Time . . .

  I'm so sad to be writing about the ending of our summer. I cannot believe how fast the last few months went. I can't remember another time in my life that has gone by so quickly. And I'm told it will only go by faster. Sitting here thinking and reflecting on things, I believe that I've become ultra sensitive to "time" right now. Quade will be off to full time school this year and I think it might have stirred up some burried emotions. This will be a new chapter in my life and I'm struggling to accept it. I'm all of a sudden feeling like I don't have enough time. Enough time to spend enjoying the little things. Or hoping and praying I don't look back on this time 20 years from now and regret not spending enough "time" doing whatever I was suppose to be doing more of. I've never felt this way before about my parenting before. I'm confident that I have been present, both mentally and physically, and have devoted everything to the kids. I just can't help the lingering feeling of needing more "time".  It's the strangest thing. But I think that it goes along with getting older and realizing what is most important in life. I've  found myself repeatedly giving the excuse of "I don't have time for people like that in my life".  I believe in quality not quantity, and I only want to give the people I love the most my time. Regret is a terribly heavy thing to carry around. I'm trying my hardest to live my life in a way where regret will never be present.

  Enough of the sappy stuff, and on to the happenings! We finished the concrete!!!!!!! It is so amazing. The kids have been enjoying themselves so much with riding their bikes and scooters all around the house, not wearing shoes to go outside and play, playing in the hose and not making a mud pit. It's unbelievable.

 Everyone gets a turn at compacting. 

 Look at that crew! Like a fine oiled machine.

 Every heard of "built yourself in a boat". They had

to use the backhoe to reach him. 

  My two Scandinavian cuties participated in the festivities again this year at the festival. Austyn danced and Quade decided to be a Viking. I love dressing them up. It's so fun and they look adorable. 

 Quades costume turned out pretty cool for left over 

Halloween costumes I had laying around.

 Jordan worked the Abelsciver booth again for the JC fire department  

 She found an amazing face painting booth

  After the festival Jordan and I went to the Willamette Country Music Festival in Brownsville. We were both first timers. It was a breath taking site to see all the campers there. It still blows my mind at how many people were there. We went from Thursday to Sunday afternoon. We got home Sunday to do laundry, repack the food, and grab the kids to go to our annual Crab Trip for a week. Like always we had a blast. We can never get enough of that camping trip. The kids got to go out on the crabbing boat, hiking, tide pool exploring, rock climbing, hermit crab racing, and lots and lots of playing and riding bikes. 

 This is a picture of Jordan and Austyn at the top of the 

rock they had just climbed up to watch the sunset.

  That's it. I'm all caught up for now. We have school starting in less that a week. And soccer will start shortly after that. We are trying to get one last camping trip in before the season ends. It will probably be mid September if it happens. The kids are already planning their Halloween costumes. I get so excited for their costumes. I love it!!! And last but certainly not least, Austyn's 8th Birthday. Can you believe it?! 8 years old. I think she's going to sucker me into a sleep over party. There's a whole other blog topic for later.