July 8th, 2012

Grandma & I went to lunch at a hamburger place called Freddy's, while Dad & Mom went out with some of Dad's old high school friends.
Mom & I have been pretty good about sending post cards... I am pretty bad about sending them on my own trips, so I am proud of myself :)
We had Mindi's birthday dinner-
and got to meet my little (2nd?) cousin, for the 1st time... we brought him books :)
All the family dogs are adorable, well-trained...
and spoiled!
It was a fun night, even though I really, really suck at cards!

Happy 4th of July :) My Aunt & Uncle live on a sod farm & we went out there for brunch.

Gorgeous much? Colorado is so beautiful. Of course brunch ended playing with smart phone apps-
And after spending some time at my cousin's wife's parents house we came back to our "work"cation, & Dad painted the trim of Grandma's house. Later we went for a walk and saw this very patriotic fire hydrant! On a different note, it was a year ago today that I got my placement for the RMI on 3rd Island, and today I got a message from the next years volunteer...very bittersweet. A year ago today I had NO idea what the next crazy 12 months had in store for me. Life has a way of laughing at your plans, this last year certainly proved that to me. A year ago today I was so naive... I thought that I deserved everything good and that nothing bad would ever happen to me. I had no idea how 99% of the world lived, and no idea how privileged my life was/is. Yeah, it sounds cheesy, but the last 12 months have changed me, a lot, and I think for the better.

Nothing makes a flight go by fast then academic journals about behavior interventions for students with EBD.

 
I don't want to pass judgement, but the pepsi with the peanuts in it is my Dad's.

  Also, I am just going to put it out there that I HATE FLYING. I have the worst anxiety ever. Every time I am on a plane, I am  wondering what people will say at my funeral, as I am sure I am going to die.
And I love the fact that my bag was inspected by a JUNIOR officer. But we all made it to here, and now we are relaxing in the AC, since 98* is a little too much for these Oregonians to handle. Except my Dad, like a champ he is already fixing something on the roof.
 

Lauren and I continued our Sunday tradition of trying to find the most hipster place to eat brunch in Portland. She picked the last two places with a 50% success rate (on food, not hipster-ness), so this time it was my turn :) My pick- Pine State Biscuits- is actually so hipster and Portland popular (for good reason it's delicious) we decided the line was too long and went to another place instead, which ended up being a vegan restaurant...which I think means it was probably the winning restaurant. (But maybe not, there is more summer to go.) Lauren tried to ask for bacon, & our waiter looked at her like she was stupid. She got a vegan sausage instead that she said was awful, but I was not brave enough to try.
Lauren is getting her PhD in History and we always have totally normal brunch conversations like 'would you rather live in Germany or the USSR during WW2' that I am pretty sure make people that overhear us think we are crazy. But I was a history undergrad & almost went for my masters so I love to talk history, and obviously Lauren does too, so we make perfect brunch companions.

  After we hung around looking in little shops, then went to a movie. I won't say what one, Lauren & I made a pact not to tell :)

  After dinner with my parents, we celebrated (VERY belatedly) my Dad's 50th birthday with a cake made by my Mom :)

Today is Taryn's 2nd birthday. It doesn't seem really right that she is TWO. I remember when Keri was pregnant & after Taryn was born I went and saw her in the hospital when she was a day old. She is really the first baby I have seen grow up like that. I love her to death, she's so cute and adorable. Being an "aunt" is so fun, I get to spoil her then give her right back to her Mom!

  My Mom and I gave her books, books & more books...and the crown of course. No one can have too many books, or princess crowns! :)

Saturday morning I went to get my hair done in downtown Troutdale, and my Dad had an eye doctor apt., so we made a family outing of it :) I don't get to downtown Troutdale much....ever... but it is pretty cute. I think I will try and go more.

  Lucky me, I got new glasses, too! I love new glasses :) I am pretty much blind without contacts/glasses so I have been lucky enough to collect quite a few pairs over the years of cute ones... the ones I got today are different and awesome. And red! I love them.
  Troutdale General Store
   

We went to lunch.
 

And went shopping.
 

Then I met up with friends for dinner & drinks downtown...it was raining but we made the best of it!
 

We drove home Thursday afternoon, trying to make it to our book club (we didn't, we are doing it today instead). The Gorge is so beautiful in the summer!! On the way home we went to Stevenson and the desks for my classroom were being delivered. :) I think I am almost done cleaning and organizing it...finally. I hope to be done before Colorado, next week, but we'll see.


We made up the book club the next day. It was nice out (kind of) and we went walking & talked about the book. This little guy came along. He is the cutest, happiest baby on the planet as far as I am concerned. I don't want to post ten million picture of him...but I could I probably have that many... but here is one that I can't resist
 

Uhm yeah. Everyone is obsessed with this little boy (with good reason). :) xo

Mom and I came for a quick trip to Kennewick because my grandma was having some medical stuff done and my Mom wanted to keep her company. After lunch at the hospital (not at all like Grey's Anatomy's lunch room), Zina took me to her favorite bakery.
 

Zina looks so happy.

I went around town to shop when it was really hot during the day. I love that I non-stop complain about the rain in Portland, but the heat in Kennewick is too much for me to handle, too. I burn in about 3 minutes outside.

Mom went to get her hair done & I went crazy buying books. I am a sucker for children's books... it's a problem.
 

After dinner, while Grandma slept, Mom & I went to frozen yogurt...
Then went back to Zina's, relaxed & read books... & I also admired my new shoes, of course! Stumble is amazing, & so is Savvy (the first book in the series)... I wasn't able to stop reading The Princess Academy, so I had to move onto a new book :)

 

I would like my life to be summer year round!