beautiful sunsets + more family

Last week, we had several nights of amazing, colorful sunsets. Photos never do justice, but I'm sharing a few anyway. :) The first was taken at Kenton's grandparent's house. The lighting was so bizarre!

This & the next photo were taken in the field near our house.

Last week, we also enjoyed a visit from Kenton's side of the family. Here is Finn's Great Aunt Deanna sharing a new book with him: Ten Little Ladybugs.

Finn found cousin Melanie's high heals. He managed to run circles around the house wearing both heals - impressive balance! :P

The family
(relation to Kenton in parenthesis):
Kevin (dad), Mike (cousin), Deanna (aunt), Melanie (cousin), Marylee (grandmother), Lew (grandfather), Finn (son), Katrina (wife ;) ), Kenton, Sabrina (cousin) & Tor (cousin-in-law)
Outi (mom) is behind the camera. :)

the fair!

Last Friday, Finn & I met up with a group of friends (Nicole, Addi, Amy, Jon, Ethan, & Macey + Patty & her parents) to go to the Lane County Fair! We got in free with our Bi-Mart cards! What a deal. :) I was excited to show Finn all of the animals & we weren't disappointed. There were lots & lots of farm animals, as usual.


My favorite part was how Finn would say "Hello" to each animal we stopped to see. So social! :)

It was very hot at 11:30 am, so we stopped in front of the giant fan to cool off for a moment.

Macey & Ethan checking out the Big Mama (as Finn named her) with all of her piglets.

Hello goats!

Mama & Finn with Macey & Ethan in the background. Finn doesn't look too thrilled at this point. It was hot. But he had a huge smile on his face when I let him run through the misty sprinkler. :P

Curious cows.

Sweet baby Addi is always such a trooper. She didn't seem to mind the heat even though she was bundled in the moby wrap.

family + pizza + outdoor fun

Last week, we had family from California up for a visit: my mom's sister Carol with her husband Keith & their kids, Natasha & Wyatt. We always enjoy spending time with them! We all had dinner on Thursday night at Roaring Rapids Pizza & they have a great carousel.

Finn squirmed & wiggled, telling me "no" while I strapped him onto the horse. But as soon as it started moving, he stopped wiggling & enjoyed the ride. He was ready the second time we rode. :)

Sadie on her white horse.

Ronan, Griffin & Gretchen chose a stationary sleigh for the first ride. After they knew what to expect, they rose horses the second ride. :)

Great photo of Cohen, by Becca!

Some of the whole group, enjoying our pizza outside, by the river on one of the hottest days of the year. It was nearly 100 degrees, but it was cooling off by dinner time + we were in the shade.

Natasha, Wyatt, Aunt Carol & Uncle Keith

Griffin flying SO high!

Finn & Cohen learning to play catch...or share? I love that Finn is in his ready position to catch the frisbee. He loves being active & playing with footballs or frisbees. Pretty funny, coming from two parents who never really had a serious interest in sports.

first car wash

We drove through an automatic car wash with Finn for the first time. Pretty great expression on his face! He seemed a bit spooked. But he said "yeah" when we asked him if he had fun... I think he'll know what to expect next time & will (hopefully) enjoy himself a little more. :)

six amazing beautiful crazy fun busy lovely years

On Sunday, August 10th we celebrated our 6th Wedding Anniversary!

Still having fun (or being dorks?)

Ronan & Sadie serenaded us with the ornamental trumpets. :P

After the birthday celebration, Kevin & Outi took Finn so that we could have the whole night to ourselves. We started by going to see the new X-Files movie.

I thought this was a good picture of my new haircut.

After the movie, we had dinner at a new restaurant in town called La Perla. Yumm! Authentic Italian Pizzas! They were certainly the most authentic we've had since our trip to Italy, the summer before we were married.

La Perla from the outside.

My husband

His wife

Pink drinks! Blackberry & strawberry Cremosas!

Oooh...so tasty!

The sky was so pretty on our drive home. We had a great evening & it was so nice to go to sleep whenever we wanted without worrying about when Finn would wake up. He slept over at Mummi & Pappa's house, so we were able to sleep in. So lovely. :) Thanks, Kevin & Outi! It was a treat!

birthdays galore

On Sunday (August 10th), we celebrated Becca & Kenton's birthdays at my parents house. They were out of town for Kenton's actual birthday, so another celebration was in order! ;) Plus, we had not celebrated Becca's birthday yet. We had a yummy Mexican feast & brownies for dessert!

Finn helping Dad blow the candle out.
Becca's hair looking SO long!

Cohen & the birthday girl, about to open gifts.

Happy Birthday Becca! We love you!

cool digger!

On Saturday, Gretchen called to tell us they had a digger at their house! As soon as Finn woke up from his nap, we zipped over to check it out. Definitely a hit! Griffin & Finn did a great job sharing the steering wheel! :)

So excited!

A small piece of little boy heaven.

Finn watched Uncle Josh & Ronan drive the tractor.

Then he got a turn too!

I think it was a little loud for him because he was done pretty quickly & just wanted to ride the backhoe that's just his size. :) What a great experience. Thanks for letting us check it out, Ruddicks!

scandi fest

On Saturday, we went to the Scandinavian Festival in Junction City with Carolyn & Jesse. It just so happened to be Finnish Day, so we were extra excited to be there...though there didn't really seem to be anything particularly Finnish about the day. :)

We got there just in time to see 2 of my former preschool students dance! They did really great & Finn really wanted to join them on stage. It was hard to keep him still so we took turns walking with him.

I took him up near the stage & let him dance to the side. At one point, the dancers turned to each other & clapped their hands together. Finn turned to me quickly & tried to copy the move & clap hands with me ! It was pretty cool to see him interested in what the dancers were doing. The youngest age group is 2-5 year olds, so maybe we'll sign Finn up next year! :)

Cute costumes!

Mama & her dancing boy.
I tend to be the one taking pictures, so I always enjoy seeing through someone else's eyes
(Kenton's, in this case)