Christmas break...so far

We've been in Utah for about a week and a half and it is flying by!! There are so many things that I've wanted to do and so many people I've wanted to see but there doesn't seem to be enough time to do it all! We had a scary ride down here coming from Oregon. I had to drive the whole way because Devin's Utah drivers liscence expired while we were up in Oregon and they said he had to renew it in person. So that left me to drive the icy and snowy roads. YIKES! I think my body was tensed up the entire time and I don't think there would have been anything in the world that could have pried my hands off the steering wheel because I was gripping it so tight. Around the Idaho/Oregon boarder things cleared up, but man was my body aching! Luckily, I was able to take a break from driving in Boise because we stayed over night with Devins cousin who lives there. The next day the roads were clear and dry, thank goodness!
A few days after we got here, we went to see A Christmas Carol at Hale Center Theater. That was really awesome and the performance was a lot better than I thought it was going to be. It was a great way to start off the Christmas season at home. However, we did lose our camera while we were there. Now, if you know me, you know that I love love love taking pictures. What am I going to do without a camera!? I'm guessing we dropped it while we were there and some very pleasant and honest person found it and decided to give themselves a very much deserved Christmas present. Oh I love humanity!! Anyways, now I am without a camera. No Christmas pictures, no new years pictures, no visiting the family pictures...and no blog pictures.
Christmas was excellent! We were staying at Devs parents house so we woke up Christmas morning, and after being chided for *gasp* taking a shower :), we all opened up presents. I got a very cute new coat, some house decorations, kohls gift card (if you want to go shopping there, let me know because now I can buy stuff!!) some movies, a CD, a hoodie jacket (thanks Matt) and most importantly a large box of Jr Mints. Dev got an Xbox 360 and a couple of games. He also got some DVDs and a knife (ya know, to protect us from the bad guys). We both got some new towels, a couple of board games, disney DVDs, and a BBQ grill. We spent the rest of the day with my family just eating and playing.
This past Saturday I stayed in bed all day because I had the flu. What a great way to spend a vacation, eh? :) I'm not feeling all that great right now, but at least the worst of it seems to be gone.
So now I'm back at work (doesn't writting my blog count as work?) wishing I could take off the next week and a half so I could play with friends and family. I've got a jam-packed next couple of days so I'm sure I'll have more to report later. Until then....

Let it snow

We woke up this Sunday morning to beautiful snow! After church, everything was covered in a soft layer of fluffy white. I didn't think we'd see snow up here. In Oregon, they aren't used to getting snow so there aren't any snowplows (at least in our part). The roads weren't even that bad but they cancelled church for the ward that starts later in the day. One of the reasons why I was excited to move up here was because of the no snow thing, but after seeing it today I am reminded of home back in Utah. It has been a little hard to be away from family this time of year. It seems like all of my trials and struggles are amplified right now just because I am ready to be somewhere familiar during Christmas time. I am very much looking forward to going back in 3 days! I'm hoping that'll get my spirits up. Anyways, the snow beautiful and it keeps on comin!

Bowling, a christmas tree, and a command center

We had a fantastic time going home for thanksgiving. We were able to visit both our families and get some fun time with them. We celebrated Devins birthday while we were in Utah and went to The Cheesecake Factory, which is the only thing I think Devin really really wanted for his birthday. He loves his Jambalaya! And we also went bowling. He won (of course, we let him since he was the birthday boy). The ride back to Oregon was a long one...especially towards the end because we got stuck in traffic (sorry Jenny and Andrew for the Chinese fire drill. It had to be done). But I am looking foward to more family and friend time when we go back for Christmas (7 days. Yes, i'm counting).
A few days ago we put up our Christmas tree. I realize we won't be here for Christmas, but I can't go through December without a Christmas tree or Christmas decorations. I love it all too much! So here's the tree:


Since we are going to be going to Utah for Christmas, we are having to make sure that we bring all of our presents for ourselves and others down to Utah with us. We will be there for 3 1/2 weeks so that means that I'll be bringing my entire wardrobe...so with the presents and all my junk it'll be cramped in the car. Because of this, I got one of my Christmas presents early :) Devin put it together for me. I present to you, my command center:

I began working from home when we moved to Oregon, and the computer was out in the living room so I was used to being in a larger room where I felt I was a little less secluded. Since moving into our new apartment, my computer desk has been in the back bedroom and I get lonely and cut off from the world (woe is me!) So I got this new "command center" so I can be out in the living room, but I am able to wheel the desk back into the back room when I'm not using it. It is great because I get to sit on a nice comfy couch instead of a spine injury inducing chair that I was using. I look extremly lazy and couch potato-ish but, hey, if you had to sit on your duff for long periods at a time, you'd want a nice comfy place to sit too :)

More Fun Pics
.
.

Devin's Blogette - #2

Devin here again. I am heading into finals week now. Ah! To prepare for it I decided to "grow" a "goatee". Notice that grow is in quotes because I can't really grow much facial hair and goatee is in quotes because it doesn't look like a goatee. This is the first time I have let it grow that far and it will probably be he last. It was so itchy and awful that I can't do it again. Besides, I look more suave when I am clean shaven.





The next thing I have done to prepare for finals is buy a new device called the BigBrainifyeralizer. I can tell you that it works because after using it for a day I could actually pronounce the name of the device. It basically has two pods that you stick on the side of your head with an antenna that connects between them. It captures the extra smartness floating in the air (there is a surprising amount, usually from evaporation from other people's brains) and will actually insert it into your own brain. Brilliant!




It also happened to be my birthday yesterday. Now I'm not one to toot my own horn, but man it's awesome that I made it another year. Twenty-seven is a good age. I've felt that I have become more mature and wise over the last year (it may be due in part to the BigBrainifyeralizer, but who knows). Jen made it a fun day and even sent me on a scavenger hunt across Forest Grove to find my presents. I ended up getting a new Real Salt Lake jersey, a new brown hat, Monsters Inc. movie, couple new cds, and some David Beckham cologne. Everybody knows that I'm obsessed with soccer, but the Beckham cologne is pure coincidence and not for reasons of soccer. The man really does smell good and now I do too. On top of all of this we went bowling. Speaking of tooting my own horn, being filled with birthday power, I crushed the competition and came out on top. And don't think that everybody let me win, I had to bowl a spare and a strike in the last frame to get that win.



So on this note of bragging I leave you all to contemplate goatees, BigBrainifyeralizers, and birthdays. Until next time....

It's funny now that I look back on it....

So the time has come for us to move once again. We never stay in one place too long (we don't want those Feds on to us). So this past weekend we gathered up our things a moved a whopping one mile away. We rented a Uhaul to move our furniture and shared it with two other couples that were moving so that helped with $$$. We packed up our things Friday night and had some help from neighbors so we were done pretty early. We gave the Uhaul keys to our other friends and began the long process of hauling over the boxes in our cars. We had already lost one of our apartment keys, but that wasn't too bad of a start. So by about 10:30pm we were exhausted and ready to quit. So we started getting ready for bed and remembered we didn't have a shower curtain. Devin needed to get up early the next morning for a vision screening so we needed a shower curtain. So off we go to the nearest store that has a shower curtain...10 min away. So by the time we get the curtain, bring it back, install, it is close to 11:00. Exhausted. So again we get ready for bed. Just as we are about ready to head to join in that sweet bliss they call sleep, we remembered that Devins clothes (for the screening) were at the other apartment. Doh! So as we were heading out, in our PJs, to go get the stupid clothes, as soon as I shut the door Devin looked at me and asked "You didn't lock it, did you?" Nooooo!! We were locked out of our apartment. Remember how we had lost one of the apartment keys earlier in the day? Well, the key chain with the key we still have is in the apartment, which is now locked. Hmmm...So for the next hour we decided the best thing to do was look for the key we had lost in parking lots, our old apartment, and in our car. Not to be found. So our last place to look was in the Uhaul, which is of course locked and the key to the Uhaul is not in our possession. As we looked into the window of the Uhaul, there it was. The long lost key. So close, yet so far away. So as we debated about what to do next, we came up with sleeping at our old apartment. Hmmm....no blankets, pillows, sheets, blanket, nothign! Just cardboard boxes. No good. So the next idea we came up with was to find a cop and see if he could use his nifty cop training and unlock the Uhaul for us. They told me to call a tow truck or a lock smith. No good, that would have cost a fortune at 12:30am. So our third idea was to just go knock on our friends door and get the Uhaul key from them. Sure we would wake them up, but we would get into our apartment. Now, you all are thinking that this is the logical thing to do. However, at 12:30 my exhausted brain was being lame and we both decided that option was out of the question (I kicked myself later when I realized what an obvious solution that would have been). So instead, we decided to go to a hotel for the night. Don't judge us. Anyone could have found themselves in that same situation :) So we found ourselves sleeping in a cheap, simple, curry-smelling hotel. Better than cardboard boxes, I'd say. So the next morning we went and got the Uhaul key, unlocked the cursed thing, got our apartment key and made it home. And that was the end of our bad day.....oh wait, no it wasn't. Dev left for his screening and I stayed at home waiting for the Comcast guy to come set up our internet. So I locked the door (like I do anytime I am alone by myself) and went about putting our stuff way. So at about 10, the Comcast guy knocked on the door. I go to open the door for the nice gentleman and it won't open. I tried locking it and unlocking it but the door would not open. So I went to the window, took off the screen and yelled at the Comcast guy to come get my keys so he could try to unlock the door from the outside. That didn't work. I was locked IN my house! The comcast guy tried to help me out by telling me to take the doorknob apart. That was a lame idea. So finally I went out the window to my managers. No on answered. I didn't have a phone, and I didn't know his phone number. The Comcast guy had to leave(apparently helping silly girls try to get their door open isn't in their job description)so I was left there. An hour or so later, i found my work phone and called Devin on it. He called the manager and the manager came over to see what the problem was. He worked on that thing until 2:30 in the afternoon before he finally got the door off. Yup. He finally just took the door off its hinges. He found out that the little latch on the door handle was broken and that was why the door wouldn't open. So there ya go. Dev told me this whole situation reminded him of a Gold's Gym radio commercial where a guy(Arnold?) finds himself "locked inside of his car so he calls Onstar. I don't think that's funny ;) So that was my weekend. Good times had by all.

Real Salt Lake and School

This is Devin reporting. I know, I know, this isn't my blog. Nobody would read my blog if I had one because I would just talk about soccer and nerd stuff (Popular Science is a good magazine, don't let anybody tell you otherwise). But, Jen gave me permission to speak on a few things with you today. Just as a note, if you wanted to watch the conference finals with RSL vs. Red Bulls, I would give the advice to not read on in this post as I will be discussing how I felt about that game. Just my disclaimer.

First, I just want to express my grief over RSL losing the Western Conference championship. Although their season is over, it was a most excellent season and I can't wait for them next year. That is all I will say about it. Ok, maybe not. I can't believe RSL had THREE balls off the post. Unbelievable! A great game though! I do have to say that those of you who are not soccer fans are missing out on the greatest sport in the world. And those of you who say it is boring, let me ask you this, how many times do people get carried off in stretchers in the sport you watch? I would guess not a lot. Soccer is where it's at!

Ok, enough about soccer. People have been asking me how school is going, so I will let everybody know. Optometry school has been great so far! I will also say though that it is extremely difficult. As you can see from the previous post, Jen and I spend a lot of late nights together while I am studying. Just imagine trying to drink from a fire hose, that would about explain it. The work isn't much harder than it is in undergrad, but it is a lot more of it. I think I have 21 credit hours this semester. Every week since about the middle of August, we have had 2 midterms and a couple of quizzes. Yikes! Sounds awful! "How does he do it?", you ask. "Mountain Dew", I reply (it should be noted that Devin does not recommend nor endorse Mountain Dew as a supplement for staying awake). Ok, maybe a lot of studying would do the trick too. Jen has been such a great support through all of this. She is a trooper having to deal with my shananigans while I am studying. Although we are still bartering on how much of my degree she deserves, it is sitting at about 20% right now :). So she'll be 20% doctor when we are finished and I'll be 80% doctor....that doesn't sound right. So to make up for that extra 20% I am going to start a Masters of Education in Visual Function Learning. Ack! Another degree. I have to do this on top of my 20+ credit hours that I will be doing each semester. Sometimes I don't know what I am thinking. It may be attributed to the aforementioned Mountain Dew.

To sum it up, I think my study area, aka kitchen table, really explains how I am going about handling optometry school.

Am I even thinking clearly

It's way past my bedtime. Why am I up right now? I shouldn't even be attempting to write a blog right now. Just know that just because this post may look and sound like it was written by someone in their right state of mind, it was really written by someone with tape holding her eyes open so as to stay awake. A lot of editing is going into making this readable. So...I have nothing really to say. Just looking for something to keep me awake as Devin is studying. And then all of a sudden Devin just said to me "I was just thinking of the charcoal lady." What the? Is he awake over there? He must have fallen asleep studying and has started talking in his sleep. The Charcoal lady? As I am quickly questioning his sanity at this late hour I notice that he is making funny faces at his computer screen. He smooths over his hair and grins at the screen like he is getting his picture taken. I ask him what he's up to. His reply is that he is thinking of the lady at the Saturday Market in Portland that does charcoal portraits. He was just looking at his reflection in his computer monitor to practice how he would pose if he were to get his portrait drawn by this lady. My husband is so funny :) And he is very easily distracted from studying. One minute he's studying neuroanatomy (whatever that is) and the next minute he's thinking of the Charcoal lady. This is not unusual for this sort of event to occur as he is studying for his classes. Anything will distract him from studying. I just thought I'd give you one example of what happens when he studies and what I get to experience.

I'll email you

Check out my new feature. You can subscribe to my blog and get emails when I make changes to my blog. So high tech :)

An update

Apparantly I have a reader fanbase and my fans are after me for not blogging in a long time. okay, fans=one fan and his name is Devin...and he happens to be my husband...who happens to find any excuse for not studying and one excuse he uses is the need to read my blog...which is why he is after me. He is lacking new reading material which gives him one less reason to avoid studying. So there ya have it. With that out of the way....
a little bit has happened since my last post. The first being that I went home to visit the family for a bit. That was awesome to see them again! I spent a lot of time with my nieces and newphew and goign out to lunch with my mom and dad and seeing good ol' Utah again. I even got to spend a Sunday evening with mom and dad Farr. We had malts, which is a Sunday tradition, and they even had a fire going in thier stove! So cozy! It was a fun trip for sure! I loved having family dinner again, and talking to my family at the kitchen table, and going shopping with my mom and sister, and being in the familiar comfort of home. It was so fun to be with my nieces and nephews right befre Halloween. They all came over one night dressed in their costumes. They all looked so cute! I miss being around them and listening to their silliness. And I miss the family chats that we would all have sitting around the kitchen tables on Sunday (although Skype has worked wonderful as a substitute). So being home with my family again was the best in the world. As much as I love Utah, I was a little surprised to find myself missing my new home in Forest Grove. Crazy, i know. Utah will always be Home, but I do love living here in Oregon. I love the weather (so far, we'll talk after 3 months of rain), I love all the stuff to do here, and I love the people and friends that I've made here. But the best thing in the world is being with my family, and that is why I will always be a Utah girl :) I was happy to get home to Devin. I miss him too much to be gone from him for too long.
A few weeks after getting home from Utah, Devins dad and brother Brandon were able to come visit us and stay with us for a few days. And the best part is that Devin had school off the week they came! Yeah for no school! We did so much sight seeing and having fun it was awesome. We took his dad and bradon out to Tillamook and got cheese samples. Those workers in the factory are so interesting to watch. One part of the cheese packaging process involves bricks of cheese traveling single file along convery belts. The workers standing on each side of the belt were supposed to pull the cheese off the belt and do something to them. Well, if they missed one, there was a bucket at the very end of the convery belt would catch the cheese that was missed. So we waited and waited and waited to see if one brick of cheese could sneak past them and go into the bucket. Amazing! I didn't see a single cheese get past them! A few times, a bunch of bricks would go past them and I thought for sure they would be going in the bucket. But just as I thought the cheese was headed for the bucket, they'd turn around, grab all bricks of cheese, and keep going on with their job. So fascinating! After the cheese we went to a place in Oceanside called the Three Capes. We got to walk along the beach and enjoy the sound of the waves. Devins dad began "playing" with the waves. He would stand in one place and wait as long as he could until the waves came up to his feet. He would try to stand as close to the wave as he possible could without moving. If it looked like the wave was going to get him wet, he would try and move as little as possible and see how close he could keep to the wave. After doing this for a while his little game ended. He was waiting for a wave to come in that at first didn't look like it would continue far up the shore. As it got closer and closer it became obvious to all of us that this wave was going to keep coming. So he started walking away slowly at first, but soon he went faster and faster as the wave was coming upon him. Just as we all thought he had made it, a camera in his pocket fell out. He turned to reach for it and the wave crashed upon him (okay it didn't crash on him, it was more like it overcame him) he fell down into the water. Just as he fell, I wasn't thinking, "oh poor guy! What can I do to help?" or "oh that is too bad. I need ot help him" or anything like that. No, the first thought I had was "Jen, take a picture of this! Take a picture!" Yes, everyone. That is how caring I am for others :) He got himself up though, and he did get his camera...out of the water. The camera never worked again, but the memory card that had his pictures on it still worked. So all was not lost. So that was exciting. Other fun stuff we did included going up to Astoria and visiting Fort Clatsop (or Catslop), Saturday Market in Portland, hiking a trail on Mt. Hood, and eating at an authentic Moroccan restaurant (which involved sitting on the floor on pillows and eating the entire meal with our hands). It was an awesome week. And even though Brandon was sleeping on our couch, and we were all sharing our little bathroom never knowing when the hot water would run out, and spending those few days in a cramped tiny apartment, it was soooo much fun and can't wait for the next time family comes up to visit.
Devin is still studying every night...which means I am working every night. He is doing very awesome in his classes and I am so proud of him for doing this hard thing that will make a better future for our family. He is sacrificing a lot and I couldn't ask for a better husband. He had his first class final on Friday, which means that is one less class he has to worry about now for the rest of the semester. He told me that he thinks he passed it, which to me means that he totally rocked on it :) So he's doing great in school.
Today we went to an adoption conference put on by LDS Family Services. That was a pretty good experience and gave us some great insights and things to think about. I'm sure I'll be writing more on that topic in the future....
So that is the end of my current events. Questions? Comments?
.
.
Farr Family Visiting Pics

Mt Hood Hike Pics

Weezer

So a while ago, when we had no money to spend frivolously, we found out that Weezer was coming to Portland and we HAD to buy tickets. There are few bands in the world that I would spend more than $5.00 to see in concert. Weezer was definitely one of those bands (well, according to Devin anyways. I was excited to go see them, but he was excited-er). So its finally time for the Weezer concert. We planned to leave plenty early because we didn't want to miss the opening bands. So we left at 6:15 to get there for the first band that came on at 7:00. We were a little late leaving (probably because of me. I'm always late) and we ran into traffic! Now, you have to realize that Portland is usually about 35 minutes away but we rarely travel to Portland, especially at rush hour. But who would think that there is traffic going into the city?! In my mind, everyone is leaving the city where they work to go home. Anyways, that is a topic for another day. So we get stuck in traffic. I'm almost in tears because I feel so bad that Devin is going to miss the opening bands and he has been waiting for this day to come for so long. So we finally get there and remarkably it is only 7:15. Not bad. So we get in and find our seats, which were so excellent by the way. It hasn't started yet! So we sit there for 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 15 minutes thinking it is going to start anytime soon. In my boredom as I am waiting I read my ticket stub. It doesn't start until 7:30!!! All that worrying for nothing! So when it finally does start, the first band that comes on they were kind of boring. AT the moment I can't remember their name. That is how awesome they were. Then Angles and Airwaves were next. Boring. The lead singer (Blink 182 dude) kind of bugged me so I didn't much care for them...except they used some awesome lighting effects. So finally 9:30. Weezer comes on! Rivers Cuomo is a weird dude which made for a very interesting show. They played all the great old hits and of course played their awesome new songs. At one point, Rivers got on an exercise trampoline and performed a few bounces. It was a very awesome concert. Although, the crowd was a little dead. My guess is they were all too drunk to realize that they were at a Weezer concert :) And as a wise man once said, I am the greatest man that ever lived.
More Awesome Weezer Pictures
.
.
.
.

Our New State: Let us all join together in holy YAARRRR!

Two pirate ships were sailing towards each other and were on a collision course. One pirate ship was carrying blue paint and the other pirate ship was carrying red paint. What happend when they hit?

They was marooned!

The day started out like any other day, well...not quite. I woke up, showered, worked a little bit in the afternoon, ate lunch, went to a pirate festival, and then went to bed....whoa, what?! A Pirate Festival?! that's right, Portland hosted a Pirate Festival Sept 20. It was the most intersting festival I've ever been to. So weigh anchor and hoist the mizzen, and I'll give ye a tale that will be sure to blow the cannon! (How's that for pirate talk?!)

The Pirate Festival was held in an area of Porltand that was kinda run down and...uh...well, perfect for the plundering, pillaging type. I was so excited when we were walking towards the entrance because everyone was dressed as a pirate! We payed for our entrance, got our "treasure map" of the park, and set off. There were sword fights, face painting, pirate shopping, cannon ball fights, and plenty of pirate singing. The most interesting part was watching a New Age band (this is Portland, people). That is when all the weirdies came out. People were dancing (drunk and sober ones), as this band was singing about "black blood" from the middle east. I felt like I was attending my very first policital rally or protest. During this time a woman started dancing with a hula hoop and she was very good at it. Makes me want to learn....anyways, we then headed over to watch a cannon fight between the Pirates and the Red Coats that was being acted out. Now, you have to realize that this whole acting like a pirate thing is a serious lifestyle for a lot of the people at the festival. To prove my point, we were sitting in front of these two woman dressed as pirates. As this whole scene was playing out of the pirates against the red coats, these woman were talking to each other as if it was all really happening. They were worried about their pirate comrads that were going up against the evil red coats. They were serious about it too. I wouldn't be surprised if they had pirate names and would only answer to someone if their pirate name was used. Anyways, the whole cannon ball fight was a little anti climatic, but all in good fun. It was getting later and darker, so we headed over to the main stage and watched some fire dancers. What is a pirate festival without fire dancers!? Then, as were about to call it a night, another band came on. Not just any band. A Pirate rock band! They sang all sorts of songs about Pirate-y things and were the most entertaining thing of the whole festival. Captain Bogg and Salty was the name of the band. You should check them out on youtube. and yes, we bought one of their CDs. So it was time well spent at the pirate festival. Will we be going next year? AAAAYYY!!! But next time, we are dressing up!

More Pirate Festival Pictures

Run for a good Cause

This past Saturday, I entered into a race that is put on every year by the vision center at Pacific University. It was just a 5K but very fun. And I got a shirt out of it, and that is what its really all about ;) I walked most of the time with Paige and Cory, but we kicked it up a notch towards the end and ran. Look at that form!

Under Construction

I'd like to give a little shout out to my wonderful husband who created, yes created, my background to my blog. I told him what I wanted as my background and using his superhuman smartness, he drew for me a fabulous background. I love him. Who wouldn't? I'm almost satisfied with the way my blog looks...but not quite...

Up Late

Well, here it is. The first night where Devin has had to study all night long. 11:51pm and he is still pacing around the living room, holding flash cards in his hand. A glimps of things to come. But it will get worse. I try to keep him company by sitting at my computer desk. And to show that I am suffering along with him, I try to sqeeze out a few more hours of work...I've been working all day it feels like. Not wanting to leave him all alone (and feeling guilty that I could go to bed anytime) I try to entertain myself with something. Guess the blog will have to be my companion tonight. He's making me dizzy with all that pacing...he's about ready to be done. Tomorrow, it'll start all over again...

Our New State: Having dinner with a ghost

This week on 'Our New State'

Always excited for something new and interesting to try in Our New State of Oregon, we decided to try a pizza place that is supposedly haunted by a ghost! The pizza place, Old Town Pizza, is near downtown China Town and almost goes unnoticed to those who don't know to look for it. This pizza place was once a hotel called The Merchant Hotel and was built in 1880. During its high time, prostitutes were frequently provided for the guests. And that is where the ghost comes in. Rumor has it that Nina ("Nigh-na") was forced into prostitution at a young age. Missionaries soon convinced Nina to be their inside spy so they could use the information to clean up the neighborhood. In exchange, the missionaries would help her get her freedom. Soon after this deal was made, Nina was found dead in the hotel having been thrown down the elevator shaft. Nina continues to walk the hotel lobby, which is now where guests can eat their pizza. When we got there, we first we sat at a table back where the elevator shaft was located but it got too cold for us (maybe the haunting chill of Nina?) so we moved to a less chilly part of the hotel lobby. While I didn't see any ghosts while we were there, I loved the pizza. I did get rather freaked out in the bathroom though. It was a dark room and lots of mirrors and I was alone! It had that old, turn-of-the-century type of feel, which is always sort of creepy to me anyways. I don't know if Nina had to visit the bathroom at the same time I did, but that bathroom was definitely scary :)
So as for trying out something interesting, this was for sure a fun place. We went with another couple and they apparently do Karaoke. So maybe that'll be the next new and interesting thing we try out in Our New State.

The rest of the Pics

It has been requested that I put my photo albums on here. There are too many to make that possible so just click on one below to see more pics. I'll try to remember to include the link to the rest of the pictures after every blog.

Oswald Park and Submarine tour

Around Oregon

Moving to Oregon

4th of July

West Yellowstone

Family Trip

Family Trip II

Our New State: Oswald State Park

Wanting to explore Our New State, a couple of Saturdays ago we went to the coast...again, and found a great place for Tidepools. It is called Oswald State Park. We walked along a beautiful path that winds down through a lush forest and at the edge of this forest, the ocean magically appears. One of the most fantastic sights I've ever seen. This path lead to a cove with a sandy beach surrounded by giant cliffs. We were able to be there at low tide and so we saw a ton of sea creatures holding on tight to the rocks; more starfish than I could count, anemones that I touched, snails, crabs, and other fun little ocean life. Sadly, we also saw a carcase of a sea lion. It was huge! And to make the scene that much more awesome, there was a waterfall on the beach that went right into the ocean. It was also a great place to watch surfers. It was an excellent day at the beach.

We've Moved!

It's official. We are now Forest Grovians! We've been in Oregon for two weeks and we have yet to see any rain. The move up here went well and it was great to have family here for the first few days. I was a little nervous because I'd never seen the apartment and didn't know if was going to be something that I would feel at home in. It turned out that it is going to work great until we move to a 2bedroom town house in October.


After we unpacked everything we set out to explore. We went to the coast and I fell in love. If anything keeps me from moving back to Utah, it'll be Cannon Beach.


It was a little chilly so I'm sure I'll have to get used to the cooler weather.

We've also been to Portland a few times and saw many interesting people. I've never seen more men dressed up as women as I did in Portland. I've kept from getting too homesick by staying busy. Devin hasn't started school yet so he has been keeping me company. Oh, and I've started working again. That's hard because I want to go out site seeing but someones gotta earn the money ;) We went up to Mt. St. Helens on Friday because we needed to get out of the house. It had been 100 degrees for a few days and we don't have A/C in our apartment, so we decided that the best way to beat the heat is to get out of it. That was pretty cool and very interesting.

Last Sunday we went to church but we only went to Sacrament Meeting and Sunday school, so today was the first time we did the entire block of meetings. I've always been kind of worried about not feeling at home here in Oregon but the people in the ward are so so awesome. A lot of people came up to us and introduced themselves. We even got invited over to dinner tonight by a nice couple. I think they are the Harris family. It is a couple that has 3 boys and 1 girl. the olded is probably 23-ish and the youngest is 12-ish. So we went over to dinner and they are such a fun family. On Sundays me and dev are used to going to one of our family's house and having a big family dinner and I was missing that. They took us right in and made us feel welcome. We had a great dinner and then played a fun game. I felt like one of the family members! I really needed that because I was missing family. Its great to go anywhere in the world and come across another person that believes what I do, and it's automatic friendship.

The Art of Disliking

What is something you dislike about yourself?
I hate to start off my writing prompt blogs on a negative note but as this is the first writing prompt in the list, I figure I might as well tackle this at the start. Hmmmm....there is so much to love about myself that I can't possibly answer this question easily :) I would have to say that one thing I dislike about myself is my short squatty legs. The reason for this would be because designers, merchants, or whoever is responsible for making pants apparently don't realize that not all of us have legs that go up to our armpits. But other than that, I guess I'm pretty happy with myself. I'm sure my husband could tell you all a list of things that I complain about myself on a daily basis, but since he doesn't really check this blog, I can get away with anything :) I think that most of us do spend too much time worrying about our imperfections that we don't see that the perfections we do posses have far greater value. It is a shame that we compare ourselves with others. Everyone has their problems and everyone has their strengths. Can you imagine if we were all the same, how boring life would be?! Granted, some of us might be glad to be the same as someone else or not have any issues with who they are, but what progress would the human race make if everyone was equal on all accounts? So women of the world, unite (dwight quote..sort of) and quick complaining about yourself! Don't worry about your imperfections. Be your own species of human :)

Object Writing

Having read so many blogs that I find are worth my time, I hesitate to blog myself because, really, when you sit in a cubicle all day long there aren't many interesting things that happen in your life. There may be an occasional incidence where there is a power outage, an employee stand-off, or toilets that won't stop flushing (yes, this happens frequently in the women's bathroom) but nothing that shouts out, "write about this on your blog! This will surely have an impact on someone, somewhere!" So in order to remedy this, I have come across a website that will hopefully get me pointed in the right direction with this blog thing. It might not be the most astounding revelation or poignant remark but hey, ya gotta start somewhere...starting tomorrow.

My Birthday

27 years old! woohoo! Dev took me to the zoo the saturday before my birthday and I got to see a whole bunch of fun animals. My favorite is of course the elephant. What a crazy looking animal that is. We also got to see an Ape up close. Their mannerisms are wierdly so close to ours. That night we went to dinner with Devs family because Matts (bro-in-law) birthday is the 27th.Then on my birthday I had to work and then we went to dinner and then rode the new commuter rail down to salt lake city. I don't think i'll be doing that again anytime soon. It took us 3 hours round trip! When we got back it was late but me and Dev both had (wanted, same thing) to watch an episode of Star Gate. That was my birthday. So it was a great day. Next year I'll be turning 28 on April 28th. I'm getting up there in age.

Hit and Run

Last Wednesday I had gone into Albertsons in Centerville to pick up a prescription that had been faxed in about an hour before. So I go to the counter to pick it up and it isn't ready! They didn't even see the fax yet. So they told me it'll be 15 minutes. Okay fine, I think to myself. I can go get some much needed grocery shopping done. So 20 minutes later I go back. Still not done! I waited for another 15 minutes before it was finally finished. Needless to say I was very frustrated and inpatient at this time. So I walk out to my car, glad that I can now be on my way home! But AAAAaHHHH!!! I notice my bumper is all scratched up. What the!!!! Someone had hit my car and didn't do a darn thing to tell me about it. I immediately checked to see if there were cameras in the parking lot. Yes! I went back inside to report it and they got their wonderful security people to look at the video a few days later. They called me up and told me they had the video all ready for the police. I had a hard time deciding if I wanted to go after the 'criminal' or just drop it as it might be too involved to even worry about. But then they told me that this person obviously knew they had hit me! So I called the police and reported it (I have a case number!!) and they came in and looked at the video. They were able to watch the person in the store and noticed that this person had used a preferred savings card and there may be contact information associated to the card. Yeah for the police! They said it could take a few weeks to get permission from Albertsons corporate to give out the information so they told me to be patient. Oh, I will, I will!!! My poor headlight is holding on for dear life, I'm sure. I don't want revenge, I just want my car fixed.

Playing on Aerobic Ball

so Fun

Spell Check

So I've decided that I need to make sure I spell check before I send my thoughts out into the Great World of Blogs. And that is my blog for today!

Moab Trip

Well, for my first blog I thought I'd share some picutres of our trip to Moab. I was very excited to get away from this yucky cold weather. I was hoping for a little bit warmer in Moab, but the forces of nature are against me! It was a little bit warmer but I think it only hit a high of 45 degrees. I need 75 people!! But at least we got to get out of doors. It was a blast of a trip--as it always is with Devin. We love vacations (meaning I love vacations so Devin has no choice)! We started off at about 9:00 Saturday morning and stopped off in Green River for lunch. I'd like to thank the Burger King ladies for taking my order as it seemed like the last thing they wanted to do on a Saturday afternoon. Once we got into Moab, we went straight into Arches National Park. If you haven't read Desert Solitaire by Edward Abbey, you must! It is a memoir of his about his time as a park ranger in Arches. We stopped in at the visitor center (anytime there's a bathroom near by, I must stop) and then headed out into the great world of beautiful red rock. After debating about what hike we should do, we settled on the Devils Garden hike. We'd never done that one before because it is usually quite crowded in the warmer months. It ended up being the perfect hike! It was pretty chilly out so we still had to bundle up in sweaters and hats but after a while of walking the cold started to feel good. We were able to walk through snow, which made the red rock color even more intense. We hiked to Landscape Arch. A few years back (could have been 10) part of the arch broke apart and some tourist was there to take a picture of it. What timing! Then we continued on to Double O Arch, which was about 2 miles. Some parts were quite slippery and at one point, I fell victim to the ice covered red rock. My feet swept out from under me and I landed straight on my butt. Then I procceded to slide down the side of the rock face where I was sure I would meet my death. But as soon as my hands became raw enough, I was able to slow my slippage down and realize that it wasn't a cliff I ws falling off but just a ledge that was only 10 feet down. Even so, people are known to have suffered greatly because of a mear drop off of a 10 foot ledge. So I think i was justified in my fright! After that small insidance, we continued on to Double O arch with no problems. We headed back the way we came and stopped off at two more arches that were only a short hike off of the main trail. By this time we were both pretty tired and ready to get back to the car. And I was getting a blister (walking in slippery snow allows shoes to rub in places you didn't think shoes would rub.......uh...moving on). So we got back to the car ready for dinner. We checked in to our hotel (The super duper 8) and headed to town to find a place to feed. We went to a place called Zak's wood fire pizza, and I would recommend that to anyone. I've often thought since then about going back to Moab, just for the pizza. Oh yeah, and they were showing soccer on their tvs! AFter dinner we went back to the hotel, threw on our swimming suits and braved the cold so we could get into the hot tub! Oh it felt nice. And we got it all to ourselves (ah romantic). After the hot tub we went back to the room. Now before I go on I have to explain that Devin has very very very extremely sensitive skin. So dev took a shower to wash the chlorine off of him because he felt itchy. Well, the itch would not go away. Pretty soon he was scratchign his legs and hyperventaliting. I thought he was going to pass out! He started breaking the skin he was scratching so hard. So we decided we should probably go into town to get him to something to stop the itch because we had no idea what was causing it. Well, as soon as we got outside he started feeling better. So Dr Jen and her sidekick, Devin, both decided that it was probably a mixture of chlorine and overheating of the epidermis. By the time we got back from town, I was exhausted. So I went to bed early that night. I'm a real party animal, i know. We went to Denny's for breakfast the next morning and headed back home (after debating about whether or not we should go to St. George or Las Vegas for another night). And that was our trip to Moab. Woohoo!!