Random Pictures --- As of Late

I woke up early Sunday morning this fall and this is what I found above our house

Monica decorating the Christmas Tree

Another Hot Air Balloon

Taking Diggy for a walk in Newport, we were celebrating our 1 year anniversary.

My action shot of Diggy in the snow

Fourth Street Live in Louisville, KY

These last two pictures are from our visit to the University of Cincinnati. I was really excited to be able to tour this campus and meet with various staff in the School of Design. Out of all the schools I am applying too, this is the most prestigious for Architecture. U of C has been ranked in the top 10 every single year. The architecture at this school is crazy, I felt like I was at a museum. The picture above is the entry to their student recreation center, it was massive, Probably 5 times the size of OSU's and best of all it overlooked the football stadium, so you can work out and watch football.

I included this last one because it reminded me of Monica. This is the 3 story Starbucks on the U of C campus. Cool huh, it also overlooks the football stadium too (this might mean Monica will actually watch a game with me, because she can stay warm)

Mt. Hood Railroad

To celebrate our anniversary, graduation and the fall term of school being done, I surprised Chris with a trip on the Mt. Hood Railroad

The 4 hour train ride travels from Hood River to the base of Mt. Hood and back. If you haven't been to that part of Oregon you really should, there are lots of orchards and farms, rivers and streams, waterfalls, nature galore.

Along the way we were served a 4 course holiday brunch and champagne, it was really romantic and yummy!

Where do I begin???

First of all, I (Monica) am officially a graduate again. I finished my double degree program a few weeks ago and couldn't be happier to be done with school for a while. Chris finished his fall term of school as well. It is hard to believe he will have his Master's degree in only two more terms, it seems like he just started. I don't know how he manages to do all that he does, but I have been blessed with an amazing husband.

You would think with school done things would have slowed down for us, but think again. As soon as finals were completed, Chris was on "operation finish grad school applications". For those of you who have applied to grad school, you know what I am talking about. But, I am happy to say he is done with his portfolios, letters of intent, etc. FINALLY!!

On the 13th of December (right after finishing Chris's portfolios), we flew to Kentucky with two missions: 1. Meet with grad schools and 2. Visit family. Chris had never been to that part of the country and wanted to check out some various schools he was interested in before applying. We visited, University of Tennessee, University of Kentucky, and University of Cincinnati. I am glad we took a few days of the trip to visit the different schools, it allowed for us to see the campuses, meet with admissions and more importantly, Chris got to sit down with various people in the Arch. departments to ask questions and tour various classes. It was a neat experience for me, since I was able to see what Chris's life will be like for the next 3-4 years. Let me tell you it is INTENSE.

When campus tours were completed we were off to Evansville, IN for a week to visit my dad's side of the family! We finally were able to sleep in, sit on our butts and watch TV, eat yummy food, and relax! Chris met my gazillion family members (slight over exaggeration), and I visited aunts/uncles/cousins that I haven't seen in over 10 years, my trip was long overdue. Although I have been a little freaked out about the possibility of moving so far away from my parents and sister, this trip eased my fears a bit knowing I have so many family members a short drive away.

After a week in southern Indiana, we were headed back home (kinda). After flying from Louisville to Chicago, we were informed that we missed our flight to Portland. We were extremely lucky to get tickets on the next flight to Portland since there had been people waiting to fly to Portland for 3 days. As were were about to board our flight to Oregon we were informed via loud speaker that the Portland Airport was closed due to ice on the runway. After many moans and groans from frustrated travellers, we were able to board the flight as they would have the runways cleared by the time we arrived. 4 hours later we landed in what looked like Alaska not Oregon, to find that the runways were cleared but there was still too much ice leading from the runway to our gate so we were going to have to wait for the ice to clear. 2 1/2 hours later we arrived at our gate surrounded by pandemonium in the plane! It was bad (I won't even tell you what was being yelled, but I am sure you can imagine).

Thankfully, United comped all of us with a discount on our next flight otherwise there may have been injuries.

After waiting at the airport for 3 hours, my mom picked us up and took us for a crazy ride back to Vancouver. Chris and I couldn't believe the winter wonderland we witnessed. It was amazing trip but we were glad to be home.

This was the view of my parent's driveway on Christmas Eve!

I will post more pictures later!

Family Photo

Quick Update

Our past month has looked like this....

Study
Eat (Chris has lost 20 pounds since August, but yes he has been eating)
Basketball game every Thursday
Teach
Attend class
Work
Walk the Dog
Anniversary trip to the coast
Dress up Diggy for Halloween
Finish grad school applications
Show house to potential buyers
Celebrate Thanksgiving early with family in Vancouver
Watch Football

Pretty repetitive, and extremely boring.

Hope everyone is doing well!
More updates to come!

Blog Break!

I just wanted to fore-warn our faithful readers, that we will be taking a break from blogging for a couple months. This is why.

I am taking 22 credits this term to graduate in December and working 25+ hours a week. On top of that, as I noted in a previous blog we are selling our house. Which means, I am constantly cleaning and packing boxes. http://corvallis.craigslist.org/reo/858715281.html

You think that is bad, wait until you read Chris's craziness....

Chris is finishing his Master's degree, working full-time, teaching at OSU, writing a thesis, finishing his portfolio and applications for grad school, and he is trying to stay on top of his CT Design work.

We keep reminding ourselves, this is just a crazy season in our lives and come Christmas time, our work load will be a little lighter. At least for me.

On a side note: we will be celebrating our 1 YEAR ANNIVERSARY, in a couple weeks. Which means, a much needed mini vacation. We can't wait!

Update

I haven't had a chance to post pictures of our latest happenings, so here they are... Chris and went up to Issaquah last weekend to visit my sister and her husband Robbie. They took us to the Polk County fair where we were introduced to the scone cart (random I know, but they were great), Mutton Bustin', mini Nascar racing (see above), and much more. It is always nice to get out of town and even better when it is visiting family.
Mutton Bustin': Take a wet sheep, add a 5 year old kid and turn them lose. I had no idea what this was before I went, but it was amazingly addicting. I could have watched it for hours. Here is a picture of the USC/OSU game before our camera died.

Lastly, when we first got Diggy, Chris made a rule....ABSOLUTELY NO DOG CLOTHES! I was doing good with the rule until I realized Dollar Tree sold dog rain coats. I admit, I broke down and purchased our little guy, a red rain coat with a blue stripe. How can you say no to $1? Anyway, yesterday we went to Target to find a dog bed and look what CHRIS BOUGHT! A dog letterman jacket. I just rolled my eyes, a dog letterman jacket? I mean, seriously, who does that?

USC Who?

Oregon State 27
USC 21

Enough Said!

My to do list!

I have decided I am going to teach myself how to knit! An old room-mate of mine left me tons of yarn and knitting needles, but sadly they have been sitting in my closet for the last 2 years.

Chris has brought to my attention numerous times that I can't sit still for longer than a half hour (actually his words were more like, "You have a serious case of A.D.D...can't you just sit down for 30 minutes?"). I figure knitting could help.

Plus, I have found that playing with yarn has the following benefits:
1. Health: Knitting is known to have great health benefits. Research has shown, knitting has the same effect on stress as yoga (balancing stress levels).
2. Financial savings: Most knitting tools cost less than $20 to start. If you want fancier materials, you will have to pay more. Plus, if you can knit a beanie/scarf/etc, you don't have to pay ten or twenty bucks for them anymore.
3. Creative outlet: Even if you don't think of yourself as a "creative type," you can still express yourself by knitting. Design your own patterns. Choose your own colors. Make your own shapes. You're in control of your knitting.

For Sale!!

Chris and I have decided after MUCH thought that we will be putting our house up for sale by the end of October.

A scary concept for us with the housing market in the dumps along with the rest of the economy.

The reason:
Chris has decided he will be going to grad school again next year and most all of the universities he is applying to will require us to move. I say most because two of the schools, UofO and Portland State, are close enough that he could commute, but far enough away that he doesn't want to.

This may come as a shock to most of our readers, but we didn't want to wait until the last minute hoping the market would change for the better. If we sell quickly, we will rent an apartment in Corvallis until June....at least that's the plan.

Iowa

Let me start by saying....WE LOVE IOWA! I was lucky enough to be able to spend many summers there growing up, since both sets of my grandparents lived there along with too many family members to count. My sister and I spent those summers eating sweet corn, hiking in the woods at my grandparent's cabin, jumping off rocks into the Coralville reservoir, feeding cows, catching kittens at the farm, and soooo much more. So many memories I hope I never forget.

Unfortunately, as I got older and spent my summers on the softball field, an Iowa trip has been WAY overdue. When I was reminded of our annual family reunion, Chris and I decided it was time to go back. Chris didn't know what he was getting himself into.

We spent most of our week in the Corvalville/North Liberty/Iowa City area where the family reunion was and where my grandparents have their cabin. The picture above is of our 1st day at the cabin, my grandparents took us to see one of their outhouses that my grandpa decorated with Chris and Robbie's (my sister's husband) names. That's the way my family welcomes new family members.....haha. I could write a whole blog about the Amana Colonies, but so could Ashton Kutcher since he was raised there. My family headed out to the Colonies for the most amazing food ever! Seriously! The food is served family style, with no menu. You sit, they serve. Eggs, German pancakes, fruit, bacon, bread, etc. Yumm-o! You never know what you are going to get, but you will never be disappointed! Guaranteed.
Isn't this a pretty church?
On our last night, my grandparents took us down to the family farm in Columbus Junction. It was such a great time!
One of the great things about Iowa, is that you don't have to irrigate your crops. That's right NO WATER. Can you believe it? Look how green it is! Chris decided he was a child of the corn.

We had such a great time and we can't wait to go back! Thank you grandma and grandpa for treating us to such a great time!

Kansas/Missouri

Okay, back to some road trip blogging. I decided to combine Kansas & Missouri since we were in the area for only a day and a half. We decided to include Kansas in our trip because Chris's friend Mike is in Pharmacy School at KU. Chris met Mike back in 2003 when they were working as counselors at Camp Winadu in Pittsfield, Mass. and has been wanting to go visit him for a long time.

We arrived in Lawrence at around 3pm, hung out with Mike and his family for a bit then a couple hours later we were off to Kansas City, Mo for a Royals v. Redsox game. Here we are with George Brett, who happens to be my Dad's favorite player. We cheered for the Red Sox!!!
Chris and Mike tried to rush the field after the Red Sox won The next day we hung out around Lawrence, which by the way was an awesome town. It was kind of like Corvallis, but with 100x more humidity:) We also walked all around the KU campus and checked out the Sports Hall of Fame in the KU basketball arena. Since KU won last year's BBall national Championship we had to check out the basketball court too(actually we broke in since the arena was closed off to be repainted).

Brooke and Ben's Wedding

Last weekend, the 5 of us ladies crammed into Imelda's car and drove 8 hours to Lake Almanor, CA for our dear friend Brooke Elliot's wedding. It was a long drive, but well worth it! Here we are ready for the rehearsal dinner and some square dancing. It was so much fun!
Here we are, an hour before the wedding. Brooke, as you can see, was such a BEAUTIFUL bride! She is such an amazing woman and friend, Ben is one lucky man!
The wedding was held at her parent's house on the golf course. Here is part of the reception area. The whole event was so pretty, the food was beyond good, and the weather was perfect.
Introducing....Mr. and Mrs. Gerber. Aren't they a cute!

Puppy

We have officially completed week one with the little guy, and it has been one crazy week. Between two beach trips, being neutered, getting used to a new home, meeting new faces, learning how to sit and fetch, and getting his paws stepped on twice, Diggy has had an exhausting first week. Look at that cute face!
Please disregard the strange look on my face, I was trying to figure the timer on my camera and then it went off. Oops. You can tell I am not a technology person.We are in the process of crate training, so here is a phase one picture....eating in the crate.

I apologize for the lack of quality puppy pictures, but it is hard to get our little guy to stand still, with the exception of sleep time and meal time.

WE ARE PARENTS!

Meet Sir Digsby (AKA, Dig/Diggy), our new son. We are poodle parents. haha.

We had been looking for toy poodles or poodle breeds since they are hypo-allergenic and have little to no shedding, for Chris. Yesterday, I called Heartland Humane Society on a whim since I stalk their web page on a daily basis, and guess what.....they had a new puppy and he wasn't loaded onto their web page yet. This was a sign.

When we got to the shelter it was love at first sight. He was the cutest 2lb hair ball we have ever seen. We knew he was ours. Or so we thought, but right after we rescued him he was kidnapped by his grandparents and taken to the beach.. we hope to be reunited with our first child soon!

(Kia your nephew can't wait to see you!)

Nebraska

We had an interesting time in Nebraska. The first time we drove through the state we stopped in Fort Kearney to camp. It was a beautiful night to camp....at first. Having travelled to the Midwest many times, I know that summer weather can change suddenly. Because of this, I suggested to Chris to put the rain fly on our tent before we went to bed. His response, "I don't think we will need it. The sky is clear and it will be nice to see the stars." I agreed. Fast forward to 2AM....DOWNPOUR. We exhaustively and grumpily got out of the tent and put the stupid rain fly on. That wasn't the end of it. Fast forward to 4AM. Groggy, I awoke with a strange sensation...my felt like they were lifting off the ground. Probably, because THEY WERE, and so were Chris's because of the high winds. Our air mattress was catching some serious air. I turned towards Chris with the fear of a tornado nearing thinking he was awake, devising a plan to save us if a tornado was indeed coming. Boy was I wrong, we was sound asleep. How can you sleep through that?

Enough venting about the weather. New subject....the bugs. They were beyond big, I think they were dinosaur bugs. Please see exhibit A below. This thing, whatever it was, was longer than my finger. If I had a saddle, I probably could have taken it for a ride. (slight exaggeration)
After experiencing "rural" Nebraska we decided we should head to the city. Here is a picture of University of Nebraska's football field. This thing made OSU's stadium look like a high school football field. Our last Nebraska site....Omaha's Rosenblatt Stadium. Most Beaver fans recognize this, since the OSU baseball team won two national baseball titles here.
We found out this field will be completely demolished in 2 years to make way for a new $140 million dollar stadium across town.

Olympic Park

One last Utah Blog....Olympic Park Extras..... This park was really neat! This park was created for the 2002 winter Olympics, but they now have a training facility for athletes to train in the summer. Here are pictures of the Aerial training facility Instead of landing on snow they land in the pool. Neat, huh? We were really lucky to be able to watch the Chinese Olympians train while we were there.
These guys were crazy!!
Random pic of Chris attempting to fulfil his bobsledding dreams.
Back to the Olympians. Here is a great picture Chris took of an athlete right before entering the pool.
This was the only female athlete we saw attempt to go off the highest slope. Nice form!

One other side note....Utah's Olympic Park is the only place you can ride on an ACTUAL OLYMPIC BOBSLED TRACK! They have professionals to drive, of course.

UTAH

I wish we had more time in Utah to site see. We went from place to place to place and we still didn't see everything we wanted, not even close. At least most of the sights were indoors so we could get out of the 105 degree weather.....HOT! We started out in Lehi, at Thanksgiving Point, where they house the largest collection of dinosaur fossils in the world. It was pretty impressive.
Next stop, the Red Butte Gardens. We have a ton of pictures from this place, it was amazing. Acres upon acres of stunning gardens to enjoy. The cool thing about these gardens is that the park is divided into gardens within gardens....sounds strange I know. There is a Japanese garden, rose garden, vegetable garden, butterfly garden, animal garden, children's garden, etc. Plus, the garden is built into a hillside so wild animals mingle through the garden too. Here we are taking a breather and enjoying the views of downtown Salt Lake City. Temple Square. The pictures don't do this place justice, this place was MASSIVE.
Park City, Utah home of the winter Olympics.
Next stop Snowbird Ski Resort.....once again impressive. Now we know why this place was voted top skiing destination last year, you feel like you are in The Alps. Snowbird is really famous for their innovative concepts as well. Above is their newest creation (and only one in the world) it is giant tunnel with a conveyor belt in the middle to transport skiers/snowboarders....who needs a chairlift any more? What do they do with their old chair lift? Another innovation....extend it, so tourists like Chris and I can ride it 10,000 feet up a mountain. It took 30 minutes just to reach the top of the mountain and I at one point I thought I was going to pass out we got so high. I am glad I did it, but I probably won't do it again.

Here I am happily on the ground back at the resort:)