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.