Hough and Puff

Today the whole family participated in the Seventh Annual Run and Walk for Sight in Forest Grove, OR. Jared and Jenn ran the 5K last year, hoping to improve their times this year. Jenn was planning to run it today, but thought it was the previous weekend when she was in AZ visiting her sister and consequently quit training for it long ago. It worked out though because we wanted the boys to be able to join us too, so Jared ran while Jenn pushed Karcyn (and Cooper most the way) and Jake walked (and ran) the course himself. Jenn did the 3.1 miles in 50 minutes (remember, she was pushing about 60 lbs of kids in a stroller!) At least three of us were huffing and puffing by the end. Jared shaved more than 5 minutes off his running time last year at 31.26. Go Jared "Hugh" (which is how his name was pronounced when he was awarded a 3rd place ribbon for his age group). We hope to make this an annual tradition for our family. Oh, and Cooper was mad because his raffle ticket number wasn't called, naturally.

Moving Up!

Karcyn has arrived! She's an official member of the Reedville Ward Nursery! She went in and never looked back. We're not sure who is more excited about this most important rite of passage...Karcyn or her parents!!

Flying Solo

A week ago Thursday, I found myself being dropped off at the airport with just two bags. It was a quick transition, less than 90 seconds. No hording the curb space while unloading. No unbuckling of car seats. No counting heads and double checking tickets while digging out my ID. No balancing act with the diaper bag, blankets, car seats or carry ons in my arms and hands. I was flying alone. How easy it was to glide through the revolving entrance door not having to hold kids back while trying to time our movement just right. How easy it was to walk right up to the ticket counter and check my bags. No corraling kids, no disciplining repeatedly for playing with the retractable dividers or climbing on the baggage scale. No pacifying a tired young one. How easy it was to go through security and plop my one bag on the belt and my cell phone in a bowl. No stroller to break down, no blanket to pry from little fingers, no laptop to dig out, no more than one pair of shoes to remove and replace. On the other side of security I discovered I had an hour before my flight would be boarding. I wandered in and out of stores. I leisurely found a place to grab dinner that didn't have "kids meals" anywhere on the menu. I even sat at a table and read a book while I ate. And yet, I was restless. Why did I keep looking over my shoulder and around me? Why did I feel like I was forgetting something? I became anxious at the gate and was relieved when it was time to board. It was a breeze finding a seat, stowing my one bag and settling in for the flight. No car seats to awkwardly maneuver down the narrow ailse to avoid konking unsuspecting passengers in the head as I found my seat, only to bump them with my big diaper bag instead. No last minute runs against the flow of traffic to the one-half-of-a-person sized bathroom with two young children. No snacks or distractions to dig out from the bottom of the diaper bag. No sippy cups to spike with Benadryl. No squirmy toddler to hold in a vice grip in my lap. No negotiations of who gets the window seat. No eyes bright with excitement in anticipation of take off and flight. As we took off and left Portland behind us, silly tears tried to sneak up on me. And that's when it hit me. I hadn't flown solo in over a decade! No wonder I felt unsettled. I had forgotten what it was like. As much as I was looking forward to flying alone, I was surprised by the irony that I didn't enjoy the easy trip like I had anticipated. WHAT'S WRONG WITH ME? I guess flying by myself and without kids just isn't my style anymore. Although...I have no doubt my tune will change next summer when we pile the six of us in some Boeing 740-something for a hopeful trip to Alaska. And...I'm pretty sure, before we even hit security, I'll be wishing for someone to put Benadryl in MY juice!

Clueless

So...we don't know what we're doing...but we just created a blog. Nothing against blog lovers or their creations ('cause we love viewing the updates), we just weren't convinced that WE needed one, compounded by the fact that we had NO CLUE how to create one. However, with the encouragement and tech support of our special friend Cortney (who is partly responsible for getting me and Jared together at Ricks), here is our attempt. We recently went on our first ever Hough Family camping trip to Wallowa Lake, Oregon and hope that this blog will be a vehicle for sharing those pictures. Brace yourself, there may even be a slideshow to come! This blog is especially done with my parents in mind who are living in L'viv, Ukraine with very S...L...O...W and sensitive internet connections.
Love,
from Oregon
P.S. Thanks again, Cort!

Wallowa Lake, Oregon