Buckle up Everyone!

Today is "Blog-writing Day" and I am determined to catch up on all blogs I have been wanting to post. So buckle- up because here they are a comin' . . . 

I know... It's pretty exciting!!! 

This Time Last Year...

Can you believe it? It's fall already. This past week I rubbed my eyes with astonishment as we walked the leaf strewn sidewalks. Portland is so gorgeous in the fall: yellows, reds, and greens that are like no other fall tree I've seen before. As I contemplate the beauty of it all I can't help but picture our Creator with a paint brush in hand, purposefully picking colors opposite each other on the color wheel. I guess it was my painting teacher who really made me realize that we can see complimentary color schemes so often in nature... 

Anyway, It's hard to believe that this time last year we were breathing in the musty smells of our old apartment, fretting about leaks and floods and rats. At this time last year we were finishing up paintings, reading harry potter, and writing a blog every other day. Funny how quickly a year goes by. Now I am in Painting II still trying to plan out my paintings, we have started craving homemade chillies and picked out pumpkins yesterday at the pumpkin patch. So, this morning while Wes was sleeping I left to the grocery store and couldn't help but take a couple of pictures for you of the gorgeous yellow tree down the street3 that will soon be naked. These leaves fall so quickly that I just didn't want you to miss it! :) Now, I must get back to studying for my math midterm. Love to you all,

Katie

Our last camping trip

I cannot believe I almost forgot to post this blog! We took so many fun pictures on this camping trip just for our blog readers and I almost forgot to even show them to you. So here they are... 

In mid-september Wes and I planned our last camping trip of the year. And because Wes grew up camping on the coast frequently and I grew up camping in Big Trees we decided it was a must to camp on the coast. We didn't end up camping on the sand like we had talked about at summer's beginning mostly because weather was going to rather unpredictable in mid-september. Luckily, we had amazing weather all weekend (except for one rainy morning which we took that opportunity to go to the Oregon Aquarium just down the street from our campground). All stories are told better with pictures so here you have them....

Our first day there we got camp set up and walked to the beach because:

a. the coast is what we went there for

and

b. we had phone- reception on the beach and were anticipating a call from Courtney and Carlos to let us know the gender of the twins.

While waiting we walked along the coast counting dead crab shells and writing things in the sand. I re-wrote this note about 20 times trying to get the best hand-writing and best picture combo I could, I had to post both of these because one has Wes and the other looks kind of neat:  

The traditional camping arrival pictures...

We arrived friday and left monday morning. On saturday morning it rained so we woke up and ate cereal in the car (little kid style) and drove to the aquarium. 


I spared you the hundreds of pictures I took of the animals and picked 3 of the highlights:

the sharks

the crabs from japan that can live to be more than 100 years old. These guys were huge!

And the seahorses. Crazy fact: Seahorses are the only animals in the entire animal kingdom in which the male has the babies. 

True!

Then one night after roasting smores and drinking hot chocolate we heard a rustling of leaves in the very small tree by our car. I shine a light up into the tree to see two beady eyes looking right at me. We discuss what it is and I start flashing my camera to see what I could capture. Then not just one raccoon crawls down from the tree...

but two.... 

then three... and four... and eventually five raccoons crawl down from this tree. It was exciting.

Also, while walking along the beach we kept seeing these little jelly blobs stuck in the sand. We kept wondering what they were. Then we came across this huge orange blob and I decided to flip it over with my foot... come to find out it's a big (dead) jelly fish! 

One morning....

eggs and hashbrowns mmm mmm

the end. 

Blogs to come up next:

• Justin's visit
• The newest residents in our complex: Spiders
• The changing of Seasons (and how inlove I am with Pumpkins) 

First Day of School...

Finally, a blog! A blog has been posted! 

Everyone, today is our first day of school!!! Just wait... the best part is.... it's my first day of school at a University! And yes, there is a difference! for the past 4 years of my entire college education I've been in and out of 3 different community colleges trying to figure out exactly what I wanted to major in while battling math not once, not twice, not 3 times, but well, a lot of times. This quarter means many things for me:

1. goodbye community college, hello university!

2. I will conquer math once and for all.

3. Hello Art classes! 

4. Hello Full time school schedule. 

For this past year Wes and I were required to take no more than 8 units per quarter in order to establish residency for in-state tuition at Portland State. The year has come and gone and as previously stated, enter Fall quarter and we are back on track with full class schedules and 25 hour work weeks. After much planning we have put together the best schedules possible to manage all of this but inevitably we will be rocked a little bit. I am thankful that we were "forced" to go slow with school our first year of marriage. We have such great memories from this first year and will not have time on our hands like that for well... quite a while...  This quarter represents the starting line of two years (maybe 2 and a half) left of schooling for me, and one year left for Wes. 

As I sat in my two-dimensional design class this morning, in the presence of 20 other art students I realized that I am finally getting to do what I've always wanted to do. These art classes are the reason I am battling math, the reason I took african-american history, meteorology, sociology, english, etc... 

I am in the library awaiting my drawing class and can't help but celebrate this truth: I played the game and I'm finally doing what I want to do.

And on that note I leave you with a picture of Wes and Justin and I. Justin (Wes' bestfriend) stayed with us this past week. Justin has all the good pictures so I'll wait to post a blog with those but here is one to tide you over. :) Love you guys!

A Year In Portland...

My coffee from Palios

Our girl dinner (though the boys were right around the corner)

That's Right. Today is September 13. Which means that One year ago TODAY we spent our first day in Portland with our Parents. And at 9:30p.m. a year ago last night we were at the Avignon bar enjoying a very late dinner after our long drive to Portland from sacramento. It is so much fun reflecting back on this year, looking at old pictures and old blog posts. Here are some more pictures from the week we moved.

Wes and I at the Horse Brass Pub

All of us in front of the Horse Brass Pub

Walking back from The Little t: American Baker.

First night.

Our First front door. 

Looking back...

Best memory of the year: The first morning it snowed.

Worst memory of the year: The week when we decided we'd have to move and Wes lost his job. 

Favorite thing about Portland so far: the culture and the aesthetics.

Biggest change in lifestyle:  Being able to walk everywhere.

Favorite restaurant of the year: I think the winner is... Pok Pok. but it's so hard to choose!

Favorite coffee shop of the year: of course, hands down, Palios... We are loyal regulars. 

Besides these mentioned previously, there were so many highlights this year: the snow, Harry Potter, the many jobs, learning our way around town, church/ getting to know people, camping trips, Powells books, the gardens. We have sincerely loved this year. Thanks to all of you for reading our blog and riding this year's roller coaster with us. It was a crazy year... but we loved it. May the good times continue! :) 

Rediscovering Music.

This morning, oh wait... it's 5 pm...

I'm still un-showered and in my jammies and for the past hour have been working out on my living room floor to music that I used to love, particularly in highschool/freshman year of college. I know some of you (especially my brothers) would roll their eyes at some of the songs that I have listened to today. And with good reason, some of them are what you'd call "teen-pop" songs but oh how I love them. Songs like:

Cowboy Take me Away by The Dixie Chicks

Bubbly by Colbie Caillat

Oh happy Day straight from The Sister Act 2

On Your Porch by The Format

Hello by Schuyler Fisk

Chocolate by Snow Patrol

..just to name a few.

In highschool, well, and even today I find these songs to be so liberating. Today this may be fueled by the endorphins from my work out but either way I am enjoying myself. In highschool I used to LOVE either reading or typing the lyrics of the songs as I listened to them... it was like the ultimate act of poetry for me.  

Anyway, I thought I'd share with you my rediscovery of music today. I was forgetting about how truly amazing music is. Hope you are having a happy thursday. 

*Soon to come: Pictures from our weekend home in Sacramento. Rachel's wedding, Courtney's baby shower, and a day in Old Sac. 

The kids in our lives

There is something to be said about the amazing kids that have come into our lives over this past year. Whether it be through my nannying jobs or through the church we have met some adorable, and amazing little kiddos. While camping with some people from our Home Community this past weekend we realized just how much joy they bring to us. I got to snap some fun pictures of them and thought I'd throw in a couple from my nannying jobs as well so you can see just how lucky we are to have such great families around us here in Portland... enjoy!

This is Quinn... I started babysitting him when he was 4 months old. He is now 9 months old.

This is Braden. I started nannying him in May. He is 4 years old and obsessed with Spiderman. :)

This is Charlotte. I started watching her when she was 3 last september. It has been amazing to watch her grow and learn over this past year. 

This is Madeline and Veda, we met them through church.

Madeline playing at the Sandy River...

roasting marshmallows... little Iris in the background is Madeline's sister. 
And THIS is Juliet. Gorgeous isn't she? She is such a joy and is the youngest sister of madeline and Iris. 

And this is Maya. Another cutie from church. 

Can't wait to see what future nanny jobs hold in store. I love my job and these sweet kids! :)