Girl's Weekend Away

Every year or so, my high school friends and I try to get together and go away somewhere for the weekend. This year we went to our friend Laurie's cabin in the Uintah Mts in Wyoming. We had a blast! It was a fun ride up until we reached the cabin and realized there was 12 feet of snow in front of the gate.:) We figured how to get up the snow wall, and trudge through the snow 200 feet to the cabin. We all fell a few through the snow some, and ending up to hip in snow but we made it! We felt most for Trish who is almost 8 months pregnant, but we helped her get through. Luckily there were sleds and snow shoes to help us out the next morning. After being up most of the night talking, we all made it home OK.

This below is the wall of snow we had to traverse.

This is the road in front of the cabin, I took this picture on my walk in the morning. This is the gate buried in the snow. A view from the cabin.These are the girls that went, from L-R. Daphne, Me, Becca, Laurie, Tanya, Trish, Liz.

Botany Club Party

Lee is the Botany Club President this year. And the activity this month was to have a wine and cheese tasting event at the our art gallery and frame shop. Obviously Lee and I did not participate in the wine tasting, we still had a good time. They made sure we have exotic fruit juices and even had us taste some non-alcoholic wine.(In my opinion it tasted like bland mineral water.) The cheeses were really good and one of Lee's professor's lead the event with a presentation and explanation of different things about the origin of wine, which I did learn some new things. Everyone dressed up and looked nice for the event.

Our Luggage

The other day our new luggage arrived.(For those who don't know Lee and I are going to Peru this summer for 10 days.) We ordered some new backpacks so we could travel easier. Mara was looking at our luggage and asked if she was going on our trip. We told her only the things that fit in our luggage were going. A little while later we took these pictures of her in our luggage. It goes to show you how inventive children can be. She then told us since she could fit in our luggage then she should be able to go on our trip with us!:)

This will be the first time Lee and I have left our children for more than overnight. I know they will be fine. I will be the one having withdrawl. None the less I am very excited for our trip. Especially with Lee finally graduating, we have been so busy and overloaded it will be nice to get away together. Kind of like a 2nd honeymoon.:)

EASTER

Easter was fun this year, since Kale is old enough to participate. We were fortunate to have 2 easter egg hunts. One at Grandma Bartholomew's and one at our house easter morning. The kids had fun dying the eggs and decorating them. Unfortunately I don't have pictures of their easter clothes since the battery died right after the egg hunt. But it has since been recharged for any new adventures we may have.

Our Family

This is Carson, he will be 7 years old in June. He is in first grade, and loves it! Carson loves to read, learn new things, and play with friends. He also plays the piano, soccer, and will be starting baseball soon. Carson is really fun and we love having him in our family.

This is Mara, she is 5 years old. She is full of energy, and spunk. She is very adventerous, and is hardly scared of anything.:) She is in preschool, and loves it. Mara takes gymnastics, and loves playing with her friends, and anything outside.(As long as it is warm.) She definately keeps us on our toes.

This is Kale. Our ever active 2yr old. He is talking some now, and wants to be independent. He loves having a big boy bed, and reading books. He has even started learning some of his letters. He also tries very hard to keep up with his older brother, and sister.

This my wonderful husband, Lee. He is a very hard worker. His owns his own business, plus he is going to WSU full time. He will graduate in May!! :) I am very proud of him. He will be going to graduate school, hopefully this fall. His bachelor's degree is in botany. He is also a great Dad, and supportive husband. I was very smart to marry him!

This is me, Kristen. I am a busy mom and wife. I also work part-time as a nurse is the Newborn ICU. I love to travel, and be with my family. I like spending time outdoors, and hiking. I am trying to like regular exercise, and eating healthy.:)

This is our family, and though our lives our chaotic at times, we love each other and our life together.

Jumped on the Bandwagon!

So I have caved and finally started a blog. For a long time I was resistant to the idea of blogging, because I thought it would take to much of my time. But to be honest, I am a horrible journal keeper, so I thought maybe I should chronicle something of our family. Lee and I will probably be the only one's looking at our blog for now, but I think it will be fun to write about events and adventures in our lives.

This is our family at the Tillamook Cheese Factory when we went to Oregon last summer.

The kids loved seeing the assembly lines of how cheese is made, and where it comes from and where it goes.

This is our family at Cape Meares lighthouse. They have the most gorgeous forests and trees in Oregon.

This is the imfamous Octopus tree. It is a single Sitka Spruce that has formed a ring of trees around where the original trunk once stood.

Our next blog we will introduce our family.