Happy Birthday...Allen?

I'm sure you were all expecting to open your web-browser this afternoon, getting your daily fix of the Monroe Doctrine, to see one of our world famous birthday posts, but you probably weren't expecting Allen Dixon.

Well Allen has the distinct privilege of sharing his birthday with another special someone, but we'll get to all that later!

Allen is our great friend from Suwanee and he is turning the big 26 today!

What can you say about Allen. He is distinctly Allen, which is refreshing. If there has ever been someone who was uniquely gifted to do something, it's Allen and Young Life. He has a huge heart for students and makes everyone around him better at ministry.

Allen is also one of the truly special friendships in this world because he is a person that you can sit and play video games for hours on end with (trust me... I've seen Baylor and Georgetown teams you wouldn't even believe) and a person that you can have a real, genuine conversation with about life. He is a perfect balance of serious and fun and is one of my greatest friends.

So all you young-lifers out there in Gwinnett, here's your chance to comment and let Allen Dixon know what you really think of him!

Happy Birthday buddy. You're my second favorite person having a birthday today and that says a lot!

Happy Halloween!!! and October wrap-up

Here is our pumpkin this Halloween, which quickly rotted and molded and had to get thrown out yesterday. Oops...But "we" worked hard on it—meaning Daniel worked really hard on it while I roasted the seeds...But he was great while he lasted.

Well, if you don't know, I absolutely love fall. Fall weather, fall clothes, fall decorations, fall leaves. But within fall, October has definitely been my favorite month so far in Oregon. The farmer's market has been absolutely amazing with all sorts of pumpkins and squashes. And fun, fun, fun.And the leaves are unreal. These trees are right outside our apartment and the pictures really doesn't do the colors any justice. Also, we voted this month. That's right. That's because in Oregon, you vote by mail. Everyone. Everyone votes by mail. Which we didn't know about at all and were prepared to go to the polls and get our stickers, but on like Wednesday I was reading these things we got in the mail and realized they said that Oregonians vote by mail. Huh! So we voted by mail, and won't be getting any stickers...And lastly, here's Nickel in here tutu. We'll be going trick-or-treating. Okay, not really, but we might go walk around and pass out candy since we won't be getting any treaters.
Alright! Sorry this is disjointed, but it includes a few posts I've had in my head for a while!!!

I apologize in advance that this post won't have any pictures, but when I took a picture a few days ago of the sign in front of a gas station in troutdale anticipating this post, the numbers read "2.69" for regular unleaded!

Well this morning on my way into the office I passed that same gas station and read "2.46"
2.46!!!!

I don't know what our faithful readers all over the country are paying, but 2.46 feels pretty good.

I like to think that it's a combination of the fact that Sarah Palin can see Russia from her house and Barak Obama's dance moves that have driven oil prices down. Whatever it is...I hope it sticks.

i just feel bad for the kids...

who probably said they really wanted a silly face, maybe some triangles for eyes and one tooth, but dad was like, "well, I was thinking we'd carve barack into this year's pumpkin!"
I saw this on my walk with Nickel and thought I'd share—I just thought my parents would get a kick out of it.

And forgive the light rays, it is obviously still sunny here.

Happy Birthday Christopher!!!

Today is our cousin Christopher's birthday (Kirsten's mom's younger sister's son...)
(this picture's from our wedding...he doesn't usually look that stoic)

Christopher lives in Texas (where essentially most of my family lives) and is 22 today, which is unrealistically strange. he's a lot of fun and a great person to carry on a conversation with.

dancing with my mom at our wedding...

plus, we always make jokes about when we'll be able to leave the kid's table, which I think I'm officially out of now that I'm married. At least I hope so...

and him and my aunt jackie last thanksgiving (my mom's other sister, not his mom) ...from my other cousin's flickr. is it creepy to take pictures from other people's flickr pages? i don't know that kind of internet socializing etiquette yet...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHRISTOPHER!!!
see you next month!

Happy Birthday Michael!

Today is Michael Barrett's birthday!


Since Michael is the closest thing to a famous person that I actually know this a chance for me to expose all of his secrets to our thousands of readers around the world. Sure, there are plenty of things we could talk about LOSERS like AJ Pierzynski or Carlos Zambrano, but we're not going to mention them. We could talk about how he was first overall pick of the Montreal Expos (America's favorite former Canadian team) in the 1995 draft. For all of those facts about Michael I will point you here (America's new favorite "fact" source).

No friends, this post is about the really important stuff. Like the fact that Michael is in fact the most competitive monopoly player I know and isn't afraid to resort to name-calling when things don't go his way.

It's about the fact that Michael is not just a bad croquet player...he's an awful croquet player.

It's about the fact that he wears old men shirts and is proud of it.


In all honesty, Michael is a great guy. He is passionate about his faith and his family, and is one of the most genuinly caring people you could run across.

Happy Birthday Michael!

Where is the Cheese?

Well friends, we love our new home. There are no two ways about it. Portland is great, the city is fun and unique and we love living right in the middle of it. The church is wonderful (as we've already shared). We're making great friends and building relationships that we know will last. We love being so close to Matt and Kim.

But not everything is the paradise it seems...

I have some startling news, and I know that some (perhaps most) of you won't even believe me when I say it. But I assure you, I have searched and searched in restaurant after restaurant; grocery store after grocery store and there is NO QUESO in this town. NONE. 0. Cheese dip is obsolete in northwest Oregon. You can't buy it at the store. You can't order it as an appetizer. You can't have it...because it's not here. We have been to dozens of Mexican restaurants since we moved (not surprising) and Qdoba (the nationwide burrito chain) is the ONLY one that has anything even resembling Queso. THE ONLY ONE!

What's more, when you ask for queso, whether at the grocery store or in a restaurant the answer usually sounds something like (sit down for this one) "what is queso?" or "i've never heard of that."

WHAT!?!?

Never heard of melted white cheese with optional jalepenos on top that I can dip my chips in? How is this possible? It's like Portland in all other areas is a regular American city, but in the realm of Mexican dips they've dropped to third-world status.

So friends, know that whereever you are reading this (unless you live in Portland) you have been given a precious gift in your ability to enjoy cheese dip with your combo #5. Not everyone is so lucky...

Life Update

I'm going to see if I can even remember how to blog (about something other than a birthday that is). If I'm a little rusty I hope you'll forgive me. Just wanted to take a second and keep you up to date on all the recent happenings in the Great Northwest. 

We are doing great...and recently celebrated our year and a half anniversary (congrats to us). We celebrated by going to middle school youth group! (YAY for wednesdays!) But don't worry we celebrated the next night by going to a high school girls soccer game and then rushing back to catch a late movie at our favorite second-run theater! We really know how to treat ourselves...

We're pretty busy for the most part. Youth group is going great. Really GREAT. Honestly we couldn't imagine a better situation for us to be in. The kids are great. The volunteers are plentiful and awesome! We are really settling in to the church community and really enjoying it. It really is a great fit for us all around and we couldn't be happier. Have I said that we are happy with it?

In other news. The official process of moving is continuing in the form of auto-decor. 

That's right. The Element is sporting the Oregon plates. Not only that but that means two plates, which is really going to be a problem when I'm trying to flee from the police in reverse...but i'll figure something out.

I still don't have a new license (I have till the end of the month to study) but the process is beginning. This is my first out of state plate, so that's kind of exciting.

So that's our life update...we're pretty boring, but doing well.

Keep reading, we are going to try to keep our streak of consecutive days with a post alive!

happy birthday papa!!!

today is my (our) beloved grandfather's birthday...he's my (kirsten's) dad's dad...


the overwhelming amount of feelings i have for my grandfather don't have words to contain them. he's the nicest man ever. he has the sweetest quiet compassion that i've ever known. he's absolutely precious, and if you ever get a chance to meet him you're incredibly fortunate. he's a great person to have conversations with, he's extremely loving and he's over-the-top helpful...

there's a story about my grandfather that may be true or may be some figment of my imagination, but regardless. my grandparents (and essentially all of my extended family) live in texas and i used to spend a month or so each summer visiting with them. i remember (or i think i remember) going to the grocery store with my grandfather when i was younger and he would always (and I assume still does when he can) walk through the parking lot picking up the shopping carts and walking them back to the store to help out. but this time, as we were driving away and on the road passing once again by the grocery store, he saw more carts that he had missed. he actually stopped, turned back into the parking lot, gathered the carts and brought them back to where they belonged. he's that helpful.


anyway, i absolutely adore my grandfather and have an enormous amount of respect and admiration for him. and i hope he has a wonderful birthday! we get to see him (and all of our family on my side) next month, and we're already extremely excited about it. and i feel like i've used a ton of adverbs in this post, but trust me. if you know my grandfather you know why.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PAPA!

(p.s. i'm pretty sure my cousin spells it pawpaw and he's older, so he got to make it up, so that has to be right. i don't know when or how i started spelling papa, but i think i always have.)

seattle

okay, much to catch you up on. i promise i went to seattle two weekends ago. but my phone (which sometimes doubles as my camera) died and so we used laura belle's phone and then she was travelling all week and couldn't get me the pictures until later and blah, blah, blah...


so here we go.

I got there Friday night after miserable traffic. I had thought about taking amtrack because it's not that expensive (only a bit more than driving, at least when I'm driving alone) and it doens't take long, but decided not to at the last minute because it is, in fact, cheaper to drive. Bad idea. Bad, bad traffic.

So anyway, I got there Friday night starving because it was dinner time and I hadn't eaten lunch (I was driving, like I said. And didn't want to stop). I met some of the roomies and we went to a super fun restaurant near her condo where we were going to have to wait!!! but we got some sweet potato fries, which we devoured, and ended up sitting at the bar when two seats opened up.

Then we went and saw Get Smart with one of LB's roommates and her friend Kirstin!!! This blew my mind. She prounces it the same way, and I have never met a person who pronounces it the same way. I have met a Kirsten who (obviously) spells it the same way but pronounces it differently (she was in my sorority and i miss her...) but never someone who pronounces it the same (even if she spells it differently). Weird. The movie was alright.





Saturday we ate at this adorable restaurant downtown before heading out to the famous market where we wandered around and saw them throwing fish and saw the restaurant where a scene of Sleepless in Seattle was filmed. Very cool. Good movie. And we saw the very first Starbucks. Felt like I was coming home. Okay, not really. Not at all.











It was ridiculously windy. Like umbrellas turned inside out, which was weird. We could hardly walk into it without being blown over. Those little signs they put on the street in front of restaurants were all blown over and several branches looked like they were coming down anytime. On someone's car, probably. Very weird.



Then we boarded a ferry and crossed the Puget Sound to Bainbridge Island. It looked like Cape Cod on the other side of the country, which was very weird. Super windy, still. And cold. But amazing. Really, really fun and lots of people watching. On the island we went to several shops and walked around. A bookstore, a fabric store, antiques and home decor shops. Cute little quaintness. And then I got some fudge for Daniel (aren't I nice? I ended up eating like 95% of it), and probably the best hot chocolate I've ever had. The woman went on and on about how they make they're own chocolate, which I didn't understand, but you could definitely tell something was different. It was soooo good.



We almost missed the ferry back to Seattle, which would have been tragic, and we had to run — hot chocolates in hand — back to just make it. I'm sure we looked really, really cool. But we made it. And look how fun seeing cars and bikers exit the ferry is?! Plus, the skyline looked really pretty.







I thought I would leave for home when we got back to LB's condo, but turns out traffic is bad at 5 p.m. on a Saturday, too. So I stayed, we reheated our leftovers from the night before, and watched Sleepless in Seattle. Good movie...

So that's it. I heard I missed a lot of video games at home, which is dissapointing...

Happy Birthday Brittani!

woohoo...today is our friend Brittani Tuggle's birthday!!!

brittani led (and still leads) young life with us in gwinnett and is awesome at loving girls

that's her in the middle, and becky and i dressed up in ridiculous outfits for some young life girl's thing at which we all got poison ivey bad (although i'm pretty sure i have by far the most ridiculous outfit...)

brittani is refreshingly herself, loves golf (and beats daniel...), and is probably the best "granny" character out of all of us.


plus, we're pretty awesome reindeers. we dressed up a lot, didn't we??

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, brittani!!!!

hang in there, we're done with birthdays for a bit, promise...

happpy birthday laura belle!!!!

today is my (and our) very, very good friend laura belle's birthday!!! happy birthday lb!!

laura belle is just plain awesome. she's super laid back, and really, really fun at the same time. she's perfectly quirky and "herself." and she's really caring and loving and loyal, too.
when i think back over it, lb and i have done a ton together — we were in ministry together for three years loving probably — no, yes. definitely — the hardest group of high school girls ever, only because we were definitely not as cool as they are. and with the best group of leaders ever, who were just as weird as we were (leslie you look crazy...)

we backpacked eupore together, which i unfortunately don't have digital pictures of, but which was awesome and a once in a lifetime experience and brought out every minor difference in the two of us.

and now she lives in seattle, just under three hours from daniel and i!

laura belle has been one of the very best friends i could ever ask for (but i have a lot of amazing friends.) she's been there for me through everything, we've had more fun than i could imagine (and a lot of pictures to show for it, apparently. i had a lot to choose from), we've practically lived together without ever living together, and she's been the absolute epitome of "friend." plus, she's lived in china which is just crazy and amazing. and she speaks chinese fluently (okay, she wouldn't say fluently, but we all know it's true.)
i'm going to seattle to visit laura belle tomorrow, which i'm uber excited about, and which i'm sure i'll have tons more pictures of for the blog!

happy birthday, laura belle!!! we love you so much and are so thankful for "you" and i can't wait to see you!

26

we had the grand idea to take 26 photos of daniel on his 26th birthday. we made it to 16, which in all honesty was a lot better than i thought we had done, so that's good. but we forgot to take any yesterday morning while he opened some cards and we ate cake, and then i brought the camera to lunch, but forgot again, so essentially we didn't start until around 5 pm. so here's a visual tour of what daniel did the night of his birthday...

p.s. this gives you a slight preview of our apartment, but fear not, the real tour is coming soon...

nickel was excited it was his birthday...

the daily get-home-and-play-with-the-dog...

looking up where we were eating dinner...

reading the braswell's card... (sorry to my parents and the grandmothers, he had opened those that morning, which as I mentioned went unphotographed...)

and his parents' card...

one of the things they gave him was a note explaining he was getting new golf shoes...

so he started researching new golf shoes...

after that he played games on his phone that apparently he had downloaded that day...

and then played games on tv (hey, it's his birthday, he can do what he wants)...

it gets dark here. we went to dinner with matt and kim. this is their card...

we ate at a place called screen door, where they serve southern food and sweet tea! (see the tea??)...

then we went to see the rocker at a second-run movie theater (he's wearing a new shirt from his parents)...

at the theater...

back at home we ate some more cake (funfetti, of course). I had forgotten to get candles for the morning cake, so i got them that day so he could blow them out (see the place where we already ate some??)...

happy birthday!!!

keep the birthday wishes coming if you want...they never go bad.