Ryan, Ally & Makinlee DeClerck

Here's what we've been up to

2011-12-30T14:36:00.000-08:00

Since Makinlee was born, I have taken a ton of pictures but haven't posted any. Don't really know what I was waiting for really. SO without any further waiting, here is what we've been up to around our house with a new baby.

Daddy catching some shuteye...

Don't mind the date stamp, haven't figured out how to change it yet...

Big boy cousins Nixon (left) and Dawson

The DeClerck side of the family had a reunion this summer and Great Grandma DeClerck came over to portland from La Grande. It was great to get all the family, cousins and everyone together!

Gerti DeClerck with her Newest Great Granddaughter.. Kinlee!

Gerti and Kinlee only 2 weeks old!

After the Reunion on the DeClerck side of the family, we also took Kinlee to this years Warrior Dash up at Hornings Hideout. Ryan and I ran this crazy 3 mile race last year. Sadly, we were just spectators this year. Hopefully we will be up for being Warriors again next year!

Labor day weekend we went swimming at my dad's condo, poor kinlee is not a fan of cool water!

We also walked in the Susan G Komen Race for a Cure in September. Kinlee and daddy in PINK

our little Pink Warrior

Real men wear their babies. Our favorite way to pack around the baby

Kinlee Cuddle time

Pumpkin patch fun!

Griowing up so fast! Happy Thanks Giving!

Kinlee on Christmas morning. We had her blessed in church and she looks just like the Christmas tree topper Angle!

When I get around to it I will post all the pictures of the fall and winter things we have done

Falling leaves...a big fat hole

2011-10-12T11:25:00.000-07:00

In my heart that is. I dis like this time of year greatly. The ugliness that comes after fall depresses me. The turning colors of the leaves, the cool mornings and warm afternoons, the crunchy sound the leaves make on the sidewalks, all things about fall that I loved growing up. Sadly living in thee NW, that doesn't seem to be the case for fall. Yes the leaves still turn pretty colors. But it happens later and later every year, and doesn't last as long because it starts so late. The cool mornings around here, turn into cool afternoons. And there is no crunchy sound of leaves when everything is soggy! soggy rainy grass, soggy leaves, soggy pumpkins. SOGGY.

I feel a little happier about the changing seasons this year than I normally would because this year, I have the sweetest pumpkin ever to share everything with. And its a year of firsts. Baby's first fall, Baby's first Halloween. It's much easier to put a smile on your face and wade through soggy fields to find a pumpkin when you know how cute your baby will look sitting inside it!

Ryan surprised us with an early Christmas present last night. I'm very excited to say we are the owners of a new computer. Really its just a new tower, but what a world of difference it has made already. Our old tower was a self built model that got Ryan through college, 8 years ago. It made the office sound like a helicopter would be landing outside any minute. It also was so old, that I couldn't download Itunes on it. Not a great thing when you have an Iphone that must have access to Itunes to be used well.

It has a ton of great features and I'm so excited to be able to get all the pictures of my sweet baby, and the fun things Ryan and I did prior to baby up. So be ready for lots of catch-up posts this week!

photo opt

2011-09-18T14:21:00.000-07:00

Makinlee had her pictures taken when she was 4 days old by amazingly talented friend and co-worker Jill. (You can find her on face book under See Jill Run Photography.) We had a great time and Im so happy that we had this chance to capture her amazing newborn days at home. Here are some of my favorites.

First family photo

Chipmunk Cheeks

Tiny little head

Mommy and her angle

Daddy's little girl on the tractor for the first of many occasions

Thank you a million times over to Jill Browning for her talents and time away from her own family to be with ours. It was an amazing day, and one I won't soon forget.

The Grand Entrance

2011-08-22T16:03:00.000-07:00

I figure if I don't hurry and write it all down, i will forget every little detail that seems so crystal clear right now.
Week 35 of pregnancy started off a little on the rough side. I was at work on Monday morning like always, doing my job when I started to notice that I was getting pretty consistent contractions. Consistent and painful enough for me to take notice and start timing. By lunch time I was having more than 5 in an hour and called my doc, who of course always just says, come in and lets check it out.

I went in and was monitored on the NST for a while and they could watch the contractions. I was 70% effaced and getting soft and ready for labor. Doctor told me I could go back to work and just take it easy. Probably just Braxton Hicks contractions and I would be fine. Monday night at home was terrible. Awful painful contractions every 15 minutes or so. No appetite, nausea and I couldn't sleep to save my life. Tuesday at work, I left an hour into my day to go home and attempt to sleep. Trying to not go into "real Labor" as I was only 35 weeks along which is not full term and baby just isn't ready yet. By wednesday I was feeling much better and worked the rest of my work week.. Thursday night when Ryan got home from work we had a good dinner and went to bed later than usually after staying up to watch a movie.

I woke up at 2:20am needing to potty, as many pregnant women who can't sleep through the night do, and my water broke. I stood next to the bed totally soaking the floor and having no real idea what I was supposed to do next. I woke Ryan up and told him what had happened. He was so good. Calm and ready to take action. We called the hospital to tell them we were on our way in, then called my mom, (at home in Utah 800 miles away) and told her to get in the car and start driving. I wasn't currently contracting and thought as this is my first child it could be a long day of labor.

We got to the hospital about 3:30am and were put in a Triage room where the nurses have to verify that Im really in labor and my water really was broken. Bad idea. The nurse who did the exam told me that there was no evidence of water breaking and I had probably just not made it to the bathroom in time. Looks like they were sending me home. By this time i was contracting again and i was in a lot of pain. The nurse said i was to early for them to induce labor, but they would watch me for an hour or so and see if i made progress on my own. If i did, they could admit me and we could have the baby today, if not, i was being sent home to wait for real labor.

The only problem was, the nurse didn't believe i was in labor yet and wanted me to hydrate myself so she kept pushing me to drink more water, drink more water, take a sip of water between contractions. Well, any women in labor, or who has been through labor before knows that drinking or eating can make you nauseous and want to puke, which is exactly what happened to me. I got so sick i was crying from the contractions and vomiting between them. The nurse returned to check me at 5:30a and said i had dialted and they could admit me. So off to a real labor room we went.

Just before 7 am my doctor came to round and said I could finally have the epidural, just wanted to check me first and see where I was. In less then an hour I had gone from 2cm to 9 1/2 and ready to push. The epidural lady came in and started her thing, which took way longer than I ever thought possible. Im sure it wasn't really that long, but it felt like it to me. In the middle of what she was doing I felt the urge to start pushing which scared me pretty bad. Knowing you can't move while they place the epi, and feeling like your baby is going to drop right out is not comforting at all.

Sadly after 2 &1/2 hours of pushing baby girl got stuck. She was sunny-side up, which is upside down for a proper delivery, and her head was tilted just a little bit to the right so she was not gonna make it through. After trying and trying to rotate her and make it work we opted to stop trying and save her from any more swelling on her little head and me from un-needed stress of doing the impossible.

Makinlee DeClerck was born 8/5/11 at 11:49am by C-section. 6lbs 9oz, 18.5 inches long and brown hair. With my amazingly supportive husband Ryan by my side we survived the surgery and i even got to do skin to skin with my baby girl just a minute after they got her out. It was the best of both worlds.

My mom made it to Oregon just as we were moved from recovery to the post partum floor. We were in the hospital until Monday afternoon. My mom was able to be here with us for 9 days. I can never say thank you enough for all the help she and my little brother and sister gave us. Perfect little baby, perfect little family!

From counting UP...to counting DOWN

2011-07-21T15:57:00.000-07:00

Saturday will mark 34 weeks. Its an exciting day in the grand scheme of things and I must admit there were many times in the last few months that I never thought I would make it to this point.

The week of the 4th, we had family over on Sunday to celebrate my Mother in-laws birthday. I woke up not feeling real great, but screwed on the smile and greeted family and played Host the nephews and enjoyed a good day. I had a sudden attack of nausea that left me running for the bathroom, only to end violently vomiting. It only happened once, and I seemed to feel much better once it was over with. Family left, we cleaned up the house and laid down to rest on the couch for a while. Ryan notice as i was going to bed that night that I had a very large, dark purple spot in the corner of my left eye. Nothing to worry about, I figured if I couldn't feel it, it was fine.

The next day at work, I had another sudden nausea/ vomiting attack. I called my Dr. at the request of the nurse's i work with. "Come over and let us check you out", the constant response anytime I call on them. So, over I went. I was put on the NST monitor again to watch little Bambina and see how she was doing. Her heart rate started in the 120's and never got any higher. about 10 minutes into the monitoring the heart rate started to have "variables" which basically means the heart rate was dropping down into the low 90-80's. Not a good thing. It was happening repeatedly in the monitoring. I ended up having to have another Ultrasound, and the drops in heart rate were being seen again there. Dr. was not thrilled but was unsure how significant it was. His plan for me.... off the labor at delivery at the hospital for extended monitoring. I was admitted to the triage room at St Vincent hospital and hooked up the NST monitor all over again. Ryan came as soon as he got of work and waited with me. He is such a great man and will be an amazing father. Lots of waiting and watching the strip print out of the machine. Bambina did not have any more heart decels while i was being watched and they let us go home after about 4 hours. Again on strict instructions to drink plenty of water and rest as much as possible.

Week by week I wait and wonder. This child may just be the death of me before she even arrives. Thankfully, baby has been very happy and well behaved since the trip to the hospital. I'm still seeing the Dr. weekly and having testing done at every visit. the goal is to make it all the way to 39wks. we shall see.

Maternity Pictures

2011-07-18T12:11:00.000-07:00

I have a friend who just hapens to be an amazing photographer. She is starting up her own business on the side and I was happy to be her willing modle for some maternity pictures. We had them done the weekend of the 4th at a park in North Portland called Catherdral Park. Its a really nice random park underneath the St. John's bridge. I was 31 weeks at the time and Jill did an amazing job. Here are some of my Favorites.

We had excellently hot weather and I spent the whole time trying not to glisten... Ya right. We also had some funny pictures taken of the dogs, and an attempt at a family Picture.

My Big beautiful beast Harley, 16 months, and Kiya, 8 months.

Can't ya just see what a big happy family this is going to be very soon?

Baby blog....Turned Journal

2011-06-29T17:14:00.000-07:00

I have had many people in the last few weeks ask me if i was writing down everything about this pregnancy. Keeping track for posterity and what have you. I thought i was. "I have a blog" I tell people. Sad truth of the matter is, I have a blog that is lucky to see a monthly entry.

While i try to explain away my slackerness, I will just start writing. And keep writing until this little bambina decides to grace the world with her presence.

I turned 30 weeks pregnant last week, and promptly spent the rest of the week at home on bed rest.... Yet again. It started last week on Wednesday when shortly after lunch time I realized that I hadn't felt her moving much at all. After much prodding and prying from the loving nurses I work with, I finally called in to my Dr's office. I was asked to come right over and be seen. So that's what I did thinking the whole way there that it would just be a simple check for heart beat and back to work I would go.

I was put on the NST monitor, or Non- Stress Test machine where they watch babies heart beat and the uterus for any activity like contractions. In a normal test in someone 30+ weeks along, the strip should show baby's heart rate increase a small amount 3-4 times in a 20-30 minute time period. Bambina failed this test miserably. Her heart rate remained low and steady the whole time. I was ushered into and Ultrasound room for a scan of baby that would look at her Biophysical Profile. Basically watching her gross muscle movement, muscle tone, amniotic fluid level and her diaphragm for breathing movement practice. she gets 2 points a piece for each of these things, and she has to show them to the US tech in a 30 minute time period. she narrowly passed this test. Her fluid level should be between 10-20 at this time, and we were rockin it right at 9.7. The very low end of normal, I was told. And on top of the low fluid thing, it took baby the whole half hour and some vibration stimulator thing to make her do the breathing movement.

SO needless to say, I was stressed out, and then told by my lovely DR. that I was being sent home with strict instructions to lay low and drink PLENTY of fluids. that's the only way to build up amniotic fluid. Great, two more days off work that I don't need and a whole lot of time on my hands to sit and stew about baby and what could or could not be wrong with her.

I was allowed back to work on Monday after a restful weekend laying on my couch drinking more water than the lake can hold. Baby was nice and active all weekend and I wasn't to worried about her by the time i went back to work Monday. By Tuesday at 11am, I facing Deja Vu! Baby was again not moving at all! I hadn't felt her move since going to bed on Monday night.

Doing what the Dr.'s and nurses had told me last week at my impromptu appointment I call them again to tell them, she was MIA in movement. Back to the office I went. more NST's and another US after she failed the test yet again. On the bright side this time, her fluid level was up a little bit just over 10. so the rest and hydration was doing its job slowly but surely.

Its so very frustrating to worry about something that A- you have absolutely no control over in the long run, B- you can't see to check on or have any sort of reassurance, and C- that the Dr.'s seem to think all will be fine when you feel like your little world is falling apart.

So, here I am, wishing there was a window into the womb.... 37 weeks can't come soon enough

Headaches + Pregnancy = MISERABLE mama

2011-06-03T15:50:00.000-07:00

I always knew that being Diabetic would add challenges to being pregnant. I accepted this with the first positive test and I have become accustomed to the twice daily injections and all the finger sticks to check my sugar. I've even gotten used to missing out on dessert and staying away from the carbs I so dearly love. What I was not prepared for, however, is the ever growing list of things that have made this pregnancy more than memorable and not for the best reasons.

Having to been seen emergent-ly at 15 weeks for bleeding, never a good thing. Being sent home from work for a week on bed rest at 23 weeks because of high blood pressure, never a good thing. And then there has been this week. 27 weeks pregnant and I have been fighting a Migraine headache so bad I'm going cross-eyed. I have a list of medications and home remedies to try, as headaches can be a common symptom of pregnancy. However, after the first 5 or 6 that make you nauseous and cause blurry vision you start asking for something a little stronger from the Dr. At first we assumed that the headaches were related to the Diabetes and I would get less headaches if the blood sugar was in better control. Then it was bad headaches because the blood pressure was to high. Now both of those two oppositions are well controlled I have no excuse for the headache that its rapidly approaching the end of day 2 with me.

After fighting through blurry vision and dizzy spells at work for a day, i finally got up the nerve to call the doctor. Nothing is ever and easy phone call with them, so half an hour later, I was sitting in an exam room waiting to see the big man. Hearing the nurse tell you that you have gained almost 5 lbs in a week when I've gone almost 28 weeks and only gained 9 total is shocking and disturbing. That's about the same amount of fluid an average IV fluid bag holds. Swelling in my lower legs and feet was starting to show, to the point of being able to push on my calf and have your finger print stick around a while. I was given two options. Go to Labor and Delivery at the hospital and get started on IV fluids and IV pain medication to get on top of the headache, or get sent home with Narcotic's and strict instructions to rest, as well as being started on blood pressure medication. I choose option #2 and went home, or rather straight to the pharmacy to drop off the new list of medications to be filled.

Somewhere, I'm sure, there is a breaking point in me. Luckily I haven't found it. I'm ready for baby to make this easy for mama. I'm having a very hard time this week imagining why women would ever want to go through this more than once. If you have any idea's, or words of encouragement to help me realize my lot is not that bad, and I'm sailing through pregnancy more easily than other women, I'm all ears!

learning to take it "EASY"

2011-05-09T14:48:00.000-07:00

Every pregnancy has its hiccups, as i was so comfortingly told by my Dr. last week. You just have to roll with the punches and learn to listen to your body, and Learning I am.
After a busy day at work on Monday i called the Dr. to let them know what my sugars had been over the last week, and mentioned some cramping and pressure i was having at the end of the day. Silly me to think it would just be pushed aside and i could continue on my merry way. After confirming with the on call Dr. I was sent for monitoring at 5pm. After a quick Ultrasound to check on baby and make sure all was well, i had to see the Dr. My blood pressure had sky rocketed. 150/90. i was told to go home and rest, and check my pressure again in the morning.

After our staff meeting the next morning, I had my manager check my pressure again. 158/94. Needless to say I was sent home from work with strict instructions to lay low and rest, no work, house or otherwise and to follow up with the Dr. again on Friday. So after a few tears, and trying to make sure my shifts for the week were covered, i went home.

Its very difficult to rest. Being laid up on the couch when you don't feel bad is so hard. It was a major lesson in patience. I am so very thankful for my husband and all the extra he did around the house while i was unable to do it. I am also so very grateful for the amazing friends i have that checked up on me and made sure i was surviving.

Thankfully my appointment on Friday morning went great. My pressure is back down to normal and i was ok'd to go back to work under strict instructions that I check my blood pressure often and take it as easy as possible.
Today's the first day back, wish me luck!

The Great Name Chase

2011-04-07T12:04:00.000-07:00

Being an expectant mother brings on more emotions than one person should be allowed to experience at one time. Its both wonderful and cruel.   I work in an OB/GYN office so I'm surrounded daily by mothers, small babies, and the hormones of all the above. One would think that after a few years, you would become accustomed to the hormones and daily changes in feelings. Just wait until it happens to you.

Know that we are for sure this little person will be a Girl, the name chase is on. How does a mother and father go about naming a child? Are there stead fast rules that must be followed? is there a guideline somewhere that lets you in on all the little secrets that a first time mother should be aware of when naming a tiny person?   The more you ask around, and the more you search on the Internet....the more terrified I have become.

Everyone has an opinion and everyone has that one perfect name. I unfortunately have neither. There are a few family traditions I plan to stay with, like giving the first boy the fathers name for his middle name. While I love my job, I often drive home wondering what kind of drugs some parents where on when they picked out the name of their new little life. I don't want my kindergartner to struggle learning to write his/her name on the paper and making it fit on the line. I also don't want the playground bully picking on him because i choose a name no child should have to live with.

These are the kinds of things i stay up at night thinking about. The dreams of a nameless child wondering through life... the thought of "what if i pick a name and the baby comes out looking completely different" "what if i can't agree on a name"   Am I alone in the name chase? completely over-hormonal and emotional to pick a name and be happy with the way it sounds and flows? What will my nameless baby be?

Big Changes are a comin

2011-03-30T11:18:00.000-07:00

I realize that this blog takes a backseat to the rest of my life. Its been neglected and left out many times. I should feel bad about it, but I just can't seem to muster up the energy to care that much.

Life moves forward at an alarming rate these days. Christmas has come and gone, spring is here, although in the NW we have yet to see it. Its still raining daily with cold weather keeping us in jackets and long pants. No gardening has happened as all my flower beds are mud puddles. The deck furniture can't come out of storage because it would always be wet...not very conducive to outside sitting in a soggy chair.

On a very bright and shiny note, Ryan and I will be welcoming the newest member of our little family in August. We are expecting our first, a little girl the end of the summer. I'm 18 weeks this week and finally starting to feel her move. Its the craziest and most amazing feeling.

Little hand in front of her face

Lucky me, being Diabetic makes this a high risk pregnancy and I'm being followed by a maternal fetal medicine specialist and I'm on insulin injections twice a day for now. They are keeping a very close eye on both of us. At the end of April i have to have a fetal Echo cardiogram done to make sure the diabetes hasn't caused any heart issues with her.

Poor Ryan, he will be sorely out-numbered but he is going to make the most amazing dad. I am so very excited to bring this little person into the world with him.

We have also finally finished painted. Our bedroom is finished and i will get pictures up as soon as i find my camera. The nursery has a fresh coat of paint and thanks to my amazing Co-worker Natalie, we have a natural wood crib waiting to be put together. Nat had twin girls that will be three this summer and are moving into big girl beds so we get the old crib. Very exciting news after looking at how expensive they are brand new.

We also got new light fixtures for our bedroom and the back bedroom. Ryan also updated all the locks and door handles on all the outside doors so i feel much safer in this old house.

Kitchen Floors and puppy baths

2011-02-09T09:35:00.000-08:00

I realize that these two things probably don't belong together. But in the crazy world of our little house, they really do. I don't know many people who would be willing to have carpet in the kitchen, but on top of just carpet, we have really pretty red carpet. In the grand skeam of things, i was really pretty content to let this be one of the last things we changed in the house because it really is the newest looking floor in the house. Ryan thought differently when he found an amazing deal on craiglist and could get hard wood pine flooring for way cheaper than the Depot could get it for us. So the project started.

Not having any idea what kind of flooring was underneath the beautiful red carpet..Ryan went full force ahead and ripped out the carpet. What we found was only a tiny bit scary. Laminet flooring that has been down for only heaven knows how long. The subfloor was generally ok except in front of the dishwasher so we lucked out not having to completely replace the kitchen floor. It only took an hour or so to get the floor ready for the new stuff. With some Christmas gift cards and our sweet Craigslist deal we were off and running with what was supposed to be a cheap and easy upgrade.

4 boxes of new floor measured cut and layed down we came to a screeching hault. 2 of the 6 boxes of flooring were not the same. Different pattern, different color, different size. It was terrible. Just about 3/4th of the floor had been done. The stove was in the middle of the kitchen as only half of the cubby underneath it had been done, the fridge was in the dinning room. We were at a stand still. Home Depot looked at us like we were crazy when we told them we needed to match the floor we were putting down. Why didn't you bring your recipt and we could match the UPC numbers? Where did you buy the first 4 boxes? That kind of flooring has been discontinued. Of course it has. Because nothing is ever easy.

After many internet searches and many phone calls to the maker of the flooring we learned that they upgraded the flooring type and were no longer making the kind we had already put down in the kitchen. We would need to order two new boxes that would match the color and just hope that the locking fit would be close enough to hold them together. The old stuff required you to lay down some insulation padding first. The new stuff comes with the pad already on the back of the floor piece. Oh, and lucky Us, Depot would have to special order the flooring and it would take 7-10 business days to arrive in the store. SO... that left us with a half done kitchen, a lopesided stove and a fridge in the dinning room for what could be two weeks. Good thing I'm a go with the flow kind of women. Besides, with a kitchen torn apart, I don't have to cook dinner.

We finally got the call that the new floor was in and Ryan went and picked it up that same day. The kitchen is finally finished and it looks AMAZING. Totally worth the wait and hassel. We also finished the paint in the dinning room and front room and hung pictures up on the wall. It looks like a home now and I love it. I owe many thank yous and much appreciation to my wonderful Husband for all his hard work. I would be lost without him. Here are some pictures of the process.

The old laminet flooring and tac strip. Really pretty yellow color isn't it?

Notice the darker yellow spots and the green boarder...

In front of the dishwasher had to be replaced because the sub floor had rotted out. we can blame the leaking pipe from the dishwasher for that one.

Don't mind my Giant puppy Harley, but this shows that red foam pad that was under the new floor and how only half the room was finished for 2 weeks while we waited for the new floor to come in.

Finished product!

Isn't it so nice? Its a dark pine. I love it. we put a white tall floor board around the cupboards.

I tried to find a picture of the red carpet that was in the kitchen when we started but i was unsucessful.

I have to throw in a picture of Kiya's first bath time in the kitchen sink. She looks like a drowned rat. poor thing. She really loves the warm blow dryer after the bath though. Makes her look like a giant fluff ball.

Poor Kiya. good thing Mama loves her.

2011-01-04T11:36:00.000-08:00

January 2011, its here and its all brand new and shinny clean. There are so many things the new year brings. Millions of people jumping on the wagon, joining that gym, eating better, making thousands of millions of promises to ourselves and others that in reality may never see completion. But its new, and its all own to make of it what we want. We have much to be thankful for with the coming of a new year. A roof over our heads, Jobs to go to whether we like them or not, cars to drive us to work and to play, and family and friend to enjoy the ride with. 2010 was a rough year, and brought many painful and terrible things to many of the people in my life, and its exciting to have a fresh start. I hoping for every ones sake, that the miserable things we endured last year have only made us stronger and much more ready to enjoy the blessings of 2011. Happy new year to my loved ones. you mean more to me every day.

Christmas

2011-01-04T11:26:00.000-08:00

I read the blogs of my friends and family and think to myself that there are so many amazing writers among us. Why our blogging community is not on the New York Times best sellers list I'm not sure. I enjoy getting lost in the lives of people around me. Makes it much easier to deal with the day to day of my own life.

My cute little nephew celebrated his 6th Birthday on 12/12/10. We had a family party at his house with his favorite food lasagna. He opened lots of presents and we had cake and ice cream. Dawson is very into Yo-Yo's and rocks. All he asked for was one red light up yo-yo and millions of rocks. Easy to please right? Here are some pictures of the adventures.

I apologize for the blurriness. I had 2 year little brother Nixon in my lap and it was not easy to hold him still and take pictures.

Another year passed and I didn't not make it home for Christmas. Another holiday spent on the phone wishing loved ones Merry Christmas instead of sitting on the front room floor of my grandma's with all the cousins and aunts and uncles waiting for Santa to come and bring us pj's. Or waiting oh so impatiently for mom to take a picture of the tree and all the Santa goodies before claiming the perfect present opening spot on the sofa. Its this time of year that reminds me like a cold slap in the face how much I miss being in Utah with my family.

Don't get me wrong my in-laws are great and do a wonderful job of filling in the void. Brady was even here with my Dad for the week so I was able to spend time with him. Christmas eve we had a feast at Ryan's mom and dads house with Stacey and her family. We exchanged gifts and sang Christmas songs and read the night before Christmas. Here are the pictures from this adventure.

Dawson and Papa getting the Chestnuts ready to roast

Dawson rocking out on his new Paper thin Guitar while dad and Kaelin watched in amazement

Daw and Papa reading the night before Christmas

Our attempt at Stacey's family picture. Nixon in the chair all alone, Dawson facing the wrong way, and everyone else just trying to smile.

On Christmas morning I woke up to a gift, a new addition to our little family.... A puppy! I know it sounds crazy, but we brought home a little Pug/Yorkie mix that we named Kiya. She is a whooping 2.4 lbs and will probably max out right around the 8-10lbs mark. She is incredible sweet and loves to cuddle. She is also very brave and not afraid of her big sister Harley or the cat Stella. It took a day or two but all three of them seem to playing nicely together and so far, Kiya has not been stepped on by the big dog.

Kiya needed a sweatshirt so she wouldn't freeze.

I love her face

Harley 10mo and Kiya 11wks

We had a great christmas even though I didn't get to see family and there was no snow. Hope all of you had a great holiday season!

Vegas and other such things

2010-12-07T12:02:00.000-08:00

The trip to Vegas was a lot of fun. Chilly fun. It was the coldest Thanks giving weekend Las Vegas has had since 1933!! And we were there to watch football outside. Crazy. Matthew's team the South Weber Knights played their heart out, but they couldn't quite cut the mustard. It was a great learning experience and the boys had a lot of fun playing under the big lights on the big field. We had a great time with my family and we were able to see a lot of the kid friendly parts of Vegas. Ryan and Matt played a video game 18wheeler driving game. I'm not sure which one of them had more fun. The girls window shopped at the Forum Shoppes of Ceasers Palace. We went to M&M world and shopped our way through 4 floors of stuff. The wall of M&M's with 22 different Flavors was a big hit. We also went to Coke world and had our picture taken with the Coke Polar Bear.

Mal and I with Green

Matt got a little excited...

Coke World

I Love seeing my family and wish we had more time together. We had a great time and have much to be thankful for.

Last weekend Ryan and I and our friends Ross and Myra went to watch Motorcycle Ice Racing. I know what your thinking...and yes.. it was insane. a group of men and 2 women riders take their dirt bikes and 4 wheelers and decide to race each other on a short indoor track made out of ice. It was cold inside and it smelled like exhaust, but Ryan and Ross had a great time. and i enjoyed watching. What a rush.

We went tromping around in the dirt and mud and found ourselves a Christmas tree. I have made the executive decision that this is the last year for that. Its too darn cold to go trooping around the snow and mud to get a tree when you can buy one from a store that already has lights on it! Oh well, we shall see what next year brings. The tree isn't up in the house yet, it has to sit for a day or two according to my husband. I'm a little concerned about the tree and how well it will fare with my very large puppy.

Speaking of Puppies....Harley had her 9 month check up a few weeks ago and after spending all day at the vet, she is healthy as a horse. And almost just as big. She weighed in at 120 lbs!! she stands about 30 inches tall at her front shoulders. She is doing wonderfully and is so much fun. We love her very much and are so thrilled to be puppy parents.

Holiday seaons make me homesick....

2010-11-22T11:49:00.000-08:00

Its my second favorite holiday of the year Thanksgiving. When the whole family would come over to our house for the big dinner. Mom and I would fill our kitchen table with slices of bread to dry out for stuffing days in advance, and then spend time breaking and measuring them all into little cubes. The kitchen and front room would switch places and we got to put the couch in the kitchen so that there was room around the table for all the family. Getting up with mom at 3 or 4 in the morning to stuff the turkey and put it in the oven so it could cook for what always seems like days. "You don't want an undercooked Bird" grandpa always says. Then watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade waiting for all the family to come over. Aunt Janiel making yams with layers of butter and brown sugar. Grandma making gravy thickening and all the kids trying to steal cheese out of the veggie try. All the older men in the family asleep in front of the football game. The smells of that day take me home to a safe and very special house stuffed to the brim with family and friends. That is a feeling i haven't been able to replicate, try as i might.

This years thanksgiving will be much different. My family will be in Las Vegas. Matthew is playing little league football and has been invited to play in the pig skin tourny in Las Vegas on Thanks giving. So off we go to Sin City for the long weekend. Im sure it will be fun, and I am very excited to be able to see my family. Any vacation from the crap weather we are getting here in the great NW will be great. We leave Wednesday morning and are sure to have a Thanksgiving to remember.

Im kind of excited to find out what the BLACK Friday shopping is like in Vegas. Not to mention thanks giving dinner buffet style could be amazing! And Matt could not be more excited to have Ryan and I there to watch him play some football.

October come and gone

2010-11-03T12:15:00.000-07:00

Amazingly i have managed to make it a whole other month without posting a word. I guess it should make me feel better that no one really follows my life that closely to be concerned when i disappear. I am sad to say that the harvest pumpkin gathering season passed me by compelely. I didn't make it to a single pumpkin patch or manage to decorate my house at all. I was sadly reminded of this by my husband who was glad he didn't have to help me clean up the mess.

There has been a large amount of uncertainty for our family in the last month or so. Bushwhackers, the dance hall/Bar/Resturant that Ryan's sister and brother-in-law have owned for the last 4 years is no longer in the family. after long discussion and many many talks, Stacey has decided to turn it back over to the Original owners. Saturday night was the last hurah for us. Its a very bitter sweet moment for me.

When i moved to Oregon I quickly built a life and a suppourt group around the poeple i met at BW's. My Husband being one of the most important. I met him there, courted him there, worked side by side with him there. Its sad to see and end to another chaper of our lives. But on the other hand, i can't even begin to express how happy I am that our family time will be just that. FAMILY TIME. no more, hurry up and eat so someone can go to the bar, or the conversation revolving around that place and the business side of things. It will definetly be a change, but one i will gladly except.

We have continued to paint every wall in the house that will stand still long enough. and we are arguing over carpet colors all the time. Its an adventure to own your own home. I look foward to the holidays.
We are going to be able to see my family again in November for Thanksgiving when we get to go to Las Vegas for a weekend.

Fall Fun

2010-09-27T16:53:00.000-07:00

I must have this stigma that i can't post on my blog if i don't have pictures that go with it. SO thats why i haven't posted in over a month. Apparently my camera has found a new home in the bottom of my purse and its not going anywhere.

Not a whole lot has happened. Ryan got a new job. He is working for Allied moving and storage. He seems to like it and the best part is, he has normal people hours and i get to have him home for dinner on most nights. its great. We started another room in the house for the remodle. Our bedroom. it kind of happened by accident, one morning i got up and the wallpaper (that is only on one wall) was litterly falling off the wall. Time to just take it down. I just started picking at it and pulling little sections, and off it all came. Easy as pie. Now for all the glue still stuck to the wall....don't you wish you were us?

Fall has hit the great northwest faster than we had hoped. The rain has started and its no fun at all. It rained every day last week and it was so foggy in the morning when i let harley out i couldn't see her in the grass.
Our apple trees haven't produced a whole lot but the pears are falling off the tree faster than we can gather them up. We won't talk about the fact that its 85' outside right now and the humid as crap!!

Anyways, I will try to be better at taking more pictures so i feel like i have something worth while to post about. K- Thanks - Bye

Hot Hot Hot

2010-08-17T14:29:00.000-07:00

When the temp inside the house is hotter than the 96 degrees it is outside, its time to find a new place to hang out. Portland has been hit with a heat wave this last week that has really been terrible. We don't have air conditioning either, just a bunch of box fans and open windows at night.

On sunday afternoon, thanks to Myra's great idea, we headed to the beach for some cooler weather. We took the top off of Ross's Bronco and headed to Lincoln City. We sure found the cooler weather, 62 to be perfectly clear. It actually felt COLD. and i had to wrap up in the blanket while we were driving because it got so chilly.

Harlye hiding behind dad to get some shade

This was Harley's first trip to the beach and we weren't really sure how she would handle the beach, but lucky us, we have the best puppy in the whole world. Harley had a great time. She wanted to chase rocks into the waves but as the surf was headed back in she was afraid of the line of foam that comes with it so she would run out and play, and then try to turn herself around and run back to the dry sand as fast as possible. She made it out the first few times, but the waves finally caught up to her and she was knocked over. She really isn't to stable on her feet for being so Big.

Exploring the rocks, nice butt shot

Playing in the water

I tried and tried to turn this picture but its not working. I love her sweet face

We wondered around the beach and let Harley chase the seguls for a while, then we decided to head back home. The down side to going to the coast on a sunday afternoon is that everyone is headed home and back to work the same time you are. And its only a little two lane road back to town from Lincoln city, which in therory should be faster than Hwy 101 that goes up the coast. We traffic was terrible, and it took us about 3 hours to get back home when it should have only taken us about 1 1/2. Oh well, we sure enjoyed the ride and the beautiful weather. We all know Oregon so well, we will be soon missing the sun in our soggy winter rain.

The bad traffice following us home, it was just as bad linned up for miles in front of us as well.

we had a great weekend and love playing at the beach. So happy that we live close enough to day trip the beach.

Happy Anniversary

2010-08-02T14:13:00.000-07:00

This weekend marks the end of the first year. I can't believe how much we have been through and all the things we have done. There are about a million things we could tell people never to do in the first year. All from first hand experience now. But here we are. standing on the other side of the 1 year mark, still married.

Our little life together started 3 years ago and I love Ryan more every day. I know things have been rough and we have had a LOT of stress in out life, but there is no one else in the whole wide world i would rather have by my side through it all.

Ryan asked me a few months ago if i had plans for our anniversary or if he could plan it all. Of course i told him to go ahead and plan away. And plan he did. Friday night started the weekend and ryan picked up from work and took me to a suprise dinner. We went to the Portland City Grill which is a resturant on the very top floor of the tallest building in downtown portland. It was beautiful. Ryan must have told them what he was planning because when we got to the table it looked like this....

Little confetti hearts and Red Rose petals. It was amazing. There was a card that said thanks for celebrating with us signed by our waitor and all the managers. We had a great time, watching the sun set from the roof and enjoying our time together. After dinner we went to a little place to listen to some live music with some friends and had quite a scare.

One of the regular dancers from Bushwhackers was there with some friends dancing away when all of the sudden he hit the ground. Must have been cardiac failur or massive stroke. Its amazing how quickly adrenaline takes over and you start to do things you later wonder how it happened. I somehow was able to do CPR with another women until the ambulance showed up to help. I watched, with about 120 other standby people as the paramedic's used the AED to shock him and take him out on a stretcher to the hospital. Needless to say it was not exactly the way we planned on ending our night out. (We found out early saturday morning that he had passed at the hospital surrounded by his family)

Ryan and i went saturday and saw Dinner for Schmucks and did some much needed shopping at the mall, just spending time together and being silly. We were supposed to be at Ross and Myra's by 730 for part 2 of ryan's plan. We were in the kitchen just telling them the drama of the night before when the door bell rang and everyone looks at me. Now why would i answer the door at someone eles's house? Thats right i wouldn't! so i knew something was up. Cautiously I went to answer the door with everyone watching behind me.

This is what i opened the door to find...!

Ry had planned it so that we would get to spend the night riding around in this amazing limo! We picked up one other couple Mike and Jamie and we spent the evening driving from the Internation Rose Garden to Rocky Butte and all over down town. We had so much fun. Here are some of the pictures from the adventure.

L-R, Jamie, Mike, Ross, Myra, Me, Ryan

At the rose garden

O M G ! I got the wedding band for my ring!!! its amazing

The 6 of us up on Rocky Butte. We had a great time. It was an amazing anniversary and i look so forward to celebrating many many more with my amazing husband. I love you Ryan!

SUMMER TIME

2010-07-19T16:39:00.000-07:00

It has been beautiful weather around here the last few weeks. My birthday was last Sunday and Ryan and I had a great time with some friends at our house for a BBQ on Saturday night. Its one of my favorite things to sit on our porch with the sun setting, surrounded by good friends talking and laughing. The dog getting attention from everyone and lots of love. It was a great birthday. The phone calls from home and my family singing happy birthday to me over the phone was the cherry on top of a great weekend.

Ryan and I's anniversary is coming up at the end of the month and I have been debating about what to get him for a while. I thought about a WII, or a weekend at the beach, or a nice dinner....but really after all of that, the best thing i could think of getting him this year was.....I guess i will just have to wait and tell you after I actually give it to him so no one tells him. I wouldn't want to wreck the secret.

We have been spending most weekends at the Lake in Forest Grove called HAGG playing on the boat and enjoying the beautiful weather. Ross has been attempting and failing at wake boarding, which is really funny to watch, but totally sad for Ross. He is one heck of a snowboarder so i thought it would be easy for him.

Here are some awesome action shots of the boys...and after many many attempts and quite a few falls and being dragged under the water, ROSS FINALLY GOT UP! It was very exciting.

This is the first time he actually made it out of the water.

I love this picture, he got out of the wake and it got a little squirlly....

And then he crashed....

Then Ryan had to give it turn. He can actually jump the wake but my camera isn't cool enough to take action shots.

Nice short shorts Ross!

I think this is Ross, really can't tell from here can ya

Ryan on his way down from jumping the wake.

Yes i wake boarded to, but i crashed hard and didn't want to go again so no pictures of me this time. We have so much fun together, and what a better way to spend the weekend?

CAMPING 4th of July style

2010-07-06T15:35:00.000-07:00

Ryan's mom and dad have a tradition that they started way back when. Just after or just before they got married. This tradition involes camping at a secret little lake in Central Oregon somewhere between Detroit Lake and Sisters. It's such a big deal that 6 months prior to this camping trip every year the day is marked on the calender of when they can call to make the reservation. 4 camp sites, 2 motorhomes, 1 5th wheeler, 3 tents, 7 quads, 1 boat, 2 jet skies.....and a whole lot of family fun.

I have been lucky enough to go with ryan on this camping adventrue every year for 3 years now. Its turning into our own special tradition. It also just so happens that the parents are always camping over the 4th of July and my Birthday weekend so its always a choice which weekend we will spend camping. This year we choose to go the 4th. Ryan's good buddy Ross and his lady Myra came up with us as well. The weather started out pretty crappy....per par for the course, it is Oregon after all. We left home as soon as i got done working on Thursday. The drive up wasn't so bad except for the crap-tastic traffic. Apparetnly the entire state was headed South Bound on I-5 thrusday evening.

It started to get pretty couldy and rained on us about 3/4 of the drive up. By the time we got to the camp ground everyone had already turned in for the night to escape the rain so we made our rounds to say hello and unpacked the truck and off to bed we went. Sleep was a little hard to come by as the wind rocked the trailer just a tad....and the rain made for great bedtime music. Friday was pretty rainy and cold. Overcast most of the day. We spent most of the day inside the trailor playing card games with Don and Donaly and reading stories with Dawson, Ryan's nephew. Ryan and I took and epic 2 hour nap later that evening.

The couldy rainy lake, and Mt Washington

Ross and Myra showed up friday night and we had a good time freezing to death around the fire.

Saturday was beautiful. Sunny and a lot warmer than the previous day. After breakfast we went on a 4wheeler ride up Cash mountain to the old Forest tower. Even though it had been raining for days the trails were super dusty and we came back from the ride very dusty and dirty. The guys had a great time.

The picture is dark but there is a great dirt line across Ross's forhead.

The 4 of us after the morning ride.

What a better way to clean up and cool down after a ride than to go jump in the lake? We changed cloths and spent the rest of the day on the boat in the lake. We attempted to teach 5 year old Dawson how to water ski, almost successfully. He did such a good job. He only gave it one try but he was up for about 15 yards before he got a face full of water. I was the lucky volunteer to stand chest deep in water and keep Dawson straight and floating before the boat could pull him up. I should have just stayed in the water at that point. Ryan did a great lap around the lake on the skies and even did the "look mom, no hands" thing. to bad i was driving the boat and didn't get a picture of it.

Ry and Ross enjoying the sunshinny afternoon.

Myra doesn't make her own body heat and froze to death even in the sunshine. But if you look behind her and see all the snow still on the mountain...i guess i can understand.

Awe...look how cute.

The lake on Saturday afternoon.

Attempting to take a family picture. Harley was not cooperating very well. You get her better side....

Sun in the face. And Harley girl. Can't wait until she is to big for this kind of thing.

We had a great day Saturday, sun shine, good friends, lots of fun things to do. We packed up sunday morning and drove home in time to do some laundry, shower and leave again. We headed to St. Paul for the annual 4th of July Rodeo and fireworks.

Happy 4th of July friends!!!

And they lived happily ever after......

2010-06-29T12:02:00.000-07:00

Thrid times a charm right? I once again traveled home to Utah this weekend, but this time I took my husband and our pup Harley. We left Wednesday at noon and stayed until Sunday. It was a very nice longer trip. Harley was such a good girl in the car. She slept a whole bunch and if she wasn't sleeping she had her head out the window eating the air. Im so thankful that she was such a good girl.

Thursday Matt had his birthday party at the Roy aquatic center and Ryan and I spent the afternoon in the water watching 9 little 10 year old boys run around. It was a lot of fun and it was hot hot hot outside so swimming was an excellent choice of a party. We got Matt a Utah jazz jersey for Matthews, he was so excited. He sure loves the Jazz. Thursday night we spent at my Grandma's eating subs and playing ladder ball in the front yard. Chantel and her boy Andy are the champs and Ryan and I tried really hard to beat them...but Fail. here are some pictures of the event

Trying to show up Andy with my mad ladder ball skills

The cheering section

Doesn't Ryan look happy to be here?

If i hold chantel back they might not win....didn't work.

Friday was Kevin and Amy's wedding. The biggest reason behind our trip to Utah this time. They got married Friday morning in the Logan Temple. It was beautiful outside. I took lots of pictures of the kids and couple at the temple grounds, trying my best to stay out of the way of the real photographer. I have lots of photo's so bare with me.

Im pretty impressed with my photo skills. It's like the leaning tower of Piza'

Notice the little girl in the white dress...STANDING in the fountain? yup, that's right, there was a small child playing in the water like it was her personal wading pool. No one know's where her mother and father were.

The happy couple freshly sealed...

The Coleman family.

My family with the bride and groom. It was on the shaddy side of the temple. a little dark if you ask me.

My hubby and I

I think this is the first picture of the 4 of us since my wedding.

I'm pretty sure we are all looking at different camera's in this picture. Funny.

They had the Wedding Brunch at a Park in Ogden and it was mexican food made by one of Kevin's co-workers. Delicious steak, and salda's made by the family and friends. After the Luncheon we headed to Layton for the ring ceremony and the recpetion that were both at the Victorian. I had never been to the victorian before and i have to say, i really like it. It was a perfect setting for the wedding. Outdoors, beautiful yard and such a fun way to send off the bride and groom. here are my pictures of the event.

This is my new favorite. It captures them all perfectly.

These 3 girls were so funny to watch. It was a knock down fight for the flowers. Mallory ended up with it.

Congratulations Kevin & Amy! we wish you all the best!

Dance Recital 2010

2010-06-16T13:50:00.000-07:00

Let's go to the MOVIES!

Im on a frequent flyer program with South West this month apparently. I flew home again this last weekend. I know imagine that. Me flying home. Mallory was in Mrs. Peek's annual dance recital at Northridge on Saturday night and I am just such the best sister that i flew home just to be here for it.

I got my suitcase out to pack it for the trip and set it on the couch. i was going between the bedroom and the bathroom and as i passed the suitcase, this is what i found.

My little kitty Stell, in my suitcase.

I actually got a lot accomplished while i was home this time. I flew in Friday morning and met the family for lunch. I went shopping with Mom and Mallory to get all the last minute things she needed for the recital. I was supposed to get to see Matt's baseball game friday night, but mother nature has forgotten that its summer time and just keeps dumping down the rain. His game was cancelled, so instead i went to Dress rehersal and kept my mother company.

Saturday morning I had my hair cut and colored by the Wonderful and Amazing Jolene. I can't even begin to tell you how happy this made me. I have struggeled to find the perfect match for hairdressers in portland. After nearly losing all my hair months before the wedding by a women who thought that bleaching it out and starting over with a new color was a good way to "highlight"...many many tears shed that day. Jo is a very long time family friend and the offical hair lady for all the women in my family and most of the men.

The process

After

7 inches gone bye bye and fresh summer highlights

After the hair, we went to Layton for a Bridal shower for Kevin's soon to be wife Amy. It was at their new place and it was a family shower. grandma's and aunts and cousins. After the shower we went grocery shopping and then out to dinner with the whole family. Grandpa wanted a picture of all his grand-girls.

Me chantel, and mallory and soon to be granddaughter in law amy.

Mallory did an awesome job at her recital. She does Tap, Jazz, ballet and point and she was in the closing production this year for the first time.

Mallory in her Rockin' Robin costume

Kick line...this was a jazz number but i don't remember what it was called.

and this is her other tap number....

she did such a great job. Im proud of you lil sister!

I have to take just a second and brag about my puppy. Harley is growing like a weed and we took similar pictures to show the size change. Harley is 16 weeks old today. she goes to the vet again next tuesday. we love her so much and are so happy that she is a part of our little family.

Harley 9 weeks old

Harley 15 weeks old

Prayers are needed

2010-06-15T10:02:00.000-07:00

South Weber has always been a very close Knit community. Everyone knows everybody, and usually that means we all know what is happening with the lives of our neighbors. It has been very humbeling this last week to watch and read as a member of our little town is suffering.

I ask my friends and family that read my blog, to please pray for Travis Poll and his family. It seems that his time here on earth with his family and loved ones is coming to an end. His long and terrible fight with cancer will soon be over. Please pray for a peaceful end to his long road, that his family, wife and children will find peace and comfort as well.

It breaks my heart that there is nothing that can be said or done to change what is happening. I am enternally greatful for the Gospel and the peace it brings to my life and my family. I am greatful for the knowledge I have of forever families and that this is not the end for Travis, but a beautiful begining.

For details please read Mandy's blog....Wonderings of a Wanna Be

Class of 2010

2010-06-07T15:31:00.000-07:00

I was a very lucky girl last week and was able to take a day off and fly home to Utah for my cousin Chantel's high school graduation. It was totally random and a very fast trip. I had told Chantel that I wasn't going to be able to make it, to many conflicts, work, middle of the week, expense of flights, coming home 2 weeks later... on and on. I rearranged my work schedule and was able to find cheap flights and i made it home for all of 18 hours.

Chantel was the Head Cheerleader at Ben Lomand High school this year and she loved every minute of it. I am so proud of you Chantel and all that you accomplished! Here are some pictures of her graduation. BL is the home of the fighting scots and they have a bag-pipe corp that is awesome. My mom and chantels mom graduated from Ben Lomand as well so the family is full of school pride.

The Grad's walking in

Chantel sitting in her chair not listening to the speaker

Accepting her empty diploma cover!

The Bag Pipes!

Chantel leading the Class of 2010 in their final Cheer

School hymn

Chantel's boyfriend Andy and his Baseball swing

The graduates!

Chantel's fam post graduation

Love you SO MUCH Chantel! I wouldn't have missed it for the world.

So, I thought i would add some pictures of my cute little puppy that is growing faster than a weed. We took her to the vet on Tuesday and she is 3 months old 13wks actually, and she is 35.2 lbs. her shoulders are as tall as my knee. She's gunna be a monster.

Bath time in the sink, the last time for this, she doesn't fit in the sink anymore.

Her hand in mine.

Harley can walk up on the couch without any effort at all, scary to think how tall she is going to get. Love this puppy so much!

Ryan and I went to a friends wedding on Saturday and had a great time. Congratulations to Jeff and Keri. Jeff is a bartender at Bushwhackers so we know him really well. They got married outside on the only sunny day in the last 3 weeks. Lucky for them the weather turned out beautifully on saturday.

The rest of the night time bartending crew at the wedding, Tyna and her husband Adam, Liz and Me!

It was a great wedding and Im glad i got to be there to share the day with them.

Ab-a-lama baby!

2010-05-06T14:58:00.000-07:00

Ryan and I got to take a week off work and go on a real Vacation. Until we go somewhere warm and tropical, im going to pretend that this trip was our honeymoon because it was awesome.

Through Ryan's job at Bushwhackers we have met a lot of great people and made some really great new friends. This trip was with some of those very people. Walt lives in Oregon and works for Boeing and his brother lives in Huntsville Alabama. which works out pretty great for the rest of us.

We left bright and early Tuesday morning (3am) for Nashville TN. Because Walt works for boeing, Amy and I got to go up in the cock pit of the airplane and feel like little kids. it was amazing. Im really kind of suprised that after 9-11 they still let people do that. I guess because Walt built the plane the pilots didnt seem to think we could hurt anything.

(Walt, Amy, Giant cooler, Ryan).

I have never felt more like a walking Jeff Foxworthy skit in my life than I did this week in Nashville. Thats right, we packed a giant white cooler on rolling wheels. that had to be opened and re-taped shut about a hunder times at each airport. the only thing missing was the bermuda shorts and black socks with sandals.

The first day in Nashville was full of renting our Curise America RV that we would spend the next week living in. It was relatively comfortable. Ryan and I slept in the front up above the driver, Amy and Pete slept in the back in the RV Queen bed, Pete's dad Bob slept on the bench couch bed thing and Walt slept on the table bed. So for the most part it was close quarters but it was cheaper than renting a car and a hotel for every night.

The first night in Nashville we went to dinner at Hooters, I know, Classy right? Then we went to explore Downtown Nashville. There is a street called Broadway that is about 5 city blocks long that is lined on both sides of the street with Bars. Each bar has a stage in the front and every single night in every single bar there is a live musican or band playing trying to get noticed and be heard and become famous. Its the craziest thing to experience. As you walk down the blocks you stand out side the open doors and listen to decided of the signers are good enough to listen to and you either walk in and sit for a while or move down the block 10 feet to the next open door. We saw a lot of great bands play and by far my favorite two places were The Stage, and The Wildhorse.

Ryan and I in one of the many Broadway street bars.

Amy was trying to take a group photo and this guy was like the manager of the band that was playing, he walks around the bar with a large bucket asking people in the crowd the TIP the band, anyways. this dude just jumps in our picture. I wish i would have caught the name of the band. This might be worth big money one day. Ha ha right?

There are these random artist sculptures all over the sidewalk along Music row that have pictures of old country greats. And what better way to prove im a tourist than to pose next to it and have my picture taken?

The next day we went to the Grand Ole Opry. So much history and amazing people have sang and entertained on the opry stage. it was great to get to see it.

Our Group L-R Bob, Walt, Ryan, Me, Amy, Pete, inside the Opry Museum.

One of the very first Opry Awards given to people that were inducted into the family at the Opry.

Giant Gitar outside the Opry.

We couldn't have timed this trip any better. We were in Nashville April 21, 2010 and on May 3, 2010, a week later, nashville and the opry complex are completely under water.

This picture was taken off of MSNBC of the Grand Ole Opry under water.

This is what it looked like when we were there. Crazy!!

Downtown Nashville completely under water.

Our last night in Nashville!

Our trip continued and we headed south towards Alabama and stopped in Lynchburg TN and took a tour of the Jack Daniels Distillery. Interesting story. Lynchburg is a dry county, meaning that the laws are such that you cant drink, buy or sell alcohol. It was made a dry county before prohibition in the united states because as it happens Lynchburg is also in the middle of the south and its a big part of the "bible belt" of the country. Very religious people and more churches than i ever thought possible to see on one street. anyways, Lychburg went dry, then prohibition came and went. Lynchburg never voted to become a "wet" county again and now, in order to vote for a change in this type of law a city has to have 2,500 people in it. Lynchburg only has a proud 361 people. it will never again be a "wet" county. Funny huh?

Here are some great pictures of the tour and the distillery.

The visitors center

Jack's office

The mash house where they take the spring water and add the mash of barley, oat and grain.

Inside the barrel house where the barrels of Jack sit and wait 7 ish years to be the perfect color and taste.

A bronze Jack, true to size. man was he a little dude.

We had a great time at the distillery and learned so much. After we left Lynchburg we continued south on the Huntsville Alabama where we picked up Walt's brother and his two sons and we drove to Talladega Alabama for the Nascar weekend.

The houses in this part of the contry are all made of brick. its an amazing thing to drive in the neighborhoods and look at all these amazingly beautiful houses. There is a city law that your garage can't face the street becasue people don't want to drive down the street and see all the cluttered garages so all the house's have them on the side or in the back of the house with these long driveways. its so weird.

Its all brick, and look, no garage seen here!

Ryan and I with the Talladega sign, about 3am

We had a camping spot on the inside of the track, "the In-field" and the tunnel under the track is only 9ft tall. so all campers and 5th wheelers have to enter the track in the middle of the night and they set up a ramp that you actually drive on the track.

So if your looking at this picture and see the blue star, we were in the little red semi-circle to the left. we could see turn 2 from our camp site.

Friday was beautiful weather and we got to watch all the cars qualify for sundays race and watch them practice bump drafting, where one car or more follows right behind a lead car, like inches from each other, in the thought that 2 cars are faster than one because the lead car is blocking all the wind for the other cars that are essentially pushing the lead car. its crazy, no wonder nascar has so many crashes.

The people camped next to us brought out there 42" LCD tv and watched the coverage on TV while we were camped in the middle of the track.

The cars as they practice on Friday afternoon

And then saturday came. We were woken up about 630am with a weather warning, we were under the Tornado Warning, 80 mile an hour winds and rain. The tornado that touched down in Mississippi that killed 10 people, thats the storm we got on saturday. All the races were cancelled and we spent our day trying to entertain ourselves.

We started by blowing up the raft that was going to save all of us from the rain that was flooding our camp site....

And we made sure that Waren had his life vest on.

Sunday was back to beautiful weather and they decided to do both saturdays race and the big NASCAR race on sunday so we didn't miss anything. They set up a giant TV screen on the middle of the infield so all of us sitting in the grass can see all of the race. We did almost as many loops as the cars, turning from watching the tv to watching the cars come around turn 2 and down the sraight away live.

The grand stands in front of the start line

The cars as they start the race!

I dont even know who won the race but I can tell you that it was an experience i am so glad i had the chance to have. Being at a NASCAR race with all the redneck fans was awesome.

Ryan's birthday was the day after we got home from the race, and i was able to work out a secret plan with the other people in our group and i got ryan a birthday cake complete with candels and a card and i suprised him with it on our last night! it was such a great trip!

Happy NASCAR birthday ry!

We made it home to Oregon safe and sound, a little sunburnt, very tired and happy to be home. We had a great trip and i can't wait to go back!

The remodel begins...

2010-04-08T14:12:00.000-07:00

The Painting has started....FINALLY. Its been a long 8 months living in a pepto bismol pink world. Don't get me wrong I love the color pink, but when your walls are pink, and your curtains are pink, and the carpet is pink....and it goes from the front room to the dinning room to the hall way and up the stairs, its more than one can handle for a long period of time.

Ryan and I decided to change the color to a natrual earthly comfortable color. we went with a very light tanish brown color called Vanilla Brandy. The front room has 2 very large windows that are framed with trim that we decided to accent with a darker color than the walls. For the trim we picked Dark Truffel. The finished product looks amazing, but man the work we had to put in.

As we started to get the room ready to paint by taking the curtains and rods off the wall and cleaning the walls and windows we discovered that the stuff on the wall wasn't just paint. Under the large window that faces the street we found a lot of bubbling of the paint. Turns out the window had been leaking for who knows how long. as the water ran in the window sill it ran down the wall and had started to eat away at the wall. The "wall" is plaster board, covered in more PINK plaster. I seriously considered call the HGTV show "This old House" and having them come do all this hard work for me. Ryan said no. we can do it!

The room was built in the late 1940's so the only source of heat was the fireplace. Ryan's grandparents added Baseboard Heaters to the room to help with the temp. When we unhooked the heaters and removed them from the wall we learned that the baseboard trim for the room had been put down after the heaters, so the trim stops halfway down the wall. Leaving large spaces of wall with no baseboard. We started to sand the wall to remove the bubbles and the glue from the baseboard heaters and the pink plaster of the wall just disinigrated away. we lost about a 2 foot long section of wall where the plaster basically just fell off the wall.

Baseboard or no baseboard?

So, after much thought and lots of vaccume loads of plaster we finally got the wall cleaned and everything taped and ready to paint. The project took us about 3 days and it was only one room! here are some pictures of the process and how it turned out. Until we get new carpet i don't know that these pictures do the new color justice. Its almost hard to tell that we even changed the wall color.

The large window street side, pink, without curtains

The bookshelf wall pink ready to be painted.

The same wall painted..with the new couch. somewhat our inspiration for the color choice.

The large window with the new curtains and the new paint. don't mind all the boxes on the couch.

This is just the first of many rooms i intend to change. Lucky for me, I have many years in this old house to work on it room by room. The entry way and the dinning room are next on the list. The problem with that room is the wall paper has been on the wall since 1945 and its shinny and textured and looks almost brand new. I hear it may be more plaster board wall paper. JOY. lucky me.

My great old friend and old co-worker Jill got married on Saturday. Jill did Ryan and I's engagement pictures for us. She worked for Dr. Barlow at Sunset Family practice when I was there working for them. She married her sweet husband Leigh Browning at Imbre Hall. Its this adorable old white barn. The bridal party wore converse shoes.

She looked AMAZING. her beautiful Red hair and the 1920's feather in her hair.

From Left: Harmony (bridesmaid), L'Erin, Michelle, Jill, Me, Kyle Ann (wedding officiant), Shandi, and Katie in front. At one point we all worked together at Sunset Family Practice. Now we all have different jobs at different offices.

Jill has a super cute 3 year old son named Simon, and for him and all of us "kids at heart" there was a candy buffett. It was delicious.

Ryan and I at the wedding. My cute new Dress from White House/ Black Market.

We had an excellent Easter at Stacey's hosue, and I brought my camera with the intention of taking pictures. But when we got home I realized that i had left the camera in the car the whole time and didn't take a single picture. oh well. life happens right?

Livin on a prayer...

2010-03-16T10:11:00.000-07:00

My father is a huge Bon Jovi fan. I grew up listening to 80's rock and big hair bands with my mom and dad and i have always had a special place in my heart for Bon Jovi. Until i was in middle school I thought the words to livin on a pray were "jonny used to work on the dog" not Tommy and a dock...anyways. Right before christmas I heard that Bon Jovi would be starting their circle tour in seattle the week after my dad's birthday. Could there have been a bigger hint? Yes i had to get tickets. So thats what my dad got for christmas.

We road tripped to seattle on one of the best weather days Seattle has seen in Feb. It was beautiful. We stayed at the Waterfront Marriott and had a great view of Elliot Bay and the Ferry Boats. We spent Saturday afternoon wondering around Pike's place market and watching the flying fish and smelling all the wonderful flowers. Its Tulip season in Washington and the flowers are amazing. so many different colors and styles of flower.

We stopped at the Crumpet shop and had a delicious crumpet with cream cheese and strawberry jam.. man oh man was it amazingly good. The crumpets alone are enough to make me want to move to seattle.

My sad attempt at a group picture with the sign in the back ground.....didn't quite turn out how i planned.

We had amazing seats to the show thanks to my husband and his amazing skills on the internet ticket sites. The circle tour started in seattle on friday night and we went to the saturday night show. Dashboard confessionsals opened the show. In my opinion Dashboard and Bon Jovi have totally different fan bases. I know in concerts that the opener never gets the best stuff and they are usually a little less impressive, but I was not a fan. I like dashboard and a few of their songs but this was not the best show i'd seen.

Row 10, Best seats ever.

Daddy and I ready to Rock N' Roll

Happy me.

The concert was great. They played a mix in match of old and new stuff. Dad sang just about every song right out loud. Im sure he was having flash backs of the concert he went to with his high school friend Klye, the Slippery when wet tour in 1984!

Not to bad for a guy who's almost 50! You've almost got him dad. The show was awesome. They even came back out and did an encore.

This poor picture won't rotate for me so oh well.

We had a great time in seattle and I loved every minute of the trip with my dad. I love you Daddy! Happy Birthday!

Been a While

2010-02-18T10:55:00.000-08:00

Life has kind of gotten away with my blog. Sad I realize, but sometimes the silly things take a back seat.

We went to the International Auto Show to let Ryan drool over the cars. I fell in love with the Acura MDX. that should be my new car. We had fun pretending we could afford all these great fancy cars.

This picture was right side up when i tried to put it in here. oh well. turn your head to look at it.

My Amazing husband took me away for Valentines weekend. We got to spend 3 amazing days at the Oregon Coast. We stayed at the Hallmark Inn in Newport. It was beautiful. The weather wasn't my favorite thing. Typical Oregon weather. It was cold and rainny the whole time. We spent time walking on the beach watching the huge waves and trying not to get attacked my the incoming tide.

We spent saturday exploring the Historic Bayfront in Newport, which is basically a fishy-smelling board walk with lots of funny shops and little resutrants and things you only do on vacation like the underwater world adventure and the wax museum and the Ripleys beleive it or not exhibit. And yes, we did all three.

Thats me with Jonny Depp, be jealous, very jealous

and these two pictures are for my mom, cause i love her so much

That's right, giant wax people of the famous M*A*S*H. I will always have a special place in my heart for this show and its all my mom's fault.

And ryan trying really hard to get out of the picture before i took it... good ole Lewis and Clark

We had breakfast at this resutrant with huge windows to see the ocean and i had the best french toast made out of crossants. it was so amazingly good. We went to see Mr. Bill and play some traveling Trivia on Saturday night. its a great little trivia game that Mr. Bill used to play at Bushwhackers. We miss Bill and so much fun getting to see him again and play some trivia. On the last day there we went and took a tour of the Rouge Brewery. It was pretty cool to see how its all made and how it goes from the brewery to the bottle or keg and to the bar where ryan works with it every day.

Ryan and I had a great valentines day together with no work and no stress.a trip we hope to make a yearly thing. Hope you all had someone to Love this Valentines day.

New Year, new Adventures

2010-01-18T13:28:00.000-08:00

I've been a total blog slacker lately. To much else going on and not enough down time to talk about life. That and i haven't really done much that was picture worthy. Well, New Years eve we were at Bushwhackers as usual for a weekend. Ross and Myra came down, it was a good time. busy night and Ryan actually danced with me which was nice. Good going on the camera there Ross,

This last weekend me and some girlfriends went up to Seattle for the night. There used to be a lacross team in Portland called the Lumberjacks. Well at the end of last season the team was disbanded and the players were all picked up by different teams. For those of you who don't know much about lacross, your not alone cause neither do i. For the most part lacross players are Canadian. which is really fun, but most of the teams that play in this league are in Canada. There is a team in Seattle, well actually its Everett but close enough. a lot of the boys who used to be jax's players went to play for the Washington Stealth and then there were a bunch who went to play for the Edmonton Rush. so theses two teams full of old Jax's players played each other in seattle on Friday night. So us girls, as lacross fans, went up to the game.

All Jax'd up and ready for the game. Tia, me, Annette, and L'Erin

The start of the game, or what happens every time a team scores. its a lot like the tip off in basketball except with sticks.

Some random players, doin some random play.

After the game the players come up to the Ice Box and do a meet and great and sign autographs and just basically hang out with the fans. we had a great time at the game and the Washington Stealth won 15 to 7 i think. The motto of the game "its like hockey but with Balls"

On Saturday we went to Seattle and played around. Went to the Space needle and walked around the EMP.

Space Needle

EMP (Experience Music Project)

Annette, Tia, L'Erin, Me in front of some random Fountain we found.

Side note about this picture. the camera was put on timer mode and set on top of a trash can and i ran to get in the picture. On of my famous "self portraits". Who needs to ask strangers to take pictures. We don't.

Next we went to Pike Place Market and wondered around. I tell ya Seattle is almost as bad as San Fran with the hills. I am so glad i was not driving a stick shift car. We would have been Screwed! The guys at the fish market tried to make us kiss the fish, EWW gross! lots of funny shops and people all over the place. This random dude was doing a street show on a uni cycle trying to juggle knives. I didn't want to get to close.

Gross fish.

A look down the hall at the market.

We were about to cross the street to go to this little cafe when a women stops us to ask if we know if she can park here. you look up to the street sign, and there is no way to figure out how to answer this poor women. there were 5 different signs on the pole all talking about parking.

Can you figure out the times its actually ok to park here?

We had a great weekend in Seattle, one of my favorite places to visit. I can't wait to go back.

Happy Christmas

2009-12-30T15:33:00.000-08:00

We celebrated Christmas eve with Ryan's side of the family up at his parents house. We had so much food you would have thought we were feeding an army. We sat around the tree and opened all the gifts. we got lift tickets from stacey and her family to go snowboarding on Mt Hood, Ryan got a bunch of Coke collectable stuff to add to his ever growing stash. He got some new Saw horse's, i got some cloths. We gave Every one framed family pictures from the wedding (that i finally got printed). after the gift opening we all grab a copy of the night before christmas and follow along as it is read. We had a great time and its so good to have family close at the holidays.

Ready to read the Night Before Christmas

Christmas morning Ryan and i woke up and exchanged gifts with just us, it was great, I got ryan some shirts and new jammies, he practically lives in comfy pants if he isn't at work. Ryan got me a pair of super comfy and warm slippers, they are amazing! and some cook books, and new snowboarding cloths.

Ryan looking so excited with his gift.

Me showin off the new slippers. Yeah!

Ry loves funny shirts from AE.

We then headed to my dad's house where we had breakfast with Dad and Brady and opened more gifts. Brady brought up all the gifts from my family and we had tons to opne. Daddy made an awesome pancake eggs and bacon breakfast...it was delicious.

Brady ready for a nap.

Opening more presents.

Showing off the gifts. Ryan got dirty jobs, and NCIS. We got a little dirt devil vaccum, and family pictures in a super cute frame. Ry got a new Football, and brady got a yard of Bubble Gum...yes thats right a yard. The kid loves candy. We all went to see Sherlock Holmes at the theater later that afternoon, and it was great. Loved it.

We went to Mt Hood snowboarding the next day with dad, brady and Ryan's friend Ross and his girlfriend. We had such a good day, it was beautiful weather. Sunny and not to cold. Ryan hadn't been up on the mountain in 6 years, my dad hadn't been up skiing in 17 years! it was crazy. I did lots of falling down. my sad little body has been sore ever since. we had a great time. It was a great christmas and we are so thankful for the friends and family that were there both in person and in spirit.

Christmas came with a BANG

2009-12-24T10:07:00.000-08:00

SO im starting off this blog with some nice pictures of our christmas at our house. the Redneck tree and the beautiful flower we got that finally bloomed.

Take extra care to notice that there are really pretty white lights on the top. Its our snow.

The front of the flowers, there are now 4 blooms. they are so pretty and guess what, They are PINK!

So, on my way to work on Wednesday morning i had just left the house, i was just mindin my own business and driving slow cause it was icey out, well on the first s curve to get me off the hill and on my way to work i hit a bad patch of ice and slide around the corner and into the ditch. it was so scary. The crazy thing is that a guy driving a white ford explorer had done the exact same thing about a half hour before i came down the hill and he was already in the ditch. I smashed into the back of him when i went into the ditch.

I have some pictures but because it was so foggy the camera tried to focus on that. my car is the black one, and the ditch is about 3 feet deep so the angles of the cars are a little werid.

And after all that, this is the only damage done to my car. Just a little crack in the plastic bumber.

I am very thankful that things didn't turn out worse. I am blessed and know that i was being protected and guided to the side of the road as safely as possible. I am grateful for my husband who i woke up with a hysterical phone call that he came to my rescue and helped me and let me know that everything was going to be ok. It was not the start to the holidays we were looking for, but it could have been so much worse.

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOU AND YOURS!

The weeks before Christmas

2009-12-15T12:22:00.000-08:00

Last weekend we discovered that our littlest family members, the kittens, were sick. *graphic kitty sickness alert* when ryan came home from work on thursday night little dexter puked on the kitchen floor. Being the ever inquizitive man that he his, ryan decided to poke around in it to find out what made him sick. He found a piece of really pretty green ribbon and a really nasty, still alive, WORM!! Glad i was sound asleep for the discovery. We called the vet first thing friday morning and had to take the poor dude in. Apparently cats get worms all the time and because these two kittens were outside in a garage when they were born until we took them home the vet seems to think they have had worms the whole time! GROSS. anyways, the nice vet lady showed us how to use the pill giver thing that shoves the pill down their throat so they can't spit it out. We had to treat both cats so they don't keep passing it back and forth.

Once we got back home and had given stella her medication i decided that both cats needed a bath. they were smelly and shedding a ton and dexter had a bad case of dandruf. so into the kitchen sink they went.
You probably think im crazy for bathing 1 cat let alone 2, but the aftermath and having to very clean kittnes was so worth the bath ryan and i got attempting this. Here are some pictures of our poor kittens gettin a bath.

We fnally got our christmas tree up and lights on it. it only took us a little more than a week. Ryan's mom and dad gave us a bunch of boxes from ryan's childhood full of handmade school ornaments and it was fun to go through them with ry. We picked our favorites and we put them up on the tree.

We ran out of green clear twinkly lights about 2/3rds of the way up the tree, so redneck as my husband is we decided to have a snow topped christmas tree and used white lights for the top. its silly i know, but I love it. Its Our first tree and i couldn't be happier.

Ryan's nephew Dawson turned 5 on saturday Dec 12 and we had a little family party for him at Players Bowling. Grandparents from both sides and stacey's whole family and us were there. It was a lot of fun. I hate to admit it, but it turns out that i am the worst bowler in the family. Even compared to the 5 year old. we had a blast and Dawson got a ton of cool things for his birthday. here are some pictures of our adventures at Players

Dawson showing off his game card for his birthday.

Ryan, Nanna and Pappa and baby Nixon

Pappa showing Dawson which ball to pick

Cowboy Ryan, to bad you can't see the super awesome bowling shoes

Dawson opening his presents

Cant wait for christmas, lots of last minute shopping and a good stand in line at the UPS store to mail them all home. hope you have a great week before christmas!

Thanks Giving Family Fun

2009-11-30T14:39:00.000-08:00

We celebrated Thanks Giving with Ryans family on Thrusday. We brought my dad along for the feast and we had a really great day. There were about 10 adults and 5 or 6 little kidlets running around. Baby Nixon walking all over the house just as happy as can be, and Dawson excited to have cousins close to his age to play with from his dad's side of the family. Here are a few pictures of the family and feast.

Nixon ready for some grub

Don ready to carve the roast beast (turkey actually)

The family picture that will soon be on a christmas card i bet.

My daddy

This picture is a veiw from the top of the hill we live on looking down at the vineyard and the nursery. The yellow is the vines from the grapes and the red and other colors are from the nursery, its beautiful to drive around right now if you can catch a day without rain.

My husband seems to have an obsession with finding free things off the intrenet from craigslist or ebay or somewhere and going to get them and turning them into something amazing. Well he found his next project and spent the weekend at the coast in Lincoln city tearing apart an old 5th wheel trailer. His plan is to turn it into a flat bed trailer he can eventually use to haul cars or lumber or the tractor. This is an idea of what it used to look like

So Ross and Ryan went crazy and ripped apart this old 5th wheel. Ry took down his truck and his big trailor that is like 24 feet long. When they got to the coast to look at this trailor and start working on it they found out that it is really 32 feet long. this trailor hung off ryan's trailor by 12 feet! Thats longer than my car. I didn't go with him to do all this and he forgot to take the camera so they only pictures i have are of the whole set up when he finally got it home.

Close up of the trailor on top of the trailor. what a redneck thing to do.

The tires of the 5th wheel thing are on the very edge of the big trailor and it still hangs off 12 feet!

We also went this weekend to pick out our christmas tree. We decided that for our frist christmas together, since we don't have very much decoration stuff and no tree yet, that we would get a real one this year and go to the after christmas sells and buy a pre-light fake tree. Off we went to a you-cut place where you wonder around in the mud and cold and find a tree you like and chop it down. My redneck husband decideds that the little hand saw's aren't good enough...he needed his chain saw.

This is the tree we picked out. a 7ish foot tall Noble fur tree. its so pretty.

Ry and Ross chopping down our christmas tree.

And then my HE-Man of a husband decided that instead of waiting for the guy in the little 4-wheeler trailor to come get our tree he would just carry it back up the hill. crazy dude. The tree is now safely inside the garage "drying off" says ryan. Hopefully we can bring it in the house and get it all cute and holidayish tonight. im so excited! Happy Holidays friends and Family!

2009-11-24T14:07:00.000-08:00

This week is Thanksgiving. And as it just so happens, i have a lot to be thankful for.
Two Fridays ago Ryan, my amazing husband, planned a big suprise for me. He usually works every friday night and has to be there about 530. well, on this particular friday night he told me that we had other plans and was not needed at work until later that night. I was suspicious, but didn't let it take away from the surprise. Ryan took me down town to a tiny little whole in the wall Sushi place where we met up with a group of friends and an awesome diner. Ryan doesn't even like sushi. The things that man would do for me because he loves me. Excellent gyoza and everything. man oh man it was yummy.... from there we headed to the Memorial collesum where we magically had tickets for JEFF DUNHAM!

it was amazing. I was totally taken by surprise. I was the only one in our group that had no idea what was happening or where we were going. We had such a good time. At the end of the concert Jef Fa Fa brought out the CEO of the Oregon food banks and gave her a check for 25,000 dollars! it was amazing. He got a standing Ovation. Ryan is an amazingly thoughtful guy and would do anything for me. Im so glad that he got to have a friday night off where we could hang out with friends and not be at the bar.

We are in the process of picking out paint and carpet colors...what a chore that is truning out to be. We get a bunch of colors we think we like and bring them home and lay them on the floor...and nothing is what we expected it to be. This color is to purple, this color looks green, this is to fluffy of carpet, this is to hard.Trying to figure out what kind of carpet to get let alone a color is a whole other job. We are hoping to close on the sale of the house in the next 2 or 3 weeks. The holidays fast approching make the schedule a little harder to work with. We also have a wood burning fireplace in the front room that is red brick. we had to have the chimney swept. kind of fun to watch. lots of soot and charcoal. good thing that kittnes were at the vet getting fixed or we would have charcoal all over the house.

This year Ryan and I decided to spend the holidays here in Oregon so i will not be seeing my mom or that side of the family in Utah for christmas. Im trying to be brave about it and enjoy the family i have here. We are having Thanksgiving at Stacey's house with Ryan's mom and dad, stacey's husbands side of the family and my Dad. 16 people in her house should help me keep my mind off of missing the big thanksgiving dinner in Utah. It will be Ryan and I's first thanksgiving and christmas as a married couple and I cant wait to do things like get a chirstmas tree and hang the lights. I love this time of year and i am bursting at the seams to get out the mannheim steamroller cd's.

This is not our tree as we don't have on yet, i just couldn't resist. I am hoping that i will have pictures of our house and its decorated glory in the next week or so. HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

bad bad blogger

2009-11-04T15:07:00.000-08:00

SO i've kind of been procrastinating the blog thing because i wanted to post pictures. but unfortunately, we have lost the charger cord for the camera so it no longer will turn on. tragic news I know. We are turning our house sideways trying to find the said cord so pictures will be posted soon. Since the last post not a whole lot of fun has been had, but life continues as always.

We celebrated Stacey's birthday at our house with some pizza and ice cream and cake. it was a great time to have the whole family up at the house after all the work that has been put into the house. Nice to be able to show it off. Baby Nixon spent the time keeping us laughing while he tried to chase the kittens around the house and climb every set of stairs he could find.

Ryan and his dad have moved the renovations inside and they are fixing up the little things that need a quick repair. We are hoping to have the inspection done and paperwork ready to sign before Thanks giving. Wish us lots of luck.

There was a concert at Bushwhackers on the the 29th. the local radio station has taken to sponsoring Thursday nights and they call it Cowgirl Round Up. they brought in Whitney Duncan who sings the song Skinny Dippin'. It was a pretty slow night but those that were there had a great time. she did a great job.

On Friday night we were lucky enough to go to the Rascal Flatts concert. Darius Rucker opened for them and it was the last night of the tour. So they were playing practicall jokes on each other and teasing each other. It was so much fun. Darius rucker used to be Hootie from Hootie and the blow fish, and he even played a few Hootie songs. It was a great night and one that rarely happens for ryan and i. to get time together not at the bar or where ryan doesn't have to go to work. we really enjoyed it.

Halloween is always a great night at the bar. best people watching ever. The costumes are always excellent. There is a costume contest with the top 3 getting cash prizes. The big winners this year were a group girls dressed as The Wizard of Oz people, a group of Hillbillies, and top prize went to chain saw guy. There were a ton of great costumes and the winners were voted on by the crowd so its always interesting to see who wins.

And then there was my cute little farmer. Ry. I dressed up as Rosie the Riviter but apparently no one took any pictures of me. sad i know.

Ryan's best friend Ross who just got a house a few miles from us stayed home on halloween to give candy to the trick or treaters. they had over a 100 little kids. crazy how a few miles will bring such a huge difference in kids because we didn't get any at our house. off on another busy week and hopfully we will get the camera up and working again soon.

2009-10-19T12:19:00.000-07:00

Halloween is one of my favorite times of year. The snow hasn't started to fall yet, its cool but not cold, and the leaves of the trees make it so pretty outside. Lately at our house it has been really foggy at night and in the morning which gives the neighborhood this cool, scary horror film feel. Ryan and I finally got to spend some time together this weekend. it was great. The list of projects that have to be finished on the house is getting smaller and that is a very good thing. On Saturday we just did the "have to do" things like cleaning and grocery shopping. and we made a homemade salsa for a family birthday thing on sunday. We went to the Roloff farms pumpkin patch to pick us out the PERFECT pumpkin. The Roloff family is from the TLC show "Little people BIG World". We took the senic tour of the property which basically takes you around the outside of the property where you can see all the things the family does, all the barns and cars. the boys paintball tree huts, and the Cowboy Town, which is kind of like pioneer village in lagoon if ya ask me. Just a bunch of small buildings set up to look like a town. they do have this giant tree house that is 3 levels, that is not screwed or bolted to the tree so every few years they have a guy come make adjustments because the tree keeps growing.

Ryan was pretty happy about this picture. This is Matt's rally VW Bug which he takes to the Portland Internation Raceway every now and then and races.

This big window used to be the front door to the house until the Roloff family had it totally redone

The back of the house.

They have a pirate ship, and a castle that took them 4 years to build. We also got to see the soccer filed and the house. They are filming a movie with one of the sons so there was tons of security and people everywhere. most of the family was at the farm, but there were so many people I couldn't really get a good picture of any of them without standing in huges line.

This is the Pirate ship behind the big tree house.

And here is Amy's Castle, complete with draw bridge and Queen and King quarters inside.

This picture shows 2 of the 3 barns and a part of the soccer field. The front ground of the picture is the actual pumpkin patch where they grow all the pumpkins.

They had these 2 huges pumpkins that had to be brough in by truck for the movie they are filming. They were to big not to take a picture.

Ryan and i were just not that interested. So we picked out our favortie pumpkin and home we went.

On Sunday Stacey, Ryan's sister, had a birthday party for baby Nixon, who turns 1 on Oct 21. It was a Halloween party and the kids came in costume. Sad news was big brother Dawson had come down with some sickness and had to spend the day at Nanna and Pappa DeClercks house so he missed the party. We had excellent mexican food, which is why Ryan and I made the yummy salsa. I totally recomend making the salsa at least once just to try it. Its a sweeter kind than most and it was full of yummy healthy veggies. I think I'll post the recipe at the bottom just in case.

Nixon got his own cupcake which he promptly smashed all over himself while managing to eat almost all of it.

Trying to convince him that the magnets in his hand are not nearly as cool as the cupcake and candle.

Big hand full of cupcake...

Super Cute Nixon

Tired of the cake, he needed to rest a second... Ha ha so funny

Sharing cake with everyone who got close enough for him to reach

Happy Birthday Nixon, Uncle Ryan and Aunt Ally Love you very MUCH!

A little frosting in the hair and ears never really hurt anyone. And he was so stinking adorable. Cutest little kid ever. After making a mess and the amazing sugar rush crash he was to tired to do presents so that will happen with family on his real birthday. So happy to have some family so close and that Ry and I were able to be there for his party.

Stacey's birthday is this week as well, so Happy Birthday to Stacey on Friday!

Sweet Bean Salsa Recipe

1 can white corn (shoe peg) -drained
1 can Black eyed peas- drained
1 red onion (chopped)
1 Green pepper (chopped)
1 Avacado (chopped)
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup white vinager
1/2 cup Canola Oil (do not sub other oils)
1 Tablespoon Tiger Sauce ( found by the A1 and Hot sauces in the store)

Mix all ingredients and chill. Best to make the night before (without avacado) and let marinate overnight. ENJOY!

Busy Fall weekend

2009-10-13T09:33:00.000-07:00

Its getting cold outside and before the famous or infamous Oregon Rain starts we wanted to finish up as much as possible outside before we can't get it done. The deck needed a little attention. like lots of attention. after cleaning off the deck we power washed it all clean. taking years of outside dirt and rain off. then of course we have to wait for it to dry, then pick out a color and stain the deck. the cool thing about it is that we have all these benches that are on the edges of the deck that kind of make it look like a railing. but they move. so we have a lot of surface to cover with the stain. and because the outside of the house has just been painted we didn't want to get anything on it. what a difficult task that turned out to be.

This is the before pictures. poor sad deck. until it gets a bath!

We choose a carmel brown color for the deck. its a neutral color that still lets the little imperfections of the deck show through and in my opinion it looks so much better than the old weathered wood. Im very happy with the way it turned out. Thanks Ry and Don! your hard work is sure paying off!

On Thrusday night Bushwhackers had a concert set up with a surprise special guest. The concert sold out a few days before so we were ready for a rockin night. The doors were supposed to open at 6 and the concert start at 7, but there was a little tiny problem with people showing up on time (cough cough) celebrities i tell ya. anyways the line outside the bar of people waiting to get in was crazy!

This is the line after it went in front of the bar and down the left side, then back up into the parking lot that you see here!

over 400 people waiting patiently in line to come in and see the concert

Once everyone got inside and found a seat, the concert started just a little after 7, with the special guest TRAILOR CHOIR! they sing the "rockin the beer gut" song. Big Vinny is seriously the funniest guy i have ever seen in concert. He wanted to Bust a move in the middle of dance floor.

Big Vinney is in the Green hat, Crystal is the blonde, and i can't remeber the other guys name on the right. and our lovely Tara in the middle makin sure the band gets everything they need before the big show.

as with all concerts that Bushwhackers has we have the band or singers sign the wall and we put up their pictures for all to see. so of course we had to take pictures of the art work

And then on to the main event, Chris Young. He sings the song Take me Home. He has a great voice and put on an amazing show. he played for almost 2 hours and stayed after for a meet and great. then, after all his obligations were taken care of he still hung around and just enjoyed the evening at the bar with all the people that had shown up to support him. he was a great night.

So thats pretty much what our busy weekend was like. It started raining today so its time to bring the remodle inside! yeah

the RM and other family things

2009-10-05T10:26:00.000-07:00

Ryan and I flew home to Utah over the weekend. May i recomend not flying in bad weather? Cause the rain and wind make for a really really bumpy flight. We arrived Wednesday night and my mom and Matt came to the airport to get us. We spent Thursday getting ready for Kevin to come home from his mission. hanging banners and painting the windows.

Ryan and I went with Janiel and her family to pick Kevin up at the airport. Janiel was shaking like a leaf, the poor thing was so nervous and excited she could barely control herself. Elder Coleman served in the South Dakota, Rapid City Mission although he spent a good amout of time in Whyoming and Nebraska.

I swear he has grown a few inches and his voice has changed a bit as well. We are so proud of you KEVIN! Lots of hugging and tears at the air port, because Kevin brought 7 other RM's home with him.

Lots of people were standing around. Its a Utah only thing to see so many familys waiting at the airport with signs and ballons and things. But the love of family is great. We took Kevin straight to the Presidents office to be released then home to tell the waiting family and friends his stories of the mission field.

On Friday we had our family pictures taken. Its the first time since June of 2007 that all the family has been together. Grandkids and spouses and all. It was great. We had our pictures taken at the waterfall out front of Parsons construction company. strange i know. But the rocks and waterfall's were really cool. the pictures went well once the sprinklers were turned off. anyways, after the family pictures my mom's little family rented movies and had homemade soup and spent the night home together.

On Saturday Matt had his last "mighty mite" football game up in Coalville. it was so COLD! the wind was awful. But we stuck it out and matt's team won the game 20 to 0! way to go South Weber Knights! you rock!

Me, Mallory, and Ryan watching to game.

Matt standing on the Sidelines waiting to play

The cute boys in the cute little football pads.

On Saturday night after the game we had a big family dinner at a resturant, 16 people don't fit very well at anyone's house. After dinner me and Ryan and my Uncle Robert and Kevin went to the Halloween Havoc demoliton derby at Golden Spike arena. It was hands down the best derby I have ever seen. 5 hours and 85 cars. Trucks and SUV's. It was great. The boys of course were in total heaven watching the cars become hunks of metal with or without wheels.

There were 2 people carried out on stretchers for "saftey",and 2 roll over accidents were the car that hit first ended up on top of the other car. Both of those guys crawled out and walked away! it was insane.

Thats a red truck on top of an upside down white truck. the driver of the white truck walked away.

After they truned it right side up.

On Sunday we watched conference in our pjs and waited for the turkey to cook. The family came over at noon and we had an early Thanks giving type dinner. Yummy turkey and stuffing and yam's and potatoes. It was really good. We watched part of the second session and then had to leave for the airport.

I miss home in Utah and all my family and friends there. I love being able to come home and i am very grateful to my wonderful husband that will come with me. We had a great trip and can't wait to get back again soon!

Bless our Nest

2009-09-29T09:41:00.000-07:00

Ryan and I finally tied the knot on July 31, 2009. We had a beautiful small wedding in my Mom's backyard. lucky for us most of our friends and family from Oregon were able to join us. It was a wonderful day and we even got a few drops of rain after the ceremony. Very poetic for all of the Oregonians. We kind of honeymooned on our way back home to Oregon with our first night together at the Grand America Hotel in Salt Lake. We spent the next day playing at Raging Waters water park in Salt Lake and then we drove to Boise Idaho were we spent the next night. We stopped in La Grande and visited Ryan's Aunt and Grandma DeClerck. Then on to our new Home in Forest Grove.

Ryan and his dad have been working like crazy to make our little white farm house livable again. This house has been in Ryan's family for a very long time. His mom grew up here with her sisters. The house was built in 1907 as a one bed farm home. The washer and dryer were outside on the porch until about 15 years ago. We (i say that like I have been doing all the work as well) have been making great progress on the fix up.

It all started when we found out the kitchen and main dinning room didn't have a foundation. The house had to be excavated and a 36'' tall wall of cement had to be poured as a foundation.

This brick post is one of the many that were holding our house up. After the digging, the house was put on bottle jacks and these pour posts were knocked out. then the cement wall was placed.

The house resting ever so carefully on jacks.

The cement wall and frame work. starting to look like a foundation!

The boys after the day of digging.

Ross, Grant, Ry and his dad

Sadly after all this work curiosity got to the men and they crawled under the "newer" part of the house added on in the early 60's. the beams for the floor to our bedroom were completly rotted out. Dry rott has taken over. It only took a few days and the beams were all replaced with brand new ones! i can once again walk on the floor in my bedroom without feeling like the floor will give way any second.

So, the next step was the paint on the outside of the house. There were huge sections of paint that after nearly 60 years has started to bubble and peal off. the scrapping began. all the bubbles had to be popped and scrapped clean and then sanded smooth. after that step all the windows doors, trim and new cement had to be covered in plastic and taped off. you never realize how big your house is until you start doing things like this. after about a week of hard work and learning how to climb the ladder and not fall off the roof we got things figured out and the house is ready for painting.

Thankfully we are having this part done professionally. We owe a huge THANK YOU to our friends and especially my Father in Law for all the hard work and man hours at our house. the outside is just about finished. Painting was done yesterday and is all finished. Lucky for us the rain waited until afternoon.

Ta DA! the house with its brand new shinny coat of paint! its so pretty. I know, i know, plain old boring white house. But you have no idea how proud we are of this cute little white house.

Soon the inside gets a face lift!