​Personally, I’ve also been trying to be more present with my little family, streamlining household chores and prioritizing getting outside and adventuring!  My kids are 1 and 5, and it can be a totally chaotic season of life, but I also have been working hard on not falling into the trap of “busy=good.”  We’ve done more hiking, painting, and cookie-baking than ever before and we’ve made so many memories.  I’m hoping we can continue this work-life balance as we get in to summer, and today I thought I’d share some photos of my favorite things lately!

So first–hiking!  Or, with toddlers, walking slowly outside!  I joined Hike it Baby when I moved to Newberg last year, and let me tell you, it has brought so much JOY into our lives!  If you’re not familiar with it, Hike it Baby is an organization that developed here in Oregon and grew into a national organization with chapters all over the country!  It’s all about getting kids and their parents/caretakers outside regularly with scheduled walks in their towns.  We’ve discovered so many great new places and had fun exploring trails with other kids and parents!  It’s also encouraged us to hike as a family more often too.  Here’s a photo from my new favorite place, Erratic Rock in McMinnville.  It’s a tiny little park, but it’s up on a hill with a view of the surrounding farmland, which is pretty much my favorite thing.  Hopefully I’ll get around to blogging some of my other favorite kid-friendly trails in Yamhill County, but this one is a great short little walk to start on!

So living a little slower, less busy–it means time to get plenty of bouquets like these:

…and plenty of time to get down to checking out some of the things on our Oregon Bucket List like the State Capitol during springtime and the Wooden Shoe Tulip Festival.  We’ve lived in Oregon for five years now, not counting the decade I lived in Aloha and Beaverton when I was growing up, and I’ve never been to the Capitol during the cherry blossom season, or to the tulip festival!  What???  We did these back to back and it was exhausting and beautiful.

We’ve also spent a good deal of time INSIDE since it’s Oregon and it can’t seem to figure out it’s supposed to stop raining eventually, so this season has meant a lot of chubby little baby fingers painting the best pictures.  We’ve also been doing a lot of baking, which is my JAM.  Cooking?  Not so much.  I’ve burned grilled cheese sandwiches like, RECENTLY.  But chocolate chip cookies, bread, cupcakes, and muffins?  I’ve got that!  My son loves to help for payment of 6 chocolate chips.

Anyways, I just wanted to drop in and say hello to my friends in blog-land!  It’s been quiet on the blog but that just means that real life has been extra good lately.