggy? doggy!" He must have said it at least a hundred times and didn't stop until he was lying in a warm bath. We both just looked at each other and decided that we would pull him out of the ocean before he lost color in his face and his lips turned blue. Give us a break, we're new at this.

Anyway, although it was cold and rainy most of the time there were a lot of cool things to see on the coast, my favorite being the Tillamook Cheese Factory. There is an observation deck where you can watch 40 pound bricks of cheese being cut and packaged, really quite fascinating.

We really appreciate Grandma and Grandpa Portela for taking us all on this wonderful vacation.

Family Vacation

I come to you from the balcony of our condo on the Oregon Coast. Beautiful? Yes. Warm? No. I honestly don't mind the temperature but not seeing the sun gets to be a bit of a drag. We've visited Astoria and are staying in Seaside, so we've seen a few of the sites. Today we are going to the Aquarium and to get our family picture taken dressed as pirates. Arrrrrr!!! Mason is loving it here as he gets morning walks on the beach with grandma and grandpa and has more than enough people to carry him around.

We stayed in Pendleton, Oregon on the way to the coast. This was Mason's first stay in a motel, the Holiday Inn. He screamed for a couple of minutes when we put him to bed but then slept well until about 4 a.m., when he woke up. He didn't cry, he just said in the softest, cutest baby voice you can imagine..."Daddy?" "Mommy?" about 10 times. So cute! We just laid in our bed and smiled. I never thought I would find anything darling at 4 in the morning, but I have.

More later and we'll post pics when we return home.

Week in Review

It's been a pretty crazy week around here, kidney surgery number 2 was hopefully a success, though I won't know until later this week. Jake also had finals last week, and is extremely happy to put another semester behind him. We are extremely grateful for Jake's mom, who has graciously spent the night at our house so we could be at the hospital at 6:00 a.m. We are also thankful for all the well wishes we have received. My good friend Erin sent a balloon bouquet and chocolates, which not only entertains our child but keeps us rather happy as well! On top of the madness in our lives, Mason has decided to grow 4 molars. He has been absolutely miserable, with fevers and blood blisters where the teeth will be. Only one has broken through so far and his gums are super swollen. He now wakes up frequently in the night which is a great reminder to us of how great we have had it with him.

Coming up this week, we have to say goodbye to Jake's mom, who is moving back to Montana, we have several doctor's appointments (Mason and I) and then we are going to the Oregon coast for a much needed week long vacation. Can't wait!

Worst. Daughter. Ever.

That would be me. I forgot to call my mother on mother's day. Completely forgot. I have no excuses for this oversight and feel very bad. Perhaps a cute picture of Mason will make things better?"I know Grandma, she's lame, but let's just fake smile and pretend it didn't happen"

"If it makes you feel any better, I didn't tell my mom Happy Mother's Day either."

More birthday fun...

We decided to throw Mason a Hawaiian themed bash for his big day, you know, to remind him of where he was conceived (we should have fun with that when he's a teenager). It started off a bit rough because he fell asleep in the car about a minute before we got to the Richardson's, who graciously offered to host our soiree. He was pretty cranky in the beginning so we decided to put him down for a nap while we had dinner. This actually worked out great, though he slept longer than dinner so we kind of paused the party and sat around for a bit until he woke up.

He was a bit overwhelmed by the present unwrapping, so it was a good thing he had 3 eager cousins to help him out. His favorite present was a lion that he can ride on or push around. Again, very handy that his cousins were willing to push him around all night. He also got a swing that he loves. We'll post some video of that soon.

I thought it would be fun for him to have his own cake and luckily the weather was good enough for him to eat outside. He really only ate two bites of the cake, it was the ice cream he was after. We let him play with his cake for at least a half an hour before the other kids got a crack at it. While he ate his cake, we enjoyed our own fish shaped cake, which was made by Jen. After a bath, he played some more with the cousins and then we came home to play a little more.

He got a card from his great grandma with $10 in it and as soon as he opened it, he handed it to me. Such a good boy!

We are so blessed and grateful for our perfect little boy. We wouldn't change a thing about him and are honored to be his parents.

Here's to 100 more!

The Big O1!

I think I will do a week of posts about Mason's birthday, because let's face it, the center of our universe celebrated his birthday!