Emerson Lee Hoffbuhr

We hosted our youngest house guest ever this weekend, Miss Emerson Hoffbuhr, the cutest two month old around.  Scott and Cory, ran the annual Hood to Coast relay Friday and Saturday, which meant I was able to spend plenty of time with Lindsay and Emerson.  She even let me snuggle up with her for a few moments here and there.  I did find that my own growing baby bump made it difficult to always hold her how I wanted though.  I wish I would have taken more photos, thankfully Scott captured a bunch of her funny faces during breakfast yesterday morning. 

Scott finishing one of his legs of the race

Team shot at the finish line, Seaside, Oregon

Lindsey, Emerson and I

Emerson sensing her photo is being taken while napping

No more photos please

She said no more photos!

Okay, one grin

Something else worth celebrating over breakfast, Mark and Akari's engagement!

Dr. and Dr. Hoffbuhr with their adorable daughter!  Thank you so much for visiting!  Next time we see you we might just have a playmate for Emerson.

We love Pro Deals

One of the perks of Scott's job is that he can take advantage of pro deals with other companies in the industry.  This was the weekend of pro deals at our home.  First pro deal purchase was a smoker!  Scott's first recipe included baby back ribs with a special rub, smoked for two hours and then the last hour we applied barbecue sauce to make them nice and messy.  They turned out pretty good, but we know we can do better.  Second attempt at smoking was the steelhead Scott caught back in June.  Scott prepared a brine that it soaked in for twenty four hours, then we air dried the pieces and smoked them for two hours.  Now this was a full blown success! 

The vault, all clean and shiny

This gorgeous fish now looks like...

this!

The other pro deal was our Bob Stroller!  We ordered this back in May and patiently waited and waited and waited for it's arrival.  Our OSU Beaver orange beauty arrived on Saturday and I practiced pushing it around the living room as soon as Scott was done putting it together!  Another item to check off the list!

The Bob with me at 33 weeks!

Weekend Road Trip

Scott and I decided to get out of town for a night this past weekend, we drove around southwestern Washington and into eastern Oregon looking at potential fishing sites for him and just exploring new areas. Our driving ended in Dufur, Oregon, population 588, at The Historic Balch Hotel.  We love finding small hotels with history and this was a perfect spot for our one night away.  We enjoyed playing cribbage on their patio in the perfect weather, drove to The Dalles for dinner and went to see the movie Rise of the Apes.  We need to have these dates nights before Baby Girl B. arrives!  If we are within a 50 mile radius of The Deschutes River, we always make a stop for a few hours so Scott can get some fishing in.  Given that we were on the river during the hottest hours of the day, he did really well.  I think he is starting to get the hang of it.

Howdy

Looking down at the Klickitat River

Relaxing on the patio at the hotel

My first ever cribbage win against Scott!  My second win followed shortly after...

Our quaint hotel

 

Yes, we walked into a farmer's field to take these shots before heading out of town.

Scott with his rainbow trout

We probably saw at least 1,000 people floating the river yesterday, the conditions were perfect for it too. If only I could have crawled down those rocks and jumped in!

31 Weeks with Mt. Hood

Mt. Hood made for the perfect backdrop for our 31 week photo.

30 Weeks

Scott likes to refer to me as the watermelon thief at this stage.

He's HOME

I have not been so happy for a new month to start in I don't know how long.  July was a very long month for me with Scott being gone for almost 20 days out of the month.  His longest trip was to Asia (Hong Kong, Macau, Tokyo) for eleven days and the time difference can make it a challenge to feel connected.  I was grinning ear to ear all weekend after he landed on Saturday and had the best two days with my husband, it also helped that we had gorgeous weather here in Portland.

Here are the highlights:

Breakfast at Bumblekiss with Scott and getting to see his photos from the trip and hearing him talk in all of the funny new accents he likes to mimic.

Our garage is now organized!  Let the nesting begin.

We were able to sell quite a few items from the garage on Craigslist too, which always makes me happy.

Our yard once again looks maintained.  While Scott was gone we started receiving a lot more business cards from the neighborhood landscapers in our mailbox.  Apparently they noticed I had started to slack off on keeping it tidy.

Sending off our good friends Russ and Elizabeth as they move back to Washington D.C. by celebrating at The Library in The Nines hotel.  By the end of the night a few of us decided to check out the rooftop bar called Departure before heading home.  While waiting for the elevator to take us up I noticed that my main accessory, aka a baby bump, was very different than the other ladies accessories that were going to the bar (for example: spiked heels, major cleavage, short skirts, fake tans, etc.)  As soon as the elevator doors opened, I knew we shouldn't go in.  Not only was the music bumping, there was a long line and we learned it is more of a club than a bar at that time of night.  I will say the highlight of waiting in line for the two minutes it took for me to tell Scott we were going home, we got to see Charles Barkley and his entourage arrive and breeze past us in line.  I love celebrity sitings!

Other highlights included napping, sitting in the sun, playing cribbage and taking long walks hand in hand in the evenings.

I am looking forward to having Scott home for almost the entire month of August (only one night away this time)!