Dancing fever......

Cubby and Clo-bear are both four and love to dance.

It is SUCH a cute video of them showing their moves on the dance floor!

Cali

  So.....we missed our friends the "S" family. Two years ago we both moved in the same month away from our townhouse complex. They headed south for California to their hometown and we headed only 20 minutes away to our first home. Tears were shed, memories remembered and promises to visit were made. 6 months later we vacationed to Disneyland together. It was an incredible experience to go to Disneyland with good friends and your kids to have their best friends in the magic kingdom.

It's been 18 months since then....

We packed up the car and headed down to sunny California to visit them for 6 days!

Shannon was a most gracious host in her beautiful home. I miss her sense of humor, ease, excitement for life and her adorable kids! 

While we were there we visited wiskeytown lake.....

to go swimming.....

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To go Kayaking.....

While kayaking Diana and I were able to see an endangered California Osprey swoop down into the water to catch a fish within three feet of our kayak, feeling the air brush out from under him onto me. An unforgettable moment imprinted on my memory. Diana did well for her first time kayaking. We found a very good rhythm paddling the kayak and relished getting out to swim around in the center of the lake....especially when you feel a fish brush your leg...TWICE. I am enjoying my daughter growing up and experiencing new adventures with her. She is growing up to be a beautiful young lady.

*NOTE:  This picture is HORRIBLE of me. Remind me to never have a picture taken of me when wearing a white t-shirt over my bathing suit. *

Check out Wiskeytown lake http://www.nps.gov/whis/index.htm

It is a beautiful lake with clean, clear, WARM water perfect for boating, swimming, and kayaking. 

Lakes in Oregon are not so warm =-).

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We were aslo able to ride on Shannon's fathers boat too but I do not have any pictures of that. It was the first time that they had been on a boat. They simply loved it!

I will write more later!

♥

Rach

Come on already!

Ok I have been gone from reality for awhile now. We went to northern Cali and the oregon coast and abandoned all sense of reality for two weeks. I promise I will download my HUGE load of pictures here shortly and blog of all our adventures....hope you all are having a TERRIFIC summer

  ♥

Rach

Early Bird

The alarm goes off at 5:30.

Running Clothes go on.

I come back from running.

Taylor then tots down the stairs like clock work.

I enjoy my quiet mornings with him.

He has such a sweet spirit I know will touch many other lives than his families.

I love you my early bird.

Spoiled rotten and baseball

I awoke on my birthday to an intoxicating smell of sausage, scrambled eggs, croissants, bread and fresh picked raspberries. Keith woke up early to surprise me with breakfast in bed. It is a big deal when he does this because he is NOT an early bird by any sorts. Each of the kids ran in and brought me cards that they had made and signed, a fresh flower picked from my garden was in a plastic kid cup.  It was so sweet. To top it off I got a gift certificate to my FAVORITE bead store ever. I asked dad to bring breakfast in so we all could eat together. We ate breakfast warm and snug in  my bed. Who could ask for a better way to start a  birthday?

Later on after swimming lessons and exercise class we gathered ourselves together and headed to Corvallis to meet Keith for my birthday lunch. I love Chinese food so of course we headed to King Tin. It is NOT the prettiest restaurant at ALL meaning there are Christmas lights left up year round and the decor is so outdated it has not been in fashion for a couple of decades. The egg rolls are to DIE for!

Afterwards the kids and I headed to the blueberry patch and picked a small bucket for snacking and went home to relax until the game. In the evening we headed to watch a local baseball team, the Corvallis Knights play against Portland. The knights won 5-3, scoring two runs in the 7th inning. It was a lot of fun for the kids and us to watch. We had not been to a knights game since Chloe was a baby. Since I do not go to Corvallis much any more since moving two years ago it was nice to be on OSU's campus again. It is such a beautiful campus to walk along. I miss it sometimes.

After the game was over  the kids were able to run the field around the bases.....Taylor LOVED it.

He wore flip flops that night and finally just took them off and booked it several times around.

I think it just made baseball all that more special to him.

I had a relaxing birthday spent with the ones I love. I feel blessed and eternally grateful for what the Lord has given me into my hands, for my cup runneth over with countless blessing.

I have a simple life really.....

But when all is said and done..... 

What more could a girl ask for!

husband

My husband makes me feel like a woman

A creature of beauty.

He loves me for who I was....

AM.....

 and strive to be.

He stands by my side

He shares my sorrows

He laughs with me at life's endless twists and turns

He listens to my heart and its desires

He forgives me.

He loves our children.

He is mine and forever

I love you Keith Matthew

This is how we roll.....

Fact:

I live in the coolest neighborhood

Even the dog's agree

P.S Thanks steph. for the AWEsome picture!

You ever have.....?

Do you ever have a morning where you back out of the driveway.....

       and your on a time crunch........

              and your husband put the garbage cans out behind the car to be picked up
                            
                     Well I did.
                                              
                             I can now tell you a new taillight for our minivan is

                               $ 146.00!!!

                                   Not the Monday morning I was looking for......

                                           How was your Monday morning?
                                                            
                                                                          ♥
                                                                        Rach

                                                                             

Guess what?

Hood To Coast Trailer from HoodToCoastMovie on Vimeo.

    I get to run this in August.

Can we say....

AWESOME x 100!!!

Michael

Happy Birthday Uncle Michael.

We love you

We hope you're enjoying the wilderness and beauty of the earth on your special day.

Nestle Toll House

Ok we all know the famous Toll House Chocolate Chip cookie recipe on the back of the bag..I mean I know it by heart since I make it so often for my husband...But do you know that the recipe we make today is different from the original?

I was reading a cooking blog when I came upon the history of the cookie at all recipies.com. You can read the history here. http://allrecipes.com/HowTo/History-of-Nestle-Toll-House/Detail.aspx

After reading it, I proceeded to read the comment section when one person wrote:

 ATAPJN - "when i was a kid you added a tsp or some small silly amt of water to the batter. I dont know when they changed it but they taste differant to me. I am still searching for that old recipe and i know it was the one right on the bag because it is how i first learned to make choc chip cookies.. "

tree'sa responded:

ATAPJN - I know which recipe you add the water to - It was Ruth Wakefield's original recipe: you dissolve the baking soda in a teaspoon of water before adding to the batter. I found that recipe in a copy of YANKEE magazine a number of years ago with the same history that is printed here and have used it ever since. Tree'sa.
 
 
INTERESTING! Next time I make the cookies I am going to try it and see what happens. I do not know that you could perfect the Toll House CC cookie recipe but if it was there in the begining why change it? I will let you know what I find!
 

 ♥

Rach

7-11

Stop into your local 7-eleven on July 11th between 8am and 11 pm and receive a free 7.11 oz slurpee in honor of their birthday!!!

      Aren’t they so sweet for giving Slurpee’s away on their birthday!!!

                                         We all need a little something cool to beat the heat!

Independence

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God bless America on Independence Day.

You have to love a nation that celebrates its independence every July 4, not with a parade of guns, tanks, and soldiers who file by the White House in a show of strength and muscle, but with family picnics where kids throw Frisbees, the potato salad gets iffy, and the flies die from happiness. You may think you have overeaten, but it is patriotism.

~Erma Bombeck

We enjoyed a wonderful neighborhood BBQ with great food and great people.

There was fireworks, laughter and memories.

I hope you were able to enjoy the fourth and celebrate our god given Independence.

♥

Rach

Lilith

My friends and I heard the Lilith Fair was coming to Portland. We grabbed some tickets for the outdoor lawn seating, found babysitters (THANK YOU AGAIN MOM!) and brought blankets and tarps to carpool to Lilith.

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We arrived early and BOY I am glad we did so. We ended up with front row seating....well as far as lawn seating went :).

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We heard Sheryl crow, Eriyka Badu....

Sugarland, colbie callait...and many other fine women in music.

In the end they all came out and performed together.....

you could say it was pretty amazing!

Yes that is a tarp and plastic. It was quite wet in the beginning, soaking us and then thankfully drying out.

As an oregonian, you dance and play rain or shine.

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Bri, thanks for getting us all together!

It was amazing!

Motherhood: An Eternal Partnership with God

I really needed to hear this today. I hope it brings a little sunshine to your day! =-)

- Rach

Homemade waterslides

Requirements for a homemade water slide:

* An amazing playground that daddy built with love and care

which BTW has a pirate ship off the side....we call the slide "The Plank."

* a hose

* a pool to provide some splashing fun

(according to my kids that means "get mom wet.")

Oh and I forgot to mention....you need to have a four year old sister at the bottom of the slide to squirt you so you can squeal and scream. This was my favorite part.......

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Look at that splash baby!

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If you think I stayed dried while filming this moment....think again!

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Results of a 9 year old deciding it was time to get her mother wet

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The Clo-a-nator going down to the slide like a dainty flower and then proceeding to splash me....

I think it was declared splash mom day.

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By the way....after rototilling and MUCH love...look whats FINALLY growing in our backyard!

It is OH SO soft to walk on!