Corvallis

Cory and I just got back from our trip to Corvallis, and it's official, we LOVE it! As we were driving down from Portland, we were almost giddy with excitement. The drive is GORGEOUS and actually really quick. The Willamette (the -am part sounds like the -am in ham) Valley is like a Garden of Eden. Corvallis is in the center of the valley, with the Willamette River running right next to the city. We randomly met a member of our church, and chatted with her for a while. She loves the area and both of the wards she's been in. Coincidentally, the lady who was teaching piano to all the kids in the ward, just moved - lucky me!
We looked all over for where we want to live, getting a feel for the town and the surrounding areas. We've decided to temporarily rent an apartment, and we'll see where we go from there. The apartment is around the corner from the hospital, which will make it nice for Cory when he's on call and has to run to the hospital at 3 o'clock in the morning!
We also had fun checking out the local cuisine, and especially enjoyed some Vietnamese Sandwiches from a place called Baguette.
All in all, it was a successful trip, and it was fun to spend some time alone together; is that an oxymoron - alone together?
Surprise, it rained everyday we were there! Cory and I kept saying how easy it would be to blend in as a Vampire up there.
Vineyard/berry patch next to a beautiful public golf course that ran right next to the river.We went to Clash of the Titans one of the nights and were the only people in the theater!The view from the Medical Education Suite at the Hospital.The river.The cutest house ever!

Lovely Logan

We had a nice, warm weekend in Logan awhile ago. We enjoyed seeing Grandmas and Grandpas, and Emory says her favorite part was seeing that her cousin is getting bigger! Lisa, Adrian, Cory and I played 9 holes and the weather was beautiful; which is the exact opposite of what my golfing was. (I had fun though!) We went out for sushi and also tried the new ice cream place Sub-Zero, where they freeze your creation right in front of you. I'm not sure if we'd go again, it was just a'ight. There were some amazing purple pansies Grandma Cookie's front yard, so I fiddled with my camera settings for awhile. We're trying to get as much family time in as we can before the move, which is fast approaching.
Tessa accessorizing; probably 7 headbands on.

Easter 2010

As far as traditions go, we've been going to St. George for Easter since I can remember. It's GENERALLY warmer down there on Easter weekend, plus we just get a nice little break right in the middle of spring. It was warmer, considering we had inches in snow on the the ground and drove through a blizzard to get there. We always walk around the Art Festival. They had a ton of fun kiddy krafts. Emory loved her airplane. In fact she still HAD it till I threw it away and a melt down incurred because it was her "beloved plane" and on and on. Tessa loved to do interpretive dancing and posing on this rock. We all loved the Super scone, covered in cinnamon and sugar, and about the size of a medium pizza! We stayed with Mike, Sheila, and Savannah and were very glad to spend some time with them. We had our classic egg hunt at the sand dunes in Snow Canyon, and stopped by Tuacahn to show Cory and the girls it's majesty. (They really want to go back down for Tarzan.) It was a lovely, low key weekend. The last of it's kind before our great journey to the Northwest!

Baby Adelaide!

The girls have been dying for our Heidi to have her baby, and she did . . . a month ago. Luckily the week after she was born, Heidi brought her up to Salt Lake and we got to see "the cuteness".
The girls mauled her - literally. Tessa would have eaten her up if we hadn't been careful. She calls her "Baby Adeyaide" and I love just hearing her say it! Congrats Richard and Heidi, and just for the record, I'm kinda sad she didn't get red hair :(

All the Singin' Ladies . . .

My girls have a new obsession with "Single Ladies" ever since I tried to get them to do the dance from Beyonce's music video. (It's actually the laugh of your life to see them do it!) But you know we've watched it too much when you catch your 2 year old absentmindedly singing it while playing dolls. "Oh oh oh, oh oh oh," etc. This is Tessa's "Stank Eye"; watch out.We're in constant amazement by the maturity of Emory. She's a VERY spiritual little lady and probably knows more scripture stories than most teenagers do. She really surprised us this weekend by recounting the Easter Story that her primary teacher had given her - WORD FOR WORD! It was so special, Cory and I both had tears in our eyes. This is a picture she took of her Princesses. I love how everything is just so, and she even used something to stand Snow White on in the back.