We went to Sunriver last week with my family. It was such a nice time away. The kids woke up so early though, maybe because they were eager to play? We spent lots of time outdoors, went to the pool, I got two runs in, we played pickleball, we played cards, and ate lots of good food. The kids all got along well and it felt like we all got some quality time together. 

Quinn developed some new tricks this week. She can talk to lady bugs,

hang from high bars,

and write her name!

On her own, she realized she could do Q, I, and N so she wanted to learn the rest. The U was giving her so much trouble but she stuck with it. So proud of you girly!

It's been a full, blessed couple of weeks. We had a lovely Thanksgiving in Eugene. We've still been running a lot. It was such a gorgeous November! Quinn's been joining Jonathan for about 1/3 mile of his Saturday morning run - so precious! It was all her idea too.

Quinn helped me plan a cookie exchange party. I've hosted a few over the years for my friends to attend, but since Quinn is always throwing parties for her stuffed animals, I decided this year's should be a mother-child party. She picked half a dozen buddies and helped me make paper invitations, scrubbed my great great aunt's tea set, made bracelets for party favors, and helped bake the cookies. I had guests bring a dozen cookies to donate (our church hosts a foster care Christmas party that needs cookies) and a dozen to trade. The kids decorated the cookies Quinn and I made while the moms sipped hot drinks. It was a pleasant little event.

Quinn and Jonathan went to a father-daughter dance at our church. They had a blast and she came home with wide eyes and lots of singing and twirling. Such a formative occasion for these two.

We got our Christmas tree this past weekend. Jonathan and I can laugh about the experience now, but it wasn't our favorite in the moment for various reasons (love you, hubs!). The kids seemed to enjoy themselves though and it's so nice having our cute little tree set up. Both kids are enjoying playing with the nativity set and Quinn was eager to get the Jesse tree Advent routine going again and the Christmas decorations up.

Jonathan did the Tough Mudder with some buddies for the second year last weekend. This year's obstacles and terrain were a lot more challenging, but he had a great time. He's such a tough dude. He barely seemed sore the next day. 

I've been doing workout playdates with the other moms that we are doing the Warrior Dash with in hopes of keeping up with him. Other than that, we've been sharing some dinners with friends, going to the park, reading, I've been doing some bookkeeping and sewing, and my mom visited. 

I had an epiphany today about my attempts at education with Quinn. The whole Montessori at home idea appealed to me because I like having clear checklists and quantitative goals. I loved reading the book and getting her activity cupboard ready. The goal is to have a set routine for accessing the activities and they are not supposed to be viewed as toys, but learning materials. She went along with it for a while, but the girl's imagination and creativity are just so powerful and...I love it. The ideas she comes up with using sorting pasta, pipe cleaners, and beads are wild. Everything is mixed up and overlapping with her toys and I'm not going to stop her. She's gentle and respectful with everything, toy or otherwise. So, I'm ditching the structure and letting her follow her curiosities. Besides, the things she wants to know about astound me. She asked me why some lines on the street are yellow and some are white (which I don't think I noticed until I was studying for my driver's license). She wants to read the Voice of the Martyrs newsletters we receive and then be shown where the places are on the map. Which led to her asking where Heaven is on a map. She knows almost all the states from her US Map puzzle. She picked out a book about presidents at the library and wants to know what the leaders of other countries are called. She asked me today why elephants are called elephants. She also asked me today what stamps are for and how letters get to people. I just can't predict this stuff. I'll keep her activities cupboard stocked with new little goodies, but for now I think just being fully available for conversations is the best education I can offer.

We are in a nice flow here at the Gowins Cottage. Both kids are in bed by 8:15 each night so we are restarting our monthly date night swap with some friends (fist pump). We went in on a grill for Father's Day/anniversary/my birthday with my parents (thanks, Mom and Dad!) and have been using it for dinners at least five nights a week and sometimes lunch on weekends too. The library has some great grilling cookbooks so we can keep the ideas fresh and our house is staying considerably cooler without me using the kitchen appliances every night. Our current favorites are pizza, quesadillas, and veggies on the grill.

Despite my lazy gardening habits this year, our garden is producing big time. I just made my fifth giant batch of kale chips and I'm going to need to pick more again tomorrow. I went to pick green beans for dinner and should have brought a bowl because I had to stuff both my pockets and carry some in my hands just to bring them in. Quinn only likes green beans and spinach fresh while standing next to the garden. We had a good cherry crop this year, our zucchini, spaghetti squash, and pumpkins are looking promising, and blueberries are steady.

I think I might possibly be a runner now. I'm not sure what the criteria is exactly. I signed up for one of those mud runs with some friends while I was still pregnant thinking it would be a good fitness goal. I've tried running many times over the years and would find it so boring, but it has always appealed to my practical side with its frugality and flexibility. I started running when I got cleared for exercise at Archer's six week appointment. It has now been ten weeks straight of running on Wednesdays and usually a weekend day and I'm loving it! My first one was in the rain and I've since run at 5pm on hot days a few times and I still love it. I used to feel like I needed to listen to music or run with someone so I wouldn't get as bored. I now run in total silence and it's amazing. I've even started a run with the intention of thinking of something specific and I just can't. My brain empties and won't let anything in and it's such a relaxing break. Jonathan is still running and biking to work occasionally, and doing arm workouts. Such a strong, healthy man-of-the-house. I'm still working my way up to his level distance-wise, but it will be so fun to run together!

Archer is trying to roll from his back to his belly. He's not getting far, but it's quite cute. He had his first swim on Saturday when we all went to the pool. He seemed to love it and was kicking his feet like crazy. 

Last week Jonathan's parents came for a visit, my mom, sister, and nephew came for some berry picking, and some dear friends who currently live in Texas visited as well. We even had a surprise dinner with Jonathan's sister and her husband and daughter last night. 

We are just constantly in awe of God heaping mercies on us during this blessed season. All the glory to Him!

We were inspired by my Dad recently completing P90X and decided to start it again today. It also helps that an indoor workout is more tolerable than an outdoor workout with the colder temperatures. We'll be going at a bit slower of a pace than the program because we are busy still, but we figure every bit helps fight Desk Body Syndrome.


We had a nice holiday weekend. Thursday's Thunderwolves Thanksgiving Potluck was a lot of fun and there was a very abundant amount of food. We are so blessed. On Friday we saw Harry Potter with the Shulls and then had them over to watch the Duck game. We made sandwiches with Charissa's delicious leftover turkey, Stacey's tasty cranberry sauce, and some bacon that Jonathan picked out. Saturday Jonathan met up with some old Varsity House guys who were in town for the OSU vs. Stanford game. Today was church and youth group. Our church put together an Advent devotional this year and I am really excited about going through it. We started tonight with Hope. 


Any other gaps were filled with homework, walking the dog, and running errands. Hugs to everyone, we're thankful for you!

Time for a "garden" update: The basil is looking almost ready to eat, the strawberries are healthy-looking but no fruit yet, and I gave up on the chives and oregano and planted more strawberries and basil and the second basil already has little sprouts!

And an exercise update: Beginning tomorrow morning, we will be doing our own exercise routine creation based mostly on P90X. We liked the foundation P90X gave us, but we got tired of some of the exercises and the host's commentary, and we want to work more muscle groups at a time each day. But we have loved feeling more healthy and energetic.

This weekend we went to ComedySportz with two other couples for some improv. We laughed so hard we almost threw up (seriously). It was a lot of fun. We also saw Harry Potter which was a pretty good movie and hung out with our church buddies after church. It was a pretty laid back weekend to try to recuperate from our trip North.

Haven't posted in a while. Busy busy busy. We've been running around having fun and enjoying the hot weather. Jonathan started his second advertising class and and finished Year 1 of the church internship program. Next fall he will start the Old Testament portion. I finished the Deuteronomy study with Stacey and Charissa, and we will be starting a book about Godly Discipline in two weeks. We have three more weeks and then we will have completed 90 days of our P90X workout. We feel pretty good about our progress and are going to keep going with it.

Amber and her boyfriend Josh came down to visit last weekend. It was really great to see them. Here is a photo of us eating brunch at Posh.This weekend we got lunch with Jonathan's childhood buddy Kevin. We also ran a bunch of errands to get ready for our trip to Oregon on Friday. We're looking forward to seeing everybody!

We had a very fun Memorial Day weekend! Andy and Mary flew in Friday night and stayed through Monday Afternoon. We of course started the fun at In N Out; Jonathan got a 4x4 and Andy got a burger "animal style", me and Mary just got classic ones. Saturday we got up early, went to breakfast at Posh Bagel and then to Half Moon Bay (with Shinobi in tow) and then headed to Stanford's campus and Downtown Palo Alto for sightseeing and more good food. Sunday we went to San Francisco and wandered around Fisherman's Wharf and Golden Gate Park. When our legs couldn't take anymore walking, we returned home for BBQ, Mexican, and Thai pizzas and the Terminator movie (which features our Governator and some lovely imagery of the Bay Area after a nuclear bomb). This morning we strolled around Los Altos and enjoyed the sunshine until we had to take our friends to the airport. It was great seeing familiar faces! Shinobi loved having them here too and is exhausted from all the attention he got.

I am happy to report my basil is growing back and there are some strawberry leaves in my mini garden. We are still going strong with our workout and just completed week 5!

We are halfway through week two of our workout now and are still feeling good. For those who have asked which workout program, we are doing P90X. Don't laugh, I know it looks cheesy, but the instructor is really motivating and actually funny too. He must be, or we wouldn't still be getting up at 5:52am eight days later.

My basil is starting to look a little more substantial and you might be able to barely see some sprouts in the strawberry pot on the left. Hopefully there is growth going on below the surface that I just can't see yet... 

We just got back from helping plant a Tomorrow Garden. We woke up at 6am to drive up to an elementary school in Santa Rosa to start work at 8am. Jonathan's work was doing a community outreach event coordinated by a group called Tomorrow Gardens. There were 150 volunteers all working until about 2pm to haul dirt, plant trees and native California plants, and lay a decomposed granite walkway. It was intense, but it always feels good to be outside especially when it is for a good cause. It looked really good and some kids from the school were there helping and were very excited about the fact that they could watch these plants grow everyday at school.

The trouble is, we have to stick to our workout routine which means when I am done with this post we will be starting an hour of KenPo. I think it's some sort of cardio martial art. Wednesday was Arms & Shoulders & Abs, Thursday was Yoga, and Friday was Legs & Back & Abs. We have already noticed some positives like more energy, better posture, and more restful sleep. Ahhh...

Well, we have completed 2 days of the new workout. The first day was Chest & Arms: an hour of a variety of push-ups and pull-ups. Today was an hour of Plyometrics a.k.a. jumping around and squatting. We were both toast after 30 minutes. To top it off, we did the 20 minute Ab video last night and then I went to ballet. We are both very, very sore today to say the least, but we have been lazy long enough. Tomorrow is Shoulders & Arms, ugh. The temperature today and yesterday was 90+ degrees too! Our pool just got remodeled so we might go check it out tonight.

We have the Andy and Mary visiting us in May, Amber visiting in June, Laura's wedding in Oregon in July, and now Boo coming to visit in August! If you want to come visit and relax by the pool and be chauffered to fancy restaurants, let us know! We hope everyone is healthy and well!

We are starting a new workout routine tomorrow morning and I figure if I write about it publicly, maybe it will be just enough motivation to keep doing it. The routine is a series of 12 DVDs with different forms of cardio, strength, and flexibility that you are supposed to do 6 days a week for an hour each day. We just bought it off someone on Craigslist even though it is one of those goofy infomercials. We are both happy enough with our physiques currently, but are starting to feel our bodies getting old and tired from sitting at a desk all day long and want to do something about it before it's too late. So tomorrow at 6am it begins, drum roll please...