Congratulation's Joel!!

My little brother is graduated from College! If that doesn't make me feel older, maybe just having my 27th birthday, or seeing kids that were in elementary school graduate this year will!!! Geez!

We left for Klamath Falls Friday afternoon to see Joel graduate from OIT Saturday morning. We drove up with my parents which made the drive much more fun...and interesting! We drove through a couple rain storms while heading over the mountain. We checked into our room and then waited for Joel to find out hotel so we could go to dinner. Joel took us to his favorite place in K falls. It was a little Vietnamese place and it was delicious!! I got a lemon grass chicken stir fry, medium hot, over steamed rice. It was so good! A little hot for me, so I just added plum sauce to sweeten it up a little. Yum!

After dinner we got some pie for dessert and headed back to the hotel. Joel opened a couple more gifts (his party was last weekend) from mom and dad and we all ate pie before heading to bed.

We got up early Saturday morning. We wanted to get to OIT by 9 to get a good seat. Before that though, we wanted to take advantage of the hotel's free breakfast. I am so glad we did. It was delicious! They had yogurt, bagels and cream cheese, fruit, coffee, tea, waffles, cereal......and more!!! I had half a waffle (split it with mom), a bowl of raisin bran, and a cup of tea. After breakfast we raced to OIT, but it was already packed out when we got there. Luckily, Sara had gotten there a little before us and saved us a row!!

It was so fun seeing Joel walk onto the field with all his classmates, and then walk up and get his dipolma!! He looked truely happy after he had it in his hands!!
After graduation, dad took us all out for lunch. We had a great time and gave Joel a hard time about how now he's going to be stuck working for the next 40 years! He's not stuck yet though! He's been living it up since graduation! We haven't heard a peep out of him. He's been hanging out with his friends and just having fun. And mom and dad got him a trip to Hawaii for his grad gift, so I'm sure he'll be using that soon to!! Congrats Joel! You made it!!!

We drove back Saturday after lunch, and got back home at about 6:30. Ladd was at the house with Emma, who had just decided that his new phone was a chew toy, and had ruined it, along with our laptop mouse. Thanks Emma. Luckily Ladd had insurance on his phone!!

Despite all that, Ladd made us dinner. He had gone to the Saturday markey and gotten fresh veggies and herbs. We had a good night watching movies, talking, laughing, and eating!!!

Sunday Ladd left in the early afternoon, and Trav and I started in on our chores and errands. Now it's back to work for the week. Busy week ahead! Mom's bday is Wednesday and we are celebrating Father's day as well, since mom and I will be in CA on Sunday! Also Trav and I have the dog trainer, dinner with Air, and we are visiting Lindsey, Brian, and Bria on Thursday! Bring it on!

Goodbye 26, Hello 27!!

Happy Birthday to me. :) It was very difficult for me to say goodbye to another year. I feel like they are flying by so fast now, and I just don't want to get any older!! 30 is creeping up on me! 30!! I used to think 30 was old! I guess you're only as old as you feel though right! And I feel 18 still. HEHE
I had a great birthday! I started at the hospital. Amy and Jay just had thier baby girl, Hannah, so I went to go see her! She is so precious. What a great way to start the day....holding a newborn baby. After visiting with Ame and Jay for a while, I headed to Air's. We went to the Wildlife Safari in Winston for the day! Originally we were going to spend the day at the beach, but the weather that direction was not good at all. Winston was warm and the sun was even peeking through the clouds!
It was so much fun seeing all the animals! We both love animals. We especially loved the lions, tigers, and BEARS! And we went through those areas several times! The bears were the most entertaining. A couple of them were taking baths in the pond...that was like a large dirty puddle! They would lay on their back and just have their head and all 4 paws out of the water. It was a lot of fun, and we actually went through the whole thing twice! Hey, if we're going to drive 2 hrs each way to get there, we minds-well spend 4 hrs there!!!
We got back on the road at 4. My parents were having a BBQ for me, and for my brother's graduation party. Joel and Sara, Randy and Donna, Mom and Dad, Air, and Trav and I made a great group! We ate and laughed and drank and played games all night! Dinner was BBQ'd rib-eye steaks.....what a treat!! My dad spoiled me with shirts (some were actually great.....some were not so great...) I always love the shirts from my dad because they are so random but sometimes he picks some awesome ones!! My mom got me a Miche Bag cover, and some great Beaver's gear...a bag, a hat, a pom-pom, and a little stuffed Benny! My brother got me a cool loose leaf tea brewing pitcher. It's so thoughtful. He said he got it because everytime he comes over we offer him some tea! Sara got me 2 containers of Peet's loose leaf tea to use in it! We've already used it and we love it. Air got me a new straightening iron for my hair! I asked her for one and I love it! It works SO much better than my old one! She also got me a package of my very favorite candy....Yorks!! Randy and Donna even got me a Starbucks gift card! I truly was spoiled rotten! And of course, Trav got me Emma. She's the best gift ever....and apparently the most expensive! LOL. It was a great birthday!
Saturday we went to the Strawberry Festival!!!! I haven't been since I was little, but my parents used to take me every year since it is always on my birthday weekend. We went to the parade, and after the parade we headed to the festival. We ate fair food and wandered around to check out all the booths and rides. I enjoyed some cotton candy! Can't go to a fair and NOT get cotton candy! It was fun. After the festival we headed to Robert and Kathy's to have birthday dinner. It was a good night. We finished it off by watching movies and having some tea (with our new brewing machine!!).
Sunday was the usual chores and errands. Trav did take me out for birthday lunch. He was going to take me out on Friday, but couldn't since I was at the Wildlife Safari. We enjoyed some Wilhelms.
That pretty much sums it up! Emma's stitches aren't healing as quickly as we'd like.....but we don't really know how they should look since we've never done this before. The middle section looks really good, but the top and especially the bottom are still red and are just not closing up like the middle. Hopefully it's just a little slower and we won't have to end up back at the vet! Either way, I think Trav is going to stay home with Emma this weekend while I go to K falls for Joel's graduation. I don't think Emma wrestling with Mya all weekend would be good for her stitches at all, and it's just not worth it if she doesn't pull them out! So, it looks like I might be going with just my parents....which will still be lots of fun! But I will miss Trav! We all will. He's so nice to offer to stay with her alone and still let me go.
Well, work is getting busy so I better get back to it!

Memorial Day weekend in La Grande w the Hearings

Friday afternoon Trav and I got off work at 2:30 and loaded the car with all our things, and Emma and all her things! We stopped to get gas and we were off! We stopped in Portland for dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory. It's one of my favorite places to eat! I love Italian food for starters, and I love the building the Old Spaghetti Factory is in. It's huge and it's like a castle. All the furniture is gorgeous....like Kings and Queens chairs. The doors to get in are HUGE, like 20 feet high....or maybe even higher! There are huge, beautiful chandeliers in the lobby....etc. It's just a fun experience! We were seated at a table right on the water to! I think it's because we got there right at 4:30 when they opened for dinner.
On top of how great the PLACE and FOOD are, the PRICES are great to! Trav and I can both get a big yummy dinner with drinks and dessert and the bill will only total $25!
Needless to say, we had a wonderful dinner and a fun time. We watched the boats on the river and enjoyed the sunshine coming in.
We were back on the road by 5:30. Before we left we let Emma out of the car, fed her, and walked her around a little to stretch her little legs. She had a LONG ride ahead. We all did.
The scenery out of Portland and for the first 100 miles was great. Multnomah Falls, lots of mountains covered with green trees, driving along the river, it was all very pretty. But, after a couple more hours in the car we started getting tired of it. And the scenery seemed to dry up at the same time! There were no towns to even look at from the freeway!
When we arrived at 10pm we were thrilled just to be out of the car! Emma slept the whole way there. She woke up a couple times just to stick her head up, pant a little, reposition herself, and go back to sleep. We stopped a couple more times for her, but she didn't really need us to.
She was thrilled to meet Mon and JD's 3 dogs: Dolce, Baily, and Lucy. Lucy is getting older, and was not very impressed with all the puppy energy Emma brought with her. Baily was slower to warm up, but Emma found a best friend in Dolce. Although they are different sizes (very), they are about the same age and they bonded instantly and played together the whole time we were there. Baily joined in the fun the 2nd day, but Lucy pretty much just "coped" with all the puppies!
Mon and JD gave us the tour of thier house. Madison's room was just as I imagined...painted pink for a princess! So cute. They had 2 spare rooms, ours was decorated so nicely and the bed was SO comfortable! The kitchen was huge and the living room was even huger. We went out to the backyard which was also nice and big. Lots of room for the 4 doggies to play!
Once Trav and I got settled into our room, we played Wii golf (JD taught me lots of new and then went to bed. We had to get up early the next day to go boating!!
Saturday we got on the road a little after 10am. We were heading to a spot on Snake River to meet JD's parents and his sister and her BF. We got there a little before noon, and first things first, we ate! JD's mom fixed us delicious sandwiches. His whole family was very nice and fun to talk with. Then we took the boat out. It was SO much fun. Trav and I very rarely get to go for a boat ride so it is always a treat! Mon and I spent most of out time laying out at the front of the boat. It was so nice a warm out that it wasn't even cold with the wind blowing by us 100 miles an hour in our bikini's! We spent the whole afternoon on the boat, soaking in all the sun rays we could get!
We got back home at 8 and made dinner. We had a mexican casserole and mexican chicken, both were delicious!
After dinner we tried to watch Wolverine, but we had trouble converting it, so we ended up watching Fired Up (really funny) instead.
Sunday we slept in until 10:30, and layed in bed until 11. We had planned to go to Wallowa Lake that day, but there were threats of thunder storms so we decided not to chance it. Instead we went out to lunch and then went and played mini golf. I lost, but I had fun and thats all that matters right??! :) It was lots of fun. After golf we went into the mountains to go mushroom hunting for Morrell's. We found some great mushrooms and had a fun hike through the Forrest! We got home a little after 8 and cooked up BBQ'd hamburgers, which are JD's specialty and they are so good! And Mon made a delicious pasta salad full of goodies, and we cooked up the mushrooms we found and got some grapes! Dinner was SO good. I don't know if it's because it was 9pm and I was starving or not, but it was fantastic!
After dinner we watched Wolverine, which was really good. I figured it would be though. And we watched Taken. I had always been afraid to watch it because it looked scary in the previews, but someone told me that it was really good and not scary so I decided to give it a try. I'm glad I did because it was a good movie, and not scary. :)
We went to bed at 2 and couldn't believe our weekend and time in La Grande was already over!
We got up at 9am, got showered and packed up and we were ready to go by 10am. We said goodbye to Mon, JD, and Madison, thanked them for the good times and great food, loaded Emma up and got back on the road.
It was another gorgeous day thank goodness. That always makes the drive so much better! We were starving by Pendleton, but we didn't want to stop so soon after leaving because we knew we'd need a break later in the drive....and that we'd get hungry again! 6 hours is a long time to be in the car! Well, there were no more towns with food in them until The Dalles, so we had to wait another 2 hours to eat! But we made it, and we really enjoyed our McDonald's when we got it! We made it to Air's at 4 for her Memorial Day BBQ/Mya's 1st bday!
Trav, Mo and I helped her in the kitchen, mainly by eating before we were supposed to. LOL. Trav fired up the grill after Sharm and K got there. He grilled some burgers and we had pasta salad, fruit, and baked beans to go along. Ryan and his kids showed up, and a few other people that I didn't know. We sat out in the sunshine and enjoyed the food, beer, and company all evening. Trav and I headed home at 8.
We unloaded the car and got situated until about 9 when we collapsed on the coach. We felt very refreshed from our weekend getaway, but also exhausted!
Now it's back to the daily grind....Only 2 more days of work until the weekend is here again! This is why I love 3 day weekends! :) You get 2 extra short weeks out of the deal! Trav and I are enjoying the sunshine so much. It's supposed to stick around all week and into this coming weekend! We are planning to get some yard work done this weekend, and possibly (hopefully) get the gate for the fence up, to keep Emma in the back yard.
Of course we'll enjoy several more BBQ's as well!! :)

Hello SUNSHINE

I have been loving the sunshine.
Friday evening we loaded up Emma and went to my parents for dinner. We sat out on the deck and enjoyed the weather until it got dark and then watched a movie.

Saturday we got up early and headed to the beach. It was Emma's first time there and she had so much fun!! The weather was gorgeous and it was a great day! We waded in the water, walked along by the ocean, checked out the starfish and sea enenamies, then walked along the bay front and had dinner at Mo's! It was sunny and 70 which is fabulous for the coast! It is always such a relaxing day when we go to the beach. I wish the weather was nice over there more on the weekends so we could go more!!

Sunday we cleaned like we always do, and then invited Air over for a BBQ. We had to take advantage of another gorgeous day! At 6 Air and I went golfing with Keith and Sharman and a group of their friends. It was a lot of fun. I am loving golfing in this gorgeous weather! And of course the Mike's. :)

Sunday night Trav and I were both up all night sick. It was terrible. I don't know what we had, but neither of us got a wink of sleep and we took turns in the bathroom all night. We both started feeling better at 7 but we were so tired so we both called in and slept until 12:30. Since we had the afternoon off, we washed and detailed our cars after lunch. Again, it was such a beautiful day!

Friday we are leaving for La Grande at 2:30 in the afternoon. We're going to make a pit stop at the Old Spaghetti Factory in Portland. LOVE that place. Hopefully Emma will sleep most of the way there like she did on our coast trip.

Count your blessings :)

Life is so hard and sometimes I forget about all the blessings we have. Today as I was pulling out of my driveway on my way back to work after lunch I thought, "Man, I am so grateful that Trav and I haven't had any huge, expensive things go wrong with this house." And that made me realize that we have a LOT of blessings that we forget about on a daily basis. I thought it would be good to make a list of them, that I can glace at on hard days.

-We haven't had any large problems with this house. Our last house seemed to have PLENTY, so I am very aware how stressful and expensive it can be!!

-Our cars have been running well and haven't had any major problems. Thank God for that!

-Gas prices are staying at a very manageable cost! It was very stressful when they were hitting the $4 range! Eeek!

-We have each other to rely on. When I see break-ups, in real life, or even on tv I am so grateful to not have that pain. And to not even have to think about it. I am so blessed to have a husband who takes the best care of me, who I know without a doubt loves me with his all, and who is my best friend who I can tell anything to. I know that he will always be there for me and love me. And I know that he knows the same thing. Every day I thank God for Trav and our relationship. I am so grateful that he's as dedicated to "us" as I am! Relationships take a lot of work, but the payout of having a good one is 100% worth it! I'm so glad that we can be each other's strongest support system.

-We have the same goals. We haven't always, and I remember how difficult it is when you are striving for something different than your significant other is. Now since we have common goals, we can work together to reach them.

-We both have our jobs still. In this economy jobs are very unstable but we are both blessed to still have our jobs. And because we still have our jobs, we still have our incomes that come along with them!

-Amazing family! Our families are both close by and so supportive of us. I love spending time with them!

-Amazing friends! A few close ones is all we need! It's great to have friends who know you....sometimes it seems even better than you know yourself!

I'm sure there are more, but those are some key ones. I think it's important to remind yourself of all the great things you have in life. There are plenty of bad things that happen to, but looking back at this when those times arise can help!

Happy Mothers Day!

Life in our neck of the woods has been a bit more hectic lately. Friday I woke up with Trav and went to work in mom's shop. I got to make a couple gift basket deliveries for the first time and that was a lot of fun!! I left the shop at 11:30 to pile Emma and her things into the car and take her to Air's. Air offered to watch her while Trav and I went to Bend to stay with Ladd for the weekend. Thanks Air!
I got back home around 1 and went grocery shopping for mother's day dinner ingredients, and Trav and I's weekly groceries. We normally go shopping on Sunday's, but we knew we would be busy all day this Sunday, so we needed to go early. I got home at 2:30 and finished packing right before Trav got home at 3! We were off to Bend!
It was a gorgeous day, which always makes the drive more fun. Plus, while I was running errands I'd been downloading new songs onto the Ipod so we had some great tunes to listen to! It was crystal clear and sunny out, and the mountains looked incredible. It's so humbling to see them in all their glory.
We arrived at the Variels at about 6:30, and first things first, had some dinner! Laurel had made 2 types of brisket, Gorgonzola macaroni, there was freshly sliced pineapple, woked mixed veggies, and artichokes! It was a feast. After dinner we gave Ladd his B-day gift. I think he really liked it. We got him a collared white DC polo, a fifth of Pendleton, and a bottle of wine. After he opened his gift he started handing out gifts. I couldn't figure out why he would get us gifts! At least not me! Trav had just had a bday, but I hadn't! They were goodies he brought us back from his trip to Russia. He got me a scarf that is made of goats wool or something. It's so pretty and is amazingly light and delicate, yet surprisingly warm! He got Trav a cool shot glass and he got us a Russia fur hat, and of course, a bottle of vodka! He spoiled us! It was really cool getting a part of their culture.
I got changed and we went into Bend to check out one of the live bands that was playing in the bar district. We settled on a Martini bar. It was so nice. It was lit by candle light and had neat art work and a great ambiance. I had a glass of red wine and the guys had a couple beers (I know, sad in a martini bar!) and we listened to the music. After a couple hours we walked down the street to meet some friends at another bar. We headed back at about 1, and on the way home Ladd was telling us about a place close by that was over an empty lake reservoir. We had no idea what he was talking about, but he thought it was really cool and decided to take us there. It was really cool. There was a small stone building that we're guessing used to be a lookout tower, or control room for the old dam. It was nestled down on a rock cliff and wasn't terribly easy to get into. Once inside, the view was amazing. The guys went and gathered wood and brush so we could make a fire inside the little room, and we just passed a bottle of wine around and talked around the fire for hours. The feeling of openness out there in the middle of a rock cliff, overlooking an empty lake reservoir was incredible. The stars shone so bright.
We got back to Ladd's a little after 3am, and I had some cereal and attempted to go to bed. The guys were talking though, so we didn't actually get to go to bed until 7am! Needless to say, we slept in on Saturday until a little after noon.
Saturday was very relaxing. We played cards outside and watched some tv. We caught a show of a Pink Floyd concert that was really good, and at the end of the night we got captivated by re-runs of Out of the Wild. We'd never seen it, but it was about a group of volunteers who took a trip into the Alaskan mountains.
We needed our sleep because we knew the next day was going to be a busy one! So we headed to bed at 11. Our alarm woke us up at 7am, and we were ready to load up the car again by 8. We thanked the Variels and bid them farewell. Sweet Laurel who always takes such good care of us, had a breakfast burrito ready for us, and sent me home with a gorgeous bouquet of white and red roses. They were part of a HUGE bouquet that Jeff got her for their 33 year wedding anniversary.
It was another gorgeous drive in the sunshine, filled with more breathtaking views of the mountains!
We picked Emma up and headed home to get ready for our first Mother's Day event.....my family coming over for Mother's Day lunch!
We were short on time, so we thanked our lucky stars that we had cleaned the house Thursday night, and done the grocery shopping on Friday! My family arrived right at noon, and we had a lot of fun talking and cooking! We BBQ'd Salmon and veggies, and made baked beans, baked potatoes, and strawberry shortcake for dessert! Joel helped by slicing up the strawberries, and I think mom enjoyed showing me how to make her famous shortcake.
Mom loved her gift. Joel and I got her an azelia which she always talks about wanting, and a utensil set in a container....which she had specially requested.
After lunch was cleaned up we all played Apples to Apples until 4:30 when Grandma headed home. My parents and brother left shortly after. Trav and I started prepping dinner for his mom and dad. BBQ had been requested again, so we got some steaks ready to grill. I made some broccoli and garlic mashed red potatoes, along with baked beans and I had an extra batch of strawberry shortcake!!!
Robert was sick, so Kathy ended up coming alone. We had a great time chatting and eating! After dinner we watched Bride Wars. It was really funny so we all got some good laughs. Even Trav. :)
Kathy left at about 8:30, and Trav and I fell on the floor in a heap. We were so exhausted. We cleaned up and watched tv until bed.
It was a great day, but very exhausting!!
This week we are busy as well. Last night we had our first official session with the dog trainer coming to teach us how to train Emma. She did well for her first time. I think she will learn fast and be a good, well behaved dog.
Tonight Trav and I are going to a seminar "Money Talks for Couples". We are really excited. Wednesday night Air is coming over for Mongolian Beef, and Thursday I am helping mom with a trade show in Salem. We'll be on the go from 9am - 10:30pm!
The weather is supposed to be beautiful again this weekend! We are looking forward to it!
In other Clark news: Trendfort is going well! The business has started collecting money, which is always fun!! I love getting checks in the mail! We've been able to organize the processes even better already. Obviously this will be a learning experience for a while, but all of us seem to be on the same page which is the most important thing. We work together well and we're getting things figured out quickly, and problems resolved right away! Now we just need to get a few more jobs in the door!!
Happy Mother's Day to all mom's! I hope you had a wonderful day!

Then

I think these lyrics are pretty perfect. I feel this way about Trav. Love you baby.

Then

I remember you trying not to stare the day that I first met you
And three weeks later, in the front porch light
taking forty-five minutes to kiss goodnight
I hadn't told you yet
but I thought I loved you then

And now you're my whole life
now you're my whole world
I just can't believe the way I feel about you
Like a river meets the sea,
stronger than it's ever been.
We've come so far since that day
And I thought I loved you then

And i remember, taking you back to right where I first met you,
You were so surprised
There were people around, but I didn't care
Got down on one knee right there once again,
I thought I loved you then

And now you're my whole life
now you're my whole world
I just can't believe the way I feel about you
Like a river meets the sea,
stronger than it's ever been.
We've come so far since that day
And I thought I loved you then

I could just see you, with our baby on the way
And I could just see you, when your hair is turning gray
What I can't see is how I'm ever gonna love you more
But I've said that before

And now you're my whole life
now you're my whole world
I just can't believe the way I feel about you
We'll look back someday, at this moment that we're in
And I'll look at you and say
And I thought I loved you then