My mom and dad came to visit last Thursday. It was wonderful having them here. Margo and family left Wed (we loved and appreciated their trip). My parents came at a great time. They were able to the kids in full action. Grace had swimming lessons and Gymnastics on Friday. Sat was a fun filled with with Dylan’s lacrosse game (they won), Dylan and Gavin’s piano recital (they both won awards for the most practicing minutes) and then Gavin’s baseball game. The kids loved having them around! Sat. night they babysat while Rick and I went to our dinner group. Sunday we all went to Sacrament meeting and then they came home and had pork and dumplings waiting for us. What a treat-a delicious dinner made and ready by someone else! We played lots of games and Papa staye the whole time.

I think Dylan’s highlight was having them around to see his championship hockey game. The game is in his half Canadian blood. He made the first 3 goals and then was put on defense and he wasn’t aloud to shoot. Because of the low turn out this year everyone got a champion t-shirt which was ok with Dylan because they won the game.

My parents left Tuesday morning. It was a great visit. I got some good time with my mom and dad. My dad was concerned about a leg blood clot and was recommended by his Dr. to go to the ER. So Friday night they went in until 2:00am. We are all thankful that was not the case.

Our little Gracie gurl is 6 today. I was a little apprehensive about having a girl since boys are so much fun, but once she was born that all changed instantly. Since then she has been a near constant delight to have around and she has me wrapped around her finger (and knows it). It is a gorgeous spring day, by far the nicest day we’ve had since last fall.

We’re having a great visit with the Ferrins. I rode a 28 mile loop with my nephews Monday night that we call the Appalachia route, because it goes thru this beautiful area with run down shacks on it that look like something straight out of the movie “Deliverance”. We did it in 2 hours, which is a pretty fast clip, as there is a 3 mile hill at mile 12. Yesterday we rode 53 miles to Camp 18. That ride has a 12 mile hill that goes over the coastal mountain range (~1800 ft) toward the beach. (Today’s 18 mile commute puts me at 100 in 3 days…I’m sore.) Camp 18 is this cool, huge, old time log building with a restaurant loaded with antique logging equipment from locomotives to 14′ two man saws. It used to be a logging camp. Shannon and Margo met us there with the kids. We had breakfast then drove to the beach. It was a rare, beautiful sunny day. After some shopping we met for Gracie’s birthday dinner at Red Robin for the Mile High Mud Pie. Jake and JT are into lacrosse, so I went to our high school’s lacrosse game while the rest went to see Ice Age 2.

Speaking of lacrosse, I went from never having seen a game to seeing 3 games in one week. Friday night I went to the semi-pro, box-lacrosse, Lumberjax game with Dylan’s lacrosse team. What a cool sport! It’s fast paced, lots of contact, fighting and scoring. They would just pound on each other. They are in 1st place in their division and start playoffs Saturday. Margo and her kids made it to Portland in time to see Dylan’s game on Saturday. They did much better than I expected for having just learned the game. Dylan scored 3 goals and played good defense. They got off to a slow start, but came back and won. The high school game was fun to watch. Two of the starters are in our ward and they both had great games.

We had a nice Easter with the Ferrins. Yummy breakfast, mini Easter egg hunt, church, prime rib dinner then games.

Saturday night there was a spirited 4 on 4 street hockey game with heights ranging from 3 1/2 ft Grace playing goalie to 6’3″ JT playing forward. It was an exciting, close game that was fun to watch. Monday morning the girls got pedicures, then we all went to the Woodburn outlet stores, Dylan’s hockey game, Tillamook restaurant then rushed home to watch Prison Break and 24. The younger cousins have had fun playing legos, nintendo, board games, etc. Everyone has been getting along great.

Saturday Shannon ran a rainy 10k race in Tualatin. She finished in just under an hour.

Gavin (7) pulled off a good heads-up play at baseball last night. He was playing first with a runner on first. The batter hit a line drive to him that he caught. Without hesitation, he backed up and touched the base to tag out the runner who had started for second. Going into the dugout half his team dog-piled on him to celebrate. Wish I had my camera. That play erased the easy pop-up fly and grounders that he missed. He had 3 hits for 5 at bats.

Dylan enjoyed his first lacross game last Saturday. His favorite part was knocking some kid into the mud and stealing the ball from him. He has practices 2 nights a week and games on Saturday.

Dylan and I are going to the Winterhawks (WHL) hockey game tonight. For playing so poorly during the season they have pulled it together for the playoffs. They finished the season 7 th of 8 teams in their division. They snuck past Seattle by beating them in Seattle, in game 7, in OT after being down by 3 and losing 2 key players to injury. Now they are up against the #1 team in the division, the Vancouver Giants in the semifinals. They lost in OT here last night, so they are down 2-1 in the best of 7 series.

Portland has a professional lacross team called the Lumberjax. We are going to their game tomorrow night with Dylan’s team.

Happy 15 th birthday Christian!! Hopefully we’ll be able to make it to one of your football games next season!
We love you! (GoDaddy.com switched from Linux to Windows-based servers this week…that explains the messed up postings)

Yesterday was Margo’s birthday. Margo and the kids are coming to town for a visit Easter weekend into next week for their spring break. We always have a great time with them. Looking forward to it!

Here is a photo from when we met Margo and Jim in Ecuador in 2004 to visit our aunt Jenele. Her dog’s name is Yahoo! because they bought him online from the US. It’s tough to find well bred Yorkies in South America.

Wish we could have been at Mom/ Grandma’s birthday bash last night. My dad set up a family birthday dinner for her at the Lion House.

This is a photo from our 2001 visit to Oahu. Grace was about 10 months old.

June 4th is my parents 50th wedding anniversary!! Shannon and I are planning to fly out to help celebrate.

Wednesday we went to SeaWorld in San Diego. It was mostly sunny. Loved the shows: dolphins, seals and Shamu the killer whale. Didn’t enjoy all the Budweiser marketing: clydesdales pulling the beer wagon, ads above the urinals extoling the virtues of Budweiser (contains Vitamin B, folic acid, isn’t owned by a South African company like Miller beer, etc) and the everything Budweiser stores. They have rides now, too. The “Atlantis”, log-flume type ride got us a bit wet, which we paid for when the sun went down. Tuesday and Wednesday nights I cashed in some Marriott points and we stayed at Residence Inns. Its a great way to go for family travel: includes small dinner meal (potato bar, corn dog, mac n cheese type stuff) and hot breakfasts no charge.

We had this trip booked a couple months ago, but three weeks ago my boss sprang a regional managers meeting on us. It was in LA, so we struck a deal. I went to one of the 2 1/2 days of meetings and they paid for part of my gas for the trip and a rental car. Thursday I drove up to Long Beach for the day while the family swam, hung out at the hotel and went to the San Diego Zoo.

Thursday night we stayed at the La Jolla Sea Lodge, right on the beach ($110 on Hotwire). Friday we swam in the pool and rollerbladed along the beach. We spent Friday night at the Rennies in Claremont. We played Scene It Kids again.

Saturday we drove home straight thru: 17 hours stopping only for In-N-Out, gas and to check out the houseboat (not much to look at, but sure to be a good time) we are renting this summer on Lake Shasta.

Gracie’s highlight: swimming in the hotel pools.
Gavin’s highlight: being with cousins.
Dylan’s highlight: visiting cousins.