Rowan in her Santa Hat!!!

Oregon

Ryan and I went to Seattle to find a place to get married. We were successful and have set a date of August 15, 2009 (more on the location to come.) Usually, we trek to Canada for a day or two while we are up there; however, this time we thought we would head down to Oregon for a visit to Mt. Hood.

Highlights from our trip and facts about Oregon!

We stop when we get into Portland for gas and this guy comes over to pump it for us. Ryan apologized (thinking he must have pulled in the full service lane) and offered to move and the guy told him that it doesn't matter where he pulls up - state law prohibits him from pumping gas. Okay? Whatever!!! I was thinking we would get to the bottom of it later.

Then, we go by Kohl's to use up some Kohl's cash before it expires and could not get to the total at the register that we had calculated in our head. End Result - Oregon has no sales tax on ANYTHING!

After that we head to Mt. Hood - the only place to ski year round in the USA. We drove into Government Camp to grab something to eat and who do we pass on the street but Shaun White. Ryan and I both were thinking it had to be him and although I wanted to stop and take a photo - he told me "NO." At lunch the waitress confirmed that he indeed was in town skiing with some of the other X-games and Olympic athletes. Small world.

We did several trips down the Alpine Slide; however, we were a bit disappointed at the speed we were moving. Ryan figured out a way to get his cart to run faster by sitting over the wheels. It worked great UNTIL he came flying out and traveled a big portion of the slide on his body and obtained a fiberglass burn. We then made that our last run and headed out of town. On the way out of the mountain, he scrapes begin to swell so we had to make an emergency run to the food mart for medical supplies.

After that and with Ryan all beat up we headed to downtown to Oregon to catch up with some of my old friends (Leslee Biggs and Amber 'Anderson' Johnson) from my HS days in Norman, OK. I had not seen one of them since I moved when I was a sophomore at age 15. The other I think I saw in college but it has been over 10 years since I had even talked to her. Leslee is an Architect and took us on a great walking tour of downtown (oh yeah, another fact - they call it "City Center") Portland and then we went to Amber's office, she has a PhD in psychology and does research at the university in City Center (that just sounds so weird.)

Leslee provided the answer to the gas question on the walk back to the car. When I asked "what was up w/ that?" she told me it supposedly happened when Oregon's economy was in the dumps because the logging industry was disappearing. Unemployment was way way high and the anti-self serve advocates argued Oregon needed jobs, not to eliminate them! Who knows! Basically, you are not allowed to pump your own gas because it creates a job for someone. Sounds like Oregon philosophy's to me. We should probably hire people to brush our teeth for us to, don't you think?

It was fun to catch up and I always find it so amazing how when you see someone who was important in your past, it is so easy to fall right back in to a comfortable state with them. I am really lucky to have so many great friends from the past. Even though I may not speak to them all the time or even see them every year, I always feel comfortable and cared for in the presence. Thanks all!!!!

Cash Incentive

I stopped at Texaco to get fuel yesterday. I was bored while pumping and glanced around and happened to notice the sign. Gone are the days, when the amounts posted are for Unleaded, Plus, or Premium.

Have you read the new signs lately? For example, this is what I saw...

$3.82 CASH PRICE
$3.82 CHEVRON TEXACO CARD PRICE
$3.89 DEBIT/CREDIT PURCHASE

Yes, $0.07 more if you take the convenient way and swipe your card.

The Shack

Last week my aunt sent me a book to read.

The description is as follows:

"Mack" Philips took his three children on a family camping trip while his wife visited her sister. Just as they were about to leave the campsite, the two older kids decided to take a last canoe ride before heading home. As their canoe overturned, and Mack went to help them, his back was turned and the unspeakable happened. Mack's youngest daughter,Missy, was abducted by a known child predator. After a massive search, evidence of Missy showed up at an abandoned cabin. Although they never found her body, everyone knew the worst had happened. For the next four years "a great sadness" fell over Mack and his family, until a note from God showed up in his mailbox. What happens next will move you to a greater understanding of God's unfailing love for us all.

Although it is fiction, it was a great read and really made me re-evaluate all that I learned growing up in a strict church environment. It also emphasises focusing more on the relationship instead of the perceived rules. I am passing it on to Andrea (my friend that has been battling leukemia since 2005) as it touches on how to deal with difficult things in our lives.

If any of you get a chance, I would recommend the read!

135

It has been 135 days since my last post - TIME FLIES!! I have made a new goal to start posting at least every other day with a mandatory photo!!!! I can't believe I let all of that time slip away from me without an entry.

This year has been so busy and I do not even know where the days has gone. Just this summer, I have been to OK twice, to Moody Gardens in Galveston for the 4th of July, to stay with Ryan's mom on the boat in Kemah, to Coushatta with the Lee family for a birthday celebration, we have worked at my mom's yard a few weekends and redone the landscaping at this house. Speaking of which, the photo above is of the yellow Cannes I brought back from Aunt Sis's house; she is my grandma's older sister. We stopped by her a house for a couple of hours last month and she gave me a few flowers out of her garden; they bloomed one month later (YIPPEE.) After redoing the yard I realized that I did not have transplants from a family member or friend's garden - this is so different from my upbringing as that was the only kind of flowers anyone had. I was so excited when she let me dig out some flowers to bring home. Although, I told her I would only take one type of flower each time so I would have a reason to go back and see her.

Flowers! Way over-rated and over-priced. Ryan and I have been trying to decide what kind of wedding we want and where we want to have it. We were dead set on Canada (Victoria or Vancouver) for the first six (6) months of this year; however, after searching for a place online we did not find anything that just tickled our fancy. Now, I am fairly certain it will be in Seattle, WA but where in that area I am unsure. I really want a place that is on the water (or you can at least see the water) and I would prefer to see boats! We are going to visit his grandparents in two (2) weeks and check out the different places we have found on the Internet that sparked our curiosity. The prices they want for everything are crazy...I saw on the web the other day that bridal bouquet usually start at $300. Seriously, that is such a waste and you can be certain that I will be making my own...I just can not imagine the profit they pull in on weddings! If I have to I will carry a potted plant down the isle before I pay that price!

ARDUOUS

2008 has been crazy!

I have not posted in quite a while and I plan to make an effort to blog more. As most of you know, Ryan is going back to school to get his MBA. Thus, "WE" worked on "HIS" application. I guess this is acceptable and does't classify as "doing his work for him." Anyway, during the process, I took on the task of essay writing. LOVE IT! We talked about what he wanted to say and then I wrote some drafts which I passed on to him to "make his own."

The next day, I have emails popping up entitled "Arduous" and "Assiduous" - it seems, no one in his group (of 5 people) at work knew these and thus were looking them up in order to replace them with in the essays. They want to know how to get a larger vocabulary. The only answer I had was READ. For the past five (5) years, I have read a book every one to two weeks. Speaking of which, I have been ordering my books off this site I found for ABE BOOKS. You can get a book for $1 or so and only pay shipping or pay as low as $3.99 with free shipping~ CHECK IT OUT!!!!

http://www.abebooks.com/

ARDUOUS
Function: adjective
Etymology: Latin arduus high, steep, difficult; akin to Old Irish ard high
Date: 1538
1 a: hard to accomplish or achieve : difficult b: marked by great labor or effort : strenuous
2: hard to climb : steep
synonyms see hard
— ar·du·ous·ly adverb
— ar·du·ous·ness noun

ASSIDUOUS
Function: adjective
Etymology: Latin assiduus, from assidēre
Date: 1622
: marked by careful unremitting attention or persistent application
synonyms see busy
— as·sid·u·ous·ly adverb
— as·sid·u·ous·ness noun

Engaged!

I think all of you already know; however, in case you haven't been informed...Ryan and I got engaged on 12.29.07 in Vancouver, B.C. Canada. Here are a few photos of the ring and the where it happened.

Christmas 2007!

Christmas was a whirlwind...house after house. Yay, it is finally over and we can recover until next year. Ryan and I had a great time with family, friends, neighbors, and co-workers to celebrate the holiday season and then left on Christmas day to visit his grandparents in Seattle. Attached are some photos of the holidays!! On the Saturday before Christmas, Rowan had an allergic reaction. We think it might have had something to do with the entire plate of Christmas sugar cookies she climbed on the table to get while the adults were eating dinner. In the photo, you can see that her eyes were already red and beginning to swell!! After doses of Benadryl and throwing up four times over the next 12 hours, she started to feel and look much better.