Weekend Overview

This was the sunset we saw as we drove to church for a Good Friday service. It was a great time of worship and reflection on Jesus.

On Saturday, we went to a barrel wine tasting as listed in the tulip festival pamphlet. We'd never tried red apple or black currant wine. We each got a glass of our favorite wine after the tasting and sat outside by the vineyard for some time to relax and enjoy being outdoors.

We also went on Samish Bay Cheese's cheese-making tour. It was interesting, but if others are considering it, it's not worth the $4 per person. Here is our guide starting to explain the cheese-making process. I liked his straw hat.

This is where they make the cheese.The organic fed cows and Ryan.

Inside the barn where the cows are milked. I was more interested in the silhouette of the barn with the mountains in the background.

After church on Sunday, Ryan began his long awaited herb/veggie/flower garden. He'd love to have a large garden, but until we settle down someday and have a house with land, this patio garden will suffice. : )

Sunshine on Saturday

On Saturday, we went for a walk at the little airport near our home. It's nice to see that spring is in the air. I am so ready for some warmer weather!!! Since the sun was out, we also decided to see the daffodils again before they're gone for the year. Afterwards, we ended our outing at the Co-op for a snack.

Not our best shot since the sun was in our eyes....but we had a nice time!

TESOL Conference

This past week I went to the Seattle Convention Center for the National TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) Conference. It was 5 very full days. People come from all over the country and the world each year to the conference. It changes states yearly. It was great that this year it was so close! Next year will be in New York City. There were easily 7,000 people attending.
Ryan took leave and came down also to get some rest. We didn't see each other much since I was in seminars ALL day long, but he did get his rest and enjoyed having time to read and relax.
The seminars were full of great info and I wanted to soak up as much as possible! I look forward to implementing some new ideas that I learned at the conference. It was a blessing that my job paid for everything:food, hotel, gas, parking, the conference, etc.!! I'm excited to keep learning to continually be a better ESL teacher.

The Daffodils are Blooming!

After my women's bible study this morning I decided to head out to the daffodil fields since they are blooming now. It was sunny today, so I thought I'd taken advantage of it to get some good pics. Here's a taste of my day in the fields. I'm sure that there will be more to come soon as Ryan and I plan to go out there this weekend if it's not raining. If you live in the area and don't already know about the bloom map, here's a link to show you what fields are blooming with what flowers.

http://www.tulips.com/bloommap.cfm?body=bloommap07.cfm

Trumpeter Swans

Do you see the two bald eagles at the top?

Good News!

Ryan applied the beginning of January to get out of the Navy early. His official end date was Oct.11, 2007. He applied to get out early to go to school full-time. Yesterday we got the news that the "early-out request" was approved!! Thank you Lord!! We have been praying and trying to rest in God's will either way. If it was not approved, he would be deploying in a matter of weeks. Thank you to other friends and family who were joining us in prayer about this. Ryan will finish his 8 year military career this June!! Yippee for having my husband home so we can live life side by side!