July visit from my family

My mom, dad and sister just came out to visit for a week and we had a great time! It was so nice to have them here and I immediately put them to work! (ha ha, but seriously I did!) I had them go shopping with us to give some input on cribs, rockers, strollers, dressers, etc. They were a great help and trekked all over town with us. Steve and I had narrowed things down a lot but my parent's input helped us finalize some decisions. It's really overwhelming how many decisions there are to be made when preparing for a baby. I've been researching a ton, but anyway... By the end of the week, I had ordered my crib and bought a dresser for the baby room from IKEA which my dad so lovingly assembled.

But we didn't just work! We played too of course! We spent 3 days at an awesome townhome visiting Mt. Hood. We hiked and visited Timberline lodge a few times for clam chowder & hot chocolate (it was cool up on the mountain!) and Ashley, Steve & my dad went white water rafting one day. The girls went for pedicures to celebrate Ashley's birthday. We had an awesome time and as always it was tough to say goodbye. Here is a link to some of our photos from the trip! Good times!

CLICK HERE TO LINK TO PICTURES

Merry Christmas 2009!

We had so much fun last year that we decided to visit both of our families for Christmas again this year! We spent a week in Appleton hustling and bustling around and then a week in San Antonio mellowing out. Steve's family is HUGE! We spend Christmas eve with his mom's side. There were easily 50 people there and we do a draw-a-name gift exchange. It's so much fun! Steve's baby cousin Weston (2 mos old) was there for his first Christmas and looking around the room, I got so excited thinking about next year and all the new babies! Steve's cousin Shelley is pregnant and so is our sister in law Jill - yay!! Christmas day we headed over to Grandma Jean's house for breakfast & gift opening with Steve's dad's side. Then we flew to TX for a belated Christmas with my mom, dad, sister, grandma, grandpa, aunt and uncle. So much fun but much smaller than Steve's side. The two weeks flew by and now we're home and can't wait for our next trips!

Oh - and I feel that I should explain Steve's hideous "Happy Holidays" Sweater (pictured below). Every year we have an ugly sweater Christmas party for Steve's work. This was the winning sweater last year (worn by John Cox) and was so lovingly gifted to my husband. Steve loves it so much he decided to burn our eyes by wearing it to Christmas in both WI and TX. Love you hunny, you are real special! ;)

Christmas in A-Town

Christmas in San Antonio

Sonoma Thanksgiving

I am SO Thankful for our Thanksgiving trip with Michelle & Jesse to Sonoma, CA. On the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, the four of us loaded into the car for a 10 hour drive to wine country. We spent the long weekend there and headed back on Sunday. It was beyond amazing to be able to get away for a mini-vacation and we had a fantastic time. Jesse & Michelle were married in September and as a wedding gift from a friend, we were able to stay in a "guest home" in Sonoma for FREE!!! Seriously this place was amazing - when we got to town we were nervous to go into the house because it in no way looked like a "guest home". We thought for sure we must be in the wrong place!

We wine tasted every day - and thanks to Michelle's frugality and smart research we tasted for free most places. Of course we did arrive home after 3 days of tasting with a dozen (!!) bottles of amazing wine.

The weather was beautiful, the company great and we hope to make this an annual tradition!

Our "guest house"




Out tasting





the scenery

Visit to WI September 09

Steve and I headed back to Appleton last week to visit family and go to his cousin, Andrea's, wedding. It was a beautiful day for an outdoor wedding and we had a great time visiting with Steve's family and dancing the night away!


We were also lucky enough to spend quite a bit of time with Steve's grandmother. As many of you know she had a stroke last spring and slowly but surely she's making some great improvements. She's finally back home and living on her own again - Yay!! She is a truly special lady and I feel lucky to know her. We continue to pray for her to regain the skills she had prior to the stroke and for her to keep her spirits high.

I was also able to stay for a long weekend and see my dear friends Jamie and Jessica and got to spend a little time with Jessica's kids, Drew and baby Aubrey. As always it was amazing to see them and difficult to say goodbye.

Mammaw's 80th B-Day

This week, my grandmother (Mammaw) turns 80 year old. I can hardly believe it - she's as feisty and full of spunk as ever - it's really hard to believe she's 80. To celebrate the big day and honor her, my mother and aunt (her daughters) flew her all the way from Arkansas out to the pacific NW. This was only the second time she's ever flown and it's the first time she's ever been to my home. They were here for 5 days and we all had an amazing time - in fact I think we all had one of the best times of our lives. Truly special memories were made and I will never as long as I live forget her visit.
Here is a list of some of the awesome things we got to do together: they watched me teach (which seems to be a pretty cool thing!), we made meals together, visited Multnomah Falls, spent a day at the Oregon coast/Cannon Beach, toured the Rose Garden, and had all sorts of birthday treats.
Mammaw I love you more than any words can ever say. You are an amazing woman and I thank you for all that you have taught me about life, love, and the importance of family and God. You are a treasure! I LOVE YOU - HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Family Trip to Seattle & Victoria Island

Towards the end of August my mom, dad and sister came out and joined Steve and I on a vacation to explore Seattle & Victoria Island. We spent about 3 days in Seattle and 2 days in Victoria. It was an awesome time and the first time Steve has been on vacation with my family. We spent a day exploring Mt. Rainier, walked through Pike's Place Market, toured Victoria via mopeds, whale watched and more! It was an awesome time and flew by.
Here is a link to the photos from the trip!

San Francisco, Sonoma & Happy 1 year Anniversary!

Steve and I just returned from a great anniversary trip to Sonoma and San Francisco. It's so hard to believe a year has gone by! We had a great time reflecting on our wedding activities and events and reminiscing about our memories from the last year. I love you Steve and feel so lucky to be your wife. Thanks for being such a great partner in crime!
We saw and did so many things on our trip it's hard to believe we were only there 3 full days (& 2 half days). We went to Alcatraz, visited 5 wineries, took a winery tour with a walk through the vineyard and barrel tasting, took a drive down the coast line, visited Muir Woods (Redwood forest), had dinner with Steve's cousin Mark, rode on the cable car to the Wharf, walked to Ghiradelli square (and had a fabulous hot fudge sundae!), walked through Haight Ashbury, visited Golden Gate Park's Japanese Tea Gardens & Flower Conservatory, & went to the Ferry Building Market. WHEW!!! I was pretty tired when we got home. But an amazing time was had. Here are some photos.

Sonoma

Gundlach Bundschu Winery

On the way to Alcatraz

At the Wharf

My Favorite Visit!!

Happy Anni!

Steve's cousin Mark met us for dinner

Amazing coffee at the Ferry Bldg Market...mmm

Steven & the Cable car

Weekend at the Coast

This past weekend we got a much needed mini vacation and headed to Angie & Case's family vacation house at the beach. Case & Steve have been working together for several years now and the Farnands have become dear friends to us here in Portland!

We had a lovely time visiting with them, their daughter Morgan - the cutest almost 2 year old ever - (she is now saying my name which thrills me ;) "is tee na" could be heard throughout the house all weekend!) and our friends Jesse and Michelle. We cracked fresh crab, walked through town, played games and just had a relaxing time together.

We also all brought our dogs which was an adventure. We woke up to a beautiful day Sunday so we walked the dogs down to the beach. It was so wonderful to see Parker sprint across the sand uninhibited! He ran, and ran, and ran with no target in sight! Just running to run. (he also stopped to smell everything and greet everyone on the beach with a sandy jump of course!)

Thanks so much friends for a fabulous weekend!

Morgan, Me, Angie

Me & Steve

Jesse, Michelle, Kuma

Morgan!

2008 - Year of the "I DO"

Well, I attempted to start blogging in 2007 right around the time when Steve and I got engaged. Didn't turn out so great! So 2008 has officially come and gone since my last post - oops! - I pinky-swear promise to be a better blogger in '09. I suppose after this entry I will already have blogged more in 2009 than I did in 2008...that's a start right?!

To re-cap 2008 in a nutshell...WEDDING! 2008 was a whirlwind year of planning, planning, and more planning culminating on sunny July 19th when we vowed to love each other through thick and thin for as long as we both shall live! July 19th, 2008 was the most amazing day of our lives. Now 8 months later we still find ourselves reflecting, laughing and comparing notes on the day!

We were so blessed to have had family and friends from all over the states (Wisconsin, Texas, Minnesota, Tennessee, to name a few!) fly out and show their support and love for us. Words can't begin to express our gratitude. It was amazing to see so many people we loved from so many of our life stages...college, high school, elementary school...come together.

Here are a few pictures from the day!

Portland's Street Car

Amazing Women! Thankful to have them in my life!
Sarah, Jessica, Jamie, Ashley

Steven and "The Men"!



Family!

The end of 2008 marked another great first for us - our first Christmas together (physically)! It's hard to believe that we've been together for 6 Christmas's now and because our families are so far apart we've always gone our separate ways. This year we took two weeks and flew to Appleton and then San Antonio. Despite many, many delayed or canceled flights, all worked out in the end and we had an amazing time with each of our families. It was really special to share the holidays together with each others' families.

That pretty much brings us to 2009 and while there are many details of 2008 missing...this post is long enough! I promise to be better this year. Until then,

C & S