Sandy Dog

Cassie and I went to the beach today with Jozi and her dog Caleb. We walked and walked and walked on the beach. Caleb had a great time running around like a crazy dog, even snacking on some horse poop that was on the beach. Cassie had a great time, no poop eating, but was upset to have to be on her leash the whole time. She liked barking at all the dogs and little kids playing in the ocean. We walked until our feet hurt and then hit up Dairy Queen for some blizzards and fries before heading back home! Nothing like a day on the Oregon Coast.

Endo

While Sara was in Everette this last weekend, I went mountain biking with my friend Chris. Here is a picture of what Chris looked like at one point on the trail.

We had a great time and although these pictures aren't of us cause I didn't have my camera, they are a fairly accurate representation of some sections on the trail. It was crazy!!

Whew!

I got to play Auntie this week to the two cutest boys around, Aaron and Ethan (sorry, no pics). I was in Everett with Christi this past week, helping her out with the boys and housework. It was a lot of work, but great to spend time with them! I don't feel justified in saying I am tired, I think that title belongs to Christi, but she is doing a fantastic job adjusting to having two little ones in the house. Now it's time to catch up on my housework! Come here Cassie, it's time for your dog bath....

Bull Bash

Last night I went to the bull riding show/competition at the Washington County Fair with family. It was pretty fun! Afterward we walked around and listened to the bands playing and checked out all the animals that people were showing. I felt like a true hick! The bull riding was pretty entertaining, however, the top three people were the only three people that scored points. In order to get a score they have to stay on the bull for 8 seconds. So, that means, out of 30 people, 27 of them couldn't stay on their bull for more than 8 seconds. Now I'm no bull rider, nor do I ever want to get on one of them, but I would have thought that more of them could have stayed on their bull longer! I think next year we will try and go to the St. Paul Rodeo for a little higher quality action! :)

Monday = Recovery Day

We must be getting old. Remember "Take two Advil and call me in the morning"? Around here is goes a little something like this : "Drink two Iced Kickers and call me in the morning". (That would be 1 Iced Kicker per person).

I think we've hit the Weekend Warrior stage. And it's Monday, and we are feeling it.

Thursday we met up with Chris and Heidi to ride Powell Butte, which is just a short distance from their place. It was a great ride, beautiful evening, and we had some great views of the surrounding mountains. I hadn't been on my mountain bike for several years, but I impressed myself and wasn't feeling too bad the day after.

Saturday we took our kayaks out. We wanted to launch from Willamette Park but didn't realize there was a huge classic car show, carnival, and water spectacular show happening that day in the park! So we had to find a different place to launch. We found George Rodgers Park in Lake Oswego and paddled up and down the Willamette for an hour or so. There weren't too many boats out which made it easier for us to explore, although the Willamette Jetboats tossed us around pretty good when we were making our way in! I think Jason thought he was going to die.

Saturday night Jason had a wedding gig with Quarterhorse, so he got a good drum workout that night, not to mention hauling his drums around, set up and take down. I went to the gym that night to pass the time while he was at his gig.

Sunday we were invited to go out on the Willamette with some new friends from church for some wakboarding and tubing. Jason picked up right where he left off with wakeboarding, doing some jumps and catching some air. All I caught was a lot of water and spray. After 6 or so attempts to get up, I called it quits. We tubed later, that was a lot of fun, and something I could do!

And now, it is Monday. And we hurt. We are moving slow, moaning and groaning. I need to sign off on this post to go get my "medicine" (see doctors orders at the top of the post).

P.S. In some exciting weekend news, Travis and Pam got engaged! Yay! We are so excited for you.

How I Feel Sometimes

Generally when I have extended time off I try to do some big project (paint the kitchen or bedrooms). However, this summer is different. This is the first summer since Jason and I have been married that I have the summer completely free of work or school. Also in general, I tend to get bored really fast, doing everything I plan to do all in one day, leaving the rest of the days to sit and twiddle my thumbs. I am slowly beginning to learn the art of relaxation and enjoying not accomplishing a lot. I will probably master this skill within the next month, just in time to start my first real teaching job. :)

This summer our big house project is BIG. We are planning to re-roof our house in August! With that being said, the budget for smaller projects is...absent. So I am spending my time doing the following: reading, walking Cassie, going to the gym. All free activities. With the exception of the gym membership, but I think we get a pretty good deal on that. So with all this reading and exercising filling up my days, I rarely find time to cook and clean!! (hahahahaha)

I had a moment of inspiration though yesterday. I am watching a friend's cats while she and her husband are on vacation, and this friend is a professional organizer. Let's just say I came home from feeding and playing with the kitties and immediately rushed around getting rid of all my little "piles": piles of laundry, piles of half finished sewing projects, piles of paperwork, piles of bills. I even used the label maker that this same friend gave me to create a very lovely label for a file to go in my file box. But that's about where the inspiration ran out. :) I'll keep trying though.

I tend to think of myself as an organized person, but in my newfound practice of relaxation and decreased level of productivity, I may have let a few things slide. As I am thinking of ideas for my classroom (I will be teaching Culinary Arts - a.k.a. cooking class), I have thought of making a poster to display in each kitchen unit that simply says "Mise en place". Which translated means: A place for everything and everything in its place. Maybe I should practice this during the rest of my summer.

Weekend Of Fun

Its been quite a while since I've written a post. This last weekend I had a gig with the band I'm in. We played for a house warming party. The owner of the home had just completed the construction and had everyone who had a hand in the house bring their families had have a party. There were people there that built the furniture, did masonry, roofers, landscapers, carpenters......etc. Probably around 200 people including their families. This party was all out too. When we drove up they had a whole pig (head and all) on a rotisserie all cooked up. It was really really good I might add!





That was on Saturday. Sunday after church we decided to load up the kayaks and go to Hagg Lake. We stopped at my parents house and dropped off the dog and then went over to the lake. It was super crowded! But most people are out in the main areas and not back in the side streams and areas. Launching the kayaks and getting out of the main area was quite an ordeal. I'm sure Sara was glad she had a stable kayak cause I thought I was gonna flip! It was windy and wavy. We both had water splashing up the bow of the kayak and into our laps! Once we got a ways away from the dock though the wind died down and water was calm. It was a fun time! Oh, and then the way back was a little scary too, I think it had gotten even more choppy!



Oh, and Cassie had a good time at the farm and she always enjoys the car rides!

Addiction

No explanation necessary.
Time to make another pot.

Blue Stuff

Blueberries are finally ready! I headed out this morning to a u-pick farm and picked 14 pounds in just over an hour. I picked by myself and was getting lonely and was wishing I had brought my iPod, but just decided to enjoy the sun and sounds of the berry field. There were a ton of people there, mainly moms with young kids. It is amazing how well sound travels in a berry patch! Just kind of like when you are on a lake and you can hear peoples conversations from the other side of the lake. I think these comments beat listening to my iPod.

Here are a few things I heard:
Boy saying to another boy: Whoa! That was the sweetest berry I ever ate!
Girl to Mom: Look mom, here are are the biggest berries! (I heard this about a dozen times)
Little boy to no one: (Singing) I love blueberries, I love blueberries, I love blueberries!
Mom to her kids: NO blueberry fights!!!
Kid to another kid: You are supposed to put the berries in your bucket!!

I am also now convinced that berry picking is a very selfish activity. I found myself rushing to pick all the blueberries in sight, even though I was not on any schedule. I would jump from bush to bush because I saw "big ones!" Even when I knew I had picked my share I just kept on picking. I'm surprised I didn't lose any berries that were mounded on top on my walk back to the car. This one last comment I heard sums up my thoughts on berry picking being a greedy thing:

Boy to another boy: Hurry, pick all these berries before anybody else gets them!

*** Added after original post ***
I forgot to tell you how cheap and greedy I am. I won a free flat of blueberries at my church's women's retreat this spring. I wanted to redeem that and pick more, but I wanted to pick cheap. So I picked at a farm that was 99 cents a pound, and then drove to the other farm and redeemed my free flat. I know, I know, I probably spent more gas money to drive between two farms, but I can't beat 99 cents a pound. It's like driving a couple extra miles to buy gas that's a few cents cheaper.

Our neighborhood is having a big garage sale this weekend. Even though I just did a big garage sale two weekends ago, I still have some things left that I want to sell, so I am in for another 2 days of sitting outside trying to get people to buy my stuff that I don't want/need anymore. (I promise to wear sunscreen this time though!)

I cut a whole bunch of lavender from our 2 lavenders and am going to sell these small bundles at our garage sale. I did this at the other garage sale and people snatched them up, wanting even more. I think I will need to use my garage sale earnings to buy more lavender plants and go into the lavender business! Maybe someday we can move out to the country and have a farm. :)

Green Stuff

Cassie showing you how tall our corn is now. It was "Knee high by the 4th of July". I think we might be lucky enough to harvest a few ears this year, and if we do, I think I want to plant even more next year! And Cassie normally isn't allowed in the garden, but I needed her there for reference so you could see how tall the corn was. ;)

Our tomatoes! They took a while to get going, but now they are taking off. We planted one roma, one cherry tomato, and one slicer tomato. I can't wait!

Cassie is showing off the rhubarb and asparagus plants, both new this year. The rhubarb is about 5x bigger than it was when we planted it. Unfortunately, it is not recommended that you harvest it in the first year. Next summer though, we will have rhubarb pies galore!! I'm not sure when the asparagus plant will produce anything, but it sure is a funky looking plant. :)

Tomorrow I am planning to go pick some blueberries to stock up our freezer, and then make some fruit pizza!

*** *** CORRECTION! *** ***
The previously mentioned asparagus plant is actually an artichoke plant. I must have messed that up because I didn't have any coffee yesterday and my mind was cluttered! ;)

Welcome Nephew Ethan!

Our newest nephew, Ethan, was born last week! Jason and I were able to go meet him when he was just a few hours old! What a cutie. :) For more pics, check out Ethan's mommy's blog.

Doing the happy dance!

I am doing the happy dance because today I got a J-O-B!!!

I had an interview this morning at 10 am, and by 2 pm I had gotten a phone call and a job offer!

Also, our new little niece or nephew is on the way. He/she should be arriving soon. Our guess is that it is a ......, we'll keep our guess to ourselves! What a day!

God is good, all the time. All the time, God is good!

(Do you think I used enough exclamation marks?)