Boot Camp Graduation

Last Friday, 11/1 Trevor graduated from Boot camp. It was really exciting! It wasn't the easiest trip getting to the Chicago area. Our flight was cancelled, then they put us on a new flight that would have us get in the morning of the graduation missing the whole thing completely. We ultimately decided to buy new tickets and fly a different airline there. The whole trip was rather exhausting, but definitely worth it. Trevor did such a great job during the last eight weeks. His division performed the best and won a special award. He was so happy and excited about everything. We loved his enthusiasm.  It was great seeing him and spending some time with him!

Perfection

I was going to update on life, but before I do I wanted to write about something really quick. I've been thinking about social media latley. What I've been thinking about is the persona of perfection. When I started using Instagram when it first came out years ago, it was just that. An instant snapshot of what you were doing in the moment. As the years have passed it's used much more for advertising and a way to "show off." While this is not ever each and every single user, it is a huge number. Most recently I've noticed pictures of women who have just had babies. They're posing with the perfect outfit, hair, make-up ext. It's just weird to me. I remember having my babies obviously and it was really HARD work! My body didn't just bounce back, I was way too tired to wear makeup. To be honest, I wire maternity clothes post partium for a few weeks. That's just not what is being presented. That's just one example of I'll affects of social media and trying to impress others.
I'm going to upload some pictures of me with my newborns, just so you can see what I'm talking about. I mean I was never feeling ugly or yucky. I just was tired, and wasn't thinking much about looking back at the pictures and what people might think.

The Graduate

Trevor officially graduated from high school! We're super proud of him. Can't believe this is happening already. It's crazy how fast time flies.
Also, as a graduation gift I had a quilt made from old tee shirts saved from throughout his childhood. He really liked it.

Runner

Griffin had a good running season. He improved his times by quite a bit. At his last race the 1500 he ran it in 4:35

Goodbye 8th grade

First Day/Last Day

Growing

Something that I enjoy that makes me feel happy is growing things. Our backyard was a blank canvas when we moved in. We've been on a tight budget, and haven't been able to to a ton, but I have been adding plants when I could. Today I picked up a rosebush and a peony bush to add to the mix. So far I've planted
2 lilac bushes
2 white Dogwood trees
2 white Jasmine
1 bleeding heart
1 hydrangea
1 larkspur

I've also got some sweet peas growing & some hollyhocks.
There's also a few flower pots with random flowers too. It sounds like a lot, but I need a lot more filler plants and then some fun garden decor. It's nice sitting out there. Someday it will be amazing sitting out there.

Our Cody

It's been almost 10 months since we lost our Cody. Sometimes it feels like the days have dragged, other times it feels like time has sped up. Last fall, we noticed a little bump on his bottom. We thought nothing of it initially but after a while we decided to have it checked out. We really thought it was just a bug bite or something. We took a Min to the vet and they did a biopsy. We got the the results that it was cancerous. We were referred to a Surgical Specialist. You still felt like it wasn't a big deal. Turns out we were wrong. at that consult, they discovered where the tumor was located and the type of tumor it was it wasn't going to be able to be surgically removed. It would create all kinds of issues for him and they wouldn't get clean margins. Chemo was an option but the odds of it coming back and stronger were very high. We decided to just let Cody live out his life as long as we could. For the most part, he seemed she did fine. After a few months he had a few bouts here and there or he would have the shakes or would seem extra needy. Overall though he was himself. This past spring we knew time was coming to an end his tumor was growing large and he was having more periods of sleeping all the time. He was a losing weight even though he was eating just fine. We had to make the difficult decision to put him down. On May 20th we had our final day with our boy! We took him out to a park by the river and let him run and play and he had so much fun! It was hard to watch him. He loves the water and he loves playing and running around.After work, we drove to his favorite place Dairy Queen and we ordered him a pup cup his favorite treat. That night, it's like he sensed things were happening he crept into our room one stood by my bed after I had gone to sleep okay no distant there and so I invited him onto my bed which I never do. He spent half the night sleeping with us.sometime in the middle of the night he got off our bed and went back into bed with Trevor where he normally sleeps. In the morning of the 21st we all give him a kiss and said our goodbyes. I still remember him looking back at me as we walked out the door that morning. I miss his little tap dancing on the wood floors. I miss kissing him between his eyes on us furrowed brow. I miss his deep sighs.I miss him going crazy when people come over. I miss the way he smells. I just miss his companionship. Ge was seriously the best dog for us, we loved him so much. He will always be a part of our family.

14

Savannah's 14th birthday was this past weekend. Met up with her friends in the morning and spent several hours in downtown Portland. The first stop was at a place called the wishing tree. It's kind of a lesser-known Portland treasure where people can leave wishes on this tree. The girls thought that was pretty fun. We also walked across the few Bridges went to moonstruck chocolate for shakes had some lunch and just enjoyed the downtown scene. After everybody got dropped off we came back home and relax for a while and then as a family we went to the spaghetti factory for dinner. After dinner we came home or are we surprised her with adorable succulent cupcakes! After that it was time for her to open her presents.
I think all in all she enjoyed her birthday. You sure love our Savannah may!