Taylor has his Spring Recital this Monday and Tuesday, for those interested and available.  Information is below.  We are going to the Tuesday night show.  He will be performing the dances he did at Disneyland, including a new Footloose dance.  Intriguing, no?

Ticket information for the upcoming June 25th and 26th Performance Showcases at Washougal High School is as follows:

• Tickets will be available for purchase at 4:30pm on Monday June 25th and Tuesday June 26th at Washougal High School and are first come first serve.
• Ticket prices are $5 per ticket.
• 3 and under are Free.
• Doors will open to the auditorium at 6:30pm.
• Show starts at 7pm.

Saturday was the Blue Lake Tri that Tom, Tracey, Dave and I participated in.  We did the sprint distance.  It was a blast.

Dave, looking very debonair in his cap and wetsuit. This was his first tri.

Tom & Tracey - this was also Tracey's first tri.  Despite her reservations, she did really well.  Imagine that!

Chugging Coach Howard's magic honey nectar.  He gives it to Isaac for races, so why not?!

Yea - he knows there is something in his teeth...

Waiting in line for our (initially) incorrect results

This is Chelsea - she runs with us on relays and also did the tri.  She is sponsored by SunRype and hands out these fruit bars at races.  We did our part and ate about 10.

In my mind, in this picture, Tom is lecturing me on my deplorable transtition times.  But he can't be, because he doesn't know how bad they are at this point.  That came later.  In truth, it is an area I can improve upon.

This is grace in action:  trying to put my sweatpants on over my running shoes.  This may be some insight into my poor transition times.

The swim was nice, though a few of us struggled with keeping a straight course.

Triathlon video - Dave is in this one!

All in all, it was a great race.  Triathlons really are a lot of fun.  If you aren't ready for a sprint, they even have a Tri-IT race, with only a 1/4 mile swim.  We plan on doing another this summer, for sure.  Tom has a half-ironman in Bend in just a couple of weeks - that's a 1.2 mile swim, 56.3 mile bike and 13.1 mile run.  What a challenge!

Good weekend.

Adina

A lot going on in Isaac's life right now.  Just finished the Track & Field season.  While he had a lot of success this year, he was disappointed to not make it to State.  Not sure how much his injury played into that, but it was a tough break.  He was able to compete in Border Duel and place 4th for the Steeplechase, which is really good considering he hadn't really trained at all for that event.  He is off to two high-altitude cross country training camps this summer in preparation for the upcoming season.  He gets letters on a weekly basis from colleges all over the country asking him to consider running for them.  But he will have to work hard to get into BYU.  And Coach Howard is like family, calling on a daily basis, guiding him in his training.

You may notice a new addition to the right. That's right - eric & I have started our own blog - The Adventures of Freckles & Gingerbeard. Follow if you like!

Hey everyone!  I'll put a post on here just so that Marnie doesn't feel lonely.  It probably won't be read for some time, but at least blogger won't shut down our blog for lack of activity.

Things are going well at the practice.  Tom is up and running with his production and speed.  Of course, I wasn't a surprise to me.  It's just a matter of him getting enough patients, it isn't a matter of his ability.  He's a great dentist.  And, we are, getting about 30-40 new patients a month, which is about double of what we were at last year.  I am looking forward to the day when we are both at 4 days a week and very productive.  So far, things are looking up.  One of these days, when we aren't both occupied, he's got to work on me, then we'll swap and I'll work on him.  We both need some dental work done :-o!

Isaac is on his way to districts for track in the 1600 and 3200.  Not sure yet on the details for next Friday, but that is when the district championships will be.  If he gets in the top 3 or 4:22.6 or better, he'll compete at the state championships.  Unfortunately on his last race today, the 4x400m relay, he was the 3rd leg, was killing it, passed the baton and rolled his ankle.  It's all swollen now and bruised.  He is on a strict regimen of ICE - Ice, compression and elevation.  We're all praying that it'll get well enough for districts in 1 week.  I have no doubt it will be...but, keep him in your prayers, he is really distraught.

Adina has the Hippie Chick 1/2 marathon tomorrow with some other ladies from the clan.  It looks to be very nice weather and I look forward to watching from the sidelines because there is no way I can run this one unless I go in drag.

The Stride for Education, the big race in the Washougal community that we are the title sponsor for, is next weekend and is going to be a lot of fun.  One thing they added for this year was a "Beat the Docs" competition for the 5k race.  Whoever can pass both of the docs (me and Tom) and cross the finish line before BOTH of us, gets a pair of movie tickets.  Tom and I will both have huge targets on our back for people to strive for.  It's going to be a lot of fun.

Anyway, quick update.

Dave

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.



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