The Willards

Walking!!

2011-11-20T20:32:00.000-08:00

Our little man is walking!!! And it's the most incredible experience to watch him learn how. Last Monday when I was done with work, I went to pick him up and when we got home I was just playing with him and he took a few steps towards me. By now he is walking half way across the room or down the hall. It's amazing what a week does!!

I just searched through all our photos and I don't really have any pictures of him on the move. Maybe I'll try to capture that later and post some. :)

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!

Fall Updates

2011-11-10T20:25:00.000-08:00

Well, sadly, it's been a while. Blogging and I have a love-hate relationship. I want to do it all the time but it's just one of those things that falls to the bottom of my priority list.

Anyway....just thought I'd fill the page with some fun pictures of the last month or two! Enjoy :)

Saturday

2011-09-24T14:37:00.001-07:00

I'm so thankful for Saturdays. I forgot how wonderful they could be! Raleigh is now home on the weekends and it's AWESOME!!!! He hasn't been home on the weekends in over 2 years (you think I'm kidding? I'm not). AND, he will be home tomorrow too! On Sunday!!! We have football on and I am doing some cleaning, Wesley is taking a nap, Raleigh went for a run, and we already enjoyed a morning together shopping for some things we needed (ok, and some things we wanted). Tonight we even get to go out on a date. It's been a while for that as well. I think this day is going to end up being extremely refreshing. It's the simple things that I have to be thankful for today.

Just Do It!

2011-09-15T16:07:00.001-07:00

This week I have a lot to be thankful for. Like....A LOT!!!! Because Raleigh landed himself a brand new job working for NIKE!!!

I am SO pumped and he is really, really excited as well. It is a tough company to get into and is well known for treating their employees well. The best part (to me) is that he will have a normal schedule. Woohoo!!! No more going to bed without him 4 nights of the week, no more weekends all by myself, no more hearing him wake up at 4:30am for work, no more graveyard shifts! We are both really thankful for this new opportunity. God provided it in His perfect timing. When Raleigh first started looking for new jobs I never thought he would get a job at Nike so this is just a really big blessing (a word I don't like to overuse, but in this case, that is exactly what this is).

What will he do, you ask? He's the assistant to the guy in charge of all the outlet stores on the west coast (that's my paraphrase:) ). Pretty sweet! His office is actually not at the Nike World Headquarters (bummer...that place is absolutely amazing) but who can complain? He'll still get to go there often I believe, and his office is just close to downtown Portland. We are super excited- he starts September 26th! Thank you Lord!!!

Blackberries

2011-08-31T18:00:00.001-07:00

Ahhh blackberry season. I love this season because blackberries are all over the place here and they're free!!! Today I went for a run and was just kicking myself for not bringing along a container of some kind to pick. I cannot resist free berries! I went on a route I normally don't go on (had to return a redbox so I figured why not kill 2 birds with one stone and jog there?) so I didn't know there would be so many gorgeously peeking blackberries! But there were. And as I'm jogging next to them I'm trying to think of how I could shove them in the stroller or empty my water bottle to put them in there or just eat them all. :) But I didn't....Maybe I will go back there tomorrow and pick.

Needless to say...they are YUMMY. I'm very thankful for Blackberry season in the Northwest!!

Bob and Wesley

2011-08-23T21:10:00.000-07:00

Well here are the two things I'm thankful for today: Bob and Wesley. Bob being my BOB jogging stroller that we got on craigslist that allows me to jog! I absolutely love it. It keeps me sane, in shape, and healthy. And how could you not love that smiling face peeking out from there?!!

Thankful for...??

2011-08-14T21:13:00.001-07:00

No picture today people, sorry. The last 3 days have been tough ones to think of things to be thankful for. But, every day I have still found things to dwell on.

The days have been rough because once again my 7-month-old is teething. And he is super cranky. And doesn't sleep as well. And just seems unhappy, which makes me sad. :( Oh and he has a VERY loud voice.

BUT....today, I am thankful for HIM. Yes, I am thankful for Wesley. Even though he drives me crazy sometimes, I am so glad I have him. When Raleigh left for work today, I cried (call me a wimp but I did). I didn't think I could take a 3rd day in a row of this (oh, and did i mention that my amazing family even came yesterday and stayed 6 hours longer than they were going to because I begged them not to go? they were awesome- another thing I'm thankful for!). But as he left for work, on a Sunday morning, I thought, ya know, this day would be more sad if I were by myself! Call me crazy but it's true! I would be lonely, not sure what to do with myself for the next 10 hours, and probably kinda down/depressed. But at least I am being a mom and taking care of our sweet boy that the Lord has entrusted us with.

Thank you, Lord, for that. Thank you that I have Wesley, even though at times he does give me a run for my money. Thank you. So much.

Comfy Living

2011-08-11T20:39:00.000-07:00

Today I'm thankful for the place that I live. We live in a beautiful condo complex that is homey, comfy, safe, and possibly a little luxurious. It was our number one choice among the other apartments or condos that we looked at when we moved here. I love it!!

Thankful

2011-08-09T20:53:00.000-07:00

I'm back! It's been 2 months...yikes!! And I have a new idea for my blog!

I've decided I am going to turn my blog into a weekly or daily "I'm Thankful For..." blog. I will post a picture (hopefully) of what I'm thankful for on that day or for that week and just a quick explanation of why. I'm hoping this will be encouraging to anyone out there reading.

This is something I've really been convicted of lately. In any time of life, you can find things to grumble and complain about. But the most important thing is to focus on what you're thankful for. I believe this is the best way to find contentment- remaining thankful for what you DO have.

So today, I start with one of the biggest and probably the most obvious thing I'm thankful for:

My amazing husband and my precious little boy.

Life would be stale without them.

They are what gets me up in the morning.

They are pure joy to my soul.

Thank you, Lord, for Raleigh and Wesley.

I'm Back! And with mommy questions!

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

My Little Guy:)

I decided that I may as well continue blogging, and in my posts, if I don't have anything else to say, I will ask mommy questions. Since a lot of you out there who read my blog are moms, I think this would be an awesome way to get some support and feedback (which I am definitely in need of)! So, here are my first questions for anyone who is willing to answer:

-What do you do with a 5-month-old? It's an odd stage. He can't really move around enough to entertain himself, but he's old enough to really desire to be stimulated a lot of the day. Any ideas for this age?

-When did YOU start rice cereal with your baby? I'm thinking about starting Wesley on rice cereal this weekend. He'll be 22 weeks old. I feel like it's time but just wondered what others of you are doing or did.

Well that's it for now. :) Thanks in advance to anyone who wants to give me a little feedback.

Bad Blogger

2011-05-10T17:13:00.000-07:00

I know, I know, I have not blogged in 2 months. Why, you ask? The honest truth is that I just have other things to do in life! One of them being my little 4-month-old boy and my wonderful 26-year-old husband. My boys are so precious to me and I am enjoying every moment I have with them! But anyway, back to blogging, I just don't feel like I have time for it! Between taking care of Wesley, working part-time, trying to keep up on the laundry/house work, and spending time with our families, all of my "spare" time is put into just relaxing and recuperating. But of course, there isn't much spare time left after all of that. So to give you a quick update...life is wonderful. Raleigh and I feel so blessed. This doesn't mean we don't go through days or even weeks of frustrating moments or difficult things, but overall, we have such a good life and are very thankful.

So I guess for now I am taking a break from the blog. Sorry if that disappoints anyone! But if you do want updates...just follow me on Facebook. Somehow, I do find time to update THAT.... ;) And for now I'll leave you with a picture of me and my little man Wesley.

Two Months Old and the story of how he got here

2011-03-08T20:35:00.001-08:00

My little Wesley is 2 months old!! He's just as sweet and precious as ever. I love him SO much (especially now that he's sleeping longer in the night...that certainly helps!). I thought I might share the labor story too so here goes.

Thursday morning, January 7th:

2am- wake up with steady constant contractions. 5 minutes apart, walking the halls in the house doesn't make them go away.

7am- I decide 5 hours of this means it's worthy of going to the hospital so we head there.

7:30am- Get checked in and they say I'm 1.5cm, and I need to walk the hall for 2 hours to see if it makes progress.

8am-10am- walk the halls...boring! :)

10am- Get checked. Still 1.5cm so they send us home. At this point contractions are definitely more intense.

noon-6pm- at home enduring contractions...they are getting worse. We picked up the movie Inception to kill time. Yeah...not a good movie to watch while you're in labor...it's already a confusing movie let alone when you are struck with pain every 3 to 4 minutes.

7pm- I decide this is too intense and we need to go back to the hospital.

7:30pm- Get checked in. I'm only 2.5cm!! WHAT?!!!? All that work for only 1cm of progress? I am not happy. :( Because I hadn't made much progress, they sent us home...AGAIN. But this time with a sleeping pill for me. They say to come back when the contractions are "more intense". Hmm....right....

10pm- We get home and I am out. But I only sleep for about 2hrs.

JANUARY 8TH:

Midnight-5am- I am enduring crazy painful contractions. I can't sleep and I'm also loopy 'cause of this sleeping pill. I'm trying everything...bath, different positions, etc.

5am- I decide this is enough and we have to go back for a 3rd time. If nothing else I need an epidural to take away this pain!

6:30am- We get to the car (I can seriously barely walk at this point) and it's icy out. :( Makes us both pretty nervous.

7am- Arrive at hospital and get checked....I am at 9.5cm!!!! WOAH, I just labored at home the whole time!! I ask if I can still get an epidural and they say yes I definitely can, but that they're going to break my water and then I can begin pushing! So I am OK with that!

8:00am- We are in the delivery room and I begin pushing. I ask the doctor how long she thinks I will have to push. She says 20 minutes. I think to myself, I can't do that! Little did I know....it will be an hour and 20 minutes.....

9:25am- Wesley Adam Willard is born!!!! They hold him up and I see it's a boy and they put him on my stomach. Best feeling EVER. He was so warm and truly, don't call me a bad mother, but truly, I was more happy to be done with labor and pushing out this baby than to have him there. But after about 5 minutes, I was more relieved to have him there. Oh it was just so amazing. Then Raleigh went out into the waiting room to tell our families, and we opened the blinds and it was snowing...ahh. It was a great moment. Oh yeah and then I ordered TONS of food. I've never felt like I burned so many calories as during those 32 hrs of labor.

So here he is now....2 months old. I can't believe it!! We love him so much!

Wesley Adam

2011-01-18T11:55:00.001-08:00

Wesley Adam Willard has arrived! Our baby boy came into this world on January 8th, 2011 at 9:25am. He was 8lbs 5oz and 20.5in long. He's healthy and beautiful and we absolutely LOVE him!!! Someday I may post about the whole labor experience but that may be when I actually have some time. :-) It's amazing how much time a little baby can take. For now, here are a few of my favorite pics (they are in reverse order...not because I don't know how to reverse them but because I am either lazy or have no time since I'm a new mom!):

We are home!!
In the hospital :)

This was the moment they laid him on me (or very close to it).
This one is Raleigh going out into the waiting room and telling our families!!

Update, Due Date

2011-01-05T15:17:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow is my due date! I say that not because I'm expecting anything to magically happen but just because I can't believe it's here! I am both proud of myself for making it through the whole pregnancy and yet also I feel like it's been a pretty easy pregnancy so far so I'm very, very thankful for that.

As for an update....I've been having contractions since Jan. 1 but nothing consistent. The most consistent was yesterday, and it lasted for about 2 hours. Then I've been having them just now for the past hour at least. I also have them at other times but again, nothing consistent or that I could really time and keep track of. Still, it's exciting! And it makes me hope I could possibly go into labor soon!

I have an induction date scheduled also which is January 14th at 8PM. So most likely Baby would come on the 15th (which would be cool because my birthday is Dec. 15, Rals is Aug. 15, and we were married on July 15th). BUT....I would way rather have this baby come earlier!! If not in the next few days...maybe 1/11/11...?? At least we have a few cool date options here.

Besides majorly craving sugar and being a little bored (a horrible combination by the way!), I'm doing very well. Rals and I are just so excited for this baby to come. More updates later I'm sure.

Christmas

2011-01-03T17:05:00.000-08:00

Well Christmas has come and gone and now our focus is on getting this baby here safe and sound!! But first...a review of our Christmas season. It was a wonderful one! We spent Christmas Eve with my family here at our place. Raleigh had to work on Christmas Eve AND Christmas Day (this was definitely the biggest bummer of the time...) so our schedule was a little tricky. After doing gifts and going to our new church's Christmas Eve service downtown Portland, I said good-bye to my family and headed over to McMinnville to be with the Willard side of the family for Christmas Day. Raleigh came there late that night and was able to spend Christmas morning with all of us. Adam and Laura (Raleigh's brother and wife) were there with their sweet little baby Ben! It's so fun to be an aunt!

We also had a great New Year's. Raleigh had the whole weekend off (making up for Christmas I guess...?) so we had a nice time just laying low and taking it easy. We also got a lot done for this baby's arrival and I'm beginning to feel more caught up. I hope the baby comes soon!! But I'm not holding my breath....my due date is the 6th and I'm guessing he/she will be late. I hope I'm wrong though. Ok, here are some pictures (unfortunately I don't have many!):

Willard family (didn't get a picture of my side of the family...bummer!)

Raleigh and me with baby Ben

Christmas Eve...Raleigh sure does look nice! :)

Mostly Moved In

2010-12-02T17:58:00.001-08:00

Once again it's been quite a while since I have updated the blog. I'd say in the last 6 weeks or so, I've been just a bit busy. :) Within 2 weeks we packed up our life in Southern California, said good-bye, and moved back up to Oregon. We lived in the hotel for a week and thankfully found a place just in time for the moving company to arrive with all our stuff. We spent the whole month of November trying to get unpacked, painted, and decorated. And finally we are feeling like this place is home. And we love it!! Below are a few pictures of our new place and of my belly. Belly pic is at my parent's house on Thanksgiving...34 weeks at that time, by now though I'm 35. :)

Moving Back Home

2010-10-16T14:33:00.001-07:00

First off, I've been a HORRIBLE blogger and I know it. We went on an amazing trip to New York City and Boston in the middle of September. We had such a blast!! When we got back it was too overwhelming to think about blogging about it though so I kind of gave up on blogging. :) But now we are moving and I'm SO excited to share this story with everyone. God has really blessed us and done great things.

For the last year and a half or so, we have really wanted to move. Especially the last year. Fall of 2009 we decided we needed to have Raleigh start looking for jobs in the Northwest again. We hoped to move in January 2010. But that didn't happen. He applied for a few things, only one of which was anywhere in the Northwest, and it was in the Seattle area. Then we decided it'd be best for him to take this supervisor job that he has right now at the Marriott here. He took that job in March and they asked for a 6-month commitment...which takes us to September.

At this point, we feel the best thing to do with Raleigh's career is to have him continue at Marriott. Transferring is very easy to do and is encouraged in the company so all we needed to do was have him transfer to Portland! Sounds easy enough, right?! Nope, not at all. First of all, there are only 2 Marriott-owned properties in all of Oregon. There are lots of other Marriotts but they are franchised so he couldn't transfer into them. One of the two that are owned by Marriott is really small, which left really only 1 great option: the downtown waterfront property. During these last 6 months Rals has been keeping his eye on that property for openings (not that he could have even applied). NOTHING has come up at all that he could have applied for. So when September rolled around, we were just hoping he could at least get something in the Seattle area so we could come back to the Northwest.

We decided that since we were pretty limited with Oregon/Washington properties we had better come up with an alternative. At this point we really, REALLY want to leave the desert and start new again somewhere else. So we decided that Denver would be a good idea to look at. We've heard great things about it, they have lots of good career opportunities for Rals, and I could have seasons and colder weather again! :) First week of September comes and Raleigh had a good conversation with his boss about our plans. While we were in New York, a Denver job opened up and Raleigh applied. The next day (while still on vacation) he got a call for an interview for the next Monday. He interviewed for that and actually another one or two jobs in Denver...but nothing really happened with them for a week or two. Last week of September rolls around and I'm starting to get a little nervous about this so I just began to pray and specifically ask God to open something for him in Portland or Seattle. Also keep in mind we are in a pretty strict time table here. The baby is due Jan. 6 so anything too far into November and we really shouldn't move. So we don't have a lot of time.

The last day of September, Rals came home and said that another job had opened up, but that this one was actually at the downtown waterfront property in Portland!!!! And, it was a supervisor of the front office job which would fit him much better than some of the ones in Denver. I was really excited but not very optimistic. Lots of properties will post jobs but already have in mind who they are going to hire (if it's an internal thing). So part of me figured that would be the case. But the next day, he got a call from them and they were really excited to talk with him and set up an interview for that Monday! This was a REALLY good sign and I immediately had peace about the whole thing and really felt like God was going to do this for us.

STILL though, waiting was so hard!!! At the end of the interview Monday they said they wanted to do a 2nd interview and that they'd call the next day to set that up. They didn't call until Thursday and that really made me nervous! But he had an interview the next day, Friday, and Raleigh told me it went REALLY well. I was so excited. They also told him that they guaranteed we would hear back from them on Monday!! So we waited patiently yet with much anticipation this whole last weekend.

Monday comes around and no call. Tuesday came and went, no call. I was trying to not have emotion breakdowns...lol! It was so tough! Those two days were great opportunities for me to just rely on the Lord and put it all back in His hands over and over again. Wednesday comes and Raleigh told me that if he hasn't heard from them by lunchtime, he was going to call them. Finally, around lunch, I got a call from him and he said he had been offered the job!!! We were ecstatic and I cried. :) Not only did he get the job, but they said they liked him so much and wanted to be sure he would take the job that they were going to start him off at a higher pay than they usually start people off at! This was ALSO a huge answer to prayer because the pay was a big unknown. I couldn't imagine them offering him the job and then having to turn it down because of pay!

So everything ended up working out absolutely perfectly. I mean really--if you had asked me to give you the ideal situation for us, this would have been it (maybe without those extra two days of waiting though...haha). It couldn't get too much more ideal. I'm still amazed, absolutely amazed, at how God orchestrated all of this for us. These last 3 years down here have been extremely stretching and we have learned so much, grown a ton, and now to have Him bless us in this way, it's so wonderful. Don't get me wrong though...there are people here that we will really, really miss. I don't feel like we have made TONS of friends, but the friends we have made are close and have made our time here good. I could say a lot more but I think you get the picture. :) God has always taken care of us. Even when bad things have happened or when he has said "wait", "wait", and then again, "wait"...He's still always taken care of us. And now He has chosen to take care of us with a huge blessing. :)

Here is a verse that I decided to claim through this whole thing and I will leave you with this:

Lamentations 3: 25-26 "The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord."

Trip # 3&4 of the Summer

2010-08-27T15:51:00.001-07:00

This summer has been so busy for us! After our trip to Texas, we got to go to San Diego because my family was vacationing there! It was a lot of fun. The day before we went, Raleigh officiated a wedding!! He did such a great job. There's a picture of him at the very bottom of this post. I was so proud of him. :-) San Diego was so much fun, and it was great for us to get out of our bad weather, into the perfect weather over there.

Then, Raleigh's parents came to visit! Since it's summer here and it was Raleigh's birthday, we decided to get out of town with them as well! We went to Newport Beach, one of our favorite places to hang out. Enjoy the pics. :) And our last trip of the summer is coming up in 2 weeks....we're going to NEW YORK!!! I'm so excited!

Trip #2 of the summer: Texas

2010-08-05T18:38:00.000-07:00

So our second trip for the summer was to Austin, TX (and Waco, TX as well). Raleigh was a groomsmen in one of his friend's weddings so we needed to make the trip. And, Adam and Laura (my brother-in-law and sister-in-law) just moved to Austin about 2 months ago, so we were able to visit them, too! It was a lot of fun. I had never been to Texas before but had always wanted to visit, just to see what it's like. We had a great time! Enjoy the pics:

Our Rental Car! haha

We went to the town (and actually all the way up to their gate) where George W. Bush and Laura Bush are from.

And we went to the Dr. Pepper Museum :)

Here we are at the wedding :)

Visiting the University of Texas, where Adam is now working.

And of course, we had to get in some real, authentic BBQ! It was really, really good, and not at all like what I've had before! This was inside the place we went.

Rals and Adam

Our Baby

2010-07-20T16:29:00.001-07:00

This last week I had a normal appointment. They had told us ahead of time that I would have a physical (oh joy) and that we would be able to hear the baby's heartbeat, but wouldn't have an ultrasound. No problem, I thought, as I at least want to hear the heartbeat and make sure it's still OK. :) Well our very kind doctor said she really wanted to give us a quick peak, because from 9weeks to 14weeks, the development is huge. So we got to see the baby!! It was so adorable! It actually looked like a baby this time. Amazing! It wouldn't move very much for us but we could tell it was trying to suck it's thumb. At the very end, it turned its back to us! haha. Very cute. I think it didn't want to be disturbed. The pictures are below, and a shot of me yesterday, 15weeks. The bump is coming in pretty slowly...but it's coming. :)

Trip #1 of the summer

2010-07-12T16:03:00.000-07:00

We have such a busy summer planned...which I'm really glad about! It will get us through it quickly which is what I need (because of the heat). Our first trip was just this last week and we got to go HOME to visit family! It was so nice to be back in Oregon and to see everyone. Much needed. Here are some fun pics from our time. :)

Picking raspberries!

Above: making raspberry jelly
My annual motorcycle ride with my father-in-law.
Picnic :)

Here I am...showing just a little bit. 14 weeks pregnant :)

New Chapter in Life

2010-06-24T10:35:00.000-07:00

Well it's been a LONG time since I've blogged!! But I think I have a good excuse....on Mother's Day I found out that I'm going to be a mother! That's right...I'm currently 12 weeks pregnant!!! So for the last month or so I've been feeling pretty crummy and thus, not feeling like doing anything extra like blogging. Not to mention that there was really nothing else in life to blog about except this!

Raleigh and I are so excited about having a baby! I'm due on January 6th, 2011. I was actually pregnant during our half marathon but didn't know it! So weird! So far the 2 ultra sounds we've had have gone well. The baby is in there and the heartbeat is strong, they said. I was really nauseous the first 4 weeks or so. It was really hard to get rid of the nausea. But around 9.5 or 10 weeks, I started feeling better! I'm getting closer and closer to feeling more like normal which is a great feeling. :)

In the picture above: Don't worry, I'm not even pretending to have a belly here. But Laura (my sister-in-law) was visiting, and she was about 22 weeks at that time, I was about 7. :) We just had to capture the moment! The picture below...I don't remember what week that was, like 9 or 10. The first I really felt like I had a bit of a new pooch, even though you can't really tell in this picture. I'll maybe post one again soon of me now, which isn't big, but still.

13.1

2010-05-02T21:18:00.000-07:00

203 miles of training
12 weeks of hard work
13,000 runners
13.1 miles, 2hrs. 25mins.

WE DID IT!!!

I'm so proud of us! And I kind of can't believe we did it!! Well, I can totally believe Raleigh did it..but it's amazing to think that I did it. I've never been a runner. This was one of those accomplishments I wanted to complete because I thought I'd never do something like this in my life. The race was AWESOME!!!!! It was so fun. Like I said above, there were 13,000 runners so it was absolutely crazy! From the time they blew the buzzer for the start, it was 11 minutes until we actually got to the start line! But oh my word, what ENERGY there was on this run! It was an experience unlike any other. And let me just say, it may sound stupid to say 13.1 but believe me, when I saw the 13 mile marker and realized I STILL HAD MORE TO GO....I was so ready to quit right there! So that last .1 really does matter. :)

I'll tell you a bit about the day, because it really was SO cool. We woke up at about 4:45 and Kristina picked us up to drop us off at the start. We got there and it was just people everywhere. The first 5 or 6 miles felt GREAT. I have never felt better running! We ran through some residential areas and there were people outside just sitting on their patios cheering us on. Way cool. We got to about mile 5 and it was on a bridge where we were running up one side and could see the people ahead of us on the other side. I wish I had my camera because it was amazing. Just a sea of people. Water stations were scattered throughout the run and the volunteers were so organized, encouraging, and efficient. Every port-a-potty station we passed had a line of probably 25-30 people. I felt bad for them 'cause that would take probably at least 10 minutes! We knew Kristina was going to be at mile 9.5 to cheer us on (it was a designated cheering spot) so we looked for her there. Unfortunately RIGHT before that spot was the steepest hill on the course, so I was getting so tired and we were actually walking up the hill. But still it was so good to see her and hear her cheering for us. She took our sweaters and gave us sunglasses.

The last 3 miles or so were the hardest. My body was in pain- ankles, toes, knees, hips, butt, etc. All in pain. I've never had pain in my knees before but by far, right now, that is still what's hurting the worst. I pushed through, and it really was so inspiring to be running WITH so many people and also it was good to be running in an unfamiliar place that I couldn't stop and say, 'we have too far to still go!'. :) 'cause I had no clue. haha. Anyway, to sum this up, the last mile was the worst yet the best. I know, weird. I was hurting so bad but had decided I would NOT stop to walk at this point no matter how hard it was. By this point we were in the fairgrounds area. So many people were cheering us on. It was an amazing feeling. Then we finally made it. :) I'll let the rest of the pictures tell the story!

We did it! I love you Raleigh- thank you for going slow for me. Thank you for encouraging me. I could have never done it without you.

Farmer's Market

2010-04-25T21:06:00.000-07:00

Raleigh and I have been on a bit of a fresh, even organic, food kick lately. Maybe it's all the running because of our half-marathon or just a desire to be more and more healthy, but we've been trying to find more and more ways to eat fresh. There's a Farmer's Market that is on the street where I work. It's every Sunday morning and we do go there often but this week I decided to just get most all of the veggies I needed. It's so good and fresh and all locally grown (and free of pesticides, chemicals, etc). We even bought a basil plant (top left of the picture)!

Another thing that has inspired us to close the gap between where we buy our food and where it comes from is this very informative documentary on food. Click here if you haven't already seen it-- we would highly recommend it! Very interesting and informative. And enjoy a pic of the fresh veggies below. :)

Raleigh's new toy

2010-04-07T11:17:00.001-07:00

Well....we recently bought a new mode of transportation which is also Raleigh's new toy. :) It's a Yamaha Vino and is basically a glorified scooter or wanna-be motorcycle (this is my description- I'm sure Raleigh would choose to describe it otherwise). It's been pretty fun. It's just for Raleigh to get to work and back, which is round-trip about 6 miles so really not that far at all. It can only go 40MPH which down here is SLOW. The speed limits on most streets are around 50, 55, so he has to ride in the bike lane most of the time. The good news is that it gets 100 miles to the gallon!

Dinner Marathon

2010-04-04T20:53:00.000-07:00

Raleigh and I had the most amazing experience this last week. The company I work for (Ministry Centered Technologies!) bid and bought a dinner for 10 from this Chef Auction we went to last November (it was a fundraiser for the Pendleton Foundation, who helps people with rare diseases who cannot afford the treatment they need to get well). So it was time to redeem it! The chef (Freddie) and his whole team of Chefs were the ones to serve us and we had the whole restaurant to ourselves. The food was incredible- it was a 5 course meal. I think the only course we didn't get a shot of (some/most of these pics are from Jeff) was the first one, mushroom tortollini in white truffle sauce (it was amazing). I'll let the pictures speak for themselves:
The picture above is our second course, the vegetable course, which was absolutely delicious. Mixed greens wrapped in cucumber, an assortment of veggies with goat cheese, then 4 different kinds of heirloom tomatoes cut up into quarters. Below is our group.
Below: 3rd course (pallet cleanser) long-stemmed strawberry dipped in 50-year-aged balsamic vinaigrette.
Below: part of the main course. Inside of these breaded "pears" was some kind of a mashed potato goodness. Basically they were potatoes and really good ones at that.
Below: the main course, which was a trio: Filet Mignon, seared sea bass (my favorite) and chicken marsala. Yes, this was 1 person's serving!!
And onto dessert....this is when all of the chefs (7 I think) brought out 1 dessert per person, plus 1 extra. So each person got their own completely different dessert. We ended up passing them around in a circle so that everyone could try them out. I'm not going to try to explain them :)

Our good friends, Jeff and Ashley, who got to come to the dinner with all of us.
Here's Jeff and Shannon (who sponsored the whole thing) with all the Chefs.
Stupid picture but oh well! This is our company...at least those of us who work in the office. Jeff, Jeff, and me. :)

Raleigh's New Job

2010-03-23T16:41:00.000-07:00

Raleigh finally settled on a decision a few weeks ago and has taken over as Supervisor of the Nickelodeon department at the Marriott here in our area! His technical title is Recreations Supervisor but it's really just over the Nick. crew. He's really, really liking it so far and it seems to be a good fit. They asked us for a 6-month commitment...so we are here in the desert for at least another 6 months. This means another summer......HELP ME!!! I was really counting on being gone from here before the summer but sometimes, the Lord just has different plans! The good thing is that we don't have to move somewhere random, like Albuquerque. :) We'll take our blessings as they come and count any trials as future blessings once we learn to grow through them. In the meantime, it's great to have Raleigh work a 40-hr. week job that advances him in the company!

Half-Marathon Training

2010-03-12T20:55:00.000-08:00

Rals and I decided to do a half-marathon this Spring! It was kind of our New Year's resolution. Mostly just a goal in life. And this, we figure, is the perfect time to do this and here's why:

-We live in a place where January-April is the perfect time of year as far as weather
-We have no kids
-We have very few commitments in the evenings/weekends that would make training difficult
-SINCE we have very few commitments...having a goal that is challenging is good for us

So we are currently at the end of week 5 of training, and I officially registered us this week. We're really doing it! It's hard to believe. I have NEVER been a runner so this has really been challenging for me. But it's really amazing how much your body improves. It's been fun so far, and something we can do together. The half-marathon is May 2nd in Orange County (Newport Beach actually...my FAVORITE area over there). I'll be sure to be posting about it after we accomplish it (providing that we do) and post some pictures!

Surprise Weekend

2010-03-08T15:22:00.001-08:00

This last weekend was SO much fun! Raleigh's parents, Terry and Karen, are celebrating their30th Anniversary today! A few months ago they planned to go to San Francisco to celebrate, which is the area that Adam and Laura (Raleigh's brother and his wife) live. So we knew that the 4 of them were going to be in the same area this weekend and Raleigh and I decided that we'd buy tickets to meet them up there..but as a surprise. Adam and Laura picked us up Friday night and we stayed with them. Then Saturday morning was when we surprised them. We were dropped off at the hotel they were going to check into while A&L went to the airport to pick them up. When they all got to the hotel to check in, we were waiting there for them in the lobby. They were SOOOO surprised!! It was very exciting. We had such a fun weekend walking everywhere you could imagine in San Fran, riding the ferry, the cable car, eating at fun places, and just spending some quality time together. We also surprised them with a book that the 4 of us kids did for them. It contained letters from friends and family congratulating them on 30 years, and a lot of pictures from the past. It was a lot of fun to get it all together. Here are some pictures to show our weekend:

Homemade Weekend

2010-02-28T21:56:00.000-08:00

This weekend I guess we were just in the mood to make and bake things! Raleigh made his homemade granola that he hasn't made in a while, I made cookies (which I also haven't made in a while) and Raleigh made a lot of ice cream, too. The ice cream in the picture is "Heath Cafe", which is coffee ice cream with Heath chunks. He named it. :) Raleigh is actually really into making ice cream these days and is selling them even! He's sold about 7 pints so far and has another 5 pints ordered. He's having a good time with it. We had a good time baking this weekend.

My Favorite Salad..and soon to be yours, too!

2010-02-22T19:52:00.000-08:00

This is my FAVORITE salad! It is so good. I slowly have "perfected" it. It's simple yet delicious and I wanted to share it with anyone who wants to try it. :) Here are the ingredients and directions:

Red or green leaf lettuce
Tomatoes
Cucumbers
Carrots
Orange and Yellow Peppers
Roasted Pine Nuts
Grilled Chicken

Roast the pine nuts in a pan with a little bit of olive oil. Cut up all veggies and sprinkle with the pine nuts. Grill chicken with some seasoning (I use salt/pepper and lemon-pepper seasoning).

It's the best with some homemade ranch dressing but I also just do olive oil and vinegar dressing to cut back on calories of course. And if you are going to exclude anything, don't let it be the pine nuts! They are so good and bring out a very distinct and interesting flavor. :) Enjoy! Let me know if you try it and like it!

So many options, so little clue what to do.

2010-02-18T10:35:00.000-08:00

Well I certainly can't complain about having a lazy, good-for-nothing husband! This guy is the best. He's such a hard worker and a people-person. The people he works with love him and it's evident in how many opportunities and options are getting thrown his way right now! Since Marriott is such a good company and encourages moving up and out (transferring), we are hoping to get back to the Northwest soon. But it could mean putting in some time somewhere else first. Here are his current options and then the ones he has applied for:

Front Desk Supervisor at Renaissance Esmerelda (the hotel he's currently working at)
Nickelodeon Supervisor at Renaissance Esmerelda while the current supervisor goes on maternity leave
Front Desk Manager at a property in Albuquerque, NM
Front Desk Supervisor at a property in Redmond, WA (didn't get that but did get offered a different position there...which he didn't take it)
Front Desk Supervisor at a brand new property in San Antonio, TX (pretty sure he didn't get that one)
Pursuing "other" options in the entertainment/Nickelodeon industry

So as you can see...we have so many things to think about..so many options of where we could be living. It's definitely a "good" problem to have. But it becomes overwhelming at times. Yesterday in particular I was feeling overwhelmed. My biggest desire is to get close to our families. I miss them SO much and feel like I'm really missing out on part of life by not being near them. But then I read this verse and it hit me:

Isaiah 41:10
Do not fear, for I am with you;
Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God
I will strengthen you, surely I will help you,
Surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.'

"Do not anxiously look about you". That is exactly what I was doing. And why shouldn't I? "For I am your God". Such power there! He is my God. Therefore I have no reason to anxiously look around at my life. He will strengthen me and help me. That may mean I'm living somewhere I don't want to live, but as long as He is helping me and strengthening me, I can make it. We'll see where God takes us next!

Back to Blogging

2010-02-17T22:11:00.000-08:00

I've been out of the blogging world now for like almost two months. It's been SUCH a busy beginning of 2010! Things seem like they are beginning to slow down at least a bit now and I've really been wanting to blog more...so here goes! Here's a list of things that have already happened in the first 45 days of this year:

Raleigh and I went to see The Tonight Show
My Mother-in-law came to visit
We launched a brand new product at work
I went to a week-long conference for work at Saddleback
Raleigh and I went to Sea World
We have started training for a half-marathon
Raleigh has applied for or interviewed for 5 different positions among Marriott, most of them meaning a move for us
We bought a new mattress
Many more great things!

Hopefully I can catch you all up on everything, especially jobs for Raleigh. More to come on these new adventures!

Truly a Blessed Christmas

2009-12-28T14:18:00.000-08:00

So I have this little pet-peeve of mine..and that is when people overuse the word "blessed". I feel like it's one of those "Christianese" words that gets tossed around a lot. In this last year I have grown to understand a bit better what a real blessing is. I think that when you have a year like mine (that is not particularly one to repeat), it is almost easier to see the true blessings, because they are like a white diamond against a black velvet cloth. They stand out. And although they may be much smaller than the black cloth that's behind it, they are still shining bright and are very obvious. This is how the blessings this year have been for me. I won't go into all the deatils, because I just want to focus on my Christmas blessings. :)

Raleigh and I were unsure of what our Christmas plans were until the day before we were able to leave. UGH!! That is not the blessing part of this story! Let me explain: because Raleigh is the only Nickelodeon-Approved host at the Marriott here, we have been waiting for them to tape someone else doing the show, mail it to Marriott, and then get the final approval from them. A tape was already sent to Marriott for approval in October but they did not approve his replacement. Then they taped this same guy again on Dec. 3 and sent it off the next week (cutting it close I might add...). Since a boss at Marriott decided that the Nickelodeon show should happen on Christmas Day and every day after (through New Year's), we were stuck until we knew if this guy got approved. If he didn't get approved Raleigh and I would have only been able to go to Oregon for about 4 days (that's only 2 days with each family) and would have had to fly back to the desert on Christmas Morning. :(

FINALLY, the day before we were hoping to leave, we got word that he was approved. This is the first blessing. As we were lying in bed at my parent's house on Christmas Eve, I was thinking about how we would have had to fly out the next morning at 5:30AM. That was a truly "blessed" feeling I had. And the whole time we were in Oregon I just felt loved on. Great conversation, concerned hearts for us, and thoughtful gifts that let me know people think about us and care about us. It hit me that when people love me, and when circumstances seem to line up perfectly, that's God showing me love. That's how He chooses to do it sometimes! I felt so loved--not only by my families but by the Lord. He didn't have to put those people in my life and He certainly didn't have to open up the doors for us to be able to make it home for Christmas. But He chose to, and it was a real blessing.

Viva Las Vegas

2009-12-03T22:57:00.000-08:00

Well, as I already knew, I work for an amazing company. This last weekend we got the privilege to drive up to Vegas to do a company retreat. Although there are only 3 of us who work in the office, we have several other employees around the nation, and Jeff wanted to gather us all together (including spouses!) to do a Christmas party/company retreat. It was a lot of fun and for Rals and me, a first to be in Vegas! We got to do a lot of fun things, even though we were only there for 2 nights, 1 full day. Here are some pictures below to document. :)

On the drive over there.
I really like this picture. We went "the back way" which was crazy...lots of back roads but it was an incredible drive.

Laser Tag- it was a lot of fun.

Me in front of the fountain at the Bellagio.

Rals got to go to the Hoover Dam on the day we employees had our meeting.

A shot of the Dam.

Rals and me in front of the entrance to the show LOVE.

The whole crew in front of LOVE entrance. The show was awesome!

Newport Beach Escape

2009-11-08T21:23:00.001-08:00

Raleigh and I had such a great time last weekend in Newport Beach. It was our first weekend away together in over 4 months, since Raleigh hasn't had a weekend off in that long! Sadly I think I've gotten used to having him gone all weekend to where it would almost be weird now if he were home on a Saturday. :( Oh well...just remaining thankful that he has a job. We took advantage of the great Marriott discount and stayed at the Marriott there. It was beautiful, and they even upgraded our room for free to one with an ocean view. Here are some pictures...enjoy!

So beautiful...
That's the ocean behind me :)

Oregon trip

2009-10-23T14:07:00.001-07:00

First of all, I'm a terrible blogger! I can't believe I haven't blogged in over a month. Sad! About two weeks ago I left for a trip to Oregon all by myself. I had to leave Raleigh behind because he could not get the time off of work. I went up there and just visited my family and Raleigh's family. I worked the whole time which was nice, because then I did not have to use any vacation time and both of my families were working anyway! I have a great job that has such good flexibility. I hung out with my parents for the first 4 or 5 days, then spent the last few days with my in-laws. I had such a great time. It was also extremely refreshing for me to be in a place with seasons! I miss the seasons SO much. So I added a few fall pictures in there. :)

David and me picking apples at my grandma's house.

Below: My favorite fall picture! :)

Apple Pies

2009-09-17T15:08:00.000-07:00

Growing up, baking apple pies was a tradition. My grandma has 2 (I think?) apple trees and especially in the last 5 or 6 years, my mom has received ALL, yes, ALL of the apples from those trees. So we would massively bake about 10 pies at a time and freeze a lot of them for later in the year. At the time I'm not sure I thought it was that fun, but now, I like it a lot and it's something I enjoy doing.

Raleigh and I went to Oak Glen this last weekend (a place down here that has apple orchards) to do the U-pick to get some good apples. Don't get me started on this, but would you believe that in Southern California, it is MORE EXPENSIVE to get U-Pick apples than it is to buy them from their market a half a mile down the road?!!? I did not even think to ask! But after Raleigh and I had paid our $20 to get 10lbs (yes, I know, at the time I was thinking, what?! that's really expensive), we later went into the store and found bagged apples for half that price. Uhhgg...sorry to sound like I'm complaining but it doesn't help my great dislike for this area.

Ok anyway moving on...the other night I set out to make an apple pie but made two. :) Here are some pictures of my process! I love it. And if I do say so myself, the pie was pretty darn good! I actually had a piece for dinner last night..haha. Raleigh and I have eaten one of the whole pies in just 3 short days!

Step 1: Pick the apples (oh except if you live in California)
Oh, step 2: go home and make a really mean burger for dinner! Notice the cheese coming out of the middle of the burger...mmm
Step 3: Make the crust
Step 4: Make the filling! This involves a lot of apple-cutting...which can be oh so tiring...
Step 5: Dutch apple pie crumble crust on top!
Step 6: Eat :) Yummy.
Happy Fall everyone, although it's still 106 here, but technically next week it's "fall".

HOME

2009-09-10T20:19:00.000-07:00

Yesterday when I got home from work, I plopped down on the couch, turned on the news, and picked up my REAL SIMPLE magazine that just came in the mail. I was determined that this month, I'm going to read it from cover to cover. The first article was where people write in, and the topic was, "What is Home to you?". I sat there and teared up at most of them, laughed at the others, and all around really enjoyed it. It has inspired me to write my own "Home Is..."

The last two years have been rough as far as finding "home" in Southern California. We haven't felt at home here, and it's been hard to be far from family, and the Northwest (which are the two things I consider to be home). Here's my HOME tribute:

Home is my husband's kiss. It's his hand holding mine. Home is my mom's voice. My dad's walk. My sister's curly hair. It's my brother's strong hug. My mother-in-law's generous hospitality. My father-in-law's laugh. It's my brother-in-law's scientific answer for anything that could possibly happen to you in life, and my sister-in-law's kind and compassionate questions that make me feel cared about. Home is my Grandma Jean's hug. It's my grandma's sweet "hello".

Home is rain. It's fall leaves on the ground and a cup of apple cider in my hand. It's green hills and green trees. It's daffodils, and blossoming cherry trees. It's the soft carpet in my family's living room. The smell of fresh air in my grandma's woods. The sound of my husband and his brother laughing. Home is the tastes that you taste throughout the year that immediately take you back to Christmas. It's picking beans in the garden, and baking pies with my mom. It's eating my mother-in-law's berry cobbler and talking as we do the dishes afterward. It's classical music, and watching my father-in-law at the grill. Having a heart-to-heart with my sister. Home is seeing my husband walk through the door.

Home is all of these things, and so much more, that could never be replaced, and will always have a deep place in my soul.

I miss you, home.

Coupons!

2009-08-29T17:23:00.000-07:00

I love good deals, like most women do. And coupons can make for some really, really good deals, if they're good coupons. I admit I'm not one to cut coupons for 35 cents off of a $3 bag of skittles. To me, not really worth it! I like the kind of coupons like, $10 off a purchase of $10 or more, or, $5 off your next shopping trip, 50% off anything including sale items, stuff like that. Today I would say I did pretty well with coupons! I had a few I needed to use before they expired, and here's what I got:

Above picture, total cost: 56 cents!!! Great coupons, along with all of these items already being on sale.

Above picture, total cost: 72 cents!!! Scrapbooking stuff I needed (already on sale, doesn't hurt!) and a greeting card. Oh yeah!

So that's about it...if you have good coupon stories feel free to share!

San Diego

2009-08-26T21:34:00.001-07:00

It's a little late, but here's the post about our trip to San Diego. We had a great time. My family came down for their vacation and Raleigh and I met them over there at my grandma's house. These pictures are kind of in reverse order but oh well. The last weekend, everyone came over to our territory and Mom, Dad, and David stayed in the nice Marriott that Raleigh works at.

With SpongeBob....:)
Yay for the beach!
Mom :)

Both pictures (up and down) are the views right out of our hotel room. The first night in San Diego Raleigh and I stayed in a beautiful Marriott downtown- only $59 with his discount!

Our room!

We had a great time. Now we are back into the swing of things...which means a pretty slow life right now. God has just really put us in this down time where we literally have no commitments except our jobs. It's strange, and we are really anticipating the next chapter of life- hoping that it will come sometime soon. But, still trying to enjoy and savor every day now, so as to not wish life away. Ok that's all for now!

A Little Taste...

2009-08-03T18:22:00.001-07:00

Yesterday (Sunday) Raleigh and I were able to get out of town for a few hours. Since the 2nd week of July, we haven't been able to leave town because of Raleigh's new schedule. I was dying to get out and go somewhere to escape the heat so yesterday, since he got off work around noon, we went to Idyllwild, a mountain area about an hour from our house. We took a little hike (very little, haha) and just found some cool rocks to sit on and take in the gorgeous Oregon-like scenery. It was a little taste of "home". We took a picnic which was fun and just spent a few hours away. Here are a few pics!

Raleigh's Big Moment

2009-07-18T10:31:00.000-07:00

Raleigh was on TV in San Diego recently! He and his boss from the Marriott went down there to promote the Nickelodeon Getaway. I just thought I'd share the link with you. He gets pied in the face so I thought some of you might enjoy watching it. :)

Click Here to watch!

3 Year Anniversary!

2009-07-15T11:12:00.000-07:00

Raleigh and I have now been married for 3 years! Yay!!! I'm so happy to have a wonderful husband who loves me and takes care of me. Not much else to really write, except I thought I'd post some pictures, of the past and present. The first few pics are from our nice dinner out tonight! It was so amazing. We never go to this restaurant (The Cork Tree) because it's pretty expensive, but this was our one thing we were doing to celebrate.

When I got home from work, the lights were turned down, music was playing, and this is what was on the table! So sweet. If you can't read the little note it says 'The best 3 years of my life".
No clue why that picture is smaller. Oh well. Just some wedding pics.

Below: 1 year Anniversary! Disneyland.

Above: 2 year anniversary! Again, Disneyland.
Just being together.

Raleigh's New Job

2009-06-28T10:17:00.000-07:00

So I can't remember if I've written about Raleigh's new job yet, but here is some explanation and pictures! He got hired about a month ago by Marriott to be the host of a Nickelodeon Gettaway show that the Marriott puts on for any families that stay there. He is the host (or emcee...) or the whole thing. They do one "show" Friday night, then character breakfasts on Saturday morning (complete with Spongebob and Dora) and then two shows on Saturday afternoon. Then they do another character breakfast and good-bye thing Sunday morning. So yes, he works all weekend, and I work all week! Pretty opposite schedules right now but that's OK, 'cause this is a really great opportunity.

This whole week he's had rehearsals with Marriott corporate managers coming in, and a Nickelodeon producer from Orlando. They have given Raleigh nothing but huge compliments! They seriously think he's the greatest. It's been such a positive exerience so far and it's pretty cool, because we get discounts now at all Marriott hotels! :) Of course, we can never go anywhere 'cause we don't have even one common day off together, but oh well! So here are some pictures- the shows consist of Nickelodeon games, including SLIME.

"Mass Slime" event. Everyone could slime themselves if they wanted to. I don't get the excitement behind it, but kids do.Here's a view of the pool, then leading up to the "beach" area where he does the show.
I thought this waterfall area of the pool was pretty sweet!

So the pool gets more and more shallow until you can walk right out of it, then walk onto the sand.
Inside the hotel- I guess they are kinda famous for this stairway- and I can certainly see why!

Raleigh in action :)Here he is behind the desk he's at to greet all the kiddos when they come.
He gets to slime kids- that is the REWARD for winning! Am I old, or does that not sound like a reward?!

2009-06-14T20:59:00.000-07:00

Raleigh and I just got back from Oregon today. We had SUCH an amazing time up there. GREAT weather (well for me, 'cause I like the cool and the rain) and we just had such great time with both families. Not too much to explain, but wanted to post some pics! We primarily were there for David's graduation but had a great time doing other things as well.

Karen and Raleigh at Mo's on the coast.
Strawberry picking! 4 full buckets with the Willards. Yum.
At the beach.
The whole family at David's graduation- so proud of him!!
I like this one of the 4 of us :)

So also...we bought a Wii because Raleigh and I are officially DEBT FREE!!!!! We've been working really hard and staying really disciplined for the last year (at least) and do not owe anything. So as our reward we bought a Wii. I'm excited to try out the Wii Active.

Sedona Trip

2009-05-26T15:07:00.000-07:00

Raleigh and I got the privilege to go to Sedona, AZ over Memorial Day Weekend with the Willard side of our family. Our sister-in-law, Laura, has grandparents that own a house out there and they allowed us to stay there for free for 4 days!! It was a blast, and really beautiful. So we stayed there and just had relax time, family time, etc. Here are some of the things we did:

-a hike that led to Indian ruins
-mountain biking down red rock trails
-witnessing an amazing thunder/lightning storm
-croquet in a rain storm (best part of my whole weekend- such a great memory)
-going to the spa (in the top 3 for best spas in the US! I'm not that into "The Spa" scene but this one was very nice)
-each of us couples cooking dinner one night
-lots of board games while it rained
-hot tub and pool

So overall, it was a GREAT time. And it was cool 'cause Laura's grandparents stopped by on the last morning and her grandfather is Y.A. Tittle (NFL Hall of Fame). So I got a signed picture of him and that was cool.

Below: This is the house we stayed in :)
This is after we hiked to the top of this "cave" area.
Mountain biking

Timeshare experience/Update

2009-05-17T14:49:00.000-07:00

So....last month when Raleigh and I were at a Padre's game in San Diego, a guy stopped us and talked us into signing up for this time share presentation where of course we would get many prizes. So we reluctantly did it, only because some of the prizes were cool and inviting to us. So finally yesterday was our day to do this. We got ourselves so psyched out and pumped up to say "NO" like ten times to whoever our presenter person was going to be. We were practicing with each other all morning, coming up with different angles they may come back with because of our reasons and excuses, and we arrived totally ready to tell them that we were NOT going to give in to any kind of thing they wanted to offer us.

Well....we get there, and the guy who is assigned to us comes and finds us in our chairs. It's pretty typical up to this point- he takes us by this little drink stand where we get to get soda, juice, etc. to make ourselves feel so welcome. He's making jokes and being overly nice to us, again, like we expected. Then he asks Raleigh what he does for a living. So Raleigh proceeds to tell him that right now he's "in between jobs" but used to be a pastor. So we kind of see his mood change just a little bit and within 10 minutes it's obvious to us that he actually would like to just get rid of us, because he can tell that we aren't in a position to do this, even if we wanted to- which we didn't. So he then asks us, 'is this something you're interested in right now?' We say, 'well sure, we'll just give it a try and check out what you have to say' (because we wanted our prizes- and to do that, we had to sit through the 90-minute presentation). He then tells us that it doesn't seem like this is for us, and we start to feel like he's almost wanting to get rid of us. So we're thinking, WOW! This was SO easy!! And it really was. So then the hardest part is that we have to endure the next hour of him "wasting each other's time" (as he put it). We had to drive around the property in this golf cart, watch this stupid 10 minute video, go tour some of the rooms, etc. And the whole time we're doing this, he is pretty annoyed and short with us. At one point he even said the "F" word. We were both just like, woah, what is going on!!??!?! So it was really funny 'cause we were so pumped up and ready to fight back with anything they may throw at us, but this guy was just regretting he got stuck with us and that we obviously weren't going to purchase anything. So we finally make it to the end and as a formality, he has to offer us the pricing, and he says, 'So you wanna buy it?' Raleigh says, 'No, but it seems like a good deal maybe in the future'. He's like, 'Ok let's get you guys outta here'. And that was it!

So it was much easier than we thought. We just had to endure our cocky, annoyed, jerk of a guy and then we got to leave without even really being pressured into it. One more thing to add though- at one point he starts going into this thing about how 60% of marriages in the US end in divorce, and how in Europe, it's only 25%, and that's because they vacation on average 6 weeks of the year, and in Spain from noon-3pm everyone just takes a break. And wouldn't we all be better off if we vacationed more? So that's now our joke- hope we vacation enough so we don't have to get divorced someday! And just as a disclaimer: Raleigh and I DO NOT joke about divorce- we really feel that is not a good thing to joke about. But this was just too funny to pass up. :)

So here are the prizes we got:
$100 towards tickets at the Honda Center
4 Padres tickets
1 wine tasting "experience" (not really sure exactly what it's called...)
a 3-night trip to somewhere in Northern California. We have to get there, then we get 3 nights free.

So really, not bad! It was a good experience, not one I'd want to do all the time, but really not as bad as we thought it would be. Then afterwards we went to Oceanside and hung out, which was fun. Just good to have a day away.

UPDATE: For those of you kind of wondering about how things are going with us during this time, I think things are going better. We are still in a lot of emotional hurt, and unfortunately since Raleigh was asked to resign, things continue to happen that are hurtful. That has probably been the toughest- it was enough to go through all the junk before he was asked to resign, but then I was hoping it was over- it hasn't been. But we feel like we are slowly beginning to heal from it. Raleigh has 3 job interviews this week. Two are at hotels in the area and one is at Costco for marketing. We just wanted him to get a "whatever" job for now, until we can sort through all of this, get our feet back on the ground, and maybe try ministry again somewhere else someday. If you have been thinking/praying for us, we have really needed it and we really appreciate it. It's also been really difficult on some people from the group, so Raleigh and I are sorting through it all with them too (which is good, but slows down our healing process).
Ok that's it for now. :)

No longer a pastor's wife

2009-04-26T20:51:00.001-07:00

Dear friends and family,

This last week was one of the worst weeks we have experienced as a married couple, if not (for me) in my life. On Tuesday, Raleigh was asked to resign from his position as college pastor. The leadership of our church did not feel that Raleigh had "performed" to their expectations. They thought his leadership was "not a good fit" for this job. They did not think the numbers in the group were high enough, and therefore, asked him to resign. At least that is what they would say...

As I write this there is nothing more that I want to do than to tell you all the details and exactly what happened- yet Raleigh has reminded me that on my blog may not be the best place to do that, since it is so public (even though I say that is the purpose of a blog! To say what you want to say when you want to say it!). But let's just say this: the last 5 months have been torturous. Raleigh has come home discouraged, beaten down, and has had his character attacked. We together as a couple have basically tried to do ministry with our hands tied behind our backs. I have probably said too much already but 95% of you that read this live in Oregon and care about us, and are far enough removed from the situation that I feel it's OK to say this. And, it's the truth. So you see, we now feel that this leadership team has called us down here (well, GOD called us down here but you know what I mean) and now have said, 'well, we gave you a year and a half, allowed you to go to a few conferences, and made you read these books, so that should have been plenty of time to grow a group.' Did you not remember that Raleigh had JUST GRADUATED COLLEGE when you hired him?!!? And do you not realize that this group is more healthy now than it ever has been (according to people who would actually know 'cause they've been here)?

I'm sorry..this is just an extremely frustrating situation. Injustice has been done, lies have been told, and our prayer now, is that truth will come out. If you think of it, pray this with us. We want nothing more than God to be glorified in all circumstances, and are just processing these things, grieving the loss of this job/opportunity, and trying to pray that truth will prevail.

In closing, Raleigh and I both have had the week to get through but in turn are stronger for it. We feel stronger as a couple, stronger as individuals, and stronger in our relationships with the Lord. He is leading us somehow- and will lead us to the next step, even though unfortunately right now we just don't feel like we want to go into ministry right away. These wounds will take a while to heal but we know they will, and that God will use this someday to empower us and use us as effective, POSITIVE leaders for His kingdom. I want to thank you Oregonians for your support. We love you and miss you SO much. Ok that's all for now.

San Diego Weekend

2009-04-13T09:58:00.000-07:00

Raleigh and I had a really nice weekend away this last week. Our week wasn't necessarily the greatest and so it was good timing that we were able to get away. I had found a really good deal for the Hotel Del Coronado online so we decided to splurge (still, even after a good deal it was a splurge) and go for it! This hotel is a national historical landmark, and has a lot of character to it. It's gorgeous, and is so unique, so it was a pleasure to stay there. We just spent one night and hung out on Coronado Island and Downtown San Diego for a lot of the time. We were also able to see a Padre's game, which was fun too! So here are the pictures. We were back in time for Easter at church but just thought we'd take advantage of the three day weekend for us, since we both had Good Friday off!
At the Padres Game. It was windy and chilly :)

I had never seen this color of foxgloves before. They were at Balboa Park in San Diego and they were amazing!
Out to dinner- found a really nice place across the street from the hotel.
Just hanging out on the beach! The hotel is behind us.

Family Time!

2009-03-29T20:22:00.001-07:00

My family was able to come down and visit this week! It's their spring break so they were able to come down. It was a lot of fun. I was working most of the time and Raleigh was working the whole time, so they were hangin' by the pool or near BIOLA most of the time. We had a blast! I'm so glad they got to come. :) Here are some pictures:

At the Cheesecake Factory...one of my personal favorites!

Mom and Dad at the Cabazon Outlet malls.
Playing frisbee one night!

My grandma came over on Saturday from San Diego. Here's all of us at The River (not a real river of course). :)
More Frisbee :) I love this picture of us!

Pi Day, Spring Disneyland

2009-03-15T21:51:00.001-07:00

Today Raleigh and I headed over to Disneyland for the day. We haven't been since January, and are trying to get there once a month before our passes expire in June. Well, this was the WRONG day to go. Raleigh and I agreed that it was the busiest we had ever, ever seen it- even in the summer, and even busier (barely) than Christmas! I don't get it- but whatever. :) It took us a fully hour from the time we turned into the long line of cars just to get into the parking garage, to when we actually walked in the park. And we even left 3 hours earlier than we'd planned to because it was so busy. Rides were too long, lines for food were too long..uhhgg. But, we still had fun. And Kristina met us there, so that was extra great.

It does make me wonder, though, does the media make up this recession? Of course I know the real answer to that, but if you were to go to Disneyland, you would never even guess anything was wrong with our economy- in fact, you'd think it was thriving! With tickets at $80 each, oversized rice krispie treats at $4 each, and a normal turkey sandwich at $8, you'd think people would stay away. Anyway it was just an interesting day, but of course, Disneyland is always fun. We went on a few of our favorite rides and just hung out, taking in the environment. We walked around Downtown Disney for a while too, which was really fun. There were some places we had never seen! Anyway I'll stop blabbing. But here are some of our pictures:

Beautiful spring tree. I miss these!

Kristina and I were on the train for Big Thunder Railroad and Raleigh got a picture. :)
Spring picture by the castle with a lovely tree!
Raleigh in line with all the kids, to go down a slide. :)

So on another note, yesterday was Pi Day (3-14 for 3.14) so we decided to have an event for Encounter. We had a pie-baking contest. There weren't as many people that showed up as we were thinking, but it was still a lot of fun. And I won!! Even though there were only 4 pies. :) haha. Oh well- Best Overall Pie, and best crust. It was yummy!

Brittany won best presentation- and there are our awards.
The pies.

Spring is here!

2009-03-08T19:40:00.001-07:00

I've been quite the boring blogger lately!! We haven't done much in the last month or so- except survive. :) Ministry can be like that sometimes I guess- and we are both working full time, plus tack on all the ministry stuff that happens, and our lives get so busy and exhausting that sometimes it's all we can do to hang in there. Well, spring is finally here in the desert, and it's gorgeous. If you ever want to visit the Palm Springs area, NOW is the time. This is the only time of the year that I can't complain that I live here. :) It's been in the 70's (some days even the low 80's) and it's just beautiful! Don't worry Northwesterners, we'll pay for it in the summer with our 115 degree days- weeks-months. But anyway, here are some pictures from this weekend. Kristina came over from BIOLA to hang out, which was wonderful. I always enjoy our times together. It was also cool because Oregon State was hosting a baseball tournament in Palm Springs, so we went there to watch the game and cheer them on! To our surprise, there were more OSU fans there than anyone else! It was an overall great weekend.

Raleigh and I at the baseball game.

The baseball field.
Kristina playing frisbee golf with us in the park.
This is where I work- and the bouganvilla is absolutely amazing this time of the year.
Here's another shot of it- it is just flowing! So pretty.

Weekend with the Willards

2009-02-13T21:20:00.000-08:00

Well, I'm a weekend behind, but that's how life is for us right now. Things have felt so busy that I haven't had time to sit down and let my head stop spinning. Anyway, last weekend my in-laws came into town. We spent the whole weekend with Raleigh's mom and dad, and it was refreshing. On Saturday we went to Joshua Tree National Park, which is what all the pictures are below. Personally, I thought it was interesting, and I appreciated it, but I thought it was really ugly as well. I'm trying to appreciate the desert landscape, but it's really a stretch for me. :)

Regardless, we had a great weekend. Lots of talks, yummy food, and just family time. I can't wait for my family to come down in March..I guess it's still quite a ways away, but it will be great. I'm so thankful for family, and for when they can come down and visit!! Thank you Terry and Karen!
Joshua Tree National Park, in all its beauty. (that was sarcastic)
Arch Rock with Terry and Raleigh.
Just me and a Joshua Tree!

Newport Beach Escape

2009-01-18T21:44:00.000-08:00

Raleigh and I had an awesome weekend in Newport Beach, CA. We have lived down here now for a year and a few months, and have never really explored the Southern California beaches. We were there for only about 24 hours (Sat-Sun), but we had a blast. Raleigh found us a really good deal at the Hyatt, so we stayed there, and shopped at Fashion Island, went out to eat, even ordered room service for breakfast! Neither of us had done that before and I told Raleigh that since he found such a great deal for us, we could splurge a little. We spent Sunday morning reading on the beach and just talking. It was beautiful weather, and just an overall great weekend!
Room service for breakfast!
Here I am holding up my iPhone next to the gigantic one! I love Apple stores. :)

Raleigh and me at the beach. Raleigh and the biggest donut we've ever seen- of course we had to buy it and eat it!

Working Outside

2009-01-14T16:22:00.001-08:00

It's been amazingly beautiful here. For January, I can't even believe it! Yesterday I decided that while at work I was just going to grab my laptop and go downstairs to the coffee shop right beneath us. I took this picture with my phone while down there. It was such a pretty day I just couldn't resist! While I'm thankful for the amazing weather, I still miss the seasons! But I'm such a deep Oregonian at heart. :) Still, absolutely beautiful.

Surveys

2009-01-09T17:05:00.000-08:00

Have you ever been given a survey to fill out from a store? I've gotten so many, and recently I decided to fill a few of them out. That's when I realized you can actually get something back from them! Here is a list of things I've received just from filling out surveys:

Free tall drink at Starbucks
20% off of an item at GAP
$10 gift card to Cheesecake Factory

And many more things! So I just thought I'd give my little shout-out for surveys that give you free things! I'll be thanking it when I enjoy my free piece of Cheesecake. :)

The Drive Home

2009-01-03T22:04:00.000-08:00

Here we are in front of the Rose Bowl while it's happening inside!!

Raleigh took this picture. Isn't it funny? Looks like I'm going to swallow that semi!
Here I am in the nasty hotel.

So I forgot to add stuff about our drive home! We left on New Year's Eve in the middle of the afternoon and wanted to get to Sacramento. Well, it was getting late and we were getting too tired so we stopped in Redding, CA. We found a Motel 6 and it was cheap, so we decided to just stay there, since it was only for a few hours for us to sleep. The room was probably the worst I'd ever stayed in (experience-wise, too). It smelled like smoke, even though it was non-smoking, we got woken up by drunk girls yelling profanities outside at 2am (since it was New Year's Eve), and the next morning I woke up to Raleigh coming in and telling me that the toilet had just overflowed. We couldn't get out of there fast enough! We survived, but next time we'll think twice about getting the cheapest available place.

On our way home we were driving right through Pasadena as the Rose Bowl was starting. Raleigh is adventurous (me not so much) and wanted to pull off and try to find a parking place then just go walk around. So I went along with it, even though we were just two hours away from home and I just wanted to get back! Somehow, we got into this parking lot right next to the stadium, and we didn't have to pay anything. This was a miracle, since we saw parking for up to $50!! We got to walk around the stadium and could hear the crowd roar and everything. It was invigorating. A good way to end our trip. :) That's about it! We made it home safely that afternoon, despite all travel adventures.

Christmas adventures

2009-01-02T14:53:00.000-08:00

Kristina, my mom, and me with popcorn balls.
Raleigh got an iPod for Christmas!
Popcorn balls..hmmm.
David, Kristina, me, and Raleigh out in the snow at my parent's house.

Ok so Raleigh and I didn't exactly have a normal Christmas this year! It was kinda crazy. We were scheduled to fly out of LAX on the 22nd to go to Portland. It was early in the morning, so we stayed the night in a hotel the night before. So, we arrive early and so far so good on our flight (even though the 2 days before, all flights in and out of Portland were canceled!). I'm optimistic, yet not holding my breath. I even got interviewed by a KTLA news lady! About 40 minutes before our fliht is supposed to take off, it gets canceled. So we are still in this same line (the one to just check our bags) and have to just stay there and wait until we get to the front for them to do anything. And our line gets worse- there was a 30-40 minute period of time when no one got called to the counter! It was very frustrating. After 3 hours of waiting, we get to the front and the lady is looking for flights to put us on. We ask if she can put us on a flight to Eugene, Seattle, or anywhere in the Northwest. She can't. So we ask if we can be put on other airlines- NONE are available. We ask if we could fly out of another airport in Southern California- still can't. Next available flight was on Christmas Day. So, we get our money back and hop in our car to drive! The roads were totally fine until we got into Salem. Needless to say, we made it before Christmas and had a great time with our families. We were up there for about 8 or 9 days. It was great! Thanks to both our families for hosting us and being so great! :)

Nogfest

2008-12-20T11:17:00.001-08:00

The winning gingerbread house- not mine or Raleigh's- but it was really, really good!
Above: Raleigh and Alex. Below: My small group's house. Supposed to be the Polar Express theme...
A group of people from Nogfest!
Raleigh and Ryan.
So last year, when Christmas came around, Raleigh and I had only been down here for a few months. We decided to do this big Christmas party called Nogfest. We watch a Christmas movie, everyone who wants to brings a decorated gingerbread house (it's a voting contest), we have an "ugliest sweater" contest, and there are lots of other prizes, food, and of course, eggnog. It was a hit last year, and I'd say it went over pretty well again this year. We really had a great time.

And, I am so happy for today! Thank you Lord for a Saturday where there's nothing on the calendar. I can honestly say that this hasn't happened since..September or August, can't remember exactly when, but it's been SO long. So Raleigh and I are just catching up on some housework, and this afternoon will do our Christmas shopping! On Monday we are taking off for Oregon so that is really exciting too. That's all for now!

So many updates!

2008-12-15T19:09:00.000-08:00

The birthday dinner that Raleigh made- and he brought roses!
Raleigh's gift. A spa package that he made! I'm impressed.
Raleigh making dinner! :)

So many things have happened in the last week, it's kinda crazy. Today is my birthday, and so on Saturday Raleigh and I went to Disneyland to celebrate. It was a crazy day, not really the best to be honest. We got there, and had to buy a black-out pass (which we've never done), and the lines just to buy tickets were SOOO long. Over an hour just to get into the park!! Then, on the second ride we went on, my iPhone (paid for by the company I work for) got lost on the Indiana Jones ride. Talk about a bad day!! I was so upset, at first not just because it was a phone that I lost, but because it belonged to the company, and I just felt awful. Then, in the next few days to come, I realized how pathetically dependent I am on my phone! Does anyone else feel that way? I didn't know it till I had to go a long time without it. Uhhgg.

Anyway, we made it a good day. Then, tonight (just a while ago!) Raleigh made dinner, and we sat down to a nice meal together in celebration! I am so very thankful for Raleigh, and for everyone that made this day special!

Sisters!

2008-12-07T21:40:00.000-08:00

Kristina making cookies in my kitchen. :)
The Ocean Beach funky tree in San Diego.

Kristina, my sweet sister, came over this weekend and we hung out. It's great that she's at BIOLA and we are here in the desert, just about two hours apart. So, she came over on Friday then we went to San Diego to visit our grandma on Saturday. Then we made Christmas cookies together! It was just fun. Kind of a tiring weekend, but a good one. I'm so thankful for Kristina as my sister! Here are some pictures.

Thanksgiving in Oregon!

2008-12-01T20:35:00.000-08:00

David, Kristina, Raleigh, and me on a walk in the woods!
Kristina's 21st birthday!
David eating his Thanksgiving meal. I had to take a picture, because he eats A LOT!! :)
Kristina and me going for a jog, trying to run off some of those calories!

We had such a great time in Oregon with our families. It was just one thing: REFRESHING. So great to just hang out with our families, and relax! We didn't do much, which was awesome! Here are some pictures. Kristina's 21st birthday was the day after Thanksgiving, so we did NOT do any shopping, but just hung out and celebrated her birthday. I have to admit, I LOVE a good steal of a deal, but was thankful to not be out in the crowds that day. I really do not like crowds! Anyway, that's about it. Here are the pictures.

Disneyland!

2008-11-22T19:57:00.000-08:00

So, Raleigh and I have season passes for Disneyland that we bought in June, and so far have been able to go many times since. But we were most excited about going during Christmas time, because we've never been there during Christmas. We took a short trip yesterday (we were there only about 5 hours compared to when we usually go and stay there for like..12 hours). It was beautiful. They definitely deck it out to the fullest. Kristina met us there, since BIOLA is only a few miles away, and my boss, Jeff, and his family were there too, so we hung out with them. It was fun. We went on a few rides, took some pictures, and the best part was being on Main St. when they made it "snow"! It was beautiful. They dim all the lights, light up the castle (that looks like it has snow all over it). and then they make it "snow" on Main St. I won't give away their secrets, but I can confirm it was not real snow. However, it honestly looked like the real thing if you just looked up. It was a good time, and we are going to go back in December and really enjoy it for longer.

Seattle Conference trip

2008-11-16T20:48:00.000-08:00

This is the house where we stayed on the trip. Isn't it gorgeous!!?? Right on the lake.
Fall! :) And I really needed a Fall fix.
The Planning Center crew. Jeff and Jeff (who I work with) are on the left.

Yes, I got to meet Lincoln Brewster! Nice guy. I'm also promoting Planning Center to his church. His band stopped by our booth and said they really want to use it and they're going to try to convince him. :)
Raleigh and me at the first Starbucks!

So the company I work for flew Raleigh and I along with Jeff and Jeff and their spouses up to Seattle, WA for a worship conference. We set up a booth there to promote our product, and got to hang out a lot and have fun!! It was so great. Very refreshing to me to be in the beautiful Northwest for a while. I am so thankful that we got to go. God has blessed us so much through this job I have. We made lots of memories, and got at least a few sign-ups for Planning Center :) .
The trip included staying at a house right on the lake, going to downtown Seattle, getting lost several times, and of course, wouldn't be complete without Raleigh and I coming back with a funny story about how we got locked our of our bedroom in the house and stayed up for over an hour (while most everyone else was in bed) trying to pry open the hinges. Eventually, we just found the key. Haha. The best part about it was that we had just been in the hot tub, and when Raleigh accidentally closed the door, it was because he was on his way to the shower so he had no clothes!! He was trying to break into the outside door with only a towel on. I wish I had a good picture of that, but I think our camera was in the bedroom! :)

Mexico Missions Trip

2008-11-09T14:31:00.000-08:00

This is the family that we made the house for!
The site where we built the house.
Beautiful Morning!!

So, we just got back from our Mexico trip today! Thank goodness we made it over the border alright. And, even though we accidentally went through the wrong lane and only ended up waiting about 4 minutes then getting an official warning, we still made it! Our trip went really well. We went down with about 8 other people from the college group and then a lot of families and adults. It's not your typical missions trip because we get to sleep in a hotel and eat at the restaurant. So, it's pretty nice, really!!

We went down Friday afternoon and got to relax that evening and hang out. Then woke up REALLY early Saturday to build the house. Funny story actually, because we called for a wake up call for 6am but they called at 5am. But, because our hotel clock was an hour ahead, we thought it was the right time. So we get all ready (and to me it felt painfully early), went down to the restaurant where breakfast was, and no one was there! That's when we realized we actually woke up at 5am instead of 6. Uhhgg. Oh well. So we walked along the beach for a while and we got to see the sunrise over the mountains. It was beautiful.

We built the house for the family, which is the best part, obviously! As you can see from the pictures, it's super small, but they are so happy. I thought it was cool 'cause the Dad of the family was a pastor, so that was easy for Raleigh and I to identify with that part of their lives. This part of Mexico is in such sad shape. We saw some things down there we wish we'd never seen, but we experienced the people's kindness and gratitude, which was so sweet. It's a great trip, and we are grateful it went well.

Here are some pictures of our trip! Enjoy them. :)

My Job!!

2008-11-05T10:56:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone, just thought I'd write about my job, 'cause most people reading this are from back in Oregon, and don't really know about it.

We have been down here now for a little over a year (weird!) and I haven't had success with jobs at all up until Sept. All last year and especially in the Spring/Summer I was looking for teaching jobs like crazy. But with the California budget crisis, districts were laying off teachers like crazy and it was looking SO bad for me getting a job. And, I didn't get a teaching job. So I looked for other things, and God provided me with the job I have now!

I work for a small company called Ministry Centered Technologies. Right now the only program they have is Planning Center Online (www.planningcenteronline.com if you want to check it out). It's a worship planning program that allows worship leaders at churches to quickly and very effectively plan worship services. Thousands of churches around the world use it. It's pretty cool. The guy who owns the company and created the program is one of my friends so that is kind of how I got this job. So....MY job is the Community Support Director. I do many things but my biggest priority is to answer phone calls and emails when people need support with the program. I also have been doing some tutorial videos and in the future will be doing some podcasts, which will be fun, 'cause I'll post them on the blog! It's so great. It's not stressful, it's fun, and the two guys I work with are really great Christians and fun guys. It's a full time job, so it keeps me busy. I've had to become very techy very quickly. :)

I never thought I'd be doing anything else besides teaching, and when God took me through such a dry time with NO JOBS, I never thought he'd give me something so fitting and so perfect for me right now. It just is such a reminder that when He says no to something, it's because He has something even better in mind. But that is very hard to see sometimes! I'm SO thankful for my job, and love it.

So, if your church ever needs a great worship planning tool, you know who to talk to. :) It's not very expensive and it's really easy to learn how to use. That's all for now! We are going to Mexico this weekend and then Seattle next week so I'll write about that and post pictures later.

Pictures of Halloween time.

2008-11-02T14:12:00.001-08:00

It doesn't feel like Halloween.

2008-10-31T10:30:00.001-07:00

I'm still not used to the desert weather. It's Halloween, and I woke up this morning and it was already 80 degrees out. Today it's supposed to ONLY (haha) get to 91. Ya. This is not fall weather! I know I know, probably a lot of you are thinking, well you are crazy because it's better than the freezing cold and the rain! I miss the rain so badly though, and most of all, I miss seasons. Down here in the desert there are only two seasons: warm, and hot. The fact that tomorrow is November and I still haven't put away my shorts and tank tops is just weird to me! Oh well, I guess this Oregonian blood will not die quickly. :)

2008-10-30T16:54:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! So I thought Blog posts were just for people with little kids, but, I think I'm going to do one just for us anyway! There are fun, exciting things happening in our life so I will try to keep this updated. :) Right now I'm not going to add any pictures or anything, but I will later.

Ok well that's it! Just wanted to start off my blog. :)