The Greene Twins

James and I were in Portland, Oregon this past week at a conference for work. Luckily we were able to visit my friend Denise (from Milligan College), her husband Andrew and their two baby twin boys (Drew & Gavin) while in the area- they recently moved to Richland, Washington.

We had a fabulous time- though we were only able to spend a little over a day with them.

Here is a picture of Drew (left- sleeping) and Gavin- three months old.

We also took a trip with Denise and the boys to a local winery- Bookwalter Winery. Here is James standing in front of some of the grape vines- with a newly purchased bottle of red wine.

Denise and Andrew just recently moved to Richland, Washington- because Andrew moved to a new job with the same company. They have been really busy and haven't had a lot of time to unpack all of their boxes.
Friday afternoon, James, Denise, the twins and I were sitting downstairs talking- and all of a sudden we heard some rustling. We thought maybe a mouse was in one of the boxes, so we sent James to investigate (as we ran upstairs). He discovered that a SNAKE had gotten stuck on the packing tape of one of the boxes. We found out later from the neighbors that it was a "good snake" (eats rattler snakes)- but we didn't want it around. I was brave enough to take a picture of it- after James put it out on the back deck (our hero).



Friday and Saturday were wonderful- spending the weekend with Denise, Andrew, Drew & Gavin. We had a wonderful time, and even enjoyed the beautiful scenery on the way back to the Portland Airport (here's a picture I took from the car- almost losing the camera in the process....hehe)

I'll leave you all with one last picture of James and I holding Drew & Gavin.

The weekend was wonderful- and it was cool seeing Denise (I miss you so much!!) HUGS

Visiting Minnesota

This past weekend James and I flew to St. Paul, Minnesota to visit Bill (James' brother), Julia, Ben and Sophie.


Luckily we were able to visit the family the weekend after Sophie's 5TH Birthday- so we were able to attend the birthday party!!



The one thing that Julia suggested that I do for Sophie's birthday is paint her finger nails- here is a picture after I finished... she was so excited!!



Because James and I arrived on Friday night, we were able to help with the shopping, decorating and other necessary preparations for the party- which, to me, was really fun!



The birthday party theme was bugs and butterflies- and Sophie wore her best outfit which included wings and her own dilly bopper (I'm not sure that I'm spelling that correctly).



Sophie's friends also made dilly bopper's at the party along with their very own self-painter t-shirt. Because it was VERY hot that day (in the 90's)- Bill and Julia filled a pool for the kids to play in after their crafts.



Below are some pictures of the kids doing crafts and swimming/playing in the pool... what a blast!


















Bill, Julia, James and I went out to dinner after the party- and the adults enjoyed spending time catching up! Even though the weekend was brief, we had a great time visiting with the family.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SOPHIE!!

Are you for SCUBA?

I thought that our blog wouldn't be complete without a post about SCUBA Diving...


James biggest passion right now (besides his wife of course)- is SCUBA Diving. He was interested in Diving before we started dating and went SCUBA Diving occasionally.

Now James has gotten more involved because he is a Certified Technical Diver- which means that he breathes a special tri-mix of gases and can dive 300 plus feet deep (crazy- I know).

The best dives in our area are in Lake Erie and Lake Michigan where he can dive Ship Wrecks. He goes diving at least two weekends a month and has been included on SCUBA dives helping to locate many newly discovered Ship Wrecks within the last year (here is a picture of James on Lake Erie in his dry suit).

Because it's too cold to SCUBA Dive in Ohio in the winter, James learned how to Cave Dive.

Here is a picture of a Cave in Mexico where he went SCUBA Diving. I wasn't able to go on this trip to see the caves- but it looks incredible. Cave Diving is very dangerous- and probably the most scary for me. James actually SCUBA Dives through tunnels in the cave under the water.



Even though he is very careful- there are many things that can wrong and there is no easy way to surface.

Because I love spending time with James, I also learned how to SCUBA Dive and got Certified in November 2005. Here is a picture of us SCUBA Diving together in Curaco (South America).

I enjoy spending time with James under water- seeing fish, coral, crabs and eels in their natural environment. James and his friends call me a 3/80 SCUBA Diver- which means that I like to Dive in 80 degree temperature, 80 feet of visibility, carrying an aluminum 80 tank... sounds good to me!

Even though I don't have the passion to dive as deep as James (300 plus feet) or SCUBA Dive in caves, I love that we have a hobby that we can share and something exciting that we can do together when we go on vacation.

ABBY IS FIVE

It's hard for me to believe- but my niece Abby turned FIVE!!!

Her birthday was actually on June 15th- but because she had her tonsils removed, Lisa decided to delay the Birthday Party a few weeks... which ended up being a great idea.

James and I bought Abby the "Chair-a-go Round" which was a big hit. Here is a picture of James and Abby riding it.

The cool thing was that it went up and down like a teeter-totter, but it also flipped around like a merry-go-round... quite the dangerous toy!! All the kids played on it for a while- and no one got hurt... yet!

Here is a picture of Abby blowing out all of her Birthday candles after we sang to her. She had all of her friends surrounding her.

Every time she wants to do something (dangerous or otherwise)- she says now "But I can do it because now I'm FIVE"

Here is a close-up picture of the cake... I had to include the detail because Lisa did such an incredible job!

As you can tell- Abby's Birthday theme was "Candy Land"

Lisa made the game board on the cake using Starburst Candy, she used suckers, peppermint candies and chocolate to create all of the different little candy lands along the board.

It was the coolest kids cake that I've ever seen.

She also did a great job with the decorations- by using Candy Land Boards all around, suckers and she found Candy Land beach towels to use as tablecloths.

Lisa always has everyone pose for a Group Picture too. We each had to hold a sucker and smile big!!

James and I are right in the middle- near the back.

Abby is in the front row- a little to the right.

The weather was perfect and the day was a great time!

HAPPY 5TH BIRTHDAY ABBY!!

ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY

It's amazing to think that it has already been one year since our wedding!! This year has gone so fast and has been so wonderful for both James and I.

We decided to celebrate our One Year Wedding Anniversary by visiting Niagara Falls.

Here are a few pictures of our visit- including our ride on Maid of the Mist, our ride to the top of the Skylon Tower, the Butterfly Exhibit, the Botanical Gardens and the Walk behind the Falls.

Some of the pictures of Niagara Falls are from our goreous hotel room.

We had a wonderful weekend and enjoyed celebrating our Anniversary!!

SIEBEN

I haven't posted in a while... but I thought that I would introduce everyone (if you haven't met her yet) to our Weimaraner Sieben. James got her almost 10 years ago. She got sick in the car SEVEN times on the way home ("Sieben" is seven in German).

Here's a couple pictures of her. The first picture is my favorite of Sieben and her buddy Zeph (who we miss greatly!) The last picture is Sieben "the mountain goat" running through the trees and brush at Lake Cumberland... she loves trying to hunt down squirrels and raccoons.

WHAT A GREAT DOG!!

Chocolate Trifle...yummy!

Because James loves chocolate... I decided to surprise him with a chocolate trifle when he came home from work this week. If you've never made one... it is so good. James thought that it was good enough for me to share with everyone on our blog- so here it goes:

Ingredients:

- 1 package of chocolate cake mix

- 1 (3.9oz) package of instant chocolate pudding

- 1/2 cup water

- 1 (14oz) cap sweetened condensed lowfat milk

- 1 (8oz) container frozen whipped topping- thawed

- 1 (12oz) container frozen whipped topping- thawed

- 1 bag of oreo cookies

Directions:

-Prepare cake mix according to package and cool completely. Remove from cake pan and cut into 1 inch squares

- In a large bowl, combine pudding mix, water and sweetened condensed lowfat milk. Mix until smooth, then fold in 8oz wipped topping until no streaks remain.

- Crush some of the oreo cookies to use between layers as desired.

- In a trifle bowl or glass serving bowl, place half of the cut cake pieces, half of the pudding mixture and half of the 12oz container of whipped topping and some of the crushed oreo cookies. Repeat layers. Use some of the remaining oreos on top for decoration.

- Refrigerate 8 hours before serving.

I love this recipe because it's such a great dessert- and it's really fun to make... enjoy!!