Here We Go Again!

We are so excited to have another kidlet on its way! This has already been a brand new adventure in a lot of ways. I was never sick with Porter and that is most definitely not the case with this bundle of joy. I have been sick since week 4 and even at week 17 I still struggle, and pretty much most aspects of this pregnancy are extremely different, from what I feel like eating, to energy level. What is the same is Lovenox: I am back on those lovely daily injections to treat my Factor V Leiden blood condition. I still don't like them, and they still hurt, but they are much better than getting another clot/pulmonary embolism again, especially while being pregnant. Porter has no clue what is going on, but we are working on being soft and while he only uses a pacifier at nap time and bedtime, we will be working him off of that pretty soon too.

Apparently, we are also super good with the timing of our babies: last go around we weren't sure if JD would be 5 1/2 hours away when Porter was born or not, as JD had a 6 week rotation in Ashland Oregon and I had to stay in Portland to work. Things worked out and Porter came 2 days after JD was back in town. This time baby is due May 21st, since I am high risk being on such a fun medication my Dr wanted me to have the baby on May 14th, but JD graduates May 16th and has preliminary work that week for graduation up in Portland-I know-the irony since we now live 15 minutes from Ashland. We just figure things worked out last time and they will do so again, and at least we can make sure we are in the same city just in case things get exciting.

Things are going well and so far appointments have been right on track which is happy. So that is our exciting news!

Happy Holidays from the Speths

Christmas Card 2014

Thanksgiving

We had a great Thanksgiving this year. It was also really low key and delicious. I cooked dinner, which consisted of: turkey, mashed potatoes, yams, corn, caramelized carrots, and homemade stuffing. It was a lot of work, but super delicious and we will have plenty of leftovers-yay! This was our first Thanksgiving just being us. The past few years we have had dinner with friends and before that it was our families. While we missed family, we really liked how laid back our day went. Porter loved the All American Dog Show, and we went Black Turkey people watching at Walmart and the mall after dinner which was fun. I am so thankful for my family. I am thankful for the experiences we are having here in Oregon and look forward to many more and different Thanksgivings to come.

Boise Temple

 

We had to say our goodbyes to the family and head back home-kind of. We decided to break up our trip so that we could stop in Boise to go to the temple there. It was beautiful! We were able to wander around the grounds and enjoy the fall leaves. I also had awesome luck booking our hotel. We were about 10 minutes from town when I decided to try the Priceline Express Deals App. We ended up getting a hotel for about 50% from the cheapest I could find online. When we got there-about 5 minutes after I officially booked-they upgraded us to a suite, so we had two bedrooms, which was awesome for letting Porter sleep better and not constantly try to get our attention like he had been at the foot of our bed for the past week and a half. It also had a fridge, microwave, two tvs, a couch, and a super fancy bathroom, it was a fun place to stay.

Cecret Lake

JD and I had another date-crazy how nice it is to have babysitters available. We drove up Little Cottonwood Canyon and hiked to Cecret Lake. It was a beautiful day and the leaves in the canyon were gorgeous. We discovered how much of a difference a few thousand feet in elevation can make while we were hiking though. We live at around 900 ft and were hiking at around 10,000 ft today. After our hike we were able to eat at Ganesh, our favorite Indian food restaurant, before heading home. It was such a fun day, and it is so nice to be able to spend time with just JD.

Living Planet Aquarium

Great Grammy Karen took us to the Living Planet Aquarium in Salt Lake. Porter loved it! Aquariums are awesome for littles because they are face to face with the fish and animals. He liked the fish, the penguins, and the highlight was probably running back and forth in the shark tube towards the end of our time at the aquarium. We went really late in the day, so the place was super quiet which made for lots of running room for Porter. Karen bought him one of his new favorite books while we were there too that involves a googly eyed goldfish pretending to be an eel and a whale. It was a fun afternoon with Grandma Karen and JaNae.

Reno to Ogden

Can I just say that I am so glad that Porter is a good traveler? He was a champ on our 8 1/2 hour drive from Reno to Ogden Utah. We had a very pretty drive due to a ton of rain storms, also made for interesting driving as well. 

We stopped at the Bonneville Salt Flats to stretch and check them out. Due to so much rain lots of it was under water, but there were still a few places where you could get out and walk on it. Porter had fun running around with the wind and the water.

We were able to pull off the big surprise too. We made it to Ogden and Porter and I went and hid on our front porch. I called my mom and asked her if she wanted some Facetime with Porter, she was trying to get it up on the iPad when Porter's patience had run out and he started knocking on the front door. My brother let him in and he marched straight into the kitchen where my mom and sister were pulling up Facetime. There were screams and a crying grandma. We were able to make it to the Speth's just as Miranda's homecoming date was picking her up so we got to surprise them too.  It was fun, and it felt good to not have to drive anymore.

Medford to Reno

We had 3 full days home from Portland before heading to Utah. We ended up leaving a few days earlier than planned since things worked out with JD's new job and my work a little better that way. We booked our hotel Thursday night and left Friday morning. This was Porter's first time forward facing in his car seat and he was quite pleased, probably partially because his 33" frame was pretty crunched against the back of the seat before we turned him. He kept pointing out cars, talking to us and laughing when we would look in the mirror or glance back at him.

We drove the 5 hours to Reno Nevada and went straight to the temple. JD and I took turns going to the temple and watching Porter. The temple was very pretty and cute. Being a smaller temple, it reminded us a lot of our Medford Oregon temple with different colors, patterns, and glass.

We saw many traffic signs on our way into Reno instructing drivers to watch for motorcyclists and stating that lane sharing was illegal in Nevada. We didn't think much of it until we passed by the Harley Davidson store and saw hundreds of motorcycles parked out front. We got to our hotel and there were a ton of motorcycles out front too. Turns out it was a Fall Motorcycle Ralley in Reno and they were everywhere. It was kind of fun to see all the different motorcycles and hear many motors revving all over the place.

Mount Rainier National Park Part 2

We had fun going on a few hikes while up on the mountain. Porter walked the entire Box Canyon trail which was a 1/2 mile long. He REALLY needed to stretch those little legs. He also thought it was really fun. The views were absolutely amazing all day. I am not one to get teary, but there were a few places where you just would look up and see the peak, glaciers, blue sky, rivers, streams, and falls and it was just too gorgeous to be real. We hiked on the Paradise Trail and checked out Narada Falls, Porter kept pointing out the rainbow to make sure we weren't missing it. I am so grateful we were able to finally make it to this outstanding National Park on a day that couldn't have been prettier.

Mount Rainier National Park Part 1

We finally made it to Mount Rainier National Park. JD had a mandatory conference to attend in Portland so when we found out, we made the goal to get up to Mount Rainier if the weather was good. Let me just say, the weather wasn't just good, it was perfection: 72 degrees, sunny without a cloud in the sky. Fall was starting-a happy bonus for me, and we had a great time hiking all over the park. In order to accomplish this feat, we were on the road leaving Portland by 6 AM and in the park at 9:30 AM. We started at Grove of the Patriarchs and had a blast hiking among these giant, acient trees located on an island that is accessed from a rad suspension bridge that only allows one person at a time.

A few fun facts about Mount Rainier:

• It is the 21st most prominent mountain in the world with an elevation rise of 13,211 feet from its nearest low point. It is the most prominent mountain in the lower 48 states.
• Mount Rainier, a giant stratovolcano in the Cascade Volcanic Arc, is considered an active volcano with its last eruption in 1894. Rainier erupted over a dozen times in the last 2,600 years, with the largest eruption 2,200 years ago.
• Mount Rainier is the most glaciated mountain in the contiguous United States with 26 major glaciers as well as 35 square miles of glaciers and permanent snowfields

Lassen Volcanic National Park

When we were debating on what to do for Labor Day, I happened across Lassen National Volcanic Park. JD and I had never heard of it before, but we love National Parks so decided that the 3 hour drive to get there would be more than worth it.  We had a blast in volcano land. It is kind of weird to think about living on a volcano chain. Mt Lassen is an active volcano but the stretch goes all the way up to British Columbia, so the peaks that we have enjoyed since moving to Oregon including: Crater Lake, Mt St Helens, Mt Jefferson, Mt Hood, Mt Rainier, etc are all volcanos, and a lot of them are active ones too. Kind of neat, the more we learn about these peaks, the more we are able to notice the changes in geography and landscape created by these volcanic cones.

Lassen last erupted in 1915, and it is a beautiful park. We enjoyed walking around Manzanita Lake, seeing the "Hot Rock"-a two ton piece of lava that was tossed from the volcano over 3 miles and was still warm when the photographer took a picture of it back in 1915. We hiked Bumpass Hell, a mini Yellowstone of sorts complete with sulpher air, geysers, mud pots, and fumeroles. We were able to enjoy a gorgeous day and views of the different peaks as we hiked and spent time together as a family. It was also a hot and sunny day. I had brought along 6 waterbottles filled with ice water as well as 5 large gatorades and we drank everything except one Gatorade during this little day trip.

On our way back home we also stopped by Burney Falls, a California State Park that was beautiful! It felt so good to hike down to the level of the falls, the canyon was shaded and the water cooled everything down, complete with a nice breeze through the canyon we were able to cool off, a welcome relief after hiking around in 95-ish degree heat all day.

It was a really fun day, I absolutely love doing things like this with my family. There is something about hiking and being together that is just plain awesome.

 

Mini Mini-Golfing

 We were able to go mini golfing with some friends from the ward and oh my goodness did Porter love it! We got him his own little putter and ball and he had a blast wandering around the different greens and watching dad put balls in the white holes and seeing the castle and lighthouse and water falls.  He kept giggling with delight.

One Line A Day

 

One April 3, 2012 my friend Erin wrote the following in my One Line a Day book: "Natalie has committed to recording life events in this ingenious and fantastic gift given to her." I received this from Erin before the beginning of 2012 and had done less than an admirable job at writing my one like a day, I must say that I have improved a lot since April 3, 2012.  Last year I hardly missed a day and I haven't missed a single day in 2014.

I am very grateful for this book because lately it turned into the only way I was keeping a journal, history, or memories for pretty much a year. After Porter was born and I was working full time, I had to make some serious time priority decisions where if I still wanted to be a good mom, wife, and play and go on adventures, other things would need to go and unfortunately this blog was one of them.  I wish I were as organized and on top of things as other amazing moms I know, but for my personal situation that was just how the cookie crumbled, especially with JD gone so much for school and busy studying. I am now officially settled in Medford, Oregon and working from home a lovely 15 hours a week, usually between the hours of 6-9 AM so that I now have a lot more time to dedicate to things that I really enjoyed and felt were important to me again.  That said I am super excited to start blogging again and get caught up as well.

We have had a lot of change the past year that I am excited to get on here so that I can continue to publish memories and pictures into books like I have been since starting this blog.  I have the goal of doing at least 3 posts a week starting back in August 2013 until I am back up to August 2014 and this wonderful blue book will be the blueprint to accomplish this task.  So if you are interested, feel free to go back in time to get caught up with the Speth Family.

Prospect Oregon

We went hiking in Prospect Oregon today, it is a little town about 30 minutes south of Crater Lake. We were able to go to the overlook of Mill Creek and Barr Creek Falls. After we hiked along the river to Pearsoney Falls and Prospect Falls. They were all super different and very pretty. I am glad we still have waterfalls fairly close to us, it isn't quite the Columbia River Gorge, but still neat. It is also very hot in Medford, we are always in the low 100's so driving up the mountain where it is a bit cooler is also refreshing.

Day Trip to the Temple

We were both having a bit of a grumpy day today so I figured we needed to get out of the house. We got a happy hour fresh fruit lemonberry slush and went to the Medford Temple. It was fun watching Porter run around. Up until now he has hated grass, but today he was running around in it giggling, picking up sticks and rocks and 'softly' touching the flowers. It is the first time I have seen him actively interacting with nature (not always so great when nature is going into your mouth, but still). We were both in a much better mood after our little outing. I am also so glad that we are still close to a temple.

Moving Day Part 1

The time has come to say goodbye to Aloha and Portland. We love this area and we love the rain, the Northwest, the trees, and the people we have met while here. It is hard leaving, but it will be nice to have JD around a lot more with the move to Medford.

It has been a crazy week. JD took his last exam on Wednesday (YAY), they had a class on Thursday to wrap things up and go over rotations followed by a BBQ for everyone and their families which was fun. We dropped Porter off with both Whitings and Hansons at different times while we packed up the straggling items. Jeff flew in at 10 to help us with the move, something we are SO indescribably grateful for.

Friday we loaded the truck, got gas, finished up odds and ends tasks that we needed to do around town before leaving, took Jeff out to eat, and cleaned out most of the apartment. Things I am grateful for: ward members who helped us load, smart move packing tape, the fact that we kept all our boxes from when we first moved here, Jeff being here, JD being done with the didactic portion of school, and the knowledge that we are going where we are supposed to, even if it is hard.

Last Coast Day

We move next week! Talk about crazy. Whitney, Cashen, Tate, Reed, Porter and I all took a day trip to the coast. The weather was beautiful and warm. Porter LOVED the beach. He liked squishing, patting, and eating the sand at Cannon Beach. He also really liked crawling around in the sand by the water. The tide was coming in over the warm sand so the water temp was actually decent, Porter didn't want to leave the ocean water, but it was still a little chilly for a baby to be spending a lot of time in.

We were on our way home after eating in Cannon when we came to a blocked road as in you have to find another way home. We ended up driving through Astoria and along the Columbia River all the way home. It was definitely the long way home, but it was fun spending a day with Whitney before our move. It will definitely be a memorable day.