Easter 2014

This Easter weekend was so much fun! We had a lot going on, however it was really great. Friday we went to the Bile's house and had fun dying eggs.

Even Payton was good at this!

Later that night Lauren and Nathan flew in for the weekend! We started at The Olive and the Grape before heading to our house for dinner.

Love this moment.

The next morning was soggy and wet, but the egg hunt at Lake Bible was epic.

Yes, jackpot!

Nolan joined us for the hunt. It's always nice to have buddies to hang out with.

Shayne and Payton joined us too. Don't the kids look thrilled?

The next morning the Easter Bunny came. B was beyond excited. Every egg he saw he screamed! There was a lot of screaming because there were 75 eggs 'hidden.'

Aunt Lauren and Uncle Nathan came that morning for the fun.

Good things they can open eggs that get stuck.

Then after a morning of fun we headed to church to Celebrate Jesus being risen! 

After we headed to Grandma and Island Man's house for lunch with Nana and Kathy.

Once we got home we went to an Easter egg hunt at our neighbor's house. To say B owned Easter is an understatement. This was the first year he really got into it, which was really fun! This was also the year he started asking a lot of questions. Why was Jesus' back ripped? (whipped) Are you going to die on a cross Mom? Why did his friends watch? Is Jesus still bloody? Daddy, is that (a telephone pole) the cross Jesus died on? These are all great questions, and it made for a lot of conversations with him.

Suarez Visit!

We love it when we can get together with one of our favorite families, the Suarez clan! We saw them in July while camping for a few days. They came down for a weekend of fun at our place.

First off, ribs that Scott made and playing outside.

A little before bed fun!

Next morning we took off to Babica Hen. The food and weather were great. We told them it's always sunny in Portland!

Next we went to George Rogers Park and explored the Willamette. This is such a perfect picture of Rocco!

Tessa was thrilled to be forced into a picture with the other three.

Scott was showing off his impressive rock skipping skills.

These two are so sweet together. B talks about Rocco all the time.Rocco introduced Brayden to a new world this trip called Star Wars. Brayden is now obsessed.

Eliana has always been a girl after my own heart. For some reason her parents are fond of her and don't want to let her come live with us.

Mike was a great help in making sure our kids didn't kill themselves exploring.

B loves finding flowers for me. It's so darn cute.

Hugging Noodle on the hike.

Melt my heart!

These men have their mini mes.

And we have really cute girls! Well, I hope Noodle is cute. Niki's sure are. :)

The kids Sunday morning at Fire on the Mountain. Yep, breakfast of champions.

Yes, this is Scott's happy place.

The West family was so kind to meet with us at the practice facility for the Blazers. Our favorite Illinois basketball player, Meyers Leonard, now plays for the Blazers. Even through he never calls us, or even knows we exist deep down we know the Roth family is his favorite Portland family.

Where the players watch game footage. Not too shabby. The kids watched PBS shows on the screen.

We always love our time with this family. Niki and I met in Europe over our college years. We have been to each others weddings, and involved in each others kids lives. It's such a rare find to meet a family you mesh so well with. An added bonus is the husband's like each other and love to bond over beer and food.

With Love,

March was a big month for us. We moved locations of With Love, and started to train some very capable leaders. It amazes me to look at all these items and think we had them all at our house. 

We had our first sorting night at our new location. The team worked so hard and it was nice to see this place be used the way I had dreamed.

B loves going and playing in the kids play area.

Baby's Bottom Dollar Consignment gave us all their clothes that didn't sell and were asked to be donated.

First board meeting in the new location! Yep, we lack chairs, but make up for it in spirit!

A couple shots of the warehouse.

Upstairs in the 'office' area.

We got an amazing blessing late March.  A warehouse near us donated some items that they no longer needed. As long as we could move it they no longer needed the items. Good thing Ciara, our designer knew just where things should go!

B and Kisa were big helpers in the move.

The team worked so hard, but were amazing. Look at the difference having shelving makes!

Look at our office area now!!!

In April the new leaders started leading volunteer nights. I still lead some, but these leaders once a month take a night and do an amazing job.

Our house is still the drop off place place for clothes to be picked up, washed, and returned. We have the best volunteers who do this.

World Book Night supplied 20 copies of The Tipping Point for us to give to our foster parents. We gave them out at Foster Parent Night Out.

Bundles, books, and love!

We are making huge strides. My volunteer team is amazing. We have 66 volunteers, 4 volunteer leaders, 4 board members, and now a location with some storage. God has been good to us through out this journey.