First Easter

It seems that we have not done a huge family Easter in years. When we were kids, the Jentzsch's and Rollins used to come down to Oregon (from Washington) and we always had the best time. I have missed that. I am glad that having babies around can bring back these fun times long overdue!

What we used to do: Like any event with the Ford's, Jentzsch's and Rollin's we have a knack for being crazy and having too much fun. We would decorate and dye a gzillion eggs and our parents added a ton of plastic-candy-money-filled eggs to the mix too. There was always a small hunt for the younger kids and then a more intense, harder hunt for the big kids. I mean seriously, our parents were cruel - hiding eggs in snake holes and way up in trees and in berry bushes.

After the egg hunts, we got to search for our baskets... all cleverly hidden by our parents in the woods. My parents have 9-acres so we always used one section of the property that was made into a motorcyle trail. It had a lot of dense brush and was hard to find even the brightest sunniest of baskets. Each kid's parents could help us with "hot/cold" hints. Easter had nothing to do with the candy. It was everything to do with the "hunts". I can't wait for Dominic and Alex .... and I'm sure more siblings and cousins of the next generation to add to the mix.

Dominic & Daddy

RunKeeper for my iPhone

My newest iPhone app for my running-hiking-biking activities is Runkeeper. The results of our hike up Roxanne on MLK Day/ Monday.



*I realize I haven't posted in months....and this is what I give you? lol. I have a lot to catch up on for us and of course Dominic! He's gotten so big and active! For now, this is all you get! :)

Poor Poor Pinata

Kung Foo John!

...only John would artfully destruct a pinata by removing all his limbs before busting its gut...



(I hate being the camera person. Hearing yourself being the loudest laugher is not quite that nice.)

Another Year, A Week to Celebrate!

Monday was John's birthday (Happy 37 honey!!). We have been celebrating for over a week now.

I threw a surprise party that wasn't a surprise at all, on July 27th because my family would be out of town for his real day. You can get a great overview of that party from my mom's post "Happy Birthday You Old Poop!". If you haven't seen it, you should. She has all the photos from that day because our new camera was still on it's way. Aside from the radically disgusting poop themed cake....I especially loved the shot of John clobbering Daniel with a cooler full of water (remains from the water balloon fight).... and don't forget all the unicyclists. What a family circus!

Anyway... I threw another party this past Sunday (3rd) for John's family. His Mom (Linda), brother (Ken), our sister-in-law (Jen) and our niece (Taylor) came over for a pasta lunch, cake and fun of course!
After lunch we played with a cool water toy that Taylor had gotten for her birthday and had been dying to use.

Then we busted a pinata (from Ken, Jen & Tay-Tay). John's FIRST pinata ever in his 37 years! His dad's side is Mexican so I find that pretty funny.After all the outside fun we finished it off with a little Trackmania (looks like such a serious game!)...


...and more laughs and giggles with Grammy.It's sooo tiring playing all day... whew! Happy Birthday Daddy!

Monday, John's REAL birthday... FINALLY! John and I got to go out to dinner and a movie thanks to my mom (gramsy) for watching Dominic. We got to so see The Dark Knight and went out to Si Casa Flores. It was a nice relaxing afternoon/evening.

The week of celebration came to a close. :) But what a fun one it was!

Three Generations of Bermea's

I took a normal photo of hands when we were down in San Jose visiting. The hands are of Dominic, John and John's Dad Hector - three generations. I edited it in photoshop to make it look like we did it in a studio. I have a couple others I'm going to do this with. This one was my favorite. (The original photo is below)

Portland Weekend & Night Hiking

Shannon's wedding was a great excuse to go visit my little brother, Sam and his girlfriend, Emily. They live in Portland. My dad, mom and I traveled up together on Friday so they could catch the Endowment Session (for both Chris and Shannon) Friday night.

Saturday morning was promising beautiful weather for the day. We all got up and had a leisurely breakfast. My mom and I went for an hour walk down to this little village square and back and then got ready for the wedding. Emily and I dropped my parents off at the Temple to attend the ceremony (Sam had to work until the reception) and we headed over to Trader Joes. This is the best place ever! Every chance my mom gets, she's stealing all their coconut milk. haha. It's cheaper than what we have down here and tastes MUCH better to boot! Emily and I almost had a brawl with another Joes customer because we cleaned off the shelf (only 15 cans) and there were no more in stock. We had to give up one can to some lady who was throwing a fit that we took it all. I explained that we lived out of town. Sheesh lady!

After the Temple part of the wedding and photos, we jetted out to grab a snack at the apartment. Then off to the reception. The break from the crowd was good because it started all over again at the reception. I plopped down on the floor and decided to just hang out there. Shannon was busy running around.... I think I barely got a glimpse, didn't even know she'd left when she did. So after hours more of visiting with more friends and Washington family... we left.

After taking a breather from the loudness, we decided to go on a hike to get our blood moving. It was getting late by now... maybe around 7pm. It was dusk as we headed out to the hills around OHSU. The hike was cool though because it lead through a series of ravines... a little on the muddy side, but what the heck.
We left dad in the dust (or mud?) because he was hunting down a geo cache. I swear we should have a beacon on him so that we can find him after things like this. Luckily, we didn't lose him this time. The hike was about a mile out and after turning around it was really really dark! Emily brought a headlamp so my mom and I shared it while Sam and Emily walked ahead in the darkness.... Sam, telling us stories about a guy that had been murdering Portland hikers. Lovely. If that won't make you walk faster eh?

I thought these flowers were cool. They were night bloomers. I don't know what they are, but there were large patches of them everywhere on the hillside of the path.

Sunday gave us dreadful weather. Originally we had wanted to go on a big hike that day. John ended up flying into Portland to buy a car (to drive home). So he met up with us after the purchase at the airport. Hiking seemed out but Emily had told us about this fabric warehouse so we decided to try it out. I needed to get curtains for Dominic's room. We did attempt many times to phone them to see if they were open, they seemed like they were although we never got ahold of anyone.... we were wrong. We drove all the way across Portland and they were closed. We gave it a shot, Easter Sunday and all.

After that failed attempt, we decided to locate another Trader Joes. We did in downtown and filled up on our remaining needed coconut milk and before heading back home decided to go to Beau Tie (sp?) for lunch. A Ford Family favorite! It was quite delicious!

That's about it. Weather was horrid still all the way home. What a fun weekend though!

Mrs. Ralph Faulkinbury!

Wow we had a lot going on from last weekend extending into this week. I'll keep all the events in separate posts. First of all, CONGRATULATIONS to little miss Shannon and her new hubby, Ralph. They actually went through with it! They are officially hitched as of Saturday, March 22nd. You can check out Ralph's older brothers (and fam) blog on my blog-links (www.faulkinbury.blogspot.com). They look like a really fun family and dang it, I forgot to meet them.

The weekend was REALLY overwhelming with family and friends (in a good way). Like my mom posted, it was like a huge reunion. I had a sore throat and started to think I might be getting sick after the weekend... I didn't get sick so I think it was just all the yapping. It was very good to see everyone Although I didn't get quite as many photos as I'd have liked. I'm hoping the Jentzsch's post all the wedding shots on their picasa album. My mom posted most of the best shots between our two cameras. So I'll just share a few others...

Robyn and I rolled around one of the fountains...


Here's one of Hilary (Jeff's wife) and I. She's such a cutie! I wish they lived closer!! With Jeff finishing up his schooling, it sounds like they may be moving WAAAY far away. :(

How sad, that's really about it off of my camera. I do of course have some group shots, but they are quite the same as my moms. Well then, onto the rest of the weekend! ...

Soon to be - Mrs. Shannon Faulkinbury!

So I've been dying to say something! Shannon FINALLY posted about it so I am free to do so. :)

A big congratulations to little miss Shannon and her fiance Ralph!

She's engaged! And it is so like our spontanious chickadee to give everyone a months notice. *lol*

We wish you both all the luck in the world, but Ralph, I hope you know what you're getting into. Aside from the amazing "I can do everything" Shannon... you haven't even experienced THE FAMILY!! *muah-ha-ha-ha-haaaaa* You will probably only meet a quarter of us at the wedding. We will see if you survive the summer. So far we haven't quite chased away any of the most recent additions to the family. Take note....you've been warned. ;)

...although, if you can handle Shannon... I think you will do just fine.

Running-Y - Our Annual Winter Trip

We're all recouperating from our annual Running-Y Family Winter Trip. We have made going out to the Running-Y Ranch Resort an annual tradition, continuing this year for 3-years in a row. Last year there was no snow for sledding. The year before there was plenty of snow and we also got some x-country skiing in the mix (on the golf course of course). This year it snowed quite a bit, but it had a week of sun before we showed up so it was deep-crunchy-snow. Everyone still got plenty of [very bumpy] sledding in on a nice driving hill and some of us girls went trekking on another area of the golf course. Pat took all these great photos of the boys sledding on this tube from her position in the middle of the hill... turns out at the end of the day, she didn't even have a card in the camera. Ohwell, good practice right? ;)









Normally, we rent out the ice-rink for a crazy family hockey bash, but not enough of the people who really make the game came this year (they all got married and now work and/or are in school or have jobs... uhh... lame. haha). Sometimes it's not so great realizing we're all grown up and have to cater to the real world and schedules and being responsible. :( I miss the days when we were all irresponsible kids spending 3-months of summer doing whatever we wanted and every school break playing to our hearts content.









Anyway, this years turnout was pretty great. We rented three, three bedroom condos and one, one bedroom (for John and I). The roster included: Bermeas - John, myself, Inchworm and our friend Emily. The Fords - Dan, Rochelle, Ben, Daniel. Sutherlands - Robyn, Paul and their Limabean, Jentzsch's - Randy, Pat and Chris. Friends - Yumi, Christian and little Naomi. The entire Swartz clan! Mike, Heather, Morgan, Miranda, Sage, Justin and Sabrina. Thanks Everyone for another great year we really look forward to next year. Anyone is invited, just let us know and we'll add you to the roster.
The morning of the big day for our room started with delicious waffles (made by me from scratch of course. lol) and eggs. Then on to getting dressed for the snow. I had assumed my snowboarding pants would definitely fit because they had a bit of an extender and were originally a bit larger on me. WRONG. I couldn't even get the zipper up. Of course I hadn't tried them out BEFORE the trip. Luckily, John fits into some of my clothes and his pants were more bib-like (best for pregnant people!), so we traded. He was sport'n high fashion in his ultra-cute baby blue pants. haha. I was pretty bummed because I bought these last year for the trip and there was no snow. I was quite excited to be able to use them. So maybe next year then. Although he threw a tantrum at first [j/k] he looks good in them and knows it! hah!



Following all the breakfast goodies and bumpy sledding, everyone went back for some refueling. After lunch my mom, myself, Robyn and my friend Emily decided to go trekking in this (pic above) vast area of the golf course behind all of the condos. There is this cool little creek with cattails that leads down to a man-made lake/pond. The photo above is after we'd walked-crawled-rolled all the way across ALL that snow (you can see the condos on the far side). The snow was at least knee deep if not deeper. It was quite a lot of work, so we laid out to rest...

















The Swartz girls showed up after we'd reached one destination, the little bridge. So instead of going back, we continued on our journey to explore the "great lake" and some "crater". Neither of which are a great lake or a crater, but those were our title for the destinations at the time. ;)












....lastly, yes, I got a photo of Robyn and I totally pregnant in the snow. :) We were attempting to enhance our pregnant state with the poise. heheh. Enjoy!

Thanksgiving Blast

I don’t even know where to begin with Thanksgiving this year! As always it was over-the-top with family and activities. *NOTE: To continue and fully enjoy the hilariousness of these images, it is an ABSOLUTE MUST to click on the photos to enlarge the people and funny expressions. ENJOY!

This year we all gathered at the Swartz household (thanks Mike and Heather!). With a house full of gymnastic munchkins (*ahem* the kids: Morgan, Miranda, Sage, Justin and Sabrina), the Swartz’s have a huge playroom/gymnasium built right into the house; very cool and a must for any house of active munchkins (about the size two 4-car garages!).

Thanksgiving Day started off with plenty of food and laughter. This year I contributed by baking 3-pumpkin pies (one was made milk-free with coconut milk instead of condensed milk – very good!), homemade whipped cream to boot, tons of homemade rolls and a vat of whipped honey-butter. Endless amounts of turkey, ham, whipped potatoes, stuffing and gravy came via everyone else!

After food and rolling about a bit the activities exploded. Being too full to do anything else, I believe we started with Gestures [Boys vs. Girls]. As the turkey-drugs wore off, gymnastics took place! The group couldn’t decide between the launch pad and the bar… no one got tired of watching everyone flail through the air from the launch pad (spring-board) onto a pile of foam.

A while later karaoke and the costume bin were discovered. Quite the scene! After a bit of wigs and bad singing and maybe some more gymnastics and stick-fighting on a balancing beam, we played Sardines. Sardines must be played in the dark for it to work. This works like Hide-N-Seek but backwards.

How to play: The person that’s It hides while all the other players count to 60. Everyone looks for It, and each player quietly hides with It when they find him/her. Soon, those who are left realize that they are looking for a hiding place with a lot of people in it.

It is quite hilarious when about 25 or so of us are playing in a big dark house. Half the people have never even been in the house before and the house has a lot of nifty hiding places! One spot ended up in a attic-fort, one was in the master bath…shower! Someone kicked the water faucet on that one ending in wet feet and almost a communal shower. In the last game we all ended up under a bunch of foam pads in the game room. Not the best spot because everyone would come charging into the room stomping on all the early hiders realizing it was people under the pads that was squeaking and not toys!

That night ended at 10:30pm for us… bruised and worn out. Friday consisted of the annual Paintball Wars! Sadly, John did not get to play for the first time in like 6-years. Not to go rubbing it in, but the weather was gorgeous and the turnout very good (15-20 people per team). As a part of the camera crew, we ventured out to see how the game was going. It is quite risky being a part of the camera crew; sometimes you get attacked.

After the forest and players were painted, bruised and completely worn out, we had more turkey, potatoes, ham, gravy and pumpkin pie. Then it was off to the Slick Car Tracks (in Medford) for some more fun! It looked busy upon arriving, but our mob tends to clear out smaller groups upon arrival.

I spent the remainder of the holiday weekend at home tearing apart our home office which was quite the adventure and good for another post. I believe Saturday was another day of paintballing and Pats turkey soup…and/or pizza so I heard.

We hope everyone had as great a holiday as us! ... and of course, there's always room for a turkey leg! (robyn was a starving nome here).