More Fun in Portland

We have needed new flooring in our house for a while now. We had really cheap builder grade carpet all throughout the house including in eating area and where our sliding door comes in from the backyard. After 5 years, with two kids and a big black lab, plus living in a very rainy climate, you can imagine what our floors looked like. Anyway, to make a long story short, we decided to go with 18 inch porcelain tile for the high traffic areas, and replace all of the carpet and pad with much bettter quality of both. Since our house was torn apart pretty badly, the kids, dog, and I packed up and went to Portland so that we were out of the way. We a wonderful time with Grandma and Grandpa and even got to see Uncle Chad. It always feels like a mini vacation when we go there. Here are a few of the fun things we did..
Sadie posing on a goat statue at the zoo.


At the park...


On the train at the zoo

Feeding a goose and her goslings.

Snuggled up on the deck LATE watching for airplanes.

Walk on Northwest 23rd

Sadie enjoying something chocolate from Elephants Deli

Portland Zoo

Sadie's Cake and Presents

We all know that Sadie LOVES to eat. She actually wasn't feeling very well when we did the cake and presents, but it did not stop her from enjoying her ding dong cake! Here are some cute videos of her blowing out her candles and savoring her very own cake. What a cutie! I really can not believe that she is 2 already. She has been my opiniated, active, goofy, fun, full of personality, loud, little girl from day one. I remember when she was only a few days old demanding that we hold her a certain way and only sleep while being held and bounced on an excersise ball...and she let us have it if we stopped or moved. She still never fails to let us know exactly how she is feeling. A few of my favorite "Sadieism's" that I figure I should probably write down before I forget are "doing the shake", asking for a "hot baba" ( hot bottle) first thing in the morning, calling her binky her "mmmm", needing her two Pottery Barn pink blankets when she sleeps, and calling her brother "Coggar." She INSISTS that Ryan kiss her on both cheeks and the lips before he leaves for work and then demands that he kiss me and then Connor, but instead of calling it a kiss she calls it a "muah- muah." She has smile with those huge white teeth that literally lights up the room. We are certainly never bored with her around. I love my little "Crazy" Sadie and am so glad to have her in our family!

Triple Birthday Party

When we were in Portland, celebrating Easter, we also celebrated Uncle Sean's Birthday (April 16th), Sadie's Birthday (April 17th) and Ryan's Birthday (April 18th). Grandma Johnson got them all ding dong cakes from Elephant's Deli. Elephant's is one of our very favorite places to eat while in Portland and the cakes did not dissapoint. I think the two birthday boys and one birthday girl all really enjoyed them!

Helvetia Half Marathon Finishers!!!!

Ryan and I ran our first half-marathon in Portland Saturday. I have been training for a while. Ryan, however, hadn't run for over 2 weeks and just decided to sign up the day before and just go for it. I am glad he did it with me and we stayed by each other for most ofthe race...until I smoked him at the end.:) (Really he was only 3 minutes behind me!) We both met our goals of under 2 hours. I finished in 1 hour 55 minutes (a 8 min. 48 sec pace) and Ryan finished in 1 hour 58 minutes (a 9 min. 2 sec pace). It was a beautiful and hilly course and overall we both felt great. We were both stoked to get cool shirts (see Ryan modeling his), cool medals, and best of all a yummy Jamba smoothies, and hamburgers from a local place. Thanks to Ryan's parents for watching our kids and bringing them to support us!