Random things on my mind:

I have probably visited www.etsy.com and www.theknot.com 10,000 times in the past month. It's becoming a HUGE obsession..

This recipe for Oreo Balls is taunting me. Has anyone tried these before? They sound very yummy!

In the middle of my second winter in Oregon now...and I still love rain! I think my 23 1/2 years of living in the desert makes me REALLY appreciate how much moisture we get here.

I got a really warm, huge blue down mummy Marmot sleeping bag for Christmas (that was a lot of adjectives at once! probably not grammatically correct...oh well) so now I really want to go camping and try it out. Kory got a new backpack and we both got solar-powered flashlights, so we need to go try out our new gear soon.

Kory and I are attempting to make his grandmother's famous turkey soup tonight and I'm SO excited! It is delicious :)

We got Toy Story 3 and Inception for Christmas gifts...two VERY different movies, but easily my two favorites from 2010.

Life Update

I can't wait for the May flowers to come because we have certainly seen a LOT of April showers. My Marmot rain jacket was a bit expensive and I remember I had a hard time paying that much for it, but it is absolutely worth every penny. Plus it brings back good memories of time in Ireland.

I have been very pleased with the people who have gone home from American Idol and Biggest Loser the past two weeks. I really love Darus and hope he wins BL! I also like Ashley and Sam and Michael and would be happy for any of them if they won. As far as American Idol goes, I really like Lee and Casey and hope one of them will win it all. I'm afraid Crystal Bowersox will win and I really don't want that.

Next month I get to go home and see friends and family at Julie's wedding!! I'll be in Artesia Friday evening through Monday morning. I am very excited to see Julie and get to hang out with her and then have a day with my parents. Hopefully I'll get to meet sweet baby Dawson that weekend too!

I used to think it was the worst to be at work when it was cloudy and rainy and dark outside because I wanted to take a nap, but I'm also discovering it's REALLY hard to be at work when it's sunny and beautiful outside because I want to be out there and not in this building! So, it turns out that I don't like being at work when there is weather outside :)

We're having a rummage sale for the youth group next month so I'm trying to go through my apartment and see what stuff I can give away. I LOVE the feeling of purging my home of junk! It's an addiction for me...I want to keep finding more stuff to get rid of. haha My mom doesn't share this love of mine, especially when I lived at home with her and would do that and try to get rid of her stuff!

Football Fun

The Oregon/USC game on Saturday was AWESOME! It was such an exciting and fun game to watch--especially in person. The crowd was so into the game and did such a great job of being LOUD! Many times, I couldn't talk to Kory who was standing right next to me because we couldn't hear each other. It only rained for about 15-20 minutes the whole game and wasn't really too cold. You can look at this Facebook album to see my pictures from the game: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2019075&id=160201160&l=f31df4e6cb

Apparently, people think they can call the Employment Department if they have questions about ANYTHING at all. I got a call recently from a guy who wanted to know the city bus schedules and routes. Today a lady called asking me if this random welding college in Idaho will accept the Pell Grant. I have also answered calls where someone asked me if it was supposed to rain, how to hide from an ex-husband where he couldn't find her and to list every job currently open in the State of Oregon.

With all the recent rain, it is beginning to green up around here! It's so pretty! I love seeing green grass and autumn leaves at the same time.

Update

We are going to Seattle in a couple weeks for Jessica and Trent's wedding and I am really excited! I have never been to Washington before and I have heard great things about Seattle. It's Kory's birthday weekend so I am taking Friday and Monday off work and we're spending the whole weekend up there. I'll get to see several friends that I haven't seen in a while also, so it promises to be a GREAT weekend.

I can't believe it is already the middle of September! We moved to Oregon 3 months ago...it has gone by so quickly. It is still warm and dry here almost every day. Everyone keeps telling me the rain and cold weather will be here in October and stay until March, so I'm trying to prepare myself.

Life with no TV or internet at my apartment is still going well. I really don't miss either of them too much. Kory has internet access at his apt, and since you can watch TV shows online, I am really not missing out on anything, but I am saving quite a bit of money every month.

Have you seen the news stories about Steven Anderson? He is a Baptist preacher from Arizona that openly announces he prays Obama will die and go to hell. He preached an entire sermon called "I hate Barack Obama." You should google him or check out some videos of him on YouTube. It is AWFUL! I can't even believe he is a preacher. No wonder people hate Christians so much. I don't care how much you disagree with Obama's politics or decisions or whatever...that is NEVER ok, certainly not for someone who proclaims to live for Christ.

First few days in Oregon

Two families in the church have graciously allowed us to stay with them for a while until we can find places of our own. There are several towns here that are all located fairly close together. From South to North, they are Canyonville, Riddle, Myrtle Creek, Tri-City and Roseburg. I think they trying to keep Kory and I as far away from each other as possible. haha Kory is in Canyonville and I am in Roseburg! We both have awesome families to live with, however, and we are really grateful for their hospitality!

Saturday morning I met Kory at one of the elder's houses so we could unload our U-haul trailer. Jake is letting us store all of our stuff in his garage while we find housing, so we're also really thankful for that. They are definitely taking care of us here! After unloading everything, we took the trailer back to the Uhaul place in Roseburg and met Ken (I am staying with him and his wife Sylvia) for lunch. While there, Allyn and Becky (the current youth minister and wife) came in and we got a chance to visit with them for a while also.

We drove around town Saturday afternoon looking for rental properties and apartments. We found a few places that we can look into next week. It was good to kind of get a feel of where everything is around here. I get car sick really easily and these mountains roads aren't good for me. I am ok as long as I am driving, but I have got sick every time I have been a passenger so far. I hope I will get over that eventually. We went to see the church building Saturday afternoon after looking for places to live. I have included some pictures of the building and areas surrounding it. The views are beautiful every direction you look around here!







Saturday evening we met the Augsburgers, which is the family Kory will stay with for a while. We had dinner with them and then hung out at their house that night. Sunday morning, we had 4 kids in the high school class and ended up going to McDonald's to hang out and get to know the kids. Allyn (the current YM) is still working until this next Sunday so Kory is just kind of hanging out for a bit longer.

Sunday morning service at church was really great. It was much more relaxed and informal than most church services I have attended. A lot of people in the congregation got up to talk about their fathers and honor them. It was really cool! Dan Jacoy is the preacher and the man is crazy passionate and excited about life! He is a lot of fun to be around and I'm excited to get to know him and his family more. We had a Father's Day picnic in the park Sunday afternoon. It was pretty chilly and rained off and on, but it was still really fun. We got to meet a ton of people on Sunday and are slowly starting to put faces and names together and learn who is related to who, etc.

I have been SO exhausted ever since we got here. I am sleepy ALL the time. Kory and I have both been going to bed pretty early every night also. I am in bed before my host parents almost every night. I have been going to bed about 10 or 10:30, and if you know me, that is REALLY early for me. Of course, I am also freezing here. It is taking me a while to get used to this cool weather. The sun was shining today, but I am still wearing jeans and long sleeves. I need to just put a huge coat in my car and plan to have it every day. I hope I get over both of these soon.

Kory took me on a date last night here in Roseburg and it was great. It's so wonderful getting to see him everyday and not just have a telephone relationship. We are going whitewater rafting with some people from church in a few weeks and I am pumped about that! I have never been but always thought it would be really fun. Kory and I are also going to head to the coast this week and spend some time at the ocean before we both have jobs and our days filled up with busyness.