Easter in Walla Walla

We took an Easter road trip to Walla Walla to celebrate with Chris' two grandmas and the rest of his family.  We had a great time catching up with the family, enjoying the beautiful spring weather, and stuffing ourselves to the max with Kim's famous lasagna and Grandma's delicious home baked rolls, salads, and fresh apple pie.  Then we woke up on Easter morning and continued to fill ourselves to the max with a delicious brunch at the Walla Walla Country Club.  Aside from all of the eating, the boys golfed a round of golf and Buffie, Kim and I joined for the second half.  I had the game of my life, which is not saying much since last year was the first time I had ever golfed a course and I still regularly completely miss the ball.  I still had the occasional strike out and I am by no means good, but progress is being made and I guess that is what counts.  I also took a walk around the Whitman campus.  It was gorgeous with tulips and daffodils blooming in every corner. 

 

We loved seeing miss Sophie.  She is cute as ever and looked darling in her little Easter dress. We were also pleased that she remembered us and our names ("Aw-wee" and "Uncle" - without the Chris).  As mean as it is, a highlight of my trip and a low light for poor little Sophie was when the Easter bunny (a huge white kind of scary thing) approached us at brunch.  Sophie took one look and burst out in tears.  Even as an adult, I found the Easter bunny a little frightening so I don't blame the kid and I should not really laugh, but it was pretty funny.   

 Thanks Buffie, Grandma, Kim, Eric, Doug, Elizabeth, and Sophie for a wonderful Easter.  It was so nice to spend it with you all!

Happy 60th Mom!

Today is my mom's 60th birthday.  She is not thrilled with the big 60, but I think she looks great.  In fact, I am pretty sure that I have more wrinkels than she does.  Anyway, happy birthday Mom, I love you.

The Freshness of Spring

Spring is finally here, thank goodness!  My bulbs are in full bloom and trees that I had no idea would flower have burst open with bright pink and white flowers. We were even treated with two days of much needed sunshine this weekend.   

The flowers in the vases on the left are all from my garden.  I think spring bulbs are one of God's greatest inventions.  They provide so much joy. 

Now if I could just get rid of this thief!

This month has been a month of new beginnings and fresh starts for us both.  I found out that I was in the lucky group of people who passed the bar exam and I feel like a huge weight has been lifted off of my shoulders. I spent the past three days celebrating with friends and family and it has been great.  Thanks to all for the words of encouragement while I was studying and for the nice congratulatory words this week.  Chris also got a fresh start when he was presented with the opportunity to take a new job at a company called Scentsy.  Although it is not the most masculine company, it seems to be a great fit for him thus far (just finished week two).

I think that blogs (or at least mine)  have a tendency to skip past life's more challenging moments.  There were plenty of tears shed during the time I was studying for the bar exam (including the morning of the exam).  Chris had to take a bit of a leap of faith to leave his company.  We both had a couple of challenging months.  I do, however,  believe that there is always a silver lining and I am grateful for the moments when we finally get to see and experience that silver lining. 

Job Well Done

      

Chris has been working so hard in the yard that it is a rare sight to see him indoors these days.  The yard improvements continued as he took out a portion of the basketball court (using a jackhammer and all) to plant another row of trees.  Our kids will thank us one day when they don't have to fight the goats behind our house to retrieve their basketballs.  He has made countless trips to the dump with Bella in tow.  Home Depot is now his second home and even our Saturday night date consisted of making a trip to his new homeland.  We celebrated all of his hard work last night with our first fire in the firepit!

The BIG project in process.

Before and after of the BIG project.

One more before and after. 

The Bels Turns Two

 

Mrs. B  turned two today.  It is strange that a dog can become such a part of your life, but to us Bella is kind of the thing that made us a family.  She captured our hearts from the moment we laid eyes on her. We love our little Bels and are so happy that somehow we ended up with such a great puppy, despite her continued destruction of all things made of paper.