Spring Break- Portland Zoo

We went to the zoo in Portland this past weekend and it was so fun to watch Griffey experience it.  It was his first time there and he was very excited to see the Giraffes.  He even wanted to wear a giraffe t-shirt for the day under his cool new Oregon sweatshirt.

 

The otter was my favorite animal to watch because it was so active and funny.

Griffey said his favorite parts were seeing the giraffe and watching the monkeys sit next to each other and pick at eachother to clean them.

We all had so much fun and it was nice to get away from Eugene for the weekend, plus it was neat watching Griffey learning new things.



Christmas

I don't think I ever put Christmas pictures up here, but I found a few that I had to share.  Griffey asked Santa for a blue bouncy ball and he was very adament that he only wanted a bouncy ball.

Well, Santa looked everywhere for a blue bouncy ball and even went through a bunch of quarters on the quarter machines, but he couldn't get a blue bouncy ball, so Griffey ended up getting three bouncy balls, one of which is half blue.

Griffey was so excited! I love his expressions in these pictures,

Spring is Here....and it Brought Snow!

It barely ever snows here and when it does, it doesn't stick on the ground.  On the rare occasions that we get an inch of snow that sticks, it is gone within a day. 

This is why it was very, very unusual when we got 5-7 inches of snow in one day on the second day of Spring!  It happened two days ago and there is still a bunch of snow on the ground.  So weird!

At first, I was not very excited about all the snow because it happened on my first day of Spring Break, so I was stuck at home.  All I wanted to do was go on a hike or go out and do something to celebrate being done with this term and I was stuck at home, but my attitude changed and we had fun with it.

Griffey got to wear his purple snow suit that I got at Value Village and he loved the snow.  His favorite part was throwing snowballs at Daddy.  Adam was inside and Griffey was throwing snowballs at the window where he was standing.



 Griffey also loved seeing his footprints in the snow.  We made a snowman, but I don't have much practice at it and it fell over within half an hour.  Now there are three giant snowballs in our front yard.

 When I went inside to get my camera, I looked out the window and saw Griffey adding a hat to the snowman.  See the little pile of snow on top of the snowman? That is his hat.

I can't believe how much snow we got! Look at that flowering bush! It is an oxymoron.  It is covered in spring flowers and snow.  Our poor daffodils were stuck frozen in the snow too. 

Time for a Hair Change

About every six months or so, I get an urge to change my hair color or style completely.  Last time this happened, I just trimmed a few inches off and added some carmel highlights about 5 months ago.  Well, I am getting that itch again and once I have it in my mind, I can't wait to dye my hair. 

I made an appointment for Friday and I think I am going to go blonde.  Usually when I want blonde hair, I just do a bunch of highlights, but I am considering doing it all blonde for a change.  Not sure yet!

Here are some possibilities:

Future Projects

Here are a few of the things I have found on Pinterest lately that I hope to try very soon.  They are all home/decorating projects:
1) ruffle pillow
2)magnetic menu board
3)Picture of a state using twine and pins ( I would do Oregon obviously)

4) letter made of buttons wall hanging
5)tree wall hanging using buttons
6)fabric wreath (for easter!)


Check out my pins on Pinterest for more of my hopeful upcoming projects or for some ideas of your own!

Seriously, the Best Sugar Cookie!

Okay, I know I already did a post of my favorite sugar cookie recipe....but I have to go back on my word because I found an even better recipe.  It is AMAZING! I encourage you to make it right now, but be warned--you will not be able to stop eating them!!

The recipe is from a blog called The Girl Who Ate Everything and the link for the cookies is here.  They are so, so good. They stay moist for a long time and they have sour cream in them.  Crazy, right?  Also, don't use the frosting recipe that comes with the cookie recipe, use this one from Allrecipes.com.

The cookie recipe says it makes 4 dozen, but I would say there were definitely way more! I didn't change anything on either of these recipes and they were amazing.  So good!

I can't say it enough-------these two recipes will change your life and your outlook on sugar cookies.  Please try them now, it will make so very happy.

I can't wait for the next holiday, so I can make more.  Do people make cookies on St. Patrick's Day? I think I am going to need to.

Want these recipes all ready to print? I made a Google Doc. College is coming in so handy!

Griffey's First Train Sighting

When I was driving home from my indoor soccer game today, I was thinking about how it is supposed to rain all week but it was so nice out this evening.  I got home with about half an hour of daylight and I wanted to make the most of it.  I thought I was being pretty funny when I opened the door and said, "Life is passing by, let's go on a walk and see it!"  Adam is pretty used to my dorky comments and I expected a remark about my dorkiness, but instead he agreed pretty fast and off we went!

Griffey was so excited to go on a walk.  It has been a while since we have been so busy and the weather has been rainy lately.

Shh! Don't tell Grandpa! Griffey drove on his car that we were borrowing.



I really like the location we are in and our neighborhood.  Our house is the one over Adam's left shoulder with the porch light on. 

 

We walked down to the train tracks, about 10 blocks away and waited for a train.

We had heard a train whistle and go by when we were on our walk, which was why we decided to go see the train tracks in the first place.  Since a train had just gone by, we weren't expecting to see one.  Griffey was so excited to see it!  Man, his smile was huge! He waved and the conductor tooted his whistle twice for Griffey.

It was a spur of the moment thing to go on this walk, but I am so glad we did.  The little times when we check out of our busy lives and focus solely on our family are always the best.  This was a good reminder of what is important and I know this night will stay in Griffey's memory for a long time.