Twilight & Roloff Farms

**I wrote this blog several weeks ago, but apparently I never posted it. Oops!**

This weekend, Deb and I headed to Portland to see some of the locations used for filming Twilight. Though the story takes place in Forks, Washington, many of the Forks scenes are actually filmed in St. Helens, Oregon. This little town was also used to film the Disney Channel movie, Halloweentown. I haven't seen it yet, but now I definitely want to after seeing a lot of the places shown in the movie. We took a self-guided tour of both movie locations, as well as the places around town believed to be haunted by ghosts.

Charlie and Bella's house was away from the road, up a hill and very out of the way. The people who live in this house have posted signs asking Twilight fans to stay back from the house. While I understand their desire for privacy, I think I would handle it much differently. I would quit my job and become a Twilight tour guide! You could pay a small fee and I would give you a tour of the inside and outside of my house, as well as walk through all the town's Twilight locations. I would take tourists pictures with cast cut-outs, tell stories about what it was like when they were filming, probably have a midnight Twilight reading when the full moon is out...you get the picture :)  I am sure many of you are judging me for my love of Twilight right now, but I'm really just thinking like a savvy entrepreneur!

It's interesting to me that many of the businesses they used to film were changed into a different location in the movie. A hair salon became a prom dress shop, an attorney's office became a bookstore, a house became a restaurant. This probably happens a lot in movies, but I have never really followed the trail of movie sets before :)
 
They did have an Experience Twilight store downtown that understands the tourist draw of the town. They are on the right path, but I just feel like there is so much more they could be doing!

 
Later that afternoon, we met Lynsey and Anna Kate at Roloff Farms and I got to check an item off my bucket list! I love the TLC show, Little People Big World, and was very excited to meet the Roloff family and see their farm. The whole family was incredibly friendly and down-to-earth and were so grateful that people would come visit their home.

We took a wagon tour of the farm and I was very excited we got Jeremy as our driver! I just wanted to have one of the Roloff's driving us and not some random crew person. I was kind of surprised at how close everything is on the farm. I thought it was much more spread out from watching the show, but you could easily walk to all of the attractions (pirate ship, cowboy town, castle, etc.)

It's crazy that the Roloff's are celebrities, because they really are just a normal family. It is probably very strange to have thousands of people taking your picture on the weekend and then study high school geometry and play volleyball on a Monday.

Matt's Dad, Jeremy, Matt's Mom, Molly and Me

It is a little sad that we aren't much taller than her...

This trip has made me want to watch/re-watch Twilight, Halloweentown and Little People Big World so I can see it with a new perspective and compare it with what I saw in real life. I plan to be home this next weekend and relax, so I think I'll do my follow-up research from the couch this Saturday :)

P.S.
There are many more pictures from this trip on my Facebook page
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2027585&id=160201160&l=3564f51386

Fun Fall Pictures

Youth Group Pumpkin Party

My veggie platter I took to the Boo Bash Potluck at work

Halloween Costumes at OED (Oregon Employment Dept)

My new fun rain boots! And yes, I have them on with my orange pj pants. I looked awesome!

Fun Fun Fun

Youth Group Wednesday Night
Pumpkin Party last night
Boo Bash at work today, ChristFest tonight
Oregon/USC game tomorrow

LOTS of fun to report on/post pictures from! I will start with Wednesday and Thursday. One of our youth leaders had to step down from volunteering, so I have taken over the juniors and seniors in my small group. This worked out perfectly because we have only had 1-2 seniors coming lately, so now I can have a bigger group and more kids consistently. The juniors are a really crazy and fun bunch, which I really enjoy, but getting them to focus has been quite a challenge lately. I'm not very good with this "discipline" role.

We had a really fun party for the youth group last night. I wore my kimono and Kory went as Peter Parker. We carved pumpkins and watched Nightmare Before Christmas and had a costume contest and played Haunted Hallowingo (BINGO). I made sugar cookies for everyone to decorate, but we ran out of time and didn't get to do that. I was glad I had already carved a pumpkin this year and could just watch and take pictures of everyone else.

After the party, we had rehearsal for ChristFest at church and then I had to put my food together for our potluck today at work. It was a late night and it has been a long time since I stayed up late! How did this happen to me? Ugh. I used to be such a great night owl and I went and got old with everyone else. I really hate that work has done that to me. I feel like a small part of me has died.

So, tonight is ChristFest and then we'll head to Eugene for the Ducks vs. USC football game tomorrow. Should be a really exciting game! I'm pumped! I'll post pictures of everything as soon as I can get them all uploaded.

Pumpkins and Hair-cut

We didn't get to go to the Roloff Pumpkin Farm last Friday. Very sad!! :( It was supposed to be raining really hard Friday afternoon so we cancelled and then, of course, it didn't actually end up raining. I did enjoy a lazy day at home though, so I won't complain. Kory and I carved pumpkins that night to make up for my pumpkin sadness. You can see how stinking thick that thing was!! It was definitely a workout to get that thing carved.

I also got my hair cut this weekend. Here is a picture at the middle school bowling event where you can see my new hair-cut. It's quite a bit shorter, but doesn't look a lot different than before. My hair has a mind of it's own and it pretty much does the exact same thing whatever the length. I like it though and it takes way less time to dry, so I'm happy.

Pumpkins!

I have really been wanting a green Oregon ducks sweatshirt for a long time now. Even before we moved here, I wanted one because Rachel has had one forever and I loved it. They were pretty expensive everywhere I looked, so I kept waiting to get one. We are going to an Oregon Ducks/USC football game on Oct. 31 for Kory's birthday present, so we went to the Ducks store in Eugene last weekend on the way home from Seattle to get some Ducks gear to wear to the game. They had $15-$20 sweatshirts so I finally have one now. I'm very excited!

We have our first soccer game this Saturday and it should be really funny. I had to miss team pictures last week, which made me very sad. It was also our last practice, so I'm just really hoping these kids learned what a thrown-in and goal look like.

Even though the mornings and nights are getting quite chilly, it is still warm and sunny here in the afternoon. Of course, that means I miss all the sunshine because I'm at work. Boo. I have soccer games the next 3 Saturdays, then the Ducks game, then Danielle's wedding...so I have lots of weekend fun to look forward to right now!

My next trip that I am VERY excited about is going to Roloff Farms just outside Portland. If you have ever seen Little People, Big World, then you know what I'm talking about. This pumpkin farm is run by the Roloff family and is only open to the public during the month of October. Lynsey, Anna Kate and I will venture out to the farm on Friday, October 16 and I can't wait! I have that day off work because the State of Oregon has begun implementing unpaid furlough days for all state workers. So, it stinks I won't get paid that day, but I'm excited because I get to take a fun trip and maybe see some celebrities! You can bet we'll be taking the wagon tour of the farm...hopefully Zach won't drive us off the bridge!! (Probably only my Mom will get that)

Here is the link to my Seattle pictures on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2018613&id=160201160&l=bced65d879