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

http://youtu.be/kxi9fZVqMJ8

Should run fine through your Apple-tastic win boot.

$2.99 digital version

This rain is going to be the death of me. I can feel it, the pent up scream clawing its way out. Every time I check the weather forecast it is right there, subdued only by the small faces of my children nearby. I am soooo glad Mike is home now. He is keeping me sane. How you might ask? First of all, I have my best friend home and everything is more fun and much easier (except laundry) with him around. Second, he only puts up with so much complaining and emotional drama. Is that hard to picture? No? I didn't think so.

All is well at our house, aside from my sanity. As long as Mike doesn't get scooped up for a deployment he has a pretty sweet job here that he is excited about. It involves quite a bit of travel. Orlando and Germany are quite possible in the near future. I'm not bitter, oh wait! Yes I am, but I am pretty thrilled for him. He has worked so hard for so many years to get done with all of this schooling and be back to a real job. I hope it is everything it seems it will be. He deserves it.

Jane and Sadie are soaking themselves regularly with Spring sports. Sadie is doing soccer and Jane is doing track. They both come home wet and freezing but they have really been loving the activity so that's a good thing. Sawyer's soccer starts in two weeks and it is killing him to wait now that Sadie has started. I am so excited to start going to soccer games!

Sadie also just had a little dance acting part in her school's music concert. The other kids were doing a nice job doing there little actions and Sadie was up there rocking her part. It's so funny, she says she feels fear but you never see it. You just see sassy! She was very cute. My friend and I were giggling through the entire song (quietly).

Ellyn is doing so well. She seems to be understanding a great deal more all of the sudden. She is giving great eye contact, nodding consistently when I ask questions, and saying so many words. Yesterday when I got her off the bus she echoed everything I had to say "Come on!, hi, how are you? Shoes" just one after the other. She seems to have finally settled into life here as well, happy at school, happy with tutors, happy with family. I
am so grateful.

That is our news, homework,
piano practicing, working out, cleaning, snuggling, playing
games, always too little sleep. Oh, and waiting for this stupid rain to go away! I have a feeling that isn't going to happen.



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

I'm gonna do this in a photo journal as I don't feel like writing out the narrative. If you want to hear a story, I'll tell you. :)

Happy to have arrived in San Diego

Our sweet ride that we were talked into upgrading to while we were still in a daze of sunshine

First stop: Santana's for some carne asada fries and a CA burrito

Some artistic reading found at Balboa Park

The view from our hotel in La Jolla

Sunset at La Jolla cove

Beautiful ocean with extra choppy waves

Sunset for two

Breakfast in Encinitas at the Pannikin

Followed by a hike at Torrey Pines Nature Reserve

Amazing view from Torrey Pines

Blue skies and sunshine

Beach trail down to the bottom

Watching a jet speed by

Just getting the feet wet

Our favorite pose - "oh yeah!"

together now - Awwwww!

Driving my convertible

A day at Disneyland - our first (of many) together

Before Thunder Mountain Railroad...

After Thunder Mountain Railroad. I didn't warn him how fast it is. :)

One of the best Splash Mountain photos ever. Completely soaked.

Balboa Beach at Newport for lunch

Unicorn birthday party for my friends, Matthew and Marisa

Rainbow birthday cake made by Kat (not near as good as yours, Anne)

Lunch the next day back in San Diego - another visit to Santana's with more CA burritos

Impromptu visit to the San Diego Zoo courtesy of free passes from my friend Sarah

He was so tired.

Panda!

He likes cats.

My token Lord of the Rings reference

King of the jungle

So close!

A happy pair on zoo day

Oh yeah! it was fun trip!

What's a Monday night without a trip to the Emergency Department?

Isaac came home from a soccer game and dug into some ribs that were set aside for Dave's lunch the next day. Karma. Moments later, we were all upstairs and could hear him screaming for us. It's never a good thing when your 'very cool' 16-year old feels screaming is warranted to get your attention. Dave raced downstairs to find him vomiting, wretching, and choking. He felt immense pressure on his chest, and couldn't get a deep breath. We were able to calm him down, and chalked it up to eating too fast. But the pain persisted - and he was having difficulty managing even his own secretions. He couldn't swallow anything - including his own spit. Dave and I were pretty quick to diagnose a high obstruction - and we tested the theory with some water. He drank about 1/4 cup and it came right back up, and he couldn't breath. He was terrified. At this point, we headed to the hospital.
Everyone there was amazing. I have always been impressed with emergency medicine - and the staff last night was no exception. He had some X-rays, which of course showed nothing - because he had a piece of meat stuck in his lower esophagus - it looked just like the rest of his soft tissue. But they finally got a GI doctor down and it was decided that he would have an endoscopy done to hopefully push the food down into his stomach. Unfortunately, the monitor they brought in to perform the procedure was on the fritz - and it caused a 20-minute delay. In the meantime, all the air in Isaac's upper GI system was backing up - he couldn't burp. I could see the panic in his face - he was in so much pain. Finally, just before he was sedated, he vomited more secretions. We left the room and they put him under (they wouldn't let us stay in the room).
He was sedated with Propofol, and 10 minutes later, he was good as new. They were able to push the food down. The GI doctor wants to take a couple of biopsies to diagnose any possible cause for the blockage - an allergy that caused the stricture, possibly - so he has another endoscopy scheduled in a month. He felt instant relief.
When we left, he was still feeling the effects of the sedation. He kept saying, "So - there was really something in there, right? Because I don't want everyone to think I was just being a wuss." He said that like 5 times. And he kept saying, "I love you guys. Thank you for taking care of me. I love you guys. You guys are such good parents." And he was a chatty-Cathy for the whole snowy, 3:00 am drive home, asking the same things over and over again.
Needless to say, we are glad he is okay. And he is really glad he is okay.

Adina

Our concert is coming up a week from Friday and Saturday so I gotta send out the invite and get some tickets sold. Dave and Adina I know have already purchased tickets. Here is a link for the website: http://campaign.r20.constantcontact.com/render?llr=iwp54mhab&v=001GW57Qq-hwGRlxb1JRFAl-fq77r7tv6fvpRgRlepY8U5zyJixlCn6nb0puBkfQvxhDW06X8xX8-EJlkdHMOD0VZ8m1a5Bo7AY8dzFqsWJTkchjejnkLX7xmL4xbRrYSBDFkyuU5KHJbyujPOb5Fn_hgvNcwuEa13z

Long link, I know. There is a link for purchasing the tickets on that website and from what they have told me there is not a service charge to purchase them online. Otherwise, you can let me know and I can purchase them at the rehearsal Tuesday nights.

This concert is unique as the composer will be at both concerts and this will not have santa and other stuff going on. I promise if you come with an open heart you will be touched by the spirit of the music. I'm looking forward to participating. It isn't cheap, but not expensive when you think of the other ways we spend our money on entertainement.

If anyone else is going to attend, let me or Anne know. We need to get Anne's ticket but would like to purchase them the same time as others so she is sitting next to someone she knows.

Peter