We were traveling along Santiam Pass, enjoying the wet drive, listening to The Shack on Sam's iPod, and all of the sudden we saw a rock fly towards our direction and hit our windshield... and the cracking hasn't stopped since.

Being the emotional person I am, quite a few tears were shed over this little crack that kept growing. We tried to take it to Jiffy Lube to see if they could repair the windshield, but that was a no-go due to the crack - boo! So instead of repairing it, we were told we had to have the whole windshield replaced. The whole freaking windshield. Once again, the tears came and Sam told me it would be okay.

Now, 2 days later, we have an appointment to get the windshield replaced and pay the nice company $260 and then our windshield will once again be whole. Definitely a bummer deal, but it's just things and money and in the long run, all that matters is that Sam and I are safe.

This weekend we went to Bend.
Since Sam and I had to work the day after Christmas, it didn't make sense to travel to Bend for Christmas eve/day this year, so we went this weekend. We thought it would be best, since my mom had nothing going on and my brother was home from school. At the last minute, Dan decided to go to the coast with his girlfriend's family, so it was just my mom, Sam, and I.

It only took 3 hours to make it over the pass, but the roads were not pleasant. They were covered with snow and little gravel. I said a little prayer that we'd make it over the pass and we did, safe and sound! When we got to Bend, Sam and I were starving so we took my mom out to Red Robin and had a nice lunch together. Then we hit the Old Mill shops and made our way home. When we got home, we opened our presents and watched a few Christmas movies. My mom made a delicious dinner with all the trimmings - ham, stuffing, mashed potatoes, salad, and rolls. We definitely ate too much! Another Christmas movie and some dessert ended the night. The next morning was pretty lazy. My mom went over and above for breakfast too - we're spoiled when we see her! We left around 12pm to make it over the pass before anything got too bad. It only took 2 1/2 hours back, which wasn't bad. The bad part was when a flying rock decided to hit my windshield... bummer deal! I've driven back and forth over the pass for over 6 years and I've been lucky enough not to have any windshield damage until today.

Besides the windshield ordeal, the weekend was great. I was sad to leave my mom, but can't wait to see her again soon (I hope). Thanks mom!

6 months ago...
...I was Meaghan Fischer.
...I was spending my last days of a single woman with 3 of my best friends and a handful of family.
...I was finishing all the little details I had been planning for the previous year.
...I was finally getting the butterflies in my stomach.
...I couldn't stop smiling.
...I married my best friend!

Sometimes I think back and I can't believe we've already been married for 6 months. Yes, it's not a lot, but we've had quite a few "firsts" that we'll always remember:
New homes; New jobs; Halloween; Thanksgiving; Christmas.
And although the firsts are becoming less, we have a lifetime of milestones to remember and I can't wait!

A magical view huh? I sure loved it.
This was taken last night (Christmas Eve) at my in-law's home in Sandy, Oregon and it was beautiful! We didn't have such a nice drive over to their house, but once we were inside, we didn't want to leave.

Our adventure began around 2:30pm when we left Salem to head to Sandy. If you remember, we originally tried this on Sunday, but turned around 15 miles into the trip. This time, we were pretty determined to get the job done and be with family for the holidays. We researched some alternate routes to avoid both traffic and bad weather and took our chances. It was definitely slow going, but 3 hours later and no chains used, we made it! Sam's parents live on a steep hill and we were advised to avoid it if possible, so we parked at a restaurant down the road and were graciously picked up by Sam's dad. And boy was I happy we didn't try to make it into their driveway... SCARY!

We walked into the home and were instantly greeted with smells of homemade cinnamon rolls & pizza... good smells! After dinner and some preparation for Christmas morning breakfast, we played games and watched out the in-law's picture window as cars attempted to get up the hill... the success rate was not that high. Before we knew it, we were all falling asleep and retreated to bed.

Christmas morning came early, about 8am, and we were all up and looking sleepy. Sam's brother had been at his parents for a few days already and Sam's sister and brother-in-law came over for Christmas festivities. After we opened presents, we ate a delicious breakfast made my Sam's parents. There was so much food and good conversation, it lasted a while. Of course games followed breakfast (I married into a game-loving family) and since all the boys got knew games, we tried them all out. Shortly after the games, Sam and I decided to head home since it had began snowing and didn't look like it was going to let up. We couldn't afford to get snowed in, since we both had to work the next day, so we packed up and headed out. The trip home was much quicker and uneventful and we were home in only an hour and half.

After we unpacked the car, we ventured out to find something for Christmas dinner (since we missed Christmas dinner with Sam's family). To our suprised, everything was closed. EVERYTHING! We ventured down our main street and found lots of dark stores. Finally we found, probably, the only place open on Christmas night - Burger King. Not a good Christmas dinner, but it did the job and fed two hungry people. But I'll tell you, we're still craving ham, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and fudge. Maybe we'll have to make all of that soon.

Sam and I definitely loved being able to spend Christmas with family, but wished it wasn't so short. As we drove home, we both turned to each other and said, "Christmas feels weird this year." Who knows if it's the snow. Or it's that we live farther away and have to work the next day. Or that it's our first Christmas and we're not in a "routine" yet. Like I said, who knows. But the time spent with loved ones is always cherished and enjoyed.

Our next Christmas is this weekend... Bend here we come!

Merry Christmas!
love, the Grables

The snow hasn't left yet... am I starting to sound like a broken record? Because I am beginning to feel like it. And while others love the snow, I'm not a fan. All this snow is becoming record breaking for the Portland area and is quietly ruining plans left and right.

Today, being Monday, was not an ordinary day. My supervisor called me last night to tell me that we were on a bit of a delay and could come in at 11am (you may ask, "why couldn't you have a snow day?" and my reply is "who knows..."). With all the snow that happened overnight, I was a little worried I wouldn't be able to make it out of my driveway. So I got up at 8 and shoveled the snow so I could get out of my driveway. Sam came out and helped too, even though he had a snow day. Then I got ready for work and headed out the door. There were only 4 people in my 10 people department, but work went quick and before I knew it it was 2pm and I was released to go home. I then braved it to Fred Meyers to pick up a few things for dinner and a box of popsicles for my friend Kristi because she had her wisdom teeth out today. When I got home, Sam and I leashed up the dogs and headed down the street to the Weathers home. I thought it would be nice to take the dogs on a walk, but they quickly froze and Sam picked them up and carried them the last part of the walk (see picture above) - it was pretty cute! We dropped the popsicles off and headed back home, quickly.

Now we're home, warm, and full of homemade potato soup (mmm, so good!). Who knows what we'll wake up to tomorrow, but hopefully we'll figure out what our plans for Christmas will be, because things look very unsure right now.

So, we didn't make it to Sandy. We actually only made it 15 miles outside of Salem before we turned around and headed back home. I was very bummed. I knew it was bad out there, but I was trying to convince myself that it wasn't as bad as they were saying, but it is. Now I'm worried about Christmas eve... we're suppose to go to Sandy to spend the night with Sam's family, but that might not happen due to the weather. When realizing this, I believe my words were, "Now there will be no Christmas!" Maybe a little dramatic, but I want to be with family on Christmas. Once again, snow = no good.

Because of my sadness, we went to Lowes and bought a tree. We had originally been waiting until after Christmas for the sales, but we ended up getting one for 50% off and it made me feel a little better. We brought it home and I decorated it with my ornaments (Sam's are still at his parents) and love the way it looks. Matt even had the idea of the family coming down to Salem for Chirstmas since we can't make it up there. We'll see what happens...

Last weekend I mentioned we were getting some snow, but this week proved to be worse than most my years in Bend... at least as far as I can remember. We're snowed in... kind of. There has been a mix of snow/rain/ice for the last seven days and I'm kind of sick of it. Shoot me, but I'm not a snow person... that's why I moved away from Bend (not really, but let's pretend for the sake of the post, okay?), the snow capital of Oregon.

Unfortunately, I had to work all week. ALL week! While most businesses in the Salem/Portland area were closed or delayed, I was working away in my cubicle. We did have a day that we left at 3:30pm instead of 4:30pm, but I don't count that. Then there was the day that I went to work at 7:30am and was informed at 8:00am that we didn't have to be there until 10:00am. Whatever! I got through the day and it's the weekend.

On Saturday, Sam & I decided we wouldn't go anywhere because of the snow/rain/ice. It really worked. We had a good, warm day at home and got SO much done - Yay for productivity! We cleaned, we cooked, we worked out, and I even got a nice hot bath in. Sam's brother, Matt, came to spend the night at our house so we could all attend the Edgren Family Christmas Party in Sandy on Sunday, but snow was once again ruining our plans... back to that later. Anyways, we ate some dinner and then headed down the road to the Weather's house for some game show action. The walk there was beautiful - despite the large amounts of snow/rain/ice. The walk home, however, was still beautiful, but with a bit more ice. Make that a sheet of ice covering EVERYTHING.

Now it being Sunday & all, we're still not sure we'll make it to Sandy, but I think we might try. Being from Bend, I've grown used to having to have snow (studded) tires on my car, but never thought I'd have to have them on in the Valley. We'll see how this little adventure goes... stay tuned!

Tis the Season...

Our Charlie Brown-like Christmas tree.

One of my favorite Christmas decorations.

Before the storm...

Hot chocolate + each other = a good Sunday afternoon.
(Our mugs read "I DO" & "ME TOO", too cute!)

WHAT?!? I thought I moved away from this white stuff... not a fan at all!

I love the Christmas season, but I don't like going anywhere in snow like this... too bad we've got a week full of work ahead of us...

Meet Buster.
He was given to us by Sam's uncle Andy & aunt Gina,
when they no longer could keep him.
Could you say no to that face? We sure couldn't.

He's been a lot of fun to get to know. We've definitely had our ups & downs with him and we're still working on getting him fully trained, but he's SO cute!

His newest trick is pretty cool. We have an old rocking chair that my grandma re-purposed for us in our front room. For the longest time it just sat in the corner and was only used when we needed extra seating, but not anymore.
A couple weeks ago, we were watching TV and didn't know where Buster was. As we were looking around, Sam told me to look at the rocking chair and there he was, sitting pretty in his chair. Who would of thought he would enjoy it so much? Not us. We love it!

There are days when we want to send him away because he jumping on the walls (literally), but then he looks at us and our hearts melt.
He sure is one of the cutest dog I've ever seen!

Today is a special day I remember every year. It's an anniversary that will always hold a lot of specialness to me. Let's go back to 2004 & 2006...

December 10, 2004:

Preface: I was going to school at George Fox University and having a awesome/very trying (in a good way) sophomore year - opposed to my next to terrible time my freshman year held. I had the best roommate, whom I had learned so much about and grown to love almost instantly (shoutout to Kelly!). I had declared my major and was really excited to learn about Business Administration. I had recently gotten out of a relationship that was pretty toxic, but broke my heart in a million pieces. I had fallen asleep at the wheel while driving home for the weekend and rolled down a steep hill-my beautiful VW Beetle was totaled, but I (luckily) walked away with only some scratches & a few stitches on my right index finger. My life had taken a much different route than I ever imagined and had no idea what was coming next.
Enter Sam. Sam was a senior at George Fox and lived with a bunch of the guys I had met my freshman year. When the girls would go hang out with the McGrew house boys, Sam was usually in attendance. I hadn't thought much about him, but that he was a nice guy and easy to talk to (once you got to know him... he's pretty shy/quiet at first).

Back to the night of December 10, 2004: my roommate was having performing in an acting showcase and I had invited Sam along to join me. Kelly did a wonderful job in her TEN,TEN,TEN performance (a play on it being the 10th and the time it began was 10pm and there were 10 performances all together). After smoozing with the actress =), Sam walked me back to my dorm room. Right before I went in, Sam told me he had to tell me something. He said, "I like you". I was caught off guard. I knew what he meant, but didn't expect it. I told him that I needed more time, but wanted to get to know him better. I'm sure he thought I'd blow him off, but that wasn't what I wanted to do. I really did want to get to know him better. And that's just what we did. Instead of group dates, Sam and I spent more time getting to know each other on a more one-to-one basis.

Flash forward to December 10, 2006:

Preface: Sam and I had got to know each other and had officially been dating for about a year and a half. He'd been my rock through a lot of hard times that one goes through. I could not have asked for anyone more kind & gentle in my life. Sam & I knew we wanted to get married, but due to some circumstances, we were going to wait a until 2008 to get married. Prior to this knowledge, Sam had gone and picked out my ring. I was anxious to see it, but knew Sam would pick the perfect moment to present it to me. I had told my roommate/best friend/Kelly that she had to have her phone on all all times in case Sam proposed and she assured me she would. Little did I know, she knew when it was happening the whole time...

Again, back to the night of December 10, 2006: Sam & I weren't going to be able to spend Christmas together this year, so we decided to celebrate Christmas a little early and spend the day in Portland having lunch and seeing a movie. After a drizzly day in the city, we decided to head back to my apartment to exchange gifts. This completely threw me off because I thought if Sam was going to propose he would do it by going somewhere during the day, so I thought it probably wasn't going to happen. But boy was I wrong! When we got to the apartment, I first gave Sam his present which was Seinfeld season 7. Then Sam gave me mine, a new Bible engraved 'Meaghan Grable' (my married name), which oddly didn't give me any clue whatsoever... at least not until Sam turned to me and said "there's more..." and he got down on one knee and pulled out the ring. I was shocked and before Sam had completed "Will you marry me?" I was already saying yes!

I couldn't have asked for a better date to remember two special times in Sam & I's relationship. I'm so thankful for his thoughtfulness and for loving me all the time!

I love you Sam and Happy "I like you/Engagement" Anniversary!!!

My brother-in-law turned 29 today!
Happy Birthday Josh! Way to be almost 30 - YAY!
love,
your one & only sister =)

THEY'RE BACK!!!
Yup, my Thailand girls have returned, safe & sound. I only got to see them for a little bit tonight when they flew in because there were a lot of people wanting their attention, but my time will come. It was definitely a sight for sore eyes and made my heart very happy.
I can't wait to hear their stories and try and imagine what they've experienced for the last year.

I love you both, Kelly & Brittany. You are two of the strongest women I have ever met! Everyone should know these two, they're awesome!