The 2nd Annual Riverbend Neighborhood Progressive Dinner...

Yep, we call ourselves the Riverbenders...our little neighborhood out here in the sticks...
Have you ever been a part of a Progressive Dinner? It's a great time! We have a great little neighborhood community out here in Salyer and today we repeated our annual progressive dinner. Our neighbors include weekenders, vacationers, and full time residents such as ourselves. The age range starts with our very own Forrest at 5 months, to the seasoned retired veterans. Each house is responsible for a different part of the meal, (appetizers and drinks, soup, salad, main course, dessert). Makes for a long meal and a LOT of food but it's so fun to travel to other neighbors houses. Maybe this is extra special in our neck of the woods because eveyone always has some new project they are starting/finishing, or perhaps new land they just purchased. We also have quite a variety of houses, from the super cool deluxe tent and outdoor kitchen of Michael and Donnvieve who have not built a house yet, to the super epic Taylors' house which is extra fancy and is always a treat to be in.
So...we started at the Taylors' for appetizers and drinks...Forrest of course was the star, (as you will see is common place throughout the afternoon and evening...)
We munched on yummy artichoke dip, eggplant/tomato dip, wine, beer, you name it. This easily could have filled me up!
Forrest had a blast here as he loved their nice carpet to roll around on, and the interesting, (and EXPENSIVE I'm sure!) knickknacks everywhere.

Our next stop was Michael and Donnvieve's....where we feasted on a delectable ceaser salad, home grown tomatoes, and homemade bread.

There spot was lovely to sit in the shade, feel the breeze, and eat our salad with chopsticks! A first for me with salad! House or no house the spot is beautiful...


Our next stop was to the Fitzgerald's for soup...and did they ever do this one right! We had a cold berry soup that was so yummy on this hot day, and also a delicious clam chowder. MMMMmmmm.
Forrest loved it so much he took a nap, (mom and dad cheered, and I'm sure the neighbors did too).
For the main course we headed to the Mayvilles house. I LOVE their house, very cute, with a screened in porch and awesome view. Perfect for sitting with that perfect drink and letting the evening linger, or the food digest in our case!
The main couse was so awesome, chicken marseille with grapes! You know it's good when people start going for seconds when they are already claiming to be stuffed, which we were by this point.


We finished the evening at the Waller's for dessert, homemade Boston cream pie. Wow! It was amazing.
A very great evening for all of us Riverbenders!

The ups and downs of life...

So I could use all this space to lament on the trials of motherhood, on how while at work I feel incredibly guilty about leaving my perfect little boy, but while at home I worry about how I'm gonna continue making it dealing with the stresses of my profession. I could go on and on about how stimulating my work is, and how much I really adore it, and then how demanding it is, and I wonder if it will ever truly fit in my "ideal life" of being a good mom, (which does take TIME,) and having a healthy family.
These last few weeks have been tough. I'm working a lot, more than I probably should, but money is tight and those bills don't just stop showing up. So, we're dealing with it and I'm gonna stop now, enough boo hooing...
I do feel incredibly lucky to have the job I have in the current times.
SO, SO, VERY LUCKY.
Please enjoy the pics of Forrest.... they make me happy...

Forrest's Happy Place...

A monkey in training...

The crazy 5 month grass eater...And weddings abound

Can you believe I knew 4 couples getting married this weekend! Wow! Getting hitched is in the air. We had the pleasure of attending the wedding of good friend's Katie and Michael....very awesome people.


Forrest is at the age where he loves people, sounds, and was a regular party animal....or at least at times!

Lots of square dancing was going on, and our little boy was having fun watching the dancing happy folks. I'm sure he'll be out there before we know it! The summer wedding season is winding down, best wishes to all the happy newlyweds out there. Welcome to the club!

Forrest, plotting his next move...onto 5 months tomorrow!

Little Forrest is not so little anymore, his swing his creaking away, and we wonder just how much longer it's going to continue to rock our baby to sleep....
Though this baby is growing up and wanting to be a part of the world in a big way! He still is only breast fed, but is showing real interest in food so I believe some solids are right around the corner in this next month.

His smiles keep coming and coming, and he's singing, talking, and cooing up a storm on a regular basis...

As well as stretching his legs in a big way. He LOVES to stand and can hold himself up for quite awhile now....
And based on this smile, I can tell he's already plotting his future moves out of our loft, down the ladder, and how he can manage to swing on the banisters without his parents catching on....
Sitting up is also a new skill he's working on...he currently is still a bit top heavy, but that little torso is gaining muscle strength by the second it seems.

"Mom, Daaaad, watch out, here I come!"

It's the simple things in life....like, for instance, a chewed on corn cob...

Forrest took one look at a chewed on corn cob and you would have thought it was the best thing in the world....well...maybe it was for this babe.
He sucked, smiled, looked at us, and sucked some more.
MMMMMMMM.

Blackberry Bramble...

We did it! 70 miles later, the Blackberry Bramble was finished, and I was one tired biker.

Thankfully my dad and his good friend Rob let me suck their back wheel for the last 20 miles and pulled me into the finish line where a piece of blackberry pie a la mode was waiting. yummmmmm! My back, neck, butt, and of course legs were feeling it. Nothing that a good soak in a hot tub and some awesome food couldn't cure!
Forrest had some good Grandma time, even if he did go on a bit of a sleeping strike. "Too many good things to see out in Eugene mom!"
The ride was about how I expected, good for the first half, and REALLY hard the last half. Primarily due to the fact I just haven't been able to spend a lot of time on the bike...which I expected.
Overall I'm happy with how it went. Eugene was beautiful, the food at friend's Rob and Sherry's house was awesome, and my goal was met!

Forrest spent a lot of time in his car seat this trip...7 hour drive! He did surprisingly well, and mom spent the time sucking down 2 pounds of blueberries she found on the side of the road....


MMMMM. I love summer!

What you do with the grandparents on a HOT summer day....

Take them to the river of course! And spend ALL day there, as to be away from the wonderful Trinity river means 106 degree heat...yikes!
So we floated, played, swam, and swam, and swam.....Forrest included. His first real river experience. He had to be in the water to stay cool...I think he enjoyed himself...the first of hundreds...thousands, of river adventures for him!

Our tuckered out boys...I think us girls just plain wore them out!

Local Meal...

BBQ'd salmon, stir fried swiss chard, swiss chard stem fritters, home-grown tomatoes, topped with a Steelehead Porter

So actually this meal happened about a month ago...and we are very near eating from our garden, river, etc, every meal these summer days. But I like posting these meals as we are proud of them. And....there is a lot of work to be done to get these veggies, fish, etc, out of the garden, river, and inside our kitchen, hence the lateness and the lack of summer posting.
I'll do my best to keep up...
Currently this plate would be doubled in size and filled with the above plus summer squash, eggplant, more tomatoes, and corn! Yes our first sweet corn...yummm.