Time for a mobility update

I talked for quite a while about how Luke was content just hanging out in one place and didn't seem interested in getting around. Well it's been a while since I've posted an update on that subject, and lets just say things have changed. Over the last few months he's gone from doing a military crawl/scoot to crawling and pulling himself up on everything! Our quiet, still baby is now into everything!

FROM THIS.....

TO THIS.....

Garden Tour - Free of Charge

I cannot wait!

So we are expecting..... and by that I mean the town of Spokane is expecting a Trader Joe's to arrive in the fall. Up here on the South Hill too. When I had one at my doorstep in Portland, I didn't go often enough. Now there will actually be one here in Spokane. We've known for quite a while about the store coming, but man I can't believe how excited I am about this store opening! Hurry! Hurry!

Green Thumbs

We've talked about it for the last couple of years, but this year we made it happen. We have a garden box in our backyard (assembled by Seth himself!) and this past weekend we filled it and planted. It's a raised bed as you can see below, smaller than we'd originally thought about, but since this is our first we decided not to get in over our heads. Seth's Mom, Margaret, got me an AeroGarden for Christmas this past year and it's amazing! We grew herbs in it for a few months and used those in the kitchen all the time. We decided to get the AeroGarden Garden Starter Set and see what we could get going for a garden this year. Some of the seedlings are a little on the small side (carrots, beets), but others are huge and look like they're ready to produce something (green beans)! We will see, and I will do my best to let you know if we have any success. Fingers crossed!

the dirt going in

taking a break for a picture before the next step begins

I didn't realize how hard it would be to see here, but Seth rigged some irrigation for our little garden box

family shot for the history books.... all the greenery on the corner is made up of the seedlings started in the AeroGarden

plants planted....now we wait

Denver

Over Memorial weekend we made a trip to Denver to visit the McKinstry side of the family and meet baby Silas for the first time. It was such a good time! We were able to see Oliver's place in Denver for the first time, where there also happened to be a street festival going on.... such a nice area (near Washington Park...sorry Ollie, I don't remember exactly what the name is for your part of town). We were also able to meet up with the Pedersons - Courtney, Jon, Harper and Lincoln. It's been a while since we've all seen each other, and we've each expanded our families by 1 since then, so it was great to catch up!

For most of our stay in CO we were Maia & Steve's place in Loveland, CO. It's so beautiful - seems like there's a gorgeous mountain backdrop everywhere you turn. We traveled to Boulder for a couple nights too so we could run the Bolder Boulder 10K. Yes, you read that correctly. Seth and I actually signed up for a run, and we didn't do too badly. Ollie, Maia, Steve, Seth and I all ran while Tim and Margaret watched the kids for us - they had it worse than we did for sure!

Luke and Ella seemed to be dealing with some kind of a bug on and off while we were away from home, so Luke especially wasn't always his normal self. Why oh why does that always happen when we travel?

Thanks to Maia, Steve & Silas, for all your hospitality. You went above and beyond to make us feel at home (actually a lot more comfortable and well fed than at home), and we appreciate it so much! Thanks to Ollie for showing us your neck of the woods and helping entertain the kids as always (napping with Luke :) ) And of course, thanks to Tim and Margaret for everything, especially acting as our taxi service, babysitting, gifts, food, drinks, etc, etc! It was so great to be all together for a few days. Hoping to see everyone again soon!

playtime with Grandpa

Ollie, Ella and I

Court and I

Luke & Lincoln

Harper & Ella


Bolder Boulder

Maia & Silas

Grandma with the kids

swimming at the hotel in Boulder

first shot of the 3 cousins

Seth with his nephew

Steve working his magic on the grill on our last night in CO

Luke is 1

HAPPY BITHDAY TO LUKE ALLEN MCKINSTRY! Our beautiful baby boy is 1 year old today. Time has flown and we know well that that's not going to change.... Daddy and I love every minute we get the privelege to be your parents!

Luke's 1st Birthday Party

It's been so long since I've updated this blog thing, but that doesn't mean there hasn't been anything going on.... just the opposite! I'm finally posting because I had to share some pics and a recap on Luke's 1st birthday party. Our little guy's birthday isn't until the 26th, but we are heading to Denver to get together with the McKinstry side of the family that weekend. So we threw a local party for him this weekend, and the family came to help celebrate. Tom & Ruth, Kellie, Brett & Abby, Kristen (and Zac stopped by when work allowed), Grammy Sharon & Papa Jim and Gabe, Nancy & Jameson. It was a beautiful day. Seth put his new grill to work, bbqing a pork roast for pulled pork sandwiches - yum. Surrounded by family and friends, it was a wonderful day! A great way to celebrate Luke's 1st year!

the birthday cake - those are starburst and laffy taffys used for the words and border.... Don't worry. We switched out a plain frosted cake for when Luke dove in.

Look how big these boys are getting!

Jameson checking his email

Ella was more than happy to help

climbing up on the box one of his toys came in - boxes make the best gifts

checking out the new cars and racetrack

Seth and I with our Little Man

happy family

white on white.... hard to see the cake with white frosting that

I'm putting in front of Luke. We didn't even try to actually light the

candle with the breeze blowing.

Yum!

Sharing with Jameson.... he's in training for the big "1" in July.

i think he likes it