You just can't beat a week at Wallowa Lake. Bear Lake, Lake Powell, I've heard all the reasons why they're the best, but I don't think anyone can convince me there is anywhere on earth as special as Wallowa Lake.

 

I've been going to the lake for 23 summers, and for 23 summers we've done pretty much the same thing while we're there (if you've read my blog through the years, you've already heard it all before). And to a lot of people that might sound like it could get old or boring doing the same thing summer after summer, but it's one of the few places on earth I feel close to heaven. I love that lake, I love the sea monster myths, I love star gazing on the back deck and telling scary stories on the dock with a bag of sweedish fish; but even more, I love the people I spend my time with there. So as I watch a documentary right now on Netflix about an inevitable earthquake that is going to destroy the Wasatch Front, perhaps I just might move there one day too.

Ciao.

a few facts about charlie

Just a few pictures of the cutest baby boy I've ever laid eyes on.

A few facts about Charlie:

1. Charlie is SO HAPPY. All the time. I googled about it once to see if this was normal, and then was introduced to about a million possible syndromes he could technically have. Word to the wise: DON'T GOOGLE. Anyway, he's teething right now and you'd hardly be able to tell because he is always smiling (and allllways drooling).

2. He loves when Max plays the guitar. He bounces and giggles and it's making me slightly jealous that I have no musical talent to contribute to this family.

3. Charlie loves to fake cough to get our attention. We like to call him the black lung baby. He won't cry in the morning when he wakes up and wants someone to holds him, he fakes a cough and I love it.

4. He has a huge teddy bear we believe he thinks is his little friend. He would chat and giggle with the teddy bear all day long in his crib if we let him.

5. Charlie does NOT like Gerber's ham and gravy baby food. Literally makes him shudder.

6. He also does not like when Max meows like a cat. He must love dogs like his mama.

7. I am 99% sure Charlie never has a dry diaper. I think I could change his diaper every seven seconds and it would be wet every time.

8. Charlie has no interest in crawling, and will keep his legs stiff as a board when we set him down because he prefers to stand. He'll be walking before he ever crawls.

9. On average, Charlie is sleeping 9 hours through the night right now with an early morning feed before he goes back down for another 2 hours. Knock on wood. It's made everything so much easier.

10. I don't know how Max and I will ever be able to love another human being as much as Charlie, but he makes me want to have a million more babies because this has been the best thing that's ever happened to me. He has brought so much happiness in just seven months.

who more than self their country loved

Oh how I love the Fourth of July, and oh how I love this country. There are so many political opinions I often express (especially these days) because if you know me, you know I have a lot of them. Maybe too many of them in fact. However, if there is any day to put differences aside and recognize all the amazing things about this country and its people, for me that day is going to be on the Fourth of July. I'm grateful for those "who more than self their country loved, and mercy more than life." I'm grateful for President's like John F. Kennedy, whose presidential plea in 1961 is more necessary than ever:

So let us begin anew - remembering on both sides that civility is not a sign of weakness, and sincerity is always subject to proof. Let both sides explore what problems unite us instead of belaboring those problems which divide us.

--

My fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you can do for your country. 

My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man. 

Finally, whether you are citizens of America or citizens of the world, ask of us here the same high standards of strength and sacrifice which we ask of you. With a good conscience our only sure reward, with history the final judge of our deeds, let us go forth to lead the land we love, asking His blessing and His help, but knowing that here on earth God's work must truly be our own.