The Anniversary Trip

Thanks to both my parents and Rose's parents, Rose and I were able to go on a two day adventure up to the mountains for our anniversary. I spent hours looking for the perfect place to stay that would also allow us to get up into the snow. I found an awesome BnB in Parkdale and thought we could just go tubing after our night stay there.

Parkdale is about 20 minutes south of Hood River, towards Mt. Hood. At about 2100 feet, Mary (our host) said they have snow almost throughout all of December through spring break. Old Parkdale Inn was a great place. We went on a walk in the snow, walked to dinner across the street, and watched 2 movies. We had made plans to go to Skibowl and go tubing on their "upper and extreme hills." Snowboarding was too expensive since we didn't have any gear and tubing is always fun. About 20 minutes from Government Camp we hit the "chains required" sign and pulled off to put them on. I had borrowed some from my dad. Well dumb me thought they would work just fine...my dad did too. But..........they didn't. They were too small. I even took two links off and they were still too small. On to plan B. I knew that Cooper Spur wasn't too far from where we were chaining up. So we turned around and went up there. I knew they had tubing there, but little did I know how lame it would be. Sure if you have five year olds that you want to take skiiing or tubing, Cooper Spur is a great place. But for Rose and I it was a waste of $20 to go on probably 10 tube runs on their "extreme" hill that was basically a joke. At least it was snowing the whole time.
From there we trekked back down to Hood River and got coffee and candy for the ride home. As you can see I was dressed for the occasion and quite happy about our awesome tubing time.
We came home and went to Red Lobster for dinner. Thanks to my Minnesota grandparents for that one :).
And then we shared in one of the weirdest traditions I had never heard of until I got married. Eating one year old cake. It had been frozen for a year and thawing in the fridge for a week....and it actually tasted pretty good. Good job April. All in all, a great weekend. First time away from home we had, outside of holidays, since August. Rose really needed the RnR at the BnB and of course the snow was AMAZING.



How was your weekend?

Ode to One

Today is a special day. Rose and I have been married for one year. It has been a pretty standard year I guess. Full of change, financial struggles, and uncertainty.

Some memories of our first year:

-The wedding. Everything went perfectly.

-10 days in Maui. My first tropical vacation, perfect weather, two days in a rain forest.-3 weeks in Alaska. After I quit my business job and Rose graduated, we took off to her parents' place for 3 weeks. Looking back I can't believe we stayed for that long, but I sure fished a lot.
-Deciding to serve at Sunset.
-Rose graduating from college.
-Spending Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's with my family. -Me getting through my first semester of seminary without any C's.
-Anonymous gifts during times of need.
-3 days in Canada with my mom's side of the family.
-Growing up together.

Perfect Partner

As we approach our one year anniversary, I think it is time I recognize my wife through this blog. She reads them all and never complains about me never talking about her. I couldn't have asked for a better partner for life. She has worked so hard, especially since June, for us to be able to pay bills and for me to be able to go to school. A 40 hour work week doesn't apply for her because she is always working 55 hours and 6 days a week and keeping 2 jobs. I have yet to hear her complain about this, even though I know she wishes she could work less. We keep our apartment pretty chilly too and she has finally gotten used it. It cut our winter time electric bill in half for her to use blankets. Thank you Ro, you are wonderful. If you know Rose, pat her on the back for me because she definitely deserves it. She is the best.

Fortuitous Bouncing

It has been an interesting Christmas "break" for me. Hasn't felt like much of a break with work and stuff going on at church.

Rose and I are about to sign a new lease on our apartment. With all the rain and cold we've been having some mold problems with some of our windows that never see the sun.
Any advice?

I was getting used to being out of a seminary classes and having no homework until I read this. It brought me right back to all the confusing stuff I read.

John Newton is one of my favorite song writers. Yeah, he has been dead for a while, but he is still as good as it gets. His life story is one that shows God's grace in profound ways.

My mum in law is FAMOUS!!!

Check this television show review site. Scroll down to their review of "In God's Name", the show I talked about a few days ago.

One guy's list of the 10 ten blogs of 2007.

A snow update for those who don't live in Beaverton...the national weather service issued a heavy snow warning for all of Portland metro for today...I saw probably 20 flakes ALL DAY! Someone needs to be fired.

Full Ride

Tonight I made it down to Keizer, OR to celebrate with my youngest sister. She signed with Cal Baptist for swimming and she is getting a full ride with grants for swimming and other scholarships. I'm pretty sure I never got close to a full ride....maybe that is why I'm in debt.


Congrats sis.


And as you can imagine...my parents are pretty happy about this.