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. :)

Family Weekend

A couple weeks ago we had a family weekend up in Portland with my mom and Steve, and *most* of my siblings on that side. It was great to get together so soon after coming home from Azerbaijan. We stayed at the Vintage Plaza downtown and had lots of good times.

We took some special time out of the weekend to celebrate Jen and Kyle's new baby boy coming this September and Ben and Devon's wedding next month! We are all so happy that our family is growing so quickly and missed everyone who wasn't here this year.

We of course had breakfast at Sckavones.

We got to meet our lovely new nephew Antonio.

And catch up with our other nephew Drew.
We went to the Japanese Gardens which was totally beautiful. Here's all the girls (#1 baby boy).
Devon, Mom, Jen, Me, Nio and Heather.
Here's our lovely parents who generously plan these weekends and bring us all together!
Thanks, guys!
We love being back in Oregon where everything is green and beautiful!
On Saturday night we went to a fancy dinner at Pazzo's at the Vintage Plaza. It's fun to get all dressed up and have yummy drinks and food!The boys.
Kyle, Drew, Steve, Jesse, Ben, Erik and Antonio

The Girls.
Devon, Mom, Carolyn, Heather and Jen

Jesse just loves falling water!!! YAY!!!

Back in Eugene... AKA Finley

We've been back in Eugene for two weeks now. Yesterday was my 1 month mark since my surgery. Things sure seem to be happening fast!

When we got into town we went to Papa's Pizza to surprise our great friends Kenton, Katrina and Finley. We got to hang out with all Katrina's sisters and their families while we waited. They were totally surprised and it was wonderful to see them again!

Finn and his cousins playing at Papa's.

It was great to catch up and it felt like hadn't been away at all, except that Finn is a little boy now instead of a baby!

Brave Finn going down the BIG slide
In the two weeks we've been home, I think we've seen Katrina and Finn (and sometimes Kenton) at least 9 days! We went to the Riverplay park, fed the ducks, played games, scrapbooked... we've done it all!

Here's Jesse with some friends he made at the park. They were digging for bones.

Finley with a friend he made at the park. They were digging for moles.

A couple nights ago we tried to make an Azeri dinner for Dad and Deena. The plov (pictured below with my parents) turned out pretty well and the dolma didn't turn out quite so well. It was fun to try and now we have some ideas of how to make it better and more authentic!

Finley being followed by geese. He loves animals!

He's such a big kid!

Sitting on the sun!

It's good to be back!!

New FAQs and another blog coming...

Hi all, I just wanted to let everyone know that we're still alive and I've updated the Peace Corps Azerbaijan FAQ and we've got another blog in the works. And if anyone knows of any really good job openings, let us know!!!

I do not look upon these United States as a finished product. We are still in the making. - FDR

Hey all!

Carolyn here! I'm back in the world of the living after spending a week and a half sequestered to my hotel room!! Yahoo!!

Last Thursday we went back to see my amazing, wonderul, talented neurosurgeon and he reassured us that everything went perfectly and that I'm healing just right. He took out the 25 stitches (phew!) and we were off! We headed to the Peace Corps Headquarters where we talked to our nurse about what will happen next. We still have some medical stuff and paperwork, but we should be heading back to Eugene pretty soon!

The man who made it so I won't end up paralyzed (right). Kind of amazing, huh?

That afternoon we were really lucky because Dad and Deena were coming into DC to see my step-brother was singing with his group Cantus at the Kennedy Center! They had planned their trip even before they knew we would be here! We had planned that Dad, Deena and Adam would come to our hotel for dinner, but I was feeling so good we decided to surprise them at the airport! We thought they were coming in at about 5 so we got to the airport super early - about 3:55. We sat down at a TGI Fridays that was right where everyone from domestic flights comes through. We ordered drinks and were waiting for them when I saw Deena and Dad walking up!! Deena's jaw dropped and Dad looked confused then happy to see us! Good thing we got there so early since their flight actually got there at 4! It was so much fun! We had some drinks and headed to their hotel where we met up with Adam and his friend Tim for dinner.

On Saturday morning Dad and Deena came over to Arlington and we walked down to the Iwo Jima Marine memorial on our way to Arlington National Cemetary. What an amazing place. It's astonishing to see all the white headstones lined up so perfectly. Being in Washington has really impacted my life. America might not be the best country in the world, but the foundations of our government are so beautiful - reading Jefferson's words at this monument and FDR's inspriring words at his memorial - it makes me really happy and proud to be from a country based on freedom, equality and democracy. I feel that everyone coming home from the military or Peace Corps should be given a paid weekend in DC to reconnect with the roots of our country. It's impressive. But I digress - Arlington - It's very humbling to see the rows and rows honoring the men and women who sacrificed so much for the things that Thomas Jefferson, Abe Lincoln and FDR were so passionate about. It's realy very touching.
We went up to the Kennedy grave again, then went on to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. We were there for the Changing of the Guard which was a beautiful ceremony. I really love how the Old Guard is there to protect the nameless soldiers instead of Kennedy, Taft or any of the other famous leaders burried there. It shows so much respect to the vetrans, families and soldiers who died in American wars.Notice in the photo above how dark the clouds are.... right as we got on the shuttle that goes around the cemetary the skies literally opened up and dropped buckets of water along with lightening right above us! It was almost perfect timing since we were already heading back to the hotel. Almost perfect timing because the shuttle doesn't have very efficient window system and we managed to get soaked!We dried off, Dad and Deena went off to a museum and we met up later for dinner at a restaurant my good friend Bonnie (she's still in Azerbaijan) recommended. Jaleo was a fun Spanish tapas place with good sangria and mojitos and even better paella. Yumm, yumm and yummm! We had a great time with Dad and Deena and we were all so happy I was feeling well enough to spend some time with them! Thanks, Dad and Deena for visiting!

I also want to thank my mom for coming out, spending some time with me and Jesse before my surgery and lots of time with Jesse during and after my surgery! Thanks mamsie!

Me and Mom at the World War II memorial. Note: all the bronze at this memorial was forged in Oregon. Rock on, Oregon!

Update-O-Rama!

Hi all! Sorry it's been so long since our last update. Carolyn's surgery went well, we got home from the hospital on Wednesday and have been hanging out in the hotel room since. So since there isn't really too much new stuff happening, I'll catch you up on some of the stuff that we got to do before her surgery.

Carolyn doing her best "America's Next Top Model" impression in front of the Jefferson Memorial. It was a beautiful day and we learned a lot about Mr. Jefferson. It's really amazing to be back in a country that was built on freedom as a cornerstone.

Carolyn sitting on the steps of the Jefferson Memorial. From here we went to the FDR Memorial, but didn't take any pictures there.

In honor of JFK's birthday the Peace Corps had a small ceremony to celebrate the creation of the Peace Corps. It was really nice and quiet. The director even came to speak.

Carolyn's mom came the day before her surgery to help out, so we took advantage of it and got out to see the monuments.

Carolyn and her mom at the WWII Memorial. We were both very thankful to have her here to help out.

Today (Memorial Day) I walked down to Arlington Cemetary for a ceremony. I got there about an hour early and they weren't letting any more people in. Turns out it is because the president was giving a speech, so I waited around and got to see him has he drove by. It's funny, no matter how many times you see someone on TV, it's always weird to see them in person.

So that's whats new today. We are both very thankful for the sacrifices that men and women have made to protect our country, hopefully they will not be forgotten.