This is why we live in Troutdale.

When the weather is beautiful and there is a certain smell and feeling in the air, Brian often will say, “this is why we live in Troutdale.”  And I have to agree.  There is just something about this place!

The weather has been hit and miss lately.  I really try hard to get out of the house if the weather is nice! 

Because the girls love it!

Love this ragamuffin!

Playing with bubbles.

In the picture on the left, you can see our house behind Elna’s head.  That’s how close we are to the park!

I thought I was doing a video of Harriet here, touching the grass for the first time, but instead it happened to be still shots.  Not as good, but still neat to watch her discover grass.

Elna picked more weeds than I did!

Elna was busy picking weeds in the background.  She doesn’t realize it’s a chore yet.  How long can we fool her?

Her outfit makes me laugh!  Backward shirt, that hat, and unbuttoned shorts.  Those shorts didn’t fit her very well, so we have since bought her a few more pairs for the summer.

We went for a walk.  I pushed my baby and Elna pushed hers.

Sisters sisters.

We love going to Costco!

My girls take the cushion off of this chair and use it like a trampoline.  They both love it!

Look at these cute girls!

Harriet loves to play in the kitchen.

Our little ballerina.

She discovered this fun ballerina costume one day and has had a hard time parting from it ever since.

What’s better than a tutu?  A tutu AND wings!

Serious cuteness right there!

Brian took her to the store in the cute getup one Saturday morning.  With her usual pajama wearing and now her tutu, the people at Home Depot probably don’t know that she owns normal outfits.

She was pretty pleased!

And she’s off!

She didn’t know I was taking these pictures and I’m just so in love with the joy in her little face in these pictures.  To be little again!

I’m not sure if she quite has the legs of a ballerina, but oh man, those legs!  I love them!  I can’t stand the idea of her growing out of them!

Skamania.

In March we went with Brian’s family to Skamania lodge to celebrate Barbara’s birthday.  We love their Friday night seafood buffet!  Brian proposed to me one Friday night almost 5 years ago at Skamania and we just love being able to go back occasionally.  This time we brought our girls too.

We realized quickly that bringing them wasn’t our smartest move.  Dinner wasn’t very relaxing with trying to keep the girls quiet and happy and fed, but it was fun to go outside after dinner and walk around the grounds a bit with the girls.

Elna and Papa.