Was my last blog really March 13th? Yikes! I need to be better about updating this! And that goes for all of us - not just me. I expect updates from each of you now that I have decided to take the time to do one. :)

So what has happened in the last 47 days? Here goes...

• Eric & I are settling well into our new place in Lake Oswego - just south of Portland. We are really enjoying the wooded surroundings and quiet neighborhood. The place is pretty big and two stories so it feels a lot like a house. We finally finished hanging all our varied photos and artwork this weekend so it looks pretty put together now. I've posted some photos below. We have one guest room put together and another that should hopefully be set up once we sort out all of our storage - that means...you are all welcome to come visit! We have an awesome rec center that we have membership to included in our rent. It has a sweet pool with a waterslide, huge hot tub, lazy river and whirlpool. Kim & Treven came down a couple of weeks ago with the girls and they loved it! Just let us know when you feel like playing at the pool!

Packing up and moving out of Gresham!

Upstairs from the front door

Living room with a napping Eric on the couch :)

More living room

Dining Room

Kitchen

Den/Office

My newly acquire kitties...Fred

And Foo

Our front door - parking right in front!

Looking down our row

Good sized deck

Awesome view out back

View from the treadmill at the rec center

our awesome pool

complete with a waterslide!

Melia & McKenzie on their pool day visit

Anne, Peter + crew came by for a visit too!

Beck having so much fun

Andrew with the permanent iPhone in his hand

• We are also busy training for the Epic relay in June. Eric is new to running and I haven't been very good at keeping a regular routine so we are doing pretty well considering. We have a set schedule and are right on pace. We are definitely helping each other and it's easier to feel motivated when someone is doing it with you. I got Eric one of the new Nike GPS watches this last week so we are looking forward to taking our running out of the gym and off the treadmill to some outside adventures very soon!

• Eric continues to do well at work. He is modest but I know his managers are very impressed with the improvements that he is making to the reporting at the bank. :)
• My work is ever busy. I recently did an overview update of the rebranding project that I have been working on for the last 10 months and it made me take a step back and realize the crazy amount of stuff that I am involved in and that I am changing in our company. I am busy getting the new improvements into our 50+ offices with new outside signs going up right now! Those of you in Vancouver can see them at the office on Hwy 99 already. I drove by that office last night and they look SO much better! I am still having a lot of fun with what I get to do and there is still a lot of work to be done - nice job security to have!
• We have taken a couple of day trips over the last couple of weekends. First to check out Tryon Park, just four miles away with tons of trails and amazing trees. Last weekend, we took a short day trip up to Mt. Hood and Timberline Lodge. I had never been up there before and Eric really wanted to take me so we headed up on the sunny day. It couldn't have been a better day to be up there. It was about 65 degrees, sunny with blue skies so we could walk around all the snow in short sleeves and shorts. The lodge was awesome - just what I thought it would be. Skiers and snowboarders were everywhere and we enjoyed some late breakfast at Huckleberry Inn in Government Camp at the recommendation of Dad.

Tryon trees

Moss covered everything!

Happy hikers

The elephant tree

Amazing views of Mt. Hood on the way up

delicious huckleberry pancakes!

nothing left!!

to Timberline

snow still covering the windows

• Between working, training, getting settled into the new place and trying to find a little time to relax - we haven't had much time for anything else so I think that is it for the update! Our May seems pretty calm so hopefully we'll get time to take some fun trips to the coast and up to the mountains - Mt. Rainier and Mt. Saint Helens for starters. 

Our Friend Shanda is in this movie that they made about First Descents. They even went out to her house to get footage of her darling little girls. It just won an award at the film festival where it was released. Hopefully can we watch the full video sometime. Check out the trailer:

The Columbian