Beautiful day for the zoo.....

Just another gorgeous blue sky day in Portland, so we headed to the zoo with friends this morning!!!

Our "zoo crew" -- Sarah, Tina, Jacque and Tate

Sarah and Tate in Africa (at the Oregon Zoo)

Bald Eagle

Sarah in the life size Eagle's nest, pretending to be a a bald eagle...

Tate, Sarah and Jacque soaking up the sun

Bull elephant with hay and snow 

The female elephants...we learned that if an elephant is alone, it is a bull.  If there are several they are cows.

Good times

They had a new Lion exhibit!!!

Zebra

Huge hippo....he was sleeping standing up...

Blazer Game with the basketball team

Last night Matt and the head coach of Ryan's basketball team loaded up our bus and headed to the Portland Rose Garden to watch the Blazers play the Utah Jazz!!!

View from the "nose bleed" section down to the arena

Warming up before the game

Fight......Fight......oh, wait....stretching.....

Ready for the game to begin....

Go Blazers.......  The game went into overtime....unfortunately they lost...

The basketball team.....what a great group of boys!!!

Another beautiful blue sky, tree climbing kinda day....

Ryan

Tyler

Ryley

Tori Lynn

Sarah

Brandon

Welcome to our jungle.....

Beautiful day in the neighborhood

The weather has been gorgeous all week long.  I took this photo today in front of the kids' middle school...what a wonderful view of Mt. Hood they have!!!

Cousins at the library

This afternoon we went to the library for story time and met up with our cousins!!!

Photo above is Oliva and Andrew (Milo and Bethany's kiddos), Macey (Mary and Erik's daughter) and Sarah

Great day for a picnic

The sun came out this afternoon, and to celebrate, Sarah and I went on our first picnic of 2010!!!!

Valentine's Weekend.....

On Thursday Matt called from work and asked what I was doing on Saturday....because he scheduled me for a 5 1/2 hour day at the spa!!!!  Such a wonderful surprise!!!! 

So, on Saturday I headed to Lake Oswego to Alyce Esthetique Day spa!!!

My morning started out at the spa in robe and slippers and breakfast.  Then I headed into a room for an hour long facial.  Next was "hydrotherapy"...where they have a custom made tub that is wide in the back and skinny at the foot end.  They fill it with warm water and bubbles and then turn on the 27 jets...it is like having a personal hot tub.  While relaxing in the tub, the masseuse comes in and gives a neck, shoulder and scalp massage.  After that, it was time to head to another room for a 1 hour massage!!  By then I was so relaxed I had a hard time staying awake!!!  Next on the agenda was a catered lunch from Tucci's restaurant (italian is my favorite!!!) and then one last treatment ...hydrating leg and foot massage!!  Pure bliss!!!

On Sunday I woke up to a beautiful flower boquet...

then after church Matt and I headed into Portland and went to the Yard, Garden, and Patio show at the Convention Center.

For some reason, in my head, this was going to be the street of dreams version of backyard landscaping.  I had my camera, planned to take tons of photos so I could create the backyard of my dreams.  Instead...there were about 5 dream patio versions --- my favorite was similar to the photo above and the rest was like walking through a back yard rummage sale.  Not really what I expected at all.

Afterwards we headed into Portland...

Heading over the Burnside Bridge into Portland and the famous Made in Oregon sign

Portland on Valentine's day 2010....We love this city!!!!

Another photo of the city on Sunday!

For lunch we headed to the Governor Hotel, where our favorite Portland restaurant Jakes Grill is located.

(photo above is from the internet)  While I had a mimosa and crab & shrimp stuffed sole, Matt had a pepsi, pastrami sandwich and fries.  Can there be an odder combination for lunch????

When we arrived back home, it was family time again.  The kids filling themselves on their Valentine's candy and then we were off to get dinner at Abby's Pizza.  If you aren't from the Pacific Northwest...what you need to know is Abby's Pizza is the best there is...and on Valentine's Day it is a tradition to have their heart shaped pizzas!!!

Abby's Special ---- true pizza love!!!

Taco pizza......pizza bliss!!!!

Tori took some Valentine's Day photos......Me, Sarah and Matt

True love.....

Isn't he romantic......

dorks.....

In honor of Twilight.....I'm a vampire....

Totem pole

Where are my teeth?????

Phew......there they are!!!

Attack of the Ryan.....

It is a crazy life.....but it is our life!!!!

The night ended with Tori and Sarah putting on a honey and oatmeal face mask.  This is the reason every girl should have a sister!!!!

Matt's birthday today!!!

Today was Matt's birthday!!!  His motto for the day was "don't tell anyone"...he strictly informed me that he did not want me to email, or call anyone at his place of work and let them know.  "My birthday isn't a big deal!"  Seems rather ridiculous to me, since everyone who knows me KNOWS that my birthday is my ABSOLUTELY FAVORITE day of the year!!  But, I figured, after being married to him for 15 years, and together for 19, if I want to be together another 20 years, I should probably do as he wishes!!!

So, instead of letting anyone know!!  Sarah and I drove up to Vancouver, to visit him at work and take him out for lunch!!!!

Matt let Sarah choose between Azteca Mexican Restaurant, Olive Garden and Red Robin....of course she chose Red Robin!!!!

....and because Sarah doesn't have to follow the same rules his devoted wife does, Sarah made sure she told EVERYONE at Red Robin it was her Daddy's birthday!!!  She was thrilled when they came to sing to him and deliver his ice cream sundae...."That's all for you, you don't have to share buddy" she told him!

In the evening we had homemade BBQ Chicken Pizza and then for dessert Cold Stone Creamery's Coffee Heath Bar Ice Cream Cake!!!! 

The candles are lit and the kids are ready to sing....

Look at Sarah eyeing the cake (unfortunately right before dessert Sarah was sick to her stomach and apparently has the flu--nice birthday surprise for Matt...running the carpet shampooer... TMI?) so she didn't get a slice of cake this evening.

Blowing out the candles!

Happy Birthday Matt!!!  We LOVE you!!!!