Thanksgiving 2009

I figured I better get this post up since we are now only a week and a half away from Christmas!

This was a Thanksgiving in Utah year for us. The last thing Jake wanted to do the day we left was get on a plane. He had just come home from NY a day and a half earlier after 9 hours of flight delays. But none-the-less, we made it to the airport and through security in record time. We got on the plane and thought perhaps our bad flying karma was finished. Not to worry though, about 1 minute later they announced that fuel had been spilled all over the wing and we were now getting back off the plane. Of course we were. An hour and a half later we were finally getting on a plane and pushing back from the gate. We were on our way!

After arriving in Utah (with our bags, yippy!!) we headed to the Leystra house to visit and play with the kids. It is always amazing to see how much they have grown each time we see them. Hard to believe they are already 3 and 4 years old.

My side of the family draws names for Christmas, so while we were there we decided to get those presents taken care of so we would not have to package them up and ship them later. This worked out great because the last place I want to be this time of year is at the post office!

Thanksgiving day came fast and as always there was tons of food to eat all day. Somehow we still had a full house for dinner even though the Leystra's and Jess were not there. It was a great meal and nice to share it with family. Another bonus - we actually got to eat turkey instead of chicken!! After the meal Sis and I pretty much lost our minds. While we did have a few glasses of wine, I don't think that can be blamed. I think we are just a little bit crazy. There was rolling around on the floor and about a million ridiculous pictures taken. It is no wonder we are still sitting at the kid's table!



On Black Friday, Jake and Mike went out fishing while mom and I headed out shopping. We decided to wait out the crowd and didn't go out until about noon, but I was still surprised at how few people were out compared to what I thought it would be. I got the rest of our Utah presents purchased and was happy to cross that off the list.

Saturday we met up for lunch with Brandon and Tab, who are friends from school. It was nice to see them and catch up. That night we were off to Sara and Michelle's new apartment for a little get together. It was a lot of fun to see friends, a few that we had not seen since we moved away from Utah 3+ years ago. Thanks girls for hosting and even letting us sleep over.

















Sunday we went to visit dad and Margie and enjoyed some delicious left overs. Sis, Bry and the kids came over as well to hang out. Xavier and Maizey continued the Leystra kid tradition of being bucket heads, though Maizey took it to a whole new level.
















It was a fun trip and we enjoyed seeing family and friends. Thankfully getting home was much less eventful.

Back to Blogging

This post is long overdue. Not a lot has been going on, but still a few things to report.

Last month I went to Utah for Mike's birthday. It was a quick trip as usual but it almost didn't happen. The joy of flying stand-by struck again. The first flight I tried was full and the second was a very close call. They opened and closed the boarding door a few times before they finally called my name! But I made it and it was fun to see family. I even got to have lunch with a few girls from KD. It was great to see you girls - Michelle, Lysh and Jami! Of course the main reason for the trip was the big family dinner for Mike's birthday. We invaded one of their favorite restaurants - Fratelli's. Here are a few pics from the event:


The first weekend in October we were invited to the Parker's house in Sutherlin, OR for a BBQ. Jake was not home yet so I rode down with Sandy and Wes. It was fun to hangout and have a good time with friends. We even had a blast from the past when Jonas found pictures from freshman year at USU when he, Jake and Wes lived together. Their new house is cute and made me want to buy a house; but alas, we will remain renters for now since we have a tendancy to move quite often!

Jake came home on Oct. 8th and that weekend we made another attempt to go to CA, since our last try was a bust. This time we actaully made it all the way there. Jake had fun duck hunting with his brother Zeke and they got a few birds along the way. The hunting pictures were the only ones we took, but it was a fun trip. Ethan even came up from Susanville to hangout with us. It was nice to relax and play games with family.


Jake was home for a couple weeks this month which was nice because I ended up having to go to Cincinnati for work for a few days. It was fun to be back in the office, but I was looking forward to coming home agian for Jake's last few days. He is back to island again now so I am counting down to Thanksgiving when he returns.

Well that is all the excitement from Beaverton for now.

Always an Adventure With Us

So another trip home for Jake has come and gone. For the most part we just relaxed and enjoyed getting to spend a couple weeks together. We had a fun night out with Wes and Sandy to celebrate Jake's fake birthday, since he will be on island for his actual birthday. We had fun at the Portland Zoo. Jake and his co-worker Rory went fishing. We went to see District 9. Our big excitement was going to be a trip to CA to see Jake's family over Labor Day weekend. In typical fashion it proved to be more of an adventure than anticipated.

We got packed and headed out on Friday. The car was full because we were taking many boxes of kitchen things for Jake's brother Ethan to have now that he has moved out to start college. Chugging along, and pleased that the traffic was not too horrible, we made it just north of the tiny town of Curtin, OR (3 hours from home) before it all went downhill. The car made a little jerky motion that felt like a tire had gone flat, so I pulled over and Jake took a look. None of the tires looked flat, so we decided to give it another go. A few miles later, it was still not feeling right so we took the next exit and found that what the road sign claimed to be a gas station, was actually just an abandoned building that used to be a gas station. We pulled over anyway and when Jake got out of the car he noticed smoke coming out of the wheel well in the back right side. Now I am not a car expert by any stretch but I do know that smoke is a bad sign! Out came the road side assistance card cause there was no way we could drive it again and had to get a tow. I am quite familiar with this process now, as I had to get a tow just a couple weeks before when my starter died!

By the time the tow truck arrived and took us back to Eugene (30 miles away) it was past closing time for most places and it was not looking promising for us to make it to CA. Amazingly there was a shop open so we stopped to see what they could tell us. There was nothing they could do for us that night, but proved that the owner operated stores care so much more than the chains. The owner said they would come in the next morning (even though they were supposed to be closed) to see if they could fix it and get us back on the road. As if this was not enough, he then called local hotels to find us a deal since we were stuck there for the night. To top it all off, the tow truck driver then drove us to the hotel so we didn't have to drag our stuff around town. The next day we got the sad news that the problem was worse than expected (broken wheel bearings and leaking brake system) and would not be fixed until after the holiday. Luckily our friends Jonas and Dohnele who live in Sutherlin were planning to go to Portland and they kindly stopped in Eugene to pick us up and take us home.

So the weekend did not turn out quite like we had planned, but that seems to be par for the course with us! I now have my car back and hope that it has got all the bugs out and will stop hating me now. I don't want to see it like this anymore.....

1 Week Down, 12 Weeks To Go

So I have started the P90X workout program and have successfully survived the first week. Well I am really only half doing the program because I am not following the diet part. I am too picky of an eater and really just don't like to cook for myself all that much. So I figured, why start a diet I will only fail at? That would just make me feel bad. So I am trying to eat a little better and doing the workout program. So far, so good, though it was questionable at first. These are serious workouts!! Tony (the leader on the videos) is kind of a tool, but it is inspiring me to get in shape so I can find him and punch him! Only 12 more (very long!) weeks to go.

Really not much else going on here in lovely Beaverton these days. Our friends Sandy and Wes moved here at the beginning of the month. Wes is working with Jake, so Sandy and I have been hanging out while the boys are out on island. We went to see Julie and Julia last weekend. It was a cute movie, but we learned a valuable lesson... when the ticket guy tells you it is getting kind or full, always opt for the next showing. We learned this lesson the hard way. We bought the tickets and figured it would not be all that bad. Wrong. We ended up on the second row! Movies look very different from that angle, and not in a good way! It was still a good movie though.

Jake will be home in a few day. Hooray! He will be home for 2 weeks this time, which will be wonderful. As usual, I have my list of honey do's for when he is home, but it is short this time, so there will be more time to get out and do fun things, including heading to CA to visit his family for a few days.

Well that is about all the news I have. I am sure there will be more exciting things to blog about when Jake gets back.

Sisterly Fun

A couple weeks ago Sissy and I went on an adventure to NYC to see our baby sister. She is living in Rye and working as a nanny for 4 totally cute kids (a 5 year old boy and 2 year old triplet boys!). Our plan was to take the all-nighter on Thursday so we could maximize our vacation time. It would be a novel, that I am sure no one wants to read, if I wrote all the details of the trip. So I will just give the highlights from each day.

Day 1, Thursday
- The first challenge of the trip was actually getting on the planes since we were going standby. I made it to SLC, step one complete. We enjoyed a wonderful parade of about 50 kids in full Scottish kilt attire while we waited for our flight! We both made it on the flight to JFK, even ended up in first class, step two complete! We didn't sleep too much, but that didn't matter.

Day 2, Friday
- Sis and I successfully navigate the train and subway and get to our hotel. It was too early to actually check in, so we left our bags there and wandered around the city
- Seeing Rockefeller Center, Radio City Music Hall, Garmet District
- We caused a scene when we had a celebrity sighting. "Oh my God!! It's him!!" I yelled like a total tourist when Matt Lauer was heading to his car.
- Finally checked into the hotel, changed clothes and headed for the train to go out and meet Jess in Rye. Along the way we had to transfer at Grand Central, and it was as huge as I had imagined.
- We had fun meeting Tanya (the mom) and the kids Jess watches. It is a cute little town with a claim to fame. The dock where they filmed Big is not far from the house Jess lives in!
- After playing in Rye we headed back to the city. We were staying on the 34th floor, and noticed that there was a "balcony" outside the window. Really it was probably just decorative as there was no door, but that did not stop us. Out the window we climbed. We enjoyed the awesome view, however, it turned out to be much more difficult to get back in without the heat vent to climb on. We made it back in after a lot of laughter, and I somehow was the only one injured. I am happy to report that my 3+ inch dark ugly bruise is almost healed now!
- Later we took the Staten Island Ferry out and back. It was awesome to see the city from the water and of course the great view of the Statue of Liberty.




















Day 3, Saturday
- Taking in the craziness of Times Square.
- A homeless man called me a lesbian! WHAT!
- Central Park! The park was huge and sadly there was no time to see everything.
- American Museum of Natural History. Again I was overwhelmed by the size of this place. Everything was awesome though. The two best parts were the Hayden Sphere (It totally blew our minds!) and the pterodactyl.
- Walking around after the museum we had our first real scare in NYC. Mugger? Nope. Car wreck? Not even close. It was a SQUIRREL and it fell out of a tree and just about hit Sissy in the head! We all almost had to change our pant cause we were laughing too hard. In retaliation, Jess later tried to kick a pigeon.
- We enjoyed a sweet treat at Tasti D Lite. As I had never seen it, I was informed that this is where the girls from Sex in the City go in the show.
- St. Patrick's Cathedral was amazing!!
























Day 4, Sunday
- Ground Zero. It was totally surreal to be there and think about how long it has been since 9-11. We walked around the whole construction site where they are building the memorial. They also have a memorial museum set up with video about building the WTC towers, items that were recovered from the wreckage, pictures and stories of those who lost their lives and letters of sympathy from people all around the world. It was very touching and I could not even begin to imagine what it was like to be there on that day.
- Many sights to see close by - New York Stock Exchange building, Federal Hall and Canal Street.
- Empire State Building. The view was awesome and we got there right before sunset so it got better by the minute.
- Back to Times Square at night to see all the lights.

























Day 5, Monday
- Guggenheim Museum. It was cool, but I discovered that I don't have nearly as much appreciation for art as Jess and Sis do. Go figure!
- Crumbs! Holy moly, this was the most delicious cupcake ever.
- Lots of souvenir shopping.
- Very long subway ride back to the airport.

It was such a great trip and I loved getting to spend time with the sisters. Sadly it doesn't happen too often anymore now that we live in 3 states across the country from eachother. I love you both! Thanks Jessie for letting us come visit. I took tons of pictures, so see more of New York City.

On Vacation at Home

Since most of my time in the last few months (and for the rest of the year) has been spent on an island off the coast of California, it does seem like I am on vacation when I return "home" to Portland. So, I am now half way through my 6 days off and decided to share a few photos from my last trip.

Although summer has set in on island and most of the vegetation is withering in the heat, the cactus are in bloom adding some great color to the landscape.

About the size of a small lap dog, the California state threatened Island Fox enjoys a nice foot rub first thing in the morning.

Our project is expected to continue through the remainder of the year, more fox pictures to follow. I am back out on Thursday, not to return until the end of August. Also, I will continue to add additional pictures to this gallery.

Florence on the 4th

Last weekend I headed down to Florence, OR to spend the 4th with my aunt and uncle. Jake was out of town and sitting at home on a holiday did not sound like fun. Since I had Friday off work I packed up and made it to Florence by about 2. We had some lunch and it was time for Uncle Larry's nap. So Nana took me on a tour of town, down to the beach and to Old Town to see many of her favorite shops. It was a cute little coast town with all the mom and pop shops along the river. We went back home just in time for cocktail hour. Their friend Rick came over and had a drink with us. At this point I noticed that my aunt and uncle are officially more "with it" than I am. Indeed they own a Wii, and I was one of the few people in the world that had not yet played. So we decided that it was time for me to give it a shot. As it turns out, the Wii is quite fun!! This was only the first of many times that we played. After a couple drinks and a bit of bowling action, it was time to go to dinner. We went to Waterfront Depot down on the river. It was delicious!

We were beyond full and it was almost bed time, but not before a little more Wii. Seriously, I think I might need to purchase one now!

The morning of the 4th was quiet, just breakfast and Uncle Larry washing the cars. We went down to the river to watch the duck race and check out the street fair. We enjoyed some lunch and it was back to home before the rest of the excitement. In the afternoon the Elk's Club was having a car show and dinner. There were a bunch of really neat old cars. After checking out the cars we headed in to the bar for a couple drinks. Sadly, we lounged around too long and they sold out of the dinners. So it was on to plan B, the restaraunt/bar in the same parking lot. Turns out they were closed for the holiday. Plan C was finally the winner - Jerry's Place. This place did not see us coming! Little did they know that Nana and Larry (in their 60's/70's) could be such a wild bunch. A few drinks later it was Keno time, and Larry won big, so he had to ring the bell and buy a round for the bar!

We met quite a few friends that night. There was Jimbo the Chef and former mayor of Cold Bay, AK. Kimmy, who told Rick he was not her type, but who took quite a liking to Nana, and a couple fishermen who enjoyed a shot that was on fire! Needless to say we had a good time. After all the fun could be had at the bar, we headed home. Even though it was getting late, we decided to bust out the dominoes. Turns out that I also quite enjoy dominoes!

We did not bother trying to see the fireworks that night because it was going to be very crowded and the fog had rolled in so you would not be able to see much anyway. Overall it was a great 4th.

Sunday it was time to go back to the real world. I hit the road around noon and was taking the coast highway home to see the sights. I stopped a few times to take some pics of the view, and then was on the road. Unfortunately, everyone else and their brother were also heading home and had decided to take the coast highway. It was stop and go through all of the little towns, but I figured it would pick up when we turned inland. Wrong. It slowed all the way to a stop instead. This provided a lot of time to take pics of the mountain we were driving up. It also settled it that my next car would be an automatic. Stop and go traffic all the way up and then back down a mountain sure does wear out your leg! What was supposed to be a 3.5 hour drive turned into a 5.5 hour trek! But I made it.

It was a great weekend and I enjoyed spending time with Nana and Uncle Larry. From now on I will take I-5!

Here are more pictures from the weekend.