Picture Overload

I didn't want to overload the last post with pictures we took at the coast...so I will overload this post with them.

I love the Oregon Coast.

And this is why.

At Last

No, I didn't fall off the edge of the Earth or anything. Sometimes being in Oregon feels like I did fall off the edge of the Earth though. Actually...It's called I don't have the internet at my apartment anymore. It stinks when the person you were stealing wireless from decides to move, and all your other neighbors are smart enough to lock theirs. I thought I was going to die without being able to check my facebook every single day (or hour depending on how bored I was) and not being able to stream pretty much any tv show anytime I wanted to. And it did seem like death for the first two weeks. Life was so boring. A whole summer without the internet?!?! But in the end, I have found out that life does go on without the internet. Who knew? So now that summer is over, I guess I will do an update on life since it has been awhile and I keep getting nagged to post something.



So. Summer went by way too fast. It is still hard to get used to not having summers off and having to have a job and responsibilities, and not being able to go on vacations whenever. But I can't complain too much because this summer was pretty great. I got to go home to Boise for my birthday. The whole family was there, minus Jacob, and we had a weekend full of fun things. We went to McCall and went jetskiing and ate the best pancakes in the world. We went to the zoo, and swimming lessons, played with the kids and had lots of good food. It is always a good time with the fam.


Another fun thing was having a sleepover with Zach. It was his first sleepover, and we had a pretty great time, as you can see. We stayed up way too late watching movies. When we tried to go to bed Zach just layed there and would talk about anything and everything. It is so funny to see what he comes up with. We talked a lot about Value Village (a store like Savers/DI), being scarecrows, Harry Potter, Santa Claus....and sang songs. When we woke up we went to the elementary school right down the street and played on the playground. The grass was still pretty wet so his socks got all wet, hence the Halloween socks in the picture. He was so excited to wear socks with pumpkins on them. We also played a little Wii and had fun being rockstars.





My mom came to visit a few days too! We went to the coast and got some pretty great pictures with my amazing new camera. The coast is one of my favorite places. It is so beautiful...minus some smelly tidepools and a lot of flies. We also hit up a bunch of my favorite places while she was here. We went to IKEA, Panera, New York Pizza, Trader Joe's, and both Outlet Malls. It was fun to have her all to myself for a visit.



So that sums up my life for the past few months. More to come soon. I promise.

Seriously?

Is this something you would like to wake up to at 7 in the morning? Personally, I wouldn't. But today I didn't really get the option. I was startled from my sleep by beer bottles being hit against one another. I was thinking to myself that it was way too early for anyone to be throwing their bottles away from the previous night. Shouldn't they still be sleeping and fully hungover? This continued for a few minutes so I got up to look out the window. I wouldn't have heard it if I wouldn't have slept with my window open but what can you do when it is hot and you don't have AC. So, much to my surprise I saw a man digging through the dumpster. He was collecting every recyclable object and putting it in the proper recycling bin. I'm telling you. Oregon people are recycling nazis. I have never seen people so anal about things that can't be thrown away. A lady I work with is the epitome of this. One day I had a salad from Wendy's that come in the plastic container. When I was done with the salad I threw it away in the big dumpster outside. I am such a sinner. I didn't recycle. So, this lady goes to the dumpster and fishes my bowl out, washes it and puts it in the recycle can. It wouldn't have been as bad if the container had been full and she just took it right off the top. But she had to go all the way to the bottom to retrieve it. And these bins are really tall. Sometimes for fun we will just put a little piece of cardboard in the garbage to see how long it takes for her to notice it and recycle it. It is good to care about the environment and all, but to go to the extreme of going through dumpsters?! I don't know. I'm not sold on the idea.

Here are a few reasons I have a problem with this.

(Back to the man from this morning.)

1. The man doesn't live here.

It would be a little more understandable if he lived in the building and perhaps threw something away on accident and was fetching it. But to go to the extreme of just picking any old dumpster in Salem and digging through it for a few bottles...I don't get it.

2. He didn't have any sort of hand covering.

Ew. Hello?!?! Do you even know what people throw away? I just hope he has a fatty bottle of hand sanitizer because that is nasty.

3. He wasn't just skimming off the top...he was opening bags up and going through them.

Are you kidding me. What if someone threw up in that bag or something? He was just digging in...no problem. I do not even want to know what treasures are in people's garbage bags. And I am going to keep it that way.

4. It was early and woke me up.

Can't a girl just sleep in on a Saturday?

5. It's just really gross.

I can't get over how utterly disgusting that is.

Maybe I will leave him a little something in my bag for the next time he comes back. He is bound to find it at the rate he was going today. Any suggestions?

My MOM

1. What is something your mom always says to you?
I remember she would tell us to always wear clean underwear, because you never know when you will get in an accident. And you don't want doctors and others to see your dirty underwear. She also told me a lot to clean my room. But recently she tells me she loves me...which is way better than anything else she could say.

2. What makes your mom happy?
Being with her family. Because we are a pretty amazing family.

3. What makes your mom sad?

When I am sad. Well, when any of her kids are sad.

4. What does your mom do to make you laugh?

Well. My mom has this thing where she has to communicate with pretty much every animal that we encounter. If we drive by cows, guess who is rolling down the window to moo at them. Ducks anywhere in sight? Mom is the first to quack. Although this is quite embarrassing, and I hate to admit it, I get a good laugh from this.

5. What was your mom like as a child?
My mom was a babe....beehive and all! And she was also quite the rebel. I won't mention any certain stories....but I will say one word. Gasoline.

6. How old is your mom?
29? I better get some brownie points for that one.

7. How tall is your mom?
Not as tall as me!

8. What is her favorite thing to do?
Be with the grandbabies!

9. What does your mom do when you aren’t around?
Worry about me wherever I am.

10. If your mom became famous, what would she be famous for?
Animal Impersonations. Like I said, she has had years of practice.

11. What is your mom really good at?
Pretty much everything. She is especially good at listening and knowing the perfect advice to give at the perfect moment. My mom is also really good at driving a u-haul. I was very impressed with her skills when she helped move me to Salem from Sacramento. On that note, she is also very good at packing and cleaning. I don't know what I would have done without her MANY times when I have moved. My mom is also amazing at sewing, cooking, you name it. I could go on forever at all the things she is really good at.

12. What is your mom not very good at?
Not very many things. More along the lines of technology. But she is learning. I am very proud of her for learning how to comment on blogs.

13. What does your mom do for her job?

She's my mom! And she deals with all the bad kids at school. And hunts them down and makes them take tests. Somewhere along those lines.

14. What is your mom’s favorite food?
That's a tough one. We like food a lot in my family. I don't know if she has a favorite, but she does like fish a lot, and yummy food in Hawaii, and cinnamon chip coffee cake, and blimpies.........

15. What makes you proud of your mom?

My mom is the biggest giver I know. She sacrifices so much for me and has helped me through a lot of things in my life. Never once does she complain when I ask her for help. She is always so willing to be there for me no matter what.

16. If mom were a cartoon character, which would she be?
Uniqua from the Backyardigans. For no reason really. I just couldn't come up with one and so that was the first one to pop in my head. And now the theme song is in my head. Great.


17. What do you and your mom do together?

Talk, laugh, cry, shop, eat, sleep....anything and everything.

18. How are you and your mom the same?
If you compare our pictures from when we were little we look a lot alike. Now, not so much. We are the same in that we are both very passive. We tend to shy away from confrontation and just like to observe things rather than be in the center of things.

19. How are you and your mom different?
Um....I am a very messy person and she is very organized and clean.

20. How do you know your mom loves you?

Because she tells me so. And my mom doesn't lie.

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY MOM!!!!!
I LOVE YOU!

A Prayer Bear

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Please don't take offense to anything about Jesus....it is all in good Easter fun. I know that this really has nothing to do with the real meaning of Easter, but I thought it was funny. So........


Happy Easter!

PHOROGS?

Last night I was looking through all the pictures on my computer, which I tend to do quite often. I love looking through and remembering all the details of what was going on when each picture was taken. I tend to take A LOT of pictures, of pretty much anything and everything. And I have some good stories that go along with a lot of these pictures. So, since I can never come up with anything interesting to blog about I thought it would be fun to post a random picture and the story that goes along with it. Some may be a bit embarrassing, but I am willing to sacrifice my dignity for a good story. Thus, the phorog is born. My photo story blogs. (I realize that this is what one usually does on a blog...post pictures and write about them...but this is different because these are old pictures. Just go with it.)

This is a picture of T-Bag. For those of you who watch the show Prison Break, you know who I am talking about. For those of you who don't watch it, you need to. I was a bit obsessed with this show, and you will notice reference to it on more than one occasion. So...on the show, T-Bag is an evil, murderous man....much like this spider! I hate spiders. But even more, I hate walking outside of my apartment only to find this gigantic monster lurking above my door. (P.S. California has a lot of spiders. And this was not the only time I encountered such a beast.) It was so big and looked like it could jump down and kill you. Hence the name, T-Bag...very fitting. After we were done freaking out from the initial shock of staring T-Bag in the face, we decided the only feasible way to kill it was with a giant can of Raid (which was left over from a giant ant infestation). We could have just chopped his hand off, but PB watchers know that does not slow T-Bag down. We also could have just put him in a ghetto prison in panama...but again, nothing. So, Raid it was.

We in no way wanted to try and knock him down with a broom or anything, just in case he attempted to lunge at us. So we thought this was our best bet. Quick and easy, right? Just spray a little poison on him, and that will be that. Wrong! This monster would not die. Another good reason for his name. I kept spraying and spraying, and he kept moving and moving. After about 2 minutes of a constant stream of Raid....T-Bag finally bit the dust. SUCCESS! Or so I thought. He wanted to have one last hoorah and scare the crap out of me. He slowly started descending...coming right for my head. But I was too fast for him. He must have forgotten I was the one with the can of poison! As you can tell from the next picture T-Bag was finally a gonner.
While all of this was going on, we didn't notice that our downstairs neighbor had come out of his apartment to see what all the high pitched screaming was all about. He had a good laugh, that is for sure. We had one of our chairs from the kitchen out that I was standing on, in a skirt, squealing. Who wouldn't enjoy that, eh? From then on we were known as the spider killers by our neighbor. A couple of times when we were walking up the stairs we would hear him behind us calling us killers. And it made it even more comical because he was this big black guy who was all gangster. I don't know...maybe you just had to be there. Anyways, good times.

Pay It Forward

I don't know why, but I never really liked that movie. Do I not have a heart or something? What's not to like..."Young Trevor McKinney, troubled by his mother's alcoholism and fears of his abusive but absent father, is caught up by an intriguing assignment from his new social studies teacher, Mr. Simonet. The assignment: think of something to change the world and put it into action. Trevor conjures the notion of paying a favor not back, but forward--repaying good deeds not with payback, but with new good deeds done to three new people. Trevor's efforts to make good on his idea bring a revolution not only in the lives of himself, his mother and his physically and emotionally scarred teacher, but in those of an ever-widening circle of people completely unknown to him." (thanks to IMDB)

I mean, come on. The cute little kid is trying to change the world. It has heartwarming written all over it! Just not for me, I guess. I think the ending ruined it for me. Anyways, even though I didn't care for the movie, I do think this is a great idea!

So....the first 3 people to leave a comment on this post will receive, at some point during the year, a handmade gift/treat from me, or maybe even both! What it will be and when it will arrive is a total surprise! The catch is that you must participate as well. Before you leave your comment, write up a pay it forward post on your blog to keep the fun going. Then come back, let me know you're going to play and sit back and anticipate the arrival of your gift!

Sounds like fun, huh? And since there are pretty much only 3 people who read my blog this should be pretty easy! I think it will be pretty interesting to see where this goes! I hope you join in, because I make some pretty amazing things, and you will want them! And I am really humble about it. Just kidding, but really, I think this is going to be great.

Can you tell I am pretty excited for this?

America's Next Top Model

I LOVE taking pictures.
Especially of cute little kiddos.
Good thing I have such cute
nieces and nephew to take millions of pictures of!
Here are the latest photos of Lilia.
Looks like we have a little model on our hands, wouldn't you say?

Tyra would be proud!

Jack Daniels???

So, I am pretty much the best aunt ever....and here is proof!

Maybe we should just start calling him Jack instead of Zach.