Easter Pictures

I'm about blogged out and definitely on picture overload right now . . . as are most of you that follow this blog. This slide show is for Nani & Grandpa Brammer and Grandma & Grandpa Johnson. We love you and we missed you at Easter time. I wanted to take these closer to Easter but I waited for Craig's black eye to heal. That's right Jace gave Craig a black eye while wrestling. He didn't explain before hand that knee jumping someone in the eye is against the rules . . especially when they have been distracted by a question asking wife.

We thought it most appropriate to take our Easter pictures at the Portland, OR temple grounds. The grounds looked so beautiful last year around this time with all the blossoms and spring flowers so I just couldn't resist. I talked my friend into bringing her camera and family along too and we just swapped taking pictures. We both walked away with lots of really great family memories. I'm really glad we got some couples shots too. I don't get many of Craig and I together since I'm usually the picture taker. The kids were not very cooperative. I tried to make sure they both used the bathroom before we left but as soon as we got there Brooke was squirming all the place because she had to go again. Jace kept running around the reflection pool even after I asked repeatedly not to and eventually fell in. I wanted to cry - it took me a lot of planning to find the right outfit for him to wear and then I made sure not to put it on until we got there so he wouldn't spill anything on it. Oh well, life happens.

It was also really difficult to get just one of them to look at the camera . . and getting both of them to look at the camera at the same time was next to impossible. There were just too many distractions . . . so I ended up taking a few of them at home too. I thought they all turned out really cute.

Thanks for joining me for Easter pictures this year, Laurel. You did a great job!

So without further ado . . . here are our Easter pictures:

Sweet Tranquility

It's late and I can't sleep because Craig is off camping with the scouts. My bed feels weird without him in it . . . so usually if he's gone overnight I either deep clean the house into the wee hours of the morning, watch lifetime movies (because you won't catch those on the t.v. when he's around), or play on the computer.

I do have some exciting news to share. No, I'm not pregnant. I FINALLY have new bedding for my room. I know most of you probably don't think this is blog worthy but I'm really excited about it. Craig told me that for my birthday (keep in mind - that my birthday was in February) I could pick out some new bedding because ours was pretty much falling apart. The bed skirt was torn from kids pulling on it to climb into bed and I washed the comforter instead of taking it to the dry cleaners so it was in pretty bad shape. I was so excited to pick something out. I knew exactly what I wanted but couldn't find it anywhere. Being as indecisive as ever - I searched and searched until I found one that would do. I couldn't really find exactly what I wanted in a bed in a bag but found something close enough. I ordered it. It didn't come for over a month and when I opened the package it was the wrong comforter set and the sheets that they sent with it were the wrong size. I was as devastated as one could possible be over bedding. On their website it said I had to get a hold of someone on the phone that would then issue a return slip. I called and called and sent email after email and didn't hear anything back. It just went straight to a voice mail every time. No call backs and no returned emails. This was very hard for someone as impatient as myself because I wanted my new bedding. Lesson learned - NEVER buy something on the Internet from a company that you haven't heard of before. I curse you 'GREAT' AMERICAN STORE! Please do not ever buy anything from them. I didn't get a response until I threatened (through email) to go through my credit card company to get my money back. I finally received a return slip and sent their mistake back to New Jersey. I still have not gotten my money back. First thing Monday - call my credit card company.

I picked a new bed set out at Macy's and ordered it online. I waited very impatiently for it to come but when it finally got here and I put it together I decided I didn't like it. I sent it back. By this time Craig was getting really annoyed with the whole bedding issue. He just wanted me to pick something and be done with it. So instead of going with a bed in a bag or a comforter set (because I couldn't really find the colors I wanted) I decided to just mix and match.. . a blanket from here, a bed skirt from there, and so on and so forth. I really wanted something that would match the ballerina painting that hangs in my room so I looked for greens - pale sage ended up being the winning color. It was just right - it looks very fresh and clean. Now when I look at my new bed I think 'sweet tranquility'. It's airy and light and super fluffy AND it has the right coloring. I'm super happy with my new birthday bedding even if it came exactly 2 months late.

Of course the kids have made themselves right at home.

Here's to blogging about bedding when it's way past bedtime!

Teddy Bear Tea Party

I have been having a lot of pretend tea parties with Brooke lately. She is such my little girly girl! We use the pretend food from the toy kitchen set and use our imagination for the 'tea' or milk. Brooke loves it and asks me to play all the time . . so a few weeks ago I surprised her with a frilly, girly, 'real' teddy bear tea party . . complete with pastries,popcorn, and milk. When she walked in she covered her mouth in awe and gasped. "Momma, you wanna have a teen party?" "Yes, Brooke. I want to have a tea party with you." She helped me dress up her bears with necklaces and she got dressed up too. (On a side note, last night for family night when daddy asked what makes her happy she said "dressing up".) Jace was feeling a little left out so we invited him too but let him know before hand that he had to be a complete gentleman which meant being EXTRA polite and most importantly. . . no naughty talk. He tried his best and even though he slipped up a little . . .

. . . they both had a fabulous time at the teddy bear tea party!



"More milk please." "Certainly, my dear." "Isn't this popcorn delightful?" "I would have to agree." "Tea parties are fabulous!"

Rainbows & Waterfalls

I hope after all your April showers you get a rainbow as beautiful as this one:

Jace painted this in preschool the other day. It was rainbow day because they were talking about the letter R. Jace loved it because he LOVES rainbows. Last Sat. we hiked up to Hardy Falls on the Washington side of the Colombia River Gorge. It was beyond beautiful. The kids had a blast. The favorite was the Pool of Winds. The waterfall would fall down and swish around in this little pool before it dropped again and they had a viewpoint from the trail that went right up to the pool. When you got up there it blasted your face with a gush of mist and all you could see was this magnificent waterfall and a gigantic rainbow. To Jace it was pure bliss. Here he is trying to touch the rainbow:



I wish I could have captured more of the falls from this point of view but I was worried about my camera getting too wet. There was some serious misting going on!

We've been having fun seeing the sights and I've been taking more pictures then ever just trying to capture the beauty here before we leave. Yep . . .you heard me . . leave. We just found out yesterday that Craig has been accepted to Graduate School to get his MBA. I'm so proud of him! We'll sure miss it here though. There are still so many places to see and things to do here. I think we're going to have a busy next few months. Here is my attempt at capturing a very green Northwest spring:

Shown here is Hardy Falls, Colombia River Gorge, Beacon Rock State Park, Dugan Falls, Washougal River, and just everything green within a few miles of the house. I'll probably add to it later with some pictures of the Colombia River. It still amazes me that it is this beautiful here. I love it.



Happy April! I hope you get to enjoy some rainbows & waterfalls.

P.S. I'll keep you posted on where we will be starting our newest adventure soon. We're still in the process of deciding.