Photos from the Rest of the Trip

Again, there are a dearth of photos....but I did snap a few of Jonathan and Jon reliving the old days.

Mario Kart.  Need I say more?

Waiting for the ladies to finish their shopping.

Jon and Rachael in their super cute apartment.

The flavor I miss most from Oregon: McMenamin's Ruby.  There wasn't enough time for me to figure out how I was going to transport a jug of this home with me.  So sad.

The bar across the street.  We played some wicked ping pong there.

The most un-perfect way to end a great trip. Thankfully Jonathan kept his discontent under wraps.  I didn't want him to be detained and miss the flight.

Friends and Family in Oregon

When I wrote down all the things we did and the people we saw in Oregon, I'm saddened by how few pictures I took.  The photos on the blog represent just a fraction of the fun we had while on vacation.

Here are three of the sweetest kids we knew back in Oregon.  Aislinn is the same age as Olivia.  I made them talk over FaceTime.  I was later told how awkward that was by my ten year old, but I thought it was cool.

Becky and Ian are going to be moving from this apartment, good ol' 121.  I'm so excited for them!

After driving by their new house, we headed over to Aunt Karen and James' house where we wished Kyle and Theresa a fine honeymoon.  We got to spend a few minutes hanging out with family, and extended family from Kansas.

And we have no pictures from that night at the Rogers'.  :(

Kyle's Wedding Day

Wedding Day!  Despite being completely exhausted from the day before as I was still on EST, I woke up bright and early.  Or at least, I woke up earlier than everyone else in the house.  Speaking of the house, the following picture is where we stayed, specifically the tower room.  It was awesome.

Here are some photos I took of cool buildings in the immediate vicinity, while I was waiting for Heidi to arrive for coffee and breakfast.

Yes, I am awake!

After a wonderful breakfast with Heidi, I ironed my dress for the wedding because we were planning on going somewhere with Jon and Rachael beforehand.  After wedding prep was completed, we all hopped in the car.

Jonathan insisted that Jon wear his driving gloves.

Ahh, the pumpkin patch and giant corn maze Jon and our friend Esther brought Olivia and Owen to as toddlers.

Jon, Jonathan and Rachael check out our progress from a bridge somewhere in the middle of the maze.

We did it!

All dressed up and ready to go.   Here's where the wedding was held.

Grandma Helen was able to make it out for the wedding.

Jason and Jennifer looking well, after giving birth to their little girl just three days before.

Kurt and Sharon were able to come out for the wedding too!

The bride and groom make their rounds.

Gone to Oregon

My blogpost title is cuter if you say it like a Mainer.  "Gone to Or-ee-gone."

Well, I'm back at the blog.  At the end of September J and I dashed off to Oregon for an amazing week among friends and family, to witness the wedding of Jonathan's younger cousin Kyle.  Thanks to the Smith's, my great cousin Patty and sister-in-law Jamie for making it possible by watching after parts and, in Patty's case, all of the kids while we were away.

It was a really refreshing and rejuvenating experience for us, and a huge blessing to get to see so many people we haven't seen in years.  However, when we first arrived in Portland it was 2am our time, so I was feel in' a little bit tired on our light rail ride into Portland.

After napping, we headed off on a tour of our old stomping grounds with our friends Jon and Rachael.  We had to step in and document the place where we met, the Calder lecture hall.  Unfortunately there was a lecture going on so we couldn't reenact the moment.  Oh well.

Jonathan, Jon and Rachael chill in the Student Union Building while I try to track down the phone number of one of my best professors.

Ah love.

After meeting up with Neal Ninteman, my dear friend Heidi met us at Fox.  We hopped over to the Coffee Cottage and bought an old copy of the Happy Hollisters for the kids.  I wonder if they'll like it.

On the drive back into Hillsboro, we stopped at Bald Peak, a place J and I often tried to find, but never ended up going to.

I don't think people generally think of it like this, but I had forgotten how much beautiful farm land there is nestled in the great forests of Oregon.  It's so beautiful.  Unfortunately this isn't a great photo of that, but it was the best I could do as we sped over the mountain into Hillsboro.  

Here's Chloe meeting her Uncle Jonathan for the first time!

What a little cutie she is!

A Little Lovey for the New Little One

My niece, Chloë Marie was born a few days before our scheduled trip to Oregon, so Olivia and I made some Birthday gifts for her.  I sewed an oversized swaddling blanket and with the scraps we decided we'd make a little bunny for her. 

It started out like this.  And we began to cut away.

 Snippety snip.

Time to sew, then stuff the little guy.  Santa Patty has all the poly-fill you could ever want.

Olivia uses a chopstick to stuff the bunny.

Almost done!

Super Bunny.  The cape is made from an outgrown onesie.  And all wrapped up in the swaddling blanket, I think our little friend looks quite cozy.  I hope Chloe enjoys it!

  

The Little Guy Arrives. Auntie Patty Dominates.

So, I have an announcement to make.  There's a new addition to our family.  He's so cute and small and lightweight and fast.  We call him the Little Guy, and I'm thrilled to have him.  I admit, I'm not sure how to handle him and I feel a little worried that I'm going to drop him or break him some how, but based on my experience, I think I can handle the joyous responsibility.

The only thing that overshadowed this awesome event is that Auntie Patty arrived!!!

We've been waiting all summer for Auntie Patty to get here.  Finally at the beginning of fall she showed up.  But since we just got the Little Guy, he dominated all of our immediate activities.  First, we went to Goodwill to get him something to wear when he goes out.  We found an old wool, men's large, J. Crew sweater vest that would be perfect for him!

So, if you haven't figured it out yet, we got a Macbook Air, and after checking out the price tags for covers, I decided I'd make one.  Too bad I forgot to take before pictures.  Here is the sweater vest after a washing:

Here is Patty, amazed at the perfection of the felted vest for the Little Guy.  It will fit so snugly!

Here is Patty after she got a ton of thread wound around the bobbin winder, rather than the bobbin.  We started working on some of her crafts too.  But we didn't get very far thanks to that mishap.
  

Fix it Patty!  Fix it!!!  But you know, at your leisure, 'cuz we're doing my project by hand and we don't need that sewing machine.

Patty pauses from unwinding that thread to check her email.  And she taught me to blanket stitch.

Tah-dah!  Homemade cover for the Little Guy.  :)

We also did another project over those two days, which I'll cover in my next post.