Good Friends and the Drive Home

We've been looking forward to this visit for months!!! Some of our closest friends happen to sometimes spend their Christmas only 20 minutes away from where my parents live...so we got to spend a day with them!

It's the first time we met their son, Anders, in person!

What an amazing little guy FULL of smiles and happiness! I could just watch him for hours and it would be good for my health!

We met up at one of our favorite coffee shops in Sisters!

Matt enjoying some good coffee with wonderful friends

Then we headed to their place for lunch and more time together! We LOVE you guys!

The drive back to Cali the next morning was slow going but pretty...

...until we were closer to the Cali border and we couldn't see much of anything!

But it happened again...we literally crossed into California and not only did the roads clear but the weather changed quite drastically as well! The rest of the trip was smooth and every mile got sunnier, more clear and simply WONDERFUL!!!

Merry Christmas and Happy 2011!!!

Christmas

Craig and Paulette invited us over to spend Christmas Eve at their place.

Not only did we enjoy some good food and company, we also got to hear more about their wedding ideas and plans! Matt and I were both thankful for a chance on this trip to get to know both Craig and Paulette better.

(not sure why this picture turned up sideways)

A couple pictures of Christmas day at mom and dad's.

Our growing family! :) We love you all!

Vacation Fun

We had the chance this Christmas to take a trip to central Oregon to visit family and relax a bit!

After years of mom making Christmas morning cinnamon rolls, I finally took the time to learn how to make them with her!

More than making the rolls, I enjoyed spending time with mom!

YUM!!!!

While we were baking, matt and dad spent some "man" time in the garage and outside! Matt first tried out mom's scooter...

...and then took the next step to trying out dad's "real" motorcycle! I think he's hooked!

Some sister time!

I don't like spending money on my hair so i go the cheap way and use the do-it-yourself box method! Cindy helped me out and it turned out pretty good...but i forgot the after picture. :)

A highlight of our time was getting to go to McMenamins for a movie and rest in the soaking pool! In Portland, Kennedy School was one of our favorite dates, which we've missed immensely in California. If you've never been there, you should check it out! $3 movie, relaxing on a love-seat with good food and drink! You can't beat it!

spirit days forever!!!

I always loved spirit days in school...when we got to dress up in crazy ways! A bonus of working with kids is that i still get to participate in the fun!!! This last week was "Dress like a candy cane day!" At first i figured I'd just layer one red and one white shirt...but then i realized how much further i could go!!! It's amazing how an outfit can make an entire day more enjoyable! hmm, maybe i should get more creative every day....of maybe not! :)

Fall as Favorite??

I've ALWAYS loved the Summer far beyond any other season! Since moving to Folsom, though, things might be changing. Seasons are different here than in Portland. Summers are hotter, which i don't mind, but fall.....fall is still sunny, warm AND the trees are like God's art everywhere!!! It's like He got excited and started painting! I'm LOVING it! So fall is not in competition for first place...we'll see.

Before sharing some of the colors...i still must include a palm tree since i don't think i'll ever get over the fact that i now live next to these tropical, what i've always seen as "vacation trees." This particular tree is along the path on my walk to work.

My favorite colors in one place....BEAUTY on the sidewalk!

The tree that the leaves fell from...which is also FABULOUS!!! The photo doesn't do the colors justice.
All of these pictures are taken on my walk to work and next to the building where i work. i am daily stunned by the beauty!
if i knew how to use the camera better, this picture would be more brilliant and show that this tree was truly glowing against the blue sky!
Again, you might be able to appreciate the beauty, but in person is always best! There are just so many colors mixed together in one place! WOW!!

i wish i could capture the many more views even as i drive the bus to pick up the kids from school. From flaming red that makes a bunch of trees look like they are on fire, to a full rainbow of colors displayed by a variety of trees all in one place! It literally takes my breath away every time i see it!

....another good reason to come and visit us so you can see for yourselves! :) can you tell that i'm ready for visitors! :)

happiness on my porch

i find a lot of rest and joy spending time on our porch. It's the simple pleasures, isn't it? Here are some pictures....

YAY!!! The goldfinches are back from their summer vacation!!!

And the sparrows are down below.

This is the view walking up the path to our apartment. Maybe next summer I can invest in some hanging baskets! :) The goldfinch feeder is around on the left where you cant' see here.

My pepper plant!!! If you enlarge the photo you can see more clearly that there are maybe 6-8 peppers waiting to turn red!! I just don't have enough stakes to keep it from falling over! :)

This is my favorite planter at it's best!

i love these flowers! SO pretty and they've lasted for months now!

And these are the hardiest flowers of them all! Some of these have lasted for over a year now! I just trimmed them back a couple weeks ago and put the trimmings in a vase inside where they also continue to thrive simply in water!

Some days this little guy comes for a drink just about every 10-15 minutes!

I just wish he'd bring his girlfriend since the females are SUPER pretty!

And our latest visitor is this little cutie!!! We think that someone must have moved out and left her here. We and the neighbors have been taking care of her, but we've GOT to find her a home since i'm already quite attached.

COME VISIT MY PORCH!!! :)

We'll sit, talk and enjoy life together!!

Those of you from PDX can escape the rain...we even had 80 degree weather just a week ago and have only had bits of rain! REALLY!!! Come and see for yourselves!!

a fun date

Why haven't i posted in so long? Life...you know how that is...and i've been taking some online classes for work, which have taken most of my free time. I have a break for a month so i think i'll try to catch up a bit.

How about some pictures of a fun date a month or so ago?

One thing that I've quickly learned about California is that there was GOLD here! The grade schoolers that I work with often go on field trips to the nearby historic town of Coloma, which was the first gold mining town in this area. Matt and I decided to venture out to see it for ourselves.

The town was tiny and pretty run down, but was still fun to see. We came across what looked like some abandoned gold panning troughs and decided to look through the tiny rocks for gold...and we found some!!! I figured it was just fools gold, but we later found out that it's real and that the troughs are still used today for events and field trips for kids.
Since we finished exploring Coloma pretty quickly, we decided to drive a little further and visit the small town of Placerville, a.k.a. "Hangtown." The name gives it's history, but this town is actually lived in and more than just a historical site.
I found my new favorite shop!!! Mom, i have to take you here when you come again! My favorite thing about it is all the tiny little birds of different varieties!
We also enjoyed trying some vintage and some strange types of SODA!! (i can hardly say "pop" anymore...i've just gotten too many strange looks and comments. it almost sounds funny to ME now. NO, I WILL NOT LET GO OF MY OREGON ROOTS...it's POP!!! anyone with me?). Almost every tourist shop had at least a few varieties.
We ended the day at a great little cafe with some Gelato! YUM!