Ashley's bday and guests in town!

Those pictures of all the little ballerinas are the cutest thing I've ever seen! Brooke looks adorable! Wish I could have been there : )

We have been busy with all sorts of good stuff. After Dad left Tuesday, we had a group of 8 friends (who are all leaving Portland in the next months - sad!) over for dinner on Thursday, and cooked dinner Friday to celebrate Ashley's birthday. On Saturday we left for Bend for the weekend for some more boy birthday time. His business partners Dave and Tina bought a vacation home there, so we headed around Mt. Hood in the morning, spent the day around Bend, looked at a new mountain bike for Ashley, and went to their place in the evening to grill up steaks, asparagus and eat birthday cake.

We got up EARLY on Sunday so the guys could race motorcycles...

Ashley and Garret geared up with their bikes

Collecting at the starting line

Ashley is in purple with the white helmet, Garret is in black with gold helmet

Dave raced the full 100+ miles. His 11 year old son, Garret raced the half at 56 miles. Because he's under 18, he needed an adult to follow him on the course. Dave was racing, so Ashley was his follower. Sounded like a very steep, dusty, rocky, curvy 56 mile loop. I hung out with Carmen near the car knitting all day while they raced about : )

They returned dusty and happy, drank some beer, drove to a late lunch in Sisters and drove back to Portland. A good birthday weekend for Ashley.

On Wednesday, Fritz, Susanne, Wayne and Penny arrived to Portland! Their train was late, so we only said hi quick on Wednesday night. I worked Thursday and we all met up for dinner at Pok Pok Thursday night.

Ashley and I worked Friday so everyone did their own thing and we cooked dinner at home. Saturday we all headed up to Mt. Hood together for a tour of that area....

Stopped for a little hike in the woods along the river...

Most of the group

Ashley and Fritz

Ashley, Fritz and Wayne at Timberline

We cooked dinner at home again Saturday night. On Sunday, Wayne, Penny, Susanne and I poked around different neighborhoods and shops while Ashley and Fritz did some touch up work at the house Ashley has been working on. Its all done and ready to close in the next couple days. Woo hoo! Headed out to Lucca for dinner that night as a group.

Fritz changing the paint colors on the columns (Ashley wasn't excited about how it turned out after the painters left)

 Monday we laid low around the house, went out to lunch at Dick's Kitchen, did a little driving tour around some Portland neighborhoods, and made dinner at home.

The Offensends off Belmont Street

Only photo of the whole group! Dessert at Pix Monday night.

Everyone shoved off Tuesday morning and we are left with a very quiet house until Mom and Charlie get here in July!

Busy Couple Weeks

Hi there.  Great recent post Beth!  Looks like Dad's visit was perfect.  Ironically I don't have any pics from Mother's Day - it was pretty uneventful;)  But, we have been busy with other fun stuff...ballet photos, Jeremy's wedding, a field trip...

Parent night at dance - the one night a year we get to sit in on practice.

Getting ready for professional photos.  Can't wait to see the finished product

Thank heaven for "hot buns"!  Love her hair.

Rainy day field trip to the farm with Mae Mae

Her favorite part of the day.

Isn't that beautiful?

The whole class

Hay wagon ride

It was a long day.  Both girls fell asleep on the bus ride home.

Sorry for the poor picture quality - used my phone.  Happy 95th Grandma!

Grandkids and great grandkids

Baby Porter.  Not a good picture of him, but he is soooo cute!

Bet you can't guess where this was taken.  Yep, the silo

Playing ball with a stick

Getting ready to go out with AJ to hunt for Moreals with his new pup, Adelia, Gretta, Brooke, and Macy

Setting up their fort in the silo - remember those days?  I love this!

Not many, but they sure were yummy.

Dad's visit

Its noon on Friday here - I bet folks are getting ready for Jeremy and Michelle's wedding and the following festivities. Have so much fun! Wish I was there to celebrate with everyone!

We had such a fun long weekend with Dad here....

Picked him up Thursday a.m. from the airport and went straight to Ashley's current house rehab project.

Dad and Ashley in front of the house. They got a signed offer while Dad was here - before it was even listed, woo hoo!  Lots to celebrate.

From there, we grabbed lunch outside in that part of town and drank a beer in the sun - it turned out to be a really pretty day!

That afternoon Dad and Carmen snuck in a nap while I did some work (had to take a photo - so cute). We then dragged him to a work happy hour, dinner at Biwa, a funky japanese restaurant...

...and to Pix for dessert and wine. Look at all that wine in the background!

The desserts are too pretty to eat! Dad was such a champ - Thursday was a loooong day for him.

Friday, Dad and I went to breakfast at Broder, did some shopping in the Pearl District, hung out in the shade at a park (above) and went to dinner at Pok Pok. Another gorgeous day.

Saturday - Dad's birthday! It was so so nice out. We dragged Dad on a 12 mile bike ride along the river and made a few stops along the way. Here at the rose garden's in Ladd's Addition. So many blooms right now.

And laid in the shade for a bit later on. We also stopped for a cocktail and bite on the waterfront towards the end. Dad and Ashley took a nap, I made a rhubarb pie, we went to Noble Rot for some wine, Ken's for pizza, and had that pie for dessert. Not a bad day!

On Sunday, my friend Merritt had set up a wine tasting appt at a vineyard for us - here's Steve and Merritt at Chehalem Vineyards near Newburg. We got a tour of the winery with them, did some barrel tasting,  and drove through the hills to another winery...

Pretty sculpture at Rex Hill Winery

Dad and Ashley tasting on the patio

 Sunday night we cooked a light dinner and Dad and I saw The Great Gatsby in 3d at a theater - I thought it was really good!

Monday morning we did our second breakfast at Broder : )

Pretty rhododendron on the way home

I did a little bit of work from home, and in the afternoon, we went shopping for a chair for the nursery. We found the perfect one. Here is Dad in the runner up - we picked that color but in a different style. One big item for the nursery checked off the list. Thanks so much Mom and Dad!

That night we grilled burgers for dinner, watched The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (both Mom and Susanne recommended!), and Dad got ready to leave bright and early Tuesday morning. Such a fun visit. Last year we spent his birthday in Santa Ynez, tasting wine at Beckmen's - this wasn't quite that good, but it was still a wonderful and much needed few days together.

Ashley and I are headed to Bend this weekend for his birthday, and Fritz, Susanne, Wayne and Penny arrive early this week - definitely more photos to come.

Can't wait to see photos from Mother's Day, wedding and Grandma's birthday! Have tons of fun : )

XO

Here lately

Such great photos Heather! So many great 1st communion ones of the whole group. Looks like an awesome day : )

Low key here lately, which has been really nice. This has been the nicest spring weather since the spring I first moved here. Every weekend has been just gorgeous.

Yesterday I opened one of the last jars of raspberry jam from Mom and Morgan's visit! I thought we would NEVER run out of jam. Almost time to make more...

.... So, when I went to the store yesterday afternoon and saw a huge display of good looking rhubarb right as I walked in, I had to grab some. Made my first batch of the year of Grandma K's rhubarb jam last night. Dad - I saved some rhubarb to make you a birthday pie this week!
Also made Grandma K's buttermilk biscuits for shortcake and chicken tamales for Cinco de Mayo.

Yesterday morning I took Carmen for a swim and hike at Silver Falls. Such an amazingly sunny summery day!

Trillium on the trail

Silver falls - one of 10 waterfalls on the hike

Pretty shady trail with lots of old growth

Went for a walk on the waterfront over lunch one day last week - all the colorful dragon boats looked really pretty in the sun. These are the tails..

Scary heads

The previous weekend I spent in the gorge with a group of friends. The last Sunday of every month, we get together for a hike. This month we made it a whole weekend. Went for a hike in the gorge and to a mineral springs spa for the night. So. Fun.
Four of the five women here are pregnant and one has a really little one.

It was a perfect day for a hike. We took it pretty easy - some of us were more out of breath than others : )

Pretty beds of adorable wildflowers all over the trail.

Four of the group. After this we headed to the spa and soaked and swam all evening, ate dinner, went to bed at 9pm, swam in the morning and grabbed brunch at a diner in Stevenson, WA (a cute town on the Columbia). One of the girls called the weekend group therapy while soaking in a mineral pool. : )

The previous weekend I did an Earth Day litter pick up with a bunch of coworkers. At least it was dry out! Found lots of junk and I was BEAT afterwards. Fun day though with a good group.

And that Friday night we had a shower for Jami (the most pregnant of the women above). She's having a boy and doing a woodland critter theme for the nursery. I needle felted a fox, squirrel, rabbit and owl to make a little mobile as gift. It turned out cuter than the picture, I swear : ) It was a really fun shower and nice to be around LOTS of pregnant women and two moms. 4 pregnant women at the shower and 2 women with babies under 3 months.

It also has been fun to get all the little baby gifts in the mail. So sweet - thank you guys! I also pulled out this blanket mom brought with her a while ago - a baby blanket she knit when she was pregnant with me. Couldn't love it any more! Started a little pile of baby stuff. CRAZY!