Saturday, January 31, 2015

Ski trip

Dani gave me a ski trip for Christmas this year!  While she felt a little underwhelmed because it's not the first time it has been given as a gift, I was super pumped!

I flew in and spent the night with Sid and met little baby Scarlett.  We stayed up way too late talking and laughing, and the next morning Sid dropped me off at the hotel where I went skiing with Taylor and Andrew.  I don't have any pictures of that ski trip other than the injury pictures.  There wasn't very much snow on the mountain, and while we were skiing through some trees, I lost a ski, which caused me to slide down the hillside and run over a submerged tree trunk with my knee and hip.  I got a major bruise (the doctor later told me I bruised a nerve and bone) and swollen knee.  Fortunately, I was able to ski the rest of the day, though I probably shouldn't have and I did take it easy.
 

I decided I probably couldn't ski the next day... until the next day, and I decided to ski at Sundance with Sid.  We ended up having a great ski day - and then we played racquetball afterwards!


My parents were in town for a comedy show Andrew was performing at, and Andrew's family and extended family came out in full force.  Andrew was hilarious, and the whole show was quite funny.  Add in a basketball game and a cousin's trip to Cafe Rio, and a trip to a new French Fry place that the Craft family's son in law opened, and it was a super full weekend!  Thanks again for a great Christmas present!!!

Saturday, January 24, 2015

Beacon Rock

We had a beautiful January weekend day, so we decided to take the kids and go for a hike.  Jared had recently hiked Beacon Rock, a large rock prominent on the Washington side of the Columbia River, and thought that the entire family could handle it, so we went for it!

Shortly after the trail starts, there is a long series of switchbacks scaling to the top of the rock.  The game with the 3-year-olds was to 'SWITCH' each turn-around so they were on the uphill side of the trail.

At every turnaround, there was a 'view' or a 'mountain.'  We took a lot of stops to admire the view

 

The views were, indeed, spectacular!

Torin loved hiking!  He took a short nap, but maily was content to look around and talk quietly.

The top of the rock soars over 850 feet above the Columbia River and gave great views up the gorge.  With the blue skies and warm weather, it was such a wonderful hike!
 

Wednesday, January 21, 2015

Precoa above Timberline


For the January sales meeting, one activity was to go to the Silcox Hut for a meeting.  Silcox Hut is above Timberline Lodge.  We went up on a Snow Cat and arrived in time to watch a spectacular sunrise!

The day was perfectly clear, so there was a great view of the top of Mt. Hood, which looked a lot closer than it really is!

The hut is pretty rustic, but the breakfast, and the meeting rooms were perfect!

Thursday, January 15, 2015

11th anniversary

We celebrated our 11th anniversary this week!  The 11th year was an amazing year, and one that we will never forget with the birth of Torin, our family's first big Spring Break trip, the Walters Family Reunion, and a closeness and love that we are grateful daily for.

The 11th anniversary is officially the 'fashion jewelry' anniversary, but Nothing Bundt Cakes and flowers seemed a better way to celebrate!
 

We celebrated with a night out, and Jared's date was particularly gorgeous!!!

After a delicious dinner at the Portland City Grill, we stayed at the Benson Hotel in Portland.  One of Jared's co-workers, Shelley, hooked us up with a most amazing room - the Presidential Suite -  chocolate-dipped strawberries, and rose petals.  It was an amazing room - and it was so nice to get an uninterrupted night's sleep!

Tuesday, January 06, 2015

1st day of preschool

We sent Kate and Liam off to Valley Christian preschool this morning.  They were both very excited - Kate had been hoping Liam would be potty trained so they could go to school.  He was ... mostly.  They are in different classes and seem to not even notice each other at school!  Dani enjoyed the few hours of being back with just 1 child at home.

Dani posted the picture below, taken outside of the preschool, on Instagram.  Amber commented, "I see Liam is wearing pants," and Scott McKnight commented, "Was Kate a good teacher?"  Both very appropriate comments!

Thursday, January 01, 2015

Happy 2015!!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!  Jacob made a little 2015 celebration out of Legos

Meanwhile, Liam showed just how late we stayed up the night before.

It's going to be a great year!