Pics from our hike.

As promised, here are some pictures from our hike the other day.  It was a half day of school and the weather was cooperating, though it was overcast, so we went into the gorge with one of Ryan's friends and his kids.  We hiked up Multnomah Falls.  Rori needed to eat while we were hiking, so I didn't finish the hike.  I had to take her down early while the others continued on to the top.  Here are some pics...





















If you want to see all the pics, click here.

What a difference a year makes.

Would-be birthdays never go unnoticed, even if only by me. But I will admit that this one wasn't as hard as the previous ones.

Yesterday I had a moment with Rori that just solidified my faith in the Lord's plan for my family. We were hiking in the Gorge (pics from that will follow in another post) but Rori got hungry, so she and I quit early, headed to the car, and I fed her. I had some music on and when she was done feeding we just "played". I sang to her and she was just smiling and talking. She was so happy.

It just never ceases to amaze me how happy she is. She is a very easy baby to care for. And I just feel like she is just happy to be here. I almost feel like she waited just as long to come here as we waited for her to get here. (Does that make sense?) I know I appreciate what it means that she's here... I really think she does too.

"Come What May" came on the CD and I just thought how appropriate it seemed to be for me right then. I feel different now that I have Rori. I can't explain it but I just feel different. I think I'm happier. Maybe I have more peace? I don't know. But I do know that last year on this day, I was very, very sad. All I could think of what could have been, what seemed like should have been. Even though I trusted the Lord, it still hurt. Now I won't say the pain is completely gone. But it pales in comparison to how it was last year. I am so grateful that things have turned out the way they did. I am so grateful to have Rori now.

Come What May

Never knew I could feel like this,
Like I've never seen the sky before.
Want to vanish inside your kiss,
Every day I'm loving you more and more.
Listen to my heart, can you hear it sing?
Telling me to give you everything.
Seasons may change, Winter to Spring,
But I'll love you, until the end of time.

Come what may,
Come what may,
I will love you until my dying day.

Suddenly the world seems such a perfect place,
Suddenly it moves with such a perfect grace.
Suddenly my life doesn't seem such a waste,
It all revolves around you.
And there's no mountain too high, no river too wide,
Sing out this song and I'll be there, by your side.
Storm clouds may gather and stars may collide,
But I love you, until the end of time.

Come what may,
Come what may,
I will love you until my dying day.

I blame my friend.

I don't know if I've actually come out and said this yet, but I think I'm ready to confess... I have a MySpace account. And I love it! Not because of MySpace, but because of the friends I've made on MySpace.

I agree with all the stuff that is said, it can be a very dangerous place for youth to chat because youth tend to not realize how much info they are giving out. And there are plenty of things on MySpace that I don't approve of. HOWEVER, it can also be a great way to stay in touch with friends, find old friends from school, or make new friends. I started my account thinking it would be another great way to keep in touch with a couple friends, but I have ended up making some awesome friends.

I joined a couple LDS married groups a few months ago and eventually found a group of women that not only are LDS and married, but really have the same standards and values that I have. Because in these LDS married groups we still seem to have lots of "drama" and contention due to some people choosing to post controversial thngs and trying to argue and debate the standards of the church, our little group decided to leave those groups and start our own. And so, we did.

We've been friends now for several months and are always trying to find ways to "meet for reals". Next weekend I will be meeting about 15 of these friends in Vegas and there we will attend Time Out For Women and spend some "girl getaway" time! (I'm very excited!!!) In the past, I've met a few of these girls... one here in Portland when she was here on business with her hubby, and two in Cali when I was down there for the temple open house. :) This weekend I was able to meet another of my "Virtual Friends" (Vfriends, for short), Dara.

Her hubby had business here, so she and her boys came along. I met her on Saturday when she came by to borrow a playpen. We visited for a little over an hour and it was great! I could tell we were really gonna have fun while she was in town. On Monday, Ryan, Rori and I met up with her and her family. We went to Chipotle for lunch and then cruised the mall for awhile. They came with us back to our house to get Cadi off the bus and then we all hung out for the rest of the day. The kids got along really well, the hubby's got along really well, and Dara and I had a lot of fun talking and laughing. It stank in a way, I didn't want her to leave! lol They left at about midnight that night.

Her hubby was taking a test the next morning and during the test, she and the boys were gonna stick around here and visit until it was time to go. But as it turned out, they gave him the wrong test so they told him he would have to take the correct test the next morning. That meant they had to stay in town another night, so they stayed with us! Yay!!! Unfortunately, the weather wasn't super clear that day, so we couldn't go out and do something cool in the gorge or anything. :( But we had fun just chillin' at our house. We barbequed dinner and then Dara came with me to a baby shower that some ladies from church were throwing for me.

It was so comfortable having Dara and her family here. There were no awkward moments. She and I both felt the same way. We knew we would get along, we just didn't realize just how natural it would feel!

I'm super excited too, because she will be back in town in a couple weeks. And we get to do it all again!!! :D

So... don't look for any blogs while she's here then either, we'll be too busy playing! ;)

Forgetful Friday

I was going to do a "Forgetful Friday" meme, but I got bored with the questions. However, this theme still applies to me lately.

I am proof that when you have a baby you lose your brains and just turn stupid. Lately, I keep forgetting things - everything. I swear I need to start putting post-its on my forehead or something.

Last night I was feeding Rori and realized that I was 1/2 hour late for Enrichment. By then it was really too late, so I didn't go. :(
This morning, again I was feeding Rori and I realized that at that very moment I was SUPPOSED to be at someone's house to visit teach them. Not only that, but I forgot to tell my companion that we were going.

I think I'm going to seriously start putting post-its on the computer. Afterall, I never forget to look at that! lol

3 Days Late

I've been meaning to post this since Friday but... life happens so you're getting it today.  But that's okay because now I have more to share. :)

Acadia had gymnastics on Friday.  She really likes it.  I know this because on Friday she took her first fall.  And it was on the balance beam.  We are really glad she isn't a boy! ;)  It hurt - pretty bad, and she was sore for a couple of days... but she got back up and kept going.  And she is excited to go back to class this week.  So, she's a tall girl and will most likely never be competitive... I don't care.  She loves it!  She is willing to work daily at it (I have her stretching and doing push-ups everyday.) so I'm willing to keep her in.
After gymnastics Rori discovered her voice!  She was making a noise, then stopped and made it louder, and stopped again and made it even louder.  She did this all through the weekend with various sounds.  It's rather cute.  Now sometimes when she talks, it sounds like she's yelling.  She's not unhappy, just "talking" loudly. :)

Saturday Cadi had a blue lollipop... here is the result:



And Rori was looking super cute so I couldn't resist taking a pic:



Saturday evening Cadi wanted curlers in her hair for Sunday...





And the last blog-worthy tidbit is that Rori slept over 12 hours last night - she didn't wake up until 10 am!!!  I'm a happy Mama! :D

So there you have it.  It is 3 days late, so you get 3 days worth of blog material. :)

Rori, Rori, Rori, and more *gasp* Rori

Can you tell that we kind of like this kid?  Well, I have been taking more pictures of the little squeaker that we love so much and I thought I'd share a few... (Make sure you scroll all the way to the end and click on the very last link!)

Here we have Rori enjoying her tummy time.  She tolerates tummy time a bit longer than she used to, now that she has discovered her reflection in the mirror! :)





Of course she still loves her singing fish too...



All this playing can wipe a girl out!  Sometimes she likes to snuggle up with Daddy and they both take a little nap.



And now for a special treat... Click here to see video of Rori "talking".

Cheesy Potato Soup

I love me some good potato soup and last night I tried this recipe. It was very yummy and so easy that I thought I'd share.


Cheesy Potato Soup

5 c. water
5 chicken bouillon cubes
8 medium potatoes, diced
1 small chopped onion
1 grated carrot
1 c. chopped celery
1/4 c. milk
1/4 c. flour
2 c. grated cheddar cheese
1 pint Half and Half

Put the chicken bouillon cubes in the 5 cups of water, then add all the vegetables and cook until the vegetables are tender. Combine the flour and milk to make a paste and add it to the vegetables. Add the Half and Half and cheese. Heat all this slowly but do not bring to a boil.