Let's go fly a kite...

We headed to Long Beach, WA this last weekend with my parents, my second cousin's, and my great aunt and uncle. We had such a nice time. It was relaxing, full of good weather, family time, good food, fun games, and great conversations.

The family is from my Dad's side - they are my Dad's cousin's and aunt and uncle. I've certainly seen them many times but it has been at wedding and big family functions. It was SO nice to get to know them in a smaller setting. We all stayed at a house together that was about a 2 minute walk from the beach!!!

There aren't any pictures of the family...which is weird but I guess we were just so immersed in each other. There are plently of pictures of me & my kite and the beach though!!!

I pretty much love my rainbow kite. It got it in Long Beach, WA a few years back. I'm sad to report it is starting to tatter on the tail but I'm hoping some stiching will fix that!!

It is also a very nice treat to go to the beach in February and have it NOT rain!!!

chop, chop, chop...

This post is about a month delayed - I kind of forgot about it. I was flipping back through pictures and realized I'd never blogged about it.

For Christmas my parents got us a basic knife skills class at Sur la Table. We definitely were excited, though I have to admit, in the end, a bit disappointed.

Jason and I thought that we were going to learn how to chop different types of veggies and use lots of different types of knives. One of our real reasons for taking the class was to use lots of knives

There was about 16 - 18 people in our class and our Chef was pretty interested in showing us his skills and not as much about our skills, at least that is how I felt. He only talked to me once in 2 hours.

We did learn how to chop some fruits a veggies but for 3 of the 6 items we chopped we did the exact same technique...

While I did learn how to {awesomely} cut an onion a few different ways - I don't feel like I left with much else. And we only go to try one knife...major bummer.

We did end up getting a nice 10% of coupon and I found some awesome things in the clearance section and got a REALLY awesome new pan for about 65% off when all discounts were said and done.

While I would like to take more cooking classes - we won't be taking then at Sur la Table.

the year that was twenty-eleven.

2011 was definitely a mixed review year...more on that later. 2011 brought us closer together, enabled us to talk about things we previously didn't, and build a stronger foundation that we previously had. And for that, I am grateful.

January
Last January didn't seem to be too busy. We started the year off with snowshoeing and unfortunately, it was only 1/2 times we yet. We had Jason's work 'holiday' party. I really like that they are always in January. It gives us some breathing room. We stayed out at The Edgefield and had a good time. I also started one of my favorite home decor items - fun frames.

February
February was much busier than January. We had our first "family of 6" vacation to the Washington Coast. We've always gotten lucky with weather at it was again sunny - which meant I got to fly my kite :) We learned a little bit more about our awesome camera, most of which I have already forgotten. And we had a good night playing Bunco with my work friends. Oh, and my husband did a very nice job on 'heart day' this year!! Good work Jason.

March
Looking back March was a good month. Most obviously because I turned 28 :) I love my birthday. I love it so much I made a rainbow cake for myself. We had our first trip to Elements Glass for which we visited on 2 other occasions in 2011. And I got the BEST sub notes ever...herding cats anyone?!?! Oh, I also got to do a little country line dance with my coworkers.

April
April had me traveling to Chicago for my best friends' bridal shower and my first trip to Sprinkles cupcakes. We saw comedian Lewis Black in Portland. We made a lot of plans for the backyard - many which never happened. Jason and I are not gardeners.

May
May is a hard month. The school year is almost over...almost. But not quite. Oh, not quite. In May we celebrated Mother's Day and took my Mom to do blown glass Easter eggs. I also got one of my most favorite things - a GIANT teddy bear. Love.

June
Sabrina and I ended the year by going to a concert...and sitting in the second row. Love. I ended my second school year at Baller. We lowered the roof on our deck and built a storage shed. This was probably one of the last times - besides the new grass - that I went in the backyard.

July
My hubby turned 29. I went to Phoenix for a week to visit Rachel and made a few trips to Sprinkles Cupcakes. My best friend got married. July was FULL of family and friends.

August
In August I spent 3 hot days with my best friend Sabrina at an outdoor country music festival. Dirt, beer, and music. Jason and I ventured to New England for 8 nights to tour and see my friend May get married. We got there just in time for Hurricane Irene - which was no where near as bad as we I thought it was going to be.

September
We started September in New England still, giving ourselves just a day in between New England and the first day of school. This is my 3rd year at Baller - fingers crossed. We had a bridal shower for my sister in law.

October
One of the biggest events of October was my brother and his wife throwing a wedding weekend. It was so much fun to see so many family and friends. We also headed to Seattle for a weekend of COUGAR football and a pumpkin patch. We also made our 3rd - and best - trip to Elements Glass.

November
I made a diaper cake for a baby shower, and a few crafts for Christmas. We spent Thanksgiving in Vancouver this year since Jason was first up. And after spending MUCH of the school year sick I was glad to finally be rid of it...or so I thought.

December
I had a pretty chill Christmas break - getting sick on day #2 helped that. We finally figured out it was reoccurring sinus stuff, fun. I promise. We had 5 different Christmas celebrations and were the givers and receivers of many nice gifts. We spent NYE with Jason's best friends from high school.

These are definitely short snippets of what we did in 2011. And don't forget to head over to my homemaking blog madebyACE to see what I've been making!! I'm going to try again to take a picture every day this year. I was doing SSOO good last year until we went on vacation but now I have APPS on my phone to help me through that!!

Rip City!!

section 108

enjoying the Blazers Game.

Christmases 4 & 5...and NYE '11

We had Christmases 4 & 5 with Jason's family up in Auburn.

At the start of the trip I headed over to my favorite Aunt of Jason's to do some scrapbooking!!

One of the things that Jason enjoys most is taking his Grandma out to breakfast or dinner or something, to get her out of the house. She does not drive, she actually never has, and so whenever we go up there we try to get her out. This year we went to 13 Coins which is our favorite place to go near Auburn. She really seemed to enjoy herself and we enjyoed her company. She has a lot to say and doesn't always get to say it with Jason's busy family around...

That evening we saw some of our favorite little people for the first time in 13 months...which is WWAAYY too long considering they live2 hours North of us. It is tough thought when the visiting only happens near their house and they never come to see us.

We saw Jason's Dad at some point in there, actually, we also went out to 13 Coins with him. He's the one who introduced us to it!

We spent NYE with our friends Josh and Adam & Katie. It was very lowkey but that was totally okay with us. We played an awesome games called Whits & Wagers and just talked. It was so nice. These are Jason's best friends from high school and I consider Katie a friend and we certainly don't see them often enough!

Friends!!

Christmas Parts 1 ~ 3...

Well, last year we had 6 Christmas celebrations...and this year we had a measly 5...heehee.

It started out on Wednesday the 21st with the 6 of us. My sister-in-law knew she had to work on Christmas Day (she's a NICU nurse) but we wanted to still be able to get together. We met at my parents house to have a nice dinner together and to exchange presents.

The tree at my parent's house...always over flowing.

Jason and I trying to open our BilzBoxes.

Tony and Kellie trying to open theirs.

Bilz Boxes are these devilish little things that are puzzlers that you have to get open to get what is inside...and money is always inside. My parents LOVELOVELOVE watching us struggle to open them. My Dad even whipped out the video camera this year!

As always, we got majorly spoiled by my parents. They are SO giving and gracious and we are all so lucky to have them!!

A few days later Jason and I headed over to my parent's house again, this time for Christmas Eve fondue - quite possibly my favorite tradition ever. This year was slightly different...first my Mom forgot to have the Christmas Crackers and my Dad and Jason took the oil fondue to a new level and they were frying potato skins with onions. Next year they claim they are bringing Twinkies...we will see!!

We did Christmas morning by ourselves and I was very spoiled by my husband!!

That evening we were hosting our second Christmas Day Dinner and it was our first time cooking turkey. We MIGHT have put it in wayyy too early but at least it wasn't burnt or raw!! It was dry and next we will plan it out a bit better!!

For Christmas Day we had my parents, my brother, and two ladies who work with Jason over for dinner. Jenny and Ann have only been working with Jason for a month or so and neither had the money or the time off to go home and no one should be alone on Christmas!!

I was most excited for dessert...Baked Alaska's!!

After dinner the ladies went home and my family stayed and we played some XBOX Kinect and had a good time hanging out together.

Christmases 1 - 3 were amazingly fun. I love love love my family!!!

Zoo Lights 2011

When we moved to the PDX area Jason and I started the tradition of going to the Portland Zoo for their Zoo Lights. And even though we don't have kids - we have a good time!!

The first year it snowed...
And this year was just down-right cold. I wore long johns under my jeans!!

We like to go a bit early to see the animals. I was bummed the Black Bear weren't out like they were last year but I did get to see quite the funny Polar Bear!!

He was TOTALLY looking at me :)

A rainbow of lights...idea for next year (haha, Jason would kill me!!)

Bears!!

Headed to the train. Only about a 25 minute wait this year.

Unfortunately we were infront of some people who were talking rather loudly about things that weren't appropriate for public places. I guess they just needed to get it out!

Self portait - of course!!

Here comes our train!!

bears from the train

from the train looking out into the main part of the zoo

We stopped in to see the elephant's the the baby (who is 3) was very playful!!

Getting some hay from up top!

Taking hay and throwing it at the kids behind the glass.

Mom and baby feeding each other.

Dad was outside :-)

Two more bear shots before we left :)