Rebelution Tour?

Next Saturday we are going to the Rebelution Tour in Portland. I think that it is going to be really neat. Has anybody been to one?

Thanksgiving dinner in April?

The wonderful aroma of turkey, stuffing and pie perfumed our home today. I guess you could say it is one of the strange habits of our family, but we delight in eating a turkey dinner at least three or four times a year. The weather today just called it out "it's a turkey day!" Most of my family at the dinner table

Jia Tai in his stylish pajamas; aren't they great?

Christian Heritage Conference

What a grand weekend! We(our family)were able to attend the 3rd annual Christian Hertiage Conference and let me tell you we were not disappointed. It was a weekend filled with encouraging and thought provoking speakers, great fellowship and a wonderful chance to meet new families in Washington. We are already looking forward to next year! I especially enjoyed Jessica Erber's session on joyous purposful daughters, it reminded and inspired me to continue to be a faithful daughter.
Melina and I were able to sing in the chorale, which I think she would agree, it was so enjoyable and we both hope to be in it next year. We both really enjoyed Mr. Craig, the director of the chorale, and his ability to be so productive, getting us all on the same page in just a wee few hours. I truly stand amazed.

Well the clock is ticking and I must get going.

I encourage you all to check out Christian Heritage and to come to the conference next year, you will be impressed.

Extreme Bikers?

Or maybe just ardent ones... The sky was generously peppered with clouds and showing signs of rain but Melina said we should ride our bikes to the market instead of sitting in a car wasting money.

I succumbed to her plan and off we rode, vivacious and ready for whatever was to come. We arrived at the first stop in good time and, it hadn't rained yet. Quickly we split up and gathered our groceries and upon paying the cashier waltzed out the door in a matter of minutes. We then loaded our bikes with ease and rode away to the produce stand. As soon as we had arrived, we spotted a huge box bursting with vegetables and fruits that needed to be used within the next couple of days. It was only THREE dollars! I am sure that there were at least 50 items in it. Our hearts raced at the sign of such a deal and we snatched it up without a second thought. We purchased a few other items and headed for the car... ohh...right we are on bikes.. We are on BIKES! How are we going to get all the beautiful pieces of produce home the the table? Now we've done it, I tried to reassure Melina that we could do this, nothing could deter us. After 15 minutes of pushing and prodding, squishing and squeezing and about 45 pounds later, we had our bikes packed up. I couldn't leave my bike to stand on it's own because it would just topple right over. We slowly started to the last stop, The Market Place, as it began to sprinkle. We already had the wind against us surely we didn't need the rain. Thankfully, there was a covered area to learn our bikes against while we bought the last items on our list. While in the store Melina said we should buy ourselves a little energy for the long perilous ride home. She didn't have to talk me into it. We walked out the door with a couple of bags and 4 dozen eggs. We tried to situate everything in a way that nothing would break or get squished and but everything seemed to stymie us. Finally, we got it. But the bikes were so hard to steer they seemed to have a mind of the own going every which way we didn't want them to go. So we just decided to eat our dream bars and hope for our vivacity to return. Well it didn't but home wasn't getting any closer, so we began the endeavor home at a very slow pace. The rain fell heavy for a a minute and then ceased but the ferocious wind kept letting us know it was there. Needless to say our trip home was about 5 times longer than the trip there. But we did make and our legs were like pieces of wet spaghetti when we arrived, but we made it! It really doesn't look like a lot in this picture but it was 78.5 pounds of groceries and two limp bodies. We were quiet happy to be home.

It's Jia Tai's 4th Birthday!

We had a wonderful weekend helping Stephen and Paige with their new house, celebrating Jia Tai's 4th birthday and planting up the gazoo. Ohh... and we also got our bikes back from storage which made my day.

Friday- We ended up going to Stephen and Paige's new house to help lay some counter tops. Well... I should say that Papa and Stephen layed the counter tops and the rest of us goofed off downtown and enjoyed sweet Pear. After the work was done, We had a great barbeque: steak, mashed potatoes, french bread, blue cheese and apple salad and black bottom cupcakes for dessert. Paige did most of the chef work but Stephen did the steaks. It was delicious!

Saturday- We ate breakfast outside then hopped to work. We planted, made raised beds, cleaned, organized and finished by sipping an iced white mocha in the sun.
Then we made a birthday cake and grilled hot dogs for Jia Tai's birthday. We ate and sang happy birthday and then Jia Tai went to bed... I guess having a birthday really took a toll on him. :)

It was such a fun and productive weekend!

Bellingham!

My sisters and I have spent the last few days in Bellingham with my cousins. Melina is moving back to Aberdeen so we were mainly packing up her belongings and trying to cram them into her little car. Which was quiet a hilarious sight I must say. After packing we did have some fun though... we played countless rounds of Pinochle, (our favorite card game) sipped plenty of tea, and enjoyed a few days of quietness. One day we went out to lunch with my brother, Stephen, at a Thai restaurant called "On Rice." It was so delicious I wanted to keep eating and eating, but alas my stomach said "no more!" But I did manage to scarf down an ice cream cone from Mallards a few minutes later. What can I say, there always seems to be room for dessert. :)

I was able to see my newest cousin, Gweneth Ellen Foy, born March 15th. But I didn't have my camera so no pictures of the little cutie.

We purchased pastries at a nearby bakery called "The Mount Bakery" I highly recommend the almond croissant if you are ever in the neighborhood, it was very good.

Ahh... what a good time it was!





Laurel, cousin Candice, cousin Gabby


Stephen at "On Rice"


The must try Almond Croissant



Gabby sipping her tea




Laurel being weird