Lost Pictures

I found quite a few pictures on my camera this evening that I never put online, so here are some random photos from the past month.

South Umpqua High School (in Myrtle Creek) football field

It's no Bulldog Bowl, but the view is pretty great!

These boys found these clothes in a closet in the church building and ran into youth group Wednesday night in these outfits. It was hilarious!!

They played a game of hot potato with an onion and if the music stopped while you were holding the onion, you had to take a bite of it!

First birthday celebration--cupcakes at youth group!

Seattle!

We had an AMAZING trip to Seattle this past weekend!! It was so much fun! I absolutely loved the city and we packed a lot of experiences into a few days.

I am currently working on getting the pictures on Facebook, but that is proving to be quite the ordeal. As soon as I have them all online, I'll give you the link so you can check them out if you aren't on FB. Until then, enjoy this shot of downtown as we waited on the ferry.

Soccer Coach

I started coaching an Itty Bitty Soccer Team (4 and 5 yr olds) with the YMCA this past week. They are SO cute and it's a lot of fun for me! We only have 3 weeks of practices and then 3 weeks of games, so it's a pretty short season. I am somehow supposed to teach them about defense, positions, throw-ins and goal scoring in 2 hours over the next 2 weeks before games start. They barely got the concept of kicking the ball without falling down this past week, so it should be quite entertaining.

We had a great time hanging out with people from church this past weekend. Kory and I went to the Norris' home to watch the UT/Texas Tech football game Saturday evening and had a delicious Mexican supper with them. They are a lot of fun and it was great to get to know them better. They were so gracious to let us raid their home and watch a game they really cared nothing about.

Sunday, the Cockrums invited us over to have Dawn's famous manicotti and oh my goodness--it was WONDERFUL!! After an awesome dinner, we all watched The Karate Kid together. I had never seen the whole movie, but it is one of Kory's all-time favorites so he was ecstatic for us to watch it! They are an awesome couple and it's hilarious to watch Danny command the kids to drop and give him push-ups so they can go to the neighbor's house.

We haven't been very good about being social and spending time with other adults from church, so hopefully we will do better about that after having so much fun this weekend.

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.

I want to grow a garden.

I recently read an article about how the sales trends of men's underwear is a great indicator of when the recession will end. It was hilarious! This is a legit theory that economists have. There are people tracking these underwear sales to make economic predictions. Just when I think the world we live in can't get any more ridiculous... :)

A couple of my family members/friends are considering making a move to the NW and I'm so excited about the possibility. I love my life here, but having people close to my age to hang out with would most certainly be welcomed.

Anyone who knows me very well will be quite shocked by this next statement. I have been cooking quite a bit lately and I am really enjoying it! Last night, I made California chicken (chicken breast with melted cheese, bacon and avocado on it) and it was quite delicious, if I do say so myself.

I really love staying up late. I am a night owl and I think I always will be. Even if I am tired and have to get up early, I still love being up late. For the first time in many years, I am going to bed semi-early and getting up at 6:30-6:45 each morning. I thought this would help me transition into being more of a morning person and enjoying going to bed early, but I seriously hate it. I think I just feel like I'm missing out on the fun the night has to offer or something. I went to bed at 10:30 last night and was laying in bed seriously wanting to get up, but forcing myself to stay in bed so I could get to sleep. I wonder if I'll ever start enjoying an earlier bed time.

Susan Creek Falls

Here are a few pictures from a waterfall we hiked to last weekend when Kory's parents were here. I forgot my memory card so my camera could only hold a few pictures. It was a beautiful place and, as usual, is much better in person.

Random Thoughts

I LOVE getting in a hot car. I enjoy AC once I've been in for a little bit and don't like to be miserably hot, but I really do love to be warm, all the time. I rarely use my AC at all, but I might have a really high heating bill come winter time.

I was born in Roswell, NM. People in Oregon think that is hilarious and several have asked if my family is in the alien souvenir business. Summer in Oregon is so much sunnier and warmer than I expected. I am SO happy about that. I thought it would be cold and rainy and cloudy all summer and I would miss out on my beloved time in the sunshine. I have definitely fallen in love with this place and I can't wait to see how things look in the other seasons. I bet Fall and Spring are both beautiful here! I saw a tree yesterday that looked like it was starting to change colors and it got me really excited for the Fall.

We had another training at work yesterday. Once again, it was really good! I am very pleasantly surprised with the quality of training we receive here. The training was Vicarious Trauma and it was teaching us to take care of ourselves so that we aren't traumatized by the upset/hurting/desperate people we deal with each day.

I read a really sad article yesterday about one of the effects of the recession that you don't usually hear about. Apparently there are a lot more bodies of deceased persons going unclaimed because the family or friends can't afford or don't want to pay for the costs involved in a funeral and/or burial. So these bodies are just at the morgue waiting to be claimed. After a certain amount of time, the state pays to have them cremated. It makes me sad that people can't afford to give a lost loved one the dignity of a burial or funeral or anything. I hate that dying has become a financial burden on Americans. I know that you can gain so much closure and begin the healing process after a funeral/memorial service and I can't imagine knowing your parent/spouse/child's body was lying in the morgue and refusing to go claim the body because of the cost. The whole situation just makes me very, very sad.