White Easter

We didn't get a white Christmas...but we got a white Easter. We spent the second half of Easter Sunday up at my parents and finally got to do some sledding.

Aunt Bren and the girls dressed for snow.

Lauryn counting her loot from the indoor egg hunt.

Ready...Set...Go! Grandma, Grandpa, and Bren braved the cold and took the girls out to play. I came out in time to take some more pictures.

Lauryn wore her new pink bunny stuffed in her snowsuit the whole time.

Happy Birthday Lauryn!

It's Lauryn's birthday today, but we celebrated it on Saturday. It was a beautiful day which allowed us to have the party outside. Lunch was fruit salad and quesadillas. Our activities included painting ladybug rocks, making spring pictures with puffy stickers and markers, and playing pin-the-dot on the ladybug. The kids also spent time playing on the play structure in front of Doug and Heidi's house. Thanks to all who helped make it a successful day.

Birthday Girl

Lauryn Funnies

I'm glad Lottie is such a gentle dog. Lauryn climbs all over her and calls her "baby".

A few nights ago we were having dinner with Peter's parents and Lauryn ate all her vegetables. When she told Grandma Heidi of her accomplishment, Heidi said, "Woohoo!" To which Lauryn replied, "Me".

Taylor and Lauryn's primary teacher got all the kids CTR bracelets. Lauryn was playing with hers the other day and asked, "Mommy, what does this says?" I said, "Choose the right." Without skipping a beat she said, "Oh, I want it to say choose the wrong."

Last night Lauryn and I were reading a book and she sneezed, then said, "Uh oh, I bless-youed on the book." She keeps us smiling.

Nature Hike

Last Friday I hiked up Wooley Creek with two friends. It was a beautiful day and the wildflowers were in bloom.

I loved the Fawn Lillies.

The trail begins with one, long, steep switchback and then levels off. Here's a downstream view of the Salmon River from the top of the climb.

After our hike we drove up the Salmon River Road to check out the latest slide. We couldn't get too close and my camera has a lousy zoom. The slide took out part of the road and made it all the way down to the river. Can you see it?

Is that is Hot?

Being a typical three-year old (her 3rd birthday is in a few weeks) Lauryn asks a lot of questions, and sometimes she has a very cute way of doing so. The title of this post is what she asked me while I was getting her bath ready. I tried to get her to say, "Is that hot?" but instead got, "Is this is hot?" Other questions we hear all the time: "Is that is yours?" and "Is this is mine?"

February Flash

Well, I didn't do so hot blogging in February. It seems like this month flew by and the memory of it is a blur. I know I had a few weeks of intense physical activity and many days stuck inside because of the rain. I ran a race and wrote about it on my running blog. I attended some yoga classes, got a massage, went on a beautiful bike ride up the Salmon River, and enjoyed the breaks in the rain by working outside a lot.
Last weekend Peter and I saw ALO (Animal Liberation Orchestra) in Arcata. I'm surprised at how many of my friends have never heard of ALO because they're such a great band. We saw them a couple of years ago while visiting Evan and Amy in Kings Beach and jumped at the opportunity to see them again. If you ever get the chance to see them in concert, I recommend it. This time, their opening act was a guy named Chris Velan. He was a one-man band, using a loop machine to layer tracks. It was the same loop machine Peter bought himself for Christmas. (I also found out that Velan went to law school and passed the bar.) We bought his new CD and are pleased with the purchase. Here's a video of Chris Velan doing his thing.
We got back from our night away, feeling tired yet refreshed. That evening Peter's dad rolled the backhoe down a cliff and was eventually air-lifted out to a hospital in Medford. He's home now and very sore, but he's also feeling lucky to have come out of the accident as well as he did. With Doug disabled, the bazillion things we wanted to do before the fast-approaching season seem to have doubled. We need another break in the rain to motivate us outdoors and back to work.

January Jumble

Whew! It has been a while since my last blog entry. I'm thinking of changing the name of this blog to something more appropriate. After all, the metropolis in our lives has been gone for a while and it was short-lived. Any ideas?

Our big adventure so far this month was a trip to Monterey with Heidi. We visited her Aunt Beverly and Uncle Jim, whom I'd never met, and spent a day at the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

Heidi and her aunt and uncle. It rained for most of our visit but we were lucky to get a half-day of great weather.Lauryn enjoyed playing in the water.I thought the jelly fish were awesome!I ran a 10K race at Patrick's Point on the coast and was very glad for a break in the weather. There are pictures on my running blog.

Lauryn is learning to ride her bike with training wheels and to chew gum without swallowing it. Our problem now is getting her to spit her gum out and leave it in the trash. At least five times she has gotten gum out of the garbage and started chewing it again. Gross!

Taylor has been moved up with the first grade group at school. She's not officially a first-grader, but she's doing all first grade work and staying till the end of the school day. It has been fun to see her rapid improvement in reading and math as well as her increasing ability to stay focused.

Peter and I are enjoying our weekly volleyball nights and have just started playing with the community band. I feel like I just wrote a Christmas letter for January. Now you know what we're up to and where we've been. Hopefully I'll get more than one blog entry in for February.