Stromboli, a trip to Portland, and Quilts

We had a wonderful visit with Nick and Karla's family.  It all started the night I made stromboli for dinner and the visit was so fun that I somehow don't have any photos of the entire week.  Ah well....

I did remember to snap a few shots of my boys when we went to Portland for their Lego Robotics competition.  The submarine at the OMSI was definitely their favorite.  Of course, I neglected to actually take a single photo of the competition itself.

Not that there was much to photograph.  One of their six team members puked on her way into the building and the competition went downhill from there.  They had to make major adjustments to their various competitions which threw them off.  They didn't do nearly as well as they had done in practice.  It was a bummer, but they were happy to make it to state.

Portland is an interesting city.  Connor, who is my big architecture buff, loved all the bridges.  They were stunning as we came into the city.  Especially considering the entire drive on I-5 was in the fog.

We had dinner our first night at the Stepping Stone Cafe where Connor enjoyed their Mancake featured in Man vs. Food and Diner's, Drive-ins and Dives; while I had the best Chicken Fried Steak I have tasted for many years.

 We happened to drive past Deseret Book and were so excited we had to stop and buy the family souvenirs.  After a little shopping we discovered that we were close to the Portland temple.  Word and pictures do no justice to the magnitude of the Portland temple.  It is massive and has the same impact as the Salt Lake temple when you get to see it in person.  It was simply spectacular!

During Christmas break I had a little extra time to work on quilts.  This is the one I pinned to start quilting for Brandon.  I may actually get to it by Spring Break.

I did manage to get Danielle's quilted, so she has a matching one with Nicole's.

I finished Nicole's last Spring Break.

I also finished Connor's quilt which is my personal favorite so far.  I love the orange and dark blue squares!

Truthfully though, I don't know why I bother making them quilts.  This is what their beds really look like 99% of the time.  I imagine a day when they are all moved away and beds will stay made and the house will be clean much more of the time.  Hopefully, I do a better job taking pictures, because I know I will miss these times and long to have them back.

Here's to 2014

I am happy to report that this year is markedly less busy than the last.  I finally have time to post a few highlights of things that kept us busy last semester.  We had a fabulous field trip to see the F-15's in person.  As might be expected, this trip ranked high on our boy's list of top field trips.

We got to go out on the runway in a bus and then watch as eight F-15's took off.  They purposely scheduled our field trip at dusk so we could see the full effect of their afterburners.

They gave all of us our own set of earplugs, and I tried to take them out only for a few seconds before I understood why we needed to keep them in!  I was surprised to find out that F-15's are the same size as a tennis court!  They were mighty impressive!

Andrew and Connor have also been preoccupied with their Lego robotics team.  They were shocked to discover that they came in 3rd place at Regionals as well as winning the rookie award and earning a spot at the State level.   Sadly, they didn't do as well at State and were pretty disappointed.  Still, we enjoyed our weekend in Portland, which I will have to blog about later on.

Brandon has basketball 6 days a week for several hours a day, and he loves his team and is having a great experience.  It was hard for him to switch team colors and mascots at first, but I do think that he looks good in red!  Go Pels!

Danielle has a wonderful evening ritual that I needed to record.  She pretends to be "library girl" at night and checks out the books that I am going to read to her every night.  She is pretty cute!

I joked that Nicole would go down in history for not being able to take her pants off....those pesky skinny jeans!

We took the girls to the Nutcracker this past Christmas season.  Nicole was mesmerized, but Danielle was hypnotized and fell fast asleep for half of the performance.  It is fun to do things with our girls.

We had a wonderful, if short, visit to Reno to be at sweet Gemma's baby blessing.  Poor Adalie was not feeling well, but her cuteness still couldn't be missed.  Hopefully next time we get her together with Danielle, she will be up to playing more.

Nathan made an end of the year video for our family which included photos of my dad.  This was one of my favorites.  He was always down at the level of our children, playing with them.  He was a wonderful grandpa to them!

2013 was not the best of years, but it was absolutely a growing year.  Here's to 2014.  My only New Year's Resolution is to remember my siblings' birthdays this year.  Oh, and to finally graduate!

Christmas 2013

I hate to say it, but I am really just relieved that last year is behind me.  Even as I tried to savor the sweet moments of the season, there were other bitter times that marred this Christmas season.

I was a little homesick for our old traditions, and though we found a perfectly beautiful place to chop a tree, there were none of the beautiful, noble firs that we had at a 10,000 ft. altitude.  Colorado will always be the home of our best Christmas trees.

My kids are growing too quickly, and I feel the years slipping through my fingers.  I hate to see my youngest growing so big.  She loved chopping the tree and tromping around the mountain.  I remember our first few years of chopping trees, with aching back and arms from holding a baby and sometimes a toddler at the same time.  This year I didn't even have to help carry the tree.

Holidays are infused with family memories and I was particularly aware of the absence of my father.  Maybe the sadness you feel in later years is the tradeoff for the wonderful memories of childhood.

We had a stunning view of Mt. Shasta that was particularly memorable.   After living on both the north and south side of this beauty, I favor the north side, which is in the shade of the day and is snowier.

As I reached the half-way point of my internship, the end feels a little closer, but I was far too busy this Christmas to my liking.  I prefer more time at home with my children.  My time felt too stretched to really savor our traditions.

I am generally not a negative person, and I have wonderful memories of this holiday season.  Hopefully, when I look back, the sad moments will dull and the happy will stand out.

Still, I must again repeat my sentiments this year....I am relieved to have it behind me.

A Few Fall Tidbits

Nathan went to great efforts this year to throw me a surprise 40th birthday party.  He even convinced his parents to come out for the weekend.  It was a great evening visiting with friends and family along with my favorite chocolate cake.

The next day we drove up to Chiloquin for the free Halloween train.

It was surprisingly fun.

We also had beautiful fall weather.

The kids all got to pick out a pumpkin.

The following week, I only managed to get pictures of Halloween costumes for Danielle and Connor.  She was a ballerina, and he was a secret service agent.  Nicole was Hermione, and she looked just like her, so I was disappointed that I didn't get a shot of that.

The following weekend, we spent our 4-day weekend with Nick and Karla in California!  We had a great time with them and enjoyed spending time together!

Connor took me camera from this point on, and he had such a good eye for photos, that I think I should hire him for my blog!

I'm glad we still managed to make some good memories despite the crazy semester!