Day 3

Tuesday: Once again we sleep in as we really had no reason to get up. Today is dry and warmer but the sky is cloudy. We get dressed and venture outside. We head to Karren and Cameron Wilde's house but they are not home. They are probably visiting someone for the holidays. We go back to the house. We read and watch DVD's (I watched "Much Ado About Nothing" again). We did a load of laundry and cleaned up after ourselves as best we could. We tried to go to bed early as our flight was at 6:20 the next morning and we were leaving for the airport at 4 A.M.

The night hours were excruciating. I could not sleep for anything. All I could do was look at the clock and count the minutes until we were supposed to get up. I got on the computer a couple of times just to make sure the flight wasn't canceled. Finally, we got up, showered, finished packing and waited for Trevon to drive us to the airport. And that's where the adventures really began.

Day 2

Monday: We wake up feeling very mellow the second day, having slept longer than we usually do. We have what's left of the cold pizza for breakfast and decide to venture out into the marshmallow world that is before us. We open the garage door and to our utter amazement even MORE snow has accumulated during the night.  We check again for a shovel but still can't find one. Daniel is confident we can get out, so out we go. We back out of the driveway and get stuck once we hit the street. We can't go forward and we can't go back. One of the Barker's neighbors has a truck with chains on. He tows the car out of the snow bank and we are off.  We head to Joe's to see if they are selling shovels. They are sold out.  We go to WinCo to get some food. I think in times of crisis, survival instincts kick in because we bought too much food.  R&B can eat some corn dogs when they get home. We will leave them in the freezer.  

We get back into the car and discuss trying Fred Meyer's for a shovel.  Then Daniel tells me that the neighbor that towed us had just been to Fred Meyer's and they didn't have any.  Desperate for a shovel, we start driving the neighborhood looking at all our friends houses. Not a one of them had a shoveled driveway, thus giving us little hope they had a shovel.  Finally we come to Trevon and Michelle Jacobson's house and steal the shovel they left on their porch. We left a note.

Finally making it back to R&B's, I get out of the car and open the garage door so Daniel can try to get the car up the driveway.  Again, he gets stuck in the street. This time, a different neighbor helps push the car forward.  It took 3 tries, but we got the car in the garage.  With my absconded shovel, I set to work on the driveway. The snow is in 3 layers: powder on the bottom, a perfectly smooth layer of ice in the middle, and more powder on top. It's like a wintery oreo cookie.  After an hour or so, the driveway is clear. (Daniel felt really bad about me doing the shoveling, but his right ankle is still in an aircast and his shoes have bad traction. I wasn't about to let him fall down and get hurt again!)

I go inside and Daniel is bored. I suggest reading one of the many, many excellent books R&B have. Daniel chooses "Fellowship of the Ring" and dives in.  I take a hot shower. 

We call the Jacobson's to make sure they know we took their shovel. They say that's fine and invite us to dinner.  We get ready to head to Red Robin.  Trevon drove their Montero and we carpooled. There are only 2 word to describe that ride: White Knuckle.  Trevon is also driving us to the airport Wednesday if they don't cancel our flight.  White Knuckle is still better than taking the train at 4 A.M.

Dinner with Trevon and Michelle and their 3 daughters is a hoot. The place is jumping because most of the other restaurants in town have closed due to the bad weather. (just an aside here, if this much snow fell in Utah, NONE of this would be happening. Everything would be open and working. The streets would be clear and the airplanes would be taking off. Oregon just can't handle this because the state government sucks.)  After a dinner of burgers and strawberry lemonade, we go back to their place to watch "Wall-E".  They hadn't seen it before and they loved it. 

We got back to R&B's late but decided to watch one more movie before bed. We watched "Chicken Run".  It made me sad that R&B don't have any chickens anymore.  

Stranded For the Holidays

I don't fly much. In my entire life I've been on a plane maybe 8 or 10 times total. I like how fast you can get to your destination if you fly, but I hate airports, the cost, security requirements, cramped airplanes and how other people get to dictate when and if you will travel. Most of my family knows by now that Daniel and I were supposed to be in Utah last night. But the people at Southwest didn't buy enough de-icing equipment and mother nature sure wasn't helping out so our flight got canceled. It's a good thing we still have friends living in Portland.  

We are staying at Robin and Briton's house. They are in Utah because they DROVE there on Thursday.  I spoke with Robin.  She said the drive was so scary, she was in tears going over the Blue Mountains and it took them 12 hours to get to Boise.  The point here is that they made it. Whereas Daniel and I are stuck here, in their house until Wednesday.  (I believe that we are legally squatting now)

We would have gone back to Lincoln City if not for the fact that highways 26, 6 and 18 are all closed so they only way to get back to LC would be to drive nearly to California, get over to 101 and backtrack.  So we decided to stay put. If all goes well, we should be able to land in Utah at 9 A.M. on Christmas Eve. But in the meantime, here's what we've been doing. Look for subsequent entries on this.

Sunday: After our flight was cancelled we called Southwest trying to get some other flight.  They informed us the first open seats were Wednesday but to keep checking online if we could. It took us 15 minuets to figure out how to turn on Robin and Briton's computer.

Once it started snowing again and the airport stopped ALL outbound flights, we figured we weren't going anywhere.  Daniel and I did puzzles in a crossword book I brought for the flight.  We then turned our attention to R&B's television. They have no reception but plenty of DVD's. We watched "Ice Age".  It seemed appropriate.

By now we were getting really hungry. R&B said we could eat anything we could find, but not wanting to mess up the kitchen we called for pizza.  Papa John's wouldn't pick up the phone. I think they have all frozen to death.  Pizza Hut isn't delivering. They're not that desperate for money.  Finally, as a LAST RESORT we call Dominoes.  They are that desperate.  Once the food arrived we watched "Much Ado About Nothing" followed by U2's "Rattle and Hum".  We were going to watch Pixar's "Monsters INC", but we think R&B took all the Pixar movies with them for the kids to watch in the car.

So that's it. We're here, living for a time at Robin's house like we own the place or something. I'll tell you one thing. If we can get out today, (it's started snowing again!) we are going to buy a snow shovel and make ourselves useful. R&B are earning a lot of brownie points for this!

Here's What We've Been Doing

This is the Humuhumunukunukuapuaa (really!). I took this picture at the Oregon Coast Aquarium back around Thanksgiving. (This one's for you Cody.) And here's Daniel with one of the sea otters. This is a wild fire that started across the lake from our house. It started as a controlled burn by the logging company. It got out of hand but 6 hours later it started to pour rain so it went out. This is a seagull that wouldn't leave us alone the last time we went to the beach. It was COLD! The seagull didn't care.

Our Thanksgiving

I'm sorry I don't have any pictures of our Thanksgiving this year, I needed to get fresh batteries for the camera and didn't do it in time.

Notwithstanding, our Thanksgiving was great. It started when Daniel and I woke up and enjoyed the Macy's Parade on TV. (BTW my favorite part of the parade was when Rick Astley turned up and "Rickrolled" the whole of New York City.) While that was going on, I made Thanksgiving breakfast, which consisted of pancakes, eggs, bacon, sausage and hot chocolate with whipped cream. After breakfast we watched football, and got ready for dinner.

We were invited to Brandon and Virgina Ford's house. They are a great couple in our ward. In addition to Daniel and I, they had 2 of their kids and their families, plus the retired Baptist Minister and his son from next door. (Sounds like the start of a joke doesn't it?
6 Mormons and a Baptist Minister were having Thanksgiving together......) Needless to say, it was an INTERESTING group! The food was fantastic. We all had a wonderful time. I made Daniel's Favorite Potatoes, or DFP as I've started calling them, so we wouldn't break with our own little tradition. Everyone seemed to enjoy them. We had pumpkin and apple pie and peanut butter brownies for dessert. It really was a wonderful night. THANKS FORDS!!

The Pacific Northwest Never Ceases to Amaze Me

Look what I saw right in my own driveway...

About 2 seconds after I shut the camera off, a 5th deer sprinted up to join the others. Then, they just wandered off. It's so cool that the wildlife isn't too intimidated by the people. We see the deer all the time at night, but that's the first time we've seen them so close during the day.

Hope everyone has a great and happy Thanksgiving!

3-CUP WALL-E Widget

My favorite movie of this whole year was Wall-E. Storytelling at it's very finest, Wall-E is one of the best movies Pixar has ever produced. I was excited when it was released on DVD Tuesday, and I'm fully expecting a copy for Christmas. If you scroll down to the bottom of the page there is now a Wall-E widget that is fun and amusing. Give it a go.

May Joy and Innocence Prevail.

November and Thankfulness

November isn't only about Thanksgiving for me. November 26th happens to be Daniel's birthday, which every few years actually falls on Turkey Day. This year, his B-day is T-day eve, so we will be partying for a full and consecutive 48 hours. We each benefit from this. Daniel gets two "holidays", and I can go out for pizza on the 26th and then make the big dinner the 27th. Less stress that way. ;-) Life hasn't been entirely fair to Daniel and I, but we have been more blessed than I think any two people deserve. Let me just say that I am thankful for my Daniel. I made a movie about us 4 years ago when I first figured out how to use my movie maker program. Here it is, please enjoy.

BTW: if you're wondering how old Daniel will be this year, he will be the answer to Life, The Universe and Everything.

Google it if you have to.

Doin' The Family Proud

My brother Don is the coolest, as is evident by this year's Halloween costume.

He went as a member of the fictional metal band Limozeen. Then he sent this picture to the guys at http://www.homestarrunner.com/ who invented Limozeen. Every year fans from all over send in thier halloween pictures and Strong Bad makes fun of them. And guess who SB made fun of this year? MY BROTHER! Watch what Strong Bad had to say here:

http://www.homestarrunner.com/costumes08.html

I also have to give a shout out to my sister Emilee who took this picture and had it on her blog. Em is the greatest. Check out her blog at http://www.bloggingem.blogspot.com/

p.s. I invite everyone to join me, in that from now on, we call my brother "Chuzz"

Ha-Ha-Halloween Night

This year Daniel and I went to our ward "Harvest Party". They have some kind of prejudice against the word "Halloween" or something. It was a fun night, we had chili and cornbread and were able to get the trunk-or-treat out of the way before it started to sprinkle. It didnt' really rain, which for Lincoln City is rare. The girls in my YW group came as Vampires: Valerie and Amanda Caesar Mr. and Mrs. Caesar

They also had a pumpkin carving contest. Daniel and I didn't have a lot of time to get a pumpkin done, so we went small. Before Carving Carved All Lit Up

He won the award for "Cutest Pumpkin"

Hope everyone had a Happy Halloween!

Doot, Doot, Doot, Lookin' Out My Back Door!

It rained the other day, and then the sun came out and we got rainbows. I get a little more amazed every single day by this world we have. Our Autumn has been just gorgeous. I love being able to go out my back door to take pictures.

Picture Tag

I saw the picture tag game on my sister Mandy's blog, www.cosperfamily.blogspot.com (BTW, her blog is WAY better than mine) and thought it was a good idea so I went to my picture file, and uploaded the 4th picture in the 4th file. This is what I got. I took this the day we bought our 2nd digital camera. This file is literally called "Test 4". We are on to our 3rd camera now. Daniel is a cute guy everyday.

Don't Let This Happen To You 2.0

As many of you may remember, Daniel broke his toe while we were in the process of moving here to Lincoln City. It was hard to get stuff done with him in pain, but we managed. It's only been 2 months and if you look at his left foot, his toenail on that toe is still dark purple. Anyway, last Thursday night Daniel decided that 1 A.M. was a good time to take the garbage out. It was dark, and he thought we only had 3 steps from our front porch to the ground, but we have 4. He missed the last one, and severly injured his right ankle. It's not broken, but it's not pretty. Within 4 minutes of the fall his ankle had swollen to the size of a grapefruit. He had to stay off of his feet all weekend long and couldn't even go into work Friday. It's been 5 days and he's finally showing some signs of improvement. I took these pictures yesterday. Keep in mind that the swelling and the bruising have gone way down since the weekend.

The House, The Whole House and Nothing But The House

Here's a video of my whole house. LOVE YOU MOM!!!

The Magic of October 8th

When I woke up this morning, I realized it was October 8th. Today is unique because according to one source, every major event in the history of our great nation took place on October 8th. Columbus discovering America? October 8th. The start of the Revolutionary War and the day England surrendered? October 8th. Man landed on the moon on October 8th. And my personal favorite, America celebrated it's first 4th of July on October 8th. The source of all this profound wisdom is my favorite book on American History, Dave Barry Slept Here: A Sort of History Of The United States. Dave Barry is a humor columnist that worked for many years for the Miami Herald. He's also written several books. Dave's theory was that history would be a lot easier to learn if all a student had to remember was the date October 8th. Dave picked that date because it was the day his son was born. The best thing about Dave Barry Slept Here is that there is enough fact in it that when I was a college sophomore, I passed an American History class using Dave as my primary means of study. If you have never read it, I recommend picking up a copy as soon as possible. If you want to check out Dave's columns, including his trip to the Beijing Olympics and his take on the election visit http://www.miamiherald.com/dave_barry/

Dave also runs for president every 4 years, and he currently has a forum where you can ask him questions, I've asked him 3 questions and he's answered all of them. It's a really funny read and a great way to waste time at work. Check out : http://www.mcclatchydc.com/qna/forum/dave_barry_for_president/index.html

Happy October 8th!

Munson Falls

On Monday for FHE Daniel and I went to Munson Creek Falls, about 6 miles south of Tillamook. There is a quarter mile hike you can do to get up to the falls, so it was a quick little workout too. We came across a hillside covered in clover. It was so beautiful, I had to take a shot of it.

And, as usual, we took some video. Hope you enjoy.

Bountiful Harvest

Today was one of the most BEAUTIFUL days since we moved to Lincoln City. It was 72 and sunny with the perfect breeze. Daniel and I both had the day off for the first time in forever, so we went to the Newport Farmers Market. There was so much produce to choose from because all the local farms are harvesting like crazy. It all looked so good, but I came home with:

1 Very Large White Sweet Onion

2 Green Bell Peppers

1 Banana Pepper

4 Tomatoes

1 Bunch 'O Cilantro

3 Peaches

4 Nectarines

4 Golden Apples

I'm going to make homemade salsa with the tomatoes, peppers, cilantro and some of that gigantic onion. (I'm the only one in my household that eats any of this stuff, so that onion is going to be in a lot of my food!) The fruits I'm just going to eat as snacks because that's how I like 'em!

While we were there, I mentioned to Daniel that I wished my Mom could be there with me, she would have loved the farmers market. He said I'd already said that twice. That's only because it's true. I DO wish my Mom were here!!!

Have a great weekend everybody!

My House Part 1

For my Mom and Dad, here's some of my house.
Love you guys!

New Football Field

Our local High School just got a new football field. It's Astroturf and it's one of only 5 fields like it in Oregon. Tonight I went to the combined Young Men/Young Women activity with Daniel. We have 3 YM and 2 YW, and ALL 5 OF THEM mentioned to me that they got a new field today. I thought something this big should be on my blog. They went with Astroturf because apparently it rains a lot here or something. Here's the picture that was in our local paper.

Super Saturday

Hey everybody. Today was Super Saturday in my RS, and I did 2 projects. It was a lot of fun to sit down and chat with the sisters in my new ward. The first craft I did was a Halloween wreath. I painted the little decorations and made the bow, then I hot glued some eucalyptus branches to a straw wreath. After the hot glued dried I spray painted the whole thing black. Then I hot glued on my doo-dads and voila. (French for "I have a wreath")

The second craft I did was less complicated but way more frustrating. I put some vinyl letters on a tile for a nice decoration. The first thing you have to do is rub the letters onto the transfer paper. THIS TAKES FOREVER! Every time I thought I was done, some little bit of the vinyl would stick to the backing paper. Finally I got it all on the transfer paper and then set it on the tile. I then rubbed and rubbed and rubbed and rubbed and rubbed and rubbed and rubbed and rubbed and rubbed and NOTHING HAPPENED!!!

It wouldn't stick to the tile no matter what I did. So finally I asked the sister who was in charge. After rubbing for a few minuets herself, she finally ran her hand over the tile. Turns out the tile I was using had a porous surface and the vinyl wouldn't adhere to it. So, after a change in tile, I was able to come away with this.

It looks nice and Daniel is going to put a little shelf on the wall in the living room so I can display it. I don't have any Halloween decorations, so the wreath will be nice here in a month or so. The other great thing about Super Saturday was the hot spiced apple cider they were serving with brunch. I haven't had hot cider in a long time and it tasted really, really good.

Have a great weekend!

A Couple of Home Videos

I've been lax in keeping my blog updated. (Sorry Guys!) Daniel and I have been working and going out a lot lately, there is tons of fun free stuff to do here. We've been down to the 15Th street beach a few times lately. It's a beach that is only accessible at low tide and you are allowed to drive your car down onto the beach. It's really awesome to get into your car and see a little sand around the wheel well. It was just a few years ago that the wheel well would get frozen snow and caked-on salt jammed up in there. My, the difference a few years make. The other thing we've been doing is enjoying Devil's Lake, which is across the street from our house. The first video here is Daniel and I taking our little boat or "dinghy" as Don Carl dubbed it, out for the first time. The second is the full moon a few nights ago. On that moon video I kept turning my camera on it's side to get the full shot, so forgive me if the picture turns to the side a few times.

COMING SOON: I promised several members of my family that I would post some pictures of my house on my blog. We've decided to move the funiture around and as soon as we have that done, I promise I'll take the pictures and post them.

My Bromides

August 12-20 brought mostly sunny skies and my 2 younger brothers to Oregon to stay with Daniel and I in our tiny and not-all-moved-in-yet house. We had a blast as we always do,

whale watching, salmon eating, sword fighting and ninja warrioring. I thought I should post some photos, so here are a couple. We also made a short movie about it, and I will post that as soon as I'm done editing it. Just an aside here, We moved into our new house August 1st, I started my new job August 2nd, and my 2 bro's showed up on the 12th. It's been a very busy month!




One last tidbit, this is the view from the porch of our new house so although we have been busy the view sure is nice! DM

Don't Let This Happen To You

Quick post today. If you are ever moving and you have to haul around heavy boxes and appliances and the like, make sure you wear nice protective shoes and not open toe sandals. My dear darling Daniel made this error today, and as such put us one day behind in our moving because HE BROKE HIS TOE!!!

Yes, the 4th toe on his left foot was fractured today when he dropped a heavy box on it. We are pretty lucky though, it could have been worse. We have wonderful people helping us through this and so we should still be out of our apartment by July 31st. I'll write more about our wonderful day later, but for right now, have a great night and make sure you protect your feet!

Don't Miss

I want to make sure that nobody visiting here misses the excellent blog Tonya entered concerning our no longer working for "Fetflix" it was written and published 2 posts ago. Definitely a must read.

The Great Northwest

My sweet Tonya is an artist with a video editor and some good shots and good music.

Here is a prime example of her skill and also a bit of why we love the NW so very much.

All of the pictures you see were taken by us and we are very proud of how they have turned out.

Please enjoy.

Last Day!

As Daniel and I face our last day at (a-hem) "Fetflix" I would like to list stuff I will not miss about this job.

• Working Until 3 A.M.


• Sleeping Until 1 P.M.


• The opening statement "Uh, Yeah, I am a member of the Fetflick."


• Freaks (you know who you are)

But here is what I will miss about the job.

• Free Movies!


• More Free Movies!


• T McD (you know who you are)

So as you can see, leaving a job is always a bit sentimental. It's funny that I find myself feeling like I might miss it, when I know, deep down inside, that I hate this job more than anything I've ever hated before. And that includes my Fifth Grade field trip to Crystal Lake Utah. "Crystal Lake" is a mud hole. On top of that it was raining, and I came back looking like a chocolate-dipped Easter bunny. That day was a PICNIC compared to this job!

But I digress.

Seriously, I'm glad it's over. I think that list of stuff I won't miss could be a thousand times longer, but they say you only remember the good things. I sincerely hope so.

July 26, 2008 1:11 AM... Oh don't forget to mention the calls that start, "Look here" or "We have a BIG problem here." Anyway, my lovely wife has done a great job of being eloquent in her derision of the "Fetflix" job. Our fellow mentally / spiritually abused co-workers will be missed but not the job.

Shout it To The WORLD!!!!

Quick post today, no pictures or anything, (I'm secretly blogging from w-o-r-k today, but don't tell anybody) As my friends and family know, Daniel and I have spent the last year working for an online movie rental company which shall remain nameless. (Only to say that it rhymes with "Fetflix") Although the benefits were good, Daniel and I would do nothing more than eat, sleep, watch TV and go to work. We were seriously losing our minds. I was ready to shave my head and change my name to Brittney! Since Daniel is already bald, he was cracking up in a more classic style. I won't go into details, but that is NOT the proper use of propane! Lucky for us, it was only a small fire. Anyway, we've been striving for some time now to get Daniel a better job. It's been the thing that has kept me going. "Someday." I said to myself, "Someday we will hand in our two weeks notice." My friends, that day is TODAY!!! I just submitted my two weeks to my manager and I couldn't be happier about it! Daniel and I are moving to the Oregon Coast where Daniel will start working towards getting his teaching certification. I'll still have to work, I'm interviewing for jobs down there this week. But it will be so much nicer when all I have to do is walk a few blocks and I can behold the Pacific Ocean. Talk about your stress relief! In every life there are the good days and the bad days. Today is a good day!

Welcome To Our World

Hi Everybody! I decided it was time to get into the blogosphere. Everyone I know has a blog and I love checking them out and keeping up. Therefore, I give you my first blog. Everything here in Oregon is great. It has been REALLY COLD! We haven't had much of a spring at all, but that hasn't stopped the trees and the flowers. My favorite thing about living here is the greenery. Everything grows, especially the Roses. We just had the 101st Portland Rose Festival, where we celebrate our beautiful city and our (usually) blessed weather. Anytime we get family to visit us, we always take them to the Rose Garden and the Oregon Coast, which you will hear a lot more about in my next post.
Until then, be well and thanks for stopping by.