tulip time!

on april 10th i set off down to woodburn on a quest to find tulips.  stacy (a friend since middle school) met me at starbucks and we were on our way to the wooden shoe tulip farm.  it had been a while since we had hung out and i was so blessed to hear how God was challenging her.  He has great adventures planned for her on the mission field!

i absolutely adore tulips.  hundreds of pictures didn't quite capture the beauty of being surrounded by these precious flowers, but here are a few of my favorites.

i love my boots.  seriously felt like a kid while i purposefully squished through the mud.  i don't really know why it makes me so happy, but it does.

there is an orchard next to the tulips and we took a little stroll through the trees and felt like it belonged in a movie.  this picture is {priceless}.  we almost gave up before finally getting this one.  timing was everything and it took us quite a while to both be airborne when the timer on my camera expired.  it made for a nice little workout between running to and from the camera and jumping.  worth every bit of the effort.

the entire day was a thing of beauty.  sunshine, tulips, creative and fun pictures, ooh... sharing an elephant ear, God conversations, catching up with a friend and even a little shopping to finish the day off right.

one thing i am working on is doing what i love to do instead of the things i like to do.  the things i love tend to take a little more effort but abundantly bless me in return.  too often i turn on the tv instead and later feel like the day was wasted.  this is only the second time i have been to the tulip festival... i missed numerous opportunities because of my lack of initiative.

i learning to fight the monotony of daily life.

tulip time!

on april 10th i set off down to woodburn on a quest to find tulips.  stacy (a friend since middle school) met me at starbucks and we were on our way to the wooden shoe tulip farm.  it had been a while since we had hung out and i was so blessed to hear how God was challenging her.  He has great adventures planned for her on the mission field!

i absolutely adore tulips.  hundreds of pictures didn't quite capture the beauty of being surrounded by these precious flowers, but here are a few of my favorites.

i love my boots.  seriously felt like a kid while i purposefully squished through the mud.  i don't really know why it makes me so happy, but it does.

there is an orchard next to the tulips and we took a little stroll through the trees and felt like it belonged in a movie.  this picture is {priceless}.  we almost gave up before finally getting this one.  timing was everything and it took us quite a while to both be airborne when the timer on my camera expired.  it made for a nice little workout between running to and from the camera and jumping.  worth every bit of the effort.

the entire day was a thing of beauty.  sunshine, tulips, creative and fun pictures, ooh... sharing an elephant ear, God conversations, catching up with a friend and even a little shopping to finish the day off right.

one thing i am working on is doing what i love to do instead of the things i like to do.  the things i love tend to take a little more effort but abundantly bless me in return.  too often i turn on the tv instead and later feel like the day was wasted.  this is only the second time i have been to the tulip festival... i missed numerous opportunities because of my lack of initiative.

i learning to fight the monotony of daily life.

we had a friend over today!

 

emma came to hang out with us all day!  we had so much fun.  the kids didn't know she was coming, so they were surprised when they woke up.

at breakfast, meshach asked what bug she should be. {i call them big bug, doodle bug and lady bug.}  he came up with honey bee and called her that sporadically throughout the day.  :o)

meshach loved to help take care of her and offered his hand to her on our walk.

 

  

  

  

it was such a beautiful day!  after lunch we went back outside to play with chalk.

  

we had a friend over today!

 

emma came to hang out with us all day!  we had so much fun.  the kids didn't know she was coming, so they were surprised when they woke up.

at breakfast, meshach asked what bug she should be. {i call them big bug, doodle bug and lady bug.}  he came up with honey bee and called her that sporadically throughout the day.  :o)

meshach loved to help take care of her and offered his hand to her on our walk.

 

  

  

  

it was such a beautiful day!  after lunch we went back outside to play with chalk.

  

ugly sweater party!

i made these yummy mint oreo truffles to snack on.  amazingly rich taste and super easy!  don't they look delicious?

 

alexis and i rocked the festive sweaters!  so fun.  all in all, we had a chill evening.  talked and listened to Christmas tunes.  laughed and exchanged some pretty cool white elephant gifts.

 

ugly sweater party!

i made these yummy mint oreo truffles to snack on.  amazingly rich taste and super easy!  don't they look delicious?

 

alexis and i rocked the festive sweaters!  so fun.  all in all, we had a chill evening.  talked and listened to Christmas tunes.  laughed and exchanged some pretty cool white elephant gifts.

 

snapshots of the beach!

i already blogged a little snippet about my beach trip a couple of weekends ago, but didn't include pictures.  these make me smile:

check out this fish!  i have NEVER seen anything like this wash up.  both of the eyeballs were gone, but other than that it was totally intact!  to give you a little perspective, it was bigger than a football.

i loved how colorful this mushroom is.  we found it just chillin' in the middle of the path from the house to the beach.  God just astounds me with his creativity.

i like long walks on the beach.  especially with friends.  i do have to say that the twin rocks are not quite as cool as haystack rock, but that could definitely be a biased opinion.  the company made up for it though.  :o)

this picture cracks me up.  the boys watching cartoons while grabbing a bite to eat.  jenise and i were at a different table attempting to write encouraging notes...unsuccessfully.  needless to say, we didn't allow ourselves to stay and watch the duck game.

the beach had SO much foam the morning after the storm raged.  i wish i knew what it really is...but maybe i don't want to know.

he he he!  i thought about editing this picture to get rid of my funky bangs, but figured this is a true oregon beach picture, wind and all!  jenise is bundled up like an eskimo... :o)

i am so blessed by God and my friends.