Summer Lovin'

There is a part of me that becomes a bit nostalgic in the summer. I associate warm balmy evenings with high school memories: Wes asking me to be his girlfriend (aww), the girls and I driving home from dinner together to go night swimming at someone's house, or going to the Laguna Creek racquet club to go night swimming with Cory and our brothers and watching the grasshoppers jump from lane to lane. Do you see what I mean? Anyway, I am loving the weather in Portland this week. It hasn't reached temperatures to create "balmy evenings" yet but it'll be rising closer to the 80s till next tuesday. So tonight after dinner (wes is at work) I decided to take a nice walk over to Palios to get some coffee and enjoy this weather. We haven't been to Palios in two weeks now that we have had internet at our place. And boy had our usual walk changed in two weeks. The rose garden by ladd-circle has exploded with roses! And all the garden's at people's houses are growing. It was absolutely gorgeous and reminded me of my first trip to Portland in spring 2007. This trip took place during my spring break. I was living in Colorado at the time and I met Wes in Portland to visit his cousin. I thought it would be fun to show you some pictures of some of the places we went during that trip. If only we knew then that we would be moving here. Enjoy!


Reed College:

Palios!...


Alberta Street Festival...

Pittock Mansion...


The view from Pittock Mansion...


Garden's near Belmont st...



The st. that we almost moved to when our place flooded...


Pretty trees...

Sue and Greg Visit

Well, I still haven't gotten all the pictures from Sue and Greg's visit up here but I decided to move forward with the blog and post what I did have. Maybe when I eventually get the rest of the pictures I will post those too just for fun. 

To sum up the visit I will say this:

We loved every minute of it.

We went to some more of our favorite restaurants including: Pok Pok, Laurelwood, Ya Hala, The Leaky Roof, and The Kennedy School. Sue took me for early birthday shopping in Nob Hill while Wes and Greg basically walked the whole city. We spent a nice morning at Powell's books and had our parting lunch at Deschutes Brewery. And we had a blast celebrating easter with them. It was the first time in my life that it rained on easter but it was quite fun because we were actually walking back from a coffee shop when it started pouring on us.  We even paused for a moment to take pictures of us getting soaked because it was so crazy. Unfortunately thats one of the ones I don't have. Anyway, Sue and Greg, we loved every minute of having you here. We loved exploring the neighborhoods together and catching up over drinks. We miss you tons and can't wait for the Scoville camping trip! :) Here are a couple of pictures to prove the fun...

We love you!

The Planner In Me

Believe it or not I am writing this blog from the comfort of our couch. Yes, it is finally time I update you blog readers out there: we have gotten internet in our apartment and the result has been life changing. No more coffee trips just to turn an assignment in. We can now do homework in our jammies, watch unlimited movies on netflix, or watch TV shows that couldn't be rented like SURVIVOR and the latest season of Heroes that we have been dying to see. We can chat on the phone and have a computer in front of us at the same time, like I said... life changing. 

So here we are: It is our day off from work.  We are both still in our pjs,  we have homework papers spread out all over the coffee table. I am sipping the tea I like, in the mug I like. We have the music we like playing quietly in the background. Needless to say, we are thankful for this day. I cried last night as I attempted to answer this question from our meteorology homework: What is the distinction between microscale, mesoscale, synoptic scale, and global scale? Give an example of each and explain how they work. 

Simply put my brain has been fried to a crisp this quarter. It seems odd that this is possible when only taking two classes but the classes just so happen to be ridiculous amounts of work with really unorganized teachers. Plus, Wes is working 40 hours a week for the first time in his life and I am working 4 jobs for the first time in my life. I know I have complained to you about this multiple times but this isn't the only reason my brain has been fried. The truth is, my brain never stops. I had a moment last night of sheer frustration with myself because as I began answering this question the other half of my brain began contemplating other things. Things like: Will I take summer school? When do I need to sign up for summer classes? What do I do about my job situation? What steps do I need to start taking towards future career paths? Summer vacations? 

you get the picture. My point is that I have never been more aware of the planner in me than I have this past month. I never stop. I wake up in the morning and don't like leaving bed until I have formed a plan for the day. It's like, I don't want to "start" the day without knowing what my first moves will be. At breakfast, I plan lunch. At lunch, I plan dinner (or well, at least think about it). I make lists of daily to-do's and weekly to-do's. It's ridiculous. If you didn't know, I was suddenly sick these past three days. It started as a sore throat on sunday and ended yesterday. My symptoms went from sore throat to fevers to being too tired to stand. I can't help but wonder if this was my body forcing me to sit and rest. 

Anyway, as I sit reflecting on how overwhelmed I was last night David Crowder is delivering me to peace of mind, a mind focused on Jesus, through amazing lyrics such as this: 

Take my heart, I Lay it down
At the feet of you whose crowned
Take my life, I’m letting go
I lift it up to You who’s throned

And I will worship You, Lord
Only You, Lord
And I will bow down before You
Only You Lord

Take my fret, take my fear
All I have, I’m leaving here
Be all my hopes, be all my dreams
You're my delights, be my everything

And It’s just you and me here now
Only you and me here now

You should see the view
When it’s only You

I am thankful for moments like this.

Hi from Katie!

Do you like my artsy-fartsy picture? I have an honest confession that I didn't want to smile because I didn't want other people at my table to look at me funny. ha!

Amazing the fun things you can create with a Mac huh? Well, I didn't do anything with this picture except click a button buuut that's even more impressive isn't it? Anyway, Just wanted to stop in to say hi. I can sum up our busy, uneventful lives with bullet points and so, I will do so: 

-We are adjusting a little bit more to Wes working later and more often. 

-I am growing frustrated with my math teacher. Two students have told me already that in previous terms with her they have had to take there final grades to the Dean because the teacher didn't give them correct grades. Fabulous. 

-We spend long hours drawing pictures of clouds and doing other busy work for our meteorology class. Needless to say we can't wait to have our general ed. classes done with. 

-We have to set 3 alarms in the morning to get us up for the day. (hint: we're tired)

-I have found a low-cal coffee drink that I actually like. I like it so much that I feel it is worthy to share for any of you other mocha-lovers out there. I have found a Cafe' au lait: Half coffee, half steamed milk, and my yummy secret is sugar-free hazelnut syrup. mmm mmm. It's cheaper than a mocha, less calories than a mocha, and not as boring as tea can sometimes be. :) 

-We have now officially had our Home Community's child care at our house. Meaning that a group of 6 kids play at our house while the adults have small group across the street. They are monitored by two volunteers each week, so no worries. The best part was that the little girl who lives across the way from us brought over popsicles and turned out playing with them. What a cool opportunity to reach out to our neighbors. :)

-I made a yummy loaf of poppyseed bread yesterday. Soooo good. 

-Two new yummy soup recipes as well. 

That's all for now... I know, exciting right? I'm sorry for the ridiculously boring and non-informative blogs recently. I'm hoping to post some more exciting informative ones with pictures this weekend. Thank you for loving us and checking in as usual. We love you guys and miss you.... Talk to you again soon,

Katie