"Good times, noodle salad"

I think we all had a great time in Portugal thanks to both location and company. I remember stumbling upon the following quote probably close to 10 years ago: "The real voyage of discovery comes not in seeing new landscapes but in having new eyes." Coleen and I were talking about some of the highlights of our trip and amoung the top for both of us included sweet alone time with little Oliver. I never suspected the delights of travel to be trumped by anything else but somehow wonderful mothering moments steal the show. I think spending time with children is like being able to step into a closet to Narnia. They remind you that the simplest of things in life are exciting and amazing and soooo fun; like a bug or some flowers or finding Nemo. So here's to great weather, amazing flowers, beautiful buildings and children to help us remember to enjoy the landscape wherever we find ourselves.

Culminating Project #2

The weekend after Lauren's and my little recital, I managed to finish up my own culminating project by... inviting 30 people over for dinner!  My culminating project, as some of you may know, was to learn how to cook food from the countries of our heritage, namely, Ukraine, Germany, Italy, and Scotland.  (I didn't end up cooking much for Scotland, following Jord and Char's advice, but I did make some delicious sticky toffee pudding.)  Anyways, I spent a few days cooking all the dishes- it was a TON of work!  But in the end, it was all worth it.  Everyone had a great time, and the food was all delicious too.  Of course, I couldn't have done it without Mom and Dad and some friends, so I am eternally grateful to them.  But it was a lot of fun and I wish you guys all could've been here too!  

Senior Recital

A couple weeks ago I had the chance to have a little senior recital with my friend Lauren, who plays the piano.  We invited our friends and their parents, and we played some solo pieces and a duet together.  It was Lauren's final culminating project for school.  It ended being a lot of fun!  I'm so glad I could have my friends listen to my violin playing, because a lot of them didn't even really know I played the violin.  Overall the program was about half an hour, most of it being Lauren's pieces, but I also got to play one with Mom accompanying me.  She did great as well- it's nice to have a mom who you can play music with!  Anyways, here's a few pictures of the event!

Happy St Patricks Day from the Emerald City - Not

Happy St Patricks Day from the Emerald City!

Seattle is known as the Emerald City, but that name hasn't stuck this winter!
Afte the first white Christmas in decades the snow has just kept on coming. Rachel has enjoyed a record number of snow days and late starts and cancelled seminary classes during her senior year. When we arrived at stake conference this Sunday the parking guy called out "Merry Christmas!" That's because even in March it decided to snow and cover up the daffodils which are just now - about a month late - poking their heads out. But I really can't complain. The snow has also made for some awesome expeditions in the mountains with my hiking friends. Here's a photo of Jennifer Buckmiller and I in the Cascades a couple weeks ago.

Animal Farm

A couple other moms and I went to this little animal farm and all the kids LOVED it. I thought Oliver was going to explode with excitement when he found the bunny cages.

Free Bus Tickets

For the past two days I've been hanging out at the Washington King County court house in downtown Seattle, waiting to find out if I've been selected for jury duty. Tomorrow I'll be told if I'm one of the chosen ones! In the meantime I've heard lots of different views from the prospective jurors - ranging from "there's no way... I can take this much time off work/be home in time for Shabbat/ be responsible for judging someone else", to "I hope I'm chosen... I'd like to do my duty/learn about the judicial system".
At the moment my opinion is somewhere in between. I served on a jury four years ago and the three different summons I've received since then have left me wondering what is really meant by random selection. Still if I'm selected I look forward to a greater understanding of Lincoln's words of/by/for the people, not to mention my perks, like free bus tickets and a $10 daily stipend!

Colourful Creations

Char's painting post with Oliver was perfectly timed with an activity I did with Caleb and Julian. We used food colouring and a bit of milk to mix colours together. The boys had a really good time. We mixed red, blue and yellow milk, and then mixed a little of each of those to make green, purple and orange. Then we mixed all of those together to make brown. Or 'chocolate' as Julian liked to call it. At the end we put cheerios in the orange milk. We made a baking soda volcano too. With the twins I don't think mom's ready to take on Easter eggs or paint, but milk is a little more my speed. The boys had fun with it!