Happy Easter

We had a great weekend!

Marshall had done me a huge favor on Wednesday by getting the kids Easter baskets and eggs, I was not going to have time to get out with out kids for the rest of the week and he was out any way. So nice. Well, on Saturday when we were loading up to run our errands, in Marshall's truck, I opened the door for Caymus to get in and I hear him say "OH MY GOSH!!!" I knew right then what he saw....their Easter baskets. The back seat of Marshall's truck seems to be a great hiding place for gifts, until the recipient climbs in! Marshall and I "calmly" tried to come up with an explanation before getting into the truck our selves. That went well....Apparently the Easter bunny came a day early and left the baskets in the back of the truck, odd, but whatever!

Then it was off to run errands around town. Joe's Sporting good store is going out of business, so we stopped there first. Got rain gear for dirt cheep! And farm boots for the kids. Did our grocery shopping and a few other random stops.

The afternoon was spent building a fire pit in our yard, raking and doing some other yard work. It was a beautiful sunny afternoon and we all enjoyed being outside.

In the evening we colored our eggs and made cupcakes. I found a recipe for cupcakes from scratch with a hidden egg in the middle. The egg is chocolate. YUMMY! Here is a picture of the finish project. they turned out really cute and they taste great!

I had the kids leave the Easter bunny's carrots and cup of water out on the back deck because we did not what the bunny to set off our alarm...also needed to think of a way to get the kids to look outside in the morning to notice the hidden eggs. My kids are getting to smart and after our mess up of the baskets I had to be really tricky.

I then hid all the eggs Marshall bought and the dozen we colored all round the back yard, in the dark. It was kinda fun! The Easter bunny usually hides eggs in the garage because, well lets face it, we live in Oregon and it ALWAYS rains on Easter! But this year I figured the kids could handle getting wet and I was sick of hunts in the garage!

In the morning the kids were so excited to see the remains of the carrot and that the Easter bunny had left an egg in the bowl...that got them looking and low and behold there were eggs all over the yard!!! "HE came HE came!!!" Aw yes, redemption!

We hit the early service at church, trying to avoid the masses that come in the later service.

Home, ate and then it was hunting time!! Caymus could hardly wait. We braved the rain and cold and collected all the eggs we could find.

The rest of the afternoon was very relaxing. We got a HOT fire going, watched a few movies and just enjoyed each other.

I made a ham, the best ham we have ever had. I think home grown pork is the best meat on earth!!!

After filling our bellies and roasting from a hot hot hot fire, we went on a walk in the rain, the kids and the dog ran the entire way....

A wonderful holiday filled with love.

I hope you all had a wonderful day as well.

Yay Spring!

How did a whole week go by with out a single post from me? I am not really sure, I meant to post early in the week about our super busy weekend, but that never happened. So now it is Friday and I am finally downloading pictures and putting my thoughts together for one BIG post!

Last week end we had amazing weather! In the high 70s! It was great. So we took advantage of the weather and got some much needed yard work done.

First thing on Saturday we fertilized our Christmas trees, all 2000 of them. We did this by wearing these front pack-buckets. They hold a hole 50lb bag of fertilizer! Yeah that's heavy!!! We then walk down the aisles of trees dumping a handful on each tree.

Us with our buckets! Don't we look like farmers?

Once the trees were done I hit it with the Round-up. 8 gal of it! I am hoping that I got control of our weeds and it will be smooth sailing from here on out! That's my hope anyway.

While I spayed, Marshall and the kids cleaned our the "kid" part of the garage. They made a give away pile and a keep pile and then organized it all.

As if that was not enough fun for one day, we packed up and headed to our friends house for dinner. Lucy got to help feed the horses - always a hit. Caymus got to play wii with Justin. We got to have dinner with great friends. And did not get home till 11pm!

Sunday we headed to church, then some errands. Once we got home we built nesting boxes in the chicken coop. We will see....they should be laying by now......

I planted some plants and did a little more yard work. Once all that was done we went back up to Justin and Cathy's so the kids could ride horses for a bit. Both kids did great and were very brave.

Then it was off for our weekly grocery shopping.......

Are you exhausted yet? I am.

The rest of the week was mild in comparison.

Wednesday some other moms and I made a potluck lunch for the teachers at Caymus' school. That was fun cause it was a total surprise. Caymus went with me and help pass out Leis to the teachers.

After that excitement we went on a field trip to the local pond with Lucy's class. I am always up for a field trip in the rain!!!

The trail of kindergartners!

I was trying to embarrass Lucy by posting this picture of her. She wont smile nice for me, ever! But she just thought this was funny!

That about sums up the week. Now its time to prep for Easter on Sunday. I think we will lay low this weekend. The weather is not supposed to be good, even though I see sun out side my office window right now. Who knows. As they say April showers bring May flowers!!!

OH no!

My kids have decided that I needed new slippers. I beg to differ........

Back home

I arrived home on Saturday around 6pm. My entire family was waiting for me in the garage when I pulled in. So sweet!

We had a nice relaxing evening at home. The kids could hardly contain themselves with their excitement!

Sunday, hmmmm we slept in, lounged around for a while then went to town for some grocery shopping. After lunch we fired up the quad and chain saw and cut down some trees. That was fun and rewarding!

Both kids had Monday off from school, the school districts ferlow day to try and save the budget. Marshall also had the day off from work. So the only one who had to work was me. The family busied them selves with yard work and play.

Today was back on schedule. Up at 5am, Marshall to work, kids to school and me back to work also. We had a great spring break but it is nice to get back to normal.

A few highlights...I cut all 3 boys hair! Moka was a few months over due....Caymus was also and wanted to look like his dad.

I really don't have much else to report!

The Party is over.....Its time to go home....

Yesterday was the last day of the conference. The exhibit hall packed up and was out so fast. I blinked and they were gone. 12 hours to set up and 4 to take down......


Moving out the trucks. So sad when its all over.


David and Michael of DeltaValve packing up, who ever said marketing guys don't get their hands dirty!

After the conference was over we had a reception to go to and then out to dinner. After dinner was our customary elevator picture shoot.
Robby and I taking a "shot" at having a good time.Aw, the future of Coking.com.......Smoking and Sparky
Say cheese!
We went to Joe's Crab Shack for dinner.....Love their shirts!

And now for the elevator picture!!!



Today was the Coker Process Training course, and we got to pack up our stuff, pay the hotel and all that finishing stuff.

To night will be a mellow evening - if those exist. Then its off to the airport first thing in the morning.

Hump Day

Yesterday was hump day. A good and busy day. We had some great presentations and gave out our Coker Person of the Year award. Always cool.

Last night was a sponsored dinner. DeltaValve, one of our biggest sponsors hosted dinner in the Aquarium Pyramid. What a delicious dinner and then tour of the aquarium.

Now we are on to Thursday. All of the exhibits will be coming down this afternoon, that means it will be a crazy few hours trying to get everyone cleaned up and out of the building.

The end is near. I am tired, drained, still having fun but looking forward to Saturday when I go home to my dear family. My poor hubby has a horrible cold and is missing his nurse....

Gary and Paul - running the show.Barb, Ricky and me. Do I look like I am having fun? Not sure......Gary demoing the MOV chair by Paramed, very cool invention. It can move up to 500lbs up and down stairs with minimal effort. Amazing life saving tools.Me listening to a presentation.View from the 9th floor Presidential Suite.

Everything is bigger in Texas!

Yesterday was the end of the Coke Drum Workshop and the beginning of the Safety Seminar. We had exhibitors taking down new ones coming in. Some confusion, some frustration. I did my best to smooth things over and make everyone happy....We also had new attendees coming in so that made for a busy, busy day.

We had a very nice 2 hour cocktail reception with exhibits in the evening. Lots of great conversations and business dealings.

After the reception we parked our tushies in the Presidential suite again. We had a nice low key evening and off to bed early....11pm.

Here are some highlights of the last few days.

Me, Vic and Barb aka my mom. Vic is one of my favorite vendors that I work with, he exhibits at all our conferences and really is an awesome guy. Also a wrestling fan.Part of the Coking.com team in our fancy RED shirts. Barb, Paul, Nancy, Rob, Me.Oh here is a good one. Any one who can tell what that thing does gets a prize!This is a look at the exhibit and dining hall. Its hard to get a good picture of the entire hall, but I will try so I can show off my work!Here is another of the hall. We have 3 50ft trucks in there and some other very large equipment. So cool!