I thought I’d take a quick break from sharing all of the beautiful sessions that have been happening lately to share some of the things going on in my life this month!  I haven’t been doing this a ton recently, and in the last year our family grew by one brand new baby girl, we moved to Newberg from Hillsboro, AND we bought our first house!!  Some of that made it into the newsletter, but most of it didn’t…so I’m trying to be more intentional about sharing my life with you all—at least a few times a month, and not, you know, six months after giant life changes!

Three Things I Love About JUNE:

1. STRAWBERRY SEASON!!!  Finally!!  I love love LOVE u-pick season here in the Willamette Valley, and strawberry season is usually the kickoff for us!  My kiddo loves the tractors and farm animals, I love being out on a farm in the sunshine, and our whole family loves the fresh fruit!!  We used to go to Sauvie Island (one of my favorite places in the whole world) all the time when we were in Hillsboro, but now being in Newberg we’ll discover some new places!  We’ve been to Smith Berry Barn in Scholls a few times in the past, and that’s first on our list.  If you have any favorite spots—I’d love to hear them!

2.  Reading on the patio!  Is this officially a hobby the way knitting is a hobby?  Sitting on the patio on a sunny day and reading a book is my official hobby, at least!  I was an English major so of course reading is my favorite thing to do–and we’re at the sweet spot where the baby still naps and the 4 year old can play on his own, so that means I even occasionally have time to read!  I lean more towards easy mysteries these days since they’re perfect for reading a chapter here and there when I have time (Sue Grafton, Janet Evanovich, and Marcia Muller, anyone?), but the start of summer ALWAYS calls for my all-time favorite author, Joan Didion.  She’s from Sacramento and everything about her writing reminds me of California in the most beautiful way possible.

3.  Day trips and adventures!!  We don’t have any huge vacations planned this month, but we’ll be doing plenty of adventuring whenever we can.  We spent some time last weekend checking out the Oregon Coast Aquarium in Newport for the first time, which for my shark-loving kid was a blast!!  I graduated from Oregon State in 2006, and Newport was always our go-to day trip from Corvallis.  I hadn’t been back since ’06 though, so it was super fun to see how much Newport has grown and changed!

What are you looking forward to this month?