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I know I've been away for quite some time, we've been busy bees and A LOT has changed,

 but I'm thinking its time to get back into the

 "Blog-o-sphere".

Stay tuned...

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Weekend Visit to Tonasket

Ready for a million photos?

We took off last Friday for a weekend road trip to Tonasket to visit Tristan's Cousin Yvonne and her family.

We had such a wonderful time and Calvin wont stop talking about

"Bon's house"

It was a bit drizzly when we arrived, but we got settled in the Bunk House and spent the rest of the afternoon playing soccer with the dogs, petting kittens and building Lego creations with cousins.

Calvin and "Bon"
Her husband Tom was there too, but I didn't manage to snap a pic of him.
Next time Tom, next time.

The kiddo was totally worn out.

We woke up the next morning with sun shining and the clouds low in the valley.

This is the Bunk House that we stayed in.

It has a full bed, bunk beds, it's own full bath and a small kitchen complete with fridge, microwave and coffee maker.

Everything you need!

So much more homey than a hotel.

Calvin made sure to say hi to the "ki-eees" before we even had breakfast.

 Once he had a belly full of french toast, Calvin busied himself with these (very heavy!) metal tractors. He was enamored with these treasures.

The afternoon held more kitty fun.

There were THREE of these adorable little fur balls!

They're SO cute!

Then we all popped into town to check out a small community festival.

It was in a park that had a great play area and Calvin really liked the slide.

John was quite the climber.

We headed back to the house to get the kiddo a nap and hung out there the rest of the day.

Thomas and Tristan had quite the Ping Pong match...

Until Calvin decided he wanted to play too.

He was, coincidentally, dressed appropriately.

 Can we talk about how fantastic these boys are?

Thomas and John are a couple of the greatest kids we've ever met!

They were so patient with their little cousin and couldn't have been more polite the entire time we were there. 

The world needs more kids like these two.

Calvin is still talking about how Thomas fixed everything for him.

A ride in the car goes like this:

"eh Thom-as, eh bix (fill in the blank)"

He says this over and over and over. 

So far he says Thomas has fixed:

a motorcycle ("Mo-mo-by-sdicle")

a house

a football

a doggy

John is the animal whisperer.

 They had just gotten the three kittens the day before we got there and he would sleep out on the porch next to their crate!

Is that cute or what?

 We played with the dogs a lot.

Rosie was so good at fetching and liked when Calvin would toss dirt into the air too.

We didn't let Calvin sleep in the top bunk but we did let him play up there a bit.

He was so pleased with himself.

We had so much fun.

A nice relaxing weekend "off the grid" was much appreciated and needed.

We did find out that Calvin will not sleep for more than 20 minutes in the car.

Even if we leave right at nap time and he's exhausted.

This kid requires a bed to sleep. period.

He must have needed to catch up because I had to wake him up at 9:00am on Monday morning and he was still kind of a grumpy butt until after he took a 3 hour nap.

I'm BACK!

My sincerest of apologies for going SO LONG without a blog post.

Life in the Weeks Household has been CRAZY!

Here's what's new:

Tristan applied for, interviewed for and received a new job with his bank, which is AMAZING and words can't even express how incredibly proud of him I am. 

However, this means a lot of learning, transition, more travel on his part.

He's also planning on taking 2 college classes this fall ON TOP of his already heavy work load so I figure I'll see him again aaaaarrrrouuunndd... Christmas.

I've been busier than ever at the salon.

We're talking Coffee for breakfast, standing over a counter shoving a Luna Bar in my mouth while I mix up color because there's no time for lunch, busy.

Which is also FANTASTIC! 

It's taken almost 2 years since Calvin was born but I feel like I've hit my stride again.

Being in a really awesome salon helps A LOT.

Aaaannnddd not to be immodest or anything, but I've been putting out some really great hair...

Calvin spent the night at Grammy and Grampy's house for the first time 2 Saturday's ago because Tristan and I went and saw Bruno Mars at the Gorge.
Talk about a beautiful venue...

The concert was awesome and Calvin had a great time getting spoiled rotten.
He was worn out!

And the last and BIGGEST thing that's been eating up my time...

Our house is for sale!

We've finally decided we need a bigger place with a real back yard.

We're hoping to move to a bit closer to my work (we're shooting for halfway between Tristan's job and mine) in a part of town with more options when it comes time for Calvin to start school.

I've been diligently sanding, and scraping and painting and weeding and planting and depersonalizing our whole house...

It's been a process.

I've mostly been trying to undo all the dumb things the previous owner did.

Latex paint on the concrete steps outside AND the concrete floor in the laundry room? 

Why dude?... Just...Why?!

The hardest part is keeping it super clean at. all. times.

With an almost 2 year old in tow, keeping the house "show ready" is a major challenge.

He's been a champ through the process though.

We're taking a bit of a break this weekend and heading out to Tristan's cousin's house in
Tonasket, which is about 3 1/2 hours North West of here, for a visit with her and her family.

Admittedly, this trip totally snuck-up on us, but we are really looking forward to it.

July 4th, 2014

My favorite day of the year!

I've lived in Spokane since I was 5 and not once have I been there for the 4th.

You will ALWAYS find me at our family's lake cabin in Montana for Independence Day.

ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS.

I'm so excited to share my favorite spot in all the world with Calvin, and I hope he will grow to love it and cherish the memories we make there, as much as I do.

I was pretty stoked about his festive outfit this year!
I think we nailed it.

Hat, Sunglasses, Shirt, Shorts, Sandals

The weather was beautiful and warm and the lake (as usual) was cold, only about 64°F!

But that didn't stop the masses from jumping in!

1 - 2 - 3!!!

Cousin Riley was getting fancy, flipping in over and over again.

The Zorb (as we call it) was a hit too.

It's HILARIOUS to watch people fumble around in that thing!

Tristan thought Calvin should channel Matthew McConaughey before hitting the water.

"Alright, alright, alright..."

Our little water baby was awesome in the water until Tristan put him in up to his shoulders...

He wasn't quite so sure about that.

After dinner we threw on some long sleeves and pants, not so much because it was cold, but because of the mosquitoes, and sat by the outdoor fireplace before the fireworks.

Calvin kept saying "hot.... hot..." and pointing to the flames.

I tried soooo hard to get a decent picture of Calvin watching his first fireworks, but I'm definitely no professional photographer and this was (unfortunately) the clearest one I got...

*sigh*

Calvin was initially leery of the loud bangs, he kept saying "Oh no...." in a very concerned voice.

But as the show went on and the fireworks got bigger his observations changed to 

"Oh yeah... Again!!" and he liked telling everyone what colors they were.

He didn't quite make it through the entire show, he got pretty antsy as it got quite late.

We had A LOT of fireworks.

So we ended up putting him to bed just as the last booms filled the sky.

Paper lanterns are so pretty! Especially when they don't fall immediately into the water like they did last year. ;)

Another wonderful 4th!
I already can't wait for next year!

Happy Birthday to Me!

Wow, what a week!

As per usual we spent the 4th of July in Montana at my family's lake cabin.

We took off on Tuesday which also happened to be my birthday.

Before hitting the freeway Tristan ran in to our favorite coffee place Couer Coffeehouse. I asked him to grab me something to eat because in the craziness of getting us out the door, I didn't get breakfast.

He came back with this...

Apparently it's called the "Baconator" and weighs about a pound.

It's a cross between a croissant, a cheese danish and a maple-bacon bar.

It was ridiculous and you'd better believe I ate that thing in all of 3 minutes.

The first half of the drive was lovely.

Beautiful weather and gorgeous scenery as usual.

We stopped in St. Regis for lunch and to stock up at our favorite fireworks stand.

Calvin was not as thrilled about the second half of the journey...

He kept purposefully dropping things then shrieking that he couldn't get them back.

I spent a good amount of time torqued in various awkward positions trying to appease the cranky one until I finally had to give up before I really hurt my back.

We put him down for a much needed nap as soon as we got to the cabin.

After a rest we went and played outside!

Calvin LOVED throwing rocks into the lake.

That alone kept him busy for at least an hour every day.  

 Bubbles were a big hit too.

 An outside Calvin is a happy Calvin.

Tristan even took him out on a kayak!

That evening Tristan ran into Kalispell to pick up an Ice cream cake he had ordered for my birthday.

Having a bunch of people sing "Happy Birthday" to you is just as awkward as it was 20 years ago.

I got a couple cards and a super awesome cutting board my uncle made.
(I actually traded him for on of the humping reindeer hats I knit)

Isn't if Be-u-t-full!

And I got to end my birthday with one the prettiest views around...

 

Cheers to another year!

Stay tuned for tales from the rest of our trip!

Our Favorite Books Right Now - 1-2 Years Old

I know I've mentioned about a billion times how much Calvin likes to read.
We've spent hours and hours and hours (at Calvin's request) reading every book he can get his hands on.

We've amassed quite an impressive collection of books for him.
Our favorites tend to be board books with a good story.
Books with only 3 or 4 words per page just don't cut it anymore.

I LOVE when I can find classics I remember from my childhood in board book form.
Being able to share these stories is so special and the board books keep Calvin from ripping the pages as he enthusiastically turns them.
Or when he decides he needs to stand on them...

These are some of Calvin's favorites that we end up reading over and over again.
He knows them by name and will look for them specifically on his book shelf.

Little Blue Truck & Little Blue Truck Leads the Way

Giraffes Can't Dance

Goodnight Moon

Ten Tiny Tadpoles
Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? Slide and Find

Caroline Jayne Church books
Mr. Men and Little Miss books

*Groupon has a bundle of new Mr. Men and Little Miss books written by Roger Hardgreave's son. I've gotten 2 sets of them so far. They're not board books, and they're VERY British as they include lifts, zebra crossings and queues, but you can't argue with the price.

I hope you guys look into these books and enjoy them as much as we do.
What books do the kids in your life love?
I'm always looking for suggestions.