Hodge-Podge

I am sitting here watching the storm clouds move through the sky. It is the last week of May and it is still unfortunately, raining. I am waiting for the fun part of spring, when the sun comes out for more than a few minutes at a time and I can actually get sun-kissed. A few weeks back, I sat on my lunch break at the Starbuck’s patio, venti Passion Fruit Iced Tea Lemonade in hand, enjoying the sun. In the short 15 minutes I got a sunburn. That should tell you how fair skinned I have become up here in the Pacific Northwest. Granted, eventually, when summer does finally arrive (please Lord, let it be soon!) all will be forgotten and I will just love Oregon again.

Jen, Ethan, and I hung out for the most of Saturday afternoon. I forced Jen out into the cold to get a few pictures of her new haircut - and capture some pictures with our vintage umbrellas. 

 Clouds, please come again another day?

Josh and Dave had planned to go camping this past weekend. Another storm blew through and they had to call the trip off. The weatherman called for snow to hit the Cascades. They weren’t about to freeze all night long at Marion Lake. They decided, instead, to wait until Sunday and go up for the day to do some fishing. Josh woke up at 5 am to head out to hike the outdoors. I stayed in my warm bed instead. Dave conveniently forgot to tell Josh that it was due to snow some more (smart guy since he knew Josh would have called off the trip). The guys had a blast but it was miserable fishing in the cold wind and snow (the high not reaching more than 40 degrees). Oh, and Dave 2 vs. Josh's 0.  Josh's pole had a malfunction.

(Marion Lake in 2009)

Sarah has spent the better part of a week on the couch or in bed due to a viral infection. It has knocked her onto her back – literally. Jen took her to Urgent Care last week since she was having trouble breathing. Sarah was fearful she had something worse than a cold. A few tests at the clinic proved it was a viral infection she just had to ride out.  She is doing better and yesterday, Jen and I took her and Ethan to McDonald’s to watch E play. It was the first time she got out of the house in a week. I stayed home from work Friday. Even though I had some early signs of the horrid cold, I slept most of the day Friday, took loads of Vitamin C and kicked it to the curb (I am praying furiously that I am right).

Friday, I got my Craft Warehouse prize package for winning a spot on the Design Team.  I enjoyed sharing the moment with Jen since she was anxiously awaiting the UPS truck to pull up with her box too. 

Tonight, I dragged Jen to the local Scrap Club at the Salem CW and we won a handful of free goodies - plus, I was excited to have my page win the layout of the month ($10 gift certificate).

The rest of this blog entry feels a bit hodge-podge... but that's what my life has felt like lately... I feel like a lot has happened and I have been going with the flow...well, and I haven't been updating my blog as often as I should... so, here is a quick update via pictures...

A week ago, my Mom and me before she moved back to Santa Maria.  My mom got married last month to George Groce of Santa Maria.  I hope I get many more chances to get to know him better in the years to come.

On their wedding day.

Us girls at dinner on their wedding day.

This is Josh and me when we went to coffee with my Mom, before she left town.

The rest of the pictures are my favorites from the visit from the Stone family.  We had fun flying through space at OMSI in Portland...

I have to say that this is one of my favorite pictures of ALL TIME! 

...we also took the kids down to see the main falls at Silver Falls.  I was so proud of David who only complained twice that his legs hurt on the way back up...

Zoe loved playing ball in the river as well as lay in our weedy back yard.

What a fun adventure we had!  Laura and Ralph, come on up anytime you feel like taking an afternoon drive!