WOW!

It has been a VERY busy 2 weeks, since I last posted. We started with some Valentine's festivities.

We made these yummy creamy Valentine's Jigglers.

Caitlin had fun creating beautiful Valentine's for school.

Then, on Sunday the 9th, we got the sad news that Ryan's grandpa passed away.(I will do a post on him, when I get home to my pictures.) Then came the chaos that ensued from trying to get everything in order for the week, pack our bags, and get school stuff wrapped up. The kids and I were on a flight Thursday morning to Portland. Caitlin was very sad that she missed her Valentine's party at school, but we had to leave then to get open seats on a standby flight. We made it safely, although I again realized that I'm not cut out for carrying 4 heavy suitcases through a parking lot, on and off a bus, and check-in, with 2 kids, WITHOUT Ryan. I was a mess!

Caitlin got this cool picture of Mt. Hood, I think, coming into Portland.

The kids and I made it to my dad and he let us borrow their extra car. Ryan made it in later that night, after trying for a standby flight and ending up buying a ticket. We then started our 3 hour drive up to a small coastal town in Washington, for the funeral. We made it by midnight and slept REALLY good. We enjoyed spending 5 days with family. Of course it would have been nicer under different circumstances, but it was nice, none the less. It was especially good to see Ryan's parents and sister. I was in heaven holding my new baby niece.

On Monday, everyone headed into Seattle to get ready for their flights. I got the hair brained notion to take the drive up to Forks, WA.(Yes, I'm STILL Twilight obsessed!) before we headed down to Portland. It was a fun trip. I will have to do a post on that later too. I don't know if it was worth the extra 41/2 hours extra drive, added onto the 3 hours down to Portland. It was a long drive for me and the kids, but at least I can say I did it!

As we were getting close to home, I called Ryan to see how his flight went. He was just pulling up to the house, and the garage door didn't open. Then he realized that the power was out. After noticing all the other houses had power, he called the power company. We were both a little baffled, when the power company said that they did not provide our area with service. WHAT?!? One company provided our gas and electric at our apartment. So, when I transferred our utilities, when we bought the house, I thought I transferred both gas and electric. Little did I know, our electricity was provided by a totally different company. The Realtor had been getting all the bills and evidently didn't think that the shut off notices would be very important to us. So, Ryan was thrilled to come home at 11, to all of this. Thank goodness it had only been shut off for a few hours before Ryan came home and they were able to come out within an hour to do an application and get it turned back on. I don' t think that we lost any food. What a mess that would have been! Especially since I've been buying a lot of extra meat to freeze the past 2 weeks. I would have been mad, if I lost it all! So, it has been an eventful couple of weeks. Now Caitlin is on break for a few more weeks and we will probably stay in Portland for a while, while we are here. It's nice to be around family, but I am missing my dry home and our kitty.

I will get a post up with all our pictures later. I have TOO many to go through!