Bowling night

Last Friday, we took the seniors in our youth group bowling. This will be one of the last times we'll get to hang out with them as a group now that they are all graduating from high school and moving on up into the grown-up world.

It was a lot of fun! It was cosmic bowling, so we started at 10pm and bowled until 1:30am! I haven't been up that late in a long time, but I made sure I drank some coffee before we started. I think the best I bowled was around a 125, which is high for me, and the best Richard bowled was around a 145, which is low for him : )

Here's Richard doing his awesome bowling moves.


We've had a lot of good times with this group of seniors this past year. They have definitely made our transition of moving here easier and we will really miss them next year : ( Hopefully they will come back and visit every now and then : )

Dog Mountain hike

Yesterday, on Memorial Day, Richard and I went on an 8 mile hike up and down Dog Mountain with some of our friends. Dog Mountain is about 45 minutes east of Vancouver near Stevenson, WA. I'm not really sure why they call it Dog Mountain, it doesn't really look like a dog, but there were a lot of dogs with their owners hiking the mountain too : )

We got up at 6:30 am and made it to the mountain around 8:30. It took about 3 hours to hike up the mountain, and another 1 1/2 to hike back down. We were all exhausted by the end and my legs are really hurting today!

This is the group that went with us, outside of the woman's bathroom...

These are our friends Sarah and Brandon. They just moved to WA not too long ago also, so we have something in common : )

The first half of the hike up the mountain was was pretty much in the shaded forest.

About half way up the mountain, you come out of the forest and the hills were covered with yellow, purple, white and orange wild flowers, it was beautiful!

This is the Columbia River. We were in Washington but the opposite side of the river is Oregon.

We made it to the top! I was so happy to sit down and eat lunch. To me this picture looks like we're sitting on a hill with a fake backdrop behind it, but that was really how high up we were!

Here's a little video from the top of the mountain.

Lilac's

Lilac's are my favorite flower. They smell sooo good and they are my favorite color too, purple! Last week I went over to Richard's cousin Tana's house to babysit her kids for the day. We were playing outside because the weather has been beautiful and I noticed that she had two lilac bushes in her backyard, I was so excited!

When my family lived in Ohio, we had a purple lilac bush in our backyard and I missed them when we moved back to Arizona.

Here are Tana's kids, Ethan and Taylor. They are so cute and I had such a fun day with them : )

Middle School Retreat

This past weekend, Richard and I went on the annual Middle School Retreat to Dunes Bible Camp on the coast of Longbeach, WA. I went as a cabin leader and Richard went to play in the worship band. It was definitely an interesting experience. I was hesitant going into the weekend because, to tell the truth, middle schoolers scare me. It actually turned out to be a lot of fun (and tiring)! It was great getting to know some of the kids that will be in the high school group next year.

There were about 50 kids and 10 adult leaders, luckily I didn't have to ride in the school bus, I got to ride in a nice, quiet van : )

These were the 7 girls in my cabin, there were four 8th graders and three 7th graders. Here they are practicing for their "Saturday Night Live" skit.

This is the worship band. Nathan Arnold was the main guy, Richard was playing electric guitar, he's on the right.

Playing dodgeball

The camp was right on the coast, which is a little different from the California coast we're used to. There was a big grassy field, and then you walk onto the sand. It was a little cold and one day it even hailed on us while we were playing games on the beach, but it was still fun to see the ocean.

It was neat getting to talk about God with the girls in my cabin. It definately stretched me as a Christian and helped me to understand that Richard and I were brought here for a reason.

So that was our first experience of the WA coast, maybe next time we go it won't involve teenagers : )

Tulip festival

Yesterday I went to the Wooden Shoe Tulip Festival in Woodburn, Oregon with my mother-in-law Lori and Richard's cousin McKenzie and her two children. The beautiful weather has been back for a few days so it was a perfect day to be outside. I've been to the Rose Gardens in Portland before, but this was just amazing! There was probably about a mile of all different kinds of tulips. Here are some pictures but I will put up a link to the right with more, since I couldn't stop taking them : )

This is Carson, McKenzie's son taking a picture in front of the tulips, so cute!
This is one of my faves, the dark purple tulips are called 'Queen of Night'.

Here is Lori and I in front of the tulips. It was such a beautiful day and I really wish I could've shared the experience with the rest of my family too!

Donuts!

Richard and I made some yummy donuts the other morning! My mom used to make them when I was younger and the recipe is really simple and a nice change from cereal : )

1 package of refrigerated biscuit dough
1 quart of vegetable oil
Toppings: powdered sugar, cinnamon and sugar, chocolate sauce/icing, sprinkles and whatever else you can think of.

Poke a hole in the biscuit dough with your fingers. Heat the quart of oil in a frying pan on medium until hot. Drop the dough in the oil and fry each side for about one minute each, or until golden brown. Let the donuts drain on a paper towel and then decorate! It's easy if you put the sugar in a ziplock bag and shake the donuts in it.

A different Easter

This Easter was very different from those in the past. First of all, this was me and Richard's first Easter as a married couple, it was really great to spend it together! It was fun putting up the few Easter decorations I have, thanks to my Grandma Annie : )

Second, this was our first Easter in Washington. Needless to say, the weather was very different from what we are used to in Arizona. Usually on Easter we can wear shorts and dresses and spend the majority of the day outside. This year, it was all pants and jackets for us! and it rained the entire day. At one point, I wanted to get a picture of me and Richard, so we ran outside for a few seconds in the rain : ) You can't tell, but the rain was dropping down on us in this picture.

A great part of our Easter was that we were able to go to church together in the morning to celebrate everything that Jesus has done for us. Then we got to have a great lunch at Richard's Aunt Terri's house with Don and Lori and a few other family members. To make it feel more like home, I made a regular dish at my family gatherings and brought it to Aunt Terri's, a fruit pizza!

Like always during holidays or special times, it was hard being away from my family this past weekend. I was able to talk to a lot of them on Sunday and my dad even sent us a video text with everyone saying hi. I was a little jealous that we missed their Easter Badminton Tournament in my parents backyard and the beautiful, rain-free weather they had, but Richard and I were very thankful for the family that we do have up here and spent time with.

Hope you had a Happy Easter!