Oregonian

A typical year usually includes a trip to Oregon to visit my good buddy Christina and brother-in-law John, and their kids. It's always a great place to be. There is so much beauty and land to hike on and explore that you can hardly believe that any one person deserves to enjoy that beauty. Everything is so full of life. Even in the winter, the snow is abundant and coats every top of the tree or house with innocence and simplicity.

This trip was a little more interesting with a little one. Steve and I rented a car because we were not sure how we would fit 3 kids in car seats in one car. As it turns out, Christina and I did on our was to a walk, along with 2 dogs. It was awesome. It's interesting being an aunt turned mom because you can longer be at your nieces and nephew's disposal. Play time has to be after a feeding or diaper change.

This was one more week of Steve's paternity leave so Steve got to hang with the boy as I played with Patrick and got to know the little charmer girl who will be 1 soon. They were a blast and we miss them already. Though we can hike here, it's no where close to the same as the mother load of nature up there.