Easter & Izzy's Bday!

Wow, what a weekend. Easter weekend was a jam packed weekend that started Friday. I was very pleased to have the girls this weekend as it was supposed to be Kari's weekend with them. She decied to leave the kids with me and went to San Diego for a girls trip, thus I had the kiddos . .it's always nice to have more time with them.

We started off with Friday ballet. I left work a bit early to rush to daycare, scoop up the girls and head off to ballet. We made it in the nick of time and Izzy was perfect as usual.

The next day we had a big party to plan for. On Thursday my Mom and I took the girls to a party store and bought a ton of bday party stuff. Saturday morning we picked up Grandma, came back home and got ready for the big party. We decorated, made food and got excited for Izzy's gifts. In all we had 13 kids at the party and it was a great time. We had a full agenda indeed. We played bingo, decorated eggs, played a special princess game, decorated and ate cup cakes and finally opened presents. The kids played well and took full advantage of the playroom between activities.

Mom was in charge of the food. We had a ton of snacks and I also added some chicken wings, which seemed to go over pretty well. The party went on for about 3 hours then everyone left. We cleaned up, hung out, then ran Grandma back home.

Once I got home the girls and I relaxed and cuddled up on the couch and watched a movie. It was a long day indeed and we were all tired. Once the girls went to bed I prepared their Easter baskets. I dug out all of my supplied I had gathered, assembled the baskets and proceeded to hide some plastic eggs around the house. Finally I went to bed.

7:05 am I was awaken by screams of joy as Izzy spotted her basket and told Mimi to wake up and see what the Easter Bunny had brought. They had a blast, and it was a great weekend, and boy did I need some rest, but it was worth it to give them some great memories.

March On!

Wow February is over ... guess it really is the shortest month. The girls and I kept busy with our normal Sunday swim at Grandma Judy's place. It's about two hours of me serving as the dolphin that the girls ride, up and down the length of the pool.

In addition to swimming we had friends over for dinner (Michael, Leslynn and their kids) as well as got to know some of my new neighbors a bit better. One of the neighbors is a guitarist and helped me with my strings as it was giving me some grief. We also met the neighbors right next door and found out that the guy's Dad built the house we live in . .pretty cool.

The garage is almost finished. The burst pipe damage resulted in some new insulation, sheet rock and of course paint. It will be nice to create a comfortable garage as the weather is starting to get a little nicer thus the projects begin :)

We got some family pictures done as well. It was a good time and I wanted to make sure and capture the girls on film as they are growing so fast. Izzy is loving school and Mimi is growing like crazy and her vocabulary is amazing.

Thats it for now ..marching on!

January ends in the snow

The kids and I want sledding on Sunday. We met the Stocktons and Paces up at Ski Bowl for some tubing. Izzy had a blast . .Mimi . .not so much. She was sad and not overly thrilled with the idea of sliding down a hill on an inner tube. Oh well. We had fun anyway then had lunch at the Mt. Hood Brewery. I never really liked that place and my feelings have not really changed. Come to find out it's owned by Timberline lodge . .guess that makes sense.

After the tubing we rushed home, got ready and went to dinner at my former step Mother's place Jamey. I met her new mother in law and new husband and also had a chance to visit with my brother and sister which was great. My Mom went with us and we all had a great time. Jamey treated the girls to some nice gifts and Ben, Jamey's husband cooked up some good eats on the grill. It was nice, and we hope to have more dinners like that going forward.

Monday I decided to have another mental health day for myself. I took a half day of PTO and went snowboarding. Nice day overall. NO LINES and the snow was actually not bad at all. It was great doing lap after lap and enjoying some fresh air. I rode my 2.5 hours then headed home, logged on to work and put in about 4 hours.

All in all not a bad weekend. Kari is traveling for business and a girls trip to Sun Valley this week so I get the girls more than normal!! Looking forward to some quality time with my little ones.

Where to start?

Well I hope to update this more often. 2009 was quite a year. Divorce, new house, lot's pain and a new opportunity to live life once again. My girls and I will get through this and I hope and pray for the best.

We've been keeping busy with a variety of trips and activities. I'd hope to write them down so the girls can look back and remember our experiences. Disneyland in November was a blast. We also had a pretty good Christmas. The girls were with me and my Mom came over and cooked a great holiday dinner. In addition to that my Uncle Tony and Kathy drove over from Lewiston to spend the holiday with us. Christmas night we had Kenny and his family over for dinner. It was a nice time.

New Years was fun as well. We drove to Bend and spent it with the Cornett's . We played in the snow and the girls were in heaven playing with Jeff and Jen's girls. We also met up with the Minors, Paces, Maitlands, Alvarez' as well as some of Jeff's family. We all watched the Ducks lose the Rose Bowl on New Years day, but still were glad to see a good day and cheer on our team. Overall a fun, low key trip.

Now that the new year is here we are getting into the swing of things. I've taken Izzy to the Mountain and gotten her started on skiing. I got her all of her equipement and then bought her a season pass (along with mine) so she can get exposed to yet another sport/activity. She absolutley loved her lesson and wanted to do some more skiing after. I'm very proud of her and hope to get up again soon. Kari is traveling for work a lot this and next month so I am taking some vacation days to compensate and hope to get up to the mountain at least once while she's a way.

So that's it. I'll be here more often. Looking forward to a great 2010.

Summer 2008

Wow . .it's been a long time since I've written. I guess that's indicative of how this summer has been for me and the family. We've been running non-stop and trying to enjoy as much of summer as possible. Tons of activites have kept us busy . .both big and small.

Our big vacation this year was our trip to Wallowa Lake. Everyone had a blast. We went with the Maitlands, Schauremann's, Stocktons, Odles, and the Lish family. Two boats, two houses and a beautiful lake. There was plenty of skiing, snowboarding, surfing, tubing, and swimming for everyone. The two houses we had were right next to each other and lake front as well. Great homes with great views.

Besides the lake trip we've kept busy closer to home. We attended some great outdoor concerts here in PDX. Kruegers farm and the city fo Portland hold nice summer concerts. We attended and enjoyed good food and fair music :) . . .but it was very nice to get out and relax in the good weather.

In addition to playing Kari and I have been attempting to "do the right thing". We bought bikes this summer. Yep, now we try to ride to work a couple of days a week. We figure as busy as we are this is our chance to workout, and it's also better for the environment which makes me feel better. Thus far I've made over 23 round trips on my bike to and from work. It's not always easy and some days are better than others but I figure it's a start and hopefully this becomes a trend going forward.

VEGAS BABY!! Yeper, to round out the summer we took our annual trip to Vegas. This year was a small but distinguished crowd - just us and the Lindbergs. We stayed in the New York, New York and had a great time. It was nice to have a weekend of chilling out, gambling and just taking some advantage of some kid free entertainment. We got out without losing our shirts or too much $$ as well and had a great time. I'd mention more but . .as the saying goes . .what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas ;)

That's it for now. Fall is here . .wow how time flys.

Home Sweet Home

Alas, it's done . . er, almost anyway.

Thanks to everyone for enduring our constant mentioning of the "house". It's finally up and we've been in it for about two months. So far so good, we love the space and the neighborhood is awesome. It's nice having more room and being able to actually park my car in my garage is a nice feeling. We also really like beign almost 40 yards off the nearest road, as it's peace of mind when the girls are playing outside. Kari and I are very pleased with the layout of the home as that was one of the main reasons for building a custom home. The great room works great! lol. We love being able to hang out around the kitchen and dining area while enjoying music and playing with the girls all at the same time.

Another feature we are really enjoying is the vast amount of windows. We really wanted a lot of natural light in the house and I feel we are getting that. The great room, stairway, kitchen and even the bedroom areas are well lit. The windows also allow us to enjoy a lot of the trees and birds which are in abundance outside.

The girls have huge rooms that they can grow into, and yes . . . Izzy's room is pink in case you were wondering. Kari and I are very pleased with room size and location and we've started to fill the home with furniture . . . slowly but surely.

Our next phase of homesteading will be the landscaping. We've got some grass in and the fence has been been built. I took down the ugly chain link fence (with the help of my brother-in-law & his buddy) and it really made a big difference. One of the reasons we built here is that we loved the green surroundings.

Like I said the neighborhood and surrounding area is wonderful. I've taken a few runs on the SW trails in the area and gotten a little more familiar with Marshal Park. I look forward to more exploration of the natural trails in the area. The family is liking it too as we took an awesome nature hike just the other day and the girls loved it. It's also a good time of the year as Spring is starting to peek through the clouds and the trees in the area are beginning to blossom.

Not sure if we will have a traditional "house warming" as several people have been over already, but we are thinking that a spring kick off party could be in the works.

Pictures to follow. Bye for now.

Happy Holidays Indeed

Happy Holidays . . .sounds good. It could also be called super busy, 100 mph, hold on tight holidays as well :)

We didn't really slow down this holiday season but the famiy did have a chance to enjoy the finer points of the various holidays. Thanksgiving was very relaxing and a nice day to hang with the family. We were able to go to Albany for turkey day where Dave and Eileen hosted a great meal that offered a ton of good food and excellent company as well. We dined in the newly finished "bonus" area above their workshop. There was no shortage of room or food for that matter and the day was great - thanks guys!

Because we've been uber busy this year with the selling, and building of houses we opted out of our annual Holiday party this year. There were however no shortage of celebrations as we were able to sych up with friends and family on numerous occasions to share some holiday cheer. We visited Santa for the third year in the row with the Maitlands. It was nice, and Izzy didn't cry for the second year in a row, but her little sister MeMe did, so maybe they're more alike than we think afterall.

On Christmas eve we ventured down to Albany to celebrate and exchange gifts with the family. Everyone was very generous as usual, and it was a great time. I still think Izzy would have a hard time remembering all of the great gifts she got that day as her Grandparents and Uncles were very generous as usual and showered the kids with gifts and love.

A few days later we loaded the 4Runner with kids, loads of gifts and plenty of road snacks, then took off to eastern Oregon. The roads were pretty icy and I was a road weary and glossy eyed when we finally arrived but we made it in one piece. Amelia was not a big fan of the drive but settled back into her normal, happy self once we got to Mom's apartment. During our visit we saw a lot of family. Izzy's cousin Dylan came over for a visit and they played like old friends. Mom was a gracious host and made the visit very enjoyable as usual. Christmas day we headed a little further east and stopped in Nampa at my Aunt and Uncle's home. My cousins, grandparents and several other small second cousins filled the house. It was great to see everyone and I always like our family gatherings.

We were going to keep going east to see my Aunt Judy and Uncle Bob in Twin Falls, but bad weather and even worse roads led to a "game time" decision to head back to Portland rather than risk the drive. Overall a long road trip but still a nice visit.

Once we returned home it was time to start packing - good times. We sold our house and remained very average meeting the 6 month for sale mark . . it's been a slow housing market in case you haven't heard :) In the middle of our packing we were able to enjoy new years. Kari and I pawned off the girls to Grandma and Grandpa and we hit the slopes for an excellent day of snowboarding on new year's eve. Crystal clear, blue skies and plenty of fresh powder resulted in a great day of riding at Mt. Hood Meadows that left us both very happy and a little sore as well.

The next day we went to our friends Lara and Dan's annual New Year's Day party. It was nice to meet some new people and toast the new year with old friends as well.

Now our family is headed into the new year with a lot to look forward to. MeMe is walking, Izzy is changing right before our eyes, a new house is just around the corner, and several other adventures await.

Best of luck to everyone this coming year.