In loving memory of Betty Ruth MacGregor

Last month, Addison and I had the opportunity to go down to California and spend a week with my grandma. She was diagnosed with terminal cancer last November.

Here is Addison on the car ride down. He was such a good little traveling buddy.



We arrived Thursday July 29 in the evening because I knew my parents would be there and I wanted to see them too. Here is Addison playing with Grandma (my mom) and his little farm she gave him for his birthday.

Great Gramma (my grandma) got out a box of toys for Addison to play with that she kept. Lorie and I used to play with these at Grandma's when we were kids. It brought back so many memories. Grandma was the source of our favorite childhood memories. She used to have Lorie and I come over, sometimes together, sometimes separately, to spend the day with her. We got to watch whatever we wanted on her big screen TV, have whatever we wanted for lunch and she always had soda and icecream! Could life get any better? Yes it could. She even used to take us out to eat sometimes. Being one of 6 children, you don't get that kind of one on one time very often.

I used to love that little McDonalds!

Here is Addison Tavish with Grandpa Tavish (my daddy)

We got to swim in Grandma's pool. Addison had a great time swimming with aunt Baba (that's his name for Lorie, for whatever reason...)

Grandma also bought each one of her granddaughters a watch this summer. She said if I ever came down, she would get me one too. So one morning we (Grandma, my cousin Heather, Lorie Addy and I) set off to do some shopping, get McDonalds smoothies and get me a watch. Grandma wouldn't tell me where we were going just where to turn. It was also a little fun to park in the handicap spot legally. I was a little surprised though when we pulled up to Batteries +! lol. That's so Grandma. Up at the front by the registers are 2 little carousels: one with watch bands and one with watch faces. You just pick out what you want and they put it together for you. They had tons of cute colorful ones, but I wanted to be able to wear it with pretty much everything, so I opted for silver. I did get a little color in my watch face though. I love it! And because it was a gift from my grandma, it is extra special to me.

I bought Addy a little chair while we were there. He liked to sit in his little corner and watch movies. He is so cute.

Grandma also has a peach tree at her house. Lorie and I had fun looking up peach recipes and making all kinds of treats for Grandma. Here is Addison picking peaches. There were some low enough that he could reach and he just thought it was awesome. He kept saying "a peach a you... a peach a me... a peach a you... a peach a me..." as he was picking. It was so stinkin' cute. (a peach for you, and he would hand me one, a peach for me, and he would put one in his own bag)

While we were there, we also went into Grandpa's music room. He passed away 6 years ago. He LOVED music and has a very extensive record collection and his music room holds all kinds of treasures that you just can't put a price on.

Addy, Lorie and me the day we left. Grandma woke us up Tuesday morning all excited about going to a store called "Tuesday morning." So we headed on down there. She was so cute picking out jewelry for herself.

One of the peach recipes I found was called a "peach betty," which I did not make, but Grandma got a kick out of it having her name in it, so we made her a peach pie and just carved Betty in that. She loved it.

It was fun getting to cook for Grandma and serve her. One of the dishes I made for her was hamburger stroganoff, which I love with all of my heart, and I couldn't believe in her nearly 84 years she had never had. It was her lucky day. :) She loved it.

Here are Lorie, me, Grandma and my cousin Heather. All the MacGregor girls except Katie. Grandma usually puts up a big fuss about pictures, but she didn't fight this one at all and got right in.

It was very hard to leave her Tuesday morning knowing that I would never see her again in this life. I called her the next morning to let her know I'd gotten home safely, and she got very serious, which is very unlike her and she said "I will see you again." I know that is true.

Betty Ruth MacGregor passed away this past Friday night at 11:48pm. She is now with Grandpa and I know she is much happier.

I love you Grandma. Thank you for being in my life. You are very loved and you will be missed.

Feeling ducky?

A project 7 years in the making. Yesterday I finally decided I was going to do it! We've wanted to do up the kids bathroom in duckies since we bought the house 7 years ago. All we had was a bathmat, but that's the direction we were going. 5 or 6 years ago, we bought the paint. 3 or 4 years ago, we bought the little decals. A couple years ago, we added the shower curtain to the collection. 2 months ago, Jeremy bought a towel rod set to go with it.

Yesterday, Liah and I set out with a purpose. Paint the bathroom! She did all the corners and edges that were within her reach. I spray painted the organizer blue. Addy and I bought some towels yesterday, and last night I embroidered ducks on them with my snazzy embroidery machine. (have I mentioned I love that thing??)

Welcome to our ducky bathroom!

Isn't he cute?

I cut a sponge in the shape of a square to match the decals on the tub and sponge painted squares on the wall, then put the plain ducks on the blue squares.

My kids are sooo excited about their "new" ducky bathroom!

Goo-goos and gucks

Two years ago today, this little guy came into my life. All I knew about him two years ago was that I loved him with all of my heart. Two years later, I love him more than I ever knew was possible. This little boy has brought such love, happiness and comfort to my life. He is such a happy boy and so full of personality. At any given moment, he can be found with his cute little hands full of as many goo-goos and gucks as he can carry (that would be choo-choos and trucks, for all of you who don't speak fluent Addison). Also at any given moment he can be found soliciting a kissy from his mommy. Or requesting a song on the piano. And another song. and another song... The way his bright blue eyes lit up as we sang him happy birthday, his cute little cheeks blowing out those candles... oh, how can you just not love this kid?

Happy birthday little Addison! I am so blessed to be your mommy!! I love you!!!

Don't let the sun go down on me...

Jeremy and I flew to Alaska on Thursday afternoon. Grandma and Grandpa Meredith flew out from Virginia to spend some time with the grandkids. They were here for a day before Jeremy and I took off. Since Addison had only met them once before (back in November), I was worried how he would react, but he took to Grandma and Grandpa immediately, and even wanted them over me. I was relieved yet hurt a little at the same time, not gonna lie. ;)

Why Alaska? Jeremy has been traveling there for work for a few years now, and I've always wanted to go. He seems to always end up there on summer solstice. I've heard of the sun being up at midnight, but I had never actually experienced it. It is bizarre!

Here is the view from the plane as we flew in at 9pm...


...and this is midnight! (Friday night) The only reason it looks this "dark" is because of the storm coming in...


...which I ran in the next day. My sister ran this race last year and she said it was absolutely beautiful, so I've been itching to come up and run it ever since. It is called the Midnight sun marathon. Since this coming Saturday (yikes!) is my 1/2 marathon in Seattle that I'm running with my sister, I opted to only do the 5.6 mile race this past weekend. I thought 2 half marathons a week apart was a little much. When I went to pick up my race packet on Friday, I felt like a geek asking for my "5-mile" packet with all the hard core marathoners and 1/2 marathoners walking around.

Me before my race...

...crossing the finish line, cheered on by my best friend...

...and after the race holding my finishers pin. Kind of funny, there was a 1.3 mile kid's race as well as the 1/2 marathon and full marathon. Everyone that finished those got a medal... and then us 5 milers got a little pin... wasn't helping my "feeling like a geek" factor... lol

And not that I was crazy fast, and I didn't "win" the race like my girls asked me, but I ran my fastest ever, so I was proud of myself. If I can keep that up this weekend, I'll beat my time from last year for sure! Plus, the view was beautiful.

Jeremy and I also did some shopping and sightseeing. Here we are at the largest chocolatefall in the world.

At this shop, we also found the funniest book. I need to look it up on Amazon. Well it is probably only funny to people in my family. We grew up watching the Marx Brothers, which sadly no one seems to know nowadays. But they are ridiculously hilarious. I got a lot of my roommates into them as well.

...same shop, why not take a picture with oversized stuffed bears for no reason? That's what I always say. Added bonus: creepy old guy working the counter that won't stop smiling and staring at you. Yeah. We left right after that. :) (I am pretty cute)

Across the street was this fabulous restaurant we ate at. It was so good! Aren't we so cute?

This is downtown Anchorage at the "Ulu Factory." Jeremy has been obsessed with Ulu knives ever since he first visited Alaska. I'm not sure how I feel about that. Either way, this time we got him one. So maybe I won't have to hear so much about them anymore. j/k. Love you Jeremy. :) Naturally, he also had to test out the sled in front of the store.

What is with Alaska and the Marx Brothers? I don't know. We would have eaten here out of principle, but once we looked at the prices on the menu in the window, we didn't eat here... out of principle. lol... but pictures are free! (in case you can't tell, it is called the "Marx Brother's Café" and I'm pretty sure the password is "swordfish")

Also downtown, apparently every year on summer solstice it is a huge deal. There was an outdoor market that we walked around. I saw this sign at one of the shops that totally cracked me up. My sister and I used to say this all the time.

Sometimes, you just need to hug a creepy bear.

While we waited for our 1:45am flight home, we drove around to see some of the sights. I was bummed that it was so windy and overcast! But it was still beautiful.

This is "Beluga Point" where you can spot beluga whales!

...unfortunately, the only ones we spotted were diving out of the cement.

We got back to Tri-Cities at 8:40am after having no sleep. I basically hadn't slept in 3 days though, so why not stay awake one more? That daylight at nighttime has got to take some getting used to. It just felt like taking an afternoon nap. I kept waking up every hour certain that it had to be morning. Only it was 1:30, then 2:30... Needless to say, Sunday afternoon, I totally crashed. The sight of darkness Sunday night was never more welcome!

Jeremy's sister Jessica, her husband Jared and their baby Lukas came up this weekend too! They came from Northern California. It was so fun to see them! It was like an impromptu Meredith family reunion. Only Justin and Jana were missing. :(

Here are little cousins Addy and Lukas "driving" Liah's Jeep. They are so cute together!

Grandma has fallen in love with Skippyjon Jones. My kids LOVE having stories read to them, so it all worked out.

Yesterday, we went and saw a train and the kids got to climb around on it. They had a blast.

Lukas!

Emmy in her new Alaska hat...

Emmy and Sean...

Liah...

...and of course, Grandpa!

Here are Grandma and Grandpa with all the kids:

Grandma and Grandpa left this morning, much to the dismay of Liah and Emily. It was nice to have a visit. It has been a while!

Now time for aunt Lorie to come!

Sometimes...

...after a long day of Kindergarten, you just need to kick off your shoes, curl up and take a nap in a laundry basket. (aka "boat bed")

I wonder if they make them in my size?

Talent Show!

So today was the school talent show and both my girls participated. They did so well! I'm so proud of how brave they were to stand up in front of the whole school and perform. I've literally been having nightmares and losing sleep over this going badly and scarring my daughters for life. Fortunately, I was the only one with the anxiety.

First off, this morning, Emily wanted "rockstar hair" and Liah wanted "superstar hair." Well I just gave them cute hair, and they felt like rockstars and superstars all day. Seriously, it boosted their confidence level immensely. They were struttin' around the majority of the day. It made me feel like a good mom anyway.


Here is Emily after the talent show:

...and Liah (she wanted to wear "her 80s style")

...and my little cuties together:

Here is little Emily's performance. Just a little disclaimer before you watch. They hadn't set up the piano properly... yet. So the music teacher had to come and fix it while I was playing, and Emily didn't hear the sound for a second so she thought the song had stopped. She didn't forget her words. Other than that hiccup, the performance was fabulous. She did such a great job! I am so proud of her to stand up in front of that many people at age 5 and sing like that. She did tell me after that "she felt embarrassed because there were so many kids!" But my mother heart is beaming with pride. She did say it was fun though, and she is LOVING all of the attention she is getting from random people telling her she is amazing.

Okay anyway, so here it is:

Oh, and one more comment, Seany is sitting next to Jeremy who is shooting this video, and well, Sean thought he would join in for the very last note of the song. It is especially hilarious because he is off about one half-pitch. Awesome. But fortunately, no one there heard it, but all of you will!

And here is Liah's performance. She did so well, too! She has also never performed in front of an audience this big. She was so confident. I'm so proud of her!

I'm so proud of my girls!

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So my strawberry creation of the day was strawberry pie. I absolutely LOVE this recipe. So, so good.

You know what makes great playdough? Real dough. Emily played for the next solid HOUR with the unused scraps of pie crust. Here she is "making herself." Doesn't it look just like her? I'm pretty sure it also has "rock star hair."

Here is my pie: (or should I say was...)

Doesn't it look delicious?? Well it was.

p.s. My brother and his wife just had their baby boy tonight! Welcome to the world, baby Alex! I can't wait to meet you!!!