A Month of Photo Updates

It's been a LONG time since I've blogged. It's been so long that I figured it would be better to just to a photo journal type thing. Here goes:

Here's the local Peace Corps group at the Eugene Celebration Parade... no Azeri flag yet.. maybe we'll be with them next year!

Me and Finn watching the parade with my Dad in the background. We had a huge group this year! Dad, Deena, Kenton, Katrina and most of Katrina's extended family! It's always a fun parade full of funky people, even better when shared with friends and family!

2006 with Finn in Katrina's belly and 2008 with Finn almost 2 years old!

We got to see N.E.R.D and Common in concert with my old Wells Fargo friends Rick and John.

N.E.R.D.

Common pulled my old friend Echo on stage with him for almost his whole set. Crazy!

We drove up to Albany to have dinner with Jesse's grandparents and this was on the drive home.

So was this.

We have a new nephew!!! What a sweet little guy! We are going to Spokane this weekend to meet him and to spend time with our other two nephews! Can't WAIT!!

Mom and I had tea and talked about all the baby boys in our lives.

We took the annual Fall trip out to Deterings for pumpkins and cider. This year with took the Henrys along with us and lucked out - Deterings was offering wagon rides through their orchards! Fun stuff!

I love this picture of the little Henry family. I love the looks on all three of their faces.

The horses worked hard in the rain and mud.

Last week we went to see Cara Luft and Bill Staines. We got to have dinner with them before the concert and they are awesome people!

Here's a video of Bill singing my favorite song of his, "River."


And a video of my music club back in Azerbaijan singing "River." I love, LOVE, LOVE these girls!

Two roads diverged...

Our great, wonderful, fantastic friend Rayne was here on Monday night for dinner and a sleep-over! He was on his way to a wolf sanctuary where he will live and work for a while. I love how Ranye has totally embraced LIFE and is doing so many cool, adventurous things!

We knew Ranye in college when he lived in our dorm for two terms. Ever since then he and Jesse have kept in great contact and whenever we see him, it feels so natural and easy. He was the best man in our wedding (and did a great job at the toast, by the way!) and he is truly a GREAT man. We love him and are always so happy to spend time with him.

It's so funny to think of the things we do with our lives, the directions we go, the adventures we have. It looks like Jesse and Rayne have chosen two distinct paths, but their connection is greater for it. It has made all the difference.

I'm glad I get to spend time with these two men, who I love so much.

My Talented Husband

Jesse made a new website for us. He's awesome. I love him.

Go Ducks!!!

The season opener for the Ducks turned out to be a great game! The ducks looked pretty good most of the time and the fans (as usual) were amazing. There's really nothing like going to a football at Autzen Stadium. It gets so LOUD in there!!

Jesse played a joke on Dad by showing up painted purple. It was pretty funny, except the face paint kind of dyed Jesse's chest hot pink. :)

There were some neat clouds as the sun was setting. The weather was great, but it got kind of chilly near the end. I'm so excited for Autumn!!

We spent some time down at the seats Dad has had for my whole life - right on the 50 yard line 18 rows up. Pretty much perfect. We also got to spend time in the Wells Fargo suite.

You gotta love Autzen!! Go Ducks!!!

Organic Local Produce, Dead Computers and New Jobs...

Our trusty laptop has died. It was sort of expected. It's what happens to laptops that live in Azerbaijan. I have a great photo of Jesse and our site-mate Nate fixing Nate's and Mike's computers. But, of course it's on our broken laptop. But, fear not! The nice computer men have told us that our hard drive is fine and will give it to us soon. All is not lost... all can be regained. (edit: I got the hard drive this afternoon!! Don't you just love this picture? Nothing like fixing computers, drinking vodka pomegranate juice with head lamps on!)

Until we get our handy little hard drive back, we are without photos or a way to upload photos. It's a huge bummer, but not the end of the world. It will just make for some boring blogs in the meantime. Sorry about that.

We are still house sitting. It's nice to be able to spread out and cook for ourselves. It's been cold and rainy here lately so I've been making lots of yummy soups from this book. Yummy!

I added some links of blogs that I enjoy. I also wanted to mention a website my mom told me about. It's called Eugene Local Foods and it's a lot of fun! We've talked about doing a CSA program for a few years, but never felt like we could eat all the food in the box. This is a great alternative because you just pick what you want and go pick it up at Hideaway Bakery. Good stuff!!

Next week I start working for the Early Education Program. I worked here a few years ago and I'm excited to go back to teaching.

We love driving our new Civic! We've been getting about 30 miles/ gallon, which is so wonderful!!

That's it. Thanks for reading. Leave a comment.

What a month this has been!

Yeah, yeah, yeah. We're still alive....

After Ben's wedding we came home and bought a car! This is a car just like our cute little Petunia! We love it. :)

That's about all that's been happening, I guess. We've been house sitting for a few people. It's kind of fun because we get to "test drive" neighborhoods and different parts of town. We've already been in Santa Clara (so so) and College Hill (aMAZing) and now we're back in Ferry Street Bridge area (too much traffic). We're in a new house until the end of September, so that will be nice to be a little more settled somewhere.

We're watching the Olympics a lot and thinking a lot about Georgia and our friends over in Azerbaijan. We really hope things get straightened out soon. We are also looking forward to all our AZ4 friends coming back to the states!!! Yay!!!

Pre Wedding Fun...

We had lots of fun preparing for my brother Ben's wedding to Devon! We flew down to California on Thursday and went right out to Devon's wonderful parents' house. They made a wonderful meal for us including the best chicken I have even eaten in my life - no joke! It was great to spend some calm time getting to know them and with Ben and Devon before their big weekend!

On Friday Devon's dad's business partner's wife hosted a beautiful bridal luncheon. Then we had the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner. It's always so great to spend time with our family! Especially with the kiddos! We really missed Dan and Nina, though! :(

Jen, Heather, me and Devon at the bridal luncheon. Jen's pregnant! She looks so beautiful! The silly baby was always shy around me and never let me feel him kick!

Drew wanted to get in on the rehearsing. Both his parents were in the wedding, so he was stuck with me and Jesse.

He didn't seem to mind being stuck with us too much.

Jesse and Antonio. So cute and sweet!

Devon's gown was so beautiful. She looked amazing. She wore the bracelet that Jen and Heather gave me for my wedding. It was her 'something borrowed' and it looked great with her ensemble. :)

... and on to the Big Event!

Ben and Devon's wedding was so wonderful. The location was one of the most beautiful houses I've even been in. It's called the Kohl Mansion and it's in Burlingame, California. In the Bay Area. It was exquisite! Jesse and I got to babysit my two sisters' kids during the ceremony. They are the sweetest boys and did so well for us! The only problem was that Drew (15 months) was too happy! He kept laughing and stuff. :) Antonio (4 1/2 months) was happy chilling out on Jesse's lap, sucking on Jesse's hand.

Here's Ben with the priest and his guys. He looked very nice and calm.

Dum, dum da-dum!
This is a lovely shot of the beautiful Kohl Mansion and Devon and her dad John walking up to Ben. It was such a pretty wedding. The weather was perfect and Devon looked stunning!

Devon and her bride's maids. Jen and Heather are on the end on the right. Devon had all the maids pick their own dresses in the same color. It looked great and each girl looked amazing.

Me and Ben before the wedding. My hair is a bit wind-blown.

Jesse, Steve and three of my brothers. What a group of good looking fellas!

Week in Review

This past week we got to do lots of fun things!

We got to attend concerts at the wonderful Oregon Bach Festival.......and go to the US Track and Field Olympic Trials!


On Monday night Deena and I went to see the OBF chorus, orchestra and Youth Choral Academy perform with Garrison Keillor. It was a lot of fun. He's a funny, funny man, I tell you what!While we were watching Keillor, Jesse and my dad went to the trials and did a more manly event. They watched lots of runners and stuff. Jesse and I got to go to the opening day the previous Friday where we saw lots of qualifying races, but on Monday Jesse got to see some actual final races. It's pretty cool how Eugene is becoming Track City, USA once again!
Tuesday was a rest day at the trials so the Bach Fest did a special concert honoring Bill Bowerman. It was a nice tribute to one of the founders of Nike - a true Man of Oregon.
On Wednesday we got to take Kenton and Katrina to see the 5 Browns. They are a group of siblings in their 20s who all studied piano at Julliard. They were a lot of fun to watch, very talented and had great personalities. It was fun to have a fancy night on the town with our friends!

Thursday I got to go see the Youth Choral Academy. This is the 11th year of the Academy and it holds a very special place in my heart. I was a member of the Academy the 1st and 2nd year of its run, and a chaperone the 3rd year. It's such an amazing experience for the high schoolers involved. I learned so much about music in the few weeks I spent with Dr. Anton Armstrong and his crew. This year I got to go with my step brother Adam who's a professional singer, so that was cool!

Besides all that, we spent lots of time with Kenton, Katrina and Finn. I had lunch with Mom and Becky, we watched fireworks at Alton Baker Park with KK&F, went swimming with the Ruddicks, Chases and Henrys...

I'm still looking for a job. There are resumes out there and other things in the works, so send your happy thoughts towards all of that!

First day at work!

Jesse had his first day at his new job last Monday! He was offered a position at his old bank, Siuslaw Bank. He's doing more interesting things than he was doing before, so that's fun! It's sad to have him back at work and me still looking for a job. I miss him. :(

I decided to take pictures of Jesse on his way to his first day of work.He's such a big boy!! He can tie his own tie!Just a little tantrum when I dropped him off with donuts for his co-workers.He was really brave and walked in all by himself!!

Now hopefully I can find a job so I can help contribute to our family! Prayers are appreciated. :)