Gratitude

Evelyn and Jane make my life feel important.  I am so happy to be their Mom.  Today I took the girls shopping for a dress and we had the nicest time.  Evelyn was polite and patient on picking a dress that she liked and that I "okay'd" in price.  She said thank you for the dress as we were driving home and it was very sincere.  We then had a conversation about what the word gratitude meant.  My hope is to be able to give my children experiences but only under the understanding that it is a privilege but not a necessity.  For example I don't want Evelyn to ride the pony because she thinks it is a necessity or simply because she wants to.  I only will let her ride the pony if she understands it is a gift that Mom is giving her an experience to ride the pony.  Basically if the idea of what a privilege it is to ride the pony isn't grasped then there is no pony ride.  My children have already been exposed to many neat experiences which I am grateful for but I hope to be able to teach them that they are in fact privileges.  My hope is for them to understand what a blessed life they live and to exude gratitude.

Jumping for ice cream

Our little artist

My friend watched my girls overnight last month because I had to have surgery.  She said Jane would not fall asleep unless Evelyn laid next to her.  Melts my heart.  She texted me the two pictures below.

Portland Trip

We did a quick family trip to Portland over Evelyn's Spring Break.  Our first stop was the Ape Caves below Mount St. Helens.  They are lava tubes that were created from when the volcano erupted.  We didn't anticipate snow but decided to hike to the caves anyway.  Next time we will have to wait until summer!

That night we went to our hotel.  This was probably the girls favorite part of the entire trip!  Next time we will just need to get a hotel in Richland:)  They loved everything about the hotel.  Everything seemed exciting to them.  Even using the bathroom.

In the morning we took the rail car to the OMSI museum...

And then we fell in love with OMSI!  At first I wasn't quite sure and then we discovered the Children's Playground and were sold!  The girls are building a dam below.

The rest of the museum was awesome too.  Daryl got put on a live mythbusters challenge.  It was challenging the idea of dodging a paintball.  Daryl concluded he could dodge a paintball shot from 175 yards away.  We also ate at the sit down restaurant at OMSI and the food was worth bragging about!  It had nice warm fireplaces by the tables and was between $6-$8 a plate.  I will definitely plan on eating there the next time we go.  If you go make sure you go to the restaurant and not the "cafe."

Daryl had just ran through a mythbuster test of if running through rain or walking through rain gets you more wet.  I think that's why his clothes look spotted.  At least I hope that's what it is!  Oh and running in rain gets you more wet than walking!

We went to the pearl district and shopped around and then stopped at Voo Doo Doughnuts.  They are famously known from the Food Network.  It was fun to try and wait in line with Evelyn but I don't have a need to wait in line again for them!

On the way home we stopped at Multnomah Falls and walked around.  It is always a beautiful stop.  A fun trip with the family.  I love my girls and the one man in our house!

Girls Weekend in SF

I love San Francisco!  Mostly because my sister lives there and always plans out days of never ending fun.  My Mom and I got to go for a long weekend so we could spend time with Greta and go to her baby shower.  Here are just a few of the things we did...

Before my Mom arrived Greta and I went to a tea house and had tea and lunch.  Of course it was decaffeinated herbal tea:)  I decided I am not a tea drinker but I did love the cucumber sandwiches!

Once my Mom arrived we toured the Filoi house and estate.  We went on a guided tour.  It was amazing what I learned and I loved imagining all the rich history that came from the house.  My pictures don't do justice to the property but I would recommend touring it to anyone.

There was a professional photo shoot on the property...

My beautiful sister by the pool that the gardeners used

Sisters

Can't get over how cute my sister is!

After touring the house and gardens we went to the Woodside bakery for lunch and then to the Spa!  My Mom and I both got facials and Greta a pregnancy massage.  Thank you Greta for treating us!

The next morning was Greta's baby shower.  It was Breakfast at Tiffanys themed.  Dress requirement was your best black dress and pearls.  Seriously the cutest baby shower I have been to.  She has some pretty amazing friends.  My Mom was taking a long time to get ready and made us maybe five minutes late but what we didn't know was that Luke asked my Mom to make us late so that he could surprise Greta and open the door when she arrived.  It was so cute!

The next day we went on a hike near the Golden Gate Bridge and had a picnic that Greta packed.  It was a beautiful day to be outside.

We also learned about and and saw the Sutro bath ruins.  Back in the day it was an enormous glass pool house.  It mysteriously burned down over 20 years ago but Luke's Dad swam in it as a boy.  It looked like this back in the day...

and now only the ruins are left...

We drove by the painted ladies on are way out of town.  It is the scene of houses you used to see in the beginning credits of the ever so popular tv show Full House.

And our last stop before being dropped off at the airport was a spur of the moment dinner decision at a restaurant called Straws.  It only serves carnival food!  We shared a few appetizers and had fried candy bars for dessert.  They had a hamburger with two doughnuts as the bun on the menu.

It was a wonderful weekend.  I am so grateful I got to spend the time with my Mom and sister.

 

Moustache Quilt

I do not know how to sew.  Well I did not know how to sew before this project.  I wanted to do something meaningful for my only sister's baby boy on the way and decided it was about time I learned how to use a sewing machine.  My friend Jamie Burch makes beautiful things all the time from her sewing machine so under her expertise she told me what to do and I went home and did it.  I am so happy with how it turned out.  I like sewing now.

There are a million pictures because I still can't believe I did it!  It only took my sister to have a baby for me to learn how to sew.  I am so happy I got to hand deliver it to her in California last week.  She loved it.

Snow Birds

When Daryl and I went on our vacation last month he told Evelyn if she was good every day while her Aunt and Uncle were watching her that he would take her skiing.  She went for her first time last year and was a natural.  This year Daryl signed her up for an instructional class that improved her confidence even more.  I have to say Evelyn is already better than me at so many things and she is only 5!  I hope she keeps passing me up because it amazes me.  At the end of her class she was going down the big hills with Dad!  

Don't Blink

This month's snapshots...

Bomber Basketball

We went to a Bomber basketball game with my brother Kai and Jessica and their family.  It was nice to see all the school improvements since I had graduated.  We went to DQ after the game to go with tradition.

GO BOMBERS!  

Georgia and Evelyn are on the bottom right giving high 5's to the team!

Daryl's Birthday at his parent's house

Daryl's Birthday was this month.  We went to The Hobbit along with his other half Chris who was staying with us for work that week.  I really liked the movie.  That weekend we celebrated with Daryl's family at his parents house.  His Mom had a cookie decorating station for all the grandkids,  we did a lot of puzzles, played games, and ate a lot of food.  I made a vanilla sheet cake with vanilla icing and strawberries on top for Daryl.  My brother Kai came with a gift that made Daryl happy--the game Munchkins which they opened up and played right away!  Daryl and all the other uncles took all the kids on a nature walk--the stories that came back from the kids were pretty funny.

Valentines Day

We celebrated this year by making a lot of Valentine cards, baking a lot of cookies that I ate most of, and a fancy candlelight dinner with the whole family.  By fancy I mean by the tablecloth, china, and sparkling cider.  We had everyone make their own personal pizza to eat.  The girls felt special!  Daryl got me my annual box of "good chocolate" that I ask for every year.  I eat all of it in 48 hours:)

Birthday Party

Evelyn went to her friend Austin from class Birthday party.  She was the only girl invited and didn't even notice.  Well she might of noticed but didn't think it was a big deal because she never mentioned that she was the only girl.  Love this age!  It was at a gymnastics gym, and they had the entire gym to themselves.  Her favorite was the bungee jump.  They would pull them down really far in front and catapult them back!

Girls Night
We had all of Ryan and Melissa's girls over for a sleepover and all of Sunday.  They took a bath, painted nails, played and played, talked about Justin Bieber, and went to church together.  It took me an hour and 15 minutes to get everyone ready including myself.  Not too bad;)