Hail, Hail the Pioneer Pack!

We had a Pioneer Reunion and it was all I'd hoped for and more! 

 I had a snow day so no school Friday, leaving me free to head to Nina's on Thursday night.

 We found all sorts of blooming pink flowers as we walked around McMinnville (and Portland) that looked lovely with our matching purple jackets.

 Then on to campus where we were delighted to have a private tour, organized by Jayme.

 We even got to enter Pioneer and some of our former rooms. It was so familiar!

 Our sophomore year room. We found the ladder in storage - just where we'd left it - and left a note for the current occupants to up their decor game.

 I love this campus.

We found our brick!

 And our faces.

So many memories. We are 15 years out, but 19 since we began in this building. What a delightful chapter of our lives.

Can't go to Mac without Wildwood!

  And we made a stop at a winery, just for fun. Erin so enjoys a good vino...

 After the Mac tour, we went to Pacific City and enjoyed our beach house together. Lots of food, games, music, arcade Pacman, clothing exchange, and visiting with the best sort of gals.

  Our view wasn't shabby...

We ran up and down the dunes

 listened to the crash of the surf

and showed our true colors.

Hail, hail, the Pioneer Pack!

Our friendship cannot be surpassed.
When we travel together and do crazy things,
we make memories that forever will last.
May it continue to be so!

Tree House

After years of scheming, lots of outrageous blueprints and some flat out nagging from Mitchell, the tree house is a reality!

 It began over spring break, right before Dad left for Alaska. Time was certainly a driving issue! Here Bryan and Dad determine placement before heading out to buy lumber.

 Phase 2 involved framing the floor and attaching it all to the tree. 

Bryan added the first level of flooring and Mitch and Maddax got to climb up and see it. Previously they were talking about how it seemed small. When they came back down, they were in awe of its height!

 We continued to work on the tree fort after Dad returned from Alaska. Bryan and Dad put on another layer of flooring on a Friday afternoon, thanks to a half day for conferences. Then on Saturday I helped Dad put up the railings. Let it be said that my help was not required - the man is a machine when it comes to 2x4s (and 2x2s and 4x4s...)! It was windy, but the height of the fort was not as scary once the railings were attached.

Saturday night we returned from a baseball game at Big Bend to find the railings complete and a delightful pulley! The kids climbed up in their pjs after baths and were squealing with delight at the progress. Mitch declared the fort to be "epic" and has already used the pulley to haul Nerf guns, knives, and other necessities to the fort, where they wait for move in day.

Grampa bought more lumber and did more measurements on Sunday and then returned to his home shop to build the gate and scheme on the ladder's construction.

The ladder went up on Monday and there was a large crew testing it out and gleefully climbing up and down and up and down and even into the tree limbs above! Yes, I put a stop to that terrifying practice.

The head contractor added handles, hooks, a bell, door, door latch and door stopper. He put water seal on the whole thing - even the underside - and has declared it finished! It's a wonder!

Windy Weekend

We are getting some serious wind here, though a warm week ahead is forecast. We spent a lot of the weekend working on the tree house, but we did a couple other things as well.

On Saturday afternoon we went to Big Bend to watch Dylan's Yakima Valley team beat the host Vikings. It was a really cold and windy set of games and did not make me love JC baseball. Dylan didn't get to play, but we got to visit and deliver cookies anyway. 

For Earth Day, we did some neighborhood improvement by cleaning up the stretch of Frey that runs from 17.7 to 18. It was littered with cheap beer cans and bottles, wrappers, drug paraphernalia (thanks, Cannarail...), and general grossness. The girls were big helpers and with Grama A, we managed to clear out 5 big trash bags full. Only 3 more sides of the neighborhood to go...

Spring Break

Spring break was rainy and grey for a lot of the time, but we enjoyed ourselves nonetheless! It was a pretty low key week. Bryan only had sporting events on the bracketing Saturdays so he got some much needed rest. We started the break with Easter in Spokane and then spent most of the time at home. The kids each had friends over (Hunter, Cora, Lottie and her sister) for play time and there were times we felt like a daycare. . . However, we had happy children! Bryan and I had a date night in Moses and the kids spent the night with the Johnson grands. We worked on cleaning out Johnson storerooms, organizing our office, made headway on the tree house, had a dinner party with friends, and Mitch enjoyed a 3 day baseball camp.

 There was a lot of gardening throughout the week as we planted the Pobst rose tree, a new crabapple in the front yard, and did lots of weeding amid minor plant acquisitions. Shan likes to get in on the action, too!

 One morning Grama A took Shannon to Seed Cupboard to make a fairy garden. It was a fun outing for the two of them and they're already planning for next year.

On Friday we made a trip to Stanfield to watch a baseball game or two. Mitch got to see Brody, his hair buddy.

Lorry came to see the kiddos and so did the Sharps. Mitch and Carter had a great time together!

 We finished the weekend with chores, grading and then a relaxing Sunday - in which the sunshine actually made an appearance and I went to the Seed Cupboard for the first time of the season! We feasted on the front deck to cap off our great week.

And Bella came for dinner, too! Now, we have 9 weeks left of the school year and we're ready-ish to face them!

Easter 2018

We celebrated Easter this year in Spokane with the LaVines.

Spokane is about 2-3 weeks behind us in our welcome of spring and it was chilly.

We picked up Grama Sally and she joined us for the day, which began with the early service at First Pres downtown.

Good looking cousins

and more accurately portrayed cousins!

We enjoyed a smoked ham for our Easter brunch.

 Then the kids got to do an egg hunt orchestrated by Carol with color coded eggs. 

 They were intense hunters!

We celebrated Jack's birthday, unsurprisingly full of Legos...

When we returned home, the Bunny had been here and the kids capped off the day with another hunt!

Shan kept repeating, "Oh thank you, Easter Bunny!"

What a fun day of family celebrating the resurrection of our Lord!