Weekend Visitor!!!

This past weekend, my best friend Emma came to visit me! Emma got married in May, a week before I moved to Portland, and I haven't seen her since!









She flew in on Thursday night, and we played until she left Sunday morning! After picking her up from the airport, we went out to dinner, then back to my place and stayed up late chatting and looking at pictures. Friday morning we slept in, which was super nice for a change! After breakfast at Starbucks, we drove by my work, then went to the temple. It was a beautiful day, and we had fun walking around the temple grounds - especially watching the people on the steeples who were painting (notice the little guy sitting up there in the picture!). We spent the afternoon at the mall, then back to my house for a pizza party. Emma probably felt a little out of place with all the my 'single' friends, but she was a good sport about it!

Saturday morning, we rode the max into downtown Portland to go to the Saturday Market! It was quite exciting - it reminded me of the markets my mom and I went to in Thailand, only more expensive! Emma and I had fun trying on Red Hats at one of the stalls, and Emma got an elephant ear - a giant scone covered with cinnamon sugar. It was huge, so we ended up sharing it! We walked around downtown for a little, did some window shopping at Tiffany & Co, and then headed back to my place for a nap! Dinner at Costa Vida, then watched a few more episodes of The OC, season 4 - which Emma brought up for me to finish watching while I scrapbook!

Sunday morning, before taking Emma to the airport, we enjoyed a delicious brunch with her Aunt and Uncle who live about 15 minutes from my house. It was a short visit, but we had tons of fun! Now I just have to work on getting her and her hubby to move up here so we can play all the time!

Labor Day Weekend

Three-day weekends are great!! I wish they were all 3 days long! I hung out with Bri pretty much the whole time - we went to bbq's, had sleepovers, and got her moved into her new place - which is much closer to me! Saturday, was filled with errands all day, a short nap, and a date in the evening. Sunday, after church, we had a Break The Fast, then back to my place and just hung out with some friends. Monday, we got to sleep in, which was nice! We walked down the street to Starbucks - I love their iced mint chocolate milk! So yummy! Went over to Bri's new place and did a little unpacking, then spent the afternoon in my 'project' room - I scrapboked while Bri painted! It was so nice to finally scrapbook, since I haven't in forever! Monday night we went to a BBQ and bonfire! It was lots of fun and a great way to end the long weekend! Below is a picture of Bri and I at the BBQ/Bonfire

Go Timbers!!!

I didn't realize that I was a soccer fan, but we have gone to a few of the Portland Timber's games and they are so much fun! This was the third game that I have been to, but the first time there was a goal scored..... and it was really exciting! The crowd went crazy and the entire team dog-piled the guy that made goal! The final score was 1-0, but the win qualified us for the play-offs!! At the last game, we (Bri, Mario, Nic and I) all bought 'Portland Timbers' shirts, so now we look like true fans! Too bad that there are no more home games this year! Atleast I'll have some time before next year to learn a little more about soccer!

Me and Bri (top); The gang - Mario, Bri, Nic, Brian, Matt and Rich (top right); Me, Mario, Nic and Bri
(bottom right)

Ward Campout!!!

August 9-11 was our Ward Campout and it was so much fun! I haven't been camping in years, so it was nice to finally be able to go again! It was just so nice to relax and hang out with friends and just chill for a few days - and it was especially nice to not have a cell phone for a few days! We had good weather, and even though it wasn't hot enough to lay out and work on our tans, it was still perfect weather. Friday, I don't think I knew what time it was all day long!! We went camping along the Clackmas River, which was about a 40 minute drive east-ish. We had campfires both nights, played by the river, played baseball and volleyball and frisbee, ate way too much, and my favorite part was laying in the middle of a field and watching the stars! We saw tons and tons of shooting starts - it was amazing! It was a great little get away and it was nice to finally have some time to start reading Harry Potter #7!!

The pictures... (left to right, top to bottom)
- Bri, Mario and I playing at the river
- The girls!! Me, Bri, Sheri and Diana
- Mario and I at the campfire waiting for our tin foil dinners to cook
- Mario and Nic playing guitars - they are amazing!
- Me and Bri!! (Saturday)
- Me and Bri again - on Thursday
- Friday morning at the Polar Bear swim - Bri, Sheri and Skyler were the only ones brave enough to go in - too cold for me! :)
- Laying in the field looking at stars - Mario, Daniel and Bri

Pizza and the Beach!!

This past weekend (August 3-5) was tons of fun! I started off the weekend with a pizza every few weeks, and it was my turn to be the host! We made 5 party at my house! There is a group of us that have pizza parties different kinds of pizza, and a dessert pizza! After pizza, we played games and watched Dumb and Dumber!! It was toms of fun - each time we have a pizza party, the group gets bigger and bigger, so that's exciting! Also, as you can tell by the pictures, I'm a brunette again! Everyone was quite shocked to see me with dark hair! I forgot that I moved here as a blonde, so no one has seen my with dark hair! The first picture is part of the Pizza Gang - Shari, Me, Evelyn, John, Diana and Mario; Me, Mario and some dough; Me and Bri

Saturday, we took a trip to the coast! It's about an hour and a half drive to Portland, and you can't say 'the beach' here.... it's 'the coast'!! The water is freezing cold, so we only got our feet wet, although right before we left, Bri and Clayton jumped in with all their clothes on! Crazy! It was way too cold for me!! There was 8 of us who went: Me, Bri, Mario, Nic, Clayton, Billy, Darcy and Mike! Clayton was a friend of Bri's who was in town for the weekend, and Billy is a friend of mine from work! We had a great time, even though it wasn't the sunniest of days! In the pictures ..... Mario, Nic and I running to the water; Me (in the green sweater); Bri, Clayton and Billy by the water.

Taking Back Sunday!!!!

Thursday, July 26th was the Taking Back Sunday concert! It was awesome! The only way you could get tickets to the concert was by volunteering, so there were only about 250 people there, which means we were really close to the band! Bri and I were going to try and dress up 'punk' style for the occasion, but realized that we didn't have any clothing with skulls on it, no pink or orange hair color, and the fact that we had showered in the past week meant that there was no way we could pass as 'punk'!! Overall, it was an excellent concert - there was only a few songs that I didn't know. The lead singer was very entertaining and was always swinging the microphone around and stuff. Bri and I were trying to decide how often he hit his band mates! As they were leaving the stage, I shook hands with the main guitarist (the one in red)! I've never touched a famous person before! So it was pretty exciting! Overall.... great night!!

Weekend Fun

Bri and I had a pretty fun weekend! Friday night, we started it off by feeding the Sister Missionaries. They are fun and the 4 of us had a good dinner! After taking met up with Alex and his brother Chris. Alex is in our ward here, and his brother was visiting before moving to DC to start school. We went downtown to VooDoo Doughnut's.... a famous Portland stop, open 24 hours a day! They have everything you can think of! You can get bacon donuts, ones with cereal on them.... whatever you want! I got one with oreo crumbs on it and chocolate and a peanut butter on it! So yummy! After our doughnuts, we rode around on a 'Pedi-Cab' - it was a guy on a bike with 2 rows of seats - it was way fun and a nice way to see Portland at night! We saw everyone who was out clubbing or at bars, and tons of people everywhere waiting for their copy of Harry Potter! There was a light mist all night, which just added to our 'Portland experience' for the night! :)

Saturday, we didn't get to sleep in much cause we went to a pancake breakfast hosted by the Stake in honor of Pioneer Day. After breakfast, we did a little shopping, then went to see Hairspray! It was excellent! The lead girl was amazing - the rest of the cast did an excellent job too! Saturday night, I got invited again to go out to dinner with the Sister Missionaries! Twice in one weekend! There was a group of 6 of us total, and we went to Sweet Tomato! Back to my place and watched some movies and just hung out (minus the Sister's :) )!

Sunday was Church, then we went to a Pioneer Broadcast fireside, which ended up being just a concert by the MoTab, but still very good! They sang a fairly random assortment of songs - my favorite number of the night was 'Somewhere Over The Rainbow'.

Good weekend! Now it's back to another week of working!

Pictures: Me and Bri inside VooDoo Doughnuts (top left), Bri and Alex enjoying! (top right), Alex, me and Chris waiting in line for donuts (bottom left), Bri and Alex on our 'bike ride' (bottom right)

Happy 4th of July!! My second favorite holiday - I just love fireworks! Bri and I spent the day at the pool with a few other friends of ours, and got really sunburned! My forehead has been peeling the last few days and it's not fun! After spending the day laying by the pool, relaxing, reading our books and chatting, we went to a Portland Beavers baseball game. The game was fun, but after being in the sun all day, we were both really tired! The Beavers won, and then we went to the waterfront and watched the fireworks!! Overall, it was a great day spent with friends and just relaxing!

Ward Luau!

The Singles ward here is awesome! I have made so many friends already! It's just the perfect size - big enough that there are lots of people to meet, but small enough that people notice a new face and everyone is friends. In the 2 months that I have been here, we have done lots of fun activities. These pics are from a ward Luau that we had. Bri and I decided it would be fun to dress up 'Hawaiian' style. They had a dinner, a little show with some hula dancing, and then lessons after. Bri and I were laughing too hard to learn much, but it was fun anyway.

We also have an activity every 3 or 4 weeks with the other two singles wards in the area. I'm surprised by how many people actually go to the activities! It's usually a bbq of some sort, and then lots of games and time to just 'mingle'. The biggest difference between the singles wards here and the ones in Utah is that there is NO pressure to get married! It's SO nice for a change! This weekend, we are having a boat dance on the Portland Spirit. It's a famous old cruise ship, and I guess they just cruise us up and down the river all night. I'm not way excited about being stuck on a boat and forced to dance for 4 hours, but I'm sure we will end up going!

The pics..... (left) Me and Bri; (right top) Me, Mario and Bri; (right bottom) Shari and Me.

Service for Concert Tickets

On Saturday, June 30, Bri and I volunteered 4 hours of our morning and got concert tickets in return! We signed up with this company called Boost Mobile Rock Corps. They travel all over the US organizing service projects of different sorts, and then give you a concert ticket when it's all over. We joined about 200 other people to cut ivy off of trees. I didn't know this, but apparently, when ivy grows up the trees, it kills them. So they gave us some big cutter things and let us go to town! We ended up getting free t-shirts, a lunch, and best of all, concert tickets to Taking Back Sunday! It was tons of fun - I would defiantly do it again!