april happenings

Wow, spring is going by fast. I have a back log of some great pictures and memories to share with my blogging community. I hope you enjoy it. Today will be mostly the last two weeks of fun family and church things that we have been able to do, most of it in some amazing weather!

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My dad worked for PGE for over 30 years. As a gift to us surviving women my dad's work partner gave us sweatshirts of the recent storm (the storm which kept him busy Christmas day 2008). It's pretty funny really because he had so many of these cheesy PGE storm memorabilia things around the house: mugs, shirts, etc. This is us pictured on the day we divided his stuff wearing the sweatshirts and his old PGE glasses (just for fun).
One day my mom, Melissa, Don and I went to the mountain to get in a beautiful day of skiing. It was so refreshing and reminded me why I love living here. Don learned how to ski in just one day and did such a great job on my dad's skis. Way to go Don!



We have a tradition with Rod and his family (wife and three kiddos) to go on adventures around the Portland area. A couple weeks ago we went to the Tulip Farm and had a really fun time. Kids can be entertained by the simplest things like water in a bucket. I love it! This is Kate, she is such a sweet girl.
A few days ago Steph and Scotty invited us to go to the Japanese Gardens. There was a special event and they got us on the guest list with free tickets. The gardens look so beautiful now in the spring and we enjoyed seeing them, meeting their friends, walking in the gardens and eating Japanese food and trying some good sake!


Most weeks we go to Small Group on Wednesdays and see our lovely big and little friends from one of our two church communities. This is Ella, she's such a happy girl.
And JJ, her brother. We are great friends! I have never seen such an extroverted child, and that's a lot coming from me.
On Easter we visited our second church home because family plans and our new nightly church schedule conflicted with each other. So we went to the Japanese International Baptist Church and we helped the two year olds with their egg hunt after the service. They were so confused, it was so cute! This is Cedo with his egg finds: green tea and sushi plastic toys. How fun!

I love the blossoms in Portland this time of year. There are some really interesting colors. Donovan and I continue to be amazed and we realize that we have only been living here since the trees have been bare. So we are always finding new colors and being touristy and taking pictures. It's so funny!

Happy Spring!