m e a d o w l a r k

Hello Family,

We are doing pretty well here in Oregon. It’s cold, yuck, every spring I am reminded that we really don’t have spring, we have cold. Thankfully it is somewhat sunny today and that makes for a very pretty day.

Not much new with us. Laura is winding down her High School Days. She has really had a hard time getting into this last trimester even though she only has 2 classes, her heart just is not in it, thankfully it is almost over! Graduation announcements will be in the mail very soon. Laura has deiced to attend OSU, now called OS actually. I am glad it is only 2 hours away, in Corvallis. She is looking very forward to her graduation and having all her sibs home, she misses them a lot!

Bill’s studio was suppose to be done a month ago is suppose to be done in a month….. who knows??? Soon we hope, I gave our notice at this space and would love not to have to pay rent yet another month. The new office is turning out very nice, Bill has done a great job designing it. I think it’ll all come together really well. It has been so stressful for him picking out fixtures and every little detail and all. It seems whatever he picks is not available. I think he really wishes Kristen was here and he just could’ve had her do the whole thing!

Well here are two of the most amazing things I have ever done in my life, thus far. This is Ende’ and we spent a day swimming and playing with her. She is big! 400 lbs. She was so cute and so funny and so fast! Pulled all us girls bottoms off. It was an absolute blast, scary at first but amazing!

That dot in the middle of this cable is me. If you EVER go to Puerto Vallarta go to the Los Veranos Zip Lines. I can not say which of the two of these days was the best but, this was an absolute blast. Again really scary at first, I didn’t start looking down until about the 10th zipline (you do 16 of them). It was so fun and so beautiful. If we ever return to PV we will do this again. It is simply FUN!

Miss you and love you all.

Leila xoxo

well the fresh words inspired me to write a post, and come to think of it, i don’t know if i personally have written anything on here. it’s due time to pass on some updates about me and wil.

as leila said, wil made it through the hoops to become an assistant manager…about a week ago he received in the mail an official offer in a formal letter and packet of information. god continues to financially provide for us more than we’d ever imagine at this point. in may/june we will both be earning salaries and we are very excited and thankful! at this time he will also move to his new store- a newer store with a drive thru a few more miles beyond his store now. both he and i and are not crazy about his new store (yet)- he is getting used to the drive thru, the difference in customers and unfamiliar coworkers. i’ll need to get used to the new location, the new coworkers to befriend, and the completely different atmosphere when i come to visit. we have made some good friends at his current store- hopefully those relationships won’t strain when we don’t see them as often.

our baby gracie continues to grow…we haven’t been able to weigh her for some time but about a month ago (the last time wil could barely pick her up) she was hovering around 100 pounds. both wil and i know that she’s gained much more weight since- filling into a more adult, solid, massive stature. and, eating dinner on the table is interesting for us- with her back taller than the table, it’s not too much of a struggle for her to rest her head next to your plate to see what you’re eating. : ) even with her getting so big, she is still very much a puppy at times. we are really loving getting outside more with her- evening walks and bark park visits.

the weather has been beyond perfect for the last couple weeks here (70’s-80’s)… in a few minutes i will have officially skipped my tuesday class just because it was too nice this morning to sit in a classroom for two hours. the first set of flowering trees are actually mostly gone, but the dogwoods (my favorite), are in full bloom. it hasn’t rained much yet, but even without the precipitation, everything is starting to feel so lush and green. i can speak for both wil and i when i say we will dearly miss the tennessee seasons.

as for school (where i ought to be at this moment), i only have about 4 weeks left for the rest of my life! graduation is the second weekend in may, and only in the past few days have i come to the realization of how soon it will be upon me. i know, i should be in class, but when you’re this close to the end of the senior year (and forever), all you’re previous standards of attendance kind of go wacky. i have a hard time caring about the two classes i am in right now; it’s good to not be stressed my last semester, but i feel bad for my teachers’ sakes…they’re only getting about 30% of my brain this term.

daily life isn’t very different for us…work, eat, oogle over gracie, drink coffee, play on the computers, watch movies, hang out at starbucks, and such. once may rolls around we will have gone crazy: lots of family coming in for my graduation, then straight off to europe for 11 days, then to oregon for a blink to laura’s graduation, and then breathe for a second before heading to hawaii. we’ll really be reaching the opposite ends of the earth in only a few months! we can’t wait for all our trips and to see the people we love so dearly. hope you are all well!