Look! Not a Birthday Post!

The birthday posts have gotten out of control, haven't they? Well, fear not, because I feel refreshed when it comes to posting. Maybe I just had to take January off for the most part...who knows.

It's been nice weather here, cold definitely, and not sunny per se, but certainly not the constant rain that we had been expecting. So yesterday we decided to get some fresh air and go on a hike.
We went to a trail sort of close by that a friend here took me this summer, but that Daniel had never been to (I feel like our readers are always guessing as to who's writing until one or the other of us drops the other's name like I just did and then you think "ah, okay." We just like to keep you guessing...).
So anyway, this trail was completely different in the winter than it was in the summer. We walked along a creek/small river the entire time and seriously, we could not believe how clear the water was. I guess with all the snow here, as it turns to water it's incredibly clear.
And there are some really cool parts to this trail, like this waterfall down a rock, and water streaming down from the top of a cliff, in little droplets like constant rain, and all the moss...And Nickel got her head under water for what, I'm pretty sure, was the first time. We haven't ever been to a place with her where, for instance, we could push her off a dock and force her to swim. So she's been in water, but only to the point where she can't walk anymore and then she gets scared. But yesterday Daniel threw a stick into the river and she went chasing after it and first stepped on a rock and then suddenly, as she was going forward, the rock wasn't there. She went completely under and was shocked, but then I think she realized she actually can swim and we couldn't pull her away from the water...And this picture is amazing. I have no idea why Daniel is doing that with his hand. He looks like he's trying to be Gob (for any Arrested Development fans)...

Happy Birthday Leslie!!!

Today is our very good friend Leslie's birthday! Leslie Nicole Quilico. Leslie just got married a little over a month ago, and as Daniel and I like to say, it's her "first married birthday." I don't know why, but married birthdays are just different. There's a whole new set of expectations, and of course fun because your now-spouse plans everything, which is awesome. But it's definitely different. So this morning when I said it was Leslie's birthday, Daniel and I both said "her first married birthday..."


Leslie called for pictures from our wedding in Elizabeth's birthday post, so here they are, didn't she look great :) Leslie's wedding was amazing, too, in gorgeous Beuna Vista, Co, where her and Steve live.

Leslie's amazing. She's an awesome friend, has an enormous heart, is incredibly creative and perfectly, uniquely, herself.
Leslie and I lived together for a year in college, while she was on staff with Young Life (and a couple of years out of college — she went to Clemson...) and I miss having Leslie nearby so much it stinks. But hopefully we'll be able to travel the West Coast this summer with her and Steve :).



HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LESLIE!

Happy first married birthday, I hope it's a blast!!! We love you guys!

The End of an Era...

Today marks the end of an era at the University of Georgia. Dennis Felton is no more as the Men's basketball coach. Ok, no one can really be surprised by this. We haven't won a conference game and we lost to Tech (who most likely won't win a conference game). So as much as we all have to agree that this is what is best for UGA it is it is still kind of a sad day. Sad because Felton was great for UGA. He cleaned up all the mess that was left by our former coach and made our program at least respectable in terms of it's citizens, if not it's basketball. It is also sad that we will no longer be able to witness him stomp on the floor in his $800 shoes and demonstrate proper defensive position as he roams the sidelines. Often watching Felton was the most entertaining part of a Georgia game (maybe that has something to do with why he was fired...)

Here are a few highlights...





But of course, let's not forget the good times. 4 wins in 3 days in the middle of a tornado in the Thrillerdome. I was there for the championship game and it was magical. magical.... (tear)

Happy Birthday Kris!

Well, people will soon be rioting about the birthday posts, but promises that normal posts will return shortly. We went on a retreat last weekend, I went to Seattle this weekend, Daniel went to his first Blazers game last night, and this week we're doing mustache youth group. All that soon. Today, however, is a very important day.
Today is my (Kirsten's) mom's birthday. Now my mom's not friends with the camera, so pictures are scarce. But dad and I worked together to gather all we have (and I know she will hate them all regardless), so I also have these to add:

I know the quality's pretty bad (okay, really bad. They're pictures of pictures. And I took them on my phone...) But I love these pictures. I'm pretty sure I stole them from my parents, but I hope they don't mind. I think they were about our age now when these were taken (maybe mom was a little younger...), this was — I think — their first house, and those are dogs that are still really special to them. Plus, look at that bug. Is that even theirs?...And this is them now. Isn't that fun? All grown up...

My mom is a wonderful person. She's extremely passionate about things she believes in and does, she's hilarious, the life of the party, endlessly caring, and has a wonderful group of friends. Plus, she's a fabulous "chef" and an avid reader. And she puts up with us when Daniel and I want to play board games.
I have no idea when this picture was taken. I think I bought that shirt in college, but I feel like my face there makes me look 14, so it could have been anytime (but no, I looked much more awkward at 14.)
And my mom's favorite places are, I'm sure, her home and the beach (this is her and her friend Carol.) At least she gets to spend her birthday at one of them (I'll let you guess which)...and with about 20 of her closest friends, who threw her a party, and then a free birthday dinner at an amazing Italian restaurant. Wish we could be there...

Love you, mom!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Happy Birthday Aaron!!

Today is my (our) cousin Aaron's birthday! Our photo stock of Aaron is pretty shameful. He's there on the right—this is us, his wife lisa, daniel and i, this thanksgiving. Aaron and Lisa weren't able to come to our wedding, so that go-to group of photos was empty, and I guess we just don't pull out cameras when Aaron and I are together...oops. We'll work on that.

Aaron and Lisa live in Texas (where essentially all of my family lives...), and he's a dentist. Which, to me, would be an yucky job, but he loves it. Also, as my dad reminds me, Aaron was in an award-winning marching and concert band in high school...I remember when he used to play the trombone for me.

Aaron (like me) is an only child, so growing up I felt like we had some sort of special bond. Plus, I used to spend a month or so each summer in Texas and he had to tote me around everywhere he went, which now that I think about it was probably awful for him. I remember going swimming alot (it was really hot in Texas and his neighbor had a pool), that Aaron could eat a lot of Oreos, that he had like every video gaming system I could image (which was most assuredly not true, it just felt like it), and for some reason I remember some outside game we'd play with sticks. Now that he's grown up, Aaron goes to Germany to buy cars, does nonprofit dental work for the underpriveledged and owns a house, (while I see how many Oreos high schoolers can eat, Daniel is playing video games with middle school boys tonight and I'm pretty sure we've played weird games with sticks with some of these kids. Strange how we all turn out...)

Anyway, that was a rant!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AARON, hope it's wonderful!!!!

Happy Birthday Elizabeth!!!

So we're getting pretty pathetic. Not only are there just birthday posts, but our birthday posts are getting later and later, so much so that now we're into the next day with this one.

Today (actually...yesterday) is/was my (our) good friend, Elizabeth's, birthday. Unfortunately, I was determined to work like crazy after youth group tonight, to try and push a few things through. And now it's not actually her birthday anymore.

Sorry Lizzie...

Elizabeth is a fantastic friend. Firstly, she has an amazing sense of music, has great style, is super fun and is hilarious. But (probably) more importantly, she's undyingly caring, kind and empathetic. Plus, she's super strong-willed and determined.


Elizabeth and I lived in Athens together for a year (although it seems longer), traveled up the east coast in a wooden-paneled station wagon together, have TONS of memories, and always have lots of fun.


HAPPY BIRTHDAY ELIZABETH!!!
...in reality, the phone call on the day-off was the true wishes, and this is just a continuation that will carry on into this weekend when I head to Seattle!

Happy Birthday Amanda!!!

Today is our (Daniel's) cousin Amanda's birthday!

Amanda's real-life age is now 19, but her Wii Fit age is 18. (If you have a really confused look on your face, you should 1. get a Wii. 2. get a Wii fit. and then 3. look at Amanda's comment on the "Our Portland Christmas" post.)

Amanda is just plain awesome. She's got a great smile, is super laid back, really fun, and pretty hilarious.

Amanda's a freshman at Georgia College and State University, and (what we are extremely proud of) is a new Young Life leader. And she's going to be the best Young Life leader you've ever seen.

(...so the following pictures technically aren't ours, but they were taken off facebook, which is definitely fair game...)


Amanda's also great at sharing inside jokes with, is super cool, and did we already say fun? We're kind of lacking on words for what to say with how stinking great Amanda is, but that's just because we're speechless. So we'll just say:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMANDA!! WE LOVE YOU!!!

Happy Birthday Carol!

Well, a few people might be thinking to themselves right about now that we forgot a birthday. Don't you worry—we've just had a busy day. Still today (but probably yesterday for most of ya'll) is our (Daniel's) Aunt Carol's birthday! (I only wish we had more pictures of you...)

Carol is one of the nicest, most caring people you will ever meet. She's hardworking and incredibly successful and is also a wonderful mother of two. She's wise and patient and all around great. Plus, she's very, very "southern." Definitely a good thing. (Still she's by far the least southern person in her family....)


Carol gives so much to her family and to all of us, and I know everyone appreciates it.

Happy birthday, Carol! Hope it was great!

windy

it's a tad windy here. i heard on the radio that there were 123 mph gusts of wind on mt. hood. 123. woah.

Happy Birthday Jon!

Today is my good friend Jon's Birthday. For those of you that don't know, Jon is one of my closest friends and he also happens to be my second cousin maybe? I'm not really even sure (everyone is related somehow where I come from).

Jon and I lived together all four years at UGA which means he put up with me for much longer than Kirsten has to this point. Jon was known in our apartment as the "idea" guy and coined the phrase "Well I think it's safe...but I wouldn't do it" which was always immediately followed by me doing something stupid.


Jon is also the way I learned my wife's name. When Kirsten and I first met in a class at UGA and arranged to study together we had planned for her to come to our apartment one night when I realized that I didn't know her name. Jon, being the faithful friend that he is, positioned himself right in front of the door and as soon as Kirsten walked in said "Hi, I'm Jon. What's your name?" Now that's friendship...

(Jon's toast at our rehearsal dinner - notice Leslie primping in the background)

There is so much to say about Jon, the co-founder and current CEO of Family Night, the man who conducts business with a coffee cup (full of Cherry Kool-Aid) in hand, the guy that came up the "foolproof" roulette scam, the guy that single-handedly made Wal-Mart velcro shoes popular.

Happy Birthday Jon, I enjoyed spending the bad turkey Christmas with you again this year, and can't wait for you to make your way out to the Northwest.

the last sixteen days

well, it's been a while. honestly, we're falling apart here a bit: since we returned to oregon on the 28th nickel's chewed apart like 2 pieces of clothing, we've broken like 3 things, we locked ourselves out of our apartment to the tune of a dollar amount i don't want to even talk about, and nickel has gone to the bathroom inside twice—something she hasn't done is about 3 years...yeah. but to back up to better times, christmas was great. really, really great. so here goes:

we made sure to frequent some essential restaurants:


for all our oregonian readers, this is zaxby's, and trust me. you're missing out. it's all in the sauce here — yummy chicken, crinkle fries, texas toast (daniel always lets me eat his)...but the sauce. and no lie: you put a tarnished penny in that sauce for like 2 minutes, take it out and rub it off and the penny shines. weird. and who knows what it does to your stomach. but it's good. plus, zaxby's originated in our school-town of athens. all the better.


and look! overcast skies! just like here...


quite possibly the greatest restaurant in the world...do i even have to tell you? awesome sweet tea, healthy and amazing chicken, waffle fries, and so much more. really, really good. oh we miss you chick-fil-a.


and this wasn't a must-go at all, but we did go into a johnny rocket's all the way across from oregon and you know what we found? can you see it?? it says tillamook cheddar cheese right there next to rocket single. woah.

but anyway, christmas is way more than food. we had amazing times with both of our families, saw not nearly as many friends as we would have liked to see, but a couple of really important ones, and opened a lot of presents.

so just to show you oregonians what we're talking about when we talk about christmas craziness, this is just a taste:

i don't know if you can tell just how many presents and people and stuff there is there, but it's a lot.

and then daniel told our cousin amanda last year that he would put his video of her opening her gift on you tube. well he never did, but he promised her this year too and so here's what we got amanda! love you amanda! you look great :)

but alas, we eventually returned to our new home and immediately picked up our dog who obviously missed us tons...this is what she did for like the first 45 minutes of being home:

and once that was over, just lots of this:

i know. lots and lots of videos. aren't you excited??

so, in the midst of several small disasters and frustrations, we went snowboarding yesterday, for my first time ever and daniel's second. it was pretty amazing — i fell like 200 times. but the good news is that daniel's practically a pro by now (at least on the green run that we took like 20 times.)


it was snowing super hard and i think daniel's showing us that his fingers are going numb (don't worry — he had gloves, he had just taken them off for the camera.) we went up the ski lift at one point and by the time we got to the top we had like an inch of snow all over us...


and can you see this? my leg is completely immersed in the snow. apparently the base of the mountain had 80" of snow on the ground. over 6 feet. wow.


and can you tell what this is? a car. completely, completely covered in snow. just the antenna there. sooo crazy.

and speaking of snow, portland got like 19 inches of snow while we were gone. apparently record-breaking, the "arctic blast" resulted in the national guard being called in. so that's pretty crazy. we'll just pretend like we were here.

that's it! merry christmas and happy new year!!!

Happy Birthday Randy!

I know you all did not anticipate us coming back from the holidays with a birthday post (at least I hope you didn't...) but we've been crazy here at the Monroe household and so the Georgia-recap post is still to come. And thus we begin the year with a birthday post!

Today, January one, is my (Kirsten) uncle Randy's birthday! Randy is fun, loud and really tall. He really likes Star Wars (or Star Trek? or both???) and is the ultimate handyman — he and his family built their cabin in the woods completely from the ground up, and he helped my grandfather with the family lake house years ago. Plus, he cooks up a mean bbq-ed rack of ribs.


And even more, Randy's wonderfully caring, nice, and an excellent father of 3 nearly-grown children. (this one's not his. it's his nephew's.) And did I mention that he's tall?

Happy Birthday, Randy! And happy new year, too!!!