Camping Makes Me Smile :)

Okay, I have to say that camping has to be one of my favorite things EVER. No phones, no housework, no worrying about keeping the kids entertained (the dirt and the bugs take care of that), and best of all, food just tastes better when you're camping. The day after we moved to Portland, we literally dumped our stuff in our new place and left to go camping in the Columbia River Gorge. BEAUTIFUL and only 30 minutes from our house! It was a blast and made it very easy to fall in love with our new place.

Abby Dabby

Nicknames: Abs, Abby Dabby, Dabs, Abbers
Age: 5 years old
Favorite Activities: Climbing trees, swimming in the pool, gymnastics, playing dolls with Emma, looking for bugs, picking blackberries, riding her new bike
Favorite Foods: Artichokes, Pears, Shrimp
Favorite place to go: Swimming Pool, anywhere with her grandparents, the beach
Looking forward to: starting kindergarten in the fall
Wants: a kitty, doggy, or any furry thing that she can hold and take care of
Mommy and Daddy's Favorite thing about Abby: how much she loves to be outside and is interested in everything

Little Emma Lou Who

Age: 3 years and "not a baby anymore"
Nicknames: Emma Dilemma, Lou Lou, Emmie, Em
Favorite Foods: Blueberries, artichokes, clementines
Favorite Activities: Playing with her dolls in her room, eating, going to the park, doing anything with her sister
Favorite Color: Pink
Favorite Clothes: none at all
Favorite Song: Any from the Little Mermaid soundtrack
Favorite Book: Creepy Crawlies lift the flap book
Mommy's Favorite thing about Emma: Her sweet smile and how she loves to make us laugh
Daddy's Favorite thing about Emma: She is always the first to give him a huge hug when he gets home from work

Congratulations Taquito!

Here it is kids! The doc has finally graduated. Okay, it's been 2 months, but we're still celebrating. After 4 years of Med School at UCSF, this was a pretty happy day. The girls obviously thought their book was a little more interesting than the ceremony, but they did think it was really super cool to be able to go on stage and "hood" daddy. They did a great job! That night we celebrated by packing up our moving truck, what can I say, we're a wild bunch!

A Snapshot of our Life

I don't know if anyone else has this problem, but we have a hot sauce issue at our house. Now tell me if you think this is normal, but Justin has split his eggs into 6 sections, each with a different hot sauce. Now, for us, this is a normal scenario. Which hot sauce goes with which food, and if all else fails, a section for each.

So Funny!

Samoa, Samoa, and More Samoa

We had the chance this past month to go to Samoa for 2 weeks to visit Lanie's parents who are there for 18 months serving an LDS Mission. It was AMAZING! We had so much fun and it was really great to learn about a new culture and just fall in love with the Samoan people. Here is just a fraction of the photos we took, amazing since there are still so many. I couldn't cut it down any more! Just click on the picture to see the album and feel free to skip around, there are a lot there.

Samoa

Whirlwind Season!

I've decided that the Spring/Summer of '07 will go down in the Taquito and Lanes' history as one of the craziest of their lives to date. Actually, from about January '07 on, it's all pretty much a blur. To update those of you with whom we don't keep in contact nearly enough, here is the quickest version I can come up with. In January after returning home from a wonderful Christmas in Utah, Taquito begins some intense medical rotations during which Lanes falls ill and cracks a rib from coughing (of all the lame things). After recovery, they are lucky enough to have 2 different sets of family come to San Francisco to visit. (love you guys, so much fun). Match day comes with good news that they will be spending the next 4-5 years in Portland while Taquito completes a residency in Ophthalmology at OHSU. Packing begins . . . and continues, and continues, amidst Taquitos demanding school schedule and Lanes' at-home fun with Abs and Lou Lou. In May, Taquito climbs Mt. Whitney with some friends, graduates from UCSF Medical School the next week, the fam moves to Portland the next day, day after that we go camping in the Columbia River Gorge for a week, come home, unpack a little, head to Samoa for 2 weeks to visit Lanes' parents who are serving an LDS Mission there, next day Taquito begins his life as an intern.

We have been so blessed these past few months and are so happy to be "settled" in Lake Oswego (just outside of Portland). It is beautiful here and we really love it so far. We miss San Francisco like crazy and think of it all the time, but we feel really good about being here and are enjoying this new adventure in our lives. Taquito is really enjoying his new role as an intern, crazy as it may be. Lanes is getting to know the town, has found Costco and Target and is enjoying this time with the girls (most of which is spent at the neighborhood pool). Abs has found a tree in the front yard to climb and has turned into a little fish that never wants to get out of the water. Lou Lou loves to play in her room and help pick blackberries from the backyard. Needless to say, life is good! We love and miss all of you and hope to hear how things are going in your neck of the woods, wherever that may be.