9th Anniversary Trip

Oscar and I usually take a "mini-moon" trip on our anniversary, and since mom was here to watch Tyler and the weather was predicted to be beautiful, it worked out nicely for us. Though we both woke up with a pit in our stomachs thanks to our last road trips, no enormous hospital or towing costs resulted from this one.

We drove down to Portland to do some hiking, but on our way we veered off to see Mt St Helens. The final miles to the Johnston Ridge Observatory is closed until May, but we still saw some gorgeous views along the road. It's so cool to get close to that big crater that erupted as recently as 1980. The rest of our mountains are very pointy since they haven't erupted in centuries.

Fortunately we made it to the Columbia River Gorge around 2:30, so we had just enough daytime left to do our hike. We decided to hike the loop between Wahkeena and Multnomah Falls. Though you can easily drive to both Wahkeena and Multnomah, there are a few smaller falls in between them that require some climbing. We parked at Multnomah Falls, walked along the trail that parallels the road to Wahkeena, and then began our climb up.

We'd been expecting the water flow to be bigger since Seattle had just had a weekend of rain, and I assumed Portland had been the same. Turns out they hadn't had any recent rain but had been dry for about 2 weeks. It was still a decent amount of water, particularly when we hiked up to the bridge, but not as much as I would have liked.

There's a gorge lookout after you make it up the first switchbacks, and then a bit further on is Fairy falls. It's pretty, but I was surprised to see 2 professional photographers there. There are many more photogenic waterfalls in the gorge that don't require as much steep hiking.

As we began coming down the trail, we saw a little bit of Hidden Falls. It's appropriately named because it's very difficult to view from the trail. There was a bushwack trail to get down there, but we weren't going to risk it.

Further down is Wiesendanger Falls, which fortunately you can view much more easily.

I liked this half grotto part of the trail.

And Dutchman Falls is the last waterfall before you get back to Multnomah. To be honest this is just an okay hike, and we really only went because they were the last accessible waterfalls in the Columbia River Gorge that we hadn't seen yet (there are many, many more, but they require off the trail hiking). If you're looking for a hike to multiple waterfalls in the Columbia River Gorge, Eagle Creek is the way to go. We intended to hike Eagle Creek again the next day, but since the water flow was less impressive than I was expecting and my knees were killing me, we thought we'd save it for the spring.

Just passed the Multnomah falls bridge, I found this rock opening along the trail.

And took a few final pictures just for good measure. Oscar asked someone to take a panorama of us and the waterfall, but his face got a bit smudged in it.

We spent the night at the Guesthouse Inn in East Portland then went back out to the gorge. We pulled off at Shepherd's Dell Falls then took the loop hike up to upper Latourell Falls. I'd hiked up to the upper falls with Amy last year, but we hadn't realized we could have continued down the other side and made a loop out of it. Oscar and I decided to start up the loop going the opposite direction to make sure we didn't miss where the trail continues, but in hindsight it would have been more scenic the other way.






First it takes you downstairs to the base of Latourell Falls, which was an area I had no idea you could get to. I'd seen the waterfall multiple times but had always viewed it from the platform near the parking lot. Then the trail takes you under the Columbia River Gorge highway, into Guy Talbot park, then you cross the highway on foot and get back on the trail. It would have been nice to have a bit more signage since we got a little confused when the trail met back up with the highway. We found the trail but weren't sure we were on the right one until we actually made it to the upper falls.

After we got back down we decided to head home since my knees and my hip were bugging me. We stopped off in Olympia to see Tumwater Falls along the way.

I'd come here once before in 2012, and the lowest drop is by far the most impressive. Unfortunately they had the stairs down to it blocked off since the spray was so strong, so we didn't get the greatest views.

Toddler Ty: 20 - 21 Months

Parenthood has definitely zapped up of our desire to stay up late anytime we don't have to. On New Years eve we rang in Chicago's new year and went to bed.

Tyler's begun taking toys to bed with him, starting first with an old Elmo toy. I found it at the Relief Society swap meet last year, but I couldn't get the talking part to work, even after cleaning out the battery pack and replacing the batteries. It's just a stuffy now, but it's probably better that way since he loves to sleep with it. I typically place an animal in each corner of the crib. It's hilarious to see where they end up in the morning.

Ty has fun playing with daddy and stealing cash from his wallet!

During January Ty went through a difficult phase. He'd slap and hit us, other kids, and the cats, and he'd throw hard, heavy things on the ground or at people. I'd teach him the right behavior, like being gentle, only throwing soft things like stuffed animals, and showing him how to use the hard things appropriately, but I couldn't get the bad behavior to stop. When I'd say "no," he'd just do it again while saying "no, no." Time outs and even spankings didn't work either. He wouldn't associate the punishment with the incorrect behavior. This has gotten better now that he's starting to respond to "no," but it's still a bit challenging.

Ty's become an expert at riding and holding onto daddy. As Ty's about 30 pounds these days, I can't hold him for extended periods, particularly since I'm pregnant. Ty looks forward to daddy coming home so he can get on his "sholes."

We spent one Saturday evening dancing around to "Everything is Awesome" with Tyler. It's moments like those that make all the frustrating ones worth it. 

Cute boy in the bathtub!

Ty remains a fantastic eater, though he has some interesting habits. For example, he loves mac and cheese, he loves hot dogs, he LOVES mixing his food together, but when I premixed his hot dogs and mac and cheese, it was no good. He had to separate them before he'd eat them.

In late January he transitioned from 2 naps to 1. He stopped being willing to take the 2nd nap but didn't want to take his 1st nap any later. This made things very difficult for awhile because he'd get so tired around 5 or 6, and I couldn't very well give him a nap then. Now he naps around 12:30 for 2-3 hours, which makes it much easier on me to plan when I can leave the house. 

This bra is very entertaining!

Tyler is an awesome helper! It might make doing the dishes take longer, but I like encouraging him to help do the chores. Who knows how long that will last?...

As for me, this pregnancy's definitely been a bit more challenging than Tyler's. I had some nausea and dizziness the first trimester, accompanied by the common 1st trimester fatigue. It was weird to sometimes feel both nauseated and starving at the same time. I'm also having an aversion to chicken, turkey, and the leaner forms of pork. I made a huge batch of copycat Olive Garden chicken gnocchi soup and had to give most of it away to the missionaries because I couldn't eat the leftovers. It's gradually easing off now since I can eat a bit of chicken in a casserole or pasta, but I still can't eat just a piece of chicken, even if it's well cooked and seasoned. I'm also showing my baby belly much sooner than last time. I didn't believe women when they told me they were showing at 2 months but at only 6 weeks my pants were noticeably tighter, and though my weight is similar to what it was last time, I had to get my maternity clothes out much earlier. These pics were taken at 14 weeks.

And as for baby #2, everything looks good so far. Here are some pics from his/her 7 and 9 week ultrasounds.

At 10 weeks I got to hear the baby's heartbeat at my first OBGYN appointment. There's no guarantee the doppler can pick it up until 12 weeks, so he said it would be iffy, but it came through loud and clear. He even said he was surprised by how quickly he found it. Baby's got a strong heart!

In early February we took Ty down to IKEA while we shopped for new furniture. I knew they had a kids' area there, but didn't realize they had to be 36 inches tall and potty trained, so we ended up with Ty the whole time. He looks so cute in the cart and zonked out in the car on the drive home.

When mom and I were at Kohls one day, she gave him one of their $5 stuffed animals to hold onto while we shopped. When we went through the toy aisle he switched it out with this tiny little Elmo, which we didn't notice until at least 15 minutes after he'd taken it. He's so sly! That boy can sure spot his Elmos! We would have bought it for him if it weren't $13...It makes me extra happy to have found his large stuffed Elmo for free.

Both Oscar and I worked all day on Valentine's Day, so we didn't make any plans. But I did make pizza with the pepperoni formed into a heart that evening and Oscar made heart shaped pancakes with strawberries and cream the next morning.

In mid-February one Sunday, Ty ran out of Sacrament meeting and right up to sit quietly on these chairs just outside the bishop's office. He must have had a bishop interview he hadn't told us about, or maybe he just knows the bishop has candy. ;)

And a few last pics of Ty's February cuteness!