Our 5 day weekend

Warning: Long post ahead :D

We are still recovering from our trip to Oregon. It was fun filled and also relaxing.

After we dropped Amber off at Pacific University we headed off to Lake Oswego just outside of Portland to check into our hotel. We headed over to the LDS Portland Temple which was literally a half a mile from our hotel.

Note to self - my arms are too short for "self-portrait" camera shots :D

Isn't he a cutie?

It started to rain on us so under the covered area we went. You'd think I was squeezing him by the look on his face. But that's David for you! Mr. Overexaggeration!!

Finally a good shot

The landscaping is so beautiful!

A night shot

We took a trip to the Portland Zoo! Again it decided to rain off and on while we were there. I'm glad I had the umbrella tucked away in the back of the Pilot. A lot of the animals were tucked away under trees and inside caves to stay dry.
Zebra

Penguin

This was one very friendly sea lion

Look Frodo ~ an elephant!

Snuggly hippos

A very playful polar bear. You almost think they are harmless, playful creatures watching him playing with his ball. That is until he decides to swim by you and you get a close up look at those paws of his.

And this little guy gets the best photo of the day award for cuteness factor. David says we "need" to get a baby Bobcat. Umm, sure!

During our off time the boys went to the hotel gym and exercised a bit and then went swimming. Me? I took my scrapbooking things and had some fun. We watched movies at night and just had fun being together.

Amber's concert was amazing! We've been to this particular honor band 2 times for Robert and 2 times with Tabitha and now with Amber. It's one of the most prestegious in the Northwest. This was it's 60th year anniversary. This girl sure did stand out with her basson playing to her conductor as well as the organizer of the event. She wowed them! And was just this short (finger close together) of being offered a scholarship to attend Pacific University. Being a basson player, and a good one will really be a benefit to her in getting scholarships. We are so proud of her too. She auditioned for parts and received 1st Bassoon AND 1st chair!! For a sophmore that's a pretty impressive accomplishment! Hooray for Amber!!

Here's Amber with her guest conductor, Anthony Maiello.

The choir guest conductor was retired Mormon Tabernacle Choir director, Craig Jessop.

We are so glad to be home. We just crash yesterday after church (where Amber & Tabitha did a musical number at church) taking naps off and on all day. Today we just caught up on things around the house and did laundry. Back to school tomorrow! And the dishwasher is getting fixed!! Woohoo!!! The pump is starting to go out and our normally quiet dishwasher is anything but quiet. It was only 3 weeks out of warranty but Kitchenaid is honoring the warranty and replacing the pump at no cost so we only have to pay the labor. Very happy about that one! Off to start the week!