The kids and I had a fabulous weekend. I got Ryan out of a school a little early on Friday, and we headed to Mom and Dad's.As soon as we got there, Dad and Ryan headed on down the road for a quick bike ride.

Emma and I packed the kids' things into the house. Dad had very bravely volunteered to watch the kids for the entire weekend.

Emma was very excited to be able to spend some time outside working in the garden, digging holes and swinging in her swing.

Ryan was a big help as he and Dad cleaned out last year's garden.
They told stories, went to A&W for dinner and had a great time.

Meanwhile, Mom and I drove to Union (near La Grande).

This picture doesn't quite capture the beauty of the sun shining

on the snow-topped moutains.

They were a beautiful shade of pink. Lower down in the valley,

we could see green starting put it's way back through the brown of winter.

Just off of the highway we took from the freeway, we came upon the windmills. I've seen these from a distance, and I've seen pieces of them as they transport the parts on the freeway. Nothing can compare to the enormous size of these when you see them up close. If the wind had been a little calmer and the daytime not leaving us so quickly, we would have stopped. As it was, we did a quick drive-by photo.

This is the lovely little cottage where we slept Friday and Saturday nights. Just as you come around the corner into Union, you are met with a beautiful sight...a 100-year old farmhouse with lights shining in every window, and this cute little cottage just behind it. This is "Another Place & Thyme Bed and Breakfast." We thoroughly enjoyed our stay here. As we walked in, we were met with the wonderful scent of lavender. Homemade quilts are everywhere. It was perfect.

As we settled in, Mom and Leasa (the owner) started talking about massages. Leasa has been a massage therapist for about a year and has a place in La Grande and also gives massages at the cottage. I happened to mention that I had only had a five-minute massage once. Before I knew it, I was on the massage table...thoroughly enjoying an hour of perfect contentment.

If you're ever in the La Grande area and need a place to stay, consider Leasa's cottage.

I'll post the website on my sidebar.

The reason we were in town was for a fundraiser for Leasa's two youngest children. Britta and Caleb were selected to travel to Europe this summer.

Leasa and the kids arranged a craft day at a church in Cove. We were able to spend Saturday from 8 am to 9 pm working on any craft. Mom and I took our scrapbooking supplies and accomplished quite a bit. On the way to Cove, we stopped first at Aggie's in Union. They have the best mochas....they beat out Starbucks anyway! We got to Union around 8:30 and discovered a beautiful breakfast layed out for us. I'd list everything we had, but I don't know what all of it was called. My favorite part of breakfast was the

strawberry lavender scone. Delicious!

There were eight of us there, plus the most mild mannered 2 1/2 month old baby I've ever seen. She almost cried once, but it sounded more like a laugh. :)

Most of us were scrapbooking, but Lori and Leasa were sewing up some wonderful creations.

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Every hour, door prizes were called. Mom was chosen first and chose the purse that I had my eye on...I tried to smuggle it out later, but she caught me. Hmmmm....wonder if I'll ever have anything like that someday.

The best part of the day was spending time with my mom and my friends. I was so glad that Betty was able to dirve over from Portland. We got to scrapbook next to each other the whole day. Her sister, Lynette, was in our group of tables also. It's always nice to spend time with her...such a sweetheart.

More food...this was our lunch spread. It was such a good idea to have finger food. Rather than choosing one or two things, we were able to sample everything. My favorite was the fruit salad there in the front right part of the photo with the kiwi on top.

Luckily, Leasa was sharing recipes!

I don't have a photo of dinner...but it was tenderloin, an awesome cous-cous dish (not sure that's spelled correctly, salad, bread and asparaprass.

Needless to say, we ate very well on Saturday!

We each got one of these huge tables, so Mom and I spread out all of our supplies on one and shared the other. It is going to be so hard to go back to using 4 feet of space at the

scrapbook store!

Lori is a childhood friend...I've known her forever. She's also Leasa's sister. She

had been sick all week, but luckily felt well enough to join us on Saturday.

Mom and I...she's looking a little tired! :)

We packed up at 8:30 and headed back to our cottage.

We had such a wonderful time. We're both so glad that

we live close enough to each other that we can do this more often.

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Thanks, Dad, for watching the kids for me and for arranging for Mom to

spend the weekend at the craft day.

Thanks, Bob, for working so hard for all of us!

We missed you this weekend.

Can't wait to see you again in mid-April! :)