The Hoybooks

Our friend Alyson was awesome enough to take some portraits of B for his website and I snuck in for a few frames.  This is one of our favorites.

Our punishment

This is my sixth winter in Oregon and I think we have never had it this good.  Sure, we have had our share of gloomy weather-- the two week snowstorm in December and about three days of a Pineapple Express at the beginning of January-- but other than that, it has been a very dry, very sunny winter.  Normally, we have about a week of rain, one day of sun and then two weeks of rain.  Two winters ago, we had precipitation on 32 consecutive days.  Yikes.  

Anyway, this winter, it has been more of a pattern like this:  couple days of sun, one day of rain in the morning with clearing skies in the afternoon and then a couple more days of sun.  It hasn't done much for our snowpack-- we're at about 82% of normal-- but it has done wonders for my soul.  I've had three events up at Mt. Hood this winter and had great weather for all of them.  My last event, this past Saturday, was the Romp to Stomp snowshoe race and it was another bluebird day.  It was still chilly (yes, I was still wearing seven layers of clothing), but I suburned my cheeks.  In February!  In Oregon!  Unheard of.  B and I even toured around on our bikes last week on a 60 degree morning.  Gorgeous!

My only concern is how we are going to make up for this.  Since it isn't raining in January and February when it is supposed to, does that mean it will rain in July and August when everyone knows that it's strictly forbidden to rain?  I feel like Mother Nature will drop the hammer sometime this summer.   That, my friends, will be real punishment.

29 seems fine....

I turned 29 today.  And so far, it seems to be going OK.  (I don't hear any clocks ticking, which is really what I was worried about.)

B and I celebrated with a drive out to the coast.  We both really love old stuff and love antique stores and there is a great one in the tiny coast town of Wheeler.  After we wasted away an hour of two, we headed down the 101 to Pacific City to climb around on the Cape Kiwanda Dune.  It turned into a gorgeous day, proving once again, you never know what you will get at the beach. 

Simple math

What do you get when take 21 4th-7th grade girls

and add

21 pairs of snowshoes

plus

8 inches of fresh snow

plus

a school bus with a driver who doesn't know how to drive in snow

plus

the Trillium Lake trailhead?

Well, it's a simple equation.  The answer is chaos.  But, chaos with an emphasis in wet clothes, lots of smiles and 21 happy girls.

Here's me driving up to the mountain with 40 pairs of snowshoes.  I was the "expert snowshoe guide" for the Girl's Inc. snowshoeing trip yesterday.  REI donated the snowshoe rentals and I donated my "expertise."  All I did was show them how to put them on and how to find fresh, untracked snow.

Each adult was assigned 5 girls to "keep track of."  Those are my five girls, running ahead of everyone.  4 out of the 5 wiped out, face first, just seconds after I took this. 

Isn't she the cutest?

The girls stop moving long enough for us to snap a group shot.

Bitter, party of one.

I worked all day yesterday.  B did this:

I am so loved.

Last weekend was my First Annual 29th Birthday Party.  I wanted to have friends over for my birthday this year and since my birthday falls so close to Valentine's Day, I decided this past weekend was best and I could just start the merriment early.  So I created an Evite and just started inviting people, not really sure who would be able to make it or who would really even want to come.  And then?  Well, then the RSVPs started rolling in and before I knew it, I had 30 people signed for the party.  Three of those included my best girls-- Jen, Mindy and Lisa.  All three flew in for the weekend from St. Louis and Omaha respectfully.  

I realized this weekend how much I love my friends and just how blessed I am to be so loved.  I wouldn't have wanted to spend the evening with anyone else and I think we all had a good time.  Well, at least I did. :)

So, I didn't take very many photos during the party.  I was busy being celebrated.  But here are some quick shots of the birthday revelers.  (I really just wanted proof that we fit that many people in the apartment.)

B and I take a moment to pose.  His food was of-course, the hit of the evening.  

Me, Lisa and Mindy at the airport before they head back to Omaha on Sunday.  I've spent so many birthdays with these two, it was only natural that they be here for this one too.
Jen and I snuggle up at brunch on Sunday.  If Valentine's Day was a hamburger, we'd be the bun.  Her b-day is the 13th.  Insta-friends reunited!

All the pretty ladies

Back in October, my mom called with a tempting proposition.  Would I like to meet her and my aunt and my cousin for a girl's weekend in Denver in January?  Well, heck yes, of-course I would!

I remember family vacations as a kid and it was always the WHOLE family-- Dad, Mom, Scott, Gayle, Craig.  And since there were boys on the trip, we usually had to do some boy things like go to baseball games or eat at the ESPN zone.  Well, this was a girl's trip so we got to do girl stuff.  Like go to the art museum and the historic home of Molly Brown and go down to the hotel happy hour each night for a glass of wine and eat dinner at a gorgeous (and delicious) french restaurant.  We also went to the US Mint which I was really, really looking forward to (my inner dork needed some love) and let me just say what a disappointment that was.  At least it was free.

It was a fantastic trip and the girl time was much needed and oh so fun.  Why haven't done something like this before?

A view from the Colorado State Capitol.

I'm sure there are families out there where no one looks alike and you can't really tell who belongs together.  Um, my family is not one of those....
What is that horse doing upon that chair?  You mean they call this art?
Moms and daughters, daughters and moms.

Who is that guy?

There is a guy that stands at the freeway exit I take almost everyday from work.  No, he's not homeless or someone pleading for money-- he's the Mattress World sign holder.

I just don't get it.  This seems to be a new trend in the past year or two-- you have a business, you want people to come to your business so you make someone stand out by the curb holding a sign and waving at the passersby.  I think it makes sense for a business like Jiffy Lube to hold a sign that says, "Open Bay!" so you can get a quick oil change or maybe Domino's Pizza whose sign reads, "Fresh Pizza $5.99".  But Mattress World?  Who drives by on a Tuesday morning and sees the sign and all of sudden realizes they need a mattress?  I'm sure it has plenty to do with name recognition and all that (yes, I was an advertising major, I know why they do this), but I guess what I don't get is the guy himself.  Who is that guy?  Who wants to stand by the freeway, all day, everyday and hold a sign?  It's always the same guy and sometimes, they even make him wear a mattress costume.

To get some insight, I called Mattress World.  They "accept applications for that position but currently don't have any openings."  They wouldn't tell me how much the position pays.  

Ok, ok, I know I shouldn't judge.  I know the economy is looking bleak right now and it's work and he probably needs it.  But there are a lot of jobs out there.  I think what I don't get is that it just seems like a lazy job to me.  There are so many people out there working so hard to make a go of it and this guy is choosing to do this.  He applied to do this.  What does this say about us?