fun...

Because normal chess is so yesterday...

pictures...

When on a walk the other day, I asked Ava to take a picture of me. I'm afraid that when I die no one will remember what I looked like since there are very few pictures of me. I HATE having my picture taken, am not the least bit photogenic and the pictures never turn out.

However since I happened to have my hair brushed and some makeup on, I went for it.

PS: Please ignore my freckles. Thank you.


Umm...


Looks like I'm trying to have a staring contest with the camera. Blank, vacant expression.


Err....my mad face?

There were a few of me talking and some with my eyes closed. So finally I stuck my sunglasses on and called it good. :)

art...

I've taken a break from working on the house since painting most of the kitchen backsplash. I have zero motivation to do anything toward fixing the house up and am having second thoughts about selling and moving. I LOVE this house and the location but it would be nicer to be closer to most of our friends and our church. We'll see.

I did buy some art for the house though. Some simply stunning stuff. (like my alliteration?). My goal is to devote a whole wall toward original artwork from people I know.

So I bought this from Cup of Grace Studio.


And I have a few more picked out that I would love to purchase. Kerri is very talented and the painting is even better in real life.

Then I bought this from her son Forrest. The colors are so bright and vibrant in real life. He has a frog painting up on etsy now that I love!


If you get a moment, click over to their shops. I'll be adding a dahlia drawing to my collection soon and I'll be sure to show you.

skiing...

This was me on Saturday at the top of Vista Ridge and before I attempted to ski down it the first time. It was a "green" run (which is the easiest) but I was still a little nervous and put on a brave smile for the camera.

However I was smiling even bigger when I got to the end. It was soooo much fun!

This was the second time I've been skiing in a months time and by far the best. The first time was just getting used to skiing again (after a 15 year break) and trying to get my confidence up. I'm still not very good but gained a little more confidence.

In fact I was feeling really good until Brian and Chris decided to go a different route which included jumps. What???? I took two jumps (I had no choice and couldn't avoid them) but didn't get any air as I attempted to go over them as slow as possible. They were mildly fun and *maybe* next time I would go a little faster.

I did learn to carve and after much encouragement to take the hill faster before turning I did it and then skiing became even more fun. I think next time I will tackle some steeper hills.

The weather was wonderful and the snow was better then we expected. In fact most of the time I was way too hot and kept taking away layers. Aw the joys of spring skiing.

The ski season is pretty much done now but I can't wait until November to start again.

apple pie day...

The kids and I attended our first ever Apple Pie Day at the Oregon State Capitol. I used to work at the State Capitol as a Legislative Assistant to Representative Meek and it's a time that I will never forgot. It was exciting, draining, frustrating and wonderful.

I'll admit I was a little nervous driving our 12 passenger van and then try to find parking. My fears were justified and I may have made a panicked call to Brian when I couldn't find parking and didn't know where I was. I circled the block one more time to find a 2 hour spot right across from the Capitol steps. By then we had been trying to find parking for almost 20 minutes so I figured if anything we would leave in 2 hours. Then I remembered that I could get a all day pass in Legislative supplies (where I used to spend lots of time running to get office supplies).

(sorry for the bad quality of pics, I took them with the iphone)


We arrived just in time to take the tour to the top of the Capitol to see the golden pioneer. I was never able to do this when I worked down there.

We were climbing the narrow stairs when Graedon's voice drifted down to me. "This is where Darth Vader and Luke fought." Why is everything about Star Wars?




It was pretty.

At noon we attended a rally on the steps of the Capitol to listen to Will Estrada of HSLDA

Right during his speech, we heard some chanting and saw some pink shirted women coming toward us. At first I thought it might be the teacher's union but it turned out to be Planned Parenthood.

They were shouting "Our bodies, our lives". In their crowd were no children, meanwhile in our crowd there were far more children then adults. Would they agree with our decision to have 6 kids? I don't care. I just felt sorry for them.

While we were waiting for our appointment to meet our local House Representative, I took the kids up to the House Gallery (session was ended). I showed them where I sat when I attended session and where we had to line up to wait to until we were allowed to enter. It brought back such good memories.

The energy at the Capitol is amazing and I want to work there again. Lauren felt the same excitement and is going to be a day page for our local House Representative this year.

Grae is very excited to pose.

I'm glad I went and next time I want to get there earlier so we can attend some classes!

kitchen....

Well all of the tongue and groove is up but not all primed and painted (as you can see behind the cart). We did finally get the drawer pulls back on the drawers but have no cabinet doors up yet. I haven't even begun to paint them. Sigh...

I did buy this rolling cart on Overstock (which soon will get a coat of moss green paint). It holds all of our baking pans and various things as well as provides more counter space. I love having the wider doorway. A rolling cart and a pot rack - I don't want to move now.

stylish blogger

Kelly at Kelly Is Inspired awarded me the Stylish Blogger Award awhile ago and I'm finally getting around to writing about it. Sorry Kelly!

I'm supposed to list 7 random facts about myself...this is a little hard to do!

1. I'm not ticklish. Really, I'm not. People have tried and been disappointed.

2. I have red hair and freckles. Love the red hair now, hate the freckles. I think they are creepy. I'm hoping I'll get enough of them that they will all blob together and I'll look like I have a permanent tan.

3. I once found an old piece of silver at Goodwill for $.75 and resold it on ebay for $125.00. I had no idea what I found and figured I would get $5.00 for it.

4. I love green shag carpeting. Just kidding. ;)

5. I love to play sports and have only recently been able to get back into it. Happiness.

6. I long to fly to Scotland and walk in the highlands and see the moors. My red hair blowing in the breeze...sigh.

7. I find it hard to live without chocolate. Seriously is there a more perfect food?

I'm supposed to nominate 15 other bloggers but I'll have to think about it a bit. There are so many good ones to choose from!

But here is a good start:

The Farmerette

Journey Chronicles