Summer Love and Adventure!

Summer started off with a bang this year! Fire season started a bit early for Levi, but that is always a blessing for us. We've seen him a day and half in 40 days. When he is not gone, we are enjoying our new love for Kayaking. Tristan as well enjoy's the adventure and sightseeing. We are really loving the outdoors as T gets older. He is interested in everything he see's, carries his own pack, and is learning to respect nature. We hiked the Ski Bowl area on Hood, the Gorge, Prineville, many local trails.

Mountain biking is another passion of ours and now that Tristan does not have training wheels he thinks he gets to come along. Unfortunatly his idea of mountain biking is riding through the grass.

This summer I also began my studies to receive my Personal Trainer certification through NCCPT and am excited to get started working as soon as possible. I will not be working in a gym but rather looking forward to encompassing workout's that are outdoor, occassionally in a studio, or at home. Which leads me to tell everyone how excited I was to run a race with my sister Alicia in June!! It was our first event together and I hope we'll do many more together. The event proceed's benefited the Wildland Firefighter Foundations. The picture below is the trailhead we climbed 1 mile into the run. It was a warm and fantastic run, the event together raised $5,000.

I hope everyone is enjoying summer as much as our family!

Land of Sunshine

Well, we are back from sunny Arizona! Not liking the rain much, but feeling a bit better that we got to enjoy some bursts of sunshine. We had a relaxing yet eventful time while there. We took T to the desert to look for "magic rocks." Lets just put it this way...they are plain rocks but in Tristan's world very special. We visited Rawhide Western Town, went mountain biking on the Desert Classic Trail, swam, fed ducks, hunted gecko's, visited museums and much more. Marley and Tristan both had some difficulty adjusting to the heat. I am not sure T has ever taken so many naps, nor asked to actually go play in the house.

We drove there and were amazed how well Tristan did for 2 days in the car. We did keep a close count on his 97 statements of "I get to go to Arizona too?" It was a great opportunity for him to start to appreciate the desert, climate, creatures and culture. One that my husband and I embrace and hope one day he will too. It occurred to me how much my son is developing his vocabulary, sentence structure and Independence. Here are a few words of wisdom from my 3 year old, hope you enjoy....

1) "I don't touch cactus, they will poke me and I'll have to go get shots!"

2) "Watch where you are going, don't run over my happy coup!"

3) "Momma, slow down, you'll get a ticket and have to go to jail."

4) I woke up one morning and told Tristan to run down stairs, his response, " No mom, I want to walk, not run, I will fall down and hurt myself. You should only walk down stairs."

5) "Excuse me ma'm...move!" (Basically, I tried being nice and YOU failed to respond, now move)

6) " Geckos don't bite, they give kisses, you should give him kisses too Momma." (We didn't want to scare him by telling him they bite so when they bite us we said they were kissing us)

7) "Its hot, I want to go home and play with the dog." (This coming from a kid who hates being in the house, I guess when it's 100 degrees outside things change.)

8) "BOO BOO BOO, you can't get me in the pool"- Tristan's way of teasing us while he was in the pool.

Recognizing the Simple Things in Life

I can't believe I would do this, but I am going to divulge my age on-line. Yes, I am 32! The reason I bring this up is to point out a few simple things I have realized through my 32 SHORT years.


As we all hear stories of what our parents and grandparents went through, how they were raised as opposed to how we were raised and always being taught to enjoy the simple things in life, things have quickly sped up. This day in age, life seems to blow by most people. Next thing they know, their children are married and out of the house,and they are cooping with being empty nestor's.


I wanted to share a quick wake up call for me. Events, very small, that made me sit back and think, wow, I am failing to enjoy the simplicity life has to offer at times. When I was 23, and living in Arizona my roommate asked me to go for ice cream around 9 at night. I remember thinking "that's weird, it's late, a week night and....ice cream?" Feeling a bit obligated to go, her and I met a friend at Cold Stone who just coming from her med school clinical in Glendale. I choose my flavors, toppings, and we found a spot in the crowded shop to sit. As I sat there while the two of them talked I thought about how odd I felt going for ice cream. I hadn't done that since I was a kid. In fact, I truly only thought kids did that.


After 2 hours of indulging in ice cream, girl talk that should have been left at the hospital doors, and enjoying a warm evening in the Arizona climate we made our way home. All I could think about was how strange it felt to enjoy something so simple as ice cream. How strange it felt to take a few hours to enjoy something I loved so much as a kid. I asked myself, "Why haven't I done this before?" Maybe because in in Washington the weather was never nice or maybe just because my life was such a hurry all the time, I drove past the most simple pleasures.


This morning, I awoke and my head was spinning, eagerly trying to figure out what to do with my day. I knew I had to go get coffee at the store. As my son and I walked to the car he said "Momma can we go see big tall buildings?" He has a love for Portland, being wedged between the tall buildings, cars zooming by and people all around. As I began to tell him no, I though to myself, what else do I possible have to do today. So I said "yes." Off we went......


Once in Portland, we made our way to the World Trade Center, had lunch at Anne's Cafe and rode the escalator 7 times. It was the most simple morning to me and the greatest morning for him. I realized he has an appreciation for simple things like the height of a building, a car passing by, a guide dog on the street and escalators. I want him to always enjoy the simple things, so today was a good day, for he reminded me of a valuable lesson that at times I forget.


On the way out of the parking garage we had to circle downward from the 7th floor. As I drove down Tristan said "Momma, we keep going in circles, did they close the door and we can't get out?" Oh, the simplest minds.

Pain of Bullying

I am not surprised one bit that Bullying has become the topic of major discussion lately. Without going into the specific details of individuals faced with bullying and their sad outcomes, I feel compelled to speak about this.

As most of you know, I am no longer in Rotary and if there was another avenue of service I could dedicate my energy towards it would be Bullying amongst kids.  Bullying is something I faced in school on a lighter note and remember distinctly how it made me feel.

I remember telling adults or talking with other students about what I too was feeling at the time. I faced adult criticism telling me to "grow a backbone" or "get thicker skin". Luckily, I had enough support at home and kept my self busy in activities that helped build my confidence regardless of how much kids tried to knock me down. What I think many people fail to realize, adults mostly, is that everyone's mind works differently. Some kids who face Bullying on a daily basis may also have a unstable home life, history of drug abuse, or just low self esteem. When another student knocks them down, the blows are twice as bad. Without outside support, the Bullying becomes unbearable.

To ease the pain of Bullying we cannot just address the individual doing the Bullying. We cannot just try to pry the truth and information from the victim. We also have to work on giving and maintaining support to the victim in a fashion that will last to adult hood. Giving the victims of Bullying an ability to recognize their self worth. Giving them something to be proud of, making them realize their self worth in the world. Without this ability they will be unable to deal with issues of Bullying in the future. They will not be able to sort through the words and actions that the Bully's impose on them and will continue to feel helpless and worthless. Instead of saying " I am an awesome athlete and great caregiver to my family." They may say, the Bully is right " I am not good at anything and worthless to the world." But first we must help convince every child that they are worth it, they are special and point out their achievements. They must first learn to convince themselves they are special, then their mind can fight the Bully off.

Don't get me wrong, by the word "fight" I only mean, beat the Bully in their mind. Learn for themselves how to shrug things off, recognize whats important and whats not, and learn to talk.

Now about the Bully, simple....Bully's are a product of their own self consciousness. They feel ashamed, lacking in something, and need to make up for it. Every Bully needs to be put in their place, made to feel like a victim for once and identify their own insecurities to become a better person. Adults who simply overlook kids who Bully are doing their job, especially if you are a parent or in the field of Education.

Time To Get Creative

This year my mom and I decided we are going to host a bazaar next year. Slowly we've started collecting small items to revamp, re-paint, re-sew and so on.....

With my newest addiction to Pinterest I am getting some crafty ideas. If you know me well, you can probably say I am not the most crafty person. I have a good leader, my mom. She has always been crafty with sewing, painting and firing porcelain, making ornaments etc. My true love for getting to do this comes from the opportunity to spend a bit more time with my mom doing, something we both have grown fond of.

If anyone has helpful tips we are always open to suggestions. Last year we enjoyed going to the local Bazaars but then afterwards hitting some of the in-home bazaars. Those were my favorite. As most of you know I'm not really the "cutesy" type, but I'm sure I can create a pretty mean "vintage/western" piece.

All in all, I want to use this experience and time, not necessarily to make money, but to spend time with family, and maybe bring out the crafty side in me :)

Our Christmas Letter....

This will be the first official Christmas letter from the Gaudreaults! Our year in a nutt shell, quit exciting really. In February we made our way to land of sun, fun, culture, cactus, palm tree's and happy people filled with Vitamin D, our home away from home...Arizona. There we enjoyed watching Tristan experience a pool in February, a renaissance festival, seeing and feeling cactus for the first time and running free in the sun. Levi and I completed a 15 mile run in the Desert Series and are hoping to do another one soon.

We lost my wonderful grandma, bless her she was a spit fire. Although she is gone, we are constantly reminded of her. I remember calling her and every phone call lasted exactly 5 minutes......we all miss her a lot.

Our son was dedicated this year by Mike Galeotti. He is a wonderful person, family man, and is devoted to his community. Our family and friends that attended are appreciated every day for being in his life.

Levi started back up at the forest service doing what he loves. We are blessed that he works in a location slow enough to spend a lot of time with Tristan but there's always a catch 22. We miss the overtime pay :). Fire season had one of the slowest starts we've ever experienced and for part of the season he kept him committed on forest. This was very difficult for him, as he has always been heavily involved in fire. That's where my business took off. Since his forest kept him grounded here for a while it allowed me to go out with my company to fight fires.

As I stood in the kitchen of my mothers home making cupcakes, salads and munchies for Tristan's 3rd birthday party I said to myself, "all this prep work for tomorrows party and I will probably get a dispatch." No more than 20 minutes later I received the call. I left the next morning and could not return for 28 days. Levi and my mom threw a awesome party for my little man. We have a tremendous group of friends and family who support Tristan and came to love him on his birthday.

The fire was like any typical assignment, hot days, very cold nights, busy days and slow days. We came home with 7 dogs and the crew made it home safe. Couldn't ask for more. Made new friends, saw old ones and by the end of the assignment Levi was gone as well on a fire. THANK GOD for grandma's. Grandma was now playing the role of mommy to Tristan, enjoying every challenging minute! When I returned a "thank you"was in order and off to the beach we went!

I have cut back on my schedule a lot to allow more time with family, raising Tristan and devoting more time to my company. It has all paid off. Not sure that next year will bring but looking forward to slowing down a bit more. We returned from California a few weeks ago after Levi received a job offer there. After visiting, talking with fire personnel and discussing it amongst ourselves we determined the job offer was not suitable to our family. A decision I know he will not regret. In our few hours there we were spit at, saw Santa on a bicycle in short and 40 degree weather and were told stories of bears ripping trailer doors off there hinges....enough said. We'd love to stay in this area but we really need more overtime. Going from 1200 hours of overtime to 150 is not easy.

Tristan is in gymnastics and loves it! Doing well, I can see some of my spastic movements in him! God bless genetics. He is so proud every time he finishes something and I swear he has a crush on his teacher, even grandma can vouch for that.

All in all, our year has been filled with health, happiness, new adventures and more! We are excited for this next year. Merry Christmas!

What Makes a Mom Smile?

My son is now 3 1/2, time has truly flown by. On a day to day basis I never forget to hug him, kiss him, tell him "I love you", or embrace the person he is becoming. I am not going to make it all sound peachy! Motherhood is challenging, exhausting, time consuming and without end.
Most who know us well will admit my son is a handful. He is a never ending whirlwind of throwing, yelling, laughing, smashing, breaking, and taunting. Through the years he's inherited the name "Captain Chaos" for a reason. Spend 15 minutes with him and you'll instantly see that unless you are a multi-tasking "freak" you will not be able to handle him for long.

Regardless of the day or time of year there are certain things in our house that are constant. As a person with out a child a day goes somewhat like this.... wake up, stretch, relax, coffee, shower, work, coffee, break, off work, gym, dinner, relax, enjoy me time. After you have a child it goes something like this.... "God, do you have to wake me this early, jump out of bed, skip coffee just to make breakfast so your child will not ask for the twentieth time, off to run errands, never get to take a phone call, forget about shopping, getting hair done or running business errands. Make it home for lunch, make two lunches, of course they never want the first one you make. Nap time....what "NO NAP" he yells, kicking and crying to his room......ah peace and quiet. Always on guard in case he tries to climb his dresser to prove a point!

After nap, snack time, convincing my his vitamin is a gummy treat and peanuts are candy. Then back to chaos....trying to fill the day with trips to the park, play dates, constructive play all wrapped around random fits from not getting what he wants. Dinner, "No Dinner" he yells! Bath time fun, as we call it...a bit of peace and quiet while he bangs his tractors in the bathtub making our walls a soaking wet mess. Oh and did I mention trying to prevent him from drinking the same water he randomly pee's in.

This is our chaotic routine, it's ours, and I will admit I love it. Why? Well, at the end of the night he asks me to rock him. He says his prayers, holds my hand, we practice our number 1-10, read a story and he always says in the softest voice he's used all day "momma I love you so much." It makes the day perfect.