Monday, September 22, 2008

First, let me start off by saying "I'm sorry I didn't get to see you if you were in Bend..." - it had to be one of my quickest trips thus far.

Saturday morning, I woke up at 6am, got ready & packed, and was out the door by 7:30am to my hometown, Bend. I left Sam at home this time since it was going to be such a short trip and he'd get more done/enjoy himself more by staying home (except for the fact that this was our first night apart since being married (almost 3 months) so we missed each other...). Anyways, the drive was beautiful, as usual this time of year, and the traffic was barable.

I arrived in town around 9:45am and headed right to my first stop - IHOP! I was meeting my old co-worker, Michelle, for a lovely breakfast & catch up time. We've dubbed each other's "penpals" since we send a lot of e-mails back and forth with our new situation (me in Salem, her in Redmond). It was a great time and I got to hear all about her new life and she heard about mine. I miss her already...

After breakfast, I headed to treat myself to a pedicure. The last time I got one was days before the wedding, so I felt it was time to treat my toes again. It was a nice time and my toes are beautiful again! Then I ran a few errands and got my rings cleaned and headed to my mom's house.

The reason I came over to Bend was for her. She volunteers & is on the board for a local non-profit called Women's Resource Center of Central Oregon, which helps women who are transitioning into a new phase of their lives. This weekend was their 6th annual benefit, so I was at hand for helping. If it wasn't for a stubborn headache all night, it would have been fun, but I was kind of miserable... bummer! It was great to see all my mom's hard work though. She took on the task of putting together baskets for the silent auction - and there had to be over 30 or 40 baskets, full of amazing things. They made some money, which is great, but with the current economy, times are hard so hopefully this non-profit pulls through.

Sunday, I woke up and spent some time talking & catching up with my mom. We then got ready and spent the morning going to our favorite store - Target! We also had lunch and then I hit the road back to my home (which is still hard to say since my home has been with my mom for over 20 years).

The drive was long & rainy and everyone was heading that same direction... so it made it longer. I made it home and crashed on the couch with Sam for a few hours. He then treated me with a dinner out to Red Robin! It was nice to spend some time just with him, as I cherish every time I get it!

I miss my mom.
I miss my friends.
I miss my hometown.
But I love my husband and our home, and I wouldn't change a thing!

Oh and before I forget - Happy Birthday (yesterday) Kristi!!! Hope you had a wonderful day all for you!

Saturday, September 13, 2008

I have a friend. Her name is Jessica. We met in high school, but became much better friends during our first semester in college. Those 4 months brought so many ups & downs, but we made it through alive.

This morning, I had the opportunity to have coffee with this beautiful woman. We've lost touch over the years, but we can still come together and catch up like it's only been days. Thank you Jessica!

After my coffee date, I decided to run errands. I came home to Sam and we spent the afternoon lounging around. We paid a few bills and went back out to see if there was anything we *needed* at Best Buy - no luck =(

Tomorrow we have church and then I desperately need to vacuum and get ready for another week of work... wish me luck!

Sunday, September 7, 2008

Picture time! There are only a few, but they sum up the month of August pretty well.

Toward the first of the month, all the kids cleared their weekends so we could (finally) paint the parent's house - it turned out beautiful!

Sam's cousin Jessica turned 21, so we went up to Sandy for the day to have a family party out at his grandparent's house.

The happy newlyweds!

My husband is rarely seen without his camera these days...

And lastly, this was taken last weekend when we had the sleep over - the Grable's love their card games =)

Maybe I'll be better at blogging this month...

Thursday, September 4, 2008

Oh I apologize... it's been days since I said I would have an update - my bad! Life seemed to get the best of me this week and now it's Thursday night.

To give you an update...

Sunday went great! We had 13+ people over to our home and had a great lunch together. The guest list included: Donna & Phil (Sam's parents), Laura & Josh (Sam's sister & brother-in-law), Matt (Sam's brother), Sam's grandparents, Sam's Aunt Linda & her daughter & grandchildren, and Sam's cousin Jessica & her boyfriend Jacob came too. It was a great time to show off our home and catch up with one another. On a funny note, we were hanging out in the bonus room when Josh sat up on the futon and broke the bed! Yeah, it was funny, but now we have to fix it. The festivities lasted until about 3 or 4 and then the party began to slow down. Around 4, it was just immediate family left, so the girls decided to make a trip up to Woodburn, while the guys stayed behind to play cards. I didn't get anything else from Woodburn because I had already spent WAY too much to begin with. Donna got some good finds and Laura scored with 3 pairs of Clark shoes - I was jealous! I had a great time with my new mother-in-law & sister-in-law! They are two amazing women of God! When we got home, the guys were in the middle of a game, so we popped in The Holiday (Sam & I's engagement movie!) and relaxed a bit. Matt headed home for the night and the girls went up against the guys in a game of Taboo - which ended in a tie. Around 11pm, we all headed to bed.

On Monday, we all took our time getting up and Laura & I made a delicious breakfast - waffles, bacon, and fruit. Then we cleaned up and headed to the park up the street and played a game of Bocce Ball - girls against guys. I believe the guys won, but it was a good game nonetheless. After the park, we walked back to our house and ordered Papa Murphy's pizza and played another game of Taboo - guys one again. Us girls must have been off our game that weekend...

All in all, it was a great weekend. I have a few pictures from the last couple weeks/weekends on my camera and maybe this weekend I'll have the time to upload them on to my computer. There might be some prime picture-taking coming up soon, so we'll see what happens.

Other than a busy weekend and a great Labor day with family, Sam & I have been working hard. We work all day and then come home and enjoy each other's company. Today, we had lunch together with the people he works with. If you know me, I get shy and quiet around new people, and this made me quite nervous, but everything went fine. They are very nice and it was cool to see who Sam works with and the people he talks about.

This weekend, we'll be staying home. Stay tuned for pictures & any fun adventures we get ourselves into =)