Our First Canoe

Easter 2010

One of my favorite parts of celebrating Easter is making sweets. Weston really enjoys being in the kitchen with me too. I'm teaching him how to crack eggs and beat them with a hand beater. And of course, whatever it is, if it has sugar in the mix, he wants to lick the bowl.

Coloring eggs is so much fun, but a lot of work when your out numbered.

Easter feast of enchiladas, Mexican pasta salad, homemade bean and avocado dip, and the kids favorite, homemade Mexican rice.

The hunt

We like to get the kids one present a piece for Easter on top of all the candy. Wes and Timmy are really into Bionicle Lego creatures these days, so that's what we got'em. Alli got a new baby doll.

Wes an I

...at the mother and son banquet. My 2 neighbors invited us to attend a fundraiser for the Seattle Children's Hospital. We had a great time. We first went out with 6 other mother and son couples to Red Robin. Then we headed to Meadow Springs Country Club where the event was being held. There was a dance floor and tons of yummy desserts, Wes had 4 of them and participated in lots of dance floor games. There were a lot of rowdy kids. Wes was really shy at first, but made friends with another shy kid. The two of them helped each other to break their shyness. Next year I hope to find something similar to take Timmy to.

Sand Dunes

This photo was taken on our way back. James and I estimated that the hike was about 4 miles round trip. The sand dunes were massive in some places making the hike a great -labor-intensive- excursion. This is why all my children are hiding under this sage brush for a little rest.

Dad taught Wes to run as fast as you can on the sand dune and... jump !!!

The sand was still wet in some places. We of coarse had to take advantage of making sand castles.

Dad found a lizard!

I think this photo beautifully demonstrates the massiveness of the sand dunes.

Healthy Living

For my birthday, James bought me a long desired for vegetarian cookbook. I want my kids to have home cooked meals, which they already do, but I'm needing more variety. This was the first meal I made for lunch. It is Italian sauce with veggies and ricotta cheese, veggie crumble, and a Italian biscuit topping with mozzarella and olives. It was a good one, but their all time favorite is tortellini soup with blue cheese biscuits, which I didn't get a picture of.

The weather has been incredible down here. We decided to spend the Sabbath day on the river by where James grew up on the farm. We had lots of fun exploring. The boys climbed "mountains" attempting to catch wild beasts, "lizards", and see who could make the biggest splash in the water. Weston told me he wishes he could live there so he could do that everyday. I know that stung a chord in James' heart as he wish to give his boys a similar situation comparable to his upbringing. I got to walk alone with Timmy as James, Alli, and Wes explored the hill tops. Timmy likes adventure, but sometimes leans towards the low key side of exploration. In our walk he tells me, "Mom, I want to be a missionary when I grow-up." I reply, "When you grow-up?! Timmy, Jesus wants you to be one now." It was an awesome conversation as I told him how being a missionary didn't mean you had to travel to Africa. He also inquired in to the idea of being baptized. I love it! Oh, Lord I pray that as he grows the bad influences of this world don't keep him from having a heart pure for God, and that the desires of his heart will not be moved.

One More Year

One more year. I really don't like adding years to the ones I already have, but I really don't get a choice. It's sometimes hard to figure out what to do on my birthday. Skiing? Hot Tubbing? Snow shoeing? Ahh, that's about it. But, this year my awesome husband made it special. For three weeks he had been planning me a surprise party. Family traveled down, and tons of my friends from Walla Walla, and here in Tri-Cities, came to celebrate. I had no clue! Didn't see this one coming, he was that good. The food was excellent. Of course, it was Thai. And the laughter and fun lasted till the wee hours of the morning. I would love to show you pictures, but I was unprepared. If I knew I was gonna have a party, I would have remembered it, hehehe.

Cinnamon & Sugar

Here is one of my families favorite reasons why they like my famous homemade veggi pot pie. I make enough dough for James to make a pumpkin pie. Then I roll out the extra crust trimmings, cookie cut shapes onto a cookie sheet, and then sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar. I then bake them for a couple minutes. While the pies are baking, we savor every bite of the delicious sweet flakiness. We could have gotten a picture of us enjoying these scrumcious treats, but we were too busy stuffing our face.