Family...

There are two ladies that inspire and support me daily:

my mother and sister.

I honestly don't know what I would do without them being just a phone call away.

So this post is for them...a heartfelt thank you.

Crystal Beach

Thank you for constant encouragement,

thank you for listening,

thank you for always giving your honest opinion.

Grandmother's Amaryllis

Thank you for constant support,

thank you for sharing your ideas,

thank you for always keeping me grounded.

College Station

Thank you for constant inspiration,

thank you for showing me right from wrong,

thank you for always bringing something new to my attention.

Brian and Allison's Wedding

Thank you for your unconditional love,

thank you for overlooking all my insecurities,

thank you for always making me feel better.

Tommy's Roses

The last few weeks have been more than crazy...

thank you both for helping us make sense of things again.

Love always,

Trying Special Treats

We received very special treats for the holidays, 

delicious cookies from our relatives who live in Bonn, Germany.

Springerle biscuits.

They are a traditional German Christmas cookie made from flour, eggs, sugar, and anise. The gorgeous embossed designs are made by pressing a mold onto rolled dough and allowing the impression to dry before baking. 

Here's an example of the type of rolling pin used:

source

Isn't it unique? I've never seen these types of pins before. 

{Hm...I'll be sure to look for them from now on while shopping}. 

Having these special biscuits were perfect on these cold winter evenings,

especially with a nice cup of hot tea!

Thank you Eike and Albrecht!

Frohe Weihnachten!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all!

If you're interested in more information or a recipe for Springerle, click here.

Gorgeous Oregon

My husband and I had such a wonderful time visiting our son and daughter-in-law in Portland, Oregon. 

He's in grad school, she's teaching...we're so proud of them!

They greeting us at the airport and after long awaited hugs, they whisked us off to their home.

We had a welcome basket filled with Oregon treats and fresh flowers waiting just for us.

Their pet LuLu was glad to see us too...she was a bit shy at first, but warmed up quickly.

It was our first trip to the area and our gracious hosts filled our days and evenings with wonderful memories.

If you've been following along, we have seen amazing treasures of nature: 

Mt. Tabor

Rose Gardens

Japanese Gardens

City walking tour

Saturday Market

Cannon Beach

U-Pick Farms

Multnomah Falls

Mt. Hood

And we were only there for 5 days!

Then there were the meals we ate.

I wish I had taken pictures of the restaurants...no chains here!

Let's see, there was:

Greek

Lebanese

Italian

Bakery Treats

Coffees

Teas

Pizza

Fresh fruits and vegetables

Buffets with an array of delights

There was walking and talking, sharing and worshiping.

It was such a wonderful experience to visit the places in their lives, to see how they spend their days.

When I began this series of posts, I wanted to document our trip.

I wanted to remember all the special memories.

I wanted to document all I learned from a totally different kind of living environment.

For instance,

do you know what we're doing here?

Yep...filling up the car with gasoline. 

In Texas, there are self-pump stations on just about every corner.

 In Oregon, you have to truly search for stations. 

I guess it's due to all the Prius and Subaru vehicles Oregonians drive. 

This shot is a station that's part of a Taxi company.

It's in a warehouse you drive through. Enter one side, exit on the other!

 And guess what else? You can't pump your own gas in Oregon!  State law.

It was really nice to have it done for you!

It was a little pricier, but not too bad.

I learned that no matter how much space you have, there's always room for growing something good and healthy to eat.

And in this big old world, we're all basically alike...

we work really hard in our chosen fields:

love special treats:

and most importantly, love our families.

We love you guys!

Thanks again for a special and memorable trip.

Looking forward to our next visit!

Mt. Hood, Oregon

Our last site to visit was Mt. Hood.

Can you even believe how beautiful this is?

And yes, I took this picture with my phone!

Really!

We just sat in awe of this majestic mountain.

The lake is gorgeous too, there were people enjoying fishing and kayaking as well as hiking.

We were some the hikers.

The trail around the lake was easy...it wove in and out through the landscaping.

We only had a few wrong turns, but easily rerouted.

Thanks again to J and T for taking us to such wonderful sites.

We love you guys!

Multnomah Falls, Oregon

The Multnomah Falls were another breathtaking site.

As we drove up to this beautiful spot, we were immediately struck by the beauty of this restaurant.

Do you see the glass roof in the back left?

We had the most wonderful buffet in that conservatory...

wonderful and delicious.

Did I say wonderful?

And yes, it was chilly enough that they had the fireplace roaring...see the smoke from the chimney?

As you walked past the restaurant, the falls appeared.

breathtaking.

You can enjoy the view from this bottom vantage point or take the trails to the concrete bridge. Can you see the people standing up there?

And for those that are more adventuresome, you can actually hike all the way to the top of the falls.

These shots were taken from the bottom again...do you see the large rocks? They were once part of another bridge that fell. As the story goes, it was during a wedding that the bridge fell - the wedding party wasn't on the bad bridge...thank goodness!

This shot was taken from the trail above the concrete bridge. The view was spectacular

The moss growing on the trees were lush as were the ground fern.

Yes, you can feel the mist from the fall standing on the bridge.

breathtaking

U-Pick...Oregon

I'm a city girl and have NEVER picked my own fruit or vegetables.

I know...sad, isn't it?

However, I could quickly become a country girl if I had a place like this!!!

This is a year round farm, growing just about everything.

Our first stop were the berries.

They were ever-so-sweet.

Here's the proof of the picking!

I'm not a big eggplant person, but they were beautiful!

There was squash...

...and this guy.

Do you know what he is?

Yep, pumpkins!

There were peppers...

...and cucumbers...

...cabbages and lettuce.

There was corn...

...love this one!

And flowers...beautiful flowers.

These were huge!

Believe it or not, this is the center of a sunflower. It's about 15 inches in diameter!

Those black things are the seeds.

amazing

This is our U-Pick produce.

We had an amazing fresh salad that night.

Thanks J and T for another amazing day!