Besides dance, Kyra was involved with Cheer this year. She absolutely LOVED it! Unfortunately, I couldn't get any good pictures of her performance because she always had a pom pom in her face. Since she's one of the oldest, she's one of the tallest so she stands in the back. All of the little girls were in front and so she always had one of their pom poms in her face.
This is what we woke up to this morning. We had at least 2" in our yard. Yesterday, it was sunny and warm. In fact, we barbecued last night. Sad story...while I was waiting for the chicken to cook on the bbq, I was reading my library book. I accidentally left it outside. Oops. Now we own a library book. Man, we have had the craziest weather this spring. Highlights from April include: Tanner's Spring soccer season and Kyra's Spring Dance Recital
The last places I visited were the grave sites of my grandparents. Since I was able to visit Grandmother in person, I thought I better go "visit" my other grandparents. First I found Grandpa McAllister's grave. 
Then I went to Willamette National Cemetery where Grandma & Grandad Bower are buried. Unfortunately, the ground was really muddy, so my pictures include my coat.
My grandparents have been such a big part of my life. I was VERY fortunate as a child to have both sets of grandparents live in the same city. I was very close to both sets of my grandparents. They both were such huge influences to me. I learned so many valuable lessons from all of them. I miss having them all around me. I am lucky that Grandmother is still alive and that my children have gotten to know her a little bit. My other grandparents all died before Kyra was born. Tanner was pretty little when they died. He remembers Grandad Bower a little, but not much. Ok...only 2 more "chapters". This next part is from the same road trip I took on Saturday. I visited several places from my childhood. My goal was to document via pictures as many things as I could from my childhood. I don't know when I will be able to go back to Portland again and do this. This section is the houses that I grew up in and the houses that my grandparents lived in.
The first house that I remember living in was on Cardinal Terr. We moved in to this house when I was 2. We moved out when I was in 4th grade (so about 10). As I drove down the street I could pinpoint where several of my friends lived. This is the house that we lived in and Jann lived next door to us. Some memory highlights...the house on the other side of us had a swimming pool and I nearly drowned in it. Scott & I were playing in the car one day and one of us accidentally slipped the car out of part and it rolled out of the driveway and across the street and up the curb. We were ok, but scared to death. When I was about 9 the house next door (the one with the pool) was broken in to and I was home alone when it happened. I heard the people running down the side of the house. The police came to the door to see if I had heard anything. I was scared to death. This is the house that Spencer was born in also. Before Spencer was born, my room was the front right window. When Spencer was born, Scott and I moved into rooms in the basement.
We moved from the house on Cardinal to the house on Preslynn Dr. We lived in this house until I graduated from high school. It is amazing how familiar things can become even when you haven't been back in 20+ years. The house across the street from us had a schnauzer named Candy. Everytime I see a schnauzer now I think of this dog. This is also the house that had the dump truck accident. As you can tell we lived on a steep hill of a street. A big truck was at the top dropping off something and the brakes failed and the truck rolled down the street. It came through the neighbors yard and then ran into our brick wall (you can't see it in the picture) and then crashed into our famly room. (the window to the left of the front door) Kind of a scary experience. My room is the back window in the picture. Scott's was the front & side window and Spencer's was the middle window.
From Preslynn we moved to West Linn on Antioch. I only lived in that house for one year. After my first year at BYU I moved back home for a year before going back to LDS Business College. The house on Antioch was built by my parents. The house is down a LONG driveway at the end of a cul-de-sac. Needless to say, I didn't go and take any pictures of that house.
As a child we spent a lot of time at each of my grandparents houses. Grandma & Grandad Bower lived in NE Portland until I graduated from high school. I have many memories of sleepovers and dinners at this house. This house is near the airport and I remember sitting by the big picture window in the front and watching the airplanes coming in for a landing.
Grandmother & Grandpa McAllister lived in this house on 29th Ave. for (I don't even know how many) years. My dad was lived in this house...that's how many years they lived there. We spent many family get togethers here. The house is so old and it has so many stories to be told. The most interesting thing about this house is how the people have changed the look of the outside. It used to be just all grass and a sloping front yard.
The other neat thing about this house is the church that is just down the street. The church is so old that it is now considered a historical landmark in Portland. Notice the stairs in the front..that is an entrance to the chapel. The benches in the chapel are solid wood...so they are HARD. The building has had additions and renovations, but for the most part it is still the same as when it was built. It is a very beautiful building. This is where we had Grandpa's funeral.
The last house to document is the one that Scott & I lived in while we lived in Portland. Tanner was born when we lived here. It is our "first" house. When we moved to Portland we lived in Grandma & Grandad's house they built in Lake Oswego. Unfortunately, I didn't make it down to that area to get a picture. We lived there for about a year to save money. Then we decided to buy our own house. We bought this house in Aloha on Jay St. To look at it now, it looks so tiny, but it was just perfect for us. We loved this house.
On Saturday I went on a road trip through Portland and re-visited all of the schools that I attended through elementary, jr. high and high school. (I got my high school pictures the first night I was in town since I was already there)
My first stop was Raleigh Park Elementary. I attended 5 & 6 grades there. I really liked my teachers there. While I was walking around the front of the school taking pictures, a man came by and so I asked him to take my picture in front of the school. He was nice enough to do that. Then I noticed that people were walking in a back door that was open. So, I decided that if they could walk in..so could I. The area of the school that was open was the 5 & 6th grade classes. So, I found the 2 classes that Iwas in. I was absolutely giddy that I could just walk in like that.
My last stop was Vose Elementary aka "The Round School". This school has 2 separate 'wings' that are round circles. The circles are then connected with a hallway. I went to school there for 1st through 4th grades. I had a unique opportunity in 4th grade where I had my same teacher from 3rd grade. This is also the school that I was attending when Spencer was born.
Each stop I made brought back so many memories. I almost wish that I had the kids with me so that I could share some of my special memories of school with them. I had so much fun going "back to school". A couple of years ago, I found facebook. It's a social website that helps you reconnect with people you haven't seen or talked to for years. Of course the first people I tried "finding" were some friends from high school. I think my first two "friends" on facebook were Lois (Dunham) Anderson and Penny (Larson) Behrand. So, when I made my plans for my Portland trip, I decided that I HAD to try to see these two. There were a few others that I wanted to see that still live in the Portland area, but I wasnt' able to connect with them.
Sunday afternoon was my lunch with Lois. We had such a good talk. I honestly know why these two ladies were so influential during my high school years. They were both such good friends to me. Lois and I still have a lot of stuff in common. We realized we have kids about the same ages and involved with some of the same activities. We talked forever. The poor waiter kept coming by and asking us if we were "ok". After about the 4th time, we told him that we were fine and that he didn't need to keep asking. We just hadn't seen each other in over 20 years, so we were catching up. Catch up we did.
I got to go to Portland to visit Grandmother and Ron in Feb. I had so much fun. I decided that I wantedto make it a surprise visit. So, when I arrived at Fisher's Landing I went in to find them in the lunch room. However, they weren't there yet. They came off the elevator as I was standing in the door. Ron saw me first and the look was classic. He kind of looked at me and said, "Stephanie?" Then Grandmother said, "where? huh?" So, I went up to her and hugged her. She was really surprised. Then I sat and had lunch with them. They introduced me to all of their friends at Fisher's Landing. I spent the next few days with Grandmother going over some old family pictures. My dad had asked me to review these pictures with her since she is the only living relative that would be able to identify the people in the pictures. I had so much fun going over these pictures with her. She would look at a picture and then tell me the story that went with it. Or she would remember something about the person in the picture. The most interesting family stories were about her grandparents and the polygamous life they led. I am so glad I made this trip. I was able to create some memories that I wil remember for a LONG time.
