Father's Day 2010

Time to head to my sissy's house for Father's Day. Steve made this recipe with pork chops marinated with apple juice and some microbrew. Then he stuffed them with apples and caramelized pecans and grilled them. They were so good. Noelle gave us two for lunch today and they were even better today. So very yummy and not even a hint of tofu in the air. Autumn (my nephew's wife) and the kids joined us. The children were so much fun. I was downstairs watching them play baseball on Wii (it was raining outside again). I started taking pictures and Korbin was jumping up and down and wanted me to take his picture. Right after I took this one, he started cracking up and he said... "I just puked in my mouth!" I was laughing so hard-it was hilarious!

Landon was having a great time swinging the bat but he took a minute to pose for me. Landon is a moto-cross champion in the making. He is a total daredevil on his own bike and he's not afraid to ride his daddy's motorcycle. His younger brother and sister are following in his footsteps on motorbikes. Brave kids!

Time out- time for dessert! Smile Ansleigh, say "cheese".

Autumn and Landon deep in conversation.

This is Molly. Molly is a Great Dane puppy. She is adorable but not liking her leash. She is going to be huge. Good thing they have acres of land around their house!

Time to say good-bye Grammy and Papa. Love you!

Steve and Ben were talking about the next remodeling project that is being planned.

Before it was time to leave, Ben and Noelle worked on Mom & Dad's itinerary for August. I can't wait for them to get here!

I got to talk to my Dad on the way home from Noelle's house. It was a most perfect weekend!

Fairy Tale Birthday 2010

My birthday extravaganza started the day before my birthday. I got to work to find this beautiful cake on my desk. Ben had arranged it with my friend Rebecca so that it could be there first thing in the morning. It was white cake, fresh strawberry filling and whipped cream frosting from my favorite, Beaverton Bakery. So very yummy!Of course I saved some to bring home to Ben! Even after a relaxing, leisurely evening, it was hard to go to sleep. I was so looking forward to my birthday adventure. My alarm was set for 7 am because we were supposed to leave between 8 and 830. I was awake at 6 am! Finally it was time to get a clue...my first card of the day. It said that I couldn't start the day on an empty stomach. So we got in the car and went to Village Inn for breakfast. It's been a long time since I've been there and it was so good!

Then, breakfast was over and I got card #2... it said that the next hour was for relaxing. After driving through parking lots and going in circles, Ben parked in front of Massage Envy. I was ecstatic! After an hour with Leslie, I was a limp noodle feeling so very good! It was hard but I focused long enough to read card number #3. It said to sit back and enjoy the view.

After we drove through beautiful farm country, we found our way into the Tillamook State Forest. Ben pulled into Charles Sprague Memorial Wayside for what I thought was to stretch our legs. It was really a romantic picnic lunch from my new favorite, Panera Bread. Yummy Caesar salad and even my old favorite- Dr. Pepper!

After eating lunch, we got back in the car and headed toward Tillamook. This was a cool bridge over the Trask River. I really liked it!

We arrived at our destination, Oceanside! My darling husband knows how much I love being at the beach. I would go every weekend if I could! He couldn't have picked a more perfect place for me to celebrate my birthday. I am so lucky! (He looks so serious but this was right before he rolled up his jeans and put on flipflops!)

We were very close to some rocks so Ben decided to climb them. Remember, he was wearing flipflops (in his own words, they are not real shoes). But he found a place to sit down so I could take his picture.

I don't think I mentioned how high he climbed in those flipflops. Look how high up he was!!!

So we went around the side of the rock and I stopped to explore the crustaceans on the side of the rock. It was so cool to touch them and watch them move.

Ahhhh- the tide's coming in and that is some cold water!

We walked and walked and explored and splashed...what an amazing day! But the clouds were starting to roll in and all too soon, it was time to go. As we were walking back to the car, we came upon a wedding that was about to start. I took lots of pictures but this one stuck with me. Look closely at the look on her face...she is glowing...but not as much as me!

What's Tillamook without cows? A boring town and no ingredients to make cheese, lol! We saw lots of happy cows enjoying the sun as much as we did.

On the way back, we stopped at the Tillamook Forest Center. We didn't have much time to look around because they were about to close but we have already put it on our calendar to visit in August. The Wilson River runs by the Center and everything was beautiful. Can't wait to come back!

Always pushing the limits aren't you?! As I recall, I take these pictures of you on the wrong side of the fence pretty frequently, don't I? Didn't this picture turn out great? I agree!I love you darling- thank you for a perfect birthday extravaganza!

Fleet Week

It was a beautiful sunny day. A rare one this spring in the Pacific Northwest. Ben managed to snap this cool picture of Union Station. I have only seen these dogs (a Chinese Crested Dog- hairless) in books and on TV. It was fun to see this pretty girl in person. Ben took several pictures of the dog for me. I chose the one with the least amount of cleavage showing on the human girl!

These are really pretty buildings. If you moved the shorter one, Ben's building is behind it.

If you look very closely, there is a momma duck, a papa duck and three baby ducks. They were so very cute!

Time to get to the ships! In order to take these pictures, we walked along the path on the Steel Bridge. Hello handsome husband!

Two Naval ships- wow what power they represent!

Speaking of power, there were at least 4 of these boats patrolling the river. It saddened me to see that our world is in such a state that there had to be armed patrols guarding our Navy ships while they were in port.

I'm gonna soak up the sun!

I love this picture! Look how happy he is!

What a beautiful day. Looking forward to our next adventure...

New House Chores

New house, lots of chores... The first order of business is to assemble the new table. Well really, the first task was to get it out of the trunk. It came in a giant box that took three people to load into the trunk. What were we thinking? After unloading the box one piece at a time, we finally started putting together 4 chairs and a "gathering" table. Ok, so I read the directions and handed the pieces to Ben while he put everything together but it was fun!

Voila! The finished product! And only one mess up that was quickly caught and corrected! Project number two...hanging the bike racks. Ben's smile was so big when he was finally able to hang the bikes up and out of the way. And it was even bigger when they were still hanging the next morning! Project number three...time to cut the grass. Landscaping was included in our last house so it's been a while since we've had the pleasure of cutting the grass.

And look, Ben recycles yard debris too! He has become quite the "recycler" actually!

Next project... sorting and organizing the tools by type, size and color. Good job darling, my dad will be so proud to see this!

Lots more projects to complete but it's time to take a break. After crazy rain falling day after day after day, we were lucky enough to get a little sun. Time to head to Waterfront Park for a walk.