The Highlight...

of my week so far.

Starring: Sinah (my almost 2-year old niece)
Supporting Cast: Grandpy Dan and Grammy Kathy, Uncle Joe and Aunt Janelle, Mommy Trisha and Big Brother Tre, BFF Jack

The Setting: Kathy & Trisha sitting on a couch, sitting and talking (about motherly issues I am sure). Jonas and Janelle playing with Tre and Jack on the floor.

Act 1, Scene 1- La Casa de Newton

Enters Sinah (running/flailing wildly into the center of the living room and doing laps around the living room/kitchen): "Look at me! Look at me! Look at me! Look at me! Look at me!"

Everyone turns to look at Sinah. Noticing she has boxer shorts draped around her head like an over-size necklace, they begin to laugh hysterically.

Kathy: "Dan come out here, your granddaughter has something for you!"

Enters Dan (a horrified look of expression crosses his face at the realization that the boxer shorts draped around the lovely little Sinah's neck are his): "Come here, give me those!"

Dan begins to chase Sinah. Sinah loving this, squeals with delight and begins to run from Dan. Everyone else in the rooms laughs so hard their stomachs hurt.

End Scene.

For now.

I've always wanted a big family. And when I say big, I'm talking BIG. I grew up with one brother, no sisters, and no first/second cousins. My dad's sister passed away before I was born, and neither of my mom's brothers ever had kids. I've always loved watching movies with big, crazy families and wished that I could have that. Not that my family isn't great -it is- but oh, how I longed to have 5 brothers and sisters like Marcia, or even better, 10+ like Kevin McCallister. Yes, their homes were a little crazy and chaotic. But they were also exciting and bustling and deep down, filled with lots of love.

Fast forward a decade or two later, and here I stand a married woman in my 20's. It's funny how as soon as you get married everyone asks, "When are you guys going to have kids?" Well, for now we have none. Jack is keeping us content for the time being. One day I hope to have 3-4 of my own, but for now I am just loving being an aunt. I now have TWO nephews and a niece, and they are so stinking cute. This past weekend I got to meet the newest addition to the family, Wyatt Samuel Neal, at his Christening in Central Point, OR. He is 2 months old, and the cutest little chubber ever. His mommy and daddy are so in love with him, and I am super happy for their little fam. Here are some introductory pics of Wyatt, and some of Tre and Sinah as well. Be prepared for many more Wyatt pics in the years to come...

Baby Wyatt :)

Such a chubber, love his belly and neck rolls!

 Baby Wyatt getting all dressed up for his Christening, with God Mother Nicole and Mommy Jessie

 

Family photo, bonnet and spit up included- look closely for proof ;)

 Getting Christened at the church

  

 My niece Sinah, just being cute

 

Monkeying around with Tre

 

Love this one

 

 Just hangin' out

Tre sticks his dismount off of the swings

Nostalgia

Last weekend in Corvallis was a whirlwind of good times. We went to a soccer game, the football game, visited with Joe's grandparents, ate at several of our favorite old spots (Local Boyz, Senor Sams and New Morning Bakery), and got to hang out with a lot of our old teammates and friends. It was a great time that went by in a flash, but it made me realize how old we are getting... You know you are aging when you find yourself saying "college kids look so young nowadays". It also made me realize how glad I am to be out of college- the crazy bar scene is a little hectic for us now. However, going back was a nice reminder of how special Corvallis, OSU and all of the friends/memories we made there will always be to us. And now some pics...

The trees that line OSU's soccer stadium, so pretty

OSU Women's Soccer Alumni (minus a few of my favs)

Beavers holding their own against No. 1 ranked Stanford (for a half, at least)

Joe and Grandpa Newton doing what they do best... talking about trees

Jack LOVES to bound through G'pa and G'ma Newton's tall grass, looking for sticks to fetch or squirrels to chase

Only at Grandma Newton's house do you get served homemade cobbler and ice-cream... FOR BREAKFAST

Oooo-Sssss-Uuuuu

Cheering on our Beavers!

LOVE this campus... walking through the MU

Tree-lined streets everywhere...

Fall beauty

Just our style...

Yesterday, Joe and I celebrated his bday exactly how you would expect us to: a big breakfast w/ coffee in the morning, followed by a beautiful hike and QT with Jack, an athletic event in the evening (my soccer game), and finally more eating (a late-night snack and dessert at Cheesecake Factory) to finish off the night. Here are some documentary photos from the day...

Ooey, gooey homemade cinnamon rolls- YUM

Jack was really intrigued by Joe's present, which was...

New gore-tex trail shoes for Jonas! (This might seem like a weird present to some of you, but if you only knew how thin we wear our athletic shoes you'd know this is actually a "treat" for us. See here if you don't believe me)

Hiking West Tiger #3 off of I-90 (We will really miss having trails like these within a 10 minute drive of our home)

Typical Newton hike:
Joe: "This is a really beautiful tree stand here..." and then a whole bunch of forestry talk I don't understand.
Me: Silent, but taking pictures. (I concur it WAS a beautiful tree stand)

A glimpse of the Washington Cascades from Tiger Mountain (oh how I heart thee)

I love the contrast of colors in the fall... the yellow, orange, and red leaves against green trees and blue sky

More fall colors, so pretty


Overall, it was a great day. Now we get to host the Wilson fam tonight and spend time with our favorite Seahawks on Sunday... yay for me being done with my long-term sub job and having time for a social life on weekends again!

26 years ago today...

this cute little guy was brought into this world.



Thus, today is one of my favorite days... ever. Happy Birthday Jonas, LOVE YOU.

Anticipation...

This weekend couldn't have come at a better time. The last 5 weeks of our lives have been a little rough, to put it mildly. After getting released from the Seahawks, Joe has been working really hard to find a good forestry job, but unfortunately there isn't much out there right now. And if you have been reading this blog at all the last month, you know what I've been up to: teaching and coaching with very little sleep, and virtually no free time. I have literally worked every single day since September 9th. Until today that is.

Today is a new day. It is a teacher non-contract day, and I am taking not one, but TWO, whole days off. We gave our soccer team the day off as well (6 out of our 17 players are either sick or injured right now), and I am headed out of town and away from Seattle for the weekend. Where to???

Oregon. And more specifically, Corvallis. I am so giddy I don't even know what to do with myself. Tonight I am going to watch the OSU women's soccer team take on top ranked Stanford. Even better, I will be watching with some of my old teammates. One of the girls is putting on an alumni tailgate, and I haven't seen some of these girls in years. As if that wasn't good enough, tomorrow we will be cheering on our OSU football boys when they also take on Stanford. I haven't been to a game since last year, and let's just say it wasn't the best (Civil War, ouch). To top things off, the sun is supposed to be shining, Joe and I will get to revisit some of our favorite old spots, and campus is SO pretty in the fall...

Yes, I will come home to a pile of papers to grade and lesson plans to make on Sunday. BUT, the end is now in sight (my long-term sub job ends next week!!!) and hopefully I will be rejuvenated for a final push after a great weekend. Stay tuned next week for pics from the trip, I will actually have time to blog about them soon :)

Organized chaos.

If I could choose one phrase to currently describe my life, none would be more appropriate than "organized chaos". For example, my weeks break down as follows:

Mon/Wed: 5:30 wake up, leave house by 6:30, work at SHS 7am-3:30pm, go to soccer practice at BHS, home for dinner at 6pm, shower, work for a few more hours, then pass out around midnight.
Tues/Thurs (Gamedays): 5:30 wake up, leave house by 6:30, work at SHS 7am-5pm, meet Joe for dinner somewhere, arrive at soccer field by 6:15, game from 7:30-9:30, home by 10pm, shower, put in an hour or two of work, then pass out around midnight...
Fri: 5:30 wake up, leave house by 6:30, work at SHS 7am-3:30pm, go to soccer practice at BHS, home for dinner at 6pm, have a BEER or glass of wine w/ the hub, shower, and try to muster up enough energy for a little after dinner walk and stay awake through a movie rental.
Sat: "sleep in" (wake up around 7:30), grade papers, errands (grocery shopping, laundry, etc.), exercise, watch Beaver football game, more grading papers, and then attempt to have a social life at night
Sun: sleep in again, big breakfast, exercise, watch Seahawks game while trying to read ahead/plan lessons for the following week, and a little QT with Jonas and Jack because the next day it starts all over again...

Other examples of organized chaos:
-My 3rd and 6th period classes: they have a seating chart, a routine, and a lesson plan to follow, yet it still feels more like chaos and less like organized. I blame them. (haha, just joking, but seriously... )
-My soccer team: we may be 4-3, but sometimes when I look out there it looks like absolute madness
-My brain: not even gonna attempt to describe what's going on there...
-Our lives in general: just come take a look at our apartment and you'll know what I'm talking about

ANYWAY. There has been some breaks here and there. For example, we got to go to a Pearl Jam concert last week with some of our friends from the team (shout out to John and Dani!) That was super fun. We also have plans with our favorite fellow "Oregonians turned Washingtonians", John and Missi this Sunday for dinner. Looking forward to catching up and trying Tutta Bella :)

Well, should probably get going. Writing this post really set me off schedule for the rest of the day... I should be grading right now, not blogging. Here are a few pics (of course) and I'll be back to write more when the chaos subsides a little...

This is what I do on Saturday mornings: grade papers and drink coffee.

A little break from it all: Pearl Jam concert with some of our favorite Seattlites!

The Space Needle is super awesome looking at night... too bad I only had my crappy little point-and-shoot with me.

All week I look forward to our "after-dinner" walk on Friday night, which we did all summer long. The sunsets where we live are amazing. If you look closely you can see Seattle on the left and Bellevue on the right.

Same walk, different angle. These are the Olympics mountains, so pretty... I don't want summer/fall to ever end!