Graduation Whirlwind Weekend

Allie graduated from High School ~

Last weekend was a great graduation weekend! It started on Thursday when Dad and Linda came into town from Southern California. We went to Tyler's baseball game and then went to Buffalo Wild Wings for dinner. Dad and Linda had never been there, so it was fun to eat tons of wings and watch the Lakers win the NBA finals!

Friday we went to breakfast at the Marriott City Center in Downtown Portland. We had a great breakfast with the kids. After some rest, we had an early dinner and then we all headed down the Chiles Center at the University of Portland for the ceremony. It was AWESOME watching Allie walk out and accept her diploma! There are not enough words to express the pride that we felt. After the graduation, Allie went off to her all night graduation party!
She was at the party until 5am and said that she had a wonderful time!

Alex and Alex

Alex and Joey
Courtney, Allie and Jalen...Proud of their big sister!
Dad and Linda with Allie
Grammy & Bumpa with Allie
Aunt Stacy and Tyler with Allie

Saturday we had a great time at Tyler's championship game at Alpenrose Dairy! He played a double header and won both games and the championship! It was so exciting! Not only did they win...IT WAS A BLOWOUT!

20-0 Woo Hoo!!!

Me and Jalen enjoying the game

Tyler and his 1st place metal - Congratulations Tyler!

Dad and Linda with Tyler

Sunday was the graduation brunch. We had such a wonderful time! We had a catered brunch with a coffee cart (and the most AMAZING peach smoothies), and a quesadilla cart. The food was really good and we received tons of compliements on the party! We had our true family there as well as close friends with us to celebrate.

Thanks for the glasses Kelle Poo Poo! Allie LOVES them! Ha ha...

Our yard sign!

Here is our sign in table with our graduation fortune cookies! Thanks to Mom and Scott for helping me put all of the favors together! And thanks to Dad and Linda for taking the kids to a movie to get them out of the house! :o)

Instead of a guest book, we had everyone sign the photo.
Allie said that she is going to hang it in her dorm room.

Coffee Cart....It was perfect!

Kelle, Kelli and Kacey fixing up their quesadilla! Kacey Lee...What a sweet smile!

Alex and Alex
Mom and Scott enjoying the party!

Allie is off to Southern Oregon University in August. I need to rest up for 3 back to back graduations! Matthew will graduate next year, and the twins will graduate the year after that. We will get only one year off and then Kaela will graduate in 2013. Yep....I'm exhausted!


So, now that you are on complete picture overload, I will leave you with just 1 more. I wanted to share a picture of my family that I just love. My parents are divorced and both have been remarried for many years now. I just love that my parents and step parents are able to all get together and have a good time. We had a hilarious time looking at old pictures with everyone! Not alot of families are lucky enough to have their divorced parents get along so well.
I feel very lucky!
In more ways than one.

Summer Fun!

We had the best weekend!

All of the kids were together...
Which I LOVE!
We played at the pool, ate yummy food, and played wii until we were too sore to keep playing.

Taylor and Kaela made wonderful strawberry shortcake for everyone! It was a perfect dessert for a sunny 85 degree weekend.
Thanks guys!!

The finished product!

One of our favorite things to make are Bacon Wrapped Jalapenos! They are beyond good. All I do is take a jalapeno and cut off each end. I clean out the seeds and some of the insides so they don't burn your mouth off. I stuff them with cream cheese, wrap them in bacon, put them on the skewers and BBQ. Sometimes we will just have these for dinner with a salad. Perfect!


Stacy came over and did Kaela and Allie's hair. They both looked adorable even though I only took a picture of Kaela. These kids are so lucky to have an auntie that does such a good job with their hair.

We have some temporary visitors at our house these days. These cute little birds built a nest up on our porch. Now we are just waiting for the little baby birdies to come.

However, there is a downside to this circle of life..........


POOP!
Eeewwwww!!!!!!

Update on Taylor's Puppy

Blaze!

Taylor's puppy (name changed from Oakley to Blaze) is growing up so fast. He is such a sweet little puppy! I love having a Grandpuppy!

Joey and Blaze....Giving each other a little smooch. I love how cute they are together. They are practically the same color. If I didn't know better, I'd say they were from the same bloodline...but they aren't. They love to chase each other around in the back yard. So much fun!

Wine Tasting - Memorial Day Weekend

Just the two of us!

First of all...we had NO KIDS! Wait...Let me say that again....NO KIDS! Allie was down at SOU with her boyfriend for the weekend, Matthew stayed with my in-laws, Kaela went to Great Wolf Lodge with the youth group and the twins were with their Dad. This weekend was just a little taste of what it will be like when our kids are grown and moved out of the house.

Bill and I had the most wonderful day on Saturday. We woke up and made a nice breakfast for the two of us. Then we went wine tasting through the Willamette Valley. It's a big weekend for wine tasting, so the wineries had live music, food and tastings where you can keep the glass.

Our first stop was Montinore Estate. It was a nice winery, but we really didn't stay that long. Here are some pictures of Montinore.


We were really excited to go to our favorite winery....Anne Amie in Yamhill. We had the nicest picnic that overlooked the vineyard. The weather was gorgeous, so we sat in the sun and talked and enjoyed our time together. It really was a perfect day!

Here are some more pictures of our day together....

Cruising in the convertible through wine country

Our picnic lunch of Sushi, watermelon, grapes and cheese

We are more in love then yesterday, but not as much as tomorrow!

Bill took the coolest picture of the view from our table through his wine glass! Maybe he has missed his calling. I think this picture is amazing!!

Here Comes the Sun.....Do Do Do Do

Ahhh....Sweet Sunshine!
(with SPF 30 of course)


Kelle, Taylor, Jalen, Allie, Kenzie, & Alana


We have had a couple of great 85 degree days here in Portland. It's been wonderful. The pool in our neighborhood is open, so we had some fun pool time and family time! I have been driving around with the top down on my car. I love it! I'm feeling really blessed!



This summer we have so many wonderful things planned.

• Allie's Graduation in June
• Our Anniversary Cruise in July
• Our 20th High School Reunion in August
• Allie will go off to college in September

I can't wait for this summer!!
Bring on the fun and sun!

The End of an Era

The Final Dance Team Banquet!

As 4 years of dance team come to a close, I find myself in a weird place. This experience has been wonderful for Alex and our family. The friends that we have made and the way we have watched Alex mature and grow as a leader and a person has been so amazing to watch. It's a little bitter sweet for me.
Dance team was ALOT of time and energy and there is a little tiny piece of me that is glad it's over.

The banquet was great! The girls all looked beautiful! It is a tradition that the senior captains go up and give out awards to the whole team. Bill and I made little sashes for Allie and Ellie to hand out. They turned out so cute!!

We are now alumnis of the Westview Wildthings....We are very excited to watch the team continue to grow and succeed!

Senior Captains...Allie and Ellie

Happy 10th Anniversary to us!

Celebrating 10 years of marriage
with my best friend today!

Wow...10 years together.
"Forever, I do"

**Remember that you can double click on the pictures to make them bigger**

May 7, 1999

We were married 10 years ago today. What a great day that was! We were married at Timeberline Lodge on Mt. Hood. We were to surprised to received 15 inches of new snow on the day of our wedding. There were about 50 people there and we had the best time dancing and visiting with our friends and family. We had a really nice honeymoon in Southern California. Disneyland, Six Flags, Universal Studios. Bill had his first ride on a roller coaster during our honeymoon :o) Little did he know at the time that this was the beginning of a wild ride called marriage! Ha ha.....

The past 10 years have had many ups and downs, but we are stronger people and a stronger couple because of it. Being a blended family has been a challenge to say the least. But we love our family and each other so much it makes it all worth it.

I am really looking forward to the next 10 years with Bill. The next phase will bring more fun times, vacations, and do I dare say "grand babies"? Ok, that's just weird. I'm not even going there. Ha Ha...

I love you honey! Thank you for loving me and going through this journey by my side.

***UPDATE***
*****************************************

Look at the B-E-A-U-TIFUL flowers that Bill sent me at work today! Thanks baby!!

Way Back When-sday

Way Back When-sday

Mommy's Little Helpers

Dateline 1997

Jalen & Courtney (4), Allie (6)

I love this picture so much! The girls loved to help cook and sit on the counters. Sometimes I just stare at this picture and get lost in it.

Way Back When-sday

Way Back When-sday

Some of my blogger friends do a "Way Back When-sday" post on Wednesdays. I think this will be a great way for people to get to know our family just a little bit better.

Dateline: 2002

We got the girls all dressed up for a summer tea party with Grammy Jo. We went to this cute little tea house in Sherwood. The girls got to dress up in pretty hats, purses and boas.

Precious!

Kaela (7) , Jalen & Courtney (9) & Allie (11)