Silver Falls

We had lots of fun spending time with our friends at Silver Falls. They are all camping for the weekend, but we decided to just join them for today since the weather wasn't all that great. We went on bike rides, played on the playground, went on a hike, ate lots of good food, hung out around the campfire, and just enjoyed being together. When it started to rain, it was nice to pack up our cooler, load up our bikes, and head for home :)

Happy 14th Birthday, Conner!!

Fourteen years ago today was one of the happiest days of our lives. It is amazing to me how quickly the past 14 years have gone by! We feel so blessed to have Conner as our son, and we are so proud of who he is becoming. Conner has always been someone and continues to be somone who is sensitive to others' needs, especially the kids at school who are not quite like all the other kids. Conner has strong beliefs about right and wrong and doesn't allow himself to be in situations where he may get into trouble. We had fun going to Red Robin tonight with Gram and Gramp to celebrate his birthday. After reading their card (before seeing the present :), he got out of his chair to give them both a kiss. It's neat to see that he is not embarrassed to show affection - even in public. When Gram asked about what he is looking forward to for his fourteenth year, he said that he is excited to go to his new high school and is looking forward to making new friends. He's also excited to play soccer for the school. We hope and pray that his fourteenth year is full of growth, blessings, and special times together. We love you, Conner.

Mother's Day!

I had such a great Mother's Day today. Right when Kelsey woke up she came into our room to find out what I wanted for breakfast. She gave me a choice of my favorite things and went downstairs with Peter to start making breakfast. They brought my breakfast and coffee up on a tray to me, and I sat in bed and ate and drank coffee. It was so special! Then Kelsey gave me a card that she had made and a present that she had bought with her own money. She and I had gone to a jewelry party a couple weeks ago. I didn't know that she had brought her own money and arranged with the hostess to buy earrings for me without me knowing! I love the earrings, and they are extra special to me knowing that she put a lot of thought into getting me a present. She even made Grandma a jar filled with strips of paper listing what she loved about her. Maybe some of her thoughtfulness and kindness will rub off on her older siblings :) They slept through breakfast but did manage to give me a hug and kiss for mother's day :). After breakfast Peter and I rode our bikes to Fred Meyer to buy steaks for dinner. We had a great ride in the beautiful weather and enjoyed spending time together. We then went to watch Kelsey's softball game at Alpenrose and went to visit Omi. We also went to Starbucks for 1/2 price frappucinos and stopped by mom and dad's to wish mom a happy mother's day. Peter barbecued very delicious steaks for dinner, and I cooked up the veggies and warmed up some of my favorite bread (sourdough with kalamata olives). After some family pictures (yes, Conner can now actually give me a piggy back ride, and Kelsey tried to stand on her tiptoes so she could be as tall as we are...) we ended the night with ice cream at Cold Stone. I truly feel like the luckiest person alive to have been blessed with the most incredible mom and to have such a wonderful husband and kids.

Mother Daughter Weekend at Cannon Beach

We had such a great time at our mother/daughter beach weekend. It was so fun playing games, walking around town, having the girls give the moms makeovers, painting nails, watching movies, doing a devotional together, going to my favorite coffee shop, exploring the tide pools, going on the rides in Seaside, and doing lots of laughing. The funniest thing that happened was watching the girls feed the seagulls. There were about 100 seagulls that completely swarmed them. Tina and I went with them to take pictures, and we were screaming and laughing so hard as the seagulls even swarmed around us (after one of the girls threw a piece of bread near us!!). The girls were smart to bring an umbrella to make sure the seagulls didn't poop on them. Tina was inches away from getting hit - I don't know how we all escaped without any landing on us. We ended the weekend by getting fudge, ice cream, and elephant ears on our way out of town!