Birthdays, Beaches, Bunkers and Bumper Cars

Monday night I went to visit Mames in Vancouver for her little boys birthday. Her little boy Christopher just turned 2 and he is so adorable. Here is a picture of him opening presents.


Wednesday we took the young women from church to the beach. Originally I thought we would just be going to one beach, but Karmen, the other leader, had much bigger plans. We visited several beaches along the coast, ate lots and lots of yummy food, went to an old military site and went to Astoria where the Goonies was filmed for all you 80's movie fans.

Our small little group of YW at Ecola State Park overlooking Cannon Beach.

Cannon Beach, OR

The young women road the bumper cars a few times. I was laughing so hard at one of them because she could not get the car to go straight and she was getting hit over and over again. I think I need to start carrying a video camera around to capture these moments. Another young women, who is a bit more timid, road around the outside edge the whole time to avoid everyone else. (Doesn't that defeat the purpose of bumper cars?)

Seaside Beach, OR. The coast was chilly and it was so foggy. You could barely see the ocean. Some of the girls decided to work on building sand sculptures.

Tilt-o-Wheel. Just thinking of this ride makes we want to barf.

At Fort Steven's State Park

The fort was in operation for 84 years, beginning with the Civil War and closing at the end of World War II. It was the site that protected the Columbia River entrance. The only action this site saw was on June 21, 1942. A Japanese submarine fired in the vicinity of the fort. The Commander refused to return fire. After this, Fort Steven's became the only installment to be attacked by an enemy since the War of 1812.

Captain George Flavel House, Astoria, OR

Beautiful historic house that has been turned into a museum.

Sorry to disappoint anyone, but we did not find the Goonies's house. I did tell the girls that if we found it they would all have to get out and do the truffle shuffle, so most likely if they knew where it was they decided to keep it to themselves. Hopefully on my next trip to Astoria we'll find it.

Easter Weekend

One of my senior year college roommates, Erica, came in town Easter weekend. The last time I saw her was when David and I went to San Fransisco for a Pediatric Conference over a year and a half ago, so it was good to see her again.
She wanted to go to the temple on Friday, so I tagged along. It was great. We sat in the celestial room and talked forever.
That night we went out to dinner with some other people that Erica knew. We went to one of the nicer areas of town and then ended up at this diner. Surprisingly it was really yummy. David and I seem to end up at diner's in nice towns like the time we were in Beverly Hill's to see Wicked for my b-day and we ended up at this diner that served pickles and sauerkraut on a plate before you got your meal. And, little kids received a bagel on a string around their neck. Weird.


On Easter Sunday, David was asked to speak at church. He is a phenomenal speaker and has such a great way of expressing his thoughts. We had invited some friends from my class to come and after Sacrament Meeting was over, the husband asked if David gave talks a lot at work because he was so good. This is definitely one of David's gifts.

That night we had this two couples over for dinner. I cooked a big meal and made the best garlic rolls ever. For the recipe go here http://mykitchencafe.blogspot.com/2009/04/garlic-knots.html

Freshman Year Reunion and Time Out for Women

My best friend from college, Mames, called me up a couple of months ago to see if I wanted to go to Time Out for Women in Seattle. I had gone to one of these years ago in St. Louis and really enjoyed it, plus it was a good excuse to get to see Mames and go to Seattle. It ended up being a little mini Freshman year reunion. There happen to be 4 of us from Freshman year that live within a few hours of each other. It was so great to see Mames, Stephanie and Diane. Mames I have seen each other a couple of times over the years, but I had not seen Stephanie or Diane in years. I got to meet their husbands and their little kids.
Time Out for Women was great too. It was so spiritually rewarding. Elder Oaks' wife and daughter were both there as presenters. His wife is a doll. She is this tiny little thing. His daughter happens to be a phenomenal violinist. The music and the talks were so uplifting.
It was a great weekend. Thanks Mames and Steph for arranging it all!