Family. Joy. Love. Oregon.

In regards to cooking and baking....coconut has been king for us this year. There is still some controversy about coconut oil but all I have read has listed all the benefits of using coconut oil especially at high heat. All I know is it has changed baking for us for the better! I started trying a lot of vegan recipes bc they won't have any eggs or milk (our allergies) and I am so happy...most of the recipes are a little easier to make and are healthier. Vegan recipes tend to use flax seed meal in place of eggs and coconut oil instead of butter or shortening; great for us bc the boys need the extra fat in their diet they don't get from nuts or eggs. Rosemary chocolate chip cookies (we love with or without the rosemary). The best banana muffins ever. Chocolate zucchini bundt cake (all of those recipes from "Isa Does It). The ganache is made from almond milk (we used rice), maple syrup and chocolate chips.

Maple pumpkin donuts. Pear coffee cake. Oatmeal raisin cookies.

And these recipes taste great-not just "great for vegan baking" but great in general. I have been using coconut sugar in place of white sugar in all recipes too. Sugar is sugar but coconut sugar is less refined and I think it elevates the recipes. I made a recipe with coconut sugar and once with white sugar and we liked it better with the coconut sugar.

Here are some pics of Avery helping make a guacamole salad...nothing to do with coconut but cute nonetheless.

My favorite sources for recipes: Ina Garten, Marina Delio at yummymummykitchen.com, Dana and John at theMinimalistBaker.com and Isa Chandra Moskowitz (great for vegan cooking/baking). That crew never lets me down. Happy Baking!

Another month gone! March was crazy fun for us. We went out of the country - twice! At the beginning of the month we went to the Dominican Republic. I will do a post on that trip soon. And we returned last night from a full week in Whistler, BC! Geoff and I went to an auction last summer and Geoff bid on (and won) a week stay at a time share in Whistler for spring break. We have been looking forward to this trip since last summer.

We drove to Canada and met Aunt JJ, Uncle Jeff and Grammy and Grandpa (who flew into Vancouver). We were so excited they were able to join us! Our hotel was right in the village so we could walk to shops and restaurants and even to the gondolas; it was really nice not to have to drive when we wanted to ski. Most days we rode a shuttle to the gondola. The first night we walked around the village and found a good spot for dinner.

We had no idea how big this ski area was. There are two mountains (Whistler and Blackcomb) and there is even a "peak to peak" gondola that will take you in between the two mountains. Here is Avery and Wyatt waiting for everyone to get their skis for the first day of skiing.

Jack in the snow.

The runs were longer than any we have been on before. Crazy long! They kept going and going. One run could possibly be the length of three runs linked together at most mountains. I felt like I could spend more time skiing but I think it makes it hard to keep the hills all "blue" or all "green". I was worried because the first green I went on seemed a bit advanced for a "green". But some of the blues weren't so bad.

These guys skied four days. Geoff skied two days with Avery and two without. He even got to snowboard (on this day) for the first time in awhile.

Grammy and Avery riding the shuttle on the first day of skiing.

And not too long after....

Geoff, Mark and Avery went back to the lodge early the first day of skiing for a little naptime. Poor baby basically fell asleep while Geoff was skiing with her. That night we watched a "Fire and Ice" show.

The show had some amazing skiers and snowboarders doing flips and tricks through a ring of fire.

Everyone skied the next day except Jan, Avery and I. We decided to walk around the village and drink mochas. All of us. We found a local coffee shop that had rice milk - they made an amazing dairy-free mocha and Avery kept stealing it from me.

We stopped to take pictures by the gondola and Grandpa and the boys happened to walk up right after they finished skiing.

Earlier Avery and Grammy were playing catch with a little ball of paper...

The skiing group was able to ski to the magic castle they have set up for kids on Blackcomb.

They even got to feed Whiskey Jack birds that would land on their hands..

The next day Grammy stayed with Avery and we all went snowmobiling. In the rain and in a blizzard. This is the only decent picture I was able to get bc I was afraid of ruining my camera.

It snowed a little over 12 inches on the mountain that night and was sunny the next day. The snow was amazing. Fresh powder and clear skies. These pictures are all from our iphone. I would have taken a dozen more if I had my camera. It was so beautiful out that day.

We split up the next day again. The boys wanted a break from skiing and Geoff needed a break too. So he took the kids to the Olympic Village while the rest of us skied. They played some hockey (check out the awesome double-bladed ice skates they had for little ones)...

...did some ice skating...(also loving those stands to help kids learning stand up)...

...and they did some bungee jumping. I think Avery loves Canada. She wasn't excluded from any activity there. I am still surprised they let her do this...

Ready...

set...

FLY!

Jack!

...and they played on this amazing playground in the Olympic Village.

Meanwhile the rest of us were trying to navigate through the clouds (visibility was terrible at the top of the mountain)....on the longest intermediate run (blue) in North America. The run is called "Peak to Creek" and it is 3.3 miles long. I think it took us an hour to do it. It was snowing pretty hard while we were on it.

I had to get a picture of the Olympic rings at the top of the mountain.

Speaking of the Olympics, Jan, Avery and I met an Olympian from the Sochi Olympic Games at the coffee shop. She was in line behind us and we started talking...her name is Ellie Terwiel. That was neat since the Sochi games were only weeks ago. Jenette, Jeff and I got to see something cool on our last run. We were on our way down the mountain at the end of the day when we saw a bobcat walking across one of the runs.