Scoville Camping Trip 2009

Well everyone, Wes and I have definitely been busy people. Mid-June Wes and I went on the annual Scoville Camping Trip (this was year 2). We went on a thursday and headed home on a sunday. This was the blog I wrote immediately following the trip, and unfortunately am only posting it now. Oops! :) 

 On thursday morning we loaded up the car for our first road trip in quite a while. The Scoville-camping trip has become a tradition- a reunion of sorts in which the Scoville family meets at Lewiston lake for a couple of days together with our tents and fishing poles. Last year Wes and I attended newly -married. This year we attended with a year under our belts and fully prepared with all camping-wedding-gifts at hand. Another thing that made this year different was that Caleb and Nina (cousin and cousin's girlfriend) joined us for the trek. Caleb and Nina live up here in Portland and we hang out with them from time to time. We loved spending the time with them and enjoyed getting to know them so much better. So, as I was saying... 

On thursday morning we packed all camping equipment into the car and barely had enough room for our stuff let alone Caleb and Nina's. After a couple minutes of worrying we figured we'd have to make it work some how and left to pick up Caleb and Nina. After re-arranging the car a couple of times we finally managed to fit it all in: there stuff and ours. After a quick coffee stop we were on our way. 

After the 8 hour drive to Lewiston Lake we arrived safe and sound and were ready for a good time. And a good time was definitely had. 

noteworthy highlights from the trip:

seeing everyone, picking out a marshmallow stick, fishing, s'mores, coloring in my coloring book... RELAXING! the smells of camping, looking at all of the stars, Anthony's amazing fish cooking skills-- so delicious!, getting a ridiculous amount of bug bites and weird sunburn designs on my legs, waking up to the crackling of a fire, jiffypop, being 30 feet away from a bald-eagle, and kayaking. 

Our pictures...

Nina and I coloring...

Wes and I one night before dinner...

The bald eagle we saw while kayaking... 

Wes helping Sue cook the bacon.. (ha ha)

The view...

Our tent...

This picture has a small story: Wes and I both caught fish at the exact same time but then seconds before this picture was taken, my fish broke free and fell into the water. I was slightly disappointed. You can certainly tell by the funny look on my face. 

...Then, two minutes later I caught another fish and I was all better...

Happy Katie...

Happy Wes...
Sue's first fish...

Me, Wes, and Greg, enjoying "kid-icecream" from the shop. Nothing like a Flinstone Push-pop to bring back the memories...

Thanks Scoville's for the memorable, fun time! We loved it. Next blog: Colorado Family Reunion! Will be posted soon... Love,

Katie

Our One Year Anniversary

It is absolutely crazy to think that this time last year we were on our honeymoon in Carmel. While it did go by fast it is understandable when after reflecting back on all that we have been through in one year. I will give you a brief re-cap so you can better understand what we felt as we sat at the Rhododendron gardens and Mcmenamens: The Grand Lodge on friday celebrating. Since June 14,2008 we: went on a honeymoon, moved 4 times (one of those times we endured the "flood of 2009" that sent us packing our bags and moving around the corner),  had our ceiling break in I think just once though it felt like more times... was it twice?(with this experience came the hilarious story of  the mummified rat plus it's bazillion rat droppings falling from said ceiling), went to a new church, went to a new school, got a new job 4 times (Wes 3 times), took meteorology which was an experience in of itself, took my first art class, and met some awesome people. oh and took several trips home and had several house guests. It has been an amazing year, hard but amazing. One thing that kept resurfacing in conversations on friday was how 5 or 6 years ago we dreamt of this day and now we are finally here. The one thing Wes and I always looked forward to was when marriage began to feel normal. What I mean is the little things like knowing what regular items you like to have on hand from the grocery store. It feels good that a year has past and it felt amazing that this last quarter finally came to an end. Wes and I celebrated the one year on friday the 12th because we knew we would both have work off that day (and we wouldn't on the 14th). I planned the first half of the day and Wes planned the second so we could both surprise eachother. I chose a picnic at the Rhododendron gardens (gorgeous!) and Wes picked a one night stay at a Mcmenamen's hotel (if you don't know what this is, look it up, amazing!) We had a blast and here are some pictures to prove it... (as usual they are all backwards, sorry) 

Mcmenamen's dinner:

Leaving the gardens... 

feeding the ducks...

(so much fun)

bottoms-up! look at the ducks...

blue bird joining us...

a long awaited game of chess..

amazing ponds...
ducks everywhere...
green green green
the husband. :)
us.
The end. We are so happy summer has officially arrived. Bring on the camping trip this week. Can't wait for the vacations to begin! love you...

Fall quarter...

Check out the classes I get to choose from for fall quarter:

-Idea & Form

-Two Dimensional Design

-Three Dimensional Design

-Digital/Time Design

-Intro. to Drawing

-Meaning and Making

Looooooove it. I don't know why I didn't realize earlier on in life that being an art student would be so intriguing to me. I'm hoping for the Intro. to Drawing, Idea & Form, and three dimensional design... We shall see!!! I will certainly keep you all posted. 

Miss you,

Katie

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