Checking things off the list

This post is mainly photos (yay!).  I haven't had time to think about writing much in the way of riveting blog posts.  But in an effort to think of a theme for these random photos, I'm going to call it "checking things off the list."  That is, the list of things that we dreamed about doing when we were still in Papua New Guinea, thinking about coming back to the States for a year.

Top on the list of things to do was of course to spend time with family.  We've been spending a ton of time with Brian's family since we arrived, but in September my parents came out for a long weekend.  (Mom wanted to meet Caleb before the "new baby smell" wore off).  We had a great time with them.

Caleb and Grandma Kathy.

Brian and my dad aren't too cool to hang out at the park.

While my parents were here, the Freys hosted a baby shower for me.

 

Greg got to ride a carousel for the first time.

Another thing that we really wanted to do was to go camping.  By the time Caleb showed up, it was getting to the end of camping season, but we did manage to fit in a short trip with Brian's parents and brother to camp at Suttle Lake.

This was my first time camping in a yurt, but let me tell you - if you are going to get up to feed and change a baby in the middle of the night, it's awfully nice to have a wood stove in your yurt to keep you from freezing!

 

Greg wasn't too excited about the actual fishing part, but he did like it when grandpa made the boat "go super fast!" 

Camping and little boys go well together!

Another thing Brian wanted to do was to go to see his old high school football team play.  So on his birthday we went to a homecoming game, where his school totally stomped all over the home team.

One of the things on my list was to go to a quilt show.  I got to go to a show in Salem with Brian's mom and grandma.  Even though I still haven't received the call to let me know that I won the new sewing machine that they were raffling off, we had a good time.  I got to try my hand at using a long-arm quilting machine, and we ended up bringing home a whole box full of quilting magazines to split between the three of us.  I've been having fun dreaming of projects, but of course I don't actually have time these days to do any quilting...

And of course there are the simple pleasures in life.  Brian was really looking forward to getting a newspaper while we're in the States.  Greg always asks to see the car ads when we get a new paper.

And here is a wide-awake photo of Caleb from about a week ago.  I can't believe that he's a month old already!