Triple A

Fly In - Cruise In

2009-07-26T18:42:00.000-07:00

Another Sunday car show for us. This one was extra cool... it was a Cruise In AND a Fly In! Jason was in heaven... here are a few shots from the day. REO Speedwagon! :o)This guy had built this on his own... very sweet stereo!Found me a COMET! Yep, this would be a ... COMET AAMODT! What are you pointing at Jason? :o) OH... now I see why you like this one! :o)Ah... memories of Brian throwing me out of his jacked up pickup! ;o)We had to take a picture of this ol' hippie! He got a lot of laughs and a lot of smiles...This is a real cop car that has been restored. Pretty cool story... and he had just been in Bismarck ND a few weeks prior to this!And on our way out, we stopped so J could get a picture by a plane. :o)(And I can't forget to mention that they actually had something for ME at this air show... A QUILT! They were auctioning it off...)

OC Car Show

2009-07-19T18:15:00.000-07:00

A car show in Oregon City that we went to after church - our neighbor John had his truck there. :o) It was SO hot that day... here are just a few of the 132 pictures Jason took that day! Look a newer version of "blueberry" Shaunna!It is always so much fun to look at the paint jobs on these cars and trucks. Some of them are amazing (so technical!) and some are just fun... :o)"Pink Lady"This one's for you Daddy!"TWETEE"Here is our neighbor (the red headed guy to the left of the truck) and his truck...Another sweet paint job..."OLD SCL"Okay Brian... you need to get your rig painted! ;o)The one Jason and I bought that day. Just kidding. ;o)Another sweet paint job. This one had matching interior seats and all...Here is an open wheel race car painted to look like a jet. The former owner was a pilot. Pretty sweet ride - and yes, it IS street legal! (This is like Jason's perfect mix of two of his loves - Indy and Jets!)And then of course there is this car. About as hillbilly redneck as you can get! Interesting...

Softball Tourney!

2009-07-11T17:53:00.000-07:00

So what better way to spend the weekend we got back from vacation, but to play in a softball tourney?! Jason was asked by our friends Pat and Deborah if he wanted to play with Mt. Scott (the church Jason used to go to) during their tourney. Jason played with them in this tourney last year (and got injured part way through the day - tight and huring leg muscles) but had a great time, so he figured why not?

Deborah and I watched most of the day, but let's be honest ladies - it was a sunny beautiful July day... there were garage sales ALL OVER THE PLACE. And they were calling our names. ;o) So, while I saw some of Jason playing... he tells me I missed the best game he played (of course, isn't that how it always happens?!). At any rate, here are some pictures of my hunny (and Deborah's) running around pretending to be kids again...

"Swing batter, batter, swing!"

Ground ball - Hurry! Run for first!

"Go Swizzle!"Schwisow making it home...Jason making sure I saw him. :o)Jason crossing the plate.Another hit for Allenbrand!Jason playing outfield...

Jason was a hurting unit after the day - but he made it through the whole tourney pretty unscathed. Just a few sore muscles... nothing a little Icy Hot didn't fix. ;o)

Vacation - Idaho

2009-07-06T20:17:00.000-07:00

After our fast trip to Bozeman, it was off to Idaho to visit B & B (Barry & Brenda)! Here is the view we had heading into Idaho...

While we were still in Bozeman I got a call from Brenda - she called to let us know that she and Barry where on the way to the hospital (a good 2 hour trip for them!) because she thought she may have broken her ankle/foot. We hung out in Bozeman a bit longer (had lunch with Holly, Ron and Grace) and then headed off to Island Park. We still managed to beat B&B home!

When we pulled into the driveway, we thought we were at the wrong house. Last time we visited (3 years ago) B&B had a small cabin in the woods (harder to get to - more secluded). This time we ended up here...

At this beautiful brand new home! (Custom built we later found out). Jason wasn't sure we were at the right place at first, but I saw the "Lab Crossing" (Is in "Labrador Crossing") sign and knew we were at the right house! :O)Here is the inside - as soon as you walk in you see this gorgeous wood railingAnd then there's the kitchen (I LOVED this kitchen!!)...The living room. Ah, familiar furniture! :o)Love the shelf Bren had added in...Looking down from the loft...The loft... (Jason was so jealous of all the room - me too!)While we waited for B&B to return from the ER, we enjoyed their screened in patio! Cheers!We also watched a storm roll in from their upstairs deck... pretty cool clouds (the pictures don't come close to showing how neat they were!)...On July 4th we did a 'fun run' (or in our case a 'fun WALK'!). Check out the numbers Jason and I got! ;o) Gee, do you think they were alphabetical?!On the trail with our walking buddies - Barry and Kyle (of course Bren had to stay home :o( - we missed her).One of our famous self portraits. The scenery was beautiful!!Here's a better look at the water we are standing infront of...After the walk, we came home, loaded up Bren and headed to the top of the hill.Views from the top... again, just beautiful!!I told Barry this scene makes me think I'm going to see Julie Andrews running around the hills singing "THE HILLS ARE ALIVE, WITH THE SOUND OF MUSIC!" :o)Us in front of the big 'soccer ball'. It's really a communciation tower.That night we headed to BOONDOCKS for supper. We now know why they call it that... it's in the middle of nowhere and you wouldn't get there unless you knew exactly where you were going! Very good food - and the owners were from PORTLAND! ;o)Barry, Jason and I ate there - we brought food home for Brenda. Little did we know that we were really bringing food home for Bren AND for Tana! ;o) While we were eating, I guess Brenda let Tana up on the bed and the two of them had a nice little nap! (Spoiled dog!)Before we left we took a few timer shots - we are very creative... we used the top of a bottle of wine as the tripod! ;o)Minus the fact that Bren was out of commission for most of the time, we had a great time! It was fantastic to see them again - we so look forward to our time with them. :o)

Here are a few shots of us traveling home... "Ah, nothing like having your hubby drive you home!" (For the record I DID drive part of the way home - ask Jason!)Another great self portrait. (Kids, don't try this at home.)We had a VERY pooped out puppy! :o)

Tana slept for DAYS after we got home... Jason said the first few days back all she did was sleep while he was at work. ;o) (Again, spoiled dog!)

Vacation - Bozeman

2009-07-06T18:08:00.000-07:00

After the family reunion we went to Bozeman to see Holly, Ron and Grace! Okay, so really we went to Belgrade MT but most people don't know where that is (it's just west of Bozeman on I-90). We had a GREAT time seeing them again... we are spoiled, cause they come out to Portland a lot too. Holly's brother and sis-in-law and their 2 kids live here, so any time Holly, Ron and Grace come to town we get to see them too. :O) That makes for one really happy Aunt Amy and Uncle Jason! ;o)

Here is Holly showing little Grace a video of herself. She was smiling and giggling...

And Grace looking at me taking pictures of her watching a video - she looks like she's thinking 'what are you taking a picture of me for?'... Grace's newest favorite thing - plthtthh, plllttthhhh... "Hi ya"Grace trying to make a 'fast' get-a-away... (she was really just going after dad)Then she realized that I was taking more pictures of her, so she decided to turn around and turn on the cute... ;o)This is Grace after a not so fun bath. Her evil mother... get this... gave her a bath! I know, I know... horrible child abuse - A BATH! ;o) And some how, after all that fussing, she's still sooo dang cute!Our 2nd day with them was the best day ever... cause Holly cut all my 'long' hair off!! YIPPEE!!! Here is the before pictures...I still can't believe I let my bangs get that long - had to take a picture for my mom... she always hated it when my hair was in my eyes. ;o)Holly is starting to work her magic...Chop it off Holly - chop it ALL off!!And my after picture. Ahhhh. No one cuts hair like Holly! NO ONE! Man I wish we lived closer... I took for granted that year I lived in Bozeman. I didn't realize what a treasure I had in Holly's hair cuts (and in Holly too!). :o) LOVE YOU HOLLY!Here is the pile of hair after the cut... looked like a toupee to me!We some how ended up at the Bozeman Mall (Gallatin Valley Mall) - Ron found a bull for Grace to ride... she didn't really get into it until the ride was almost done. ;o)Ron works for Classic Limo in Bozeman. Here are a few pics from their fleet... (here's one of the newest members of their fleet - a Mercede's van. Some how that just seems wrong to me... Mercedes... Van... the two just don't seem like they should be in the same sentence!)Before we left to head into town, we had to 'lock up' Tana in her kennel. Poor little Grace just stood there and shook the kennel as if to say "Let her out! Let her out!"Before it got too dark Thursday night, Grace got to ride her 'bike'.I love the look on her face in this one! ;o)Grace trying to figure out how the dog door works. 'The doggie's go out and the doggie's come back in, but for some reason mommy and daddy won't let me come in and out through this door... I don't get it?'After Grace was in bed, we grown-ups had a little camp fire - complete with smores... and a couple of glasses of wine. Yep, this is Holly and I after a glass of wine...I will spare you all the funny pictures we took at the camp fire, but I will share this one. We were both giggling... and believe it or not, it had nothing to do with the wine! Holly and I just get silly when we are around each other. And our poor husbands just stand there and shake their heads. Here is Holly riding Grace's 'bike' after the silly pictures... (and yes, this probably DOES have to do with the wine!)Friday morning before we left, we went into town with Holly (she had a hair cut to do). We got to baby sit... so, what do we do? We take Grace to the water park... never mind the fact that it's a cool morning. Or that she doesn't have her swimsuit on... we are such great care providers!? ;o)It is a pretty cool water park... (you can see what I mean about the weather!?!)I was able to catch one of the buckets just as it was tipping out the water.Before we left, Grace painted us a picture...She decided the paint tasted better than it looked..."See, I can be cute doing anything!"Yum! Purple is my favorite flavor!"Dang it! Mom put in 'the plug'!" :o(Thanks again Holly, Ron and Grace - we had a GREAT TIME!!

Vacation - Family Reunion

2009-07-06T17:32:00.000-07:00

Jason's mom's side has a family reunion every three years (yes, that's right every THREE years) out in Montana. The camp they rent is right on Bitterroot Lake - here's some of the best shots...

Mt. Hood looking out our back window... bye, bye Oregon - Montana here we come! :o)This is what I did every afternoon - (this is Monday... Tuesday I actually wore my bathing suit and got some sun!)This is what Tana did every afternoon... ;o)Jason and I went out on the pontoon boat - lovely self portrait! ;o)

Found some eagles on our boat ride - 2 juveniles and 1 adult...This is Jason's cousin Lori's little girl - Zoralee. Isn't she just too cute?! :o)Here is another cousin's kids - Sarah and Ellie.We played horse shoes with J's parents - we won... and be "we" I really mean Jason beat his dad - Lynetta and I were NOT doing well at all!Jason played some b-ball... "nothing but net"!Tuesday morning Jason got to go gopher hunting... pretty mean looking crew, huh?! ;o)Tuesday afternoon Tana got a treat... look at that tongue!We had a hard time convincing her to LICK the popcile instead of just eating it off the stick! ;o) She finally got it...Jason also got to water ski that afternoon...He makes it look so easy...!More Zoralee time! Love this one!! :o)We celebrated Grammie's 90th birthday! Her birthday is in August, but we wanted to do something while everyone was together at camp...We left Wednesday, but not before Jason got to go on one more horseback ride! He looks forward to riding so much...Before we left we also took family pictures. We took them by this stump... what a great shot of the lake!Here is a good shot of Jason's sister Krysti and her family (Chuck and Bryce)Here is our shot...And Jason's parents...Before we left we also got a picture with Jason's cousin from Alaska and his wife. We would LOVE to visit them... some day. :o)Tana banana dog was TIRED... this is on our way down to Bozeman to see Holly, Ron and Grace!

JD, Flossie, Silas & Logan!

2009-06-27T17:16:00.000-07:00

JD and Flossie came to visit from NH! I haven't seen Silas for YEARS - and even worse, I had never met Logan! ;o) It was GREAT to see them again - we need to plan these things more often! Here are a few of my favorite photos from their visit...

Trying to make a basket...The boys playing with Michelle...
Trying to make a basket with their eyes closed... (and cheating a little bit!?)Silas all prepared to throw... Logan all prepared to catch!The boys think it's pretty funny to wear dad's shoes... this is TOTALLY Logan - never standing still (look at those hands in motion!)...This is TOTALLY Silas... standing so nicely with a BIG smile. :o)Dang these guys are cute! :o) Here we are with the family...
Here is the classic "Sears" shot... everyone put your hand on someone's shoulder! ;o)JD trying to take a picture of us girls... only he didn't realize my camera was set to 'timer' - he stood there so nice and still waiting for the camera to FINALLY take the picture. (Hence why we are laughing so hard...!)And finally the nice group shot. Sure do wish JD and Flossie lived closer!! Miss you guys - love you!! :o)

Baby Henry

2009-06-15T19:16:00.000-07:00

Baby Traffas was finally born! Jessica had baby Henry on Thursday June 11th @ 12:23p. The other AC's (Assistant Coaches) went to see Jess, Steve and Henry after work on Friday. He is just over 24 hours old here... (if you think Jess looks good here for a women who just had a baby, you should see the pictures just seconds after Henry was born - she looks incredible!)Henry is such a cute new born - he is picture perfect. Nice round little face, good color - and Steve and Jess say he was born that way!Love this little "smile"... (yeah, yeah, I know it's not a smile!?!)Here is Barone (aka Jessica B) holding Henry... what a natural. ;o)And KB (Kristin) with him. She was so cute... wasn't too sure she wanted to hold him at first, but about a nanosecond after he touched her arms she said 'I want one!' ;o)And finally, me with baby Henry. Shortly after this shot I 'got him' to puke! ;o) Gotta love babies. We were all talking about Henry today at work... we miss him already!

BC BBQ

2009-06-12T18:47:00.000-07:00

Our Coaches were in from out of town - SUMMIT TIME! (aka training) We had a "BC BBQ" on Thursday night... here are some of my favorite photos. :o)Marketing babes making burgers!

My coach Raymond given me the evil eye!Here's a closer look at this one! ;o)More BBQ fun!Here is the hit of the party - LADDER BALL. Jason's family had this at the last reunion (3 years ago in MT) but it wasn't called Ladder ball. No matter what you call it, it's pretty dang fun!Just about everyone got in on the action... Coach Bill decided to use a new "technique" - throw all three of them at the same time. Looks like it works! :o) (Yes, this really did happen - he threw all 3 at the same time and all 3 'stuck'!)And my personal favorite... the ladies - after kickin' some guy butt in ladder ball!! :o) Way to go KB and Barone!

WFS Concert

2009-06-07T18:22:00.000-07:00

This is the Willamette Falls Symphony's last concert for the season... here is Jason getting ready.

And him warming up...

Yeah, yeah... I know - I need to take more pictures. ;o] Tried to upload a video here too, but it's too big (takin' forever, so I canceled it). If you are in the area, you should come here they play next season!

Grand Floral

2009-06-06T21:43:00.000-07:00

Tana at the Grand Floral... just sitting around waiting for 'daddy' to swing by. ;o)In true Tana fashion - bored to tears! Getting really relaxed on 'mamma's' shoes.Finally... here comes Jason! (or at least the beginning of the band!)I don't know if you can see his hand up to his nose or not, but that is "our sign" that we see each other. ;o)Yes, there is more to this parade... but really, this is the best part - honest! ;o) If you want to see the rest of the parade, I guess you will just have to come join me on the Burnside bridge next year. :o)

Band Fest

2009-06-05T19:44:00.000-07:00

Friday night was BANDFEST! This is held every Friday before the Grand Floral - it's at PGE Park...
Started out the night with the USA and Canadian National Anthems... (the Marine band was AMAZING!)Then it was on to the Salvation Army band...Then on to a band from NJ... okay, not really. They said these guys were from New Jersey, but they were really from Philly! ;o) The Woodland String Band...The band that took home the "People's Choice Award"... Sumner High, from Sumner WA. They had a Disney theme. The two conductors were dressed as Belle and the Beast (as the Prince of course) and the flag team was all sorts of Disney Princesses...Then was the Miltary band (see first photo above) and then the Northern Alliance Percussion Group from Portland...Then came the Magrath High School from Alberta Canada... They were small, but good.Then filtered in the NOT SO SMALL band... The One More Time Around Again Marching Band! :o)Jason is almost smack dab in the middle of this picture... right by the drums. He is usually in the front, but this year he was in the back. It's all good - he was in the front row for both parades! ;o)This is OMTAAMB's 25th Anniversary. They presented Mary and Jay with a plaque in appreciation for their hard work with 'Portland's Band'. :o)

Starlight Parade

2009-06-01T20:33:00.000-07:00

Here are my pictures (my VERY dark pictures) from the Starlight Parade... Here are the firefighters - they climb a ladder and then jump off into a canvas "net"...Bagpipes! I love bagpipes. :o)The Colors...

Here comes the One More Time Around Again Marching Band (aka the band my hunny is in!)...

Can you see Jason? (Don't feel bad if you can't - I can hardly see him... and I know exactly where he is in this picture!)

Getting better... ;o)

THERE YOU CAN SEE HIM! :o)The one picture you can really see him in. See that #2 that Rich (the guy to the left of Jason) is holding up... that means that Louie, Louie is up next! :o) Louie Louie is the band's signature song. :o) The Kingsmen were from Portland. A nice little 'tribute' to them I think. :o)More of the band as they passed...A tall cowboy...The Clydesdales! Too bad they can't throw out beer at the parade - it was HOT on Saturday. ;o)Dragonboat races...One of the last decent pictures I took before it got too dark, was in honor of my brother Brian back home... a JOHN DEERE float! :o)

The rest of the landscaping...

2009-05-26T20:53:00.001-07:00

We finished our project this weekend (okay - yesterday, we finished it yesterday!) To continue where I left off... we had prepped the lawn and were ready to start putting in the decorative pieces. Here Jason is digging out the edge so we can countersink the edging bricks.Ah, it's my hunny... laying down on the job!? :o)

Hard at work - making sure all is level and straight...Jason found a REALLY big worm. We had been finding little earth worms through out the project, but nothing like this guy. He was disgusting!While he sunk the edging, I worked on the weed barrier...Still hard at work (notice some pictures are dark and some are light) - we worked each night until about 9:30/10p. One night I decided to plant bulbs while Jason worked on the edging...
After weed barrier comes slate!Then comes pebbles!
Our finished project! :o) When are you coming over for a BBQ?! ;o)And let's not forget about all the grass and extra dirt we now have piled up! ;o)

The trunk

2009-05-23T21:17:00.000-07:00

While out treasure hunting Saturday, I found an old trunk. I love these things, but usually they are way too spendy. This one - I picked up for only $25! It is definitly vintage - smells old. ;o) Supposedly used to belong to a prominent Portland couple? Either way... I LOVE IT! Close up...
More of the detail... Leather still in good shape...The inside...

Landscaping the back yard

2009-05-21T20:17:00.000-07:00

Jason and I have been doing some landscaping in the back yard. We started this project last weekend - we decided that we wanted to remove a couple of feet of grass from around our patio.

First we must measure...

... then we can "cut"...

... then we must shovel...

I know what you are thinking... I keep saying "we", but you only see Jason doing the work. Trust me, in between 'photo ops' I was working too! ;o)

Unlike the dogs... who just hung out and enjoyed the sunshine! (the yellow lab/retreiver mix is Jason's parents dog)

This seemed like a straightforward enough job... until we realized we needed to move the sprinkler heads. But that was no problem - Jason simply dug them up (while I weeded and did other landscaping stuff)...

After digging around them (to figure out which direction they were coming from) we went to Home Depot and got some connections and more pipe to move them. The picture above and below is sprinkler head #1 before...

... and after. :o)

Then it was on to sprinkler head #2...

(We had to test #1 to see if we positioned it right... which caused #2 to spray all over - making a nice muddy hole for Jason to work in!) But we got it moved and all covered... only to realize we needed to do another one! So here is sprinkler head #3! (this was last night about 9:30pm)

But, we got that one taken care of too, so now we are all set to lay down weed barrier and river rocks this weekend! :o)

I also promised my mom some pictures of my plants (which there aren't many of yet)... so, here you go Mom! :o) This is one from Tressa - it has really grow in the last year or so... Tana being 'helpful' again... ;o) But hey, it shows my Iris's...

(that I still haven't planted... I know Tressa, I know... gotta do that this summer!)
And last, but not least my Tropicals...! I love these things. Hopefully they get big and beautiful like they did last summer...... we'll keep you posted on that one! :o)

We saw "Jesus"...

2009-05-17T20:07:00.000-07:00

... at church. Jim Caviezel came to Rolling Hills and spoke about his Audio Bible "Word of Promise". We snuck a few pictures as "proof"... ;o) He spoke about the making of The Passion of the Christ. Here is more on some of the things he went through during the making... http://www.facingthechallenge.org/passion5.php

Anniversary at the Beach

2009-05-12T19:57:00.001-07:00

Our 4th anniversary as celebrated at the coast ~
Friday we took off after Jason was done with work. We ordered pizza from Doryland Pizza and watched a movie (Slumdog Millionaire). We hit the hay early - Jason was getting sick. :o(

Saturday, we got up and headed for the Pelican for breakfast. Mmmm, mmmm. :o) I thought my husband loved me... then he asked me to climb "the hill" with him!? We rested a few times (by "we" I mean I had to, and Jason, being the good husband he is, 'rested' with me!)... but made it to the top!

For those of you that know Pacific City this should look familiar... well sort of. It's taken looking down toward the Pelican Pub from the top of the sand hill. Not sure what happened with this shot, but thought it was kinda cool. :o)And this is looking over the other side! Jason and Tana posing...Jason and Amy posing...So, getting up the hill wasn't as big of a 'challenge' as getting down the hill was. We did a little spelunking to find a different way down...Jason and Tana at the top (well sort of) of the hill we came down...Then, Jason decided he wanted to go out to the farthest point - I told him I didn't want Tana 'falling' off the edge so she and I waited on the 'safe side' for dad to come back. Here is a shot Jason took of us waiting - if you look real hard toward the middle of the picture you will see me waiting patiently on the rocks. ;o) After we were done hiking, we had sand everywhere... and I mean EVERYWHERE! And yes, this is a picture of what you think it is! ;o)

I had sand in my hair, my ears, even behind my earing backs! :o) Here is a picture of my feet next to the sand I dumped out of my shoes...And a picture of Jason's feet next to the sand he dumped out of his shoes... ;o) Don't ask me how he managed to not get any sand in his shoes?! Here is the beach house we stay at (THANK YOU DANIEL!) ~ my boss has a rental that he let's us use... for a small fee of course... ;o)This is before the sand emptying party...After we got cleaned up (i.e. de-sand-ized) we went back to the beach with the car - it had gotten a little overcast but we still wanted to be "at the beach". We played cards (and I talked on the phone a bit - "Hi Flossie!")... this is Tana looking oh so thrilled to be in the car! ;o)We did get to see some horses on the beach... and even a wedding party who came and took pictures right in front of where we were parked. :o) We tried a new place for supper that night (Sportsman's Pub-N-Grub) - felt like I was in a bar back home! ;o) Good food... good beer... questionable surroundings! ;o) More movies tonight! (21 and Body of Lies - I feel asleep during that one!)

Sunday, after breakfast at the Greatful Bread we were off to the Tillamook Air Museum! Jason of course hated every minute of it... ;o)

Then it was off to the Tillamook Cheese Factory for cheese curds (we got the LAST bag of them!) and some icecream! Then home ~ sweet ~ home! :o) I didn't realize I could love this man any more than the day I married him... but I can ~ AND I DO! :o)

Murray's

2009-05-05T20:02:00.000-07:00

Holly and Ron came for a visit too! Monday night we had them over for dinner.

Grace has grown SO much!
Grace was laughing and laughing - so I got Jason to video a little of it...

The Crossfield's do Oregon - Part 3

2009-05-04T19:25:00.000-07:00

Saturday we went to the coast... Newport, Depoe Bay, and Lincoln City.

Stopped at "Whale Cove" to show them 'our' spot. LOTS and LOTS of slugs out that day... Me and my hunny...Marilyn and me at Whale Cove...Our boys off exploring...It was cold... Emily was bundled up.And then caught her laughing and squealing with delight!Then we went on to Lincoln City to eat at Moe's and walk on the beach...
There were SO many seals...

... and even a bald eagle!We had a GREAT time with the Crossfields - and loved getting to know Emily a little more! What a blessing!!

The Crossfield's do Oregon - Part 2

2009-05-04T18:44:00.000-07:00

Went to the park in Oregon City on Friday... check out the video's - pretty cute! :o)

The Crossfield's do Oregon - Part 1

2009-05-04T18:17:00.000-07:00

Monday April 27th, Marilyn, Jeff, and Emily rolled into our drive way from MN. After stopping in Vegas for Jeff's brother's wedding they on Friday, they came to spend a week with us!

Tuesday was RECOVERY DAY! They were all pretty tired, so we hung pretty close to home.

Wednesday was ROLLERSKATING DAY! Emily (who is 2 1/2) got skates for Christmas, so we had to go to Oaks to test them out. Here are some pics from the morning on the rink...

... we also went to the Oregon City Pool to do some swimming with all Emily's "friends" (i.e. all the other kids we didn't know at the pool!). Because I was in a bathing suit... there are NO PICTURES! ;o)

One morning (not sure which one) Aunt Amy was getting tired of Emily's hair in her face... so I did a pony tail... Pebbles Flintstone style.

One night Emily decided to 'make angels' on the floor before going to bed (they live in MN so she loves making "snow angels")!

Kuyasa Kids Choir

2009-04-13T16:15:00.000-07:00

Jason's parents sponser a child through Horizon International - http://www.horizoninternationalinc.com/. She came to Oregon from South Africa and performed at their church on Easter Sunday with the choir she's in - Kuyasa Kids! "Kuyasa" is a Xhosa word that means "sun rising." Her name is Zianda (she goes by Koko) and here are a few pictures of her and the choir she sings with...

Bob and Lynetta were called up to stand with Koko while Bob Pearson (the founder of Horizon International and a good friend of Bob and Lynetta's) told the congregation of their relationship...After the service I took some better shots...

This is my favorite... :o)

Beyond the Iron Gate

2009-04-06T16:03:00.000-07:00

April 4 & 5th - Tressa's Open House! Beyond the Iron Gate Boutique is officially OPEN!!Embrace the Past...Celebrate the Present...Love the Future... Doug hard at work...... and hardly workin'. ;o)

Painting the Office

2009-04-02T21:28:00.000-07:00

Ah... a weekend of painting the office. I get high from the memories of all the paint fumes! ;o) Last weekend Jason and I painted the office. A nice gray color... to match all the jets he has in there! :o) I forgot to take 'before' and 'after' pictures, so you get the 'during' pictures instead!

Here is the brown, slowly turning to gray wall... and Jason edging. He did all the edging (i.e. detail work) while I rolled the walls.

Jason... the painting pirate! ;o)
The gray walls... (Go to http://www.behr.com/ and use their virtual color finder - it's called porpoise.)

And what our dining room looked like... (had to take these for you Deborah, to prove that sometimes our house is messy!)

And this my friends... is how much I love Jason. I let the plane that usually hangs in the corner of the office, take up residence in the kitchen. :o)

Deer

2009-03-31T21:45:00.000-07:00

Deer in our 'back yard'... okay so it's the empty lot behind us. Still fun to see. Of course if we were home in ND, we'd think this was nothing. My parents have a natural deer paradise - they have a herd (as in 15-20+ deer) each winter come make their home in our hay corral. They are so friendly that they walk right through the front yard and stand and look at you through the house windows!

We see deer a lot out here on the hills around 213 - they blend right into the background. Great natural camo. ;o)

North Dakota

2009-03-27T08:07:00.001-07:00

Yikes! Been watching the news and talking to family - the whole state is dealing with major weather issues right now. Seems my parents are the only ones not dealing with tons (as in 15 inches) of snow or flooding. Sounds like both Fargo and Bismarck are dealing with snow, ice, and flooding... all at the same time!

Here are some links to news channels in the area:

http://kfyrtv.com/

http://bismarcktribune.com/

http://www.inforum.com/

http://www.valleynewslive.tv/

http://www.wday.com/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=guQB_-Nper4

Sounds like McKenzie county (where my parents are) is one of the only counties not dealing with some sort of weather related issue...

Kitchen Love

2009-03-24T14:42:00.001-07:00

Gotta blog about my new favorite site - The Pioneer Woman (http://thepioneerwoman.com/)! I was looking over another great site today during my lunch (Bakerella http://bakerella.blogspot.com/) and came across The Pioneer Woman. Go check it out - she has tons of yummy looking recipes!

My baby

2009-03-21T12:03:00.001-07:00

Pictures of my baby. :o)

She was tired and had moved her bed up against Jason's trumpet case. ;o)

Space Museum

2009-03-16T19:27:00.000-07:00

Sunday after church we went to SIP - the McMinnville Wine and Food Classic at the Air & Space Museum...

I'm "being watched" as I try my hand at landing a lunar module (I failed both times... miserably!)One of the artists we really liked... "Second Chance Sculptures" http://www.secondchancesculptures.com/ We also loved the pictures that artist David Forster does - http://www.lightcapturephoto.com/ and the wood pictures Trish Hason does - http://www.solarisdesign.net/.The blackbird - the ONE jet I can always recognize! ;o) We got to talk to one of the guys who works at the museum - he knew TONS of cool things about this jet. We talked to him (okay he and Jason talked... I just stood there and listened!) for proably 15-20 minutes. That in-and-of-itself was worth the admission fee for Jason!We stopped inside the IMAX building, but didn't have time for a show. But we did have time to snap a few pictures!
Jason's cousin used to fly one of these...

Jessica's Baby Shower

2009-03-15T19:18:00.000-07:00

Had a baby shower for a co-worker on Saturday...Do you think I remembered to take pictures of the front entry table - NO! Had a few little bibs and some flowers along with a game (guess how many diaper pins are in the bottle) and a little 'guest book' I made. Didn't get a picture of the food either... but here are to of my former co-workers (we miss you guys!) helping themselves to the "make your own dessert" station. :o)Here's the blanket I made...Jess admiring some cool bibs - plastic so they wipe off beautifully! ;o)Jessica reading us "No, no. Yes, yes." - a cute book her mom got her.And a duck - OF COURSE! :o)Katie had a cute theme - on the package were washclothes and bath wash and lotion... inside - THE TUB of course!

Blanket for H.O.T.

2009-03-15T19:10:00.000-07:00

Made little Henry Oliver Traffas a baby blanket (had a baby shower for Jess on Saturday). Here's the blanket...Before I washed it... Front...and back...And after I washed it... (the seems are cut so they frey when you wash it)

Jason and Kate are married!

2009-03-07T12:29:00.000-08:00

It's offical ~ Jason and Kate are married! Wedding was last night (March 6 @ 7p).

Here are a couple shots of (my) Jason (aka Jason #2) and me at the wedding. He was a groomsman and I was the wedding coordinator.

(And yes... I really was as tired as I look!)

Jason & Kate

2009-02-27T11:21:00.000-08:00

Deborah hosted a shower for Jason Huffman and Kate Harding at Jason's church (Mt. Scott Church of God) - I helped. Here are some photos from the night...

The tables... and the food

Jason and Kate letting us snap some pictures. :o)

The cake... and practice for next Friday. :o)

And of course... some shots of the gifts!

Covered porch!

2009-01-31T19:57:00.000-08:00

About the same time as I started painting the bathroom our next door neighbor was working on our covered porch/patio! Here are a few photos from start to finish...
New switches... we have can lights and a fan out on the patio now!It is now painted... too dark to take pictures tonight; will update later. ;o)

New guest bathroom

2009-01-19T19:37:00.000-08:00

Since I had MLK off I figured it was the perfect day to paint our guest bathroom! Here are some pictures of the 'before' (sort of) and the 'after' (sort of) - we aren't 100% done yet.... Our lovely brown (the WHOLE house is this color - nice color... but not for the entire house!)...Our new green...These prints were the inspiration for the color. (The one over the toilet is the one that really matches perfectly...)Going to put a rope border around the edge... just waiting for more of the rope to come in! ;o)

New Do!

2009-01-18T22:51:00.000-08:00

Went in on Friday and got a new do! ;o) My friend Lindsay gave me a gift card to one of her friends who works at a salon here in Oregon City - LOVE IT! Here's the "new" hair...

... it's kind of hard to see all the highlights and contrast - but trust me - IT'S CUTE! ;o)

Allenbrand Christmas

2009-01-10T21:17:00.000-08:00

This year Jason's dad's side's Christmas was at our house! Here's the family suffering through the Christmas quiz Jason and I put together! ;o)Here is MY Christmas present! ;o) (hee, hee, hee)

Grace!

2009-01-09T21:10:00.000-08:00

Finally... I have met GRACE! :o) Holly and her parents came out for a quick (super quick!) visit. I got to spend the whole day with Grace and Holly! She is adorable!!

Jason and Grace...Grace on the quilt I made for her...Hiding in the quilt...She is a little cuddle bug. :o)

Cierra and Brittni

2008-12-30T21:00:00.000-08:00

My nieces came out and spent a couple of days with us...Dad rigged up the bucket used to auger grain up to the bin a few years back - we use it as a big sled behind the 4-wheeler. ;o) This is Jason pulling Cierra and Brittni. I rode for a while, but my neck gets too sore from being whipped around!

Here is one of them mid-air! :o) Man did they have fun!

This is me... getting ready to go inside and have some Russian Tea! ;o)

The Colts...

2008-12-29T17:29:00.000-08:00

Dad bought a couple of colts this year... This is "Dude" and "June Bug"... (at least that's what we're calling them - my nieces have different opinions!). Dude was born in May; June Bug in June of course! :o) They are 1/2 siblings...
Hiding from us and protecting each other (Dad has been roping them and then haltering them... they have gotten wise to those tricks!).Protecting each other in the barn too...This is Dad with June Bug... her halter was a bit too small, so Dad bought her a new one when we were in Sidney MT on Monday... (this is the 'old' halter)The two boys - Jason and DudeMe with June Bug - Jason with DudeOf course when Cierra and Brittni came out they wanted in on the action as well... Cierra loves horses and is very good with them. She really liked June Bug...

Brittni and I with Dude...Jason with Dude...

Home for the Holidays

2008-12-28T20:32:00.000-08:00

Look at that blue sky! Aaahhhh... IT'S HOME!Jason wanted to go riding... that didn't last long! I got stuck trying to go to the river. We couldn't even get off the home property - TOO MUCH SNOW! I told Jason if he wanted to walk down to the river to start hikin' it... I wasn't going. ;o) He loves walking on the Missouri River in the winter. :o)This is Mom and Dad's spoiled - I mean SPOILED - dog Sadie. :o) She is pretty dang lovable!She has a true personality... she "talks" to Mom when she is left home. Mom and Dad will come home from being gone and Sadie will give them a talking to! She doesn't really like being away from them... in fact when Jason and I packed up to leave (round #1 on Friday) and ended up coming back to the farm, Sadie wouldn't even look at me. It took her a couple of hours to even come to me so I could pet her - and she acted really funny (like she was really sick) Friday night. Mom said she was fine a few days AFTER we left... we aren't sure if she was mad at Jason and I for leaving or if she was worried that Mom and Dad were going too!? ;o)We have a video of Sadie jumping and barking while Jason is shoveling the sidewalk... :O)

Mom and Dad also have a family of deer that call the farm home - they must know that Dad doesn't hunt. They will walk right through the front house yard (as in walking on the sidewalks up to the house!) and then head up to the hay. Here they go...Mom said the week after we left they had 12 of them up in the hay one afternoon. :o)Thursday morning we went over to visit Erica and David and their kids. This is Carlton, Samantha, Corinna, and Andrina. Andrina is my God Child.That night we went in and met Ron & Kay Stepanek (Ron is Dad's best friend... Kay is Mom's) and Buddy (a neighbor and friend of Mom and Dad's) for supper. They took a picture of us...Friday we were supposed to leave at 2p from Williston. We bundled up (it was COLD) and headed for town. We checked in and then sat with Mom and Dad until the last possible moment before going through security. As we were getting ready to go through - they announced that our flight was canceled - due to a BLIZZARD! So we headed home and tried again the next morning. After getting home from the airport I took some pictures... there were LOTS of snow drifts.
There is a retaining wall here - you can just see a bit of it on the left side of the picture - it is a couple of feet high... but the snow is higher!! :o)Jason did morning chores with Dad just about every morning. This is sunrise on the praire. :o)On Saturday we tried to leave for the second time. Going back the other direction (Williston to Portland) proved to be more challenging... we left Williston late (our first mistake was getting on the plane we knew was leaving late) - had to make a scheduled stop in Nebraska (welcome to the world of flying puddle jumpers!) and they took about 20 minutes to de-ice the plane. It took 2 different people to do it (I guess those people in Nebraska ain't the smartest?!) and they went over the plane at least twice. I agree in being thorough, but for crying out loud?! This of course made us over an hour late into Denver.

Our connecting flight left LONG before we even got there. :o( We tried to get someone from Great Lake Airline to help us (that is a long nasty story too) - long story short we were sent upstairs to the Frontier Customer Serive line. That line was SO long - we stood in line for THREE HOURS! When we finally got up there it took them maybe 5 minutes to process us and get us new boarding passes.

(The story is longer and more complicated than that, but gets me too frustrated - if you want the WHOLE story give me a call some time. ;o) !!) Needless to say we got home safely (Praise God!) and so did our bags... a couple of days later! ;o)

Christmas in North Dakota!

2008-12-25T17:24:00.000-08:00

Christmas Day we started off on our yearly tradition of heading "Home for the Holiday's"... Thanks Pat and Deborah for taking us to the airport! :o) We left PDX... flew to Denver (yuck!)... and on to Williston ND. No major bumps or delays (at least not going this direction)! Whew! ;o)

We got in pretty late, so no pictures from Christmas Day.

Jason's Birthday!

2008-12-24T17:03:00.000-08:00

Jason had to work today - he usually takes his birthday off, but since we are heading to North Dakota tomorrow he had to work it. Our 'tradition' of seeing a movie on his birthday was also forfeited this year due to the weather and our 'last minute' packing. ;o)

I gave him his birthday present early this year however - we went to the Oregon Symponphy on Friday December 19th when Chris Botti was there. IT WAS AMAZING!!

http://www.chrisbotti.com/

Ice, ice baby

2008-12-23T16:59:00.000-08:00

More ice... more snow. What else can I say?!

Yep, you guessed it ~ more snow!

2008-12-22T23:06:00.001-08:00

Well, today was more of the same... snow, snow, and MORE SNOW! Not sure if we will be able to make it to the airport on Christmas to go home. :o( Trying not to worry about it ~ takin' it one day at a time!Back yard just getting more and more drifts and deeper and deeper snow...

Our friends Pat and Deborah came over with Deborah's son Erik ~ Pat just got back on the 19th from basic training. We decided before they came we should take a walk around the neighborhood to see how everyone else is doing...

Here's our house in the snow...Looking south of our house...We found a big snowman that one of the neighbor's had made! The eyes were hockey pucks and the mouth was a tarp strap! ;o)Here is a poor little lighted snowman covered in... snow (Wait a minute...?! That sounds kinda funny...)

Trying to take pictures of all the trees behind the houses covered in snow ~ instead I got all the cold air swirling!Here are some Christmas lights we thought looked funny through the snow...

Here's a video of Tana this a.m. ~

More snow... and ICE!

2008-12-21T22:48:00.000-08:00

Got ice last night... everything is coated! We watched a movie last night after getting back from sledding and by the time we were done with the movie Tana's bedroom windows were iced up!

When Tana went out this morning the ice was thin enough that she broke through... but...... after a couple of hours of more ice and more cold temps ~ she was ice skating! :o)Our neighborhood sure is pretty with all this white stuff...

Sledding!

2008-12-20T22:32:00.000-08:00

Went sledding with our friends Andy and Staci and their two kids... there are a few little hills by the high school (which just happens to be in between our two houses!). :o)

Here is Staci going down with Stroud...

And Andy walking back up with Stroud...Jason getting ready to go down (that is Sidni standing beside him)...Me and Sidni getting ready to go down...The little 'pond' by the school was iced over...When we got home we took pictures of the snow... about 6 inches deep.

Michelle Tumes

2008-12-14T18:50:00.000-08:00

We had the privlage of having MICHELLE TUMES at church today. She lead worship and Jason and I got to meet her and a have her sign a CD. :o) She has been at Rolling Hills before (we met her before as well, but didn't have our camera - we didn't know she was going to be there!)... this time we came prepared! There was supposed to be a concert tonight @ 7p but since we had SNOW today they canceled it. :o(

Snow!

2008-12-14T18:34:00.000-08:00

We got snow this morning! Here is our trip to church...

When we got home from church (see MICHELLE TUMES POST!) we took Tana for a walk around our neighborhood... she made lots of 'yellow' snow. ;o) She was very excited!

Tana looking out unto our "winter wonderland"...

Christmas time!

2008-12-09T21:34:00.001-08:00

The fall decorations have been replaced ~ it's Christmas time!! We got a really full tree - it's a Noble Fir, but looks like a Douglas (because of how full it is)... it's really pretty. :o)

Put lights on the mantle...This is the Nativity set we don't talk about (big drama over this thing!) ~ long story that involved the in-laws and a pissed off Amy... ;o) Jason's great-uncle made this...
Got real holly from my friend Deborah (she has a tree in her back yard)...One of our neighbors did the 'rocks in the sink' thing ~ we thought it was cool so we copied them. :o) Up stairs in our hallway...Our wreath - I put a little sign in it every year ~ "Jingle all the way"Our welcome bucket outside our front door ~ I change it for every season...Our entry way...

Fall Decorating

2008-11-02T16:07:00.000-08:00

Well, it's official - it must be fall... I am into decorating and "nesting" for the winter weather. When Jason was gone a few weekend's ago at the Men's Retreat I rearranged the living room...

And finished a few projects - one of them was this frame that Tiffany gave me a few YEARS ago! Another was the baby quilt (see entry from 10/28 below)...
Just this weekend I added leaves that Jason and I picked last year (yes I actually kept real leaves for a full year to use again this year!) and the pods that Mom sent me from ND (they are from a Yucca plant we have out in the hills) - starting to feel like fall around here. :o)

Halloween

2008-11-01T16:00:00.000-07:00

Jason and I went to a Halloween party at one of his co-workers homes - here we are dressed up! Had fun with the long red hair... still finding it all over the bathroom and in the car! ;o)

Friday yet?

2008-10-28T13:18:00.000-07:00

Just one of those weeks... wish I could call in and say this...! ;o)

Quilt

2008-10-28T13:17:00.000-07:00

Finally finished the baby quilt for Sutton! Sent it off in the mail on Monday... Here is what it looks like all finished and ready to send!

Soccer Game

2008-10-25T16:34:00.000-07:00

Went to Bryce's soccer game on Saturday; last one of the season. We were about 5 minutes late... and missed Bryce scoring a goal. :o( It was still fun to watch her play and see her go after the ball! She's getting good!

BC Experience

2008-10-16T20:33:00.000-07:00

Just got back from 4 nights in SUNRIVER! Our company had an event "The Building Champions Experience" there for the past few days. We drove down Sunday Oct. 12th (left the office around 6:45a!) and just got back tonight (arrived at the office around 6p). Here are a few photos...

Meghan made us all cookies (they were SOOO yummy!), but Crystal couldn't have any (she's allergic to a lot of the ingredients) so she got super cool glasses! That's Tyler... sitting in a basket. Don't ask.
This is KB (Kristin) organizing Life Plan letters...
... and taking the bags to the coaches with Katie.This is Joel's little girl... she is SOOOOOOO cute! This is a shot at "opening ceremony"

Came back to the room on Wednesday to find Tiffany outside watching the deer. 4 deer were right outside our deck... 3 adults and 1 baby. :o) And of course our burger lunch in Bend today on the way home ~ it should be illegal to have this much fun with co-workers! Love you guys!

Car Accident

2008-10-11T16:20:00.000-07:00

Was out with Deborah today and got into a car accident. :o( A 14 year old on a dirt bike hit my driver side passenger door... he did not have a license, non street legal bike, going the wrong way on the street, not his bike... the kid was okay, but the car wasn't. Here are some pictures...

Here is the rental I had while my car was at Buckle's...

10 year college anti-reunion

2008-09-28T08:32:00.000-07:00

My college roomies and I just celebrated our "anti-reunion" reunion last week. Carrie came down from WA and Aquila came down from Winnipeg Canada to visit Alyson and I who are both in Portland. The four of us met for coffee at Common Grounds on Hawthorne, then did Sushi (okay, so Al and I did chicken and beef!) and walked around Hawthorne... see the cool shoes Quila found?! (not to mention the COOL shades!)We had to stop at Ben and Jerry's too...

Thursday was dinner at my house... with some roomate bonding (i.e. cracking each other's backs like we did in college!) Friday was Multnomah Falls and dinner at Alyson's house...

Yes... that is Carrie IN the tree. She climbed in the hard way (dang near ripped off her chest!)...Then Alyson climbed in over the top... Quil and I were the two smart ones! ;o) Look at Carrie's dog - she was so confused!Carrie with her dog Lucy - it was after sunset and we walked down into a cavern to look at some falls. Even though it was really dark the falls were still breathtaking...

New Baby!

2008-09-23T19:09:00.000-07:00

My friend Holly had a baby! Grace Mae Ann Murray - born 9/23/08 @ 5 something AM! Too cute... can't wait to hold her!
Ron works for a Limo company... the boss and his wife picked them up from the hospital in style!

2008-09-15T14:19:00.000-07:00

Jason starts practice with the Willamette Falls Symphony this week! http://www.willamettefallssymphony.org

Vacation Photos! Entry #3

2008-09-05T13:00:00.000-07:00

Okay... last one I promise! ;o)

Wednesday 8/27: We were supposed to head to Bozeman today, but those colds we got held us back a day. It was all good though - ANOTHER DAY AT THE FARM WITH MOM AND DAD! Dad was gone most of the day at REC (Rural Electric Co-op), so Mom rested a lot, Jason installed more computer memory on their computer, I put together a new chair for their office... and we just all kinda relaxed. It was a great day! (No pictures though)

Thursday 8/28: We got up early and had a great breakfast with Mom and Dad... and then we were off to Bozeman (back to Holly and Ron!). I took a picture of Mom, Dad, and their dog Sadie before we left though...Friday 8/29: We hung out with Holly and Ron - Ron gave Jason and I a ride in one of the Limo's he drives... (Ron took us to the salon where Holly works - she cut my hair!) This is the one we rode in...Here is Jason with the one of the others...

We spent the afternoon walking around downtown Bozeman (loved it!) and made TWO trips to the Leaf and Bean in the matter of a few hours. ;o) Had three trips total to the Leaf and Bean... man I miss that place! (Leaf and Bean is a cool little coffee shop in Bozeman http://www.leaf-bean.com/)

Saturday 8/30: Holly talked us into staying "one more day" - she and Ron took us to Yellowstone! Jason hadn't been there in 14 years... figured we were too close NOT to go! Here are some pics of the sites... (in no particular order)

Jason really wanted to see Elk...

Jason at one of the falls...

This is us at "Upper Falls"...

We saw bears... (hee, hee, hee)

This is me and Holly at "Lower Falls"...

I wanted to see Buffalo...

Us with our "tour guides"..."On the Road Again..."Jason being funny (though I didn't think it was really that funny). ;o)

Vacation Photos! Entry #2

2008-09-04T15:50:00.000-07:00

Vacation Update continued...

Thursday 8/21: We relaxed a bit. Jason hung out all day with Dad (they hauled hay and Jason got to combine!) and Mom and I headed into town. We had coffee with "Auntie Kay" and Mom got me my birthday present - a pattern and some fabric for a quilt! Not many pictures today, but here is one of dad unloading the hay at home, and one of a combine (that's a neighbor's combine - he's the one climbing down out of it).

Friday 8/22: MY 31st BIRTHDAY! We did some prep for the family reunion (that's tomorrow) and got the girls (Cierra and Brittni) and headed over to The Powder Keg - a GREAT pizza joint in Fairview MT. YUMMY! Got some candles from the girls and some cute Hoops and Yo-Yo (characters from Hallmark) from my hunny... including a mug that says "Pour me some liquid Love"! ;o) He also told me we can pick out an espresso machine soon as part of my gift! {No pictures today (at least not on our camera).}

Saturday 8/23: The Aamodt Family Reunion! What an amazing day - had my entire family on my dad's side at the farm. Here are some of the pics we took that day...

Sunday 8/24: We were all very tired from the reunion - we didn't do much. Rode 4-wheelers with the girls and hung out. Even got Tana to take a ride! :o)

Monday 8/25: We went to Sidney MT to see our reflexologist Julie. When we got home Dad, Jason, and I decided to move some cattle (on the 4 wheelers) - we all woke up sick the next day. :o(

Tuesday 8/26: We went to Minot to visit my mom's brother and his wife (Unlce Jon and Aunt Sharon) and their youngest daughter Roxy. Roxy is married and has 2 little kids - Nick and Abby. Before we went to see them, Jason and I stopped at the Scandinavian Heritage Center...
This is Jason and I with a duck that the Hans Christian Anderson statue is holding...

This is Jason and his new Scandinavian friend...

My Uncle Jon, Aunt Sharon, Jason, Roxy (holding little Abby), and me!

My Mom and her brother...

Vacation Photos! Entry #1

2008-09-03T12:19:00.000-07:00

We are back! Jason and I got back to our Oregon City home on Sunday August 31st. It was an AMAZING two weeks... we have so many photos! I decided to just pick a few of my favorites from each thing we did...

Friday 8/15: We left after Jason was done with work and headed to Spokane (no pictures)

Saturday 8/16: Driving to Bozeman, we saw a fire right on the interstate. Got the camera out just in time to catch the last little bit of it... Got to Holly and Ron's place that afternoon - just hung out.

Sunday 8/17: HOLLY'S BABY SHOWER! She got so many nice gifts! (I took pictures of every last one of them too, but I will spare you) Holly hates this picture cause she looks like she is grabbing her croutch, but I told her the 'baby bump' was too cute to not capture! That evening we went out (Holly, her hubby Ron, Jason, me, Charlene (one of Holly's friends who threw the shower, and Ron's boss Jesse and his wife Callie). Here is a pic of Holly, Char and I at MacKenzie River Pizza.

Monday 8/18: It is off to North Dakota! We drove 7 (ish) hours to the farm ~ the girls (Cierra and Brittni) were so excited to see us. And we were so excited to see the farm and everyone!

Tuesday 8/19: We all (Mom, Dad, Cierra, Brittni, Jason and I) headed to Medora! We look around town (this is a picture of a "hanging tree" - can guess why they call it that!?), went to the Cowboy Cafe for lunch, went through the Cowboy Hall of Fame/Museum, and took in the Medora Musical. Jason learned (started to learn) how to rope at the museum. Before the musical we had the "Pitchfork Fondue" (yes, those are huge chunks of meat on PITCHFORKS!) After the musical (about 11p) we came back to our hotel rooms - and found that 1/2 the rooms

were out of power! Mom, Dad and Brittni's room was dark - with no AC?! Luckily it had cooled off enough that night that they could survive with open windows.

Wednesday 8/20: We went through the Chateau de Mores http://www.nd.gov/hist/chateau/chateau.htm. The owner (Marquis de Mores) named the town after his wife Medora Von Hoffman. This is me and the nieces on the back porch.

Sick...

2008-08-13T13:00:00.000-07:00

It's been awhile... I've been sick. :o( Last week was a bad week for me... got a cold that took me down for a few days. I'm better now (not 100%, but better) and figured I best post something since we are going on vacation for TWO WEEKS! Yahoo ~ I'm so excited!

We are leaving Friday to drive home to ND. We are stopping in Bozeman, MT to see my friend Holly and her hubby (she is pregnant with their first baby). Can't wait to see the baby bump! Then it's on to ND...

We are going to Medora http://www.medora.com/ to see the sites (prob. stop in the North Unit of the Teddy Roosevelt Park too http://www.nps.gov/thro/). Doing the musical and pitchfork fondue for sure. ;o)

Jason is going to "HARVEST" for the first time! I will try to take pics so I can post my little 'country boy' when we return. :o)

Going to celebrate birthday #31 at home, followed by a family reunion the next day! First time the whole family on that side will be together (with all the spouses and children). Probably up to Minot to see the other side of the family as well...

Will be a full two weeks, but very fun!

Pinwheel Quilt

2008-07-29T09:12:00.000-07:00

Tonight is the last Oasis class at Rolling Hills. Oasis is a women's ministry event where women gather, share a meal (and a short 'program'), and then go off to various classes they have chosen to work on a project.

I am in the "Stack and Whack" class (i.e. quilting) and we are all making pinwheel quilts. This pic is not my quilt, but it gives you an idea of what it will look like... mine is in BRIGHT colors - pinks, blues, yellows, reds - and has hats and hat boxes all over it. It's a fun pattern, but for some reason my pinwheels aren't turning out "correct". I must not have pinned them ("Stacked") well enough before cutting ("Whacked")... oh well. I will finish it up and do an easy quilt (probably just sew straight lines or something) and have it as a picnic throw. Definitely not worthy of a gift. :o(

Jason's Grandpa

2008-07-28T13:16:00.000-07:00

We had a memorial for Jason's Grandpa on Sunday. He was 91 years old! He had lived a good life and was ready to go Home...

I never knew him before the dementia set in, but he used to talk about wanting to be gone when we'd go over to their apartment. He was ready to be with the Lord!

The service was very nice - a great time of reflection and sharing of memories. It was good for me to hear the stories and really 'get to know him' through the lives he touched. Jason played a trumpet duo with a guy he knows - it was beautiful! One of his cousins played the flute and 2 other cousins sang a duet. It was a great tribute to their grandpa - he would have been so proud!

Are you saving gas?

2008-07-25T15:16:00.001-07:00

We have lost Randy Pausch

2008-07-25T09:10:00.000-07:00

The beloved professor that was responsible for famous "The Last Lecture" video circling the Internet has passed away from pancreatic cancer. www.theLastLecture.com

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=4614281&page=1

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080725/ap_en_ot/obit_pausch

Made to Stick

2008-07-22T15:18:00.000-07:00

We have been reading "Made to Stick" at work. This week it is my turn to present... Chapter 5 "Emotional". It is a really good book so far. A very easy read - with great points. I highly recommend it.

http://www.madetostick.com/

Softball Tourney!

2008-07-21T09:44:00.000-07:00

Wow! Jason had a softball tourney this weekend - started at 8a Saturday and we didn't leave the park until almost 8p! He played with Mt. Scott Church of God (his old team) and had a blast. His legs however didn't necessarily agree... his quads started hurting during the 3rd game (out of 5). I ran home to grab his thigh brace and some ACE bandages - which helped, but still wasn't enough to let him run his THREE homers (he was only able to get to third). On one of his homers - he broke his metal bat! (We are keeping that baby!)

Had a great time (took not one picture!) and even managed NOT to get burned.

Dilbert

2008-07-18T09:45:00.000-07:00

Team Photo!

2008-07-09T12:28:00.000-07:00

We decided to do a team photo as part of Lynne's birthday and Nicole's last week with us. Here is how they turned out (thanks to Tyler! http://www.wilsonriverphotography.com/WR%20Photography.html) ...

Happy Fourth of July!

2008-07-04T12:32:00.000-07:00

2008-07-02T09:32:00.000-07:00

Running, running, running. Why do we let life get this way?

I feel like there are always so many things to do...

Work

Hobbies

Tasks

Chores

Personal Email

Facebook

Blogging...

...I feel as though I am running in circles!

How do you get everything done?

My hobbies and things I would like to do pile up as I try to balance it all.

But who am I to complain... I have a wonderful husband, a beautiful home, a steady income, and enough food on the table every single day. I wake up not worried about bombings or murder outside my front door. I feel safe and secure in my neighbor and rarely worry about the thought of losing my life or someone I love.

As I write this I receive an email from a co-worker...

10 Thoughts from Fred Smith

1. Hurt opens the heart – Often the best and maybe the only time a person will open up to help is when the hurt is too great to bear alone.

2. Gratitude cures depression – There is no stronger medicine for depression than genuine gratitude. If we find ourselves saying, “Yes, but,” we are not fully grateful. The truly grateful say, “Yes! Yes!” The Bible says, “In all things be grateful.” When it says, all – it means all.

3. Sit loose to things – Oswald Chambers is not against having things, nor enjoying them. But he is against getting so stuck to them that if they go, they take you with them. So long as you own them and not vice versa, everything is in right perspective. Develop the “sit loose to things” reflex.

4. Beware the spirit of fear – There is a great difference in being perpetually afraid, and having specific fears. It is alright to have particular fears, but not the spirit of fear. Our general disposition is not to be one of constant fear. “I have not given you the spirit of fear, but of love and of a sound mind.” Is your first reaction to every situation fear? It doesn’t have to be. You have a Promise to shield you.

5. The power of bonding – Experts tell us the greatest benefit of gang membership for kids is bonding – the sense of family and someone to stand with them in trouble. The church should be our bonding fellowship. We should share sufferings and provide acceptance for good. We should all be bonded as fellow members of the body of Christ --- that is the true bond.

6. The power of light – We dread the dark, but it has no power. It can’t put out the smallest candle, or even a flicker of light. There is no darkness so deep that a tiny light cannot penetrate it. Christ is the eternal lamplighter and He will re-light your lamp, no matter how small or how unused it has become. Darkness never owns the light; light always overcomes the dark.

7. Enjoy the challenge of change – Every situation is either a challenge or a threat. To the confident it is a challenge; to the fearful it is a threat. The situation is the same, but the reaction is different. Would you like to change from threat to challenge? View every new potentially threatening experience as an experiment. Be objective like a reporter and become interested in watching yourself go through the experience. Gain understanding as you step outside yourself.

8. New Age is old stuff – It is like the late night advertisement for wallets made out of “genuine synthetic leather.” Its promises have no guarantor. The Bible promises are the promissory notes given and guaranteed by God. New Age gives claims to a promised land they do not own…they are spiritual squatters.

9. The beauty of balance – All things in moderation – fanatical about nothing – everything getting its due – and everything in its season. A time for everything, even winning and losing.

10. We are promised ultimate victory – There is no sudden success. Ours is ultimate joy even while going through hardship and struggle. We look forward in hope , but we do not hope in hope. Our hope is in the promises of God and in the life of Christ.

Just what I need to hear from God! Thanks for the reminder Kevin!

Been there... done that!

2008-06-23T17:52:00.000-07:00

After am eventful weekend - Jason and I put Mom, Dad, Cierra, and Brittni on the plane bound for Billings MT. From there my family will drive back to the farm. While they were here we went to the coast (Newport) and saw the two lighthouses, the aquarium, and the waterfront. Ate at Moe's (Cierra had a HAMBURGER and Brittni had CHICKEN!) - the rest of us enjoyed FISH. :o) Here are a few shots of us at the coast... and at Oaks Park...

Family!

2008-06-18T18:41:00.001-07:00

Well it is less than 24 hours until my parents and my nieces will be here! Just talked to Mom, Cierra and Brittni... they are getting excited to be here - and we are getting excited to have them! This is the only picture I have of the girls together... it's 3 years old (from our wedding)! Cierra is now 14 and Brittni is now 10...

The Grand Floral

2008-06-09T19:43:00.000-07:00

Then Saturday a.m. was The Grand Floral. Tana and I went to cheer for 'daddy'...

Tana checking out the ships.

Tana waiting for Daddy (she was BORED!) ... and here he comes!

Isn't he cute?! :O)

Look at the Clydesdale puppy!?!

Then Tana and I ran up and met the band for a photo opp...

After dad went by, Tana was ready to go home! ;o)

Concert at the Park

2008-06-09T19:31:00.000-07:00

Friday night Jason performed in the "Concert at the Park"... it was good. A few okay bands, a few AMAZING bands, and one HUGE band! Jason's parents and I went to watch - the two best bands (not counting OMTAAMB of course!) were the Calgary Showband and the Pipestone Area Marching Band.

Calgary (above) and Minnesota (below)

And then there is the One More Time Around Again Marching Band...
500 Members Strong!
... and my hunny. :o)

Rose Festival

2008-06-05T08:30:00.000-07:00

Last week was the Starlight...

And this week is... the GRAND FLORAL! And as usual... the weather looks yucky! ;o)

Concert at the Park is tomorrow night (http://www.rosefestival.org/events/concert/) and then Grand Floral on Saturday (http://www.rosefestival.org/events/grandfloralparade/)... Jason has been preping for the last few months. Can't wait to see him marching in the band!

http://www.omtaamb.org/index.html

Root Canal #2!

2008-05-28T08:43:00.000-07:00

Oh boy... more root canal fun! Again my Novocaine wore off... this time he decided to give me more. In theory that is good right? Well instead of a mouth full of chlorine/bleach, this time I got a mouth full of novocaine! I can't wait till I need another root canal?!

Memorial Day Weekend

2008-05-22T12:23:00.000-07:00

One more day - till our CAMPING TRIP! We are heading to Washington with our Community Group from church to hang out for the Memorial Day weekend. We got a 7 man tent for our wedding but hadn't used it... so Sunday we set it up and had a camp out in our backyard - Tana and all! ;o)

So glad we got the big tent! This will be nice if we ever have a family and/or if we want to share a tent with another couple. Jason and I were laughing however at how they think SEVEN people would fit in it?! Maybe if you had no supplies with you it would work...?!

Quilting & Concerts!

2008-05-14T21:01:00.000-07:00

I am so excited... my friend Joyce (went to Mississippi with her) is taking me "Quilt shop hopping" on Friday! She called tonight and told me that The Pine Needle in Lake Oswego (http://www.pineneedlequiltshop.com/) is having a 'reception' on Friday - food, music, discounts! What more could a girl ask for?! ;o) Here is one of the quilts they have on their website - it is adorable! Should be tons of fun!!

Then on Saturday, Jason has a concert in Newberg (@ George Fox) with the Portland Community Wind Band that he is in. In 2 weeks (May 31st) he has the Starlight (with One More Time Around Again Marching Band) and then Concert in the Park (June 6th) and the Grand Floral on Saturday, June 7th. Phew! That's a lot of playing for Jason (and a lot of watching for me!). He has been practicing like a maniac! Here are pics from last years Concert in the Park... all that yellow - yep, that's the OMTAAMB!! :o) Can you find Jason? ;o)

Root Canal!

2008-05-09T09:28:00.001-07:00

Oh boy... had a root canal yesterday. Had a great time, let me tell you!? Ended up swallowing this chlorine based product (tasted like bleach!) and felt like I was going to throw up for the rest of the procedure. Then my Novocaine wore off, last 5 minutes were less than pleasant! The best news... I get to go back in 2 weeks to have them finish what the started!

Only soft foods for me for awhile... anyone know any good baby food recipes?!

2008-05-07T19:53:00.000-07:00

What does a dawg have to do to get some COFFEE around here?

Three years?!

2008-05-02T15:13:00.000-07:00

Wow... three years I've been married to an incredible man. How blessed am I?! Jason and I celebrated our third anniversary on Wednesday (April 30). We can hardly believe it's been three years... you know what they say... "time flies when you're having fun"! :o)

We are headed to the coast this weekend (our annual anniversary trip) to spend some R&R time at Daniel's beach rental in Pacific City... and reflect on our relationship; the past, the present, and our future.

2008-04-29T15:40:00.000-07:00

Article found on http://www.ncwn.com/

02:20 PM PDT on Tuesday, April 29, 2008
By KING5.com Staff
Mount St. Helens Web-cam
An online "volcano-cam" broadcasts near real-time images of Mount St. Helens. On April 29, someone placed a gnome in front of the camera. Its image is shown here.

An unusual visitor stopped by Mount St. Helens Tuesday.

Someone placed a gnome in front of the webcam at the Johnston Ridge Observatory. The camera broadcasts near real-time images of the mountain online, recorded at an elevation of roughly 4,500 feet.

The folks at Mount St. Helens aren't sure how the gnome got there. They say anyone can get to the area on skis.

The webcam is about 5 miles from the volcano itself.

http://www.nwcn.com/statenews/washington/stories/NW_042908WAB_gnome_mount_saint_helens_KS.b09a1021.html

7 Habits

2008-04-24T21:30:00.000-07:00

We have been reading "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People" at work... tomorrow is my turn to present. I have Habit #7 - "Sharpen the Saw" (basically taking time to renew yourself and invest time and energy into bettering yourself). He talks about Physical, Spiritual, Mental, and Social/Emotional renewal. I have been working on the Spiritual renewal, now need to switch gears and look at how I can start strengthening the other three. :o)

Armoire!!

2008-04-23T07:14:00.000-07:00

Monday night we picked up our ARMOIRE! Yep, we finally got one... and you'll never guess where we got it. Pier 1 - we got the Shanghi Armoire we wanted!!

Someone had purchased the last one down in Wilsonville, but never came to pick it up. Pier 1 called, and they decided not to take it - so we did! :o)

It is taller than we thought (but that's good!) and much darker than the picture; more of a dark espresso finish - we are really happy with it... (and we only had to pay $349 bucks for it!). Yippee! Thanks be to God - this is an answer to our prayers!

Eventful weekend

2008-04-21T12:58:00.000-07:00

First off... I survived Friday night with the in-laws! ;o) It was really good to see Jason's aunt Mary. She brought us (okay really just ME) some coffee from Guatemala! Mmm, mmm, mmm!

Saturday started with a detoxifying ionic foot bath over in Gresham... yes it does look like that (actually a little worse!)!! We got junk from our livers and joints and some yucky minerals out of our system!It looks really, really gross, but your feet feel SOOO good when it's done. :o) After the bath, we headed home to get ready for company.

We had Joyce and John over for dinner and cards. They are so much fun! Joyce is aForensic Artist and has the best stories!! Jason and I even got to go check out some of her sketches from past cases. Really neat to see how she can help find criminals by sketching faces from victims recollections. She also creates clay faces/heads when human remains are found. It is amazing how much information a skull can give you - male or female, black or white, young or old... we look forward to more dinners with them. :o)

Sunday we went to church and Community Group. Had another night of great discussion. :o)

Dinner at the In-laws

2008-04-18T15:56:00.000-07:00

Jason's aunt Mary is in town from Alaska (Max couldn't make it this time), so we are headed over to Bob and Lynetta's for supper tonight. Not sure who all is coming, but should be a full evening - I'm sure we will be playing games after we eat. :o)

I'm pretty sure Grammie will be there, so I am planning on taking the baby quilt I'm working on with me to show her! The two of us still need to get together and stitch our names in the quilt we did together (I made the top with my friend Wendy while we were in Prineville and then Grammie quilted it after Jason and I got married).

Got to go get ready... Denal National Park in Alaska

Got Curry?

2008-04-16T15:47:00.000-07:00

Well... Alyson and I were going to meet at "Got Curry?" tonight over in Milwaukie... but they are closed for remodeling.
Now where are we going to go to get our Tikka Masala fix?!

Oregon Symphony

2008-04-15T13:13:00.000-07:00

http://www.orsymphony.org/

Thanks to my boss Dan, Jason and I got tickets to Oregon Symphony's Mozart Clarinet Concerto last night. Dan and his wife Ann are season ticket holders and weren't able to attend last night's performance (lucky us!). It was great! Sharon Kam was the featured guest clarinet... amazing!

http://www.sharonkam.de/index.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xr3aB4v8hXI

Tax Day!

2008-04-15T07:07:00.001-07:00

The adventures of Deborah and Amy

2008-04-10T08:54:00.000-07:00

Oh boy... where do I start?! We have WAY TOO MUCH FUN together! Met up last night for coffee at the mall... walked around and talked for two-and-a-half hours. Went to our cars around 9p only to find that Deborah's lights were on. Yep... you guessed it, no juice! And of course I have to have a car where you can't access the battery (it's under a plastic cover that only God Himself could open! I have tried to open it before with no luck). Deborah went to call her husband... but oops! No cell phone. ;o) Luckily I had mine, so I called to let Pat know that we were 'dead in the water' outside Barnes & Noble. We wondered around B&N for a few minutes while we waited for Pat to show up. After about an hour-and-a-half Pat was finally able to get it to start (what was wrong? we aren't 100% sure! we think it was the battery, but it should have had enough juice to work?!). Needless to say - we had a GREAT time last night! :o)

Pat our hero!

Rescue

2008-04-08T13:43:00.000-07:00

Wow! What an awesome weekend I had... went to Canby Grove Conference Center with my friend Deborah for a Women's Retreat thru her church. Got me thinking about my "passion" and the talents, gifts, and abilities that God has blessed me with. Pastor Dale (our Pastor at Rolling Hills) just did a two week series on the Spiritual Gifts (mine are definitely "Helps" and "Administration") that tied in nicely with the Women's Retreat as well. I have now promised myself that I will look into my natural talents/abilities and seek training, classes, and opportunites to better those gifts.

Sunday after church we met with our Community Group (How did we get so lucky? Our group is amazing!). We are going thru Total Truth by Nancy Pearcey - tons of info (feels like text book reading). We are learning lots!

Sunday evening we went to New Hope to the CD release concert for Rescue. They are amazing! Jason introduced me to them a few years ago... they are so talented and are so much fun to watch! See their links under "check it out" at the bottom of my blog for more info...

Armoire?

2008-04-02T11:57:00.001-07:00

Who would have thought it would be SO hard to find a decent armoire in the city of Portland?! Jason and I have been looking for a TV armoire for weeks now and have found nothing... well, okay that isn't entirely true.

We found one we liked at Wicks going-out-of-business sale, bought it, arranged to have it delivered, and found out the morning of the delivery that SURPRISE they didn't have a complete one (they had two bottom halves). We quickly arranged a 'refund' and were back to searching the metro area for something to our liking.

The last two weekends have been filled with roaming around town trying to 'stumble' upon something we like (style), something that fits (size), something that works (functionality), and something that won't break the bank (price range)! No, small task! We actually found one that would have been perfect (style... check!; size... check!; functionality... check!; price range... check!) but as luck would have it - discontinued! It was the Shanghi style armoire at Peir 1. We have searched craigslist and tried to find one close by... the closest one we could find is in Olympia. Jason is/was less than thrilled to drive a couple of hours for an armiore (that we really don't know the condition of). So... back to the internet and weekends spent roaming...

At least I don't have to "Roam alone"! I take Jason! ;o)

Life is too short...

2008-03-26T08:50:00.000-07:00

Okay… it’s been a week and a half, guess I should do an update huh?! :O) Things have been good for us! We can’t ever complain though – we are both (relatively!) health, have good jobs, a beautiful new home, and love each other more today than we did the day we got married.

Speaking of which it has been almost 3 years (April 30th)! We can hardly believe we have been ‘hitched’ that long. In some ways it feels like I’ve known him forever (hard to remember what life was like before him) and in others it feels like I just met him (wish we would have met earlier in life). We do our best to cherish every day. It seems that there are so many things going on in our world today (wars/fighting, natural disasters, illness/death) that keep pointing me toward Heaven and the brevity of life.

One such example is a man named Randy Pausch. I’m sure a lot of you are familiar with this name – he was recently on Oprah and gave his “Last Lecture”. He was a professor at Carnegie Mellon University and was part of their “Last Lecture Series” – a series in which professors prepared (and gave) a lecture as if they hypothetically only had a year or so to live. Well, in Randy’s case it wasn’t so hypothetical. Randy has pancreatic cancer and, at last I checked, only a few months to live. This man is an incredible inspiration – here are a few sites that showcase this wonderful man:

Last Lecture was given at Carnegie Mellon University on September 18, 2007.
Wall Street Journal article: http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB119024238402033039.html
Here is his home page: http://download.srv.cs.cmu.edu/~pausch/
Update page (gives updates on his condition): http://download.srv.cs.cmu.edu/~pausch/news/index.html
Lecture Series info (if you want to view or order a copy): http://www.cmu.edu/randyslecture/
An early web page (some of the links really show his sense of humor!): http://download.srv.cs.cmu.edu/~pausch/Randy/oldRandyPage.html
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Randy_Pausch
Public service announcement he did: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EvhkBUnxeQ

What? I have a blog?!

2008-03-14T09:27:00.000-07:00

I can't believe I am acutally doing this! I thought I would NEVER do one of these, but after reading Natalee Warren's page (thanks Nat - it's ALL your fault! ;o) !!) I thought I should do one.

I will keep this short - don't want to over do it the first time. ;op