Weekend in Portland

A few weekends back, we spent some days in Portland PLAYING while Mark attended the Oregon State Dental Conference.  Macy just happened to have parent teacher conferences those days so it worked out perfectly for us to tag along.  We checked out OMSI and saw the awesome LEGO exhibit on display there.  AMAZING!!! 

 The next day, we met up with our good friends from dental school, the Baileys, at the Oregon Zoo.  Jessica and I spent the day there with our kids while our husbands were in meetings.  Sorry, guys!  All work and no play!  It was so fun seeing her and our kids loved having friends to run around with.

One of the best parts of the day, was riding the train! 

"Tickets every one!"

Then a quick stop at the gift shop! Mom's a sucker! Every one got stuffed animals!

Before we left Portland, we had to stop by Voodoo Donuts which was just around the corner from our hotel.  We waited in line for 45 minutes.  It was CRAZY to wait in a line like that just for donuts but it was for the experience!!! 

The selection!!! Everything from vegan cake donuts to donuts topped with Captain Crunch! 

 Macy's donut with blue & pink sprinkles. 

Mark eating Voodoo's famous Maple Bacon donut with actual strips of bacon on top.  It was seriously delicious!

Karlee chose a cake donut topped with mini M&Ms. Yum! 

And of course, I couldn't leave this picture out...

"KEEP PORTLAND WEIRD."  

...they are doing a pretty good job of it!  It's still a fun city to visit!

Easter Best!

Of course, you have to get the Sunday shots! I love these little kids with my whole heart and what I love even more, is that they love each other. That is such a beautiful thing to see in your children. I feel so blessed to have such good and happy kids.

It was such a sweet Easter day spent at church giving a special Easter Sharing time to all the children and then with dear friends. I am so grateful for my Savior, for His atonement and for the hope that His resurrection brings to all of us! Easter is such a beautiful reminder of our Savior's sacrifice and gift to us, of which I am so grateful for.

Easter Morning

The kids were so excited for Easter morning to come! I had to remind them it wasn't like Christmas so they wouldn't be disappointed. Macy had left a note to E.B (a.k.a Easter Bunny from the movie Hop) asking him to hide their Easter baskets, which he did, but they were totally easy to find. They were filled with coloring books, more bubbles, baseball mitts, swim toys and a few candies. They were so happy!

It's tradition for the Easter Bunny to hide little chocolate eggs all over the house. I used to love doing this as a child and my kids love it. Because the eggs are smaller, they are harder to find, which makes for more of a challenge.

And of course, more bubbles outside at 7:30 in the morning. We tried to keep it down for the neighbors. The bubble blasters were the big hit!

Easter Weekend Kick-off

Our neighborhoods annual Easter Egg Hunt on Saturday morning kicked off Easter weekend. Nicholas could not even wait for the Easter egg hunt and got a nice little stash. It was our first beautiful weekend in a really long time after having record rain the whole month of March. Thank goodness Spring is on its way!

Running to the park for the hunt.

Waiting to start...

...and GO!!!

Karlee pointing out an egg for Nicholas.

Eggs for all!

Later in the afternoon, we colored Easter eggs!

Artists at work!

Nicholas waiting patiently while his egg soaks.

An Easter package from Grandma with bubbles (& lots of other goodies) provided hours of entertainment on the back porch! Thanks, Mom!

The Sand Dunes

Ok! So I figured out how to get pics off of my iPhone. It's as easy as plugging your phone into your computer. Who knew? These pictures are from our little adventure playing in the dunes in Florence, Oregon. It was like being in another world off the coast with the miles and miles of sand. Our driver took us on a rockin' CRAZY ride, up and over hills and off sand cliffs that took our stomachs and blew sand in our faces and mouths as we were screaming for our lives. All in good fun! Good thing he knew the terrain and what he was doing! What a blast! I highly recommend fun like this!

Getting prepped before loading in the buggy. Goggles were required!

Even the little ones! They had no idea what was coming but we didn't hear a peep out of them! I think Kennedy even fell asleep at the very end.

Getting stuck! Our driver had to call for backup to pull us out! It gave us time to get out and play in the sand.

The group... standing around, wondering if we were ever going to get out of here.

Karlee having fun!

My cute niece, Kennedy stomping around!

The video of us getting unstuck!