Hale Freezes Over

On January 29, 2010 I participated in my first 5K.

My good friend Mary (who also teaches with me, who also was my supervising teacher during student teaching, who also is amazing) and I ran and walked all 3 miles including a mile long up-hill journey.

Us two before the race started.

My number, lucky 262.

My penguin, Santa, rubber ducky. If you finished the race you earned one of these!

Yes it was freezing! Hale did freeze over, but it was a great experience!

I can't wait to complete my goal of being able to run an entire 5K!

Snow Snow Snow

As promised, I have a few more pictures from Christmas in La Grande.

It snowed a lot while we were in La Grande, and the kiddos were getting restless, so we decided to have an exciting adventure in the snow. We got bundled up and made a snowman, threw snowballs, and just had a "grande" time. Get it... Grande time, like La Grande... .. aah hum... moving on.

Alma loved the Zebra gloves!

Everyone picked on Eliseo and tried to hit him with the snowballs. Too bad he was too fast for everyone.

Felipe and Andrew made a great two headed snowman. Super... awesome ?!?!

Violet did not like having a chunk of snow stuck to her boot. She lasted about five minutes outside.

Sometimes you just have to stick the old skateboard into the snowman to destroy it... don't ask - it seemed like a good idea at the time.

And the best little trooper Stanley. We all had lots of fun and enjoyed our own little snow day!

Christmas in La Grande

This year we got to go to La Grande for Christmas! It was a nice two week vacation full of shopping, cooking, playing with the nieces and nephews, family, and lots of love!

 The kids got up super early (look at that pretty sunrise) to open presents.

We got to celebrate Arys' birthday with a beautiful cake and pin the lips on the frog game.  Look at that beautiful smile!

Violet's favorite was uncle Felipe for a while. She loved hanging out with him!

We made a beautiful two-headed snowman... I did not know you could really roll up snow and make a snowman, I guess I've never tried to do that before. 

Don't worry, I have many more pictures coming soon! Hope you had a wonderful Christmas as well!

Jack-O-Bat-Signal

Yep, that's my pumpkin. Krys carved a spider web that looks cool also. I might have also felt like I was doing my part in fighting crime by summoning Batman to do his vigilante crime eradicating activities.

I just read a poem that expresses my views on winter. However I feel that this poem is incomplete in that it lacks several things which should be loathed also.

Iced over windshield. I hate you.
Scraping off iced windshield. I hate you.
Snow on the drivers seat. I hate you.
Big puffy coats that make that zipping noise whenever you move. I hate you.
Pants that get wet at your feet solely because you have to walk outside. I hate you.
Frozen snot. I hate you.

Don't worry Sally, I'm right there with you.

Felipe's Birthday

Attention Readers: Felipe is almost old. He only has 1 year till he is officially old. Don't tell him, he get's a little grumpy when you mention it!

Anyways I thought I would share some great pictures from his birthday a month and a half ago... 

AND

tell you 29 reasons why I love him (one for every year his has been alive)...

1.  He is always willing to help. He moved us into our new apartment even though he was probably exhausted. 

2.  He is so cute, and tries to match his clothes, shoes and belt everyday.

 3.  How he loves to share his desserts with me (mostly because he doesn't like chocolate so I get the chocolate part).

4.  He is willing to try anything I cook.

5.  His handsome smile... 

6.  He helps me cook every night and puts the dinner away after.

 7.  He is ok with trying new things.

8.  He still looks like he is 18 (and acts like it sometimes too).

9.  He is helpful with all the nieces and nephews.

10.  He loves all his family and all mine.

11.  His mad fishing skills.

12.  His chillaxed attitude.

13.  He is not afraid of crawdads.

14.  He kills the spiders in our house (and there is a lot more since we live in the basement).

15.  He is great at sports. He may not be the best but he gives it his all.

16.  He loves everything I do, even if it is dorky...

17.  He loves trains.

18.  He loves his hometown and loves to go visit any chance we get (which is not often enough).

19.  He has a great family that shares with us a lot!

20.  His love of Adidas and Puma everything.

21.  He is funny (not only funny looking, but comical funny).

22.  He is a great pirate. And he has a great pirate voice.

23.  He is great at going along with my crazy ideas. For example... "Hey Felipe, go stand by those sheep and let me take your picture"

24.  He is totally fine with my love of animals.

25.  His love of Nintendo and how he is good at every game.

26.  I love how he loves nature.

27.  He is super awesome (and a very good hippo rider).

28.  He is a great referee and helps the kids learn how to play instead soccer and basketball.

29.  He is the greatest husband in the world, he is amazing, and he loves me more than anything.

I hope Fil enjoys being 29 and can get all of his craziness out before he turns 30!

Look how happy he is to be 29...

Sometimes he is even a little creeper-ish.

See ya!

Trip to Oregon

Yeah more pictures!  We went to the Union County Fair when we first got to La Grande. Felipe's mom won some cool ribbons for her hand made clothes! (Super cute by the way)

We had some fun... I've never been to a county fair that I can remember so it was really interesting to see what goes on and how involved the people get!

No we didn't get any lemonade. But who wouldn't love to drive the lemonade-mobile around?

 

Between a rock and a wet place - the drive to Portland, OR.

What are these things? A mattress for a really long skinny human?

Sometimes polar bears do the back stroke.

The amazing raspberry jam I helped make...

The apron I picked out for Connie to make for me :)  The intention was for me to make it, but I have no idea what I'm doing and she was much quicker!

Also, HAPPY BIRTHDAY FELIPE!  (more on that later)!

North by Pacific Northwest

This is a vacation. And here are some pictures.

We stopped by Powell's Books in downtown Portland. 42 minutes is not enough time to even scratch the surface of how huge and awesome the place is. We purchased five books in that time and only visited 3 sections.

Andy and I buried his child. It was to the point where the kid looked like one of those barbie cakes.

The Oregon Zoo rocks. Really, it is one cool zoo. Not quite as good as the St. Louis Zoo.

Multnomah Falls. A little busy but awesome nonetheless.

Seaside, Oregon. Super cold and super fun.

I'm a dork.

Right above lower Multnomah Falls.

We took the Historic Columbia River Highway and we found a little place called Horsetail Falls. It's a few miles from Multnomah but less traveled. So worth the detour. We also have a billion other pictures that we may or may not reveal to you later.