#1 Fan

Here are a few more of Clara's tiger outfits. She's gotten much use out of her orange and black this fall. My JV season ended on Thursday with a win and, ironically, a loss - I got the flu literally hours after our last match. Kind of funny when you think about the hours of exposure I've had this season to all kinds of sickies. I'm surviving though. It's day #4; it can't get much worse, right? The only part that really stinks is it happened on the eve of a family trip we'd been planning around Jonathan's PT conference for months (so much for Ikea, Trader Joes, BJs, and a hike at Mt. Rainier). We still went on the trip, of course. I just stayed in the hotel room for 36 hours straight with my poor little baby who played contentedly on the other side of the very large king bed. Boo hoo for me, right? I shouldn't complain because I haven't been sick in almost two years. And my little lady is just fine, so things could be much worse. Anyways, here is the little girl in some of her outfits throughout the season...

And a sneak peak at her Halloween costume. I know. I really wanted her to be a chicken, but I knew she'd get even more use from this costume. I'm glad we went with the tiger. She wore it for the last home game and the girls loved it:)!

My Little Bro

So my little brother isn't very little anymore :(. I still remember feeding him baby food, painting his nails blue and green (convincing him it was masculine because of the colors), twirling him up-side-down over my arm, and making him promise never to grow up. So much for promises. He is now a senior in high school and certainly taller than me (6'2", for now). I am okay with it, I guess. After all, the other three Vaughn kiddos are old and married. It only makes sense that Eth would grow up a little too.

I am posting my favorite of the senior pictures Jonathan took for him a few weeks ago. I know it's not his favorite because his smile is "too big". I love it, though. And I love my little bro:)!

Spokane Marathon

So I didn't run the marathon. Nor did I run the half-marathon. What I did run was the 5 mile race. My friend, Kristin, and I have been running with our little girls (Eleanor is 9 months) for a few weeks now. We thought it would be fun to train for a small race together. I meant to sign us up for a 5K. Kristin has never really run before (I haven't either in a long time...) so I convinced her that 3.1 miles was not that bad. Well, after I had signed up for the 5 Mile, I realized my mistake. The small difference between a K and an M is about two miles. Oops!

We ended up doing just fine, nonetheless. It was a beautiful, sunny day, but the temperature was somewhere in the 20's. Let's just say it took us about half the race to start feeling our toes. It probably could have been worse, though, since the sun was shining. We had run the race loop a few times and I could definitely tell the difference between pushing the stroller and running without! And to think that our runs will only get harder as the munchkin gets fatter! At least it will be a gradual increase, huh?

The next best part of the day?? Smoothies, an egg/sausage scramble, potatoes and coffee cake made by our wonderful husbands in celebration. What could be better:)?!

Portland

We took a quick trip to Portland this past weekend to visit my brother, Devin, and his wife, Larissa. It was kind of spontaneous and a little bit crazy. We didn't leave Spokane until 8:30 pm on Friday night (since Jonathan had to work at an LC football game). We arrived into Portland about 2:30 am and then left right after church on Sunday afternoon. We filled the time in between mostly with hanging around their place, eating good food (Jim & Patty's for breakfast and great Thai takeout for dinner + some Office season 5) and enjoying time together.

Jonathan has spent hours researching convertible bike/xc ski trailers and so we made a slight detour in Seattle on the way home to pick up one he found on Craigslist (let the adventures with Clara begin/continue...). This certainly impacted travel time, though. We made it home last night at about 11pm. It was quite the whirlwind weekend, but we are so glad we made it. Time with Devin and Larissa is always sweet.

The best part of our trip? Getting to see prego Laris, who just found out she is carrying a BOY! Yeah for our first nephew!! They're due Valentine's Day. Hip, hip, horray for the growing family!! As you can see, Clara is excited about her newest cousin...