Visit from Daniel's Parents

Last week Daniel's parents visited during Daniel's Spring Break. It was nice to have them around, and not because they work so hard and help us out so much, but because we like to spend time with them cooking, eating, walking, and playing games. Thank you Jerry and Judy for the visit and all the help around the house. Come back anytime!!!

Beckett is always a big help.


Moving grass to make our garden bed.


Catching the sunset at Mt. Tabor Park in our neighborhood.


Dan's dad cutting the stair railing.


Yeah! I hope I never fall down these slippery wood stairs again.


Daniel testing out his work.

Catching Up...

It has been over a month since I posted on the blog. How terrible. I have had a few complaints about my lack of posting recently. I got distracted....I wish I could say I was distracted by something worthwhile, but is was Facebook. Although it [Facebook], has wasted lots of my time, it has been interesting to catch up with some people from the past.

So, Daniel and I have been dilly dallying around in Portland. He finished the bathroom medicine cabinet door many weeks ago, and it looks great. We are that much closer to having a complete bathroom. We also installed the lights up into the ceiling (and when I say we, I mean Daniel). So we no longer have light bulbs hanging from the ceiling.

Daniel didn't want this wall to go all the way to the ceiling when we were planning the bathroom.
He had dreams about plants on a partial wall in the shower. His dream has now come true.

Here are a few pics from around here. Daniel did a 10 day fast before his Spring Break. I was quite impressed that he did it and only drank lemonade for 10 days! We went to a friends house to celebrate the breaking of the fast (Daniel did the fasting with a friend from work) and they happened to close on a house that night, so we had lots to celebrate with them.

A nice day on the back porch, breaking his fast with some yogurt.


Marc and Daniel


Marc & Wendy - Congrats on the New House


Sarah Awaiting Veggie Crepes for Dinner

My sister moved from the base in Bagram to Kandahar Airfield in Afghanistan. She is traveling more to forward operating bases, which I don't like so much, because she is traveling more by helicopter and convoy. It seems dangerous to me, so continue to keep her in your thoughts and prayers.



We are excited to have Chris, Katie, and Ellie in the States from England. I am hoping they make it to Portland soon, so I can play with the girls.

Fun Around Town, Part III

This three day weekend Daniel and I have been trying to entertain ourselves without spending much money. It was a three day weekend and Valentines Day, and when I told him at the end of last week that we only had $50 for the next week, he said, "That should be interesting, a three day weekend and no money." That is what led to my Fun Around Town posts. Today, was free admission to the Portland Japanese Garden. So off we went for some free entertainment. The gardens are very beautiful and Daniel commented that they are more beautiful and better kept then Seattle's Japanese gardens. There was a calligraphy art exhibit on display as well.










So, we made it through the weekend spending $30 at happy hour. An expensive happy hour!! That leaves us with $20, we can buy some fresh fruit and veggies. I think we'll make it to pay day!

Fun Around Town, Part II

The sun came out today. And it is a beautiful day. Daniel and I went to Laurelhurst Park today to walk around and then walked to the library to orient ourselves to our new library system. We are starting to feel like real Oregonians, now that we have the cars and pets licensed in Oregon and our Oregon driver's licenses, and now library cards in Multnomah County. I got a book of yard and gardening projects at the library and it has beautiful pictures in it. I am dreaming about my backyard looking like those pictures one day. I am registered to take a landscape design class later this month and hopefully can convince Daniel to go with me. Anyway, here are some pics from around town today.

He's dancing.
(That is why I married him because he can dance.)

Fun Around Town

I woke up Saturday morning to heart shaped french toast. It was a good way to start the day. After a session of acupuncture at the community acupuncture clinic, Daniel and I decided to venture on the MAX downtown to walk around and go to Powell's (the biggest bookstore ever). The MAX is about 4 blocks from our house, very convenient to hop on and go downtown.

Happy Valentines Day


Sarah and Elephant

Cool Building and Daniel

Happy Hour at Henry's

Daniel on the MAX

Out the Door

This Saturday

Daniel has been working very diligently to restore the vanity/medicine cabinet from our bathroom. He stripped it once and painted it, but didn't like the paint job, although it looked perfectly wonderful to me (and I am the picky one). So another stripping and repainting and some more obsessing and the door to the cabinet was finally hung and I was very grateful to have a mirror in the bathroom over the sink. But, the door did not shut properly. Oh no. So then there was sanding and fine tuning, and the door shut, but was still a little bit off. Oh boy. After a consultation with my dad this weekend, my beloved mirror is no longer hanging above the sink, and it sounded like it might be awhile before I have it back. So sad.

Painting Trim for Bathroom and Medicine Cabinet

Waiting for the cabinet door.

Voila! We had tried to find some salvaged hinges to replace the very old ones we had, but could not find the right size. But we found out the ones we had could be re-plated. They look very nice now after being re-plated.

Ought oh....

Last Saturday

Daniel had been working on cutting back the laurel bush (actually tree sized), in our front yard. It was over taking the side walk and the street sign and blocking the sun from shining in my office window in the mornings. I had trimmed it back a few times since we moved in, but it still needed a serious trimming involving ladder and long clippers and the falling of big branches. I am glad Daniel was up for the job and thoroughly enjoyed it, as he loves working outside. So, Saturday he finished the trimming and we borrowed Grandpa's truck (thanks Grandpa for always letting Daniel borrow your truck) and we headed off to McFarland's so we can pay them to turn our tree trimmings into bark. Here are some pictures of Daniel doing hard work and Beckett and I watching, as usual.

The laurel had been growing like a canopy over the side walk and covering up the street sign. Daniel cleared it all out.

It was also tangling with this beautiful red wood that my great grandma planted when she moved into the house in the 1920's.



It doesn't seem like it, but there is a surprisingly large amount of debris in this truck.



And it appeared very difficult to get out.



Good Job Daniel!