Daniel and Tonya McCuen

Donny's Gettin' Married!!!!!

2010-11-03T21:43:00.000-07:00

I met Amberlee last Christmas. I liked her right away. She gave us a whole Tupperware of Chex Mix.

In July they came out to see us. We got to spend a week with the two of them. I've never seen Donny so happy and I can remember a lot of this kid's life.

While they were here, he bought a ring and told me with a wink he wouldn't be using it until September, and sure enough, September brought an engagement.

He send me this text: "Amberlee said yes."

I cried.

Donny, I finally understand how you felt on May 30, 1999.

Love ya bromide. She's a wonderful woman, you two are going to be happy!!!!

Our 11th Anniversary

2010-08-06T16:41:00.000-07:00

Today marks the 11th anniversary of our wedding. I CAN'T BELIEVE how fast the time has gone by. I would be lying if I said that our lives have been as awesome as I hoped they would be when this picture was taken, but I would be telling the truth if I said that I love Daniel a million times more than I did the day we were married.

It's true that things haven't worked out the way we wanted. I would have bet money that by now we would have 4 or 5 kids, but I guess it wasn't meant to be. I can't believe that we ended up in Oregon of all places, and living all of a quarter mile from the Pacific Ocean, but the adventure of getting here has been more wondrous than I could have ever dreamed.

He really is my best friend. I talk to people and it seems to me that most men would rather go fishing or watch TV or play video games than hang out with their wife, but Daniel is that rare guy who doesn't like doing ANYTHING unless his wife is around. (Seriously, this is true. Once, he took his nephews on a Fathers/Sons overnight camping trip and asked me if I would sneek into camp that night and stay with him in the tent. He didn't want to go camping without me, so I did. The next morning he went through the chow line and got breakfast, which he brought to me in the tent. He then went through a second time for himself and I could hear the guy ask him "Didn't you go through once?" and Daniel said "Yeah, but that wasn't for me. I got my wife stashed in my tent." The guy laughed. I think he thought Daniel was joking.)

When I ask him what movie he wants to watch he says "Whatever you want to watch."

When I ask what he wants for dinner he says "Whatever is easiest to cook"

When some of the guys from the ward ask if he would like to go Salmon fishing he says "No thanks, I'd rather spend my Saturday with my wife."

You are a sweet man Daniel McCuen. I love you.

Summer Fun

2010-07-24T14:12:00.000-07:00

It's only July but we've already had a pretty busy summer. After Brandon's wedding last month, Daniel's Dad came back to Lincoln City. We did all the usual stuff.

Visited the Aquarium, our year's pass has paid for its self more than twice over. Saw the star fish. And the sea pens.
Kevin swam with the piranhas. The alligator said hi. Kevin was completely unimpressed with the beautiful sunshine streaming down through the shark tank. But he cheered up a little when we went out for lunch in Depoe Bay. We bought Dad a leather jacket in Depoe Bay because he kept complaining about "the cold." Just because it's not 90, doesn't mean it's cold. We have great weather here on the Coast! Dad and Kev left on July 3rd to go home, so we went down to Siletz Bay, to play in the water. I love my man! He's so cute!

Dad and Kevin's trip was the second time we had guests this summer, but not the last. After Dad left, we had 2 weeks to get ready for Donny and Amberlee. So, I cleaned my house and got ready to do all the usual stuff all over again! ;-) I love having company though, I'm not complaining!

Ode to Crochet

2010-07-13T17:45:00.000-07:00

If you only know one thing about me you should know this:

I Love My Husband. ;-)

But if you know TWO things about me: I also love to crochet.

It's been 14 years since I took up this little hobby. I've tried crocheting lots of different things but I seem to be best at making afghans. It has given me hours of good times, and during some of the most stressful times in my life it has literally kept me sane.

(so to speak)

I'm starting a scrapaghan. That's an afghan made out of scrap yarn from other afghan projects. For no particular reason, I wanted to post some pictures of some of the afghans I've made over the years. These are in no particular order, but my scrapaghan will be made out of yarn from pretty much all of these. If you want to see all of them, I have them all on my Facebook account.

For Harmony, back in 1998.

For my Grandma Hebdon, Christmas 2009.

For my Mom, Christmas of 1996. The first afghan I ever made.

For baby Kylee, fall of 2006.

For my nephew Bailey, fall of 2009.

For my Cousin Tabby. Summer of 2002.

On the left, for my sister Mandy, spring of 2003. On the right is a quilt made for her by my Grandma Hebdon.

For Daniel's sweet Mother, Phyllis. Christmas of 2002.

For my sister Emilee, summer of 1997.

For baby Sabrina, summer of 2009.

Second afghan for my Mom, she loves the 4th of July, made for Christmas 2009.

For my niece Gabriel, fall of 2009.

For my nephew Cannon, Christmas of 2008.

It is going to be a very colorful scrapaghan. I will post a picture of it when I am finished.

Hope everybody is having a great day!

More From Brandon's Wedding

2010-07-07T13:17:00.000-07:00

Before we get started today, here is a picture of an adorable man: Thank You. Now let's continue with more from the wedding.

This is Shasta. She's the Bride's sister and the Matron of Honor. This was the day before the wedding when we all showed up to decorate. It was interesting. You could totally tell who was in the middle of their Pre-Wedding meltdown! (For the record, it was the Bride's Step mom)

Shasta was cutting greenery for the table centerpieces. Eric and Kathryn are fixing some of the ceiling tiles. These are the finished table decorations. And the finished banquet hall. This is the gift that Daniel and I gave to Brandon and Summer. I post a picture of it only because I have never been very good at wrapping presents. They always end up looking...abnormal. But in this case, I think I did o.k. We gave them a service for 4 of everyday plates, salad plates, bowls and glasses. This is the outdoor site of the actual wedding ceremony. It was a beautiful sunny day!This is the view of Mt. St. Helen's from the park were the wedding was. The mountain is only about 40 miles from where we were. Daniel's Uncle Bud and Aunt Joyce came up from Trail, Oregon to be part of it. Brandon and Summer got a little messy cutting the cake. And finally, they had the traditional dollar dance. Which was a huge success. Here we have Bob dancing with Summer, his new Granddaughter-in-Law, and Brandon dancing with his Mom. See, They really do love each other.
All-in-all, it was a beautiful and fun wedding! Congratulations Brandon and Summer! May you always have love in your home!

Brandon's Wedding

2010-07-01T10:19:00.000-07:00

Our nephew Brandon was married last week to a very pretty girl named Summer. The wedding was at Lewis and Clark State Park just south of Chehalis, Washington, where they live. Here are some pictures of the event.

During the ceremony. Best Man Nick from Australia, Groom Brandon, Bride Summer and Groomsman Eric

Except for it being strapless, I loved her dress. This was about as excited as Brandon got all day. It was a very sunny and warm day for a wedding! The Cake. The Top of the Cake. The Groom's Grandpa, aka my Father-In-Law Bob. I thought he looked so cute in his suspenders and straw hat!
Groomsman and grooms brother, Eric. Grooms brother Craig. Grooms brother Kevin.Grooms Uncle and my sweetie pie, Daniel. He wore a pink tie to match my dress, which we have no pictures of because I was the photographer. I will take a picture of my dress next time I wear it and post it. Matron of Honor Shasta, Bride Summer and Bridesmaid Lacey. No matter how old he gets, Brandon will always be our little nephew! More pictures to come!

Chehalis

2010-06-25T10:36:00.000-07:00

Hey everybody! Daniel and I are in Chehalis, Washington to attend our nephew's wedding on Saturday. I'll be taking pictures and posting them later, but I wanted to send a quick update so ya'll didn't think I had stopped blogging again. It's the first time all 4 of Daniel's nephews have been together in one place in a very long time, and the resulting wrestling has already caused one bloody nose. Daniel's Dad is here as well as Aunt Joyce and Uncle Bud, so good times are sure to ensue. Updates to follow. Hope everyone has a great day!

Blast From the Past

2010-06-14T21:20:00.000-07:00

My hubby and I went to the movies today. We don't go all that often, I am very picky about the movies I see. For some reason, spending money on a movie that ends up sucking makes me very, very mad. And for that reason, we only go to a movie that I am pretty sure I will like. Today's movie was a no-brainer. We went and saw THE A-TEAM!!!!! First of all, I'm a huge fan of Liam Neeson. When I found out he'd be playing Hannibal, I was even more excited than before! See, I LOVED the A-Team when I was a little kid. Back in the 80's Mr. T was the MAN! (He's still the man, but you get my drift) Anyway, I really enjoyed this film, and if you like stuff blowing up and fools being pitied, go see the A-Team. And take your husband. Men love movies like this, and don't you think it's time to see a movie he wants to see?

Things I Learned From Mandy's Visit

2010-06-09T12:47:00.000-07:00

As I've said at various points and in various ways over my last several posts, we had one hum-dinger, rip-roarin', boot-scootin', fun-tastic time while my sister and her kids were here. I think it was a great experience for all involved. I am so glad that my niece and nephew were able to warm up to Daniel and I. Since we live so far away, they don't really know us. It was so wonderful to have their attention for six days. By the end they would even give me a kiss! That's major progress!

I think I learned a lot of really important lessons from this visit, and I just thought I should share them.

1. My sister Mandy is an AMAZING mom! She takes everything in stride and never lets her children frazzle her. She has taught her kids to be well behaved and they obey her without too many fights or problems. I'm sure it helps that her kids are very sweet and have happy personalities, but most behavior is learned by example, and Mandy has been a terrific example to her kids!

2. Don't worry, be happy. Mandy's kids had the best time on the airplane. My sister even told me about a guy on the plane with them that was nervous about flying, but after seeing my niece and nephew giggling with delight about being so high in the sky, he realized he doesn't need to be scared. He should just enjoy the ride.

3. Take the time to truly be amazed by the world around us. If I learned nothing else from my time with my niece and nephew I learned this: Our world is amazing, and EVERYTHING deserves to be studied and appreciated. Cannon would pick up sticks and fallen leaves and bring them to me like he'd found treasure. He would have spent the entire day at the aquarium watching the sea lions swim around or touching the starfish in the touch pool. When we went to the waterfalls, he'd see each one and exclaim "WOW, look at THIS ONE!" Kylee loved the beach and the ocean so much we almost couldn't get her to leave. I asked Kylee when we were on our way back to the airport what her favorite thing about the trip was. Without the slightest hesitation she said "The sand". We went shopping, to the aquarium, the cheese factory, saw 4 different waterfalls and yet her favorite thing was the sand on the beach. All she needed to be happy was the sand and her imagination.

4. A person can get A LOT of stuff done in one day if they just keep moving. I had to keep moving, Kylee and Cannon never stop.

It was truly an amazing time for me. I love my sister and her kids so much! Mandy and I might be swimming in completely different ends of the gene pool, but we are sisters and friends. I hope she comes back to see me again real soon.

THANKS FOR THE WONDERFUL EXPERIENCE!

Tuesday

2010-06-07T21:18:00.000-07:00

Tuesday was, sadly, the day Mandy and her kids had to go home. We got up kinda late, but had plenty of time to get the cars packed up and get to Portland to see some of the sights.

Our first stop was the Portland Temple.

This is a wonderful picture! The kids had a great time. They loved the gardens and the reflecting pond. And ran around the Visitors Center. Our next stop was the Portland Rose Garden. Which had many lovely blooms. This is the time of year to go!

Kylee loved the view from up high.

Cannon loved the water fountain.

After the rose garden, we returned Mandy's rental car, and dropped off her and the kids at the airport. I wanted to cry, but I did my best to hold it together. We hugged and I kissed the babies, and they went home.

LOVE YOU MANDY AND KYLEE AND CANNON!!!

COME SEE YOUR AUNT TONYA AND UNCLE DANIEL AGAIN SOON!!!!

Memorial Day (Monday)

2010-06-06T13:17:00.000-07:00

Monday was the last full day of Mandy's trip. I was rather upset about the weather. It was looking like it was going to rain on us and this was the day we were going to go to the beach. I got up early and watched the weather report, and it gave me some hope that after noon or so we would be able to go to the ocean without getting rained on.

We spent the morning shopping the Memorial Day sales at the local outlet mall. Just outside of the Old Navy they had a kiddie ride. It had Elmo and his little friend. (Don't know her name) Cannon HAD to play on it for a little while. Kylee too. After we got done shopping we had lunch at "Old McDonald's" as Kylee says and then it was on to the BEACH!!!! Mandy loved it so much as did the kids. Daniel bought some beach toys for the kids, which they enjoyed very much. I wish we could have spent the whole time on the beach because everyone loved it so much, stupid rain. Eventually we all started getting sleepy. And of course, Daniel did what Daniel does best.

After we went home and got all cleaned up, we went out and had dinner at the world famous "Mo's" I had the 'Cannonball', which is a bread bowl full of clam chowder. (YUM)!!

After dinner we went out for a walk on the dock at Siletz bay, behind Mo's. When we left we went to Walgreens to get some children's Tylenol. Cannon had a fever. It was a great day, but a rough night. Cannon felt much better in the morning!

Sunday

2010-06-04T22:29:00.000-07:00

Sunday was a day of rest. We woke up and were able to get to church on time. Being out here on the coast, we see a huge increase in membership during the summer months and especially on Memorial Day weekend. Our chapel was so full, people had to sit on the stand up in the choir seats.

After church, we came home and changed. Mandy put on a bracelet she had bought in Depoe Bay the day before. Kylee wanted a bracelet too, but being Sunday, Mandy had to try to convince her to wait until tomorrow.

In comes Aunt Tonya with her supply of beading items. I let Kylee pick her colors but I made the bracelet. She really seemed to like it. Cannon wanted one too. I tried to make it as manly as possible. Uncle Daniel fell asleep in his Lay-Z-Boy while we were waiting for our dinner to cook. Cannon took the the opportunity to try on Daniel's slippers.

After dinner we decided to take the kids back to the park. It was raining so we had to take some umbrella's. Cannon wanted to carry his own. It was really cute.

It was another fun and happy day.

Saturday

2010-06-03T18:22:00.001-07:00

I think Saturday was the best day of the whole trip. It started out with a trip to Newport to visit the Oregon Coast Aquarium. Daniel and I have been here many times but today was the first day of their new exhibit, Swampland. They had many swamp creatures, most of them being ginormous snakes. I was glad my Mom wasn't there!

Here is a picture of Mandy and the kids swimming with piranhas. Cannon climbing a mangrove tree root. Touching an alligator. I touched it too, it felt like a purse to me! A warm purse, but still. This is a blue-tongued skink. Cannon went to touch it and went "eeewww!" But soon he got braver and was soon petting it like a puppy. Kylee liked the aquarium too, but Cannon was in total awe. He loved everything and we had a hard time getting him to move on to look at new things. Here are a few pictures of the rest of the aquarium adventure.

Giant Tortoise, Cannon loved it. Jellyfish. Kylee's favorite along with Starfish. Cannon was again, in total awe. This is the touch pool. Cannon could have stayed all day on this one exhibit. They had starfish, sea anemones, clams and so on. Watching the Sea Lions swim by. Cannon REALLY could have stayed here all day. We eventually made it to the children's play area, where Kylee was very content. They have a bunch of animals for the kids to play on. Big gold turtle from their turtle exhibit a few years ago. On the way home we stopped and took a look at the Devil's Punchbowl.

Then we went to Deope Bay , which I think is my favorite place on the entire Oregon coast. We did MAJOR souvenir shopping and took some pictures of the boats going into the bay.I got some caramel popcorn which Cannon shared with me. And we fed some to a local squirrel. When this child smiles, the world smiles with her. Just look at this shot. All-in-all, it was a happy, happy day. I wish Mandy and the kids could come back and we could do the whole thing over again!!!

LOVE YOU GUYS SO MUCH!!!

Friday

2010-06-02T17:37:00.000-07:00

We woke up early on Friday and could tell from the get-go that it would be raining on us that day. That was not going to stop us from having a good time. We all piled into Mandy's car. It was a bit of a squeeze, but we made it. For whatever reason, Daniel and I didn't take any jackets or umbrellas. Mandy, being a Mom, KNEW to take jackets with hoods. They were prepared, we were not, and we LIVE HERE! I felt pretty stupid. Between Lincoln and Tillamook, there are little towns, farm country and lots of cows. The kids were mooing the whole way.

Our first stop was the Tillamook Cheese Factory. Here is Cannon as a farmer and Kylee as a cow.

Then we went upstairs to see the factory in action. The kids were plenty thrilled with what was going on. Cannon kept saying, "Look at that!"

There was a lot of cheese going by.

Cannon loved petting the baby calf or as Daniel calls it, veal. (Not a real veal)

We went though the cheese tasting line. As soon as we were done, Cannon wanted to go through it again. If it weren't for the big line of people behind us, I would have sent him back through the line with Uncle Daniel. Anyway, we ended up buying a couple of bags of squeaky cheese and Daniel bought a wheel of 3-year-old extra sharp cheddar. It's all for him, I won't eat cheese older than Cannon.

We ate a yummy lunch at the factory Farmhouse Cafe and then we had some Tillamook Ice Cream. After that we went up to Cape Meares. We couldn't go inside however because some dirt bag brought his gun and shot the place up in the middle of the night a few months ago. He broke most of the windows and a 190 year-old crystal from France that used to make the lighthouse shine forth into the ocean. Whoever you are, you suck! By this point, we were all getting pretty wet. (Daniel and I didn't have any jackets, remember) But, the kids were having such a great time we decided to keep on going. So our next stop was the hike to Munson Falls.

Kylee had a great time on the hike. Look at this beautiful little face!

It was a great hike but just a little muddy. The kids still loved it.
On the way back to Lincoln City we were listening to a local radio station and they played "Shake Your Booty" by KC and The Sunshine Band. When we got home, this happened.

And it had been going on for about 5-10 minutes before I thought to turn on my camera. (I Love the fact that Uncle Daniel was asleep in his Lay-Z-Boy. Slept through the whole thing)

After dinner, Mandy and I took the kids to the park that is at the end of my street. There is a floating dock there too. We saw a Mama Duck with her 8 little ducklings swim right by us.

And then the kids played on the playground until we were all rain-soaked. That was pretty much it for day 2. It was a great day!

The Cospers On The Coast

2010-06-02T11:59:00.000-07:00

This last week has been totally awesome! My sister Mandy and her two adorable kids were here and we had a blast on the coast. I wish the sun would have come out more, but it really only rained on us on Friday and we were still able to spend time on the beach on Memorial Day. Here's some pictures and the low-down of the trip.

THURSDAY

Mandy and the kids flew in at 9:30. We live 2 hours away from the airport, and I had to get up at 6, which for me, is like the middle of the dang night. (I usually hit bed around 1 and wake up around 9. One of the benefits of being unemployed.) We got to the airport about the time Mandy was getting her luggage. I wish I had a picture of the kids with their backpacks and little rolling suitcases. It was so cute! We had total strangers commenting how cute they were rolling their carry-ons around the airport.

Once we picked up Mandy's rental car, we headed to the Columbia River Gorge to look at some waterfalls.

First to Wakeena Falls

Then to Multnomah Falls

and finally to Horse Tail Falls

After that we went to our Aunt Pam's in Troutdale and she very kindly fed us lunch. She was WAY more prepared for the kids than I was, she had TOYS! After playing indoors, we went to the back yard where the kids played soccer. The kids were getting kinda sleepy by this point, so we headed for Lincoln City. They slept on the way. We didn't go straight to my house however, first stop was the D River Wayside, better known as THE BEACH!!! But it was really windy, so we didn't stay very long. The kids were so excited by it all, I could tell they would need a good night's sleep. We had mac and cheese for dinner and then they went to sleep. In fact, everybody but me fell asleep watching "Happy Feet."

I think is was a very successful first day. Well, one day down, five to go!

A Few Updates

2010-05-24T19:14:00.000-07:00

Here's the awesome stuff going on this week:
Monday: Daniel and Tonya date night.
Tuesday: Babysitting.
Wednesday: Last-minute cleaning house for my sister's visit.
Thursday: MANDY AND THE KIDS COME! We are visiting my Aunt Pam and going to Multnomah Falls.
Friday: Cape Meras, hike to Munson Falls, and the Tillamook Cheese Factory
Saturday: Oregon Coast Aquarium and Newport, Depoe Bay and other points of interest.
Sunday: Church
Next Monday (Memorial Day): DA BEACH!!
Next Tuesday: Mandy and kids leave. :-(

And if any of you were wondering, the "mommy" we were waiting for had her baby on SATURDAY morning at 5 a.m. after spending a total of 31 Hours having contractions and waiting to get to where she could push. I bet she's glad THAT'S over!

He Who Said 'A Job Well Done Never Needs Repeating'...

2010-05-22T14:20:00.000-07:00

...obviously never did any housework. It is Saturday and my day to clean the dang house. Today, however, it's turning out to be a dragon I'm not sure I can slay.

My awesome sister Mandy and her two adorable kids are coming to Lincoln City for a visit on Thursday. (Woot!) I'm super excited about it, but today I'm looking around and going: THIS PLACE IS NOT NEARLY CLEAN ENOUGH!!!

How is it that you can live in a place, look around, and be satisfied with it's cleanliness, but when company is coming all the sudden it is a cluttered, dusty shack not suitable for habitation.

Needless to say, I've spent the last 4 hours cleaning my house and I still have a list a mile long of stuff I want to clean, dust, sweep, vacuum or wash before Mandy gets here. The upshot of all this is that no matter what I do, it will still be a 70's-era cabin by the lake with orange carpet and ONE BATHROOM. For Daniel and I, it does just fine, but when we have company it gets a little harder. (We love having company by the way)

Well, we do the best we can I suppose. The hardest thing is figuring out what to do with Daniel's sword collection. Mandy's kids are 3 and 2 and we don't want them getting hurt. I can see 5 swords from where I'm sitting, and the kids would be able to get at or touch 4 of them, so they will all have to be moved. I should have made Daniel collect stamps.

I am so looking forward to this visit from Mandy even if I don't get my house up to "company standards". I hope we have a great weekend. And I hope Mandy's expectations aren't too high. :-)

The Waiting is the Hardest Part

2010-05-21T13:36:00.000-07:00

My good friend Danielle is a midwife. She has the unique opportunity of bringing new life into the world. I really admire her confidence in and enthusiasm for her job. I have the unique opportunity of helping by babysitting her four kids when she is helping her "mommies" give birth. But, as the miracle of birth is unpredictable, Danielle sometimes needs me during the wee hours of the night or morning.

Last night was just such an occasion. I got a call about 10:45 from Danielle saying one of her mommies was headed toward labor and she would need me later. I said OK, packed an overnight bag, and got ready. Lucky for me I have a wonderfully sweet hubby who would rather go babysitting with me than stay home in his own comfy bed.

So, about midnight we got the call, got in the car and headed to Danielle's. (She has a guest room that she keeps ready for me and Daniel for just these occasions.) The kids were all asleep and Danielle was confident that she would be back before they woke up at 7 in the morning. But it was only an hour before we got a text message from Danielle saying she was heading home. WHAT?!?!?!

Turns out the woman wasn't having contractions nearly like she should be, and they needed to wait. Danielle told us we could go home if we wanted to, or spend the night at her house. I reasoned that there was a really good chance Danielle would be heading back to the birthing center before the kids woke up, so we decided to stay. 7 a.m. came and went and Danielle was still home, so we came back to our house.

I decided to get a few more zzz's and Daniel went to work. Now Daniel's home from work. I just got a message from Danielle and we are still waiting! I might be a little annoyed if it I didn't feel so bad for this poor mom!

So how about it my gal-pals? How long did some of YOU have to wait?

OK, So Like, Let's Try This Again

2010-05-20T12:42:00.000-07:00

Look, I KNOW nobody reads my blog anymore. I haven't updated in forever. I think I don't do it very often because all my friends and family blog about their kids and awesome stuff they are doing. I don't have any kids and as far as awesome stuff, how often can a person blog: Went to church Sunday, babysat on Tuesday, spent Thursday on sitting on the beach reading. Here's a picture of a seagull. Seriously, how many pictures of seagulls does one person need?

My friend Robin does a great job on her blog. She will talk about anything and make it totally riveting. The most trivial events in her life are perfect blog fodder for Robin. I have made reading her blog a daily event, because her trips to Costco are so darn interesting!

Daniel and I don't have the most interesting life, but I will try to do better in blogging about it. We both have Facebook accounts and we keep up with family and friends there, but you have to slash and burn your way through all the advertising and crud to actually learn anything. So, I have come back to my blog as a way to keep my family informed as to my 'goings on'.

And I'm trying to be more like Robin. Get ready for tons of posts about making dinner, trying to get to the gym and ultimately not going, and, that's right, more pictures of seagulls.

2010-02-23T14:11:00.000-08:00

Holy Toledo! I can't believe how long it has been since we have posted. I will nudge Tonya to see if she can update here. In the meantime I will use this as a forum to laud my wife and how fantastic she is. Right after we got back from the holidays I was sick for about three weeks and she was so kind and loving. (sigh) Anyway, just wanted to tell the world how great Tonya is. Well at least the small portion that follows our blog.

I love you Tonya,
Me.

P.S. We found this picture in an email Tonya recieved and it makes us smile.

More Bear Lake

2009-11-22T15:21:00.000-08:00

Here are a few more pictures of our trip to Bear Lake. We spent an afternoon on the beach. The water was clear and pretty. My Mom and Dad got these little chairs for the grand kids. They are so cute and little.

Sabrina is so cute. She sat in her chair pretty much the whole time, wasn't interested in getting dirty.
Cannon was VERY interested in getting dirty. Mandy didn't put him in a swimsuit because she figured he wouldn't be into the sand and stuff, but he loved it! He got wet, tried to eat the sand, and by the end of the day, we were carrying him back to the car totally naked.

Pretty Gabriel. She had to leave Bear Lake a few days early for school. We were very sad. :-(

Kylee, Emilee and Don Carl out in the water. I think everyone had a great time.

The Big Family Vacation!

2009-11-13T13:18:00.000-08:00

The family vacation to Bear Lake, Utah was the official kick-off for Summer for Daniel and me. Before we even left we had fun gettin' ready. I had decided we were going to have a family Wii bowling tournament, and I wanted to make some trophies. Daniel had the smart idea to go to our local bowling alley and ask if they had any old pins they wanted to get rid of. He brought home 3 pins which we painted and turned into "The King Pin" "Second Place" and "Third Place" trophies. So then we loaded up the car, and drove for 2 days (we spent the night in Idaho with my Aunt Leslee and Uncle Nick) The best news of the entire trip was that our car didn't break down anywhere. I've had enough of that this year!

We got to the resort before anyone else. We checked in and toured all 3 units to make sure everything was awesome. We had 1 unit on the ground floor so I decided that would be Mom and Dad's unit so Mom didn't have to climb stairs all the time. Mandy's family and Emilee stayed in Mom's unit. Daniel's Dad got the one bedroom unit, and Daniel and I got the upstairs unit, also known as "The Place to Be" because we got Travis' family (except Gabby who stayed with Emilee) Don and Cody. Daniel's Dad was the next to arrive. We were all hungry and my family wouldn't be there for 2 more hours, so we all went out for dinner. We ate at the Bear Trapper Steak House, it was really good.

My family got there at about 8 p.m. After getting everyone settled in, we visited and had a late dinner. (I ate a lot during this trip!)

That was just the first day. I could go into WAY more detail about the whole trip, But tomorrow I will just post some more pictures and the highlights of the trip. I was really happy to have all my family together. Daniel's Dad even had a great time. I think he really liked being around all the cute babies in my family..... I did too!

Updates Soon

2009-11-11T13:55:00.000-08:00

To all my friends and family who read this blog, (all 3 of you) I apologize for not updating since April. We just finished one of the busiest summers in our 10 years of marriage. We are well into the fall and stuff just keeps happening! I have tons of stuff to post, so I will be doing a lot of new stuff in the next couple of days. Hope everyone is having a great fall and is looking forward to a great Holiday Season!

Love y'all!

Yachats For My Birthday

2009-04-14T21:05:00.000-07:00

For my birthday this year Daniel decided to take me dancing. It was a fantastic idea since I love to dance. The big problem is, there isn't really anywhere for mature adults to dance anymore, especially if you don't want to be the only sober people in the room. Then, Daniel read an article in our local paper about a no-alcohol, family-friendly Big Band Dance in Yachats. (Yah-hots) The best part was, it was only 3 days before my birthday. Bingo!Yachats is 50 miles south of Lincoln City. We'd never been there, in fact, we'd never been south of Newport, which is only 25 miles from here. Daniel wanted to take time to explore the sights between Newport and Yachats, and we don't like driving in the dark, so Daniel booked a hotel room for the night. We stayed at a place called "The Shamrock Lodgettes". It was very cute. It had a log bed and a wood burning stove. They provided wood and everything. We had a view of the bay and the ocean. We sat in the hot tub and then got ready for dinner and the dance. We had dinner that night at a place called "Drift Inn". We had steak and risotto and Italian sodas. There was an older gentleman who was VERY talented playing acoustic guitar. Daniel went up to him, gave him a tip, and requested he play a song for me. The next song was Jim Croce's Time in a Bottle. It was GORGEOUS! (I was so happy!)After dinner we went to the dance. Daniel and I were two of the youngest people in the room. We danced all of the slow dances and most of the fast ones. The Yachats Big Band plays a dance the first week of each month. We were so lucky to be able to go this month. See what I mean about being the youngest people there? On the way home the next day we stopped at "Elephant Rock" just north of Waldport. It's named "Elephant Rock" because when you view it from a certain angle it looks like a rock. When we got back to Newport we stopped at the bay to take pictures of the boats. It was a misty cool day. There were seals on the rocks making a lot of noise. They were barking at each other over fish, or the best rock, who knows. (I got some video of that, I'll post it as soon as I can get it converted to the right format.) We also got a visit from a blue heron. He walked right past us on his way to lunch. Actually, he was having lunch on the way. The next thing I noticed was that the sand was spitting at me. No kidding. Little streams of water kept squirting up seemingly out of nowhere. I was about to ask Daniel if I was seeing things, when I realized what was going on. The tide was going out, and the clams had sunk into the mud. They squirt out water to get an air hole so they can breathe.

Ahhh, dinner, a dance, a romantic night at an ocean front hotel room, boats, noisy seals, blue heron and clams. It was the best birthday ever!

Taft

2009-04-12T11:29:00.001-07:00

Daniel and I recently went down to the "Taft" area of town. It's the southern most tip of Lincoln City just before Siletz Bay. We've been down there a couple of times for dinner at the famous "Mo's" restaurant, but we had never explored the shoreline. So, on a recent beautiful day, we went down there to watch the sunset. Here are some pictures:

There was drift wood everywhere. This bunch looked like modern art to me.

This one is a little hard to see. Across the opening of Siletz Bay from us were some sea lions enjoying the sunshine. Over on the left hand side is a sea lion pup. A few moments after I took this picture a boat went past the sunbathers and the little pup wiggled back behind his mother for protection. Have you ever seen a sea lion move on land? It was the cutest thing I've ever seen!

The sun started setting in spectacular fashion...

and it was an amazing end to an incredible day.

After the sun went down, Daniel and I decided to have dinner at the famous "Mo's".

I had fish and chips, I'm really starting to like sea food.

New Haircut

2009-04-08T15:42:00.000-07:00

Good afternoon everyone! Here is the first of the updates. A couple of weeks ago, I had about 6 inches hacked off my hair. I also got some bangs cut. I call it my "rehab hair" because I cut it in order to make exercising, swimming and then primping easier. Once I lose weight and I don't have to exercise so much, I will grow the long locks back. (An update on the weight loss, I'm losing inches off my waist, hips and arms, but I'm gaining muscle. So even though I've only lost around 15 pounds, my clothes are fitting better.) This picture was taken in Yachats before the Big Band dance we went to for my birthday. I will blog about that in the next couple of days. Loves to all!

Update Soon!

2009-04-04T15:38:00.001-07:00

Hey everybody!

A quick post today to let you know I am so sorry about not updating for so long. A lot of things have been getting in the way, (namely, Facebook) but I've got tons of pictures and video and stories to upload and they will all be coming up in the next few days. I know my blog isn't the hottest ticket out there, but thanks to all of you who do read it. Look for new posts on Monday. Tomorrow as you may or may not know is my birthday, I will be 31. I'm not ashamed.

Be Well!
Tonya

Chain of Giving (or Fools, If you're an Aretha fan)

2009-02-18T12:26:00.000-08:00

I got this from my friend Robin B, who got it from Mrs. Moo, who got it from her friend's blog, a Greek Goddess, who got it from her friend's blog, who begat Zorobabel, who begat ...

Anyway, this is my first blog-land chain letter. Mrs. Moo says, "It's a chain of giving and I like this idea." so did Robin, so did I, so did Zorobabel, etc.

Here's how it works.

The first five people to respond to this post, saying they have joined the ranks by posting this "chain of giving idea" on their blog, get something made by me.

Fine Print:

1. It will be within 12 months.
2. It will be something made specifically for you - tho' perhaps not even tangible.

(I may have messed up the rules, in which case, any blog cursing will fall on my shoulders, not yours, should you break this chain that has been going since 1957).

The Prodigal Missionary

2009-02-08T00:01:00.000-08:00

We just received our first letter from Elder Eric Pasenelli.

He has emailed us a couple times but this is the first pen to paper and the first pictures we have seen. He is on the Navajo reservation about 150 miles west of where I served, and the pictures reminded me of the time I served there.

He has grown in all ways observable, in maturity, spiritually, intellectually, height and yes, weight. (He says he is working on it.) I wanted to put these pictures online for all to see.

He took some good ones in Winslow that refer to a great song by The Eagles. Anyway, here he is for all to see, we sure love him and are proud of him and the choices he has made.

Explosion Box

2009-01-28T09:32:00.000-08:00

I'm the Young Womens first councilor in my ward and recently we made "explosion boxes". They are boxes that fall apart when you take the lid off and reveal pages that act like a scrapbook. I needed to make one as an example for my young ladies, so I had to decide on a theme to build my box around. After several seconds of hard thinking, I settled on one of my favorite subjects as of late: my nephew Cannon.

After getting all my paper, scissors, glue and do-dads assembled, I went to my sister Mandy's blog and hijacked many pictures of the boy. (technology rocks) When it was all done, I was rather pleased with myself. Here is the finished project.

Here it is in box form.

With the lid off it looks like this:

This is the first level, over on the left it says "always a cutie!"

Half of the second level:

Second half of the second level:

Half of the bottom level:

Second half of the bottom level. In that green envelope is a picture of Cannon sitting on the San Fran 49ers blanket I gave him. You can open it up and take the picture out.

The boxes made by my young women were WAY CUTE! They were all so different but wonderful. It was a very successful mutual night. I have thought of giving this box to Cannon's mom, but I think I'm going to keep it!

Our Flight (Fight) Out

2009-01-15T14:38:00.000-08:00

OK, It's been awhile, but here's the end to our getting-to-Utah drama. (But not the end of the drama!)

Anyway, Trevon picked us up at The Barkers at 4 A.M. sharp. We loaded up and the roads were decent so we made it to the airport by 4:45. IT WAS A MAD HOUSE! At this point, we had 1 hour and 35 minutes until our flight leaves. It took 1 hour and 20 minuets to get our luggage checked in. And, because of how busy Southwest was, we had to stand OUTSIDE and check our baggage with the sky cap. It was very cold. We only had 15 minutes until our plane was supposed to take off, and we still had to get through security. The one good thing I can say about the Portland airport is that security is very organized and we got through in just a few minutes. Then we had to sprint to our plane. I got there about 2 minutes before Daniel because his ankle was already killing him, and he had to limp. I advised the gate person that he would be along, just don't close the door. They didn't. We got on the plane just in time. We sat down, sighed and smiled at each other. Then we sat, and sat and sat. It took an hour for our plane to get de-iced. The flight was OK, we got there alive and I was so relieved and happy when I saw my dad, I laughed and then I cried.

After the tears, we went to get our luggage. We had 4 pieces of checked luggage. One came out on the belt, then two, but that was it. My suitcase was missing, as was the suitcase that had the blanket I had made for my new nephew Cannon. I spoke with a lady in the luggage office who informed me that since we checked in late, our luggage didn't have enough time to make the plane. (Let's just review here: I sat on the tarmac for ONE HOUR waiting to take off. I guess that's enough time to get 2 out of 4 cases on the plane, but not enough time to get all 4.)

So, we left and went to Layton with the understanding we would come back after 1 p.m. and my luggage should be there. We had a wonderful Christmas Eve. We went back at 7 p.m. and still NO LUGGAGE!!! We asked again and they said it would be on the next airplane from Portland, Fer Sure! Then they told us that they would kindly deliver my luggage to my parent's place, between 1 and 6 A.M. (Sigh.....) Anyway, I left permission for them to leave it on the porch if nobody came to the door. At 8 A.M. we got up and opened our presents and still no luggage. There was a storm coming and we had to be in Evanston that night. So we left. It's over an hour to get to Evanston, but we made it. I called home to let my mom we'd made it safely. She let me know my luggage had arrived about 5 minutes before I called. (sigh again.....)

Other than that, it was a great trip!

Day 3

2008-12-25T19:43:00.000-08:00

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

2008-12-23T11:42:00.000-08:00

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

2008-12-22T09:37:00.000-08:00

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

2008-12-16T22:03:00.000-08:00

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

2008-12-05T14:05:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-22T11:27:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-20T19:51:00.001-08:00

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

2008-11-15T21:43:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-10T10:18:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-01T14:07:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-10-24T13:21:00.000-07:00

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

2008-10-22T14:00:00.000-07:00

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

2008-10-21T11:38:00.000-07:00

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

2008-10-16T16:40:00.000-07:00

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

The Magic of October 8th

2008-10-08T15:35:00.001-07:00

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

2008-10-01T18:52:00.001-07:00

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

2008-09-27T18:27:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-25T20:44:00.000-07:00

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

New Football Field

2008-09-24T21:29:00.001-07:00

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

2008-09-20T15:35:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-18T12:25:00.000-07:00

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

2008-08-27T18:32:00.000-07:00

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

2008-07-28T22:12:00.001-07:00

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

2008-07-28T01:51:00.000-07:00

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

2008-07-27T19:41:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-07-25T23:06:00.000-07:00

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!!!!

2008-07-12T16:56:00.000-07:00

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

2008-06-11T00:38:00.000-07:00

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.