You Win Some, You Lose Some

2011-12-28T14:19:00.000-08:00

Happy Holidays!!

Great Wolf Lodge

2011-12-18T19:09:00.000-08:00

My nephew Sam just had a birthday in December so my sister-in-law decided to surprise him with a trip to Great Wolf Lodge. She invited us to come along and honestly I think I was more excited to go than Camo or J. I love water parks and I knew they had a really cool indoor water park. It was a lot of fun and I think Camo and his cousins had a blast. We started the day off with fun at the water park. Then that night they had a story time for the kids which was super cool. The next morning we had an awesome breakfast buffet and finished our stay at the water park for one more day. J and I were definitely exhausted after the couple days we were there, but it was a lot of fun.

Murder Myster Party-Circus Style

2011-12-18T18:44:00.000-08:00

For the past few years that we have been here a very good friend has been planning these Murder Mystery Parties. Each year they just get better and better. I think it's more my attitude. I was a little shy the first one that we did and I couldn't really get into character very well. J has never had a problem with any of the parties. He is great at acting. I will say each party I have done better and better and I am slowly getting better at staying in part. The first year I was Dorothy from Wizard of Oz. The second year I was a saloon girl. This year I was a trapeze artist along with J being my trapeze artist partner if you could imagine. I was able to pull out my old leotard from high school gymnastics and it was perfect for my costume. J also found a leotard at goodwill. I can't believe he was actually brave enough to wear it. I have to admit that this has been my favorite murder mystery party. Everyone had such great costumes and the food was so delicious. I was the victim in the party so halfway through I died and we all tried to figure out who had murdered me. In the end it was Ruby, the clown. Here are some fun pictures from the party.

Dorothy and Bob Marley

Sheriff and Saloon Girl

School Gala

2011-12-18T18:24:00.000-08:00

J and I had the opportunity a few weeks back to go on a boat cruise on the Willamette River. The occasion was J's school's holiday party. We weren't going to go, but the tickets were very reasonable and it would have been the last time a lot of us got together for a night out before everyone graduates and moves on. I am so glad we decided to go because it did not disappoint. The only downfall was that it was super duper crowded inside because nobody wanted to be outside on the top deck. The night was filled with unlimited amounts of finger foods, hot chocolate, and lots of dancing. Yes I will admit we did a little bit of dancing. Overall it was an awesome night and we had a great time with all of our friends. To end the night J and I went to a favorite little restaurant of J's called O'Connors. J has been raving about this place since we have been married. He said that it's a restaurant where he used to take all of his dates. The big hype of it is the dessert called the bananas foster's. It was so delicious and we will definitely be going back just for dessert. Here are some pictures from the night.

Seattle Trip...A Long Time Ago

2011-11-20T20:50:00.000-08:00

T has been on my case since August to write this blog. As you can see by the many post she has written and the few I have written that life has been a little busy for me and I haven't had much time to dedicate to writing blogs. Hopefully that will change soon as I am coming to the end of my graduate program and my life should assume some normalcy and order to it.

We took a trip to Seattle, just the two of us, while my oldest sister and her family watched Camo. It was way back in August as birthday gifts to both of us. We spent three days and two nights living it up and seeing it all. We both purchased a CityPASS which was a little expensive but well worth it since you were able to see so much for half the price as it would normally cost. Many cities have a CityPASS so "google" it and check it out.

Here's what we did:

On Friday we drove up early in the afternoon and went straight to the Woodland Park Zoo. It was hot but we were impressed with the amount of shade the zoo had. I felt it was comparable to the Washington Park Zoo here in Portland, though T though there were more opportunities to see the animals at Woodland Park. The highlight for me was feeding the Giraffes. I am a huge animal lover (always have been) so any contact with animals is awesome for me. It was a little embarrassing since most the people in line were parents with their kids then there was T and I, all by our lonesome, with no kids.

After the zoo we checked in to our hotel then ventured out for some delicious Italian. Once it got dark we hit up the Space Needle to get our first of two chances to go to the top. Our CityPASS allowed us two trips up the Space Needle, once in the daylight and once in the evening. The view was pretty awesome, especially seeing all the light below us.

Saturday, we took the first opportunity of the day get our daylight version of what we saw the night before at the top of the Space Needle. We wanted to go early to beat the weekend crowd. Next we went to the Pacific Science Center and watched a really cute 3D iMAX movie called Born to be Wild about two women, one that took care of orphaned elephants and another which took care of orphaned orangutans. Once again, since I am such an animal lover, I thought it was super good. Later, we went to the EMP, Experience Music Project. I had been before during the grand opening but it was crazy then and a little disappointing. This time it was less busy but still disappointing; there doesn't seem to be any logical flow to the exhibit and I'm a little impatient to read the history behind every guitar ever made. We spent less than an hour there and called it good.

The main event and the reason we scheduled a trip to Settle in the first place was to attend a Seattle Mariner game, a tradition I've participated in almost every summer that I've lived in Oregon since my 12th birthday. We went Saturday night against the Chicago White Sox and it was Felix Hernandez bobble head night...it's my third bobble head in three years since T and moved here for school. The Mariners are terrible so of course they lost but it was still fun, nonetheless, and an absolutely beautiful night.

Sunday, we spent the morning at the Seattle Aquarium, which again, was similar to the Oregon Coast Aquarium. We had planned to go on a Argosy Cruise around the Seattle Harbor and Sound but there was a low lying fog that had engulfed the piers and part of the city. I was nervous it was going to stick around all day and we would have to head home before it cleared, missing our opportunity to cruise the harbor. We decided to get our tickets anyway since we had already purchased them with the CityPASS. We booked for the 1 o'clock departure and as we were walking to the pier to get in line the fog lifted in a matter of 5 minutes and the whole sound and city were complete clear and beautiful...what timing. The cruise gave a really nice perspective of the city that I had never seen before.

Here are some pictures or our trip:

Pumpkin Carving

2011-10-22T21:20:00.000-07:00

We went to the pumpkin patch a week ago and decided to carve the pumpkins we bought there. J and I havn't carved pumpkins since we were married but thoroughly enjoyed it. We were actually surprised at how much fun we had carving pumpkins and wondered why in the five years we have been married we have never done it. J was quite handy with the knife. We didn't have any type of pumpkin carving utensils and I was quite surprised at how awesome they turned out. We will definitely be buying some utensils for next year. Here is the evidence. Please excuse how awful I look. Ha.

Can you guess what all of the pictures are?

Pumpkin Patch

2011-10-22T20:51:00.000-07:00

We decided this year that we were going to start the tradition of going to a pumpkin patch, picking out our own pumpkins, and then carving them. We wanted to go to one that had a train because we knew Camo would love it. We found one in Canby, Oregon which was perfect because it happened to be on the same street of J's parents. J's parents were conveniently able to go. Camo was super excited knowing that they were going to be there. Camo and J did the train tour while J's parent and I went to find the perfect pumpkin. While on the tour Camo and J saw farm animals. J thinks Camo was a bit scared of the donkey and wasn't super excited about all the animals, but he sure loved riding the train. He still talks about riding choo choo train with daddy.

Family Photo

Isn't that pretty cool?

Tunnel underneath the hay stacks.

Love him.

Chasing the chicken

Handsome man

Getting ready to depart.

My two favorite boys!!

Looking for the train.

Grandma and Camo

We will definitely be doing this again. This was actually my very first experience at a pumpkin patch. They didn't really have those in Texas.:)

Random

2011-10-22T20:43:00.000-07:00

Here are some recent pictures of Camo.

He loves his noodles.

Looking Handsome in the bath

I was trying to sleep and he climbed up on the couch with a blanket and put it over us.

We just love him to pieces!!

Summer Update

2011-08-18T13:57:00.001-07:00

I can't seem to keep up with this blogging thing.

Here's an update on Camo.

Camo is now 18 months old. He is a talking machine now. He will repeat any word you tell him to. The other day I was washing dishes and he starts yelling my name repeatedly. He will use my name instead of mommy to tell me something. Kind of funny. He also woke up the other morning and said hamburger. J and I both understood, but couldn't figure out where he heard it. I called up my friend who was babysitting for us the night before and sure enough she said they had hamburger for dinner. Another one of his favorites is "Where did so and so go?" He even moves his hands and shrugs his shoulders when he says it. He loves food. It's very difficult get any food out without him begging for it. You would think he would be bigger because of the amount of food he consumes, but not true. We have a shrimp on our hands. I think he just broke the 24 pound mark. Camo still sleeps really well in the night. We put him down at 8 and he usually sleeps until 7 or 8. He naps horrifically though. He loves to swim. My friend just let me have her floaties and he loves them. He can be free and swim wherever he wants. He kicks his legs and dunks his head under the water. He also recently just learned how to lift his legs up and float on his back. He also loves to play with balls. He can dribble, catch, throw, hit a ball of a tee, shoot a basket, and kick a ball. We are hoping he will be athletic. Now onto potty training. I need some advice. Today at the kids club, Camo told the girl, "I pooped." She checked him and he wasn't poopy. He then ran to the corner and about five minutes later she checked him and he was poopy. Do you think he is ready to be potty trained?

J Update
Still in Chiropractic school. He is busy busy busy. Between working in clinics, going to classes, being the Young Men's President, helping a friend with photography, going to sports med events, being a father, being a husband, being a friend, it seems he never really has time for himself. I am so blessed to have such a dedicated husband. When he is given an assignment he gives his everything. He will be done with classes next month and is hoping to get some experience working with another chiropractor for the fall. He then graduates in December. Woo hoo! Now onto finding a real job.

T Update
I'm still personal training at Bally's. Camo really enjoys playing in the kids club while I work. I am working about 20 hours a week and it's just enough to help support J a little bit through school. I love working with people and hope to be able to continue encouraging people to be healthy the rest of my life. When I am not working, I enjoy going to the pool with Camo. Nothing new and exciting with me. J and I are getting excited to go to Seattle here in a couple weeks. We will spend a couple nights in a hotel downtown. We are going to a Mariners game and then doing the city center pass which includes going to the space needle, zoo, museums and a few other fun places. It will be fun to get away just the two of us, but we will definitely miss our Camo!!

Sorry pictures to come. I need to start taking more pictures.

Suavie Island Half Marathon

2011-07-04T14:16:00.001-07:00

Well I actually ran another race. This wasn't a full marathon, it was just a half. I felt much better after this race than I did when I ran my marathon so maybe half marathons are my thing. I was really prepared for this race. I did all my runs in my training faithfully. I was even able to get them in while I was on vacation in Utah. I woke up this morning at 4:30 a.m. and had my breakfast that I had to force down. It's definitely hard to eat something that early in the morning. I knew I had to do it 2 hours before the race started. I had a piece of toast with peanut butter, apple, and banana. I stayed away from the energy gels this year because when I had one in my marathon I had a very upset stomach the first 6 miles. So as I started the race I felt great I was really trying to keep my first 2 miles at an 8:30 pace. I was feeling great until my hard running coach for the day, Nicole, comes riding up next to me on her bike. She was supposed to do this race but was injured. It was so nice of her to come and still support all her running friends. She told me I needed to start keeping my pace under 8 minute miles. So I picked it up and started going a little under 8 minute miles for the next 4 miles. At about mile 7 I started to pick it up to more like 7:30 t0 7:45 minute miles and was still feeling pretty good. Then at about mile 10 I started to feel a little stomach pain. Luckily there was shade for about a half of mile at that point because it really saved me. I feel that I was developing a bit of heat exhaustion. For the last two miles I started to go back up to 8 minute miles but still kept it under. I knew that I gave it everything I had because as I was crossing the finish line I puked. I hope that wasn't too much information, but it shows how much I truly was pushing it. I finished at 1 hour 43 minutes. I beat my goal time by 2 minutes which I was extremely happy about. Thank you to my friend Valerie for running this race with me and doing a lot of training runs with me to prepare. Also thank you to my friend Nicole who pushed me throughout the entire race. I don't think I would have done it as fast without her. Overall it was a great experience and I could see myself doing many more HALF marathons in the future. Enjoy the pictures. Ignore the huge smudge of mascara on my face. J say's I should like I just ran a race so I am not too worried about the smudge.

Me and Valerie

Camo and Jackson-He loved the wagon

Valerie, Nicole, and I

Camo dancing

I finished!!

I wasn't kidding when I said I felt sick

Camo cheering for me

Almost to the finish line.

It's Been a Long Time

2011-05-03T20:47:00.001-07:00

Camo with friends

15 months old

I have been such a bad blogger lately. I think a lot has to do with the fact that I have been extremely busy at work. It's no excuse. I will just catch you up to speed with what we have been doing lately.

I will first talk about the most important person in our family, little Camo. I guess he is not little anymore. He just turned 15 months old!! I don't take nearly as many pictures of him now than when he was a baby which is crazy because he gets cuter and cuter as he gets older. Camo is walking everywhere now. He loves to go outside and will go pull on the door handle to go out. His vocabulary is growing so much every day. He can now say socks, shoes, banana, bye bye, apple, baby, Jesus, basketball, snack, cheese, cheerios, blankie, balloon, milk, water and many other words that I just can't think of right now. He points to his nose, eyes, mouth, belly. He makes lots of animal noises like snake, bear, dog, sheep, cat. If you ask him if he went poop he will make a grunting noise. Camo's favorite food right now is bananas just like his dad He also loves drinking water just like his mom. I have never even given him juice because he just loves water so much.

Now I'll update you on J. He is keeping busy with school. I can't believe he is getting so close to graduating. He will be finished with school in December. He keeps telling me how scary it is because he has been going to school his whole life and now he has to look for a job. We still don't know where we are going to end up, but we will be doing a lot of fasting, praying, and going to the temple in the next 8 months to get some direction. J also just started another season of softball tonight. It's good to see him get out and do something he loves.

Hopefully you don't get bored listening to what I have been up to lately. Work is keeping me really busy. I am still a personal trainer at Bally's. I have been so blessed to be able to bring Camo to the kids club with me while I work. The girls that work in there are so amazing and they take such good care of Camo. I love my job and love to see the transformations that my clients go through. I have also been training for a half marathon coming up on July 4th. I am actually motivated to get a good time. My goal would be to complete the half in under 8 minute miles. Another exciting thing happening in my family is my little sister is getting married in June!! She is the last of all of my six siblings to get married. I am so proud of her and who she has become. She just graduated from BYU in Public Health. She is going to look so beautiful in her wedding dress. Love you Shalis!!

My Beautiful Sister

My Talking Boy

2011-03-25T20:23:00.000-07:00

Camo has always been a talker. He is almost 14 months and I can't believe all the words he is saying. He was late in crawling and is barely starting to walk, but at least he talks. I wonder who he gets that from. Okay I guess I do kind of talk a lot. Anyway I wanted to just write some of the words he has been saying. Camo's favorite word right now is ball. If we read him a book, which he can say as well, he will point to a ball and say it. He say's milk, which can get annoying because he asks for it every 5 minutes. He can say mama, dada, bubble, thank you, bath, moo, ruff ruff, baby, book, ball, milk. He saw his reflection in the window today and pointed and said baby. It was adorable. Another funny thing he does is always crosses his ankles, the reasoning for the one picture.

We also just got rid of the binky which he recently learned to say as well. I gave it to him a lot while on my vacation in Utah because he was really sick. It has been a hard last few days, but I think he has finally forgotten about it. It feels good to just break him from that habit. I also just recently stopped nursing which is kind of sad, but also very nice. Camo is turning into a big boy now!! We just love our little Camo.

Happy 1st Birthday Camo

2011-02-06T20:34:00.001-08:00

Camo just turned one. Can you believe it's been that fast?

We decided to throw Camo a big birthday party because it is always fun to watch the one year olds dig into their birthday cake. We started the birthday with pizza. Then I had all the adults bring baby pictures of themselves. It was fun guessing who was who. We also played a hot potato present game with the kids. I think they enjoyed it as well. The best part was watching Camo dig into his cake. He definitely didn't disappoint. He was so fun to watch. Camo was so tired but ended up being in a great mood because of all the attention he was getting.

I think J and I would both agree that this last year has been the best year of our lives. It is amazing how much joy children can bring into your lives. We are excited to watch him grow and learn new things.

Happy Birthday Camo!! We love you!!

Stats- I just took Camo into the doctor for his 1 year checkup. He is only 20 lbs. 3 oz. and he is 29 1/4 inches long. That is 10th percentile for weight and 50th for height. I guess we have a little guy on our hands.

Holidays

2011-01-09T16:19:00.001-08:00

After

Before

It's about time I update about the holidays. For Christmas this year we stayed here in Oregon with J's family. We were able to go see the zoo lights and ride the train around the zoo a week before Christmas. I really enjoyed doing that because I love love looking at Christmas lights. It was one of my favorite holiday traditions growing up.

We also cut Camo's hair on Christmas eve. He was starting to develop a mullet so we thought it was about time. He was such a good boy while J used the clippers. He kept turning his head a lot, but did not seem to mind. It was kind of sad to see his baby hair go, but we both agree that he looks so handsome.

For Christmas day we went to J's sister's house. We had a big Christmas dinner that was very delicious. Camo was very spoiled with many toys from extended family.

Then for New Year's we had a party at J's sister's house. We had lots of appetizers and pretty much ate food all night. We played a little rock band and also some fun board games. The next day was not so fun because we stayed up until 4:30 in the morning. We were exhausted the next day.

We are so excited for the New Year. A lot will be happening this year. We have been very blessed this past year with Camo's birth and many other things. J will finish Chiropractic school at the end of the year. I am so proud of all the hard work he has put into school. I know he will be such a great doctor. I can't wait to see what 2011 brings!

Four Years and Counting

2010-12-23T16:32:00.000-08:00

On this date four years ago, T and I got married. Happy Anniversary!

Our very first date!

Our wedding day

During our recent Family pictures

Merry Christmas

2010-12-20T17:43:00.000-08:00

From J, T and Camo. We hope this holiday season finds you happy and well and we wish you a wonderful 2011.

Whew!

2010-12-17T14:41:00.000-08:00

Camo can now crawl. We were worried he was all looks and no brains because he's taken a little longer to learn to crawl. Check out this cute video, he has a little jump when his legs get behind.

10 Months

2010-12-05T19:35:00.000-08:00

I can't believe I missed Camo's 9 month post. I was doing so well blogging each month of his life. That's okay. This will be an update on Camo over the last couple months.

Camo is not yet crawling. He will rock back and forth on his hands and knees, but has not been able to move forward.
He does love to stand so maybe he will walk before he crawls.
Camo loves the remote, cell phones, car keys(which I only allow him to have in emergencies because he usually ends up sucking on them which is disgusting).
Loves to read books. His eyes light up whenever we read to him.
Camo likes any types of buttons. It makes it hard to wear a shirt or dress with buttons on it. J and I are thinking for Christmas we should sew on a couple of buttons to a piece of fabric. He would love it.
He loves Marissa, a girl that works in the kids club at the gym. She even gets him to take naps in his car seat. She will even feed him baby food. I am so lucky to have her take care of Camo while I work.
He really does love his mommy. I think it's because he knows where he gets his food.
Camo sleeps through the night, but will sometimes wake up for a 6a.m. feeding which I have learned to love. He is so sweet and cuddly at that time.
He likes his vitamins.
Loves snack time which usually consists of cheerios and cheese.
Camo loves other kids and anybody that will give him attention.
Loves to clap and wave.
Likes his burp cloth and binky. He will hold his burp cloth up to his nose which is super cute,
Loves destroying old magazines.
He doesn't like taking naps. We are lucky if we can get him to sleep for more than 2 hours.
Doesn't like when mommy or daddy isn't paying attention to him.
Camo doesn't like when you wipe his face or clean his nose.
Honestly, I can't think of anything else he doesn't like. He is our easy going, mellow baby. We just love him.

Addendum to the Previous Post

2010-11-16T16:45:00.000-08:00

Last night T was watching the news while I was in our bedroom studying. It was quiet and all of a sudden she screamed out "J! Oh my gosh! You have to come see this." She had been waiting up to watch a specific story on the news about used car scams. In light of what had happened to us it was fitting that she was so interested. You'll never guess who the story was about.

Remember the guy who rudely dropped the F-bomb on us because he claimed we had wasted his time. Well guess who just got busted on the news?

Check out this video. Sorry about the commercial at the beginning.

It looks as if Doug was wasting a lot of other peoples time. What nerve to be so disrespectful towards us when all along he knew he was trying to scam us. I'm utterly shocked at such behavior.

It also looks like we dealt with possibly two scammers in our attempt to buy a car.

Just an aside: Sometimes I wonder if people believe my elaborate stories. Well here's proof for at least one of them.

Out With The Stolen...

2010-11-12T21:45:00.000-08:00

...In With The New.

As many of our readers know, our car was stolen over three months ago and T and I have been roughing it with one car since. We've had difficulty balancing the use of one car with T's work schedule and my school schedule but we were determined to learn to sacrifice and suck it up. We lasted for awhile but eventually it was getting unmanageable and asking for rides from people was getting old.

T and I talked and we decided to use our hard earned savings on a car. That's why we've kept a savings in the first place, to pay for car troubles. We never realized we'd have to buy a new car because ours would get stolen. We figured we spend our savings on fixing our current pieces of crap.

First off, buying a car has to be the most annoying task I have ever endured. It started with meaningless searching on autotrader.com, cars.com, and craigslist. Then it turned into an obsession, I was checking craigslist about 40 times a day to make sure I was the first to call on a new posting. When we finally decided we needed a car we were out of the gates fast, seeing a different car almost daily.

The first car we went to look at was a 1999 Volvo S70 from a very nice, honest couple who had just had a new baby boy, their first. We hit it off with them and felt extremely comfortable with them. They seemed to like us too. T and I really wanted their car but they had it listed considerably higher then it was worth. And while looking at the car we discovered the locking mechanism wasn't working with the remote keyless entry button or the button in the car. Normally I could care less about such a thing. We've always had to open our door locks manually. Volvo, however, made it difficult to open the doors manually because the lock on the rear doors were not located next to the hinge of the door (like most vehicles) or near the inside handle. The locks are located at the most rear aspect of the door so it is almost impossible for me to reach them after unlocking the drivers door and truly impossible for T to reach them. This would make getting into the back seat a real hassle. It wasn't a deal breaker, however, and we made an offer. We gave them two different offers, one lower price for the car as it was, with the locks not working and a higher price if they got the locks fixed. They told us our offer was fair but declined saying they wanted even more money and didn't want to fix the locks. T and I were both sad because we thought we had found our car from people who we trusted (a hard thing to do when dealing with craigslist as you will soon see).

The next car we looked at was a 1999 Nissan Altima. T contacted the seller and he told her it was in great condition. It was his grandpa's car who had recently passed away and he was in charge of selling it. T told him our budget but explained we would have a look at the car and give him an offer according to what we felt it was worth. He agree. We met him in a grocery store parking lot because it was dark and it was the best lit area around. We looked it over, drove it, and felt it was worth $1000 dollars lower that the budgeted amount T had discussed with him. He reminded us off our original budget and we re-explained to him that we didn't feel the car was worth that much and again made our offer, with a after thought that if we decided we could pay more we would give him a call. He was obviously annoyed as he quickly ended the conversation and drove away. T and I thought it strange but got in our car and started for home, not too upset to miss out on his car.

On our way out of the parking lot we noticed the man returning in his car and flagging us down. We stopped thinking he had had time to think it over and was going to accept our offer. On the contrary, he told us not to call him because he felt, and I quote, "You wasted my f@&#ing time!" Since T was in the driver seat I felt he was saying it to her and I flipped. For anyone that knows me, I rarely let people push me around and I wasn't about to let some jerk swear at my wife. So I proceeded to yell at him telling him he had no rite so swear at us and who was he to think it was okay to act so rudely. Let's just say a friendly visit to view his car turned ugly. On our way home T was rattled, she's not the type to engage in such hostility. I, on the other hand, was fired up and ready to knock someone out if I had to (I routinely engage in such hostility).

We looked at many other cars and couldn't seem to find the right one. We narrowed what we wanted down to a Volvo or a Subaru, though. We also decided our next car had to be newer then our 1999 Ford Contour and less miles then the Contour which was 140,000.

Then we finally found the one. A 1999 Subaru Legacy Outback Limited Edition. This baby was sweet. All wheel drive, leather, and only 109,00 miles. It was perfect. Again it was dark when we went to see the car so this time we met at a McDonald parking lot. I looked it over carefully, drove it, and was overall very pleased. We gave the guy, who had a thick Russian accent, our offer and we negotiated a very enticing price. I agreed and asked the guy if he would accept a check, he said he'd only take cash. This was a Sunday night so there was no way I was getting that kind of cash then. I told him I'd call him the next day when the banks opened up.

We spoke briefly the next morning and I told him I was working on getting the money together, he said to call him back when I was ready to purchase. When I tried to call him back, though, his phone would not ring. I'd get a recording explaining the line I was calling didn't currently have a mailbox set up so I couldn't leave a message. I called and called and called to no avail. A day or so went buy and again we were bummed that we were going to miss out on another opportunity to get a car we liked. Then I saw his post on craigslist get re-posted and again I called him. Now this was getting fishy. He answered and I asked him where he had been and he explained he had been out of town for business. Business? When I was test driving his car he told me him and his supposed wife had lost there jobs so that's why they were selling the car. What business did he have? Something wasn't smelling right anymore and I started to become suspicious. But the price was too good to pass up so I told him I'd still buy it. He agree and we set a time to meet. As soon as I hung up the phone I got all these horrible thoughts about the decision. I called T and told her that I had agreed the buy the Subaru but was having a lot of bad feelings about it. After further discussion she told me to trust my feelings and call it off. So I did and boy am I glad.

Later that day T read a post on craigslist titled exactly the same as the Subaru but with the addition of, "WARNING." The post was all about a Russian guy who was scamming people with fake car titles and rolled back mileage. Thank goodness for the Holy Ghost, he really saved my butt this time.

Then we got discouraged. We stopped searching the web as often and I made the decision to start looking at dealerships instead of private sellers. I had originally stayed clear of dealers because I didn't want to deal with a bunch of salesman bull, but eventually I gave in.

I found a guy selling a 2000 Volvo S80 (a model I had really liked and really wanted) so I called him and went to have a look. He was a dealer but it was his wife's car. They were only the second owners of the car and the previous owner had it for 10 years and practically babied it. All the maintenance was done on time at a Volvo dealership and every part on it was Volvo, not some cheap generic parts. I was stricken; I was in love. But he wanted more then T and I could afford. I gave him my offer and he countered with his offer. I explained it was out of our budget but I'd talk to my wife about it. I left thinking our next car slipped out of my hands again. A few hours later he called me back and left a message that said his wife had told him to give us the car for the price we offered. I was ecstatic and agreed to buy the car. T and I went to pick it up later that night. Here she is:

She's got all the bells and whistle. Leather heated seats, sun roof, duel climate control, CD player, remote keyless entry, power windows, power locks (that actually work), power seats, huge trunk, fold down rear seats, and tons of other features (some a little weird, but that's what makes a Volvo a Volvo). And it's the safest car on the road. It's perfect and after all of our troubles T and I feel we deserved to have her.

I also decided finding the right car is like finding the right person you're going to marry. When you find the right one everything just falls into place. It happens relatively easily and you don't have to stress over it. That how it happened when I found T and that's how it happened when we finally found this car.

Sorry for the really long blog.

Halloween 2010

2010-11-06T22:34:00.000-07:00

Since this was Camo's first Halloween, we felt it was really important to dress him up. He was the cutest giraffe ever. I am not sure who was more excited about Halloween and getting candy, Camo or I. I will be honest I was for sure. Why not use your baby to score some candy. Anyway we went to our church's Halloween carnival on Saturday night, then headed to my sister-in-law's house to go trick or treating on Sunday. Here are some pictures from the events. Camo does not look overly excited in any of these pictures because he was so tired. J wants to put him back in his costume and get some cute ones when he is in a good mood. These will have to do for now.

Crater Lake

2010-11-06T21:56:00.000-07:00

Back in September we went to Crater Lake. Crater Lake is 5 miles wide and 1,943 feet deep. It is the deepest lake in the U.S. and one of the deepest in the world. The lake rests in the shattered remnants of a volcano called Mount Mazama which erupted and collapsed into itself 7,700 years ago.

J had a two week break from school the end of September so I decided to take a couple days off of work so that we could take a trip to Crater Lake. It was absolutely beautiful and I recommend making the trip if you live anywhere in the Portland area. It was definitely worth the 4 hour drive. We spent all day there, then stayed at a hotel in Medford and headed back the next morning. We did a few hikes while at Crater Lake. One of the hikes took us to the shoreline. It was a relatively hard hike. If you notice in most of the pictures I am holding Camo in the backpack. Don't worry, it wasn't because J was being a wimp. I really wanted to get a great workout in that day so I told him I would carry Camo on all the hikes. J didn't argue with me on that one. It was quite funny all the stares we were getting from people thinking to themselves why is he making her carry the baby. Camo was so comfortable that he even fell asleep. You will notice that in one of the pictures I post. When we got to the shoreline we noticed people jumping off some of the rocks into the water. I was shocked at how clear the water was and how far deep you could see into the water. The water was really cold, but it was so hot outside that I bet it felt nice for those jumping in. Here are a few pictures from the day.

8 months

2010-10-21T19:51:00.000-07:00

I am a little late on this post. Camo is now almost nine months. My goal is to write a blog of him each month until he is a year old. He is such a happy little guy. He now has four teeth. Two on the bottom and two on the top. It seems that he is teething again because he has not been eating much in the last week and is drooling way too much. We tried to start giving him a sippy cup, but I am not sure he gets it yet. Camo now weighs a little over 19 lbs. I am proud to say he now say's mamama. He still isn't crawling yet, but moves around everywhere by rolling. He sleeps 12 hours at night which is fantastic, but is still a short napper. I would rather him sleep nights anyway. It means I get to play with him more during the day.

I have to share this cute story about Camo. My calling right now is a nursery leader. I stepped out on Sunday to get water for snack time and the other nursery leader started singing "I am a Child of God. " She told me that as soon as they started singing, Camo looked over at her and his eyes lit up. I sing that to him every night before bed so he is very familiar with that song. I think that is so cute. Then the other day I was changing his diaper and I started to sing "I am a Child of God" to him. He started to cry because he thought he was going to bed. It is so cute that he is starting to understand things more. I love my mister Camo.

Here are some recent pictures. In the picture of him in the maroon shirt he has really rosy cheeks. I think he gets those red cheeks from his mom. Also stay tuned for an update on our recent visit to Crater Lake. It was absolutely amazing.

Special Day

2010-10-10T23:22:00.000-07:00

Today she was a Mother, a Grandmother, a Great-grandmother, a Mother-in-law, and a Grandmother-in-law. Today she was the kind, gentle person I have always remembered her to be even though her body and mind are failing her beautiful spirit.

It's been too long since I have made the effort to see my Grandma Hazel. In fact since she has been in her assisted living center I have not see her and that may be going on a year now. Since I have been living in Oregon I can only recall seeing her two or three times. It's pathetic, I know. She has been such a wonderful grandma and a shining example to me and yet I can't muster the time to visit her.

Well things are going to change. But let me explain my hesitancy to visit.

Grandma Hazel now has dementia. It's not the worst case you've ever seen but with her failing hearing she rarely communicates and sometime I wonder if she even knows what's going on. For example, a few years ago we decided to put on a Thanksgiving dinner for her in her own house (this was before she was placed in the assisted living center) because it was tradition to go to her house growing up and eat the most fabulous Thanksgiving dinner my taste buds had ever had the opportunity to taste (she was a phenomenal cook). While we were sitting around the dinner table enjoying our feast the phone rang. It was my uncle, calling to wish his mother a happy Thanksgiving. My Grandma had no idea what was going on and couldn't hear who was on the phone while she held it to her ear though everyone around the table could hear, plain as day, my uncle yelling on the other end of the line. It was sad, but we all laughed at it to ease the pain.

Since that time it has slowly gotten worse and it saddens me to see her in that condition. My memories or her consist of getting dropped off for a night or two while my parents went off to Sun River with close friends. The days were spent playing card games and her favorite game called Ten thousand around the dinning room table. At night I remember her moving the table out of that way so us kids could sleep in our sleeping bags on the floor (she only had a small two bedroom house so the dinning room is where we slept). In the morning we could always count on a breakfast of comfort food only grandma's know how to cook up. My favorite was waffles with butter and syrup and OJ. Still to this day I think her waffles are the best I've ever had.

She was a simple women. She lived in a simple house with simple furnishings and had a simple wardrobe and drove a simple car. But nothing about how she treated us grand kids ever felt simple. She always made me feel like I was the most important person around.

I mentioned how amazing of a cook she was. Here's a little anecdote of how much my sister and I loved her cooking. The middle sister in my family was home visiting from BYU and knew she should stop by Grandma's and visit with her before she returned to school. While she was determining when to swing by we got the idea to go by during dinner time so we could score some of Grandma's fine cooking. We did so and upon arrival we scoped out what looked like fried chicken breast with some type of pasta and marinara. We had a quick glance at one another and both our faces indicated we had hit the jackpot. After seeing us, Grandma promptly got us some table settings and invited us to have dinner. My mouth and stomach were already having a party at the thought of have a meal at grandma's. However, the party soon ended when the thought fried chicken was actually fried egg plant. I hate egg plant! For someone else it probably would have been the best egg plant ever knowing my Grandma had made it but for me, I can't stand it. It's actually one of the few things I wont eat. So getting good food at Grandma's backfired. Serves us right for trying to take advantage of her cooking, I guess.

I feel horrible that after being treated so kindly and blessed by her my whole life I have been so selfish and not been to visit her very much. Today during our visit we went with my parents and we brought Camo along to meet his Great grandma. Normally she just sits there and doesn't talk much but as soon as she saw Camo it was like a switch got turned on. She smiled and reached out her hands to hold him. It was like she had known it was her great grandson even without previously meeting him. She held him and audibly spoke to him. In fact she said, "Wow, he's a chunk, isn't he?" It was adorable and heart warming to see her light up so much versus sitting there staring into space. It was a moment I wont forget. It was the moment I needed to see that she is the same Grandma Hazel as she has always been over these many year. I now know that I need to pay her visits more often as to not let her last days go by without sharing my love to her.

I love you Grandmas, I hope you know that.

The first thing she did when she got a hold of Camo was kiss him

Four generations

Temple

2010-09-25T21:57:00.000-07:00

We recently went to the Portland temple to do a tour. We walked around the outside of the temple and learned some of the history and symbolism of it. They have been doing it for the last month for anybody that wanted to come, member or non-member. While we were there we took some pictures that I wanted to post. There may be some of the kids heads in the pictures because they were all running around.

7 months

2010-09-16T20:52:00.000-07:00

I'm writing Camo's 7 month blog even though he's going to be 8 months in a couple weeks. I am slacking a little bit on the blog lately. I want to write some of his stats as well as what he has been up to lately. He is 27 1/2 inches long and weighs 18 pounds now. He will now open his mouth to all baby fruits, vegetables, and meats except he really doesn't care for mango's or carrots. He is finally rolling over. He still doesn't roll over very often, but if he wants to he will. We woke up one morning and it was 8:30 a.m and we couldn't figure out why Camo hadn't been up to eat yet. We walked in his room to see him sleeping soundly on his tummy. That was the first night we didn't swaddle him. We still swaddle him occasionally because he goes to sleep better if he is wrapped up tight. He laughs all the time and loves to talk. His favorite word is dadadada. He now grabs at everything in sight and is a very curious boy. Lately he has not been napping very well in the day. He will maybe take an 1 1/2 nap if we are lucky. He must get all the sleep he needs at night. He is still in a great mood even though he doesn't get a long nap. We just love our little Camo.

Does He Get Any Cuter?!!

2010-08-22T22:11:00.000-07:00

More Pictures of Camo

2010-08-18T15:44:00.000-07:00

6 months

2010-08-14T14:30:00.000-07:00

I should have written this blog a couple weeks ago. I cringe every time I look at our blog and see our last post. I don't want to see a stripped car every time I look at our post but instead a cute little face. I am not talking about J by the way. Anyway I can't believe our little Camo is 6 months old. He is really starting to show his little personality now. He loves to babble. His first word is dadadada. I think that's super cute and I am not jealous one bit. He still won't roll over. He must have that chill personality and doesn't care to go anywhere. He does sit now without support. He doesn't really care too much for solids. I have tried and tried to feed him baby food. Some days he will eat it and other days he won't. If he is really hungry he won't eat any solids until he nurses. He still does pretty good at sleeping through the night except lately because of teeth coming in. Yes, that's right our little Camo has two teeth popping through. The first one he got a couple weeks ago and the second one I just noticed today. Another reason he hasn't been sleeping well is he is sick for the first time ever. He woke up about every hour one night with a fever. Then he was coughing and sneezing a lot. Also a stuffed up nose. Our little Camo has developed his first cold. I would say that is pretty good considering he is six months old. He must have a strong little immune system. Anyway we love him a lot and he is learning so many new things. More pictures to come.

Are You Serious?

2010-08-02T17:56:00.000-07:00

Before I go too in depth into what this post is about, I first need to explain the lesson my first counselor gave in Young Men's on Sunday. I have often taught the Young Men and listened to lessons taught to them and put forth much effort to make sure the boys learned something. Never have I thought that a Young Men's lesson could be for me.

***

Let me start by quoting a scripture from Doctrine and Covenants 64:9-10

Wherefore, I say unto you, that ye ought to forgive one another; for he that forgiveth not his brother his trespasses standeth condemned before the Lord; for there remaineth in him the greater sin.

I, the Lord, will forgive whom I will forgive, but of you it is required to forgive all men.

Forgiveness was the topic for the lesson this last Sunday in Young Men's. No one in the little chapel classroom needed to hear that lesson more than me. In that lesson we discussed a quote from Spencer W. Kimball in which he said (paraphrasing) through forgiving others we can gain freedom. That's an interesting thought since harboring hard feelings towards others actually binds you up inside.

Since Thursday morning I have had the worst feeling towards someone. I don't know who that someone is but the terrible, horrible feelings I have for them are there. All weekend I have been thinking about what happened to me and how I could get revenge. I have been depressed. I have been sad. Anger has shown its face a number of time since Thursday morning. Basically, I have wasted a lot of time and energy being bound by my unwillingness to forgive and forget what this person or group of people did to me. Sundays lesson was so powerful to me but a gut check as well. I am commanded to forgive this person or the greater sin is on me.

Are you kidding me? I am in more of the wrong for what happened to me then the person that wronged me if I can't find it in me to forgive.

The simple answer--yes.

***

Now, here's what happened (many already know but now you can get the actual account)

I woke up in the morning at my regular time. I ate my breakfast, showered, got ready for the day and read my scripture all in time for my regular departure for school at 7 am. I walked out across the parking lot and around another building of apartments to my parking spot. I was looking at my keys in my hand as to have the car key ready to put in the door to unlock the car so I didn't realize until I looked up that my car was not there. I immediately thought to myself, "Oh, I must have parked on the other side of the lot." I started to turn away when I realized that I remember parking right where my car was missing. I was stunned. My mind began to race. "Was this a joke?" "Did someone move my car?" "Did someone really steal my car?" "Holy crap! My golf clubs are in the trunk!"

I ran inside and very sternly said to T as she was still asleep, "Some took my car, it's gone." She sat straight up as if she was part of a huge pop-up book I had just opened on the bed. "Are you serious?" was all she could reply.

After a few minute of gathering our thoughts we decided we had to call the police ASAP. We gave our report to them and as soon as they left we sat there wondering how this possibly could have happened. And I especially sulked knowing my golf clubs were long gone. The golf clubs T graciously let me buy as a graduation gift even though I haven't graduated yet. The golf clubs we got for a killer deal because we thankfully had a brother-in-law who, at the time, was working for Nike so we had access to employee pricing. The golf clubs I used to play my new favorite game even though I'm still not very good. The golf clubs I used to participate in the only outlet I have from school. Being on a golf course is the one spot where I can free my mind from everything. And finally, the clubs I used with my team to win 2 University of Western States Spring Classic Golf tournaments back-to-back. Now, with the car, that was all gone.

T and I spent most of the next few days wondering if our car would ever be recovered and if so how long would it take. We talked with many people who have also had their cars stolen and most of them got there cars back in anywhere from 3 day to 6 months and most of the time there cars were in okay condition. We had hope.

On Friday night we got a call late in the evening from the police department. Our car had been found and towed. It was described in the report as stripped in the inside and undrivable. My excitement on having our car found was quickly dashed to despair as I realized our car was a mess. During one phone conversation to the towing company I could hear a man in the background saying, "Oh yeah, they did a number on that one." Speaking of my trusty '93 Honda Accord with faded paint on the outside but a peach of an engine under the hood. I tried to ask about the trunk, whether or not anyone had gotten in and took my golf clubs. I could never get a straight answer...nobody seemed to know enough about the exact condition of the car. I was forced to sit on pins and needles still thinking there was a chance the clubs would still be safely stowed in the locked trunk.

We couldn't get into the tow yard until today (Monday) otherwise we would have to pay more fees on top of what we were already going to have to pay to have the car towed and stored at the lot.

Today was a difficult day. On my way to the tow yard I had a sour pit in my stomach. I was all twisted inside knowing we were going to see how some else manhandled a car we took such great car of. When we got there I walked in the run down, nasty office and told the guy I was looking for the stolen Honda Accord they had picked up on Friday. The guy looked at me and started laughing and joking with me about how the crooks had taken just about everything inside the car but they were thoughtful enough to leave me a bucket to sit on at a front seat. I just stared back at him with the most pissed off, serious look I could muster. And with out saying a word he quickly realized I was not in the mood for joking about my stolen and now trashed car with no golf clubs in the trunk, mind you, since he also specifically mentioned the back seat was missing.

Here is what we found:

What a depressing sight! It almost brings a tear to my eye seeing this mess and knowing someone violated T and I, and our car. As you can see they took just about everything. Besides the steering wheel and the dashboard everything else inside the car was stripped out. And a few things were swapped out as well. In the pictures you may notice some paint doesn't match. That's because the front and back door on the driver's side are not mine. The trunk lid is not mine. The front bumper and the front right and left fenders are not mine as well. Oh, and the bucket for a front seat...not mine either. So, they wanted some parts of mine and decided to give me some parts of theirs that they didn't want. Luckily they were nice enough to reattach my license plates to the new front bumper and the new trunk lid. At least I know those aren't on another stolen vehicle.

In the end, my insurance wasn't going to cover any of the loss on the car since I only had liability rather than full comprehensive car insurance. So the car is a wash. My renters insurance should cover the loss of my golf clubs but there is no way I am going to get enough money to replace them. That's the most devastating part. I found a salvage yard that wanted the Honda and they gave me a big whopping 125 bucks. Not enough to subdue the salt in the wound but better than nothing I suppose.

Hopefully, after paying the towing fees I should get a $100 reimbursement from my insurance for the towing. That means after all is said and done we might bank $35 on the Honda. Wow, what a rip off. How is that even right? I get my car and my clubs stolen, my car gets trashed to the point that I can't drive it anymore and then I have to pay all the fees and basically get nothing for the car. Something is screwed up with that system. Maybe I should get into the car lifting business...sounds like a pretty sweet gig.

***

Now, to come full circle. I haven't gotten to the point of full forgiveness but I know I need to. I have wasted every minute of the day since Thursday bound by my hatred for who ever did this to us. But I will forgive because I am commanded to and I also want to be forgiven for my mistakes. I feel bad for the people who have to steal to make themselves feel better. There is a lot of worse things T and I could have lost. Cars and clubs can be replaced. We still have what's really important. And luckily will still have this which cheers us up every time we look at him.

4th of July

2010-07-10T22:36:00.000-07:00

We spent the fourth of July at J's sister and brother-in-laws block party. There was a live band, food, and lots of fireworks. It was fun minus the firework that I swear came right at me. I don't know if I mentioned that I am deathly afraid of fire or anything that has to do with fire. Also a firetruck came right before the party started. All the kids were super excited. Here are some pictures that once again J took. Aren't the firework pictures awesome!!?

Beverly Beach Camping Trip

2010-07-10T22:17:00.001-07:00

We also were able to go camping during J's school break. We went with some friends that live upstairs from us. We had a blast and Camo did great. He slept really well at night and surprisingly I did as well. I am not sure that J can say the same thing. He say's he never sleeps well when he camps but that never stops him Here are some highlights of the trip. Yes I realize most of the fun was eating.

-playing phase ten by the campfire
-eating at Mo's in Newport
-walking around on the beach that we were able to walk right up to from our campsite
-eating smores
-eating foiled dinners and realizing what fatties J and I are (the picture of our foiled dinners will explain)
-eating french toast, eggs, and bacon
-eating pineapple upside down cake
-eating many other snacks and treats that aren't good for you
-wondering how our friends managed to sleep in the tent that they did with a one year old
-sitting and laughing by the campfire

Finally

2010-07-10T22:04:00.001-07:00

Well J just recently finished painting the change table that one of our friends gave to us when Camo was born. Camo is now five months old. J has been super busy with school and the last break he had it was pouring rain the entire time. Another reason why It got put off for so long is because I really don't think J likes to paint very much. He said he had to paint a lot growing up and is sick of it. Nonetheless the paint job got finished and the change table looks great!! We still use it even though Camo is quite a bit older.

Zoo Fun

2010-07-10T21:52:00.001-07:00

During J's two week school break we were able to do lots of fun things. We went to the zoo one of the first days he had off. It was a lot of fun. I think the polar bears are my favorite with the monkeys following closely behind. J got really into taking lots of pictures while we were there. I am super impressed with some of the shots he was able to get. He is very talented when it comes to taking pictures. And yes that owl does have a mouse in his mouth. Disgusting.

5 months old

2010-07-10T21:29:00.001-07:00

Camo just recently turned 5 months old. I can tell that he is really exploring the world around him now. He is not quite rolling over yet. I think he has rolled over from his stomach to back a total of three times since he was born. I know he will catch on soon. We are also trying to teach him to sit up. He will sit for about 10 seconds then fall over.

He now can get completely out of his swaddler. This isn't the normal swaddling with a blanket, it is an actual swaddler that makes it hard for babies to get out of. If you notice the picture of him sleeping, his legs are supposed to be inside the swaddler. I think I am going to start to ween him off of it.

He has started to wake up at 2:00 a.m every night begging for food so now I am back to feeding him once in the night. I tried rice cereal, but he didn't seem to like it. Just look at the pictures of him eating it and that will explain. I am still trying to give it to him before bed in hopes that he will not wake up in the night to eat. He must be growing.

He is very smiley and laughs a lot. We just can't get enough of our little Camo.

Another Griffey Bobble-Head night

2010-06-24T22:38:00.000-07:00

Even though Ken Griffey Jr. retired, the Seattle Mariners had one final bobble-head to give away in his honor. I made sure I got tickets in hopes of snagging the last ever Griffey bobble-head. And it was little Camo's first game.

Bobble-heads are only given out to the first 20,000 fans so you have to get there early knowing there would be plenty of people already lined up. As soon as T got home from work we were off in an effort to beat the crazy traffic which is inevitable when going to Seattle from Portland. Also, getting stuck in traffic could be the difference between getting a bobble-head or coming up short handed.

We parked in our normal spot and booked it to the ballpark. One on scene we saw we were well behind in arriving early. Throngs of people lined the sidewalks already in line. The gates to the park were open but the wait to get inside was heartbreaking. I refused to be denied and so we circled Safeco field desperately trying to find a way in quicker. (And when I say we, I mean myself. T and Camo could care less). When we finally came to the last gate into the park I saw how long that line was too. It was over, no bobble-head...I was devastated.

"Sure you can get in that line." Came a voice from off to my right. "What was that?" I responded. He pointed to the line we happened to stop in to sulk in my defeat. It was the ADA line. An open gate for the disabled with wheel chairs and walkers so they didn't have to navigate through a turnstile to get in. He must have saw Camo in his stroller because he let us get in the line. The great thing about it was there was only about 15 people in line ahead of us so we got in with plenty of time to get three bobble-heads, two baseball cards, and a partridge in a pear tree.

Once inside it was a typical Mariners game. Only one run was scored, pitching was awesome, we sat next to two mid-30's completely intoxicated females who were obnoxious beyond belief (most likely a consequence of the booze but part of me wants to believe they would have been the same regardless of the .90 blood alcohol level), and the Mariners barely squeaked out a win.

From Camo's end, he was given a certificate for attending his first Mariners game and he promptly fell asleep as soon as we sat down.

It's sad to know I will never see Ken Griffey Jr. play baseball again but being there at Safeco Field brought back many of the memories I have had of him throughout the years. He will forever go down in history as one of the greatest baseball players ever. He played the game right. He had fun, he played hard, he played with passion, and he did it all without performance enhancing drugs. We'll be seeing him in the Cooperstown soon.

A few pictures of the day.

Camo's First Swim

2010-06-09T11:43:00.000-07:00

We have been able to enjoy a little bit of sunshine for the last couple of days here in Portland. Now it is back to rain. Anyway we have a pool in our apartment complex which has been so fun. I love being out by the pool and this year I get to enjoy it with little Camo. It is much better to have the baby than to be pregnant like I was last year. Camo had his first swim a couple days ago. I think he liked it. As soon as I got in with him he kicked his legs just like he does in the bathtub. Here are some cute pictures from the day. Sorry that I ruined most of the pictures. Just focus on Camo in the pictures.

4 months old

2010-06-09T11:22:00.001-07:00

Time is flying by. I know it is cliche to say this, but I can't believe how big Camo has gotten. Here are some things he is starting to do. He is starting to try to roll over. He will roll to one side, but he can't seem to get his arms underneath him to roll over. He loves to talk. It is so cute how he moves his lips and try's so hard to make noises. He is into this scream phase though that J and I aren't too thrilled about. He just screams out of excitement. He loves loves to suck on his washcloth when he is in the bath. I assume that it's okay for him to do that because he hasn't gotten sick yet. He loves to kick his legs. Another great thing about Camo is that he loves to sleep. He will sleep a good 10 hours every night without waking up. He weighs 16 pounds and is 25 inches long now. Sometimes when I look at newborn babies it makes me miss Camo when he was that small. I do love the stage that he is in now because he is starting to explore everything. Being a mom really does get better and better every day. Enjoy the pictures. Sorry about the slobber on the first picture. I forgot to add that Camo also loves drooling.

In My Opinion...

2010-06-03T22:39:00.000-07:00

...The Greatest Player to Ever Play the Game!

My thoughts on his retirement coming soon.

Camo Laughing

2010-05-27T21:12:00.000-07:00

Camo has the cutest laugh. T and I have been trying to get him to laugh for days by now and as soon as our friend N comes over all of a sudden he decides to laugh for her.

Date Night

2010-05-20T10:51:00.000-07:00

I forgot to add this story to the blog that I just wrote. This truly shows how busy J is. J called me up last night and asked me if I would like to go for a twenty minute drive to pick up a printer. I immediately jumped on the idea considering I never see him. This would be the perfect opportunity to catch up and chat in the car. When we got home J said, "How did you like our date?"
I just laughed. This is the extent of our dates nowadays. Taking a twenty minute drive to Camas, Washington to pick up a printer. Then a quick stop at Sonic to enjoy a nice cherry limeade. I have to admit it was a nice ride. I think we need to start going on a few more dates.

Cutie

2010-05-20T08:37:00.000-07:00

I just had to post these pictures of Camo. He is about 3 1/2 months in these pictures. I can't get enough of his adorable face. I am not trying to brag but honestly, can he get any cuter?

Also I hate to admit this, but doesn't Camo look exactly like J in the picture of him and J.I think he was about to cry in that picture so that's why he looks scared. I know deep down I wished he looked even a little bit like me, but I will just have to face the facts that he is all J. Let's hope as he gets older he will start looking a little more like me too. I mean, I did give birth to him.

3 Months Old and Recent Happenings

2010-05-02T17:57:00.000-07:00

I was thinking of just updating about Camo again, but then decided you all might want to know what J and I have been up to. So sorry if you don't really care to know what's going on with us. We know that Camo is the popular one now.

J is still in school. They just changed it to The University of Western States which means that you can get masters degrees as well as a Doctorate of Chiropractic. J decided that he wanted to get his masters in Exercise and Sports Medicine while he is getting his doctorate. It sounds great and all, but not for Camo and I. It makes for lots of days without a husband or dad. That's okay though because we know it will all pay off in the end. We just have to stick it out until next December.

I am just enjoying being a mother to my beautiful Camo. He is such a fun, cute, extremely well behaved baby. I also work part time as a personal trainer at Bally Total Fitness. I absolutely love it. It is so nice to be able to set my own hours. I love all my clients and they are so willing to adapt to my schedule. I have also picked up cooking a little bit more. I really like trying new recipes. I usually look at different food blogs to find new ideas.

Now for the little boy that you all want to hear about most. Camo is doing so well. He is now three months old. He is doing great on his tummy. The other day he rolled over. I couldn't believe it. He hasn't done it since though. I am sure it won't be too long before he rolls over more and more. He also really likes to suck on his fingers. He is not quite reaching for toys yet but he will stare and stare at them. He loves loves to talk. It is so cute if you say something he will coo back at you. He also smiles whenever J or I talk to him. We just love him so much and are so grateful to be his parents.

J and I at the Tulip festival

Someone Knows Where He Gets His Food...

2010-04-12T13:29:00.000-07:00

2 months old

2010-04-07T20:50:00.000-07:00

Camo is two months old already. I can't believe how fast he is growing. J and I often talk about how we want him to stay little. We also can't wait until he gets big enough to walk, talk and play with us. He has the cutest little personality and is such a good baby. Camo has been sleeping about 8 hours a night. It is wonderful not having to wake up to feed him in the night. Let's hope it stays that way. He is also a really good eater which explains why he is growing so fast. He still doesn't like his vitamins. He loves playing with daddy. It is so cute how he recognizes us now. He will stare for hours at us and then if we start talking to him he will coo back. It is so cute at night when J puts him to bed. He hums to him and Camo falls right asleep.

Camo is sportin some Nike shoes that his Aunt gave to him in that last picture. J really hopes he likes the Oregon Ducks someday.

We also just recently bought him a bumbo. I am not sure if he likes it quite yet because I think sometimes he gets lazy and doesn't want to hold his head up. In that picture he is watching the Portland, Trailblazers basketball game. Sorry Grandpa Metcalf, he may not be a San Antonio, Spurs fan. I think if he takes after his daddy he will become a fan of the Blazers.

Camo also celebrated his first Easter. If it was up to J, Camo would not have gotten an Easter basket. I was determined that he should get one so at least we could get some cute pictures. I can't wait until he gets old enough to understand and get excited about holidays.

Oh yea one more thing. Camo had his two month check up. He was 11 pounds 9 ounces and was 22 1/2 inches long. I guess the doctor said he was average in height and weight. We were hoping for a tall boy. I guess average is okay. He also had his shots. It was so sad watching them give them to him. He was totally calm and then all of a sudden he started crying. He calmed down pretty quick after because I fed him. I just love my little boy. He is so adorable.

That's all for now.

My New Hero

2010-03-31T15:58:00.001-07:00

I told T I was going to write this blog after witnessing what she went through during the labor process. I was very busy with school after Camo was born so I never had the time. Now that I'm out of school for two weeks I'd like to relate to you what I experienced during the labor.

I'm not sure how many of you have ever witnessed a natural birth before. Natural meaning, no drugs...period! Not ever Advil or Tylenol. I'd never seen a live delivery before let alone a natural one.

I was in for a treat!

When T and I got married she would often talk about her fear of labor and delivery. She would tell me that she couldn't handle pain very well and would describe how pain she had felt in the past would make her almost pass out. I believed her and was surprised when she told me she wanted to do a natural birth. I was all for doing whatever she wanted and if that was the course she was going to take and was going to encourage her to keep that goal even during the worst of labor pain. I also prepared myself for a long day of having my hand squeezed off and my head chewed off during the labor. If there was no drugs for T, I was sure I would need some for myself.

Then labor hit.

T was having a rough night trying to sleep and I had an exam the next day so I told her I was going to go sleep on the couch to make sure I got enough sleep before my exam. In the morning when my alarm went off at 6 AM I opened my eyes and saw her standing right in front of me. "I think I'm in labor." she said calmly and relaxed. My response, "No you're not." (stupid, I know) She went on to explain that she was up all night with her mom on the phone and had been timing her contractions. As she continued to explain the situation I began to realize that this was it, we were most likely going to have a baby by the end of the day. But then my own anxiety had snuck up on me knowing what we were about to face...without any drugs.

By the time we had arrived at the hospital the contractions were coming on harder and faster. When T got hooked up to all the monitors there was no doubt that she was in labor. I thought to myself, "I better saddle up because it was about to to get bad."

And it did, but not nearly as bad as I thought. T was a champion, you could tell each contraction was painful but with each approaching one T took it on and breathed through it. It was remarkable to watch her in action. I have never seen as much strength, as much determination, or as much perseverance in my entire life. And from the person who in our entire marriage told me she was not good at dealing with pain. If that was the case, then T became a different women then she was previous to the labor; she had become someone able to cope. She had become inspired and in the process inspired everyone else in the room.

After it was all over I promised her I was going to treat her like the inspiring women she had become. As you can probably guess I have already fallen short...many time over. It's funny how quickly your mind can forget the things that take your breath away. Maybe that is why I have not been able to write this blog until now. It has given me the desperate reminder I needed. Though sometimes my actions don't always show it, I will never forget what I saw and felt during the labor and delivery of our son. T is the most incredible women I know and my respect for all women has increased. I hope she never forgets how much I love her and what she means to this family. Without her, Camo and I wouldn't be the men we are.

Camo's Blessing

2010-03-31T15:38:00.000-07:00

On Sunday, March 14 we gave Camo a name and a blessing at church. For any of those blog readers of ours who don't now what that is, it's a simple prayer given in our church for all new babies. In the Bible, the first chapter of Luke tells about how John the Baptist and Jesus Christ received their names. And in Mark Chapter 10 one can read about the blessing of children by Jesus Christ. In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints we have followed these teachings from the Bible and find naming and blessing little children important in the Church. We are grateful for Camo and his sweet spirit he has brought to our family and home. What an awesome opportunity it is to pray and ask for a special blessing of physical and spiritual strength to be upon our adorable little boy as he grows up.

Being a Mommy

2010-03-14T18:43:00.000-07:00

I thought I would post some more adorable pictures of Camo. Being a mommy has definitely been an adjustment. I love it more and more each day. Camo is the best baby in the whole world. All he needs is sleep, food, diaper changes, kisses and snuggles. He is 6 1/2 weeks now and weighs 10 1/2 pounds. The picture of Camo in the Team Player outfit is an outfit my sister in law gave him. I went to put it on him today and J said there is no way that outfit is going to fit him. I put it on him anyway and sure enough it fits! J and I can't believe how big he is getting. I think sometimes we think he is still a small baby. We also blessed Camo today. Stay tuned for the update on that.

My Introduction

2010-03-07T17:56:00.000-08:00

Howdy Y'all (my mommy taught that 'cause she's from TX),

I think it's about time I introduce myself. My parents have posted some cute pictures of me but it's about time you get to know me. My daddy wanted to write this post but I insisted I do it to show him and mommy I'm a big boy.

Due to the fact that our family wants to keep some privacy on our blog I wont tell you my real name here. But my nickname that you can all refer to when you leave me comments is Camo. I have a blue camouflage blanket that I love so I wanted to be called Camo. My mommy also likes to call me Camaroo which I guess it cute too.

I was born on January 29, 2010 at about 8:00pm. I was 6 lbs. 15 oz. and 20 and 1/2 inches long. That was only 5 weeks ago and I am already growing out of some of my clothes (that makes mommy and daddy sad because they want me to stay small). I'm probably about 9 lbs. now.

A few things I like:

Eating--never can get enough milk these days
Sleeping--though I don't like going to sleep, I love sleeping for long hours
Riding in the car--that's because it usually leads to sleep
Taking walks with mommy in the neighborhood while daddy is at school
Being held--I don't like when mommy and daddy try to set me down in the bouncer so they can have a break from me. I get fussy real quick and beg them to pick me up
Farting--It puts a big old smile on my face
Bath time--That warm water reminds me of the good old days in the womb
Mommy and Daddy--they take good care of me and even when they get annoyed with me they still are nice to me

A few things I don't like:

Hiccups--they hurt and they last forever. Daddy always tells me he hates having the hiccups too
My binky--I usually take it because mommy and daddy are shoving it in my face but then I spit it out a few minutes later and remind them that I'd rather be held then sit alone with a stupid binky
Taking my vitamins--who invented vitamins anyway; curse them
Sitting alone--It boring and usually when I sit alone I can see mommy and daddy doing fun stuff
Having my diaper changed or changing my clothes--what can I say I'm a modest boy. Mommy and daddy hope that lasts a long time

I hope I can find time to write every once in a while to update you all on the things I'm doing. Feel free to leave me comments so I can get to know all of you.

Camo

First Family Photo and More Pictures

2010-02-21T21:48:00.000-08:00

Labor Story

2010-02-09T10:53:00.000-08:00

Warning: Long Post and if you are about to have a baby don't let this scare you. It was all worth it in the end.

On Friday morning at around 1:00 a.m., I woke up with menstrual like cramps. I tossed back and forth for a couple hours. J was a little annoyed because he had school the next day and needed some sleep. He moved out to the living room to sleep on the couch. The cramps continued and then I noticed they were turning into contractions. They weren't very painful but they were coming about every ten minutes and lasting about 15-20 seconds. I was still having them consistently until 4:00 a.m. I then decided to call my mom. I told her on the phone I think I am in labor but I am not sure. She kept timing them for me and they slowly started getting closer together but they still only lasted 15-20 seconds. I got in the bath while I was still talking to my mom and the contractions still did not go away. I also got up and walked around. Finally around 6:00 a.m. my mom told me you better go tell J, I think you are in labor and going to have this baby by tonight. Of course my mom was right. Anyway I woke J up and he seemed a little confused and was kind of questioning whether I was really in labor or wondering if it was false labor. I called the hospital and told them my contractions were only lasting like 20 seconds and they said they would really like them to be 45 seconds. J then started timing them and they got up to about 45 seconds. We then called the hospital about an hour later and they said to come in. I have to add this in. J said that one of his library books was due by 10:00 a.m. that morning and he didn't want to get charged a fine so we had to make a quick pit stop there first. Luckily my contractions weren't too bad. Little did I know they were nothing to what was about to come. We got to the hospital and got into the room and I was 3 centimeters dilated. They then moved me into the labor room. They put and IV in right away which I wasn't too thrilled about. In the mean time my mom was trying to catch a flight to get to Oregon by 9:30 p.m. I really hoped she wasn't gonig to make it to the birth because that would mean I was in labor for a long time. I labored for about four more hours and the nursed asked me if I was interested in the epidural. I asked her if she could check me to see how dilated I was. I was a six and a half to seven. I then thought ok I can do this I only have three more centimeters to go. Little did I know I would be laboring for another 7 hours before I got to a ten. The anesthesiologist came in around 5:00 p.m. to tell me a little bit about the epidural and how they would go about it and some of the side effects. When he was talking about the side effects that is when I got this burst of energy and said no thank you. As soon as he left the room I got up and off the bed and started laboring on my feet. Thank you anesthesiologist for persuading me not to get the epidural. The nurse then checked me again and I was still about a 7. I was so disappointed because I had been laboring for a long time since the last time they checked me. I thought to myself there is no way these contractions could get worse, they were so painful. I didn't know what I was in for. Around six I was dilated to about an 8 1/2 and the contractions were getting really hard. I started to feel an urge to push but not too bad yet. At around seven I was feeling like I needed to push and I was dilated to about a 9 1/2. I didn't think it was ever going to end. I was definitely a screamer and I never thought I would be. My sister-in-law told me while I was in my painful contractions two nurses walked in and asked if everything was ok. The pain was indescribable. I was on the toilet trying to go to the bathroom while the midwifes were trying to help me through the contractions. Then I heard the midwife saying ok he is coming let's just deliver him on the toilet. That was not my idea of a delivery nor was it any of the nurse's idea so I said I would rather go to the bed to push. I only had to push through three more contractions and he came out. I was so relieved and exhausted that I had absolutely no emotion. J was uncontrollably crying. He was six pounds fifteen ounces and 20 1/2 inches long. Just because I didn't cray after he was born doesn't mean I didn't cry later. I did my fair share on the drive home from the hospital. I just couldn't believe I did it. I was so proud of this baby I brought into this world.

I am so happy to be a mom. He is such a great baby and I feel blessed for that. He only wakes up once in the night to eat and he is starting to sleep longer and longer in the night. I also love how much attention J gives him. There is no doubt that he absolutely loves our baby boy. It is so cute watching him with the baby. We took him on his first outing this last Saturday to to beach. He did such a good job while we walked through the Tillamook Cheese Factory and then we walked around Seaside and looked at the shops. I will say it does make it hard when he has to feed every three hours. It seems like you just get started doing something and he has to eat again. It has definitely been an adjustment, but a good one!!
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HE'S ARRIVED!!!

2010-01-31T20:36:00.001-08:00

Almost There

2010-01-28T21:28:00.001-08:00

It is so crazy to see 0 weeks and 6 days left on the pregnancy ticker thing on our blog. I never thought this day would come. Here are some pictures of me at 39 weeks. I am sorry for how ugly I look, but these days I am just not in the mood to dress up. I am also still in my work clothes. I am hoping to get some cute pictures of me at 40 weeks if I make it that far. Also sorry if you are totally grossed out by my bare stomach. I am hoping the baby doesn't come until at least next Wednesday because that is when my mom will get here. I am so excited to be a mom. I can't wait to see what this little guy is going to look like. What day do you think he will be born?

It's Been Awhile...

2010-01-24T20:55:00.000-08:00

Have you ever heard that Stained song, "It's been awhile?" That song seems to be appropriate right about now. I haven't written a decent blog in months. Typing out a blog is a serious project for me mostly because I type about 10 words a minute. Also, school has gotten much busier and time consuming so the last thing I want to do with my free time is spend two hours writing a blog. But I'm going to be better and I hope you will forgive my lack of blogging.

Here's the happenings for the last few months.

Chiro School
School continues whether I like it or not. Last term was a crazy one! Once the second week hit I had two or three exams every week all the way up to finals. I fared OK but I always wish I could have done better. But compared to some kids in the program I am happy with how I have done. I still absolutely love Chiropractic and I can't wait until I'm in practice. Currently we are learning cervical adjustments and it is so fun and it makes me feel like a real Dr. Also we are finally done with the basic science portion of the program so from here on out it gets a whole lot more clinical. Also, the highlight of last quarter was I got my first chiropractic table. It's a portable one and I love it.

3rd Anniversary
T and I celebrated our third anniversary on the 23 of December. We were in TX for the Christmas break. We did something a little different this anniversary, we took gifts to underprivileged kids in the San Antonio area. It was part of a program called Elf Louise. It's been going on for a long time in San Antonio and this year my in-laws thought it would be fun to participate. When you get involved you have the option of doing a few different things. You can either wrap presents or you can deliver them. In the past, my in-laws wrapped gifts. This year we decided to deliver. And if you deliver, of course someone has to be Santa. Guess who? Yours truly. It was one of the sweetest experiences ever. Mind you it is TX and even in December it still can be warm. Because I was in full Santa gear--with pants, boots, jacket, pillow for my stomach (I should have used two because I was a little on the scrawny side), full beard, wig, and hat--let's just say it was super-duper hot. I was sweating like crazy. But if you had seen the look on some of the kids faces you would have realized that it was all worth it. It was so fun to bring the joy of Christmas into the hearts of kids and families. Next time we go to TX I hope to do it again...maybe it will be a little cooler outside.

Christmas In Texas
We spent the Christmas break in Texas with T's family this year. It was awesome! We had a blast. Everyday was full of fun activities and good times with the family. Some of our activities included: Elf Louise, a Spurs vs. Blazer game (the Blazers won, whoo whoo), Christmas Eve tradition of eating homemade soups for dinner (delicious), Christmas morning and being surprised by T's mom with homemade Snuggies (just about the best gift ever, thanks again), T had a baby shower with some of her friends and family, a night away at a bed-and-breakfast in Austin, and finally, an afternoon at Six Flags. When it was all over I didn't want to leave. I could have stayed another ten days. Plus, I got my favorite Mexican food, Taco Cabana, almost every day...who wouldn't enjoy that.

Wedding shoots
I was given the opportunity, as soon as we got back from TX, to help and friend in the ward photograph two weddings. I have always loved photography, however, shooting weddings have always given me a bit of anxiety. T and I got a new, nice DSLR for our Christmas gift to each other and to use when we have our baby so I thought it would be fun to see what it could do in a wedding situation. Still, I was nervous since I hadn't done any photography since I left Idaho and I felt rusty. My buddy assured me that everything would be fine and I should go and have fun with it. He taught me so much in those two days I feel really grateful. It was so fun. I never thought I would ever enjoy shooting a wedding but it wasn't bad at all. I hope I get another opportunity because I would like to continue getting better. I also think I could learn a lot more from my friend, he is a really great photographer and a lot of fun to work with.

New Apartment
We moved apartments in preparation for our baby. We stayed in the same complex, we just moved into a two bedroom. It was relatively painless. Thanks to my mom and dad for helping us move the bigger items and clean the old place.

Baby Boy
As you know from reading T's blogs that our little boy is still growing and we are just sitting and waiting from him to get ready to come out. Even though T has done a great job keeping everyone posted I'd like to share a few of my thoughts.

Life has already started to change. It's a good change though. T and I weren't planning on getting pregnant when we did but we weren't avoiding it either. Let's just say it was a shock when we found out. But over the last eight and a half months my whole mindset has changed. I think I've matured and grown up. I've realized that life isn't about fulfilling T and my interest anymore, we know we have to put or interest into raising a wonderful boy.

If you were to ask me a few years ago when T and I got married when we would have kids I would have responded, "Not for a long, long time!" I have never considered myself to be much of the "kid" type. I knew I would one day have a family but it always scared me (and still does for that matter). Kids pretty much drove me nuts because they are loud at times, crazy and uncontrollable at other times. They cry and can't take care of themselves; they poop, pee, throw up, and drool all over the place. Not my kind of fun.

But if you were to ask me now how I feel about having a little boy in a few days to weeks, I would reply with a simple, "I can't wait!" I have no idea how it happened but I am waiting on pins a needles for this little guy to show his face. When I look at his clothes I picture him in them. When I look in his room I see him sleeping or playing with his toys. I want to be a dad so bad. When I look at the little kids in our ward I want to play with them. Nothing about them annoys me. I imagine them as if they were mine. I know it's going to be hard but I am ready...I'm ready to be a father.

Here's a few pictures for your viewing pleasure.

Elf Louise-Handing out some candy to the local kids

Giving out some gifts

Got to have a photo with Santa

At the end of the night...I'm super sweaty

Our Christmas Snuggies...How awesome are these?

Our room at the Bed-and-breakfast

Riding the Scream...what a rush!

Who's that idiot?

Baby Update-36 Weeks

2010-01-21T10:20:00.001-08:00

This is the updated belly pictures I am about 36 weeks here. Sorry it took so long to post. I just had my 38 week appointment and my doctor measured me at 34 weeks. She was a little concerned so she decided to do an ultrasound to make sure our little boy was growing properly. The results came back that he was right on track to where he should be. He was weighing in at a little over six pounds and all his measurements were fine. That was good news to hear. So now we are just playing the waiting game. It could happen any day. Hopefully sooner than later.

Sajovic Family Newsletter 2009

2009-12-23T21:44:00.000-08:00

I think the first post I ever wrote was on this day two years ago. It was T and I's first anniversary and I decided it was time to start a blog.

This year, it is our third anniversary and it has been an exciting year. After moving to Oregon last year we have been busy in many ways.

T has been working at Bally Total Fitness since we moved here. She is a personal trainer and very good at it. The beginning of the year marked the time where she started to get very busy. In the last year she spent two of the months in the top five in all Oregon and Washington in most sales, one of those months she was number one. She has had a new fitness director almost every couple of months and every time a new one comes in they fall in love with T. They love her effort, her work ethic, and her passion for health and fitness. Speaking of love, her clients love her more then they love their own kids. All her clients are female and each one acts like another mother to her. Sometimes T will go hang out with her clients since they get along so well.

I have also been busy. Since moving to Oregon I have been working on getting my Doctor of Chiropractic at Western States Chiropractic College. I have spent many hours in the library and taken more exams then I would like to count. It has been hard at times but overall I am really enjoying it. I can tell I am going to enjoy helping people through Chiropractic.

The most exciting event this year is the news of a new addition to our family. We're going from 2 to 3. It's a boy and T and I have gotten very excited in the last few months to welcome him into the world. He should be here sometime in early February.

Baby Update

2009-12-20T22:44:00.000-08:00

Here is me at 33 and a half weeks. I can't believe how fast this pregnancy has gone. We will have our little boy in less than six weeks. We are leaving for Texas tomorrow so we are crossing our fingers that he will wait until we get back to enter this world.

31 Weeks

2009-11-29T22:04:00.000-08:00

I know your probably getting sick of seeing pictures of my baby bump, but some of my sisters were saying they were sad they didn't get to see me pregnant. So if you are getting sick of all the pictures, sorry. Anyway this is me at about 31 weeks. The baby is kicking a lot. I have my next doc appointment on Wednesday. It is hard to believe that I have less than ten weeks left. I thought this day would never come. We are so excited to welcome this new little boy to our family. I often find myself wondering what he is going to look like. Soon enough we will know!!

On a different note, J is still doing the Chiropractic school thing. He is getting so tired of all the tests he has to take and believe me he takes a lot of tests. I feel so bad for him sometimes. He is such a hard worker and I am so proud of him so far. He is almost halfway done with school and it feels like we just moved here.

Getting Bigger

2009-11-08T19:19:00.000-08:00

Here is the updated belly picture. This is me at about 28 weeks. I just had another doctors visit. I had to do the gestational diabetes test. The orange drink really wasn't as bad as everyone was making it out to be, except that nobody told me that you had to drink it in five minutes. That was the hard part. I did it and everything came out normal. I found out though that I have low iron so I am supposed to take an iron supplement. Except for the low iron everything seems to be going fine. The baby is kicking like crazy which is a good thing I guess. It still doesn't hurt to jog so I have kept up with that. It's getting closer. Only 12 weeks away. I guess that puts me into the third trimester. I can hardly believe that it has been that long.

Baby Belly

2009-10-11T17:31:00.000-07:00

This is me at about 24 weeks. I really feel that I have popped out. Getting in and out of the car and up and off the couch is a lot harder now. I imagine it is only going to get worse. Things seem to still be going well. We are getting super excited to meet this new little guy.

Summer Fun

2009-10-03T14:23:00.000-07:00

Though I was in school for the summer (for the first time in my life), T and I were able to get out and have a lot of fun. All while she has been prego too. Here are some of the activities we participated in over the summer.

Mariners Game

We went to another Mariners game in August. This one was for Ken Griffey Jr. bobble head night. As soon as I found out they were do a Griffey bobble head night I went straight to T and begged her to allow me to buy tickets then straight to the computer to buy them (after her approval, of course). It was about six months before the game so I had been looking forward to this one for awhile.

On game day, as soon as class was over we headed North to Seattle. I wanted to get there early to make sure there would be no reason for me not to get a bobble head. When we arrive there were people everywhere so I started to worry that even though we were 4 hours early I was going to come up empty handed. I took my place in the largest line ever and waited for the gates to open. Luckily, when the gates opened I was able to get in with plenty of time to spare so I got my precious Griffey bobble head.

Once inside the park we headed to our seats, which were fantastic. They were along the right-center field fence. It felt as we were sitting on the field itself.

The game was just as fantastic as the seats and probably even better. Griffey hit a home run, which tapped off the reception of the bobble heads for everyone. The game went into extra innings. The Tampa Bay Rays took the lead in the top of their inning so the crowed got restless thinking the game was over. But in the bottom of the Mariner's inning, Ryan Langerhans hit only his second home run in his major league career to win it all. Incredible.

Side note: I find it interesting how close you feel towards complete strangers next to you when the team both of you are rooting for win in dramatic fashion. I think I high-fived about 5 different random strangers when Langerhans hit his home run. My hand was tingling for awhile after because we slapped fives so hard...the emotions were flowing!

Sample Griffey Bobble Head

All the people to my left waiting for a bobble head

All the people to my right

T and J at our seats

Fairs, Fairs, Fairs

I've decided my favorite time of year is fair season. Fair food has got to be the worst food for you but it taste so delicious. And the people to work/perform at the fair are crazy. For example, the day after the Mariners game T and I headed out to the Tillamook County fair with my brother-in-law and nephew. The purpose was not to just go to the fair but specifically to go to the demolition derby. T and I had never been to one and I have always wanted to. In fact I learned about the derby from my brother-in-law many years ago and I have wanted to go ever since. But since I didn't live in Oregon at that time, I always missed the derby. Finally, we are here for it so we made the trip and I have to say after witnessing such a thing, I can't imagine aver missing it again. It was awesome...maybe one of the coolest events I've ever witnessed. T thought it was pretty fun as well. It's going to become a new tradition; to attend the derby each August.

A few weeks later we hit up the Clackamas County fair. The fairgrounds where this fair takes place is in my home town and when I grew up there I would go every year. It's been many many years since I've been so T and I thought it would be fun to go. I actually think it's one of the better county fairs in Oregon. We walked around and saw the site and then hoarded ourselves on the glorious fair food (pretty much the real reason we went).

The pics below are from the demolition derby.

T in front of the Tillamook Cheese Factories Baby Loaf Bus

The line up for the demolition derby

First heat

Second heat

All out brawl

The Kittens Were Born

We have previously blogged about the prego cat the was showing up on our back porch. She had her babies, but for a long time we couldn't find them. Then one day, after class I was sitting at our desk in our living room and noticed the mama cat was drinking some milk on the back porch. I glanced over and noticed a black mouse-looking thing just on the other side of the mama. I quickly jumped up and saw that it was a little kitten. I immediately sat down on the carpet and watched as a few more kittens arrived. In all, there are 6 kittens and I have named them all.

They are: Grey Bush (my favorite, all grey and super fluffy), Phantom (looks like it is wearing a Phantom of the Opera mask), Tall Socks (has mostly white paws), Short Socks (looks just like Tall Socks but with not as much white on its paws), White Nose (looks just like Short Socks but its nose is white), and finally, Pea Wee (looks like a small version of its mama).

Here's some pics.

All six of them sleeping

Drinking some milk

Sitting with Mama

Labor Day Weekend

We spent our Labor day weekend in Wenatchee, WA with a good friend from my school and his family. Also, a few other friends came from school and we all crashed at my buddy's grandma's house...9 of us in a little house. It was awesome, though the weather didn't cooperate much, we had a blast.

We got on the water everyday but only for a few hours as the wind and rain would pick up soon after getting the boat out. When not on the water we still enjoyed ourselves by playing beach volleyball in the rain, playing touch football, and playing some tennis. We ate better than we do at our own house and we were pampered in every way by my friends grandma. I'll have to write another blog completely dedicated to her because she was one in a million and she treated prego little T like she was royalty.

Here's some pic to enjoy.

T and J on the boat

T getting ready to wake surf

Wake surfing

J putting on a cold wet life jacket (not fun)

Getting ready to get some major air, or getting ready for a major face plant

I Can't Hide it Anymore

2009-09-28T13:45:00.000-07:00

I was finally asked by a stranger today when I was due. I was wondering when the first person was going to ask me. I guess five months was the magic number for me. I was glad I could hold off for that long. Although these past few weeks, I have been wanting to pop out a little more because I think people look at me like I've had one too many donuts. As far as the pregnancy goes I am still feeling great. I have not had one sick day while being pregnant and it has been amazing. I am still doing my daily three mile run as well as the stair climber. That is one of my new favorite cardio machines. It is such a great workout. In this picture I am about five months along. The dress I am wearing is one of the maternity dresses J bought me a while back. He asked me when I was going to where them and I told him I don't completely fill them out yet. I decided to wear it to church anyway to make him happy. It is hard to see the baby bump in this dress though because it is black, but believe me it is there.

I Hate To Rub It In...

2009-09-21T20:46:00.000-07:00

...but I was right.

We are having a baby boy! and I couldn't be happier. I'll admit, the thought of having a little girl would have been cute, however, having a boy is a father's dream come true. T seems a little disappointed with the idea that she'll have to deal with two boys in the house now. It took her a little while to get used to the fact that we were prego, so I think it wont be too long before she is excited to be having a boy.

Here are a few of the ultrasound pictures.

Profile view of his cute face

Side view of the right hand

Couple of cute feet

Here's the goods...no doubt about it!

Baby Bump

2009-09-13T16:34:00.001-07:00

I am 19 weeks in this picture. I am starting to show more so I thought I would put an updated picture of me. Not the best picture of me, but you can see a little baby bump.

What Have We Been Up To?

2009-09-10T20:25:00.000-07:00

A lot has happened in the last couple of weeks. J and I have both been just too busy with school and work to update our blog. I will start with the baby update. We recently had to switch doctors because apparently our insurance was not covering this doctor. We were really bummed out because we really liked him. We had our first appointment with the new doctor and she was alright. She said my baby was measuring a little big. I guess I grow my babies large. Haha. Anyway everything seems to be going fine. We have our big ultrasound scheduled for next Friday that will tell us the gender as well as the growth of the baby. We are really excited for this appointment. By the way in the picture of me, I am about 16 weeks. Everyone keeps asking to see my baby bump so there you go. Not much of one. I will take another one at 20 weeks and maybe I will be a little bigger.

J had a birthday on August 31st. He turned 27 years old. He got a golf bag with all of his birthday money. We also went out to dinner to Stanford’s, his favorite restaurant with some of our friends. We had a blast and afterwards enjoyed some rainbow chip cake, another one of J’s favorites.

We went to a Rockband Party with some friends. J got all decked out in rockband gear. I think he looks a little scary.

Also an update on the cat that had babies. We found them and they are starting to come to our porch. There are six of them and they are so adorable. They love to play. J and I will spend an hour every night just watching them play. It makes me want a cat which is crazy because I am not much of an animal lover.

How About a Baby Update

2009-07-29T20:43:00.000-07:00

Enough about the cat updates, what about our baby. We had our second doctor's appointment today. We were able to actually hear the baby's heart beat. It was so cool because the doctor first found my heart beat which was really slow and then he moved it over to the left a little bit and we heard the baby's. It was going about 150 beats per minute. It was super cute and made me want to cry. I am definately getting way more excited. We won't find out the gender for another 8 weeks, but are really anxious to know. J wants a boy and I kind of wanted a girl, but now I am thinking that would be really cute to have a boy.

I still feel pretty good. I am extremely happy that I've been able to keep up my daily exercise routine. I also havn't had to cancel on one client since being pregnant. Anyway we will keep you posted.

12 weeks

Do I look pregnant yet?

Cat--Update

2009-07-27T15:05:00.000-07:00

The cat had her babies!

We don't know where they are but we have a general idea...I stalked her the other day after she got done eating.

A few days ago she was sitting on our back door mat, as usual in the morning. I gave her food and she just gave it a quick smell, turned, and walked away very limber and slow. I knew she was about to burst as she left without eating. She didn't return to our back door for a couple of days and I really started to get worried.

Finally, on Saturday, she came back. She had obviously had her litter. She was much thinner and practically inhaling the food I gave her. After she ate, she didn't stick around as she normally had. She left...and I followed.

I stalked her two properties over until she spotted me. Then she sat under a bush and just watched me. She was not about to reveal where her babies were. I didn't stay long because I didn't want to make her nervous. She only comes in the morning now to eat, most likely to not leave her babies alone at night.

I'd like to find then before something happens to them. Last night, I saw a raccoon wondering around, which made me nervous. Hopefully the kittens are OK.

I'll keep you posted if anything changes.

Major Dilemma...Need Your Help!

2009-07-19T20:21:00.000-07:00

There is a current situation that I need some serious help with. I hope all our readers will comment and give me some advice.

First, I need to take a minute and explain where I'm coming from. I am, and always have been, a major animal lover. I love their company and unconditional love. I find the suffering of animals to be so sad and cannot bear it. You could say animals have a large soft spot in my heart. Here's an example of what I'm talking about. A few years back I was watching a horse race on TV and one of the horses broke it's leg during the race and there would have been no way to save the leg so they put the horse down to relieve it's suffering. It broke my heart and I had to turn the TV off.

Now the current issue. A cat showed up on our back porch a few weeks back and she looked starving. I gave her some milk and turkey in hopes to give her a little sustenance. To make a long story short, she has showed up every night since and is now starting to come during the day as well. To make my anxiety worse, she is unmistakeably pregnant. Now I'm taking care of two pregnant women! Since she's been coming I have noticed her fattening up a little and her coat of fur looks much better. She was first super skittish, running away every time I opened the sliding door. Now, I'll sit outside and she allows me to pet her. She's adorable and I wish I could keep her but our apartment has a 'no pet' policy. T thinks we should call the Humane Society. I think we should keep feeding her and hope she has the litter outside our apartment, then we'll move to another apartment and keep her and her babies.

My anxiety is getting worse by the day as I see her getting further along in her pregnancy.

What should I do?

Here's some cute pictures of her to help you devise your advice.

It's Time to Let the Cat out of the Bag

2009-07-13T18:50:00.000-07:00

So, we have been keeping this a secret for a while now, but really it's because neither one of us have had the time to do any blogging lately. We are having a baby. When we found out I was definitely scared and started crying, but having a husband that is super excited has helped. I had my first doctors visit on July 2nd and I was 9 weeks along. My due date is February 7. J has decided to call the baby Peanut because the doctor told us it looked like a peanut in the ultrasound. I'm sure the doctor tells everyone the baby looks like a peanut at the beginning, but J insists. I guess it's kind of cute. I asked the doctor when morning sickness was going to kick in, but he said if I haven't felt anything I may not. I am now about 11 weeks along and almost out of my first trimester and still haven't felt a thing. I have still been doing my daily exercise routine without a problem. I know some of you mothers are cursing me right now. We are both very excited and we'll keep you updated along the way.

Good Times, Better Friends

2009-06-28T20:40:00.000-07:00

An old roommate from BYU-Idaho and his wife visited us from Idaho this last week. I'll refer to them as A and S (just in case they want to remain private with their names). A and I became roommates during my 3rd year at BYU and at first we butted heads a bit. We had a few things in common but not much more than that. As time went on we became really close and our personalities started to mesh really well.

When A met S I was there every step of the way; getting the details, giving advice and watching their relationship grow. When T and I went on our first date we were actually with A and S.

At our wedding, A and S were right there to celebrate with us and encourage us as we started our life together. They continued to date and A and I kept in touch, though it was different not chatting every night and playing "Would you Rather" until the wee hours of the morning (he knows what I'm talking about).

Eventually, A and S took the plunge and got married. T and I were there to do as they had done for us and we couldn't have been happier for them. Watching them get sealed together was a blessing for us as much as it was for them. The the best part of all was they moved in right next door to us. Many a boring nights, for T and I, were livened up by going next door unannounced and hanging out with them. T took extra advantage of them by going over and asking for movies to borrow, music to download, and candy to eat...often interrupting their private life (if you know what I mean).

They were the last people we saw before we left Idaho for good and since we left we have been begging them to come and visit us (along with other friends, you know who you are).

That's just a taste of how close A and I became while we were roommates.

Finally our wish came true and they visited for a few days. We wanted them to stay longer but A had to get back home for a FBI interview. While they were here T and I tried to show them as much of beautiful Oregon as we could in hopes to persuade them to move here when S is done with dental hygiene school.

T and I are honored that they came. It is a long, long, long drive from their house to ours and for them to come all that way just for a few days really shows how much they care about us.

We love you guys and wish you well until the next time we hang out.

PS- We didn't take a single picture of them while they were here...we're idiots. But I did take this picture and it is awesome. So here you go.

Chef Validation

2009-06-07T18:51:00.001-07:00

I know I shouldn't brag but I need to validate T's blog about me cooking. This last Friday a club on campus sponsored a chili, corn bread, and cobbler cook off. I decided to enter into all three categories. I got out of school early Friday, so I slaved away making chili, corn bread, and blackberry cobbler.

My corn bread didn't place, the cobbler came in second (the first place was given to an apple crisp...not even a cobbler...oh well), and the chili came in first. I actually thought that the cobbler had the best chance of winning, and the chili was hit or miss. It was a lot of fun and I'm super excited to actually have taken home a prize for my home cookin'. With both prizes I got $70 to spend at our bookstore.

Winner, Winner, Chili Dinner

Second Place Cobbler

What a Weekend...

2009-05-30T22:43:00.000-07:00

...and I mean that in a good way! It was a well needed break for both of us!

I know I'm a weekend late but that's just how it's going to be while I'm in school. I should be studying for a neuro anatomy exam but I really couldn't be bothered right now.

About the weekend. It started last Friday when T and I attended the Portland Beaver's games with some other students from my school. The Beavers are a Triple A baseball farm team for the San Diego Padres. It was fun, not because they are good because they're not, but because we got seats in the box suites. Along with a great view we got a ton of food and food makes every experience better. T and I did what most poor students do with free food...we pounded it down like it was going out of style. The Beaver's were going to get beat but they ended up tying it up late in the game so it went into extra innings. T is not a big baseball fan so we didn't stay to witness the outcome. The trip home that night was interesting as well. We parked outside of downtown and took the light rail train, the MAX, to the stadium. I'm going to post a separate blog to describe our trip home on the MAX so stay tuned.

Saturday, I played in a school Golf Tournament while T took a trip to the beach with her sister. Golf is my new addiction so I play with every dollar I get and any time I can. It was a 4 man best ball tourney, which means all four members hit their own ball then you choose the best stroke. Then all 4 members hit again from the chosen spot and continue until the ball is in the hole. It's a really fun way to play golf because you work together as a team and it's easy to shoot low scores, which makes you feel your golf game is better than it is. I played in the Fall tourney my school had and I wasn't very good. My team still tied for second though. Since than I've gotten my new clubs and have played a lot and in my opinion have improved remarkably. This time I was with a slightly different team and I played my best golf yet. We used a bunch of my shots and I came in 3rd in the long drive competition. In the end my team tied with two other teams for first. The tie breaker was determined by which team played the hardest hole of the course the best or in the least amount of strokes. The chosen hole was a par 5 and thanks to two amazing shots and a good putt by one of my team members, we eagled the hole, meaning we made it in three shots. SO, WE WON! A group of professors from my school have won the tourney for many years and to see the look on their faces when they realized they got beat by a bunch of underclassmen was priceless. Here's a picture of the final postings.

At the beach, T and her sister's family enjoyed a day at the Tillamook cheese factory and climbing Cape Kiwanda at Pacific City. Cape Kiwanda is a huge sand dune that is tough to climb but awesome to run down. She had to carry her 2 year-old nephew all the way to the top. Luckily she's a personal trainer because I wouldn't have been able to do that.

Sunday, after church, we went with T's same sister and her family and climbed Multnomah Falls. It's the tallest free falling water fall in the United States at over 600 feet. The climb is straight up but only a mile so it doesn't take long. This time T and I switched off carrying her 10 month old niece up the trail. It was a little taste of what it will be like when we have our own kids. Here's a picture of Multnomah Falls.

On Monday, we took the opportunity to go on another hike to one of the most beautiful places in all of Oregon, Silver Falls state park. It's a park with 10 different waterfalls and if you go at this time of year they're the biggest due to the snow melt. Plus all the trees and flowers are in bloom so it's amazing. We did the longest hike which is about 8.5 miles and you see all 10 waterfalls. I didn't take pictures of all the falls but quite a few of them. One of the pictures is from behind the falls because the trail takes you behind three of them or so. After the hike I decided Silver Creek Falls is my favorite place in Oregon. By the way all these photos were taken with my cell phone, not bad for a phone huh?

Fun In Seattle

2009-05-17T18:01:00.000-07:00

Well it has been a long time since we have blogged. I guess I am going to have to start doing a lot of the blogging because J is getting so busy with school. You will have to bear with me because first off, I am not as creative in my writing as J, nor am I as funny.

Anyway a couple weekends ago we went to a Seattle Mariners baseball game with J's family. They did a special "We Are Family Night", for all families who have been involved with adoption or foster care. J's oldest sister adopted her two boys so that's how we found out about it. We even got a shirt and hat that said "We Are Family". It was so funny to watch J walk into the stadium and look down at the field. He had a huge smile on his face. You could definately tell he was obsessed with baseball. I enjoyed myself for the first hour of the game, but then got really bored and started reading. I am sure the people around me were like what in the world is this girl doing reading, at a baseball game. Let's just say I am not a baseball fan myself. I did however enjoy being with J and his family.

The next day we spent walking around downtown Seattle and going to Pikes Street Market. The weather wasn't the best, but we still had fun. It is always a good time with J's family.

Chef Boyardee

2009-04-29T21:09:00.000-07:00

My husband has never been number one in anything, but he excels at just about everything he sets his mind to. For example, a while ago he posted a blog about his delicious pizza. Since then he has been trying to perfect that pizza little by little. This last Saturday he may have made it as perfect as its going to get. On top of that he made his first cheesecake and it turned out pretty darn good for his first attempt. Just take a look at the pictures. All in all I am pretty impressed how he manages the kitchen. For crying out loud, I should be the one in the kitchen. But it makes sense. In the two and a half years we've been married I've realized cooking seems to run in the Sajovic blood. J's whole family seemed to have inherited the cooking gene. It all comes so natural to them, unlike me.

Do you know what I was doing while he was whipping the pizza and cheesecake together? Talking to my sister on the phone. What a great husband I have who will cook a fabulous dinner when I am not in the mood.

Not only is J a great chef, he is also great in so many other different ways. First off, he is the cleanest person I have ever met. He has also inherited this gene from his mother which I am extremely grateful for. I am also amazed at how well he has been doing in Chiropractic school. When I hear the alarm at 6:00 every morning I think to myself I feel so sorry that J has to get up that early. He does that every day of the week and never complains. He is so responsible and never lazy. He works so hard in school and is constantly studying, unless there is a Mariners or Blazer game on. Can you blame him? All in all, I am so proud of J, and I am so lucky to be married to him.

Here's a few pics to enjoy.

PS- you can also tell J's taken a few photography classes in his day.

I look really cute enjoying the cheesecake...ha ha!

Watch out Papa John, Little Ceasar, and Papa Murphy,

J's got a pizza here that will give you a run for your money

Yummy!

Dr. Sajovic...

2009-04-19T20:56:00.000-07:00

...OK not officially yet, but I got my doctor bag from school and in it contains all kinds of gizmos and gadgets. It's about time since I've been paying for it for the last three terms (and it wasn't cheep).

T says I have a long ways to go before I am finally a DC and it proved to be true when I tried to take her blood pressure and totally fouled it up. She knows more about the toys in my bag than I do because of her health screening job. She basically gave me a crash course on how to do everything...that was embarrassing since I'm the one in school.

Speaking of T, I might as well mention it since she never blogs. She's doing extremely well at personal training. A few months ago she had the highest amount of personal training sales in the Oregon/Washington region for Ba.lly To.tal Fit.ness. And lately she's signed a few more clients. She's really helping the clients she has lose weight and better their health and she has received many comments by people who have been watching her and have been impressed by her work. I hope she knows how proud I am of all her hard work and her success.

Are you Serious?

2009-04-05T20:28:00.000-07:00

I have got to have the worst luck when it comes to getting the cars registered/re-registered in the State of Oregon, and it all has to do with my bad luck at the DEQ. I'm not sure if all states have a DEQ so I'll explain what it is. DEQ stands for the Department of Environmental Quality. The purpose is to make sure your car is running in such a way that it falls under their standard and has a minimal effect on the environment. Basically, it checks to make sure your car does not pollute too much.

When T and I first moved here we had to register the Ford in Oregon and to do so it has to pass the DEQ tests first. A day or so before I went to the DEQ I noticed the "check engine" light had come on. I didn't really think anything of it (mainly because I didn't know what it meant), so I took it to the DEQ and, of course, it failed. The guy, kindly pointed out that the "check engine" light was on and hinted that I was an idiot if I thought it would still pass with the light on. I really had no idea what the big deal was until I got home and read the car's owners manual. Apparently, the "check engine" light is an indicator that the emissions in the car are too high. (Should have read that before I went and saved myself the awkward moment with the DEQ attendant.) At that point I was pretty annoyed because waiting in line at the DEQ is no short event. It always seems to take forever; and on top of that, I would have to get some one to fix the car so it would pass DEQ. How much was that going to cost?

Plan A: Pay out the butt to get the car fixed and get it passed at the DEQ so I could register it.

No thanks!

Plan B: Take the car to an auto store and get a diagnostic tool, plug it into the car, and erase from the cars computer system whatever it was making the "check engine" light come on.

Success!

Second part of Plan B: Take car, now with the light off, back to DEQ and see if it will pass. Good plan right?

Failed! As I was pulling into the DEQ the light came back on. I dropped a few expletives and turned the car around not allowing the embarrassment of going though the DEQ with the "check engine" light on, again...I've learned not to do that again.

Plan C: Wait and see if the light ever turns off and get that beast into the DEQ ASAP.

Success! About two months down the road T tells me one day, "Did you notice the 'check engine' light went off in the car?"

"What? When did that happen?" I didn't even wait for a reply before I was in the car on my way to the DEQ. Oh yeah, it passed...with flying colors.

So, that's just the first bad luck story, trying to get the Ford through DEQ. That was all around Christmas time. Just recently I got the form in the mail letting me know it was time to re-register the Honda. I was sure this one was going to go much smoother because I check every possible problem and found nothing before I took it in.

The morning of I went to the bank because the DEQ only accepts cash these days. Then I headed to the DEQ. Of course, I waited in line. As I neared the front of the line I notice an oil smell but figured it was the big truck directly in front of me. And then I noticed the oil light flashing on my dash. My first thought, "Are you Serious?" Because I was already in line I might as well finish the test; if you don't pass you don't have to pay, so what the heck. I pulled into my assigned bay and got out of the car (a typical procedure so the attendant can look around the car without you in the way). I could still smell the oil but I acted like nothing was wrong so I didn't give anything away.

The attendant went through the test and somehow the thing passed. When it was over I was out of there. On my way home the light was flashing like crazy and I knew something was wrong. I pulled over in an LDS church parking lot and referred to my Honda's owners manual (this seems familiar). This indicator light means the oil pressure in the car is low. If the oil pressure is low that usually means the oil is low. Funny thing is, I just had the oil changed 3 days before. I finally got out of the car and looked under it. Yep, a big 'ol puddle was forming.

Let me clue you in on how ironic this situation is. Here I am going through the Department of Environmental Quality and my car just happens to spring a oil leak...and a big one for that matter. As in, big enough to drain 4 quarts of oil in a matter of a few minutes. And this had to happen while at the DEQ. So, the place that is supposed to stop all pollution against the environment from automobiles is totally covered by the oil from my Honda. Luckily I got out of there before I was busted. I guess that's pay back for not passing the Ford the first time a few months ago.

Just so you know, the Honda broke a pretty important seal on the side of the engine and it had to go into the shop. It's back now and driving as good as ever and without any other pollution to the environment. Sorry DEQ.

Oh, and PS-the "check engine" light has yet to come back on in the Ford...weird!

Washington DC (the good, the bad, and the ugly)

2009-03-21T15:09:00.000-07:00

I've been having issues posting this blog. First, I couldn't get the darn program to upload my images. A post about Washington DC wouldn't be very good unless there was pictures. Second, our Internet hasn't been cooperating lately, which also makes posting challenging. But here I am, trying to give all our readers something to enjoy.

You will notice there is a subtitle to this blog: the good, the bad, and the ugly. That's how I will break down this post and by the end you'll know why.

The Good
I went to DC for the National Chiropractic Legislative Conference (NCLC) with the Students of the American Chiropractic Association (SACA). I joined SACA when I began school and knew all along they would be attending the NCLC this year. It is something they do every year and it is a really amazing experience. Every term leading up to NCLC is spent fundraising for the trip. It's an expensive endeavor, however, we were able to earn enough cash to get 25 students to DC and each only had to pay $150. That's a pretty sweet deal for round trip flights and 4 nights in the Capital Double Tree.

Anyway, while in DC we had meetings with leaders of the American Chiropractic Association (ACA) and a few leaders from capital hill. Then we spent hours in the offices of our respective Senators and Congressmen. Many of them weren't in their offices so we spoke to their assistance. Most of our visits were spent talking about the National Health Care Reform and how chiropractic should be a part of it. We talked about allowing patients to be able to choose whether they wanted to attend a chiropractor as part of their individual health care. We also spent time talking about veterans of the military, especially how most of their complains are centered around low back pain. Chiropractic needs to be a more important part of their care as well. Most of the people we talked to were on board with what we were pushing and even had many chiropractic experiences of their own. It was awesome to hear feedback that was so pro chiropractic.

While not lobbying on the hill it was sight seeing time. I posted a few pictures of the places I visited. I forgot my camera the first time I went out and so I had a girl for my class take some pictures. She was supposed to email me them but she never did, so you'll have to do with the ones I have. Let's just say, Washington DC was Good!

The Bad

While in DC you can either walk, get a taxi, or ride the metro. Taxis can get expensive and the metro only goes to certain stops so you are walking a lot. I don't mind walking to see the sites. My best friend and I walked everywhere in Europe; it's just what you have to do. This time was a bit different and I'll tell you why. I have been trying to get into better shape, and in so doing, I have been attending the gym with one of my classmates. I left for DC Tuesday night and had done a crazy calf and leg work out the day before. I have a tendency to get really sore two days following a workout of a muscle group that hasn't been worked in a while. Let's just say this was no exception. Let me also say, I have never felt this kind of muscle soreness in my entire life. On Wednesday my left calf felt is was in a constant contraction or a never ending cramp. It didn't matter what I did, I could not stretch it out. We were in meetings all day so I didn't have to walk too much except for the morning. Sitting in meetings you would think would be nice because I wouldn't be on my feet. Not exactly! For some reason everyone decided to give every speaker a standing ovation when they came up to speak...AND...when they were finished speaking. Are you serious? (That's what I should have titled this post.) Every time I stood up it would stretch the calf and become excruciatingly painful. By the time it got to the 5th speaker or so I stayed seated and tried to hide behind the wall of standing students clapping away so I wouldn't show any disrespect. Thursday was another story...a worse story. It was lobbying day which meant walking back and forth from the building where the Senators are to the buildings where all the Congressman are. And I should add this is no small distance, more so when you have a leg that doesn't want to work properly. Let's just say, it was Bad!

The Ugly

Getting home from DC was not good or bad. It's funny how weather in one part of the country can totally effect the flights in a whole different part of the country. I was flying back to Portland through JFK in New York. Sunday morning it starting snowing like the dickens not in DC, not in New York, but in Atlanta of all places. I thought Atlanta was warm year round...apparently not. I flew out of DC at about 3 pm Eastern time and was to be home at 10 pm Pacific time. I got to JFK with no problems. 20 minutes before we were to board our flight to Portland an announcement came saying our flight crew for that flight was stuck in Atlanta. Again, are you serious? Our flight would be delayed 2 hours.

Two hours later, again when we were about to board the snow started in New York. Oh yeah, are you serious? It seemed we had our crew so they were going to board anyway. Then began the real hell. The boarding took so long and the snow was coming so hard that the plane had to be de-iced before taking off. So we proceeded to the de-icing station. And we waited. Then, a Jet Blue plane in line in front of us had it's steering apparatus freeze up so it couldn't go forward and planes already can't go backwards. So a maintenance crew had to come out and solve that problem. And we waited. Finally, after 2 hours of waiting to get de-iced it was finally our turn and after another 40 minutes or so we were taxiing and eventually in the air. The flight was pretty uneventful but we were not scheduled to get into Portland until 3 am...well after our initial 10 pm arrival.

All while this was occurring T was at home constantly receiving updates from me about when I was to arrive and when to pick me up. Not only was that happening but she was also coming down with something. By the time I got in she had a full blown case of stomach flu. Holy crap, are you serious? When she got in the car, to come pick me up, she had to stop short and throw up right outside the car door. And as soon as we got home again she had to go straight to the toilet and spew again. Let's just say, that night was Ugly!

So there's the story hope it was as entertaining for you as it was eventful for us.

Izzy's Pizza...

2009-03-08T19:24:00.000-07:00

...plus a whole lot more!

We've had a running joke in our family that anytime you say anything about Izzy's you have to say, "Izzy's Pizza plus a whole lot more." It was their slogan during their commercials. For those readers who have no idea what I'm talking about, Izzy's Pizza plus a whole lot more is a pizza buffet restaurant in the Northwest. It seemed to be much more popular when I was a kid but now seems to have lost it's flavor (no pun intended) over the years. Since moving back to Oregon I have been craving Izzy's Pizza plus a whole lot more. We used to go there as a family and we have great stories about the place. For example, they have a deal that if a child is under the age of 12 then the price is some odd cents per year of age. One time when my dad was paying the bill, the cashier asked if my older sister was under the age of 12. We all looked strangely at each other because she was in fact 18 years of age. I'm pretty sure she still holds a grudge against that cashier.

Anywho, the reason for this post is because T and finally succumbed to my craving for Izzy's Pizza plus a whole lot more. We went last night and as soon as we stepped in the phrase "plus a whole lot more" gained a whole new meaning. I'm going to make a modest estimate in saying 85% of the people would have been considered obese. I'll say, "plus a whole lot more!" Now, I don't mean to be rude or make fun of anyone who eats at Izzy's Pizza plus a whole lot more, but I call it how it is. Sometimes I wonder how buffets stay in business.

Let's just say, I wasn't as impressed as I was when I was younger so I think I'll stay away from Izzy's Pizza plus a whole lot more...and also hit the treadmill a little more often.

(PS. stay tuned for a post about my trip to Washington DC. I tried to write it now but I'm having difficulties uploading images.)

Griffey Is Coming Home

2009-02-19T20:56:00.000-08:00

I love baseball, always have, always will. I love everything about it. I love the strategy, the challenge, watching it, playing it, and talking about it. Baseball is the first sport I ever played and the sport I played the longest. I have more memories from my days playing baseball than I can count. I no longer play but any chance I get, I play softball. Still to this day I cherish the baseball glove my dad gave me when I was younger. There is nothing more nostalgic to me than the smell of my baseball glove. People often marvel at how nice I have kept my glove and how well it is formed.

My favorite professional baseball team is the Seattle Mariners; is has been for as long as I can remember. I went to my first Mariner game on August 31st, 1994, my 12th birthday. It will forever be one of the greatest days of my life. Since that first game I have almost been to at least one game every year since. Though the glory days in Seattle are well passed I have never wavered in my support and love for the team. A few example of my love include but are not limited to: Plastering one whole wall in my bedroom with Mariner paraphernalia. This does not just mean posters, it means everything that had the Seattle Mariner logo went up on the wall. No matter if it could be hung or not, I found a way. This meant: posters, baseball cards, miniature bats, movies, cereal boxes, old shirts, banners, pictures, and even a shot glass. I also spent hours clipping out every newspaper article containing Mariner info and gluing it in a spiral notebook for a whole season. You can say I was

obsessed.

Since I was a huge Mariner's fan, it was natural for Ken Griffey Jr. to become my favorite player. He had been in the league for 5 years when I had gone to my first game. He was amazing; he could hit, seal bases, and make outstanding catches in center field. His popularity grew all around the game of baseball and because his father, Ken Griffey Sr. was still in the league, Jr. was given the nickname "The Kid". I would write "The Kid" on the underside of the bill of all my hats while I was playing.

When Griffey was traded to the Cincinnati Reds I was devastated. What was Seattle without Jr. He had basically cemented his name into the Baseball Hall of Fame and he wasn't even half way through his career. While with the Reds I still followed his play though he was plagued with injury the majority of the time. Because of his injuries his stats are nowhere near what they could be if he was healthy the whole time. Above all, he would be in contention for the all-time home run list, in which Barry "Steroid" Bonds holds the current record.

Last year, Jr. was traded to the Chicago White Sox halfway through the season. Still I would look up hit stats everyday. At the end of last years season I attentively tuned in to any news regarding Griffey as I knew he would be a free agent. Could it be possible for Griffey to ever come back to Seattle and finish his career?...probably not. Then the news leaked that the Mariners had been in contact with Griffey to bring him back. My excitement grew! Then more news leaked that the Atlanta Braves were heading the way in bringing Jr. to their program. Everything seemed to point to his signing with the Braves because it was close to his home and close to where his daughter was going to college. My hopes slipped as I thought it was a done deal. Than I got a text message from my sister saying he had signed with the M's. I replied saying no, he was set to go to Atlanta. She followed up by saying she had just seen it on Sports Center. I instantly ran to my computer and frantically open every sporting web site I could think of to get confirmation. Sure enough it was true, Ken Griffey Jr., my long time favorite player was coming home, back to Safeco field in which everyone calls "The House that Griffey Built." I'm not going to lie, I got a bit emotional knowing I would be just a few hours away from seeing my childhood hero play again. I don't really care if the Mariners come in last place like last year, this will probably be my favorite year to follow the Seattle Mariners and, according to me, one of the greatest players to ever play the game. Plus, I still have a baseball with Griffey's picture on it that I have tried to get signed for years...maybe this will be the year.

And, I still have a very large bin filled with all of my Mariner stuff...maybe it will have to be re-hung in preparation for what may be Griffey's last year.

Twilight

2009-02-08T18:49:00.000-08:00

So a couple of nights ago a couple of my friends and I went to see Twilight. Yes, I did read all four books and no, I did not love them. However, I did finish them just to see what all the hype was about. I know you are all thinking I am crazy for not falling absolutely in love with the them, but I just didn't go for the whole fake vampire love story theme. Although I didn't love the books, I absoulutely loved the movie. I got so into it and I am so excited for the second one to come out. So if you did not read the books you should go see the movie and if you did read the books and did not like them, you should still go see the movie.

Ahhh, Now I Know I'm Home

2009-02-07T20:48:00.000-08:00

I posted a blog last year when T and I had to register our sweet '97 Ford Contour in Idaho. I mentioned putting the Idaho plates on the car was one of the most depressing events of my life. No offense to all of my Idahoan friends, but there's a Oregon pride thing going on. Oregonians are right up there with Texans when it comes to pride for their stomping ground. Lately, I had the car registered back in Oregon and today I put the new plates on (the ones with the Douglas Fir tree). It finally feels like I'm home and things are back to normal again. Sorry Idaho!

What The Heck Have You Been Up To?

2009-01-25T19:10:00.000-08:00

How come you never blog? How come it's like a month between each of your posts? What's the point of having a blog if you never post? How is everyone supposed to know what you're up to if you never write?

To all the followers of this blog I know what's going through your head. I can't stand it when people take forever to blog either but sometimes you just get busy.

We've had a crazy month. With Christmas, family visiting, having all finals from the Fall quarter canceled until the beginning of this current quarter, and a whole mess of trying to get crap accomplished I just haven't had the time to blog. I was just telling T today that it feels like the only thing I do when I'm at the apartment is sleep.

So here I go...

The Holidays

The break wasn't a break at all, really. Though it was fun and eventful I think I put over 1500 mile on the cars in two weeks and never left the Portland metro area. It's crazy that such a task is possible since almost a whole week was spent without leaving the apartment due to the blanket (or six blankets) of snow we had. We spent Christmas Eve with T's sister and her family. Then woke up Christmas day and watched her kids open presents. Then we headed to my Grandmas house and had dinner with her and her husband. She isn't in the best of health right now and it's pretty sad. She has always been a wonderful grandma and I have great memories of visiting her when I was little. I love you Grandma.

New Years eve we spent at some friends of my sister and we pretty much ate or brains out and played Rock Band until the cows came home. No joke, I think we played for about 8 hours straight. At any rate, I know we played until 3 in the morning. Wow!

Back to School

Because most of my finals got postponed I had to take them the second week of school. I did well. In fact, the only B I got on a test all quarter came on my last biochem test. Luckily, it didn't keep me from get an A in the class. So, I am proud to announce that for the first time ever I got a 4.0 GPA in a term. I don't mean to brag but I have always had a goal to get straight A's in a term and I was finally able to pull one out, and in grad school of all places. We'll see if I can do it again.

Best Wife on the Planet

I know most people know how awesome my wife is but I don't know if you really know how awesome my wife is. When it comes to letting me buy things she is always more willing to give in then I am for her. To be honest, I rarely give in to letting her buy anything...but I'm working on it because she gives in for me. Speaking of...

I have been getting more involved with golf and have been wanting to get a new set of clubs for some time now. I have had my eye on the new Nike Victory Reds, yep, the same sticks Tiger Woods now has in his bag. I, of course, wanted the full cavity irons unlike the blades Tiger plays. They are more forgiving then his. When T's sister's husband got a job with Nike the possibility opened up for me to maybe get some new clubs at a Nike employee price, which is about half off. So the wheeling and dealing began. I asked T if I could could get new clubs as a graduation gift from chiropractic school. She was pretty quick to agree. I then asked her if I could get an early graduation gift. She was not as quick to agree but eventually did. Also, through Nike I not only could get employing pricing but Nike offers a custom fitting at a local golf course. Last weekend I spent 2 and a half hours with a golf pro fitting some clubs. On Friday they finally came.

The full set: SQ Sumo woods, Victory Red Full Cavity Irons,

and Nike Tiempo blade putter

Nike SQ Sumo 5900 driver, SQ Sumo 3 wood, and SQ Sumo 3 hybrid

Victory Red Full Cavity Irons, Gap wedge-4 iron. Aren't they pretty?

I went golfing that afternoon and realized I'm the same old crap golfer with a very expensive set of clubs. I now need some lessons and more hours on the course to improve my game.

Not only is T the greatest wife ever for letting me get new golf clubs but she has been willing to try some of my hobbies as a way for us to do more things together. I tried picking up her hobbies but running a million miles a day isn't my kind of fun. So T came up to the mountain with me this weekend and tried her skills out at snowboarding. She was a typical beginner for about the first minute and then she was picking it up rapidly. Anyone who has snowboarded will never forget their first time. It's rough, tiring, cold, hot, frustrating, scary, annoying, and painful all at the same time. And the morning after is much worse. You'll be lucky to get out of bed the day after you try snowboarding the first time. Ahhh, not T! She was a champ. Yes, many of the above characteristics of a first time snowboarder occurred but she was still amazingly good for a newcomer. And the morning pain thing I described...a sore tailbone was her only complaint. I'm so proud of her and am super excited, because if T likes snowboarding enough, that means I get to go more. Now that's worth spending a few bucks on.

T ready to tackle the mountain

Are You Freaking Kidding Me?

2008-12-16T22:24:00.000-08:00

This is the same as an "Are you serious?" blog but I am so struck by how much Oregonians over react when it comes to snow that I had to show my true reaction by a slightly different title.

I wanted to post a news video but I couldn't find one that was good enough. So, I'll have to explain what's going on.

The Oregon weather peeps have been predicting this "Arctic Blast," they call it, for about the last week or so. It was the leading story at every hour no matter what else happened in the news. It was an even bigger story than a bombing at a bank that killed two cops and critically injured another. Are you serious?...the weather is more important than the killing of two officers of the law by a bomb? Something is seriously wrong with that. Then again, it is Oregon and people here think when it snows in the valley all hell has broken loose...and let me tell you, after it snows here, all hell really has broken loose (or frozen over, whichever one you feel fit the situation).

The storm was said to hit sometime Sunday morning. T and I were assigned to give talks in church this particular Sunday and I was tempted, when given the assignment, to ask for a rain check because I knew it was finals week starting the Monday following and I knew preparing a talk would take away from vital studying time. I decided to accept the assignment putting my faith in the good Lord above that I would be blessed by my willingness to serve...maybe blessed with a few A's on exams. So T and I prepared and we showed up to church early ready to speak. The Bishop announced the proceedings of the meeting but strangely only announced up to the first speaker, which was a young lady in the ward. She gave a very fine 5 minute talk and sat down after which the Bishop stood back up and said the snow was picking up and he was going to error on the side of caution and cancel the rest of church. Now, we've lived in Idaho for the last five years and we've had the unfortunate pleasure of dealing with a considerable amount of snow. We saw a few inches in Portland while in Idaho we often measure snow fall in feet. Never in my life have I ever seen church canceled. For all our Utah and Idaho readers, can you imagine if church was canceled because of snow? You wouldn't go to church for 6 mouths out of the year or more.

Oh, and as I was walking out of the chapel a fellow stopped me and said, "I don't know how many times I've prayed to have church canceled when I had to give a talk and it happened to you."

It's Tuesday night now. School was canceled yesterday, we had class today, another storm (can I even bring myself to call it a storm), another flurry is said to blow over us early tomorrow and I just received confirmation that school is now canceled for tomorrow. This is absolutely ridiculous. A few inches of snow falls, a little ice forms and mayhem breaks out in the Portland metropolitan area. Tons of snow could have fallen and thick ice could have built on the roadways in Idaho and business as usual.

Though Idaho schools do get out for Potato Harvest...that's another one I don't understand.

Are You Serious?

2008-11-07T16:07:00.000-08:00

This is the second post of the "Are You Serious?" series. I have to admit when I stated this series I thought I would have much more blogs to post under this subject...shoot, a lot of people do a lot of stupid things that cause me to say to myself "are you serious?"

Well, have I got one for you. I have a class mate who is about 30 years old and originally from Colorado. I don't want to name names in case he may bump into this blog in the future. So I will call him RC.

RC dresses nice, is not a bad looking fellow, and seems to have an alright personality. He is not the brightest chap but he's not stupid either. All in all, RC is a good guy. However, RC has a serious hygiene problem. He blatantly refuses to apply deodorant or antiperspirant to the under portion of his arm pit. He happens to be in my cadaver dissection group and his B.O. is so horrendous that I would rather smell the formaldehyde of the cadaver than his pits.

I should also explain that RC is not absent minded of the issue. He knows he smells and he doesn't care. When he introduced himself to another friend of mine in the class he straight up told my friend that he didn't use deodorant as if he was proud of it. He also openly bragged to the guys in the lockerroom that he wanted to be "the guy" who doesn't ever wash is scrubs from dissection lab. Note: we have lab for three quarters. With three months to a quarter, that is nine months spending 6 hours a week in lab and never washing his scrubs. I wash mine, as does the majority of the class, every week; and the smell still doesn't completely go away.

I'm not sure if RC ever wants to be married or if he ever wants a girlfriend, but if so I guess he has come to the right place. Portland has plenty of hippies just like him. If anyone has any suggestions on how I can get RC to wear deodorant I would greatly appreciate the advice. For crying in the night, I think the cadaver can even smell his B.O.

Ode to the Hair

2008-11-02T17:59:00.000-08:00

Well, the days of growing my hair out are over. T finally got her wish and we spent this Saturday cutting my mop. I grew it out for almost a year and I have to admit that I kind of liked it long. I thought I would blog and give one last hurrah by posting some pictures of the many hair styles I tried during the growing process.

Not one of my finest hairstyles (but T looks cute)

Hiking hair with bandanna

Cowboy hat hair (looks pretty sweet, I'd say)

Shaggy, messy hair

Slicked back and parted hair (one of my favs.)

Straight hair, aka lead singer of a hit band hair

And here is the conclusion. That's a years worth of hard work. Compare the pile to the clippers and also realize it's a good solid 2-3 inches thick on the floor.

The result! I'm pretending to cry, but if you look hard enough you might be able to see a real tear squeezing out of my eye. I'm not to happy to have a cold head again.

Moving, Cruising, and Schooling

2008-10-18T13:33:00.000-07:00

I know you're all thinking to yourselves that it's about time T and I update our blog. I would apologize but life has been a roller coaster for about the last month. We have been here and there and everywhere...literally. A lot has gone on since we last posted. I hope after this post we'll have more time to post more often.

Moving
We moved from Rexburg late in September. We finished up our jobs, packed our stuff and loaded it in a truck in a matter of two days. I don't think I ever realized how horrible moving is. I've moved myself around but that consisted of only my stuff. Add in another persons things and a whole heap of other pointless crap and we had a mess of our hands. T and I really don't have much, for crying out loud, we only lived in a 600 sq. foot apartment. You can't cram that much in that space, plus if you've read our previous post we sold our couch. However, while packing it seemed the CRAP never ended and the packing never ceased.

We were finally off on September 18 and we were a bit sad to leave a wonderful place and many of our closest friends. To add to our moving woes we were not able to move into our apartment right away so we had to store our things at my parents house for over a week (by the way, we would like to thank my parents for storing our stuff in their house. It was not very convenient for them but very much appreciated by us). Finally, after over a week we loaded a moving truck for the second time and unloaded it for a second time at our new apartment in NE Portland. Our new joint is older than our previous place and still a one bedroom but it is 135 sq. feet bigger which is easily noticed...we are able to fit a couch, love seat, and recliner chair in the living room. In our old place we only had a couch and that barely squeezed in. All in all we are happy here so far and we feel it will be a good neighborhood to live in for now. It is quiet and surrounded by residential houses so it keeps the foot traffic away and gives the area a safer feel to it. Hopefully we'll enjoy our time here as much as we did in Rexburg.

Cruising
OK, enough of the boring stuff, let's talk about our cruise we went on. While my folks were watching our crap T and I went on a cruise to the Caribbean. We left from Florida and spent 7 days cruising to the Bahamas, St Thomas of the US Virgin Islands, and to St. Maarten. In general it was all beautiful, it was mostly relaxing and the food was delicious--at least the food that didn't make me sick--(I'll explain in a few). Cruises are definitely ALL that they are cracked up to be. And Carnival was awesome too.

The only downside was getting food poisoning. I'm not really sure why I couldn't win money through Bingo or win the drawing for a free watch but I could be the one person on the ship to get food poisoning. I let me tell you, did I ever get sick.

I'll begin to describe the situation by explaining that I have always wanted to try ahi tuna. So many people have told me it's good and cruises are the perfect time to try new foods because it's all free. So I have waited many months for this cruise and passed up many ahi tuna at restaurants so I could try it on the cruise. So, I did...and it was NASTY! It was served with a cube of watermelon and it did not satisfy any of the craving I had build up over the months. I didn't think anything of it considering I had never had ahi tuna and just figured I wasn't too partial to it. Well, after a nap and a small bowel of strawberry ice cream I was not feeling so good. Again I didn't think anything of it due to the fact that I had gorged myself the previous night at dinner by eating a New York strip steak, a full rack of baby-back ribs, some shrimp concoction, and a dessert or two. I just figured I had a bit of a case of indigestion...go figure. At this point all I was concerned about was feeling better before dinner so I could gorge myself again. Well, the uneasy feeling became a really sour gassy feeling and shortly after became painful. Dinner was rapidly approaching and I knew I had no chance of getting over whatever I had before dinner so I settled in for the night. T finally got hungry herself and went to get a bite to eat. Soon after she left all hell broke lose inside my digestive system. I had diarrhea every 20 minutes. Though it was horrible I can handle diarrhea every once in awhile. But of course that couldn't be it. About an hour after the squirts began I started to throw up. Remember, I had gorged myself the previous night, and in fact, the whole time we had been on the boat so I had a lot of food to barf up. Throwing up was so horrible that I would like to describe it as follows (if you are the least bit easily grossed out I would skip the rest of this discussion). As, anatomically accurate as I can explain it, it is a good thing my digestive system is attached to the outside of my body via the anus to the rectum or else I might have thrown up my whole GI tract. I was heaving so hard I was literally asking Heavenly Father to take me from the earth right then. I have thrown up many times in my life but no other time was even remarkably close to as bad as this. Anyway, enough of that. The rest of the cruise was good once I cleaned my system out and I recovered a bit.

Here are some pictures

T and I on the outside deck of the ship

When we arrived on the Bahamas

Breathtaking picture of a Coci beach

Hundreds of fish seen while snorkeling at St. Thomas

(Taken above the water because we don't a waterproof camera)

After we debarked in St. Maarten

T and I with our evening servers. Orlando (L) Antonio (R)

T about to dive in at a St. Maarten beach

Schooling

I started Chiropractic school at the beginning of October. It's crazy but awesome. I love that I am learning things that will pertain to me as a Doctor of Chiropractic. I also get to do a full dissection of a cadaver and I love it. I'm starting to think I would have been a pretty good surgeon. I am excited to meet new people and so far they all are fun and interested in studying and learning. I'll leave it at that right now and give a more in depth overview next time I post. This blog is long enough as is.

Update

2008-08-28T07:10:00.000-07:00

I have to apologize to all our readers for not posting in awhile. With all the work T and I have been doing to earn extra cash and with all the tasks to accomplish in preparation for our move to Oregon life has been busy. However, I wanted to sympathize with our readers because I know what it's like to check someones blog and never see an update. So here is an update on our happenings since we graduated.

Metcalf Family Reunion
T's family had a family reunion in Malad, Idaho the week after graduation. It was nice to see her family and especially her Grandpa. He came out from Virginia so see the family and it was nice to have him around. We played a lot of games including a lot of volleyball. The best day was when we went to Lava Hot Springs and played in the big pool they have with a three level high dive and water slides. Below are a few pictures of T and I jumping off the high dive.

J jumping off the highest platform

T jumping off the middle platform (she has much better form than I do)

Moving Prep.

In Preparation for our move we sold our couch to make the move easier. It was a bit sad to see it go. After we posted it to be sold on the BYU-Idaho website we debated whether we should actually sell it. The first person we invited over to see it took one look at it and said he'd buy it. T and I said to the fellow, "Are you sure, you haven't even sat on it yet." So, he sat down and said, "Yep, I'll buy it." He then left and came back 10 minutes later with a truck and away went the couch. It's a little sad to see something you bought when you first got married being sold away. Oh well, we can get a new couch and start new memories.

Good-bye couch, we probably won't miss you when we have a nicer one

Table Rock Mountain

Just this last Monday we went on another hike to try to get our Eastern Idaho fix before we move. We hiked Table Rock which is one of the tougher hikes in this area. After the experience I'm wondering if the spelling of the name should be Tab-hell Rock. It was a beast!

The hike started out fairly easy; we walked on pretty flat ground through some meadows and wild flowers (just a teaser compared to the 50% uphill grade we would eventually get to). After awhile I started to form a blister on the back of my heel and had to change my walk a little to relieve the pain. (I knew I should have not put on the socks that have a hole in them...what was I thinking). The changing of my walk was a serious mistake because it caused my hips to really hurt later in the hike when we were about a mile from the top and walking straight up hill. T practically bounded up the mountain with no trouble whatsoever which just added to my fury. I should take a minute, in my defense, to remind all our readers to go back a few post to when T ran her marathon. She is in much better shape because of that training than her pathetic husband. Though, during the whole hike I never had trouble breathing it was my darn legs that were causing the problem. I the last few years I have noticed a growing pain in my knees and have told T that I will probably need to get my knees scoped before I am 30. I blame it on being a catcher in baseball for 10 plus years of my life. Anyway, the knee situation only got worst.

Once we reached the top we rested, ate, took in the amazing view, and shot some photos of the breathtaking picture before us. Then it was time to make the decent and for the real hell to begin. If T thought I complained a lot about my legs and knees going up she got an earful coming down. We found out on the way up from a few people that there is another way up or down (depending on how yo look at it). It was called the face trail and everyone said it cut about two miles off the distance but was straight up or down. I'd like to add that every person we talked to recommended coming up that trail and going down the one T and I came up. T was not interested in taking that recommendation so we went down the trail every encouraged us not to.

Let's just say once we started down the mountain the hike got a whole lot worse for me. It was straight down with a ton of loose rock for the next two hours. If my knees were hurting on the way up I don't even remember...I thought I was going to loose every ligament in my both my knees on the way down. And do you know what T was doing on the way down, singing and whistling to herself as she practically skipped down the face.

After it was over you can imagine how I felt...I wanted to DIE! T on the other hand, when she was finished she said to me, "Ready to go to Jackson Hole and walk around."

Here are some pictures

The little nob on the right of the photo is Table (Tab-hell) Rock. The tall peak in the middle in called The Grand, the tallest peak in the Tetons.

T in front of The Grand and at the top of Table Rock

J thinking, "If I pose like this maybe no one will know how hard this hike actually was for me." This is about as close as you can get to The Grand without actually hiking it.

In my defense, T took this picture to show that the trail she chose to come down was not recommended, not only by the people we talked to on the trail but also by the state of Wyoming. I think I might go back to that site and post my own sign saying, "Dido!"

Graduation

2008-07-30T20:06:00.000-07:00

T and I finally did it...well I graduated a semester ago but because T and I were in the same College of Agriculture and Life Science I decided to wait and march with her. It was neat to have all the teachers there applauding us as we walked in to Commencement. It was nice to have so many call us by name and it reminded us what great teachers we had while attending Brigham Young University-Idaho. We are excited (and a little scared) to move on but we feel privileged and blessed to attend BYU-Idaho and to have gained so many close friends while here.

Hiking, Camping, and Updating

2008-07-13T19:50:00.000-07:00

T and I have been pretty busy lately and have not had a chance to update everyone on our happenings. So here's what's been going on.

Hiking

A few Sundays ago T and I went out to Driggs, Idaho and went on a sweet hike. It was up in Darby Canyon and the trail headed up to a big cave called Wind Cave. I read a little pamphlet that said the hike was best done in the beginning of the Summer while the snow run-off was still running so that there would be waterfalls along the way. What the pamphlet didn't say was to wait until all the snow was melted or you wouldn't be able to make it up to the cave.

That didn't deter T and I. We hiked up regardless of the snow and made it to about a hundred yards from the cave. At that point we thought it too steep and slippery to go all the way to the cave. Plus, the water run-off was pouring out of the cave so hard and so fast we decided to keep our distance. We plan on going up again later in the summer once the run-off subsides so we can hike into the cave.

Here are a few photos.

Us at the trail head

J at a small waterfall

T on the trail

Wind cave with water pouring out

Camping

This last week I went on a high adventure camp out with the young men in my ward. We went to Salmon River High Adventure Base Camp in Riggins, ID. We had a seven hour drive ahead of us so we left on Sunday after church. We camped for the night just outside of McCall, ID and woke early to be at the base camp by check in.

The whole camp out was a three day white water rafting trip down the Salmon river. The first day was pretty low key; just a few small rapids to prepare us for the next two days. The second day was a little more eventful. On on of the big rapids two of our boys decided it would be fun to jump in before the rapid and take the rapid in their life jackets. With the missing weight on one side of the boat it hit a hole and twisted in such a way that water washed out the rest of the boys and the river guide. I was in the leader boat just ahead of the boys raft and witnessed the whole thing. Let's just say I was a bit worried. Luckily all the boys made it out OK and thought it was the greatest thing to ever happen to them.

The third day was the shortest day on the river but the most exciting. The rapids were coming every couple of hundred yards and they were all big and fun. Too bad for our boys, because of the stunt they pulled they had to go around most of the big holes. Most of the boys still thought it was a great day on the river when we ended with an all out war on the river between the boys from our troop and the boys from another troop. Even the leaders pitched in a few splashes and tackles into the water...how could I resist.

Overall, it was an awesome trip, one I'd like to do again if I had the chance.

Here are some pictures. (My camera is not waterproof so all pictures are taken from dry ground. I'll post other pictures when I get them from the other leader).

Chillin' out at our first campsite

Our second campsite on the beach

A gorgeous view of part of the river and the canyon

Me with the rafts...trying to get my tan on!

Funny Story

I just wanted to add this funny story that happened at church today. We had just got done eating the bread during sacrament and this seven year old boy in front of T and I said to his parents in a really loud voice, "I wish we could eat a whole piece of white bread...that would be awesome."

I don't think his parent realized how loud he said it until they saw that all ten rows behind them were laughing hysterically, T and I included. To tell you the truth I think all of us during the sacrament have had that same thought one time in our lives, it just took a seven year old to announce it. Kids say the darnedest things!

Dam Marathon

2008-06-18T19:21:00.000-07:00

I think the title to this post is what T was saying to herself when she was at mile 16 in her recent endeavor. T ran the Teton Dam Marathon this last Saturday and it was an accomplishment to say the least. I asked her if she wanted to report on her experience but she would rather have me write in her behalf. So it is from my perspective that I write about T's marathon.

I dropped T and her friend off at the dam at 5:15 am for the 5:30 start. After the race started, I drove home and watched Sports.center for four hours. Than I drove to the finish line and picked T up. That was my view of the race.

OK, now for T's. She had a few goals before the race started. The first was to finish in under 4 hours and 30 minutes. The second was to not walk the entire 26.3 miles. She was able to accomplish one of the two. At about mile 16 or so T started to feel sick to her stomach. We are still not sure what brought it on but nonetheless it slowed her down a bit. She thought it was the energy goo they were giving out so she stopped eating and drinking anything but water for the rest of the race. I feel that may have added to her problem. After a mile or so she started to feel better and was able to finish the race in 4 hours and 20 minutes. She did have to walk a little when she felt sick but she was able to persevere and still finish in under four-thirty.

After finishing and after she caught her breath she told me that at one point while she was running she saw a cliff out away from the road and tempted to jump off. She said, "I saw the cliff and thought to myself I can jump off that cliff and end this misery now." She also explained to me moments after the race that she was an idiot to have ever wanted to run a marathon.

Now we are a few day since the marathon and T has finally got over an extreme case of leg and body soreness. She has taken her daily workouts lightly (though I wish she would take the whole week off entirely, but it's T I'm talking about). She now feels running another marathon is definitely something to do again in the future but right now she wants to possibly participate in a triathlon.

Since I got to write this post I also want to take a moment to tell T that I am very very impressed and proud of her for her accomplishment. She truly is amazing and inspiring and I hope she knows how much I love her. Shoot, all I did for those four hours is watch Sports.center, not very impressive.

Here are a few pictures for you all to enjoy.

T getting ready for the start

T running the last stretch before the finish line

Finishing her first ever marathon...way to go!

You Know You're a Poor College Student When...

2008-05-18T21:34:00.001-07:00

I think I've got a new series of blogs coming with this one.

This last Saturday T and I went on a little bike ride. First to Ta.co Be.ll to purchase 89 cent double beef burritos (best deal around by the way; they are so good), then to Snow.asis (a shack selling delicious shaved ice), and finally to the park to enjoy the goods. There, at the park, is where the inspiration for this post unfolded.

After partaking in the cheap meal we decided to take a stroll around the park. The night air was welcoming and the park was bustling with people. Before we started our walk, we needed a place to lock up our bikes lest another poor college student tried to take them. We found a covered eating area and locked our bikes up to a post. On one of the tables I noticed a bag of chips and made a joke to T to try one a see if they were good. I should inform you this was a bag of already opened chips that was obviously left there after a big party of some sort. T refused and told me to eat one. Normally I would have said no, but these were BBQ--one of my favorites--and I wanted to see what T's reaction would be if I ate one. So, I opened the bag, grabbed a chip, examined it to see if there were any ants on it, then put it in my mouth. It was good; not stale or anything. We determined they were fine and decided to eat the rest of them as we took our walk around the park. It's a bit embarrassing to admit but we figure they had only been sitting there since that day. No harm no foul, right?

Three 89 cent burritos, $2.67. Two snow cones, $4.50. Finding a half eaten bag of chips at the park and finishing them off...priceless.

Going Green!

2008-05-15T19:16:00.000-07:00

T and I are going green in preparation for our move to Oregon. In doing so we purchased a set of bikes for the two of us in hopes to do our little part in saving the environment. Most people know that many Oregonians are labeled as tree huggers, as granolas, or as hippies. We would like to publicly announce that we are all of the above.

JUST KIDDING, I hope you could read right thought all that rubbish. We aren't interested in saving the environment...well I am a little bit, but not to the extent of some Oregon dwellers. Anyway, the real reason we purchased the bikes is to save the green...money that is. With the astronomical gas prices, driving is becoming a serious burden. Filling the car with gas is honestly depressing. So, T and I brain stormed one night and determined we could save a ton of money if we rode bikes around Rexburg. So far it's been good, except for T likes to use every excuse in the book to not to ride her bike and to use the car. I, on the other hand, have enjoyed the exercise and the fresh air.

Hopefully we'll keep up the riding and save some green, as well as pick up a new hobby.