HAPPY BIRTHDAY SONYA!!!!

We are thinking of you and hoping you have a great birthday! Wish we could be there to give you a birthday hug! And cheer as you throw another Yahtzee!

Or if you were here we could take you to see all of the beautiful churches in San Salvador. 

 

You’d love all the great fruit and veg at the markets and the characters who run the stalls. With your endless energy we could take a whole day walking through all of them.

Lychees, bananas, papaya...

Though we wouldn’t have any raspberries from your delicious vines.

There are so many wonderful people to meet! 

We could give you a break from cooking your delicious meals, let someone else cook and explore the unique cuisine of El Salvador!

 

 

There are great beaches to fly kites and play and unlike the Oregon beaches, the water is warm enough to swim in!

Cheerful morning person that you are, you could enjoy the gorgeous sunrises!

Happy Birthday!
Love,
Jodi and Darren
PS - Happy Anniversary tomorrow to you and John!!!

Happy Birthday Darren!!!!!!

Happy Birthday to my sweet angel!

You make life a joyous adventure and are always on the lookout for fun and like many, I am grateful to have you in my life. It would take more space than we have here to list all of the wonderful things about you so here are a few of the many reasons I am grateful for you.

Thank you for serenades on the gorgeous guitars that you made and your crooning duets with Jimmy Buffet. I am so lucky to have such a talented man as my husband!

Thank you for your patience in teaching me how to surf. It is a rare man who can teach his wife peacefully. I look forward to the day when I can ride the big ones with you!

I love that you have an insatiable curiosity for science and the world around us. Who else could zip through a book on the history of the periodic table of the elements in the muggy heat as if it were a quick beach read?! Or study Spanish with me or sit and explain to me the science of how a hurricane forms? But then, you know me – I heart nerds!

You are a champion snuggler.

Of course there is your silly side and your fierce determination to have fun no matter the circumstances that life may throw at us. Your ability to not only shed the bad (like water rolling off a ducks back!) but to put on a silly face and have us laughing again is a great gift.

You are a great chef and hunter/gatherer. Whether hunting the perfect baguette in Cap Breton, the best free cherry trees in Hood River or catching fish for our supper in the Pacific, you are a great provider. And of course, you don’t stop at that, you then turn those finds into delicious meals for us and our friends and families.

Most of all, I am grateful for your generous heart. Your love and willingness to give are the dead giveaways to the great man you are.

Hope you enjoy the rest of your birthday!

Thank you for being you.

Your loving wife,

Jodi

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD R!!!!!

Hope you have a great birthday at the beach (even though it's June at the Oregon Coast)! Brrr!

Let's go fly a kite!

On your birthday may you enjoy all that you taught us...

playing nice together...

Yahtzee!

and after working hard...

At Jim's sail loft

enjoying the fruits of your labor...

and savoring the sweetness of life!

Thank you for teaching us to treasure old friends...

                             

                                        to explore and enjoy new places...

to make new friends...

Welcome home Lilo!!!!

and enjoy the sunsets (and sunrises).

From your crazy crew...

We all wish you lots of love for your birthday!

And that's no monkey business!

Love,

Jodi, Darren, John, Sonya, Caleb, Rebekah, Josiah, Eden, Samuel and April

Happy Fathers Day

A post dedicated to the fathers in our family, be they experienced or new to the game. 

Raising us was never easy but the people we have become is a reflection of the job you did raising us.

You taught us to follow our dreams and to remember the goal, slow and steady wins the race.
You gave us the strength to perservere when things are hard.

 Remembering that no matter how hard the situation may be that hope and our inner strength will lead the way to a better day. 

To enjoy the good things while we have it and the strength to push through the hard times until the good times return.

You have raised a family and got us to where we are today while providing a role model for us to strive towards, so that we could become the self-sufficient happy adults we are now today.

Though we come from very different worlds than we are in now it was the life lessons of our childhood that got us here and have helped us to succeed at all our life’s endeavors as we have climbed towards our dreams.

Your guidance has helped us navigate through the sea of hazards we call life.

We are living a great life and live it to the fullest so we would like to say “Thank You Dad” as we couldn’t be here without you.

 

We love you.

 

 

A Birthday and a Wedding

Let’s start with a big Happy Birthday to my brother BJ and congratulations to Mel and Ken. As many of you know Jodi does most of the blogs because I am a man of few words. Well at least on paper. Jodi is in Oregon celebrating LOVE as our good friend Mel weds Ken, the man of her dreams.

Schoon on the right.

So let’s start with my brother. HAPPY BIRTHDAY brother Sol! I wish Jodi and I could be with you and the family to share in this happy day. Know that you are missed and always in our hearts and minds. When I catch a delicious fish for our dinner it always reminds me of our childhood and the skinny little kid brother I had that was a fishing machine. Life is good and we are all grown up now, however in my
heart you will always be the little brother who would kick my butt fishing. Also, congrats on breaking ground on the new house, I must say though, that I am really surprised the fishing pond didn't go in first. Love ya brother, happy birthday.



Melissa and Ken congratulations - I wish you both much love and happiness as you start this next big chapter in life. My marriage to Jodi has been a blessing to me, bringing me closer to anyone than I have ever been.

Now it's your turn Mel.

 She is my best friend and the love of my life, I wish this kind of happiness for you.  Melissa thank you for having been such a great friend to us. You have always been there in our times of need and shared with us many adventures, challenges and the happiest of times. Jodi is so happy she has the opportunity to be there for you as you were there for her during our wedding. I wish I could be there too but as it could not be, I had Jodi bring a whole load of hugs for you from me. Congrats on this, your most joyous of days!