Emma in Pig-Tails

She isn't a fan of you messing with her hair but when it comes out this cute sometimes you just have to.

Emma Has Learned New Signs

Emma is picking up sign language pretty quickly, she has recently learned how to sign "friend" and "thank you".

Birthday Get-a-away

Tasha and I are up near Seattle for a little birthday get-a-way. We arrived yesterday and will be here until Sunday morning. So far we have played in two poker tournaments. The first one had 82 players. Tasha finished 39 and I finished 37. It was Tasha's first tourney so it was good that she finished in the top 50%. We played in another this morning. It was smaller tourney, about 25 players. Tasha finisted 12th, just two away from making the final table. I finished 6th which was close to making the money. Although neither us won or placed we had lots of fun. Tasha even said it would be nice if there was place closer to play more tourneys.

This afternoon we had a lovely sushi lunch and did a little shopping. This evening we will enjoy a lovely dinner and then some drinks. Tomorrow is the main even as we will be going to see Gwen Stefani. Should be a blast. We have pretty good seats.

General Emma Updates

Here is some of the latest and greatest in the world of Emma:

1. She definitely knows how to say mama and nana (for Grandma Jo) and knows who those names are attributed to. So when she wants Tasha's attention, she will shout "MAMA". She occasionally says dada but not as much yet.

2. She has learned how to sign "please" which is a circular motion with your hand on your chest. She also can sign "milk". She can even put the two together and sign "milk please" as well as "more please" We are teaching her thank you. One cool thing is when she saw a cow at the cheese factory during our trip to the coast she knew that milk came from a cow! When she saw the cow at the factory she started making the sign for milk!!!!

3. She can climb all over the place and easily gets onto our couch and chairs in the living room.

4. It is hard to believe but she is getting even cuter. She has become so interactive and responsive to things you do. She is a "kid" now! She loves to be chased and tickled.

some more coast pictures

My Article

I wrote an article for the Pacific Northwest Association of College Admissions Counselors. It was just published in their spring newletter. It is on page 5, just look for my ugly mug. It is a PDF so you will need Adobe to read it.......

Oregon Coast Trip Pictures

Our Trip to The Beach

We returned yesterday after a week long trip to the Oregon Coast. We stayed in a small town west of Tillamook called Oceanside. The house we rented was fabulous and if you ever want to rent a house with a great view that has that "cabin" feel then the house we rented is a great option. It is very peaceful. Here is a quick recap of some of the activities we enjoyed:

-We walked along a few beaches and looked for shells and other sea creatures. The beach at Oceanside is great. We also enjoyed the beach at Cape Lookout State Park.
-We enjoyed a great dinner at a place that was recommended to us called Rosanna's in Oceanside. We each had amazing pasta dishes and their desserts are wonderful. We actually drove down on night just for dessert.
-We made trips to Cannon Beach, Seaside, and Lincoln City. Had some great food and did a little shopping in each location. While in Seaside we visited the aquarium where Emma loved seeing the fish and the cool octopus they have. She got to touch an anemone which she thought was cool. We fed the seals and got soaked!!!
-We went to the Cape Mears Lighthouse which was beautiful.
-Of course we had to visit the Tillamook Cheese factory where we sampled and purchased some amazing cheese. They also produce great ice cream which we enjoyed twice. Emma loved the cows there and actually saw cows all over the place during the trip and each time would say "moooo".
-Emma got to ride her first carousel while in Seaside.

The weather was perfect. It rained one day when we were there and then rained the day we left but other than that it was sunny and gorgeous. We ate most of our meals in the house which was nice and I am sure the local Safeway appreciated our business! We took many naps and read lots. The TV was maybe on for 2 hours total. We listened to a lot of OPB in the mornings while eating and then spent the rest of the time rocking out to the best radio station we ever have heard. Every song they played we would say "this is a great song". Very few commercials as well. We played lots of games including Apples to Apples, Loaded Questions, Solitaire, Farkle, Uno, and Yahtzee.

Most of the time it was me, Tasha, Emma, and Nana Jo. Jessie joined us for a few days and Wayne joined us for the last night. On the way home we drove down to the town of Neskowin to see some work Jessie had done for a house. Super cool. I found my dream combo island/table in the kitchen of the house that Jessie designed. When I have a beach house Jessie will have to design one for me. We finished by eating lunch at a great little cafe in Neskowin called the Hawk Creek Cafe. If you ever are near Neskowin it is a must stop!

I will post pictures in a moment.......

Emma at Sanchez

We have dinner with some good friends (Linda, Larry, and Jenny) every other week at this amazing Mexican restaurant (Sanchez in Tigard). These are some pictures that Linda took this last Wednesday. I worked with Linda at PSU and her husband, Larry, is the one who married Tasha and I. Jenny is my former boss from PSU.