Weekend Fun

The last two weekends have been pretty good around here.

Last weekend was the 5K race, so on Saturday Jake and I went to pick up my shirt and bib number so we would not have to get to the race even earlier on Sunday. The traffic was ridiculous to get up to the pick up site. I ended up getting out of the car, walking to the building, getting my stuff and walking back to the truck before Jake even made much progress. There has got to be a better way to do this!

Sunday was the race and it was quite cold that morning! Note to self... sign up for summer time races only! But after bundling up and getting on the MAX with about a million other runners we made it downtown and met up with Wes and Sandy. There were a few different races going on that day with a total of 21,000 runners! Needless to say it was crowded. The race went well though and once I was running the cold was not noticeable. My goal was to beat my time from the race in Cincinnati in 2008, and I am happy to report that I DID IT!!!! 27:31 - new personal best for a race.


This week was Spring Break for USU and a few friends were up here for a visit. Saturday we met Kevin, Kari, Kylie and Brian downtown at the Saturday Market. Sandy and Wes met up with us there too. It was gorgeous weather so we walked around downtown for a while and then headed over to Rogue Brewery for some lunch. Sandy and Wes left after lunch to head down to the Parker's while the rest of us decided to go to Washington Park to continue enjoying the weather. Getting to the park turned out to be quite the task! But we finally made it and had fun throwing a couple footballs and a tennis ball around for a while. This confirmed that I am totally ready for Spring and the weather to get better and stay that way.

In other news, Jake leaves for a work trip on Tuesday. Heading out to Puerto Rico, but only for a week this time, so it won't be too bad. I have plenty to keep me busy - piles of laundry that have been neglected, cleaning to be done, and time sucking reality TV to catch up on!

Overdue Update

I have not been a very good blogger lately but figured I should get an update in. Here is a little of what we have been up to.....

• Jake has actually been home quite a bit, which has been wonderful. It will probably just make it harder when he does have to go on a long trip again, but I am glad to have him around.
  

• For my birthday we went with Sandy and Wes to the Chocolate Festival in Portland. It was a lot of fun. We started with a wine and chocolate pairing session and it was delicious. There were all kinds of treat to enjoy. That night Jake and I tried a new restaurant called Mingo and it was very good. It was a wonderful birthday.

• My aunt and uncle have a house in Florence, OR but they spend the winter in southern California and they said we could use the house. So, over Valentines/Presidents day weekend we headed south. It is only about 3 hours away, but it is always nice to get away from home for a few days. We walked around Old Town and looked at the little local shops. Enjoyed a walk on the beach. Had a great valentine's dinner. Watched the Olympics. I definitely did not want to go back to work after a 3 day weekend.
  

• Sandy and I are running a 5K in March! I had started the training program I used for the last race I did before I decided to actually run a race just as a way to stay motivated and have a goal. But now it will go to practical use. It was nice weather last week and I loved being able to run outside again. Sadly the rain has returned again and it is back to the gym.

That is about all the excitement happening here!

Christmas California Style

This year was a Bonham side Christmas and it was a great trip. Jake got home from island on the 23rd, so we headed down to California on Christmas Eve. In a surprise twist, we made it all the way there with out any car issues!! We spent the night enjoying a big dinner and just hanging out. Ethan was off school so he was up in Alturas as well. Christmas day was spent examining the loot Santa brought. That night Zeke, Catherine and the boys came back to town and it was time for more present opening. It was great that they were able to be there. The after dinner entertainment came in the form of watching the three brothers trying to put together a race car track that was supposed to be for Cooper. It turned out that this was a herculean task!! It was finally completed though and it was time to race. Overall a very nice Christmas Day.


We enjoyed a few more days of relaxing inside, away from the cold. Taking the dogs for a walk one day turned into a wild animal sighting - a whole herd of pronghorned antelope were in the back field where the dogs were running! They must have been confused though because they started running in circles and heading in our direction!! To everyone else, this was no big deal. But to a girl who grew up in the suburbs and rarely encountered animals that were not pets or in a zoo, this was quite exciting!

















The day before we left we went down to Susanville to visit the grandparents and got an added bonus of see the Grovers too. We went to lunch with Grandma Jeane, Estel, Keana and Cody. Then it was back to Grandma's house to visit a little more and see Rick and Rowdy too. Grandma and Grandpa Bonham live not too far so we went over there for a visit before heading back up to Alturas. Our last night was spent playing Pictionary with everyone. Of course the girls continued the rein of beating the boys! Though there was a slight sidetrack taken when Cooper was showing us his new puppets and the brothers then had more fun with them than Cooper! This was a common theme with them enjoying the kids presents more than their own.


Sadly the next day it was time for us to hit the road. We knew there was going to be snow on the pass we took to get to CA so we decided to take the long way in hopes of avoiding it. After making it over what was was supposed to be the bad part of the drive we thought we were home free. Little did we know that Portland got a surprise snow storm while we were driving and the city went crazy!! We hit traffic about 25 miles from home. This turned out to be the worst part of our drive. What should have taken about half an hour took us three and a half hours!! Overall the 6.5 hour drive in good weather turned into a 13 hour drive! But I suppose this is just par for the course for us and our driving/travel luck. Maybe we should have everyone come to us from now on!

Staycations Rock

The weekend after we came home from Utah Jake surprised me with an awesome staycation. Thursday I was told that the next day after work I would need to be dressed in business attire and ready to leave by 4:30. He also said I would need to pack a bag to stay overnight away from home. I was totally caught off guard and had no idea what to expect.

I spent the whole night trying to figure out what we were doing, or where we were going and I came up with nothing! I love and hate surprises. Love because it is fun, but hate because I get all worked up and anxious about not knowing what it going on. So the next day I finished work at 3 and got ready in a hurry. I was so proud of myself that I was even ready before 4:30, then he tells me we can't leave yet. UGH! I just want to know what is happening.

A little after 4:30 our doorbell rings and a man in a suit is standing at our door. Jake gives him our bag and he takes it out to the towncar that was waiting for us. At this point I am totally and utterly confused. Jake tells the driver that I am being surprised so he decides to take the scenic route. I still had no idea what was in store. We drove around downtown Portland a little and came to a stop and the beautiful Hotel deLuxe. Even after we stopped I still didn't beieve what was going on.

The bellmen took our stuff up to the fabulous room. I was still taking it all in when Jake suggested going down to get a drink before our dinner reservations. The bar at the hotel was very nice and I enjoyed a nice glass of wine. Then we were off to the hotel restaurant Gracies for dinner. Oh my goodness, was it delicious!!! I was sad that I got full because it was just too good to stop eating. It was such a wonderful night.

The next morning we got room service and enjoyed an awesome breakfast in bed. After we checked out we walked around downtown for a little bit before heading back home.

It was a great surprise and a great way to spend the weekend before he had to go back to work again.

Bottom line... I have the best husband ever. Love you Jacob!

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.....