Once in a while it's fun to map out a detailed week-in-the-life....so forgive the length of this post.
When Adam takes time off, there is no rest at the Brown house. There is always places to go, people to see, and LOTS of things to do. Adam had planned to get a good handful of things done during his week off, mainly clean the embarrassingly messy shop. But, after evaluating his long list, he decided to do something else...[insert sarcastic remark here]. He actually worked really REALLY hard all week building a cool loft in the shop. No, building the loft wasn't top priority, but it was something he was excited to tackle. He did a professional job, and I'm quite proud of him. I don't have any pictures yet, but I will.
Adam's little vacation started on
Saturday, June 25th. Adam worked in the shop while the kids and I went to a birthday party. Saturday was the beginning of a long trend of late nights. We left at 6PM for the 1.75 hour trek to Vancouver with a truckload of Adam's Mom's stuff that she has been storing at our house for the last 2 years. This needed to be done in order for Adam to start his loft project. Fortunately, the timing was perfect as Steve and my MIL's basement dwellers (Steve's son and wife) had just moved out and Patty had a place to actually put the stuff we were bringing. We made good use of the trip by planning to visit Home Depot just a mile away from their house on our way home. We didn't arrive at Steve and Patty's till 8 and Home Depot closed at 9. Steve and Adam went to Home Depot while Patty, the kids and I visited and played with sidewalk chalk. They got back from Home Depot a little after 9...just in time for us to head to Red Lobster for a late night dinner. The kids held up very well considering! I think we got home around midnight.
Sunday, June 26th was another very big day. Crossroads Church (the Svensen Friend's church) was having a 50-year anniversary celebration service just 2 miles down the road from our house. Adam and I don't attend that church, but I wanted to go to the celebration because my great grandparents (Warren and Ruth Thompson) started the church and eventually helped build the building. My great aunt and uncle (Naomi and Gene Brown *not the same "Browns"*) came up from Eugene for the celebration as well. Naomi brought great grandma's scrapbook from the start of the church and it was fun to look at photos and hear stories. Naomi and Gene were also celebrating their 49th wedding anniversary. They were actually the first couple to be married at the new church building.
After the celebration we all headed to Grandma and Grandpa Thompson's house for Grandpa's 76th birthday party for good food, family, and fellowship.
FiFi and Weesie...matching eyes
Musta been and good one! (Gene and Naomi in background)
I think, due to technical difficulties, Grandpa didn't get to make his 76th birthday wish...
On Monday, June 27th, we all spent the day at Uncle Don's cutting and splitting wood. Oh man...it was backbreaking work. My back was already sore from when I tweaked it packing furniture on Saturday. Adam worked ALL day, while I just helped from 11 till 5. It rained off and on all day and we worked later because Synnove's game got cancelled. I left at 5 to go home and shower before heading over to Kara's ("Miss Kara") house for a scrapbooking night. I got home at 1AM.
On Tuesday, June 28th Bible study got cancelled because of the poor weather. During the summer it's difficult doing BS on rainy days because all of our kids are out of school and having the kids play indoors would be insanity! I was glad because I had much to do at home to prep for camping. Adam worked on his loft. By early afternoon I had a pretty bad headache from working so hard the day before. I drugged myself up before being picked up by my mom at about 4:30 to go with Elise to Cornelius to pick up a nursery set she found on Craigslist. First, us three girls packed in Elise's oversized crew cab in Warrenton and drove 1.5 hours to Coastal Farm and Ranch in Cornelius before it closed at 7PM. We are all about efficiency, so it made sense to pick up 22 fence posts for the fence Adam and I will be building soon before picking up Elise's nursery set. After picking up the set, we headed to Walmart to pick up a few camping essentials and pulled into my driveway at roughly 10:30 to drop everything off. The nursery set was poorly painted, so I told Elise I would fix it up and paint it for her.
Wednesday, June 29th was mostly laundry and clean-up for me. The kids were always busy riding their 4-wheelers. In fact they had been riding non-stop since the week before when Synnove finally scored her "home run." Adam continued to work on the loft. At around 11:00 I headed to town to Elise's coffee shop to meet up with My great uncle Jim and his wife Corky. They were road-tripping the western USA visiting family here and there and everywhere. I don't think I left until 2. I had planned to go to the store to do camping shopping, but it was impractical as I didn't have enough time to get everything done before I needed to get back home to pick up my family and go to the movies to see "Cars 2" with my mom, Elise, and Chris. We got out of the movie close to 8PM...just in time to go to Home Depot to pick up more lumber for the loft. We closed the place down and arrived home just before 10. *Sigh*...another late night.
On Thursday, June 30th Adam headed out early to visit his Dad in Beaverton and make another trip to Coastal Farm and Ranch for more fence supplies. I was really dragging my feet. I really needed to head to town to do my camping shopping...but I wasn't feeling too great. My head was still aching and all I wanted to do was plant myself on the couch. The kids were perpetually outside riding 4-wheelers and using their imaginations. One thing I thought was pretty cute is that they made a storefront complete with signs and "inventory." This actually went on for several days and inventory ranged from huckleberries, to flowers, to tortilla chips.
Synnove's side...
Soren's side...
Adam didn't get back home till around 5. That evening I headed to Warrenton to do a MK delivery and finish my camping shopping. I was exhausted and felt pretty miserable. I was at the store for over 2 hours along with every other person doing last-minute 4th of July shopping. While I was there I called Kara to get a yummy dessert salad recipe. She didn't answer so I guessed what was in the salad. I didn't get home till after 9PM and she called me back when I was about 10 minutes from home. I had gotten every ingredient right except for ONE! Worst part was that it needed to be cooked, set overnight, then finished the next day! The store in Svensen closes at 8 and I wasn't about drive 20 minutes to the nearest store. So, I asked Adam to wake up at 8 the next morn to get it and I would try to make it without letting it set overnight. Being the nice husband that he is, he agreed. It ended up working out OK.
Friday, July 1st...CAMP DAY! The day started off without a headache...woo hoo! I hadn't packed a single thing and got busy right away. I thought we would try to leave early, but we found out that the road was being worked on so we wouldn't be able to get our trailer in for a few hours anyway. Adam was happy to stay home and work on the loft. The kids were soooo anxious to leave town and Synnove helped me pack things down to the trailer with her 4-wheeler. Amidst the bustle, I received 3 sales calls. Two were MK calls, while the other had to do with Young Living products. Those calls/consultations/deliveries sucked a good 2.5 hours out of my already busy day...however, I grossed about $250 in sales (WORTH IT!). Then, as if that wasn't enough, received two last minute t-ball calls where I had to contact all the parents with cancellation/game/picture information (I'm the "team mom"). I suppose it was a good thing we got delayed because I don't have cell service where we camp and there might have been a lot of angry uninformed people out there! We didn't get to camp till around 7.
Yes, it was quite a busy week. Adam didn't finish the loft...but he got the bulk of it done. Our busy-ness continued through last week and doesn't show any signs of stopping...
