I am a deer.

Ok not really, but I LOVE the forest! I'm back in Oregon for the week (Spring break!) and besides seeing people, my favorite part has been hiking and running in the forest!

So, I'll start a week ago: Thursday we had a half day at school because of Holy Thursday and no school on Good Friday. The kids got into their mixed grade groups for "Kids Helping Kids" and decorated reusable shopping bags for Earth Day. It was so cute! Here is a picture of Sahian from 1st grade, Mya from 5th grade (the one who plays 'Signs' with me) and Stephen from 2nd grade. They used stencils to put on the recycle sign, a butterfly, and a world. It was great!

Thursday night I flew to Portland (Erin took me to the airport right after her work:) and I got in really late. I went through LAX and my second flight was delayed after we got on the plane. I fell asleep and when I woke up, I didn't know if we had taken off yet or if we were still waiting! It was a small plane and it was dark outside so I had no idea. Weird feeling haha! Turns out we were in the air and I had slept thru the takeoff! So, I got to PDX after midnight and my parents picked me up (and gave me See's candies yum!!)

On Friday it was the real Earth Day. My parents have a new house they are renovating on Cornell Rd. (We call it the Cornell Place) and so we went from their Beaverton house over to the Cornell place for the weekend. One of the awesome things about their new house is it's right in the middle of the forest and it's sooo green. (Very weird after living in the desert for almost 9 months!) So, we decided to stop by Cafe Yumm (fave restaurant!) and then drive over to Cornell and take a hike through the forest. It was gorgeous! I forgot how much I love trees and flowers and the forest. It's so full of life! I took a couple pictures on our hike. We went on a path my dad created through the forest to get to the Wildwood trail. It was really fun because the path was really new. My dad said he was like a deer when he created the path and my mom said "yeah if deers carried saws!" (I guess he had to saw a couple branches and things to make the path) haha.

But, anyway--being in the forest felt so amazing. It felt like a breath of fresh air, like something I have been missing in my life down in Tucson. The desert is really pretty in its own way, but it also does feel really dead sometimes. Being in the forest made me feel closer to nature and it was the perfect place to be on Earth day!

The next day, my Dad and I decided to do a long run (about 13 miles) in the forest. I was really feeling great, running along on the forest trail with my iPod blasting Bust a Move (the Glee version) in my ears, when I tripped on a rock and fell down! I scraped up my legs and hip and got a huge bruise on my knee. I was bleeding and my dad gave me his handkerchief to wipe the dirt and blood off. We had only gone about 1.5 miles, and I decided to sit down and let the blood stop before continuing the run. The fall wasn't really that bad, but it definitely made me watch my step more in the forest! I took a picture of my Dad while I was sitting down on the trail waiting for the bleeding to stop! But besides the fall, that run was really awesome. We spent almost 3 hours out there (took longer cuz of the bleeding and stopping for mud).

On Sunday it was Easter and we went to our church, Mission of the Atonement, which I really love going to. It's a Lutheran and Catholic church in Beaverton that is progressive and social justice-minded. The Lutheran paster, Paster Laurie, had asked me to speak about JVC and my experiences so far this year. I was stressing a little bit because I'm not a good public speaker. But I wrote down mostly what I was going to say and I ended up explaining the organization a little bit, but mostly about the 4 values and how living them has changed my life. Many people thanked me afterward and I think it went pretty well! I got a laugh from the congregation when I told the story about a little 3rd grade boy. I had told the class that they could ask Google a question and you would find the answer. So he Googled to find out if Michael Jackson was really dead. He posted on his blog "I found out that Michael Jackson is not really dead." haha

After church, we went back to the Beaverton house and I made a pesto pasta dish with red peppers, tomatoes, tofu and raw cheese to bring over to my Aunt Elaine and Uncle Don's house. They were having chicken, so she had asked me to bring something vegetarian. It was the first casserole-type thing I've ever made and it turned out great! I didn't even have a recipe, I just made it up! :) It ended up being a hit at dinner as well, even my cousin who doesn't like tofu had some!

My cousin's youngest daughter, Morgan, is in kindergarten and is really adorable! She apparently wanted to invite me to her birthday party this year in January, and her mom had to tell her I don't live here anymore! aww!! When we were at my Aunt Elaine's house, Morgan asked her dad if she could hold my hand. So cute! We were playing around with my phone and I took a couple pictures with my "Cam Wow" app! hahaha! And then when we got back home I took a few pictures with my mom also!


So, it was a great weekend! a lot more things happened after that, but I am tired of typing now and I'll give the highlights:
--getting a pedicure with my mom (and they offered us beer!)
--hanging out with my friends (Liz, Chrystea, and Bethany!)
--having LOTS of awesome Asian food (including my fave! Thai E-San #69)
--watching The King's Speech in my parents' new built in home theater
--meeting with the directors of my mom's new documentary film
--spending time with my parents!

It's been an amazing week and I'm getting very excited to move back to the Pacific NW!

Also--I'm going to the Blazer game tonight! (They're in the playoffs and they have to win tonight to keep going....GO BLAZERS! RIP CITY!!)

I fly back to Tucson tomorrow afternoon. It's been a great vacation, but I'm also ready to go back to my second home:)