Round 3 at Ocean Shores...

We just returned from our annual camping trip to Ocean Shores. This is the third year in a row that we have gone and we had a fabulous time yet again! This year, we were joined by three families from our ward and it was so much fun to share this favorite place of ours with some of our friends. Plus, Lia loved having a multitude of children to play with and I loved having three of the meals prepared for me! We were also blessed with fabulous sunny weather the entire time (and those of you who are familiar with the WA coast know what a rarity this is). Between campfire time, tent time, beach time, and bike riding time, a good time was had by the Hartland fam. Can't wait for next year!

The Hartland fam hanging around the campfire the first night.

The gang around the campfire after dinner.

Another shot of the troop Friday night.

The children enjoyed exploring "the woods" that separated each of our adjoining campsites. Here is Lia with three of her friends: Lauren, big Rachel, and little Rachel.

Lia became interested in bike riding for the first time ever this weekend after seeing a bunch of her buddies cruising around on theirs. A little peer pressure comes in handy from time to time. Here she is trying out little Rachel's fabulous princess 3-wheeler.

The kids discovered a primitive form of sword fighting near the back of Scott and Wendy's campsite on Saturday morning. Here is Andrew defending his turf with Lia "reffing" in the background.

Lia and Rachel having a go at it!

And it's off to the beach! Ron and Lia riding through the sand dunes on the way to the beach Saturday.

Aren't they so cute?

Escorting Lia to the "lazy river" that runs from the dunes down to the ocean.

Frolicking.

More frolicking.

A happy family.

The older kids trying out some kites.

Once Andrew and Brian showed up at the beach a little later, Lia went wild with them! She played in the water hole and the river for quite sometime before getting thoroughly chilled to the bone!

Lia and Brian getting filthy!

More filthiness. But look how happy these two are?

Trying to warm up Lia after an entire rub-down and wardrobe change.

No trip to Ocean Shores is complete without taking the cruiser down for a cruise along the shoreline.

Ron, Lia, and the Pacific.

After lunch and nap, we headed into town with the rest of the families to wander amongst the sandcastles that had just been built that day as part of the "Sand and Sawdust Festival" going on that weekend.

One of my favorites: a dragon sleeping inside a castle.

"The Sand Bar."

Lia loves sleeping in a tent as much as I do. I thought that she looked so cute all bundled up in her corner on Saturday night that we had to take some photos.

Cheese!

We enjoyed Sunday morning to ourselves since all of the other families had to get back for church (yes, we're the slackers in the bunch). Here is Lia taking a spin on her tough-girl trike.

Back down to the beach for some more river time!

Walking down to the coast!

Ron supervising Lia's sand activities.

The Hartland fam and the Pacific.

What a glorious weekend!

U2: A Decade Later...

It was during my sophomore year of high school that I was first introduced to the boys of U2. It was love at first sound. They quickly earned the the title of "my favorite band" and, twenty years later, they still own it. I was able to see them in April 2001 while they were on their "Elevation" tour. It turned out to be a fabulous evening in the Tacoma Dome. However, I had to wait a total of ten years before I would have the chance of seeing them again back in the motherland.
I had been anticipating the announcement of their upcoming concert ever since their 2010 Seattle date was cancelled due to Bono injuring his back. One day, in December, I was flipping through the channels on the radio while driving to Costco to have our Christmas card pictures developed when, all of a sudden, I heard a DJ nonchalantly mention something about winning tickets to the U2 concert. Whaaaaaaaaaaat?! I couldn't believe my ears! I immediately called my friend Mindy and then dashed home to find the details online. Within a matter of hours, two tickets were bought! And, so, after six months of waiting, the day finally arrived yesterday. And wouldn't you know, after weeks and weeks of rain, we were blessed with a stunning day in the 70s! U2 could not have gotten a more perfect spring day in the Pacific Northwest. The Quest Field was able to open her roof and let the evening sun pour in. Mindy and I had the time of our lives listening to U2 perform their music for a solid 2 hours and 15 minutes. Once again, this band did not disappoint. It has been a long time since I have had an evening like this. I felt young again. I simply just danced and sang to my favorite songs and forgot about all of my worries. It truly was a beautiful day. Thank you, U2, for a glorious evening. May it not be another ten years before I see you again...

 Mindy and I gearing up for the big show.

The view of the stunning Seattle skyline from inside the Quest Field.

My beloved band after first appearing on stage!

An up close of Bono and the boys.

Bono and Adam on the big screen.

Is he not the coolest thing on the planet?

The Edge: the second coolest thing on the planet.

A shot of their impressive stage as the digital screen stretched into hundreds of tiny screens and lowered to the bottom of the stage. You can still see Bono's image on it!

Until we meet again, U2.

The Big Girl Bed!

Well, the day has finally arrived! Lia turned in her crib this morning for her first ever, big girl bed! It's hard to believe. I know that I pushed this event off waaaay longer than lots of other mothers, but I just didn't see the need. Lia loved her crib and never even tried to climb out of it til after her third birthday. However, when that day did arrive, I realized it was time to make the transition, but it wasn't as easy as one might think as I made the goal of making her bedspread/quilt by hand with the help of my mother. So after heading up to Issy once a week for about eight weeks, I finally finished it last week. We then had to buy the linens and things, purchase a mattress and bunkie board, take down the crib, and paint the 40-year old headboard and footboard that came from my grandparents' Lake Samm cabin. But we finished it all up today! It feels good to have a project checked off the list and to be pleased with the end product.

We let Lia help us with the first of four coats of paint on Saturday in the garage. As one can imagine, she was thrilled that she was allowed to assist with this! The sentimental part of me loves that this old bed is getting a "second life" with Lia. I'd like to think that her great-grandparents (especially her frugal, great-grandpa) are smiling down on our us today.

Working hard.

Our focused painter.

I had to document Lia's last night in her crib. When we first put her in her crib, she looked so tiny. By the time we took the crib apart, her body stretched from top to bottom!

Cheese!

And, ta-dah! Here is the finished product! I think it looks pretty cute in Lia's pink and green room. Thank you, mom, for all of the hours you devoted to helping me with this project.

The big girl posing for a pic on the big girl bed!

Lia settling in for the inaugural nap today after lunch. She was pleased as punch to be in her new bed and didn't even get out of bed once before falling asleep!

The Latest Installment of Liaisms...

It's been awhile since I have taken the time to sit down and record some of the funny comments that have come out of Lia's mouth; however, in the past week or two, she has been on a roll! Here is the latest installment of Liaisms for your reading enjoyment:

1. One night, Ron was in Lia's room talking to her after she had been put to bed. For some reason, they were discussing our summer plans. After thoroughly dissecting our upcoming camping trip to the ocean and the name of every single person who will be joining us this year, Ron moved on to our vacations planned in July. Lia immediately interrupted him by demanding to know "Who's Injuly?!" This went back and forth for quite sometime as Ron tried to explain that "Injuly" was not a person, but a month when we are going on a few trips. Lia was not satisfied in the slightest and kept on asking very forcefully, "Who's Injuly?" Oh dear. I don't think Ron ever straightened that one out before wishing her goodnight.

2. Those of you who know Lia well, know that she inherited many of my type-A personality traits. My mother describes Lia as having an adult brain in a little body. She loves to recite rules, tell me when something is dirty or out of place, reminds me to wipe her mouth and hands after a meal if I forget, and never touches any of my pretty and breakable decor items throughout the house. It's a bit ridiculous. The other morning, I served her a bowl of oatmeal for breakfast. While eating said oatmeal, Lia started freaking out. When asked what the matter was, she explained to me through tears that "It's making my bowl dirty!" When I examined her cereal, I saw one little speck of oatmeal that had managed to stick itself to the clean, upper part of the inside of the bowl. Although this comment totally cracked me up, what cracked me up even more is the fact that it had never dawned on Lia that the oatmeal already inside the bowl had made it dirty the second I put it in there!

3. Although Lia's pronunciation and vocabulary is quite stellar for someone her age (yes, I'm a little biased), she still pronounces a few words incorrectly. I love this as I just think it is the cutest thing and the following story is no exception. While we were in sacrament meeting the other Sunday, Lia leaned over to Ron and whispered that she needed some water. Ron then asked her if she wanted some water from the sippy cup or from the drinking fountain. She replied very seriously that "I want it from the mountain." Wow. That is some fresh water she wants!

4. We recently were at the third birthday party of Kaylee, one of Lia's friends, who had the whole Rapunzel/Tangled theme going on. One of the party's activities involved braiding all of the girls' hair with flowers like Rapunzel in the movie. Lia took this very seriously and sat perfectly still the entire time her hair was being done by the birthday girl's grandma. You could tell that she thoroughly enjoyed having her hair styled like Rapunzel for the rest of the evening. As we were leaving the party at the end of the night, Lia turned to me and asked, "Can I take the braid home with me?" Ugh. She just kills me.

5. And I saved the best one for last! When Ron told me this story the other night I found myself on the floor because I was laughing so hard. Lia came down with her first 24-hour flu this week! I know, I know...you don't need to feel sorry for me. I managed to make it three years and three months without my child throwing up. Anyways, the poor little bug got it hard and threw up five times in one day, but recovered very quickly and was basically back to normal the next day. However, during this two-day period, I had to take her temperature a few times--rectal style. Since it has been quite sometime since Lia has had a fever, she had no memory of the rectal thermometer and was quite fascinated with it. As you can imagine, the questions began flying the second I had to insert this bad boy into her bottom. I found myself struggling to explain to her what I was doing each time because she had no idea what a fever was and how a temperature of 98.6 meant that she was healthy. Nevertheless, I tried and Lia immediately began talking about having a "beaver." On the evening of the second night, Ron had just walked Lia into the bathroom to brush her teeth. Upon seeing the thermometer sitting on her counter top, Lia announced very proudly, "That's for taking your temperature to keep the beavers out of your bottom." Let the laughing commence.

3 years and 3 months...

Today Lia checked off the first quarter of her third year. Good grief. This is just going by entirely waaay too fast. In trying to keep with tradition, I thought that I would continue with a quarterly update of her life for our family records. I have truly begun to see the transition from toddler to little girl these past three months. She really is beginning to "grow up" in so many ways. Here are a few of the highlights:

1. Lia finally figured out how to crawl out of her crib and onto the stool that is next to it (I know, I know...how lucky am I that I have a child that never even attempted this until after her third birthday?). As a result, we now just keep the gate down all of the time so that she doesn't hurt herself when climbing in and out. We are also planning on transitioning her into her first, big-girl-bed this coming weekend. That's a big deal in the Hartland.
2. In addition to climbing out of her crib alone, Lia has also begun climbing out of the tub by herself which both my back and I LOVE!
3. The biggest milestone of them all is that Lia has been potty trained for an official nine weeks as of today! Hooray! I really thought sometimes that I would never see the day. Although we are working on #2 and are still wearing pull-ups to bed, I am just thrilled that I no longer have to mess with cloth diapers!
4. Since I am big lake and ocean girl, Lia had never been in a pool before going to Hawaii last month. But it was most definitely love at first sight. She LOVES pools and became very confident jumping in and swimming around in it alone with her life jacket on. It will be interesting to see how she behaves back in a lake this coming summer.
5. Lia's imagination has simply taken off. I can find her several times a day pretending that she is a certain character from a movie or book while in the bath or her crib or around the house or yard. She sings their songs, quotes their lines, reenacts their scenes, and fights their villains. It's quite adorable. Case in point, Ron and I were out working in the yard the other day while Lia was playing in her little house. I looked up at one point to see her "sweeping" off the trees with her toy broom while singing "Whistle While you Work" from the Snow White movie.
6. Ever since she spent quite a bit of time coloring with the "triplets" in Hawaii, Lia has really become interested in drawing and coloring on her own. She repeatedly will ask me what I want her to draw and then will set out "drawing" a picture of that item in a very serious manner (even though it looks nothing like it). She also has fallen in love with scissors and thoroughly enjoys cutting up a piece of paper into millions of tiny pieces.
7. Lia has fallen in love with a few new movies since she turned three. The top two contenders would have to be Peter Pan and Monsters Inc.
8. In keeping up with her fascination with the "princi," Lia has become absolutely fascinated with any piece of clothing that "goes down to the floor." She loves dresses and skirts that are that long and even requests that her towel is wrapped around her in such a way that it touches the floor as she walks from the bathroom to her bedroom each night after her bath.
9. This is one is my least favorite: Lia is not obeying us as well as she used to. Quite often, she will simply state, "NO," in a rude tone of voice in response to a request and refuse to do it without some prodding. We now threaten her with a time-out on a daily basis to get her to do something she doesn't want to do. Me no likey this one.
10. Lia's individual prayers have become quite entertaining as of late. When she agrees to give a blessing on the food or say her prayer before bedtime (which isn't every day), she insists on doing it all alone...and this is how it usually goes: "Dear Heavenly Father. In the name of Jesus Christ. We thank thee for the food. Amen." She covers most of the bases, right?

Overall, Lia is still one of the most pleasant, happy, bright, and well-behaved little people I have encountered in my life. She is such a joy to be around and truly my sidekick in almost everything I do. I am so grateful that she is my daughter and that she is in my life. With all of our fertility struggles these past two years, I honestly don't know where I would be without her (probably in a room with padded walls). I love you, Lia!

Brother's Day

Well, every few years my birthday falls on Mother's Day. As a child, I wasn't the hugest fan as it meant that I had to "share" my special day with my mother. However, it's now double the fun when the two holidays coincide with each other as I get double the gifts and double the treats. Well, not really, but's it's fun to say that. However, Ron did pull through with flying colors and started calling the day "Brother's Day" (Birthday + Mother's Day = Brother's Day. Get it?) We were able to sneak out for a few hours the night before for dinner at the "Harbor Lights" restaurant right on the Puget Sound and then saw a movie afterwards. I was also treated to a pancake breakfast on the actual day before heading off to church. After our traditional, Sunday "fap" (our official term for a family nap), we hosted my parents for dinner, gift opening, and dessert. It was so nice to have them here to celebrate both holidays with us.

Ron and I about to dive into our seafood spread at "Harbor Lights."

Reading a card with my faithful assistant at my side.

Receiving more assistant from Lia with the gift opening.

My adorable mother pausing for a picture while reading one of her cards.

Lia and I gearing up for the big blow out of candles on the beloved strawberry shortcake that my mother made par my request.

And now it's on to the thirty-fifth year...oh dear.

An Outing to Oregon

Lia and I just returned from a little road trip to Salem, Oregon to visit my good friend, Marianne, and her family who recently moved there. Marianne and I date back to the freshman days in the dorms. We shared many a fun times together in college and have kept in touch during the years since. Lia and I had such a great two days down there enjoying Marianne and her family, the beautiful weather, their gorgeous home and countryside where they live, and some delicious food. Man, can Mar and her hubby cook!! Lia became best buds with Hannah who is only a year and a half older and enjoyed big brother, Josh, in the evening when he was home from school. Thanks, Marianne, for a fabulous visit!

Mar and I and the next generation.

Lia on the tire swing.


Making "soup" in the front yard.

Searching for bugs to put in the soup (a crucial ingredient).

Bathing together.

Hannah doing Lia's nails. What a pal.

Throwing rocks in the Willamette River.

Riding the carousel together.

Good times were had by all in Oregon...especially the young ones.