Chinese Gardens and downtown Portland

I have to say living out of state of family is great for motivating me to update and post about my life once a week.

I told people that change always hits me later, and so moving to Portland will just be exciting and not sad until about a month or so after I was there. And that month is here, and I am totally missing all my family and friends in Utah. So imagine yourself getting a big hug from me and we can sit down and chat, and pretend like I'm showing you these pictures in person. Okay?

A few weeks ago we went to downtown Portland to explore. Exploring new areas is one of our favorite things to do.

Here was the waterfront.

It was beautiful as I'm sure you can tell.

And beautiful from the front too.

Avey pretty much is all about living life to the fullest these days and is a CUTIE.

It wasn't raining, but breezy and still a little cold.

Hey look, we're all looking!

A separate weekend they were having a Chinese New Year festival at the Chinese Gardens. We snagged a free pass from the library, and joined in the fun.

The gardens are beautiful and meticulously kept.

They had a group of kids that did yo yo tricks come and perform, then let people try them after.

Eric and his bonsai excitement. It's darling.

They also had a Dragon Performance. Here was one of the dragon heads. I love how Avey and Jack's smiles match.

Avey in her live life to the fullest form was loving jumping up and down these stairs. She felt like such a big kid!

Isn't that gorgeous!?!

Then last night we went to a kid concert at the library. It was really fun.

Mo Phillips was the performer, and he kept us happy, laughing, and dancing for about an hour.

Avey likes to do down dog all the time these days.

And that was the best picture I got of all of them. They are laughing, just FYI. Although it does look like Jack is going to suck Avey's blood...

Avey and Jack love to come and "help" me exercise in the mornings. Jack's improving with his push ups. :)

I just thought you needed another picture of Avey.

And here are the awesome new boots my mom got me for my birthday. They are super high quality and got at a steal if I do say so myself. And such a fun design! However, since I got them we have only had 3 days of rain. Hmmm, it seems fishy to me, maybe a weather conspiracy?

Well, thanks for catching up with me. Thanks for your love, and by the way I do love my life here. I love my house and neighborhood, and teaching my music class, and being a mom and wife. I recently read John Adams and In Defense of Food, and I realize I am very influenced by what I read.

Which is why I also now read one talk a day along with my normal scripture study. One day of the week I read a talk by Neal A Maxwell, another day by David A Bednar, another day a talk about Marriage, another day a talk about Motherhood, another day a talk by a woman general presidency member, another day a talk from the last general conference, and the last day a talk by President Monson. I have absolutely loved this, and am growing so much in so many areas because of the greatness in all these people and topics. I relate that because I have tried reading a talk a day in the past, and get bogged down by what talk and topic and speaker to choose, so I just stop doing it. This has really helped me get a variety of topics, but narrow it down quickly to a single talk.

And to end, here's a quote by President Uchtdorf from the General RS Broadcast last conference.

"The happiest people I know are not those who find their golden ticket; they are those who, while in pursuit of worthy goals, discover and treasure the beauty and sweetness of the everyday moments. They are the ones who, thread by daily thread, weave a tapestry of gratitude and wonder throughout their lives. These are they who are truly happy."