Happy 11th Birthday, Elena!

Just a few scenes from Elena's birthday party! Enjoy!

 Daddy brought her flowers, she was so thrilled!

 Lots of our good friends came.

 We had paninis, Elena's favorite. She prefers turkey and cheddar, but we also offered steak, onion and pepper jack. Yum!

We made Brownie Pie instead of cake, click here to see how we made it. It was scrumptious!

Thanks, everyone for coming! We're so glad you came to celebrate with us!
And Happy birthday, to our little princess!

Deacon's birthday party!

A glimpse of Deacon's belated 9th birthday party.

Elena started making this surprise quilt for Deacon about a year and a half ago. With his birthday looming, it seemed like good motivation to finish it up. So, we arranged a few playdates for Deacon and Elena and I hustled to get it done and yeah, the belated party certainly worked in our favor.

Deacon was very surprised and pleased with the quilt! And I love that Elena wanted to make a quilt for her brother, it just melts a mommy's heart!

It was a lovely day filled with good friends and good food and lots of celebration. Happy birthday Deacon!

Deacon's birthday!

Happy 9th birthday Deacon! And thanks for giving us an excuse to spend the day at the pool with friends, eat brownies and ice cream and celebrate you!
We'll have another party later, cuz well, we're kind of up to our eyeballs in branches!

Multnomah Falls

Happy 35th birthday to ME!

On my birthday, I soaked in a hot tub, sweated in a sauna, swam in a pool, ate a yummy lunch, ran a few errands, had a nice visit with my friend Mid, had a lot of nice phone calls and messages, I even had a couple of "birthday carolers" show up at my door to sing me Happy birthday. And I had a ton of wonderful happy messages from my facebook friends and family. It was a lovely day.

So, to make it a lovely evening, and at my request, the four of us hiked to the top of Multnomah Falls and then went out to a yummy dinner.

A pre-hike photo.

Prime climbing spot for the kids.

I was loving the trees and the sun filtering through them. Ahh, so peaceful.

Oh, the river at the top of the falls is so pretty.

Elena looking over the top of the falls.

Elena and Deacon taking in the view.

The water falls about 620 feet and we gained about 700 feet in elevation in a mile of hiking.

It was so worth it! It's beautiful!

And here's the crew at the top! The last time I hiked this I was about 16. I'm glad I did it with my family, but I think I might be good for another 20 years or so. The kids have already made their calculations of how old they will be, not too mention how old I will be... yikes! On second thought, maybe I should do it again tomorrow in order to prepare for the 20 year hike!

Four happy hikers.

Two happy hikers.

The smooch heard around the world... well on facebook anyways. ;)

Elena and Mommy

Deacon and Daddy

I encountered a few "birthday carolers" on our way back down. :)

Another pit stop on our way down. We really had a fun time. I would get nervous that the kids were going downhill too fast, they would show their disgust, we would laugh and the cycle would repeat over and over again... :) 

And my modest, wall-flower of a husband... and our two happy, jovial kids. Oh, what a day!

Thanks for making it a happy birthday for me!