Janurary 2015 | my parents new house, 2

 ^ I always remember my Mom wearing this hat when I was younger / the picture of the place my parents got married at 30 years go (anniversary present from Josh & I) / Troutdale Elementary School Cookbook!!

 ^ love these. They were my great grandmas.

 ^picking out couches, chairs .... it's hard

 ^ that view though...

 ^ all the pillowcases my great grandma made.

 ^ from Utah / I got this when I was 18 before I started college / picture of Oregon / student art from an art auction at my old high school / some old skiis

^ view from upstairs window

janurary 2015 | grandma whitehead's keepsake book

One of the coolest things that we have found in my parents move has been this book.

This is a little book that my Great Grandma Whitehead (we called her this after my Uncle Curt nicknamed her this since her hair was totally white) kept, & after she died (when I was in middle school) my Mom took.

 

It is a book of all the pictures that my Mom sent her of my brother and me, she started it right when my brother was born & kept it until she died.

Here is the first page-

 ^ a picture of my parents wedding on the left, and pictures of baby Josh on the right.

 

All the pictures are insanely adorable, but here are some of my favorite :

 ^ Josh, me & my Dad flying a kite.

 ^my 2 cousins, my Mom & me

 ^ me at the zoo!

 ^ Micah, Josh & me

 ^ LOVE THIS! Josh & I with smokey the bear.

 ^ Micah and I on swings

 ^ The pictures get less cute as we grow up, because I was really ugly but here I am bungee jumping with Micah - our Dad's took us, of course

 ^ Josh and I with Grandma Whitehead

 ^ last page of the book. She was really good about updating it, because the last pictures would have been around Josh's freshman / sophomore years of high school, which is around when she died.

 

 

janurary 2015 | my parents new house, 1

There is something really sad about the fact that my parents are moving out of my childhood home, or at least where I lived from grades 4-12..then grad school...and lots of summer / time in between. But it's exciting too, because well you only live once, & my parents really wanted to live in the country. My Dad wanted land and my Mom wanted a beautiful house she could have everyone over in (& we would all fit). So around this time last year, they finally found a piece of land that they both loved, and started to build.

They wanted to keep it on the DL while they were building, but the house is gorgeous and I wanted to share it and they finally gave the okay (they're moving in about two weeks so time to let the cat out of the bag!).  I have lots of pictures of the land before / in progress  (which I plan to eventually share as well).

 

So (without further ado), here is my parents new house :

 

 

janurary 2015 | mitchell point

I had kind of a bland weekend (helped my Mom w/her new house Saturday, failed brunch plans & 2nd date plans Sunday) so when I was driving back from Portland Sunday afternoon I decided to stop and go for a hike since the weather could only be described as perfect.



 

I decided to hike Mitchell Point, which I'd never done before. I (stupidly) didn't even both to change out of my snow boots thinking "oh it's short" (2 and a half miles). This was a mistake I would pay for later.  1,300 feet later in 1.2 miles, to be exact. And I was cursing my heavy snow boots every step of the way.

 

 ^ the trail gets SO NARROW, with a drop off that is no joke

 

But the views come quick.

 These rock things ... I hate them so much. And this hike had four sections of them.  Whhyyyyy

 

 The view made it worth it.

 

 

Though (if I'm being totally honest) this was a hike that I thought was too narrow and too exposed, and I don't usually feel that way (aka, I have never felt this way about a hike before). I kind of thought I mayyyy throw up at points.

 Needless to say, I can't wait to hike it again. :)

Janurary 2015 | I bought a selfie stick

So last weekend I was out with some friends, and one of them had a selfie stick. I needed one. I had recently gotten a trial of amazon prime (free 2 day shipping). I paid $15, and 2 days later....

^ my 1st selfie stick picture

I tried to use it to spy on my Dad while he did yard work, it didn't really work:

Needless to say, I am pretty happy with my purchase.