Easter

Easter was pretty low key for in the Ratto household this year. There were fewer hopping rabbits than one might have hoped for and no hidden easter baskets nor that plastic green grass that you find around your house for the rest of the year. But we still managed to color eggs with our last minute dye kit (only 74 cents on sale!!) on Saturday in just enough time use them for deviled for dinner the next day . See the picture and try to guess which one is mine! to make it easier, if they look good then it probably is not mine. Sunday morning we let Rachel play with a couple of the eggs for a photo opp and she proceeded to smash them together till they broke so we had to quickly take them away. The good news is that we know that she has reached the caveman phase of development (eggs fill in for the rocks) so she is coming along nicely and is still cute. Just look at her; it doesn't get much cuter then that.

That evening we went over to the Stevenson's for dinner taking with us some deviled eggs (pretty tasty), our favorite salad (really tasty), and some of Michelle's soon-to-be award winning chocolate chip cheesecake (worth the extra inch on your waste line). They did the ham and rolls (both excellent) and it made for an enjoyable easter meal. Sara volunteered to be our photographer and snapped a couple pictures of us. We actually look pretty good so I think that Sara has some untapped potential in the world of photography.

Look! It's us! Cute Easter dress, beautiful wife, and the luckiest man in the world.

Smooch!

Vacation

Snuggling with Grandma Purple for a badly needed nap

I know Olivia's face doesn't show it, but she really did like hanging out with Rachel

What a team! Pull Rachel, pull!

Coloring time with Annabelle and Jen

Rachel and I just got back from a 2 week trip to Oregon and Washington. We had a lot of fun visiting our family. Matt held down the fort at home and worked hard while we were gone. Our first stop was Seattle, where Rachel woke up between 3:00 and 5:00 every morning because of the time change. Jen got up with her for the first 3 mornings and let me sleep in a bit. Rachel slowly adjusted to the new time zone, but the woke up before 6:00 am for the whole 2 weeks! Besides deciding to wake up crazy early, she was very well behaved. The plane trips actually went really smoothly. We had a bag stuffed full of toys and books and just kept rotating through them. I also sang a lot (as quietly as possible, of course!). Our Seattle visit was so fun and busy. My cousin Annabelle, age 4, loved playing with Rachel and making funny faces at her. It was great to have someone to entertain Rachel. She loved watching Annabelle and Lucas run around. Grandma Purple rocked her to sleep several times, which is quite a feat with Rachel. We also visited my mom's clinic (which Grandma and Jen will remember is right next to Ivar's :) and met her co-workers. And of course we visited a children's consignment store for some cute used clothes.
Portland was our next stop. We stayed with the Ratto's for a few days. Rachel's cousin Olivia loved giving Rachel kisses and handing her toys. They were so cute together! We got an ice cream bar at Costco and shared it between the 4 of us. Olivia was ready for the next bite right after she had her first and Rachel was determined to hold the stick herself. They looked like 2 baby birds. Matt's mom took the morning shift at her house so that I could catch up on sleep there.
Our final stop was the Taylor household. Rachel absolutely loved meeting their new puppy, Remy. Unfortunately he is still learning not to nip when saying hello, so their contact was pretty limited. They both really wanted to play with each other and we spent a lot of the time letting them look at each other from afar. I got a lot of help with Rachel there too, which was nice. I was also able to visit the class that my dad teaches at Lewis and Clark Law School, which was really interesting. My Grandma and Grandpa were also visiting from Utah, so we had a mini family reunion. I'm hoping my Oregon family forgives me for giving them a nasty stomach flu. I got a very short case of it and thought I wasn't contagious by the time I left Matt's house, but I think I was wrong... At least in most cases it only last 12 hours!
All in all in was a great trip. I was sad that Matt couldn't come. Our friends here took good care of him, but Rachel and I really missed him. So did the rest of our family. I guess someone has to bring in the big bucks!