13 Months, 14 Hair Cuts

You know that old saying that kids grow like

weeds.  Well it is true, but Owen's case, his hair grows like a weed on steroids.  

He was born with 2 inches of the blackest hair I had ever seen.  At 6 weeks old, he had his first hair cut.  Tomorrow Owen will be 13 months old, and I just gave him his 14th hair cut.  Tom does not know that I did this.  

Tom is very picky about the way his hair is cut.  I once attempted to cut his hair, and I did not do it right, so he had to get his friend from school (for was a hair dresser before a chiropractic student) to fix it.  Ever since then he has not let me touch his hair, nor Owen's.  I am not so sure why he does not want me to cut Owen's, he just claims it is easier to have Milika cut both of theirs at the same time.

So tonight, as I as giving Owen 

his bath, I notices how long his hair was looking.  

It was so long that it was almost covering his eyes, and growing over the tops of his ears. I swear he had more hair than most 3 year old girls do.  So I thought it would be a good idea to give him a little trim while he was in the bath.  

Cutting a squirmy little kid's

hair is not so easy.   Have you ever made a scrapbook page, and just kept doing things to it, you never knew quite when to stop, and when it was all done you stepped back and looked at it as though "O man, I should have stopped when I was ahead?"  Well, that is exactly how it was cutting his hair.  I just kept cutting, and cutting, and cutting.  When I finally finished, I looked at him and thought, "Oh no, Tom is not going to be happy."  Look at this picture, you can see how crooked it is in the back (although, I must say the front looks good).

But after I got him dried off, and dressed, I got to get a good look at it, I don't think it looks so bad.  In fact, I wonder if Tom will even notice that I cut it.

Things to do in Portland

For some reason the question of "What is there to do in Portland?" has come up a lot in the past few days. So I have decided to make a list of activities to do, things to see, and places to eat, in the general Portland area. If you have any thing to add, please leave a comment, and let me know.

Things to do in Portland:
• Washington Park
-Japanese Garden
-Children’s museum

-Zoo
-International Rose Test Garden

-Hoyt Arboretum
-World Forestry Discovery Museum
• Portland Gardens
-International Test Rose Garden
-The Japanese Garden
-The Classical Chinese Garden
-The Peninsula Park Rose Garden
-Crystal Spring Rhododendron Gardens

-The Portland Memory Garden
-Leach Botanical Gardens
-Mill's End Park
• The Grotto

• Portland LDS Temple

• Pittock Mansion
• Take a ride on the Portland Spirit
• Willamette Speedboat Cruse
• OMSI
• Saturday Market

• Shop NE 23rd Ave
• Walk the Waterfront
• Play in fountains Down Town
• Shop Laurelhurst District (SE 39th Ave)
• Berry Picking
• Rocky Butte/Powell Butte/Mount Tabor
• Kelly Point
• Columbia Gorge
-Historic Highway
-Larch Mountain

-Bridge of the Gods

-Bonneville Dam

-Punch Bowl Falls (these are the falls in the Temple Movie)

• Drive Mt. Hood Highway
-Timberline Lodge
-Hood River Valley
• Silver Falls


Places to Eat in Portland:
• Portland City Grill $$$ Fine Dining Portland
• Salty’s $$$$ Seafood Portland
• Roadhouse Grill $$ Steak house Gresham
• Calamity Jane’s $ Burgers Sandy
• Carol’s Corner Café $ Breakfast Vancouver WA
• Voodoo Doughnuts $ Doughnuts Portland

• iL Piatto $$ Italian Portland

• Marrakesh $$$ Moroccan Portland

Things to do at Coast:
• Astoria

-Goonies Tour
-Maritime Museum
-Dine at Pier 51
-Go to Longview Beach (on Washington Side)
-Visit Longview Kite Museum
• Sea Side
-Drive on beach
-Visit beach
-Shop at outlet mall
-Visit/shop Broadway St
• Cannon Beach
-Visit/shop Hemlock St
-Visit Beach
-Eat at Lumberyard $$ Steak/Seafood
• Tillamook
-Cheese factory
-Eat at Roadhouse $$ Steak House
• Linclon City
-Visit beach

• NewPort

-Whale watch
-Deep-sea fish
-Oregon Coast Aquarium

-Buy fresh fish

- Yaquina Head State Park and TIDE POOLS - a must!

"Life is smoother with 'Thank You's'"

Today was ward conference, so the Stake Primary Presidency taught Sharing Time.  They did the cutest lesson about Mother's, and talked about how much mom's do to serve their families.  At the end they had the kids write Thank You notes to their mom's.  One of the kids asked if they had.  The Stake Primary President simply replied, "No, you don't, but your mom doesn't have to do all the things she does for you either. I think Life is smoother with 'Thank You's.'"  

Holy Cow, I love what she said.  I think I am going to adopt this as my new motto.  Everyone could hear "Thank You" a little more often, and we could all show gratitude a lot more then we do.  My sister-in-law, Sarah, keeps a Gratitude Journal on her blog.  She occasionally will post about something, or someone, she is grateful for.  What a great example.  I think that I am going to start doing this.  

Today, I am grateful for my calling, and all the simple life lessons I learn in Primary. 

Fun with Bill, Moana, and Liam

Tom's brother Bill and his family came to visit last week.  It was so much fun having them around.  I love it when people come to visit us.  It gives us an excuse to go and appreciate all the cool things here are here in Oregon.

First thing first, my sister-in-law loves the 

Ocean, infact that is what her name, Moana 

means in the Mauri language.  So going to the coast was on the top of our To Do List.  The weather that day was crazy that day, it would be sunny and warm on minute, then hailing the next.  It just so happened to be snowing as we drove through the pass, so I snapped this picture.

When we got to Cannon Beach, the sun was shining, and it was beautiful out, so we headed toward the Ocean.  

Of course Tom and Bill found some kelp, and decided that it would make great whip.  I swear these two will always be little boys stuck in adult bodies. 

 

 

Like I said, the weather 

was crazy that day, and it

 started to down pour on us.  

Which made for  some very cold, sad little boys, and some very awesome pictures.

Here are the boys at the beach.

The day after our adventures to the coast, we decided to things that were more local to Portland.

  We attempted to go to the Japanese Garden's but the boy's fell asleep in the car on the way there.  So I stayed in the car while Bill and Moana went and checked out the gardens.

Later that day we had dinner at Salty's, one of the best seafood restaurants in Portland.  My, my was it tasty, probably the best sea food I have ever had; and it has an amazing view.   It was good, and it was fun, but it was pricy too.  It is definitely a good Special Occasion Spot though.

We also went swimming while they were here. Apparently, Bill and Moana convinced Liam to coming on this trip by 

telling him he could go swimming at the 

 pool Cousin Owen had his birthday party at. 

All-in-all, we had a great time with them, and can't wait from them to come back up to visit!