Summer

At last, has arrived.

Andie

My youngest sister Holly, and my niece Andrea, are visiting from Texas for a few months. Luke had a week long business trip so I saw it as the perfect opportunity to get some quality time with my sister and my beautiful niece. In just one week, Andie had many adventures...

Meeting a new litter of Labrador puppies....

Enjoying her own bowl of Mac & Cheese at Calamity Jae's in Sandy, Oregon.

Pretending she was a new Labrador puppy.

Cooling down with a taste of summer....popcycles!

And what girl can resist a hot tub?

This little one has captured my heart and makes me melt with her every word and expression. What a blessing to have had a whole week with her.

My Little Einstein

Samuel has always been intelligent. As a very young toddler, he would often sit back and just watch people, and his words were few, but when he did choose to speak, it was something important being said. Sam has always been fascinated by money, math, science...and since a young age, when asked what he what he would like to be when he grows up, his answer has been: " First a police officer, then a Governor, then President of the United States, then an author. In his 5th grade yearbook, his teacher wrote, "Please don't forget to invite me to your inaugural address".

A few days ago, Sam presented me with a letter from his teacher Mrs. Queen. In a nutshell, what was said in the letter from the Oregon Department of Education was this; This year, nearly 40,000 essays were read and scored by nearly 1,000 dedicated teachers. The teacher raters are always excited when they come across essays that would be very helpful in providing writing instruction for their students or for training colleagues in understanding and using the scoring guide. This year, Samuel Shepard's essay was selected as one that would be particularly useful for these purposes.

Needless to say, we are proud. His essay was on Three Ninja's, and while I have not had a chance to read it yet, I will post it as soon as I get my hands on it. My little boy that has always had a love of reading, is now loving to write as well.

Oh, and just a side note, the other day Sam and I were at the store, and I bought a lottery ticket. Sam says to me, "Mom, do you know that you have more of a chance to become President than you do to win the lottery"?

Thanks Sam.

I love this girl...

She can always make me laugh, is taller than me, growing up so fast, and is quickly becoming one of my best friends.

Disneyland!

What Will You Celebrate?

That is Disneyland's theme this year...and we celebrated a lot!

Luke and I celebrated our 15th Wedding Anniversary in February, and my 33rd birthday is in March...so we combined that celebration and flew to Disneyland! Some good friends of ours, Jesse and Emily also had some celebrating to do...Jesse also celebrates his birthday in March, and also just got out

of the ARMY after serving our country for 9 years

and fighting the war in Iraq for 1 year.

Cruella is one of the best characters to meet. She completely plays the role! And, I can honestly say...that might just be the best character to be! I mean...as Cruella, you can lose your patience or tell someone to back off and they laugh! Cannot really say that about Mickey or Snow White!

Thunder Mountain Railroad ended up being one of our groups favorite rides. Just a lot of laughter, screaming and fun for all of us. Unlike other rides...like Tower of Terror that Emily (I did not ride that one!) could not decide to laugh, scream, cry or pass out on!



The Matterhorn.

And lastly, one of my favorite pictures. My husband, looking a little bit like a boy, in his ears and having just finished a Disneyland double scoop sundae.

If you have not yet visited 'The Happiest Place on Earth' just do it!

With or without children...its the best!

PHOTOGRAPHY

Justine seems to have recently discovered a love for photography. And, I think she has a knack! Here are a few of my favorites!

Who says the weather outside is frightful?

I love snow. Everything about it. The color, the smell, the taste, the way that it makes every single branch, bush, stone, rooftop, and lawn look like a painted picture. Like God has just dumped a dusting of powder all over the city. Well, recently, we were BLESSED by quite an abundance! It could not have happened at a better time of year either. What fun we had as a family playing games, watching Christmas movies, building snowmen, watching our Pugs try to walk in it...here are a few pictures of our fun.