Weekend trip/Coast

On the way back from the Redwoods we stopped off at a beach in Brookings, a city about 6 miles north of the California border. We played in the sand and water for awhile before heading back to Kristy and Chad's house. The beach was the best we've seen so far....the pictures speak for themselves!

Weekend trip/Redwoods

We left Friday at 3:30 to drive down to Grant's Pass to visit my cousin and her family. We arrived shortly after 7:30 and hung out. Saturday we set off to visit the Redwoods in California, it was about an hour drive from Grant's Pass. The drive there was amazing....and the Redwoods.....WOW!!!! The trees were HUGE!! We went on a hike and had a picnic. The weather was great.....alomost 70 degrees. What an awesome weekend it was!

Happy Halloween!!!!

It was very nice to not have to drive around this year for trick-or-treating. The kids had loads of fun. Eli kept up with the older ones and was fascinated by all the candy! Now.....we just need to figure out a way to get rid of it all!

Thanks for making the costumes, Eileen.....everyone thought Eli was a little sheriff.

12th Wedding Anniversary

Today is our 12th wedding anniversary. Dan and Cori came yesterday to watch the kids so Tony and I have some free time. We drove to a state park called Bald Peak, which is at the highest peak of the Chehalem moutains, (coast range mts) elevation 1,629'....we are at 154' here in Mcminnville. We were truly amazed at the views!!! It was a foggy day, but we could still see three moutain peaks (from what I read, on a clear day you can see five). While driving back down, the signs said the grade was at 19%....while driving here thru some Rocky Mt passes., I think the steepest was only 9% grade!! It was steep, to say the least! After spending some time taking in the views we drove to Hillsboro, a suburb of Portland, and stopped at Trader Joe's. Okay, so I'm not as impressed with the store. This Trader Joe's was located in a very upscale part of Hillsboro, so I'm guessing that is the reason prices were so much higher than the one in Eugene. Guess we'll have to visit Dan and Cori more often and stock up at the one in their town.

Courtney, Alexa, and Eli loved having "babysitters" and could not wait for us to leave!!! Danny and Cori treated them to Dairy Queen and the kids just loved it!

Weekend in Eugene

We traveled to Eugene over the weekend to visit Danny and Cori. We took the kids to a science museum, ate at a Hawaiian restaurant, and then the guys watched the children while Cori and I took a few hours (okay, more than a few) to go shopping. Cori introduced me to a grocery store called Trader Joe's and I now have a new love in my life!!!! For those of you who have not heard of this place, ( I think there is one in Milwaukee and my brother has one by him in Madison, but I don't think they are too popular in Wisconsin...not yet, anyway) it is a grocery store that has awesome WHOLESOME food at VERY affordable prices. I found organic sprouted whole grain bread for under $2.00!!!! Our nearest Trader Joe's is in Portland so we will be going there pretty often. As you can tell, I get excited about healthy food. I have been following a vegan diet for over two months now and I can finally say I have found what works for me... I love it!! For so many years my focus has been on losing weight, and for me, that meant following a lower carb diet and very high protein. I have recently shifted my focus to being as healthy as I possibly can be and that is what brought me to this vegan lifestyle. I have been reading a lot of books on health and nutrtion (a huge passion of mine) and I finally understand the connection between diet, health, and disease.... and the power of our choices.

So anyway, check out this store if you get the chance!! Oh, I'll try to add pictures later, I took most pics with Danny's camera and he said he will email them to me...I forgot ours!

Earthquake

A earthquake of 3.6 shook the ground a little here last Monday. This was very close to us, but we didn't feel it. One of our daycare children did though. Wow, better get some earthquake insurance.....it seems strange for Courtney to no longer be practicing tornado drills at school to now practicing earthquake drills!