holidays and beyond

Whew! It's been a while eh? Well Logan did indeed make it to Portland to rescue us from the ice and snow. Here's me with my knight in... khaki fleece. Maybe not the most romantic rescue in history but VERY appreciated nonetheless :D

After a few days at home we came BACK down for Christmas with the whole Hilman clan. That is my Dad and Mom, my brother Rylan, my sister Joylynn with her husband Jess and three children Wyatt, Genevieve, and Danika, my sister Cherise with her husband Kiel (pronounced like Kyle), my sister Krystle (recently promoted to Seaman Apprentice in the Navy :D), my sister Courtney, and my brothers Hayden and Cameron.

Santa didn't disappoint ;)

Rowan had a great time opening presents, hanging out with the cuzzies, and sporting his new sailor cap from aunty Krystle (which I've heard it's known as a "dixie cup")

Logan and I had a good time too

After Christmas we went to Sisters for a few days. It's always a special treat to get that far south on holiday. We treasured every moment :D

"hanging" around with Goddy

Enjoying yummy spaghetti and amazing Christmas pears.

Testing grandma Becky's stain fighting skills with a grand spill of Goddy's glass of red wine all over a very light carpet! (incase you're curious her skills are TOP NOTCH :D) After admiring his handiwork from afar (with dad) he grabbed a rag and pitched in.

He's a good boy.

He sampled and enjoyed a bit of Godmom Lindsey's gluten-free macaroni before calling it a night in his greenbear christmas jammies.

He also sampled and enjoyed a good helping of snow with a walk around Goddy and Gremmy's house with mama. It's kinda tough to see because I took this picture the next morning after a little rain but my footprints are flanking his little shuffley prints :)
I had to walk right behind him holding he hands or he'd trip every other step.

After fun filled days in central Oregon we headed back up north with a New Years stop again in Portland before heading back home. Rowan couldn't manage a toot out of his horn but he did "kazoo" it pretty good ;)
We partied the evening away watching the ball drop in New York at 9PM west coast time and then calling it a night secure in the knowledge that 2009 had come to the U.S.



Now we find ourselves in Portland once again. After going home on a Thursday just to bring Logan to the airport on that Saturday morning to fly out to Georgia for a three week class. I was originally planning to go back home this week but army life has been taking quite a toll on my emotions lately and I just needed to be around family. So we're hanging out in Portland for another little while before we get to go home and get ready for Logan to come back, again.

This is Rowan "dance dance"ing.

Uncle Hayden taught him this phrase which most often means he wants someone to turn on a YouTube video with silly music. And if you don't turn it on he will find a computer and bang on keys and click the mouse until you stop him at which time he'll look up at you and say, "Dandans?" (meaning of course, "dance dance")

He's a busy boy

As grumpy as I am that I can't be with Logan I can't help but smile and be happy when I watch Rowan running around here. He sure keeps everyone on their toes :) he really doesn't stop for much more than to eat and that's just because he's strapped in the highchair.

He's a busy, busy, sweet, cute, sweetie little boy :)

So the weather may be kinda crappy but at least Rowan is cute :D

grumpy post

I am stuck in Portland. Logan is stuck in Olympia. Snow is fun but this situation is not, it's not terribly horribly the worst day I've ever had but I do miss Logan a LOT. I'll post a couple cute pictures of Rowan on here later (when he's up from his nap and I can use the computer with pictures on it) but for now it's just a bit of a humbug.



BOOOO snowy and icy weather keeping me from seeing my Logan!

Mommy and Rowan time

Logan's been gone training in Kentucky for a few weeks now and since our camera broke just before he left Rowan and I have taken advantage of Portland, and Gramma's camera, being so close to capture some memories for Logan to share when he gets home.

We came down last week for the zoolights. Rowan really liked the fish carousel (above) and the train (below).

This week we've come down just to hang out and for mom's birthday on Saturday :D
This morning we went to Freddy's.

When we got back to Grampa and Gramma's house and played in the snow before naptime.

After all that fun I got a WONDERFUL surprise!
All the way from Kentucky Logan managed to get me flowers for our anniversary!

With help from his mum (thanks mum!) Logan had the flowers ordered and delivered to my parents' house.

Mom always likes to take a few fancy still life photos when someone gets flowers :) The bottle of "strawberry" is one of the bottles of sparkling juice I got in honor of my anniversary. Which my parents, brothers, and Rowan helped me enjoy with dinner.

Now it's time for hot chocolate and fruity deliciousness for dessert! Yum!

snow here too!

I still don't have a camera. Luckily my video camera has a picture taking setting... unfortunately it doesn't seem to like taking still pictures very much so they aren't great. BUT they are pictures of Rowan's first time playing in the snow :)

curious little george

(My mom already put this picture on her blog but I like it so much I'm posting it too.)



I just love Rowan's little face and the fact that Max has wisely decided to steer clear of the situation by staying out in the hallway. They both kind of have that "Woah... she is serious" look about them.

bad luck!

Our camera is broken! We were trying to take a family Christmas picture last night before Logan had to leave on business for a couple weeks. The camera was on the back of our blue chair in the living room and as we were walking around getting ready to take the picture it fell off! The lens landed first I think because it won't retract back into the camera anymore and the screen will only display a white screen with the words "LENS ERROR". I am SOOOO bummed! The holidays is a terrible time to be without a camera when you have an adorable one year old.

You know what this means... time to seek out the Grammarazzi!!

Christmas tree adventure

On Monday night Logan got off a bit early so we decided to take advantage of his availability and go cut down a Christmas tree! I've been trying to get some pictures on here but our wireless router has been acting up :P But I've got them on here now! So here you go. A taste of our damp, kinda cold, kinda dark tree safari.

da boys

Mommy and Rowan in front of the "one"

As Logan was tying the tree down Rowan was trying his best to climb into the driver's seat.

Through rain and cold and dark of evening we made it!
Here is our tree all set up and beautiful!

Rowan likes it too. Even if it is a bit... leany.

hanging out with dad

Here are a few shots of Rowan playing with Logan. Outside on his bike then inside enjoying SpongeBob SquarePants.

Gotta love that grin.

fall fun and drama

My apple tree needs to take a few lessons from my parents' maple trees on how to look in the fall. It seems like leaves sporadically turn yellow or brown and then fall down while there are still half a dozen green leaves right next to them! It looks scraggly.

Luckily Rowan doesn't care. He just wanted to be outside. This is the smile he's been giving me a lot lately. It makes me laugh :)

I love watching him play and explore.

He really liked playing in this bucket. Unfortunately he got pretty excited and started getting water in his sleeves. It was really cold water so I had to be a mean mama and take him away from the bucket. That triggered an amazing display of unhappiness which told me we'd been having so much fun playing outside we were late for naptime.


This is what happened when we came inside to change clothes. Right after I took this photo I scooped him up, took off his wet sweater, pants, and shoes and plopped him into his crib with blankie and donkey. He fussed a bit more but I turned the heat on and about ten minutes later he was sleeping soundly. Silly baby. We have been having more and more dramas like this lately, I don't know if I need to change his diet or if it's because we've changed his nap schedule or what.

The good news is I found some snowpants on sale today so this afternoon Rowan is going to get to play outside for much longer :D

Rockin' new bike!

Recently Rowan got a hold of one of Logan's guitar hero guitars and, well, long story short it doesn't work now so it's officially Rowan's guitar. He really enjoys holding it and dancing while Logan or I plays a song. It's really cute. This night he wasn't wearing pants.... I can't remember why but apparently he liked it better that way.



Today Brandon and Lindsey (Rowan's godparents) came to spend the night with their little puppy Harvey. The most exciting part of them coming was what they brought. For Rowan's first birthday Brandon built him a bike! It's really really cool. Rowan's a bit small for it yet but it won't be too long until he's scooting around everywhere! (And not too long after that that Logan will undoubtedly introduce him to the fun of going down hills)

He rode it in the house...

and in the yard!
Even though he looks a bit concerned in this shot he really does love it :D

Sparkling birthday night!

My birthday was last Wednesday but Logan had a busy week so I didn't get my gift from him until last night. For my birthday Logan arranged for Rowan to sleepover at Grampa and Gramma's house while he and I went out to dinner and stayed at a hotel in downtown Portland. I forgot my camera so this post is a bit description heavy (i.e. longer) for lack of pictures.

It was the perfect night :D

We stayed after church for a bit of shared meal then went back to my parents' house to put Rowan down for his afternoon nap. After that we packed up and headed out to our hotel. It's called Hotel Fifty and I thought it was swanky and fun. After checking in, relaxing a while in the room, then getting semi-dressed up we headed out to dinner. Logan made reservations at a restaurant called Salty's near the Columbia river. The drive was so pretty! I love Portland at night, specifically downtown from I-5 along the Willamette. The lights reflecting on the river are so pretty and the trees everywhere make the city lights look like they're sparkling. It was so beautiful.

At Salty's we got to sit on the second floor room overlooking the river. They had icicle lights up which reflected on all the windows and combined with the lights from across the river and the reflections on the water. They weren't blinking but the overall atmosphere was sparkling. *sigh* I was so great. My face actually started to get sore because I was smiling so much. Logan had salmon and I had a lobster :) it was great. It was the perfect dinner. It was fabulous, beautiful, sparkling, delicious, and because I had a lobster I could rip, tear, and smash and it was all-right, even expected! I felt special, fancy, and comfortable. I loved it.

After dinner we stopped for some "movie snacks" and after another stop by my parents' house to get Rowan in his jammies, fed, and down for the night we went back to the swanky Hotel Fifty. I was glad that I got to cuddle and hug my bubby before spending a night without him. It was just a bit tough but I knew his Gramma could more than handle him and he would be just fine :)

Back at the hotel I took a lovely hot bath (which I haven't done since before Rowan was born) then Logan and I enjoyed the big comfy bed and our movie snacks while we watched the new Get Smart on demand. It was a really good movie, I think we may be getting that on DVD from Santa this year ;) This morning we got up slowly and after checking out we went on a walk to Pioneer Courthouse square and then down to the river. We enjoyed a couple breakfast sandwiches from a bakery and after getting the car from the hotel we picked up Rowan and headed back home.


I feel like Eliza Dolittle after the ball... I could have danced all night I could have danced all night... :) It was the best birthday present anyone's given me :D Logan is the BEST!

A new look

I was inspired by Rowan's godmom to change up the look of my blog. I also wanted to find something that would look better next to this cool new birthday ticker.

So in honor of Rowan's first year and because Lindsey's blog is really cool and I wanted to be also I give you my fancy new blog!