Hunka hunka

I'm not sure it gets much cuter than that!

But, her t-shirt is right on, Gramps (aka Mark), you're a hunk! :)

The newest addition to our family, Tallulah

Tallulah!

Even though everyone thought that Clarice was a happy chicken all by herself, my chicken senses were tingling and telling me that she really wanted a friend. I put a posting up on Craigslist reaching out for another bully chicken that someone didn't want, to try to put her up against Clarice. I got a bunch of replies but decided on one bully chick, a Speckled Sussex hen who was beating up on some banty chickens. After an exchange involving a box and $10 downtown from a very nice man, we now have Tallulah, and one happy Clarice!

They are the best of buds! I'm sure if I made them BFF bracelets, they would wear them.

When we first introduced them, they had a teeny stand off to establish rank and I think Clarice still won, but ever since they can't be apart from one another for very long. Sometimes Tallulah gets in her own little world and wanders away from Clarice, but once she realizes she's not by her anymore she frantically looks for her and runs towards her.

Tallulah came with that name so I guess we'll stick with it and pretend she's named after Tallulah Bankhead.

The funniest thing is that Clarice is a better worm catcher and Tallulah is always trying to steal it from her.

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to Brandon! If Hunter could form a sentence she'd be saying "I love you Daddy!"



We didn't get any pictures of today, but it was a chill day for all of us. I need to schedule in more days of doing nothing. Although I'm not sure I am capable of that. I guess even though I got a nap today (which is extremely rare) I did do a ton of chores still. Hrm, we need to make more Mother and Father days through the year so I can work on sitting still. :)

Oh, I didn't know this, but the idea for Father's Day came from a woman in Spokane, Washington in 1909. It didn't become a national observance until 1972.

We luffs

June 6th was our 1 year anniversary of being married and our 2 year anniversary of being a couple. In that time we've sold a house, bought a house, got married and had a baby. Wow. We definitely went on the fast track with things, but I wouldn't have had it any other way. I love Brandon with all my heart and Hunter is just freakin amazing. My new family is what I've always wanted and I feel so lucky and fortunate to be surrounded by such love. Brandon and I have had our ups and downs and we'll continue to have them as we grow together. I'm really looking forward to our wedding celebration next month so we can share our love with our close friends and family. I just wanted to thank all our family and friends who have been there for us in our hard times and in our great times in the past year. Thank you.

Enough mushy stuff, onto the fun pictures!

For our anniversary we had a nice day planned of picnicing out in wine country (so pretty just about anywhere you go 5 minutes outside of Newberg) and maybe a little wine tasting. Brandon ended up having to work almost all day (it was a Saturday)! We had to change our plans to a dinner and a lovely drive out into the country. Thanks to Grandma T for watching Hunter! We went to Golden Valley Brewery for dinner in McMinnville. We were both so sleepy after dinner we decided to chug some redbulls to stay awake and make it a fun night.

We found a really cool barn on the drive and got out to do some investigating. We'll never tell what we found inside.


We tried to get a picture of the barn behind us, but we failed, still a cute picture though, I think.



The mini was barely visible in the grass. We were being stealth, kinda like ninja's, but without the face masks.


Then we went to Mark's office to play some pool and hang out. We turned on some dance music and partied hard (not really about the partying, but we did attempt to dance). Brandon beat me at pool, no big surprise there.


I was too busy finding fun stuff to get my picture taken with anyways.

Oh and we took a tour of Teri's Airstream that she's remodeling.
Don't worry Teri, I didn't really go to the bathroom.


The shower is too small! And to think, I recently got obsessed with moving into a trailer temporarily to pay off some debt. Ha! I still would though.

That's us standing in the shower.


It was a great one year anniversary, nothing fancy, but us together, having fun, having a few hours of just us. Those are rare to come by. Next year we won't have a million things going on and we can go away to some tropical location. It's called Wisconsin. Heh. It won't be quite tropical in June yet, but we're planning an Amtrak train trip back to visit my family and show Brandon where I grew up. Hunter's first train trip!

Girl Road Trip!

Last week Hunter, Cora and I took a two day overnight roadtrip up to Bremerton, Washington to see my friend Kevin. Kevin and I have been friends since back on a riverboat casino in Sioux City, IA over 10 years ago. He was in the Navy and we stayed in contact and somehow coincidentally or not, he was stationed in WA after I had moved to Portland, so we still get to hang out every so often. When one of us makes the 3 1/2 drive, which he has an easier time driving. I start to fall asleep after about 45 minutes when I make it over to the WA border. :)
To keep me awake, I took some silly pictures, but I kept my eyes on the road for most of the time.
Hunter wasn't any help, she fell asleep most of the way.


We stopped off at a few rest stops and it was prime to get a picture of ourselves in a hand blow dryer!

This is the road coming up to Kevin's house. He lives in the sticks and it's gorgeous!

You can barely see it, but his house roof is in the middle of this picture near the road. Again, gorgeous!

There's Kevin, Savannah (hope I'm spelling that right!) and Hunter goofing around.

Savannah with the Clone trooper mask of Bailey's that makes sounds.

Kevin with the mask...

Bailey got it down for Brandon to wear, since they totally nerd out together on Star Wars and other boy stuff. (FYI... Bailey is like 9 and Brandon is 28). Brandon wasn't able to join us for the trip and Bailey was one bummed out boy! But we still had fun with his toys.

Me with the mask...

Unfortunately Hunter didn't get to try on the mask this time, but she enjoyed playing with it while it was on my head.

That's James and Bailey posing for James's mom Jenny, they found a frog up by their chicken coop. They have chickens too!

Kevin being himself...

Hunter and I got up early the next day so we went out to the front steps and enjoyed the quiet and beauty of their place.

The trip back was much of the same, Hunter sleeping, me trying to stay awake. Teri kept me company on the phone for the last leg of the drive. Thanks Teri!

Oh, and that was our trip.

To end on a completely different note, I fractured my little toe last week! Wow, is that painful! I smashed into it with the garbage can. I was hobbling around for quite a few days and it's still hurts a bit, but I can at least walk normal again. Don't ever do that! Owie! (ignore my nasty toe nails, somebody should really get me one of those pedicure thingys)

Mommy = mooo

Hunter's first real word has pretty much been "dada". I had hopes that "mama" would come next, but it's been "mooo" or "baa" or "duck"...

Clarice

After much discussion we decided to find a new home for the two younger hens. Clarice was just being a big bully and seriously beating up on them. We found them a good home and for now Clarice seems to be happy by herself...

Video of Clarice digging in the dirt while I am digging out my wildflower bed...

Dress up time

I'm behind on posts (I don't know if Brandon even knows we have a blog anymore) and I have a gabillion pictures I want to put up, but these will be quick ones considering it's past when I should be in bed on a work night.

Saturday Hunter and I were hanging out waiting for Brandon to get done working, we had a little dress up and then she decided I was her personal jungle gym...
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Adorable, if she would just look up!



And, she's not so much into it...


And, she's out the door...



Mommy loving! (even with bed head)



I make the perfect obstacle course...



But nothing can stand in the way of the Blur Baby Monster!!