Visiting Mom's

Ben, Bridger and I went to visit my family in Southern Oregon. It's always nice to see the fam and bringing out our inner redneck is fun too!

My brother Mark took Ben up to the mountains to go shooting and he finally got to fire his prized rifle. He inherited it after his Grandfather died and it is a very special to him.

Here it is in all it's ethereal glory.

Ben's funny in that he will mold and adapt to whatever kind of situation he is in. He loves being classy and urban in the city and then transforming into a rockstar while on stage. Similarly, give him a gun and a pair of Carhartt's (not pictured) and his inner country-boy comes out. I love it!

We went down for an after Christmas family get together and to celebrate my sister Erin's graduation from Community College. She was home schooled through high school and choose to go to college early and earn her AA degree. She now has her Associates of Arts in English (I think) and she just started classes for her Bachelors of Literature at Southern Oregon University. Ben and I toured the campus with her and made sure she had everything she needed (books, parking permit, etc.) for her first day on the "big campus." It was so fun watching her be so grown up. I am so proud of her! 

Erin, Courtney (the BFF) and Mark

The whole family (including Erin's bestie Courtney) surprised Erin at dinner at Olive Garden after her first day of classes. After dinner we headed back to mom's for cake. It was a really nice evening.

Mom & Me

Dad & Me

We had a really nice visit but it was definitely hampered by a very unwelcome visitor: Ben's nasty sinus infection. He was miserable. He tried to sleep, but his congestion and head pain kept him up most of the night (he even did some "test hugs" at 6 am to see if I was awake and ready to get up with him - I was not!). He did his best to take care of it with Ibuprofen and saline washes, but by the second morning puss was gooping (yes, that is a real word, I think) out of his eyes and he started to run a fever, so I took him to the urgent care center in town. Armed with two weeks of antibiotics and ten days of Prednisone, he's finally starting to see the uphill and seems to be on the mend. Thank goodness! I don't like when my baby is sick!

On the ride home I started to feel a little off and I began coughing up a storm. Oh man, I hope that it not my turn to be sick now! We made it home safely and I'm now snuggled on the couch hoping that some rest and a few more doses of Airborne will help me feel good as new in the morning. Here's hoping I can go to work tomorrow!

My boys on the drive home. Bridger was a bit lonely in the back so he came up to snuggle for a while. These loves warm my heart.