First Day of Spring

Springtime in Eugene is my favorite time of the year. It's the payoff for all the dreary gray skies and rain of late-Autumn and Winter. 

We hiked around Hendricks Park this morning to take in the warm sunshine and the beautiful scenery.

Taeg' and Karst' in a rare moment of introspection.

Local Gang

A few years ago, when we were looking for a larger home we knew the area where we wanted to buy. It was mostly older homes, the schools are great, the neighborhoods are filled with older couples and well older families too, tons of trees, gorgeous views if you get high enough on the hills. We finally found a home for sale and have been enjoying our little slice of heaven.

Until...





These turkeys are crazy. Our neighbor's dogs are scared of them. They were in our backyard a few months ago and we counted 29. Yes 29 female turkeys in my little yard. Don't get me wrong I love a little wildlife (especially to eat) but 29 turkeys in one neighborhood seems a bit much. A couple of days ago, they were at the neighbors house across the street. I was having a hard time counting them all, but I know there were at least 50. This time the boys showed up. It was pretty cool to watch the guys strut their stuff, puff out their chest, and get their tail feathers all fanned out just to get a gal's attention.

But in the back of my mind, I just kept thinking... "If I lived a few more miles south so I was out of town, I wouldn't hesitate to invite my talkin' in his sleep brother-in-law over for a little turkey shoot out. Loser cleans the birds of course.

Happy St. Patty's Day!!!

Karsten has been asking me what we do on St. Patrick's Day for the last 3 weeks. Taegan tried to explain to him that it was just a holiday that comes after Valentine's Day and before Easter but he wasn't having any of it. I told him it is a day that we can celebrate green, like the color you crazy hippies. I just don't have the heart to tell him it was originally for a Catholic St. but some how Ireland turn it into a green wearing, beer drinking, holiday and the rest of the free world has turned it into a weird thing about green and pinching. Taeg' decided she wasn't wearing green no matter what, because green is NOT pink! whatever. Karsten freaked out when I told him he could wear his Oregon jersey because it is green. He stated that he is saving it for the next Oregon game. I didn't have the heart to explain that the basketball team sucks and finally fired Kent and are not in the tourney and that most of the football team is in jail. Maybe we will start cheering on the baseball (boring) team!

Anyways this is what we did:

YUMMY, even without frosting!

The pros call it rainbow, I call 'em tie dye. I haven't heard a word of complaint about St. Patty's Day since I pulled these beauties out!

The kids

For a guy who isn't even two months old, Lang' is a pretty easy-going fellow...

...that is, until his (overly) affectionate older sister draws near.

Grandma Shirlene visited this past weekend with her camera.  We drove an hour to Haceta Head State Park, where Cape Creek meets the Pacific, and she snapped a few pictures.  It's one of the kids' favorite places to visit.