Merrill's Baby Shower Pics

A Quick Texas Trip

This weekend I had a quick but wonderful trip to Texas.  What was already a short weekend became shorter when my flight from Portland to Dallas was rerouted due to thunderstorms in the DFW area.  I was supposed to land at the DFW airport at 11:45am on Friday morning, but my plane was rerouted to the Killeen/Fort Hood airport where we sat in a tiny terminal for 4 hours.  This was a total bummer because I was really looking forward to spending Friday afternoon with Sarah, Emily and the kids.  But I finally made it to Dallas at 5:00pm just in time to swing by to see Hannah, Alice Anne and Carter before their bedtime and then meet up with my friends for dinner.

Friday night, a group of us had dinner at Eno's in the Bishop Arts District.  The food and atmosphere were wonderful... and the company was even better.  I loved getting to spend time with my wonderful college friends and hear about everything that's going on in each person's life.  At one point, I tuned out on the conversation as I looked around at this incredible group of girls and realized how lucky I am to have each of them as my friend.

I spent the night at Emily's house both nights.  So Saturday morning I was woken up early by little Carter running downstairs in his pjs calling for "Aunt Mar Mar".  I was able to spend a little time with him and Sarah before they headed back to Waco that morning.

All of the hostesses for Merrill's baby shower came over early to help set up and we were able to kick back and relax as we ate Chick-fil-a for lunch (oh how I miss those nuggets and waffle fries!).  The baby shower on Saturday afternoon was great!  It was good to catch up with old friends and watch Merrill open presents as everyone "oo"ed and "ah"ed over all of the complex baby gadgets.  Merrill is such a cute little pregnant woman and just listening to her talk about the baby made me realize what a great mom she is going to be.  I teared up when I first saw her with her cute little belly.  I couldn't picture her being pregnant until I saw her and putting my hand on her belly, and feeling the little feet kick made it all so real.  I can't wait to meet baby Carl(a).

After the shower some of us had dinner at Manny's where we ate the Tex Mex I've been craving ever since my last trip to Texas.  The margaritas, queso and fajitas were everything I wanted and more!  This Mexican food fix should last me until this Friday. maybe.

And yesterday was strictly a family day.  Brunch with Mom and Dad and the Belfs, lots of playing with Hannah and Alice Anne, driving around with Uncle Les, and dinner with Aunt Judy and Uncle Bob.

Even though it was a short weekend, it was well worth the trip!  It really couldn't have been better (beside the whole layover in Killeen thing).  I loved having so many of my friends and family all in one city - that hardly ever happens!  Don't worry, pictures to follow.

Gardening Weekend

Kathy and I finally got around to starting our own little garden this weekend.  We don't have much of a back yard (at all) so we decided to build an above ground gardening box for our herbs and vegetables.  I found some scraps of wood for free on a corner that we used for a couple of the side walls and then shopped at the Rebuilding Center (a used building material shop) where we bought the remainder of wood for $2.  Kathy and I sawed and hammered the wood together to make the perfect 3.5' x 1.5' garden box.  We went to a garden down the street called Seven Dees and bought soil, herbs, vegetables, and flowers.  We filled our garden box today and can't wait for the plants to really start growing!  We are going to see how this garden box goes and hopefully build a few smaller ones soon.  Before we know it we'll only have to go to our back yard for dinner!

Kathy should be a carpenter on the side.  She went to town with that saw!

Sawing (left handed) at the Rebuilding Center.  Several men stopped by to see if we needed their help.  We demonstrated our sweet sawing skills and sent them on their way.

Our lovely gardening box full of fresh produce.  Now that's what I call organic!

From left to right: lettuce, arugula and spinach, marigolds to keep the bugs away, basil, chives, cilantro and rosemary.

I already used some of the cilantro tonight!

I'm also starting a compost pile.  I found a pile of free dirt in front of someone's house (Portland is full of piles of free stuff) and the owner said I could take as much as I want.  I'll mix the compost with the dirt to make gardening soil.

Thunder and a Rainbow

I may have spoken to soon in my last post.  This week has been dreary and rainy. Every day.  I usually hate the rain, but on Wednesday evening we didn't have the typical drizzle.  We had a thunderstorm.  And I heard thunder... for the first time in over a year!  I seriously have not heard thunder since I've been in Portland.  I LOVE  thunderstorms.  I can't remember if I loved them this much while I was living in Texas or if the lack of them has made me love them that much more.

I was driving down the street on Wednesday as the rain began to come down hard and all of a sudden BOOM - a big clap of thunder!  I actually yelled out loud, "Thunder!"  One minute later I got a text from a Texas friend who also lives in Portland that said, "I just heard thunder!!! This is awesome!"  Oh what I wouldn't give to snuggle up in a blanket inside while watching and listening to a big loud thunder and lightening storm.

So next time you Texans are trapped inside by a thunderstorm, don't take it for granted.  Enjoy it for me!

the storm left a beautiful double rainbow behind

Spring is Here

The long dreary Northwest winter is finally behind us and spring time is quickly sweeping in!  These last couple of weeks have (for the most part) included lots of clear skies and much-needed sunshine.  This was my first full winter to go through here in Portland and boy is it different from Texas "winters".  I'm so glad that the short days filled with constant drizzly rain are over and the long and glorious summer is nearly here.  We have a new little garden in our front yard and fresh flowers in our house to celebrate the season.

I have also started researching tips on how to grow an herb garden.  Kathy and I are hoping to get one started this coming weekend.

Any thoughts/ideas/advice?

Carter Conversations

I love when I see Emily's name pop up on my phone and I pick it up and hear little Hannah's voice.  Phone conversations with a 3 year old are funny and often short (especially with that busy body's attention span).  So imagine a phone conversation with a 1 year old.  Carter is finally at the age where he can call and "talk" to me on the phone.  Granted the "conversation" consists of him repeating after his mommy verbatum, I still love hearing his voice.  Carter has left me a few cute voicemails in the past week.  Click the links below (then "Download" then "Open") to hear them:

Carter Call - Book

Carter Call - Popsicle

Alright Alice Anne, let's see if we can't get you to start talking on the phone more!

Sic 'em, Bears!

The past couple of weeks have been exciting for Baylor Bears Basketball (men and women).  The men's team made it to the NCAA Elite Eight and the women's team made it to the Final Four!  I've been in contact with the Baylor Network in Waco who helped me put together some watch parties.  There was a small group of us that would meet at Blitz, a sports bar with plenty of big screen TVs, to cheer our team on from the Pacific Northwest.  Even though we didn't all know each other, we had a common bond in our alma mater.  It was great to meet new people who I had an instant connection with.  We are hoping to keeping the gatherings going even outside of sports season.  We talked about trying to have watch parties during football season, but it could be difficult to find those Baylor games on Portland channels!