Jamba!

Shoe shopping works up an appetite. Good thing there was a Jamba Juice close by!
After Jamba - the girls were thrilled to go see The Princess and the Frog. Life is so much more fun when grandma and grandpa and Chrissy are around. (o:

Party Party

We had such a busy and fun day. After a sleep over, shoe shopping, watching Princess and the Frog, we decided to go see the Zoo Lights! I thought going after Christmas would mean smaller crowds, but boy was I wrong! It was the busiest we've ever seen it. We had to park at a satellite parking lot and ride a school bus shuttle. The girls thought that was kind of fun though. (o: I went a little overboard getting the girls dressed. It was actually not a very cold night. I just associate Zoo Lights with really cold weather from past experiences. The hand warmers I brought were definitely not needed!

It was fun to share this fun tradition with mom and dad and Chrissy!

An Angel-fly

My favorite light exhibit. I love fish!

These bears are always in front of the Zoo store, but we liked their scarves they were wearing!

Shoe Shopping With Grandma!

These little boxes were wrapped so cute under our tree for two or three weeks. Out of all the presents under the tree, the girls were most fascinated and curious about what could be inside that little box. They have obviously figured out that good things come in small packages! Natalie or Angela actually got caught starting to open theirs a week before Christmas. When they finally got to open them during grandma and grandpa's visit, they were a little confused. But when they read the words they were so excited!

Shopping is a past time that has been passed down from my grandma. I have wonderful memories of going shopping with my grandma Jensen. It was always such a special treat. I love that my girls enjoy the shopping "genes" that were passed down from their great grandma, grandma and mom. It's not necessarily just the shopping, it's the shopping together that makes it extra special and fun.
Don't laugh - I don't know if anyone has ever taken so many pictures of a shoe shopping trip.
And these are just the highlights!

Angela being treated like royalty!

I was so proud of Sarah - she was a real bargain hunter looking for a good deal so she could get socks too.

Nat picked these sparkly numbers. I wanted tie shoes so I can finally teach her how to tie. It's more fun to learn to tie in sparkle shoes!

"These really lengthen my calves."

Chris and I looked like Paparazzi at the shoe store. (o:

The girls loved handing their "credit cards" over to the cashier.

Hank* and my dad were grateful that there was a Sports Authority nearby so they could look at golf clubs while we did our shoe shopping!

First Sleepover

Mom and Dad and Chrissy offered to take the girls for a sleep over at their hotel for an anniversary present for Billy* and I. The girls were soooo excited -they have never had a sleepover away from mom and dad before. Grandma had planned a fun night of pizza and a movie and the girls got to eat breakfast at the hotel. They loved every minute of it. And Billy* and I had a lovely date that night without any worries about getting home and paying the babysitter (thanks mom, dad and Chrissy!) It was really strange waking up the next day to a totally quiet house. We are definitely not in a hurry for our girls to grow up and leave the nest! But we had a lovely, relaxing night and morning.

Natalie practically "moved in" at the hotel. (o:

Natalie with her morning "coffee" the next day. (o: Doesn't she look so trendy?

First Memories of 2010

We took our distinguished guest to one of our favorite restaurants - The Venetian. We LOVE this restaurant. The food is fantastic, the atmosphere is relaxed and urban and it isn't a chain restaurant - it's unique. We love supporting local businesses in downtown Hillsboro. (Like the awesome toy store "Let's Play" and the Stratford Tea Parlor") This is also the venue where we saw A Christmas Carol in December.

Dad tried out the citris mango vinegrette that we reccomended for his salad. Yum!

Next - we decided to burn some calories bowling!

Look at the rainbow of balls. The girls love all the fun colors.

Chrissy giving Angela a hand.

Strike!

Angela helping grandpa out with his shoes.

Daddy and aunt Chrissy and mommy broke 100! But the girls and grandma and grandpa weren't far behind. Sarah is so competitive she was upset with her 83, which made grandma and grandpa feel a little bad as they were only a couple points ahead of her. (o: I don't know if we can ever convince her that winning isn't the point.

Some snuggle time with Chrisy - priceless. (o:

Whirlwind Trip

Just about 30 hours after I landed in Salt Lake, I was headed back to Oregon, on the road this time. But before we got on the road after the funeral, we needed some sustenance. I was thrilled to squeeze in Costa Vida AND Training Table in my short visit. After a long day, this turkey bacon sandwich, pink lemonade and cheese fries made me feel so happy and warm inside. I miss this place. Bob* and I frequented Training Table in our college days and I think I've always ordered the same thing. Why mess with a good thing?

Andy has this face a lot in my pictures.


Around 5 or so, we hit the road with full bellies and a full tank of gas. Our goal was to make it to Boise that night. But the roads were not looking good so we wondered how long this trek before us was going to take. It had snowed all day and the roads were terrible in the morning to begin with. Good thing we pressed through it anyway. We were pleasantly surprised to see the roads improve quite quickly in northern Utah and into Idaho. (Although mom was driving and said the wind was terrible - pulling on the car.) We made pretty good time. It was so fun to be on a road trip with mom and dad and Chrissy. Kind of like the olden days, only Chrissy is grown up now and Russ and Andy were missing. We had a lovely time talking about the funeral, hearing about mom's family growing up, memories of her grandma that I'd never heard before, listening to a book on tape "Where's My Jetpack?" and doing "Coke or Pepsi?" surveys from a book with that title. It was so fun hanging out together and getting to know each other even better. I am so glad I got to do that road trip and would love to do that more often! (Minus the funeral part.) Chris and I also stifled giggles when mom got mad at dad for this and that or when dad did something funny. Good times. Thanks for being my backseat buddy Chris!

We also got to be roommates as well. Mom and dad were sweet and got us our own room! Too bad we were so pooped from the emotional day and we got to the hotel so late. We talked up the partying we would do, but once we got ready for bed I don't remember anything but turning out the lights.

The next day, we got an early start because we heard another storm was coming through the Gorge that might close it down. We did NOT want to be stuck in the Gorge - we wanted to get back to Portland. So we headed out around 6 or 7 (pretty early for us considering we got to the hotel around 11). The roads were actually quite good all the way until the Gorge - where the storm was dumping snow like crazy. It wasn't very cold though, which was nice - sort of. So rather than dealing with ice, we were dealing with driving in a foot deep of slush. It's probably just as hard or worse than ice because it makes the car drive really wonky. Chris and I were white knuckled in the back sighing and squealing every once in a while - driving my parents crazy. Hey just like when we were little! This is how much snow there was in the Dalles when we stopped for a break . Pretty eh?

We took a nice picture, hopped in the car and realized we were stuck! Chris and I mustered all our superpowers and did a nice photo shoot below. What you can't see in the picture is a nice man who thought we were totally nuts - waiting for our photo op to be done so he could come over and help us really get the car out. Chris and I gave it a good effort, we loosened it for the guy.

Well, after a long day of driving on crazy roads we made it back and we had a wonderful welcome from Bob* and the girls. We were relieved to have made it through before the roads closed, which I think they were later that night. Happy New Year's Eve to us!!