Musings on life, parenting, Jesus, and more...

pas⋅sion   / ˈpæʃ ən / Show Spelled Pronunciation [ pash - uh n ]: a strong or extravagant fon dness, enthusiasm, or desire for anything. Today I was thinking about the word passion and what it means to me. There are many definitions of the word in the dictionary but the one above most accurately describes what I mean. I feel like it's so important for everyone to have things in their life that they are truly passionate about; Things that excite them and bring joy and fulfillment to their lives. I feel like this can be especially important to parents, who can all to easily get consumed in the lives of their little ones and forget to do things to take care of themselves first. I love Jenica with all my heart and I love being a mom, but I can't let that be the only thing that defines me. I love photography! I get excited to take new pictures and learn new techniques. I love going through a batch of pictures that I've taken later on the computer to refine and edit them. ...

This last weekend we camped at Crescent Lake, which is about an hour east of Eugene. I can't believe I lived in Eugene for 2 1/2 years and had never been there - but alas I was a poor college student working part time and going to school so I didn't have time for much in the way of "recreation." We went with my friend (and co-worker) Shelly and her husband and their two dogs... so in total we had 4 adults, 3 dogs, and 1.5 babies (Shelly and Dusty have a baby girl due in December). Jenica had loads of fun playing with the dogs and getting nice and dirty! I'm sure this is the dirties she has ever been, but it didn't seem to bother her so that's good. There were no showers so we just dunked her in the lake every day to clean her up a bit. She still isn't sleeping all that great in Harvey but we're hoping that in time she'll get use to it so we can have a restful nights sleep on one of these camping expeditions. But, I suppose the beauty of camping...

Well, as many of you already know, Jenica took her "official" first step while we were in Idaho on my dad's houseboat. Since then, she's taken a few steps on a number of different occasions. However, tonight I was lucky (and patient) enough to catch some of those steps on video. I think this is the most she has taken so far - and I love how she balances and the beginning and seems to mentally 'prepare' for what she is about to attempt! Enjoy!

We got back Sunday from a wonderfully relaxing vacation in North Idaho visiting my parents. Our first stop was my mom and her husband John's house in Coeur d' Alene. We spent the weekend there and enjoyed some wonderful times on the lake... bbq lunch at Arrow Point, tubing and just soaking in the sunshine! Then it was off to Lake Pend Oreille for a few days of camping and visiting with my dad on his houseboat. While we were there, my mom worked on making new cushion covers for Harvey - our 1970 something travel trailer - and when we returned to Coeur d' Alene on Friday they were nearly complete. They are such an improvement for Harvey and we are so excited to go camping with him again next weekend and enjoy his "new look!" Jenica seems to like being on the water and took great naps on both my parents boats - even one while we were speeding across the lake. She took her first step on my dad's houseboat and Rob and I enjoyed being on the lake and exploring deser...