Father's Day...

Happy Father's Day to the most amazing man I know.  

 A flower arrangement from greenery and flowers from our yard.

Blossom Turns Two!

 

One of my favorite events in December is Blossom's birthday the week before Christmas.  This year I made a gluten-free, black bean, chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting.  It's super yummy and I should have made two!  Maybe next year I'll make it a triple layer in honor of her third.

Family and friends blessed us with their attendance.

 Blossom was ecstatic to have all her favorite people in the house and paying attention to her.  I think that was her best gift of all

 The process of opening a present started out a little slow but, she had a lot of helpers and people cheering her on. 

Thomas the Tank Engine Trains are her favorite right now and she loved seeing two books about them.  

 Next, a tea set!

 And more Thomas.  Vintage from the neighbors!  So awesome!

High fives and happy smiles!

Happy Birthday!  We love you!

McMinnville, Oregon

We took a little road trip and vacation to McMinnville, Oregon to see some family from my side.  What a cute little downtown this place has.

A tasting room of sorts in every few storefronts.  They were even giving wine samples at the little health food store at check out. I guess this is wine country.

 We found a few recognizable faces while walking around.

 My boys enjoyed cousin time.  It was so heart warming to see these kids take to one another.

The Scientist got in a chess game with his Grandpa.  This was his first time meeting his Grandpa from my side.  He use to live in Alaska and a Johnson family trip to Alaska just never happened. 

One of our evenings was spent at the Oregon Gardens Christmas Lights display near Salem. 

Our family also took a day to visit the Evergreen Museum. 

I had planned for us to enjoy the water park after lunch but I didn't notice while researching online that during the winter months the water park is only open on the weekends and we chose to go on a Monday to avoid the crowds.  Wow!  Score one for mom for avoiding the crowds.  A big scratch for messing up our plans to play at the water park.
We did enjoy the museum and nearly had the place all to ourselves.

Our last thing to explore before we left the museum grounds was this big monument.  A nice place for Scouts to gather.

Professor Goes Sailing...

The Professor had a great time last weekend on Wayne and Grammy's sail boat.  They anchored at Sucia after they set crab pots.  I think this was the 4th time the Professor has had the opportunity to explore Sucia Island.

We sure enjoyed the crab they brought back.

(Thanks Mom and Wayne for the pictures.)