Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Goodbye only for now...

A couple weeks ago we said goodbye to some very dear friends who moved to Arizona.

Their whole family spent the night at our house after all their belongings were packed into a trailer the previous day. This picture was taken the morning they left. 


This was taken when we had just finished loading the trailer. 


Goodbye for now! 
Visit soon! 
:)

The Tillamook Cheese Factory

Who knew a cheese factory could be so fun? :)


They have this really neat upstairs viewing room where you can watch the workers down in the processing and packaging room. It's was very cool.... it made me glad I don't have their jobs! Seriously... can you imagine watching cheese go by all day and it was your job to make sure it was all lined up straight on the conveyer belt... Woo... how fun. ;)


Their shirts made me laugh. 
A "loaf" for those of you un-cheesy people is that rectangle block of cheese you get from the store. :)


Us with our "Happy we don't have their job" faces. :)
Haha, no I think it'd be cool to say, "I work at the Tillamook Cheese factory". But, honestly, I think I'd rather scoop ice cream then count the cheese that goes by. "Oh there's one to many". *Takes it off conveyer belt.* 


Ooorr, I could be a cow. 
Hmmm.... no. 
Changed my mind. 


They did like me though. :)

Monday, June 27, 2011

Dance your shoes off!!


I love this video! This was made on Easter and it gives me the chills every time I watch it. Gosh... all these people so on fire for Jesus. Makes me smile every time. Enjoy! :)

Friday, June 24, 2011

FINALLY... the RACE!!

I finally found a minute to blog about the race. Sorry that it took so long.

Well! Saturday morning came cloudy and dreary. It wasn't really rainy, but it wasn't sunny to say the least. Thank goodness though! If it would've been any warmer we would've died! 
We arrived at about 8:15 to register and get our bibs and t-shirts. 
I was number 414. :)


After registration we had like a half an hour to stand around and be nervous. The more you think about it the more you have to go to the bathroom again or have to get another drink of water. By the time the race actually started I was a jittery wreck. Ready to go!


Us before. You can tell I'm nervous by the way I couldn't keep my legs still for the picture. Haha. :)


Ashley and Gabrielle were such good running buddies! Love you guys!



Gabrielle works at Excel Gym and she was part of the Excel team.




Standing around being nervous and icing your hip is not a way I would recommend starting out, but hey. It worked for us. :)


And we're off! The first mile was so much fun because everyone was pumped up and excited. We were somewhere towards the middle when we started. The guys (and some girls) out in front were crazy fit. Their arms were as big around (or bigger)then my legs... it was pretty intimidating. 
But! All that to say, we ran... and ran, and ran, and then ran some more. We ran for six miles before the finish line was in sight. Then after about another 1/2 mile we arrived!! 


Hugs all around! What a fun accomplishment to do with friends.


Here we are. Dead tired and ready for a shower. Haha. 

So there you go! Better late then never right? :)



Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Pavlova

Yesterday my assignment for my unit study was to make a New Zealand desert. 
Sooo.. a few eggs whites and cups of sugar later...


I had my pavlova ready to bake.





Ingredients

  • 3 egg whites
  • 1 pinch salt
  • 1 cup white sugar
  • 1 tablespoon cornstarch
  • 1 teaspoon lemon juice
  • 1 1/4 cups heavy whipping cream
  • 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
  • 1 pint fresh strawberries

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C). Line a sheet pan with parchment paper. Draw a 9 inch circle on the parchment. An easy way to do this is to draw around the outside of a 9 inch pan with a pencil.
  2. In a large bowl, beat egg whites on high speed until soft peaks form. Add 3/4 cup of the sugar gradually, while continuing to whip. Make sure sugar is completely dissolved. Mix together the remaining 1/4 cup sugar with the cornstarch; lightly fold into meringue with lemon juice.
  3. Spread a layer of meringue to fit circle on parchment, approximately 1/4 inch thick. With remainder of mixture, pipe or spoon swirls around the edges to form a shallow bowl shape.
  4. Bake at 300 degrees F (150 degrees C) for 1 hour. Turn off oven, but leave meringue in oven for an additional 30 minutes. When cool, the meringue should be hard on the outside, and slightly moist on the inside.
  5. In a large bowl, combine the cream and half a cup of confectioners sugar, and whip until thickened. Decorate with fruit of your choice; strawberries are excellent.



The strawberries made it. Oh goodness It was so yummy. Strange, but none the less yummy. :)


My creation.


I told my family I wouldn't be hurt if they didn't like it. After all it was foreign food. They actually loved it, and i thought it was pretty good myself. So if you don't mind trying something new. Try making some Pavlova.


Hey, if I can do it anyone can do it. :)

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

The Flipper

My dad, grandpa, uncle, and well, I'm not sure who's all involved, have invested in a "flipper house" in Newberg. Every once in awhile we all go and paint, tear out a bath tub, wash the windows or do some other updating project. 


Last time we went Grandma and Grandpa Eckdahl cam to help paint. :) Things got a little nutty after we were there for 4 hours.





At least we got our work done before things got crazy. 

Ok, most of it. We ran out of paint. 

=)

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

I thought summer was supposed to come with June...


A couple weeks ago we mowed the lawn for the first time this year! 
We thought it was spring. Then we thought that, over time, spring turns into summer. And summer brings way less rain, and more time for running and playing tennis. Well, apparently not. Spring is 2 days long and turns back into winter.