another weekend

another weekend of sleeping in till 9, staying in our pj's until 3, a game of tennis, falling asleep to a movie, going to church where we finally feel at home, brunch with friends, lots of homework for brandon/reading for callie, and a cozy afternoon spent sipping coffee. i feel the need to document our relaxing weekends now so i won't forget how much i love them when they become more few and far between.

GREAT movie

Brandon and I rented this movie last week. It was a recommendation off another blog. It was very well done and I STRONGLY urge all of you to go out and rent it. The movie follows 3 of the 'Lost Boys' from Sudan as they are chosen to be rehoused by the U.S. -it does a great job of telling their stories and challenges while revealing the larger picture of the need in that area of the world. We don't usually go to Blockbuster to rent our movies anymore (yay for the $1 movie box) but it was well worth it.

pictures...pictures...

...and more pictures! we got to go hiking for the first time this year! it was a beautiful day on Sunday and we soaked up every little drop of sunshine that we could. here are just a ton of pictures from our relaxing day out.

he's pretending that he's not having fun.

mt. hood in the background


yes, we brought coffee...my husband loves me.


sweet tree

brandon aka: the flash

the trees here are so much bigger than we're used to

and so tall!



and at the end we did get slightly lost...this is Brandon assuring me we are headed the right direction.
we can't wait for camping season!!

Strike an Urban Pose

Friday night Emi came down from Seattle to visit us again! We were able to just hang out that night and talk/catch up. Then on Saturday morning we slowly got around and decided to explore downtown Portland WITHOUT the rain!! It ended up being a beautiful (although slightly chilly) day to truly feel urban and environmentally friendly as we took the MAX (the lightrail that runs in Portland) to enjoy the #1 "green" city in America. Our first stop was Powell's books--a huge used/new bookstore that takes up an entire city block. aka: Brandon's dream.

after jaunting about the city, we took the streetcar down to Brandon's favorite little Tawainese place. I think Emily was a little scared as we walked into this hole in the wall, but seemed to like the food well enough:) After that we decided to walk along the waterfront park on our way back to the MAX station. The following pictures are of us in front of the Hawthorne Bridge (one of 8 or so bridges in our lovely city).

(Brandon and Emi tried once again to jump in unison...they seem to be getting better.)



thanks, emi for blessing us with your visit! we love you!

and the winner is....

...US! let me explain. we went to this Valentines Day dinner last night. It's put on every year for the students of Western and their spouses. We didn't know many people there but the food was pretty good. BUT that's not the exciting part! We played one of those little "how well do you know your spouse" games...usually very humiliating because we've only been married for 1.5 years and everyone else has been married for like 30. Anyways, Brandon and I were one of the top 3 couples! We ended up getting 2nd place and winning a suite for a night in an Embassy Suites hotel here in Portland. SWEET!! we are pretty proud of ourselves. just thought you all should know how cool we are...jk

love my roots!

just took this little quiz on myspace. it's good to know that i may be living in the northwest, but i'm still all texas:)

You Are 72% Texas

Well, knock me down and steal muh teeth! You're pretty darn Texan.

How Texas Are You?

already?!

happy 1 1/2 year anniversary to us today! we celebrated by going to small group and making plans for this weekend:) we're an old married couple now.

babyface

it has been so much fun to work with Mo these last couple of months. he's a lot of fun and is growing SO fast! he just rolled over for the first time last week and is continually talking/cooing/screaming. it's definitely challenging at times and i do get frustrated when he's having a rough day...i continually find myself praying for more patience. and then there are those times when our eyes connect and he yelps for joy and i feel so much love and dedication for that little life. and i can't even imagine how my "mom heart" will feel someday.