house update

so i finally sent some pictures of our house to my grandmother, who has no access to our blog and asks constantly (as do my parents) for me to send pictures. and since they were taken (and the house cleaned and the pictures uploaded and looked through and adjusted and everything wayy beyond just the taking that makes sending pictures last an entire afternoon), i thought i'd double the benefit and add them here. there are a couple of changes since we moved in, and it just looks more lived in. that being said, there are also plenty of things that are incomplete and require more money and time. as does everything, right?...

why i hate microsoft...

apparently that cool thing that i never would have gotten anyway is canceled. they're just giving mac a chance to do it better anyway...

gagety

so if you know me (kirsten) you probably know i'm fiercely loyal to mac. everything about macs is amazing and i want nothing to do with microsoft. the last time i really spent anytime on a pc was in high school, and then in computer labs in college when i was forced to, and now when i want to get online on daniel's laptop. and i'm so far removed by now and i can barely find the internet on his computer.

and secretly...i think the ipad is really cool. i know it's basically pointless, especially for someone like me, because my main reasons for it would be to be able to read in bed without the traditional annoyances (how...to...hold...the...book...), or watch movies on planes (for the twice a year that i'm on a plane).

but then. have you seen this thing? this thing is cool. amazing. i would use this all. the. time. but i can't. it's microsoft. eek. butlookhowcoolitis...



(good thing both these items are/will be wayyyyyy out of my price range...)

almost summer...

When you live in Oregon you don't have to be in school to get excited about summer. With 8 solid months of pretty dreary weather the approach of summer is making us nearly giddy! There is hiking, camping, golfing (played for the first time in 7 months yesterday!), eating outside, trips to the park and SO much more to look forward to. Last weekend was nice so we decided to get a head start and drove out into the gorge to hike the meadows of Catherine Creek.






We were on the Washington side of the river, pretty high up with an amazing view of the water, and home sweet Oregon across the river.


you can only kind of see it, but that's Mt Hood...

like father like...dog

I was just going through some pictures and came across these. Thought I would share.

I'll set the scene. It's Thursday March 18, otherwise known as the first day of March Madness! The greatest day of the sports year!! It is 8:30 in the morning (the games start early out here). I am camped on the couch preparing myself physically and mentally for what will turn out to be one of the best tournament days ever. And nickel, who is normally oblivious to everything except people she can annoy or anything she can eat walks over, sits down, and just starts watching TV.







She sat there for literally 20 or 25 minutes before she went back upstairs to check on Kirsten. It was pretty hilarious. 3 years of living with me has rubbed off clearly!

Three

Today is our third anniversary...

Crazy. Time seriously flies, and yet it feels like we've been married forever (in a good way...)

We've spent the day walking around downtown, shopping, eating and the like. We're home for a siesta, and have dinner reservations for a nice place we've never been to tonight...

and then the real celebration will be the first week of June—a trip to the San Juan Islands.


We would both say that marriage, and then obviously especially marriage to one another is the single most amazing thing ever. And then also that it is completely unlike anything we could have expected. Which is how it's supposed to be, right? I think so. I don't think we'd have it any other way.

The weather is beautiful today, and we've decided that for our entire lives, every April 15th, we'll judge whether the weather is nicer that day than the day of our wedding...and we're pretty sure it will always be :)

But that's alright—our wedding was perfect nonetheless, and the weather in Belize was wonderful.

well...

my mom emailed me today to let me know that it's been one month since we've posted. hmmmmm.......well, no fear. i have lots of amazing things planned for this blog. mostly, blogging more often. but for now, I'll leave you with this link as a summary of our life: click here for awesomeness.

(i should warn you, all our faithful work-readers, it's loud.)

Mt Hood

So a few weeks ago I (Daniel) went snowboarding for the first time this year on Mt Hood. Kirsten couldn't come but I went with Reed (our pastor) and Jackson (his son) and my friend Tyson. Tyson went to teach Jackson how to snowboard. Reed went for moral support for his son. And I went to make an even number. We actually had a great day. Jackson was better than me after a grand total of 15 minutes. But other than that the day was perfect!

The weather was unbelievable. It was sunny, clear skies, a perfect day to be on the mountain.


Jackson...


Jackson and Tyson...



Makes me wish we had gone more this season... Oh well. It's almost summer!!

3.1 miles.

So a post every day this week—promise. At least until Thursday, when the Monroes arrive... I know, it's bold. But it's gotten out of control, so something has to be done.

So, we did it. We both ran for 30 minutes on Friday.

If you do the math, that's exactly the close of nine weeks from our start date of the 9-week Couch to 5k program.

Actually, we were in some ways both behind and ahead—I (kirsten) got sick during our 8th week, and the start of our 9th week meant I was not running nearly the 28 minutes I was supposed to week eight. BUT, by the end of week nine, I surpassed it all and ran all 30 minutes!!!

I wish there were words for how much I never ever, ever thought I'd be able to call myself a "runner." Daniel asked the other day why I would ever start something that I legitimately thought I couldn't do...and I guess it's because I'm an idealist...I really wanted to be a runner, but in reality, I thought I would cut corners and make excuses and hate every second of it.

But I really, really like running. We both do. And I think this might be the first goal we've actually followed through to completion. Honestly. And that's pretty impressive.

So, friends. We're runners.



A few weeks ago we even took advantage of our sister-in-laws awesome discount at the Nike factory store and got some new running shoes. And shorts. And socks.



And then to celebrate after our huge success Friday, we got some super yummy 5 guys and went to see Avatar in 3D...I know, I know, we're a little behind the times—it was even the night Alice in Wonderland in 3D came out. But we wanted to see it in 3D before it left the theaters.



We look so cool!

Bend

Well a couple of weekends ago (oops) we went to Bend for a few days—and it was awesome.

We stayed in this wonderful bed and breakfast that gave us all sorts of free stuff, left cookies and hot chocolate outside our door every night, and brought us breakfast in bed each morning. it was by far the most attentive and thought-out bed and breakfast we've ever stayed at (it was also just our second time staying at a b&b...at least together...so...)



(i look like i have a fire extinguisher coming out of my head...)

we had never been to the bend/sister area before—there are several awesome mountains and a big river there and it's gorgeous. bend is super outdoorsy but it was surprisingly small. we had heard about it, i feel like even before we moved out here, in the same way you hear about boulder, co maybe, but the city itself is actually really small. and the area is so interesting to me—it's in central oregon- south and a bit west of us, about 3 hours away, and while there are like 7 or 8 peaks, and the cascades running through the area, the rest of the land is very much desert. just "high desert," i guess, because it snows there a lot. but it's completely flat—just like texas—except for all of these mountains. weird. and really neat.





we ended up walking around bend a good bit, checking out the downtown area and eating yummy dinners and the like. the main day we were there, we went out to mt. bachelor and went snowboarding and i got off the lift without falling for the first time! woohoo! getting off the lift in skis is SO much easier!









everything was really pretty and we had a ton of fun. and best of all it was SUPER relaxing. so, so nice to get away. and just to sit and enjoy. plus, now after living here for almost two years, we've seen our third major oregon city!

Haiti

Our church has a partnership with a community in Swaziland through World Vision—we sponsor children there and help the area with things like wells, gardens, hospitals, schools and community centers and over the past year and a half, Daniel and I have really come to trust and respect World Vision for what they do.

Several weeks ago we collected a special donation for Haiti, right after the earthquake, and recently World Vision made this video showing some of the stuff they're able to do for the people there because of the donations. Anyway, it's just neat to see.



And while we're on the topic of plugs for Haiti relief, my mom's cousin Dave Vanderpool is a doctor in Tennessee and has a nonprofit called Mobile Medical Disaster Relief. He and his team went to Haiti right after the earthquake, and while he's back in the states now, he plans to return with more medicine and medical supplies. His website is here, with an article he wrote and a little news spot about him.

I'm not sure anyone who reads our blog would be lacking in places to give for Haiti relief, but just in case you are, know you can do a lot through both of these organizations. plug over.