Where is Spring?

Spring Break starts this weekend, but lately there haven't been many signs of Spring. We've had crazy winterlike weather here with it changing almost minute by minute between snow, hail, rain, and the occasional sun break (although still cold). There have been some signs of Spring in the trees and flowers starting to bloom like this beautiful tree we have in our backyard...



Today isn't as bad. It's raining lightly right now. I am glad that it didn't rain this morning because I was up bright and early (for me anyway on a Sunday) to meet my friend, Heather, to start training for the Portland Marathon. We are joining a group that meets along the Columbia River that runs every Sunday morning for 6 months to train for the marathon. We ran 3 miles this morning, and man, do I have some work to do. She did the training 2 years ago and completed the marathon and is actually training now for a marathon in May, so she is way beyond me, but she is wonderful enough to run at my pace during these Sunday runs to help motivate and encourage me. I consider myself fit since I teach aerobics classes all the time, but whenever I run, it makes me feel completely unfit. Today was the first time I've run since probably the summer of 2005. They assure me that a beginner can do this, so we'll see how it goes.

This past week, we had Grandma and Grandpa Lough visit from Indiana. It is always so nice to have them here and sad when they go. The kids absolutely love having their undivided attention. Mom and Dad love having a little (or a lot) of help occupying the kids. It was neat that they were able to be here for Easter. Usually the kids bug me nonstop about 2 weeks prior to Easter to dye eggs, but this year they wanted to wait until the day before Easter, so they could do it with Grandma. I also tried to take some "nice" Easter portraits of the kids. Why does this never work out like I hope. Hannah was all ready to go, and I got a few good shots but then she decided she was not going to cooperate. Owen does not like to have his picture taken at all and usually gets very upset, so I had to just get some while he wasn't paying much attention. Justin, who usually doesn't want to cooperate at all, was the only one who really let me take lots of pictures of him.

For Easter, we had the entire clan to our house for dinner and an egg hunt for all the cousins. Here are some photos along with my portrait attempts--sorry they're a week late.

I also got some cute pics of the kids outside with G'ma and G'pa during a brief dryspell blowing bubbles. Owen went crazy for them. He and Justin were holding tubes of bubbles that they were using as lightsabers to pop the bubbles. It is so funny how Owen copies his big brother and knows to make the actions and sound effects of a lightsaber.




And saving the best for last. This is one of my all-time favorite photos--just priceless.