An Eventful Weekend

This was a busy, but fun weekend for us. We were loving the nice weather we had last week and trying to take advantage of every second of it (knowing it probably wouldn't last long). Here's a recap.


Friday we went to the tulip festival. It couldn't have been a more beautiful day. I've been before, but I guess always mid-week because they've never had the pony rides and bounce houses out for the kids before. Jessie really wanted to try out this trampoline contraption. She did okay until about halfway through and then she'd had enough--good thing we waited in line for 30 minutes.
Gotta love those red tulips.
Tegsters and me on the cow train.
Tegan happy as can be on the pony ride, only to break down crying half a minute later.


After the tulips we raced over to Canby park for my sister-n-law Sandy's wedding. Beautiful day to do it. Welcome to the family Sam!
The two preggos.

Saturday morning I got to see some of my favorite friends down in Eugene. We had a little shower for Megan and her soon to arrive baby girl. I don't know how I didn't get a pic of Kami, but it was great to see all the girls and catch up.


Saturday night we painted Easter eggs with the girls. I thought 18 eggs might take a while, but those girls had them dipped and dried within 10 minutes.
This is the best picture I could get of the girls playing with Owen Sunday night.
Sunday we had the Johnson Fam over for Easter dinner. The traditional ham, potatoes, rolls, and strawberry shortcake. We were stuffed. Anything mildly odd stand out in this picture?

San Francisco

Tommy and I took the big leap and went on our longest trip together kids-free. Our first night away from them I was tempted to back out of the trip and just forget it. But we knew they were in good hands (thanks Kristin and Blake) and the next day we were practically skipping down the sidewalks of San Fran enjoying this temporary found freedom we had. I've been to SF a few times, but this was Tom's first time. Here's a few things that I learned while there

1. San Francisco is cold...I mean never seem to be able to get warm cold. It was sunny and beautiful out, but windy and cold.
2. And I thought Portland was liberal
3. Marchello's pizza on Castro is probably the best pizza I've ever had. I had experienced it once before with my good friend Ellen, but I'd forgotten about the cheesy goodness. Ellen reminded me of it this time around and we were not disappointed.
4. If you're a chocolate lover (like I am), in SF, your going to be in heaven. Just locate all the Ghiradelli shops and you'll get a free square of chocolate every time you step foot in one of them. So delicious.
5. I can't imagine a more beautiful city...if it just wasn't SO DARN COLD.
6. I must get myself a cruiser bike as soon as financially possible. Unlike with my bike at home the cruiser's seat and my seat got along great.
7. There's something nice about relying solely on public transportation to get you around.

And now a rundown of the trip

Alcatraz was our first stop. I loved learning the history of this place. It was such a great tour.

Probably my favorite day was renting bikes and crossing the Golden Gate Bridge together. We then decided to take on a little more than we'd originally thought and bike all around the city. I forgot about the monster hills there. So beautiful though.
Tom taking a little break in the middle of our ride to the lull of a drum circle.

The drum circle
While Tom was busy with his conference I got to spend a day with my Uncle and Aunt. They took me all over and my Uncle was like an encyclopedia of knowledge about the city. It was wonderful to spend time with them.
My Aunt and I at this awesome structure (can't remember the name) created for one of the World's Fairs.
Muir Woods. This is a little stretch of redwoods close to the city. Add lots of good food and some window shopping and that pretty much sums up our little getaway.
Of course we returned to Portland a day earlier than originally planned so that Tom could see one of his favorite musical artists (Lauryn Hill) in concert. My friend Andrea met us up there. Just to clarify, we did not do all of this in one day. Tommy just really likes that sweater.

I was glad to return home to the girlies again, but not without a new appreciation of some quality alone time with my sweetie.

Sunday Stroll

Today while Papa Bear was sleeping and I was marveling at the sunshine outside after what seems like months of non-stop rain, the girls and I decided to take a walk.
We started off heading to the backyard to check out the garden. I'm a little nervous about how they're gonna do this year, but the peas are popping there little heads up.
We headed to the front yard to check out the cheerios we'd hung earlier today after I was awoken by a bird who kept ramming himself into the window behind the tree. Poor little guy couldn't figure out that he wasn't going to be able to get through. I guess he wasn't looking for food though because he hasn't touched our cheerios. Maybe honey nut would have been a better option.
We certainly stopped to smell the tulips in our neighbor's yard.
The girls then wanted to scale this mossy, stone wall down the street. It's become a tradition on our walks.


Just want to freeze this moment for a few years...
And a few pictures with Jessie behind the camera...What's got her interest??
A mailbox
Some flowers
Moss on a boulder
and me along with half of Tegan's head. So glad to have the sunshine back even if it is just for a few hours. I'm looking forward to many more Sunday strolls. On a seperate note, updates and pics coming soon of Tom and my San Francisco trip.

Conference Weekend

My heart is full right now after listening to the last session of conference. The last session of talks were particularly touching to me. Maybe it's because my kids weren't running around laughing and screaming or maybe because I didn't doze off through half of it. Either way-- these were some of my impressions. There was no great epiphanies, only a reaffirmation for me of some simple truths...

-President Monson is the prophet of the Lord today here on earth. My testimony of him and the apostles has been strengthened. I'm so grateful for their examples and the work that they do here on earth.

-I'm blessed to be a member of the church of Jesus Christ. For the happiness and comfort it brings to my life.

-Jesus Christ knows and understands each one of us.

-I am proud to be a mother and a wife and although I feel sometimes that I am failing miserably I feel honored to be given this privilege.

-I can be better...I can do better...I need to be better!