Surprise & Kris Allen Day

A little over a month ago Ricky started looking for airplane tickets to head to AR this weekend for the wedding of one of his good high school friends. What we found, reasonably priced tickets from Eugene to Little Rock with only 1 stop in Denver, led me to go ahead and buy a ticket, too. We then decided it would be fun to surprise my mom (since it also happens to be mother's day weekend). So, we planned just that. AND then we found out that Kris Allen made it into the top 3 and that his hometown visit just happened to be the Friday we were going to be in. So, the plan was to leave Eugene at 2pm Thursday, fly to denver, and be in Little Rock by 10pm Thursday night. My parents were going to pick "Ricky" up (my dad knew the secret but my mom didn't) so he could have a vehicle for his time in Eugene. 

Unfortunately, Ricky and I have not had the best luck traveling, and this trip was no better. We got on the plane about 2pm only to find that it had a low tire. Eventually (after over 30 minutes for a mechanic to come and another 30 minutes for him to confirm it was flat), we all got off the plane so they could change it. However, it seemed that they didn't have the correct tools and so they had to fly another mechanic (and tools) in from Portland. Needless to say, we missed our connection in Denver and had to stay the night. AFter working some magic, we ended up on the next flight to Little Rock, which got us in about 3pm. This was too late for us to actually make it to Kris Allen events but we got to enjoy in all the excitement, watch lots of it on tv, and surprise my mom. Ricky left me with my family while he headed back to his hometown to hang out with his high school friends and do wedding stuff. Today, my mom and I had a great time in Little Rock doing some shopping, and now I'm waiting for Ricky to arrive at my parents (with the suitcase, which got sent to Dallas)... So, I've been in the same clothes for 3 days and am ready for a change! Luckily, I got to wash them last night at my parents'... ;-)

Enjoy some pictures of Kris Allen Day. Arkansas definitely showed up Milwaukee and San Diego! Now, we'll have to see if Kris can win this thing!

Kris at Riverfront in Little Rock. What a crowd!

The brother and sis-in-law. :) They got to go to private lunch at one of our favorite restaurants--Stoby's. So fun!

Kris enjoying the parade in Conway.

Kris taking the stage in Conway for the final concert of the day. Check out the guy next to him--that's the body guard taking pictures! Super Fun.

A bird's-eye view of the crowd in Conway (reportedly over 20,000). Kris is standing under the green tent to the right. I stole this picture from our friend John's blog (johnshotme.com)

Hands in his pockets...looking quite impressed with the turn out and for good reason. :)

8 Things

Laura tagged me in this little note...

8 things I look forward to (in no particular order):

-Finishing my PhD

-Becoming a mommy

-Buying a house

-Living a bit closer to family

-The long days of Oregon summer

-Vacation and traveling

-Time with my hubby in the evenings

-Taekwondo

8 things I did yesterday:

-Spent a lot of money on my car service (timing belt, spark plugs, water pump, oil change...)

-Ate a chicken burrito (from Qdoba and thought of Laura & Kyle)

-Sat in 3 different classes for a total of 6.5 hours (1 I'm taking, 2 I help teach)

-Played in the back yard with my dogs

-Checked my email

-Watched Kris Allen make it into top 4 on American Idol

-Ate dinner with Ricky

-Talked to my dad

8 things I wish I could do:

-Get to Portland in 5 minutes from my house

-Know which umpire camp Ricky should go to

-Live closer to my family and have the great Oregon summers, too

-Travel A LOT and see the world/faraway friends

-Be "settled" (owning a home, starting a family, having my dream job)

-Cook as good as Ricky

-Feel comfortable in a swim suit (while eating whatever I want)

-Win an Olympic Gold medal and be on the cover of a Wheaties box

8 shows I watch:

-Amazing Race

-American Idol

-Criminal Minds

-CSI Las Vegas

-Heroes

-24

-Desperate Housewives

-House Hunters

I'm supposed to tag 8 people...but I don't know if 8 people read this, so if you'd like to do it, go ahead. :-)

Birthday week

Well, I'm a few days late, but I wanted to take the time to honor my husband who celebrated his 27th birthday on Friday. Ricky and I have known each other for almost 7 years (wow!). We met at a time when neither of us were looking for "someone" and have been pretty inseparable since. I definitely fell head over heels for his good looks, charm, and easy-going personality. I was going to say what about me won him over, but I guess you'll have to ask him because I'm not really sure. I'm guessing he'll say something about how well we got along (that I let him be himself, wear what he wanted to wear, and fit in well with his friends and especially his family) and how good I was at "taking care of him." But...you'll have to let me know what he says.

Ricky is the perfect man for me. He loves me unconditionally, he makes me laugh, he rubs my feet or back whenever I ask, and he always puts my needs above his. Don't get me wrong, Ricky has lots of things he likes and is into more hobbies than I can count. But this is what I love about him and what makes him so special and fun to be around. Ricky never meets a stranger and has a way of winning over pretty much any person in the room. I'm not really sure how he does it, but everyone loves him. It's definitely working for him! ;-) I'm super lucky to have Ricky in my life and to get to be a part of his family. I am definitely a better person for this, and I am thankful everyday for the time we have together. And while it's not always easy to be in the early "unsettled" stages of our lives, I'm happy to be here with such a wonderful man. I can't wait to see him in the role of father, home-owner, professional umpire (maybe), etc. I look forward to it all. So, happy late birthday, Ricky. You're amazing.

Even though I'm late on posting about Ricky's birthday on my blog, this does not mean I have been late at celebrating. For you see, about six years ago, I unknowingly started a tradition. The first time Ricky had a birthday after we'd been dating, I decided I wanted to make it really special. He'd been pretty busy with school, and I decided it might be fun for him to celebrate a full Birthday week (or "Hanukkah birthday"). I bought little surprise gifts and started one week before his birthday with a card and a poem about the week to come. While my original intention was for this to be a "one time" week-long celebration, it has become our tradition (for my birthday, too). Different years have been "gifted" differently, some with themes, some with mostly little gifts and a big one at the end, other years no theme at all. The point of it is not really the gifts but to celebrate and look forward to another great year, with some daily anticipation of what's in each package. So, here's the rundown of Ricky's birthday week this year, which he really seemed to enjoy.

Saturday 4/11 Hinged grill grate (no more lifting up the grate to add coals or cook certain food differently)
Sunday 4/12 The Easter bunny left him a baseball themed birthday basket complete with his favorite treats and a book (As they See 'Em) about umpires
Monday 4/13 Joby Gorilla Pod for his camera to see what that is go here:
http://joby.com/products/gorillapod/slr/
Tuesday 4/14 Another camera book (The Hot Shoe Diaries)
Wednesday 4/15 Timbuk2 personalize your own bag giftcard
Thursday 4/16 A Two-by-Two massage (my personal favorite!)
Thursday 4/17 Bamboo Fun tablet for photo editing to see what that is go here:
http://www.wacom.com/BambooTablet/bamboo.php

A Sunday Drive

Last weekend Ricky had his NW Athletic Trainers' conference in Seaside, OR (northwest OR). Neither of us had ever been to Seaside, so we used this as an excuse to go somewhere new (and for me to have some lazy time in the hotel). Unfortunately, the weather didn't really cooperate most of the time we were in Seaside. It was cold, raining (not our usual drizzle--RAINING) and super windy. Yuck! But the town of Seaside itself was pretty neat, and we did enjoy some good fresh seafood. On Sunday when it was time for us to travel home the weather was nicer, and we had a decision to make. Did we take the same boring route we came that had the potential for stopping and doing a bit of shopping at the nice outlet malls (up the interstate 2 hours and then travel west for an hour to get to the coast) or should we take the longer drive along the coastline? Ricky was leaning toward the idea that getting home quicker was better, but I convinced him to go "the long way" for the scenery (in exchange for driving the last leg of the trip). 

The first town we came to after Seaside was Cannon Beach. Cannon beach has a cool landmark known as haystack rock. It is beautiful and super close to the coast line. The town is full of rolling hills and scenic views of the coast from above. We loved this little town and decided we need to add a summer weekend stay here to our list of things to do.

Haystack rock from a distance.

Haystack rock a bit closer up.

A serene beach with no one in sight.

After driving for about an hour (seeing beautiful coastline and some pretty countryside), we arrived in another anticipated destination--Tillamook. Tillamook Oregon is famous to us because our favorite dairy products since moving to Oregon are "Tillamook," and they are produced in this town (rumor is they've been spotted in AR, too). We got to stop at the cheese factory, which is set up pretty much like a museum. We were both super excited about this, and we spent a good couple of hours here. While they don't package cheese on the weekends, they were doing some other things in the factory (pressing the curds into huge blocks and vacuum sealing them for the aging process). 

Ricky posing outside the factory for me. He didn't feel at all dorky posing outside the cheese factory (wink wink). Thanks, hubby!

It's their 100th anniversary.

This is where they were packing the cheese curds into 42 pound blocks, wrapping in plastic, vacuum sealing, and sending them to the aging warehouse.

We waited in line to taste several different types of cheese.

And then we shopped in the store full of Tillamook products. Which to choose? We ended up with the anniversary white cheddar...yummy!
 

They had a variety of great sandwiches at the deli all of which were made with Tillamook cheese products of course! Ricky had a grilled cheese with several different types of cheese.

 

And last but definitely not least, they had a bunch of ice cream flavors and fresh waffle cones (the waffle cone smell was hard to ignore but we were good and waited until AFTER lunch). Tillamook ice cream is amazing from the carton but even better when you can have almost any flavor you could imagine (including peppermint, bubblegum among others). Ricky went with Pistachio Pecan, and I had something chocolate with fudge pieces.

Here are a few more scenic pictures of the coastline. We've now officially seen almost all of the Oregon coast.

Medium Speed

I know it's been a few too many days since I've blogged. I think about it often, but I spent a couple of weeks being really, really busy wrapping up the end of the term and then a couple of days being really, really lazy trying to recover. So, a few days into spring break...Here we are. Ricky and I went up to Willamette Pass yesterday. It's a small skiing resort a little over an hour from us. It's nothing fancy by any means, but we had a wonderful day (that didn't start out so wonderful). 

We set the alarm and got up early (but about half an hour later than planned) to get out the door and to the resort not too long after it opened. About 30 minutes into our drive, I looked in the back seat only to realize that Ricky's ski jacket was there but mine was not. Ricky noticed the anxious looks into the back seat as I said, "Did you grab my jacket? It was sitting under yours." Nope. While I had my hands full of breakfast snacks and drinks to eat on the drive, Ricky picked up his jacket and our bag of ski gear but didn't notice my jacket. It was at home. There are a few items you could survive a day at the mountain without, but my jacket was not one of them. Not yet in the year, anyway. 

We turned around. I was really frustrated. I had looked forward to this skiing day for a long time. I did not like that we'd just lost an hour of our day, and it was because of my jacket (even if I did think Ricky was grabbing it--I should not have assumed such). We'd only been up once this year, and I really enjoy going skiing (there's just something about being at the top of a big mountain that makes it hard to worry about the rest of your life--even if it is only for a while). Ricky, on the other hand, was calm and said, "We'll just go back and get it and then be on our way. No big deal." Who was this calm man in my husband's body? Don't get me wrong, Ricky's pretty laid back. But, patience in times like these is not his strength. Needless to say, we turned around got the jacket and re-began our adventure. This time the tension that was between us on the original first leg of the trip (he was tired and feeling a little guilty for "neglecting" me a bit) was gone. We enjoyed the scenery (even the snow plow we spent a while behind), and our CR-V made the trip beautifully.

When we arrived, we were amazed. There were only a handful of cars in the parking lot (we got the best spot ever--front row) and did not wait in line to get out lift tickets. We got our gear on quickly and were on our way. It was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G and much needed. The snow was, well, perfect. It had snowed about 18 inches two days ago, six inches the day before, and just a couple inches overnight--packed powder with a layer of fresh powder. The sky was mostly cloudy but the sun managed to peek out a few times (and we even got some, as Ricky called it, "snow drizzle" where it was sunny and snowing lightly at the same time). The mountain was not crowded, and it was only a bit windy on the back side of the mountain. I couldn't help but feel like we had our own secret ski mountain. I was thinking of the crowds "spring breaking" in the cold, blizzardish conditions in Colorado paying lots more than we were to wait in line and be very cold on the mountain, and I almost felt guilty--almost. 

Ricky spent the whole day skiing with me (sometimes he ventures off on more challenging runs while I entertain myself on the medium ones, which is just fine with me but can get a little quiet at times--Ricky can often be heard "singing" such tunes as Elton Jon's Rocket Man while flying by me on the mountain). This is my third year skiing. I'm definitely getting better every time I go, and on a day like yesterday with such great conditions, Ricky coached me to work on pushing myself to ski a little faster down the steeper areas. We decided I upgraded my skiing speed to "medium," which was just enough for me and enough for Ricky to feel he accomplished something in helping me get better.

We were exhausted by the time the resort closed that day, and we stopped for our regular post-skiing A&W root beer float and cheeseburgers on the way home. It was such a nice day. I am really glad we took the time to go, despite having to make 1/3 of the trip twice because of my jacket mishap, and I savor the moments when I can have my hubby all to myself doing something that's fun for us both. 

A quick pic of us both. We both got new goggles this year, and they were great. We also always wear our helmets, mom(s). ;-)

Where's Waldo is one of my favorite runs. Once last year, the back side of the mountain was so snow covered, they weren't able to groom it. We had to take our skis off and walk down part way it was sooooo snowy (we didn't know it was going to be like that...They must've forgotten to put up a sign). This time, though, it was perfect.

This was just after Ricky practiced his stunts. He sometimes likes to ski in and out of the trees and up and down areas where the snow drifts up (keeping himself entertained before I upgraded to "medium" speed). I skied by just in time to see him do a summersault. At first I thought it was a new trick, but quickly learned it wasn't on purpose. He was in a soft area of snow and was fine. It was a pretty neat trick, even if it wasn't planned. Check out the snow clumps in his helmet! ;-)

At the middle of Rosary's run... See the lake in the distance? On a clear day, it's an amazing view

Ricky just before he zooms down the mountain.

That's me skiing for some perspective.

And then a bit further away.

The Perfect Season

Well, they did it, and we had a lot of fun being a small part of it. Ricky's girls' basketball team won State on Saturday night.  I'll post a few more of Ricky working away when he gets them to me in a format I can use. These girls are as good of a group of young women as you might find anywhere--hard working, disciplined, and genuine. We enjoyed having them over for a spaghetti dinner on Wednesday night before they headed to Portland to play in the State tournament. Three games later, they were state champions. Below is part of an article that was in the local newspaper and some pictures.

AJ & Sunny at the buzzer.

Class 5A girls: A perfect ending

Willamette beats North Eugene to finish 27-0 and win second title in last three years

BY STEVE MIMS

The Register-Guard

PORTLAND — Willamette’s perfect season is complete.

The top-ranked Wolverines capped a 27-0 season with a 49-33 win over No. 7 North Eugene in the OSAA Class 5A girls basketball final Saturday night at the Chiles Center.

“Every single goal those girls set this year they accomplished,” Willamette coach Paul Brothers said. “They said they wanted to do this and that, and methodically clipped them off until they got the last one tonight. They have been so focused.”

Those goals included an undefeated nonleague schedule, a league title, an unbeaten season and a state title.

It was the second state title in three years for Willamette, and once again the Wolverines defeated a league foe for the championships. Two years ago, Willamette beat Churchill 45-29 in the final, and this time the margin of victory was the same as the Wolverines defeated North Eugene (19-8) for the fourth time this season.

Willamette’s four senior starters — Smith, Aly Bruns, Alyssa Garner, and Katie Collins — all played varsity since their freshman season and finished their careers with a 95-14 record. They won two state championships and lost to the eventual state champion — Southridge in 2006 and Jefferson in 2008 — in the playoffs during the other two seasons.

Those four got a big boost this season with the addition of 6-foot-4 post Sunny Greinacher, an exchange student from Germany.

Greinacher had 24 points on 9-for-11 shooting and also had 12 rebounds and two steals. Willamette shot 59.3 percent from the field, making 16-of-27 shots.

Willamette scored on its first four possessions to take a 10-2 lead, and the margin grew from there. Garner and Smith hit back-to-back three-pointers to open the game before Greinacher added two free throws and a bucket. Greinacher added a rebound basket to make it 12-2 with 3:18 left in the first quarter.

 “Obviously they really wanted it badly because that’s about as good a first half as we’ve played all year,’ Brothers said. “Every kid was just focused on what they needed to do. Aly played great defense, A.J. decided she’d shoot whenever they gave her a little bit of space, and they all went in. Sunny just dominated inside.”

 “Paul tells us the most important parts of the game are the first three minutes and the first three minutes of the third quarter, so that’s when we wanted to dominate the most,” said Collins, who had four points, three assists and two steals.

Sunny Greinacher is easily the player of the game in this one where she put in 24 points (9-11 shooting), 12 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals and 1 block in 31 minutes of play. That's about as good as you can get, folks.

Sunny and AJ celebrate the victory.

Boston

My adventure to Boston-land is complete. I must say I had a great time visiting Kyle, Laura, & Abby (and learning/sharing a few things at the National School Psych conference). While I didn't end up with very many pictures documenting the trip, I had lots of fun. The trip was totally paid for by the research unit I work for (yay ECS--and all my hard work conducting research and writing for publication), so I had a nice hotel room with a huge king bed, per diem for meals, and transportation covered. Here's the quick (or not so quick now that I look over what I've written) run-down of my trip and a few pictures.

Wednesday: Left home at 5:00 am (Pacific Time) and arrived in Boston at 4:00 pm (Eastern)

Upon arrival, I took the subway (T) to the hotel and Kyle met me there. I got all checked in and registered for my conference and then we headed to the Shach-Pad to eat dinner and watch American Idol. I ended up sleeping on the comfy couch Wednesday night.

Thursday: Kyle had to work most of the day, so Laura, Abs and I headed to the hotel (where Laura & Abs chilled and I went to a few things at the conference). We ate a late lunch at one of Kyle & Laura's favorite hole in the wall places and headed back to the apartment for a pit-stop (e.g., Abby entertains us) and then to target for some essentials (you know wipes and milk bags) and of course, by the baby store just to peek for jeans. Finally, we got back to the apartment for dinner (Papa Johns) and more American Idol. Karen came over and we stayed until it was almost time for the T to stop running (about midnight). I slept in the hotel in my huge bed and didn't get up until I woke up.

Some fun time with the Abster on the BIG bed! (Isn't it amazing that she can provide never-ending entertainment...when she's awake?!)

Friday: I went over my presentation, rounded up my poster (it flew to Boston in another person's poster tube), and met Kyle, Laura, & Abby for another late lunch. The Shachmuts hung out with some School Psych folks from Arkansas while I presented in a paper and my poster session. We left the hotel (with an additional psycher--Laurel) about 6:00 heading to take Kyle & Abby home. The T (which usually runs about every five minutes) broke down and two hours later (usually takes about 45 min) we arrived at the apartment with a tired, grumpy (if you could ever call Abby grumpy) baby and some hungry adults. We decided to head to the North End in search of Italian but when we left again, it was raining... So, after a l-o-n-g evening Laurel, Laura, and I ended up at PF Changs (it was attached to the hotel through an indoor mall and meant we didn't have to fight the rain) where we had an "interesting" waiter (you'll have to ask later for the details) but good food. After dinner, we said goodbye to Laurel. Laura and I snuggled in for my favorite part of "girls night"--staying up all hours talking. While there were a few minutes we almost fell asleep we managed to keep the conversation going until well after 4am. We talked about everything from "the good ol' days," to marriage, college, jobs, kids, and eventually death. When we made it to death we decided it best to call it a night and implement a "no more talking rule." 

Yummy! Boston cream pie.

Saturday: We slept in until almost noon, :-) Got coffee and cake, and headed out into the beautiful, sunny, crisp day to shop. It was one of my favorite days in a long time--just like high school girls (except we shopped for and successfully found baby jeans). I really, really enjoyed "girl talk" and was relieved that the few times when I woke up during the night/morning, Laura was actually sleeping (and not worrying about Abby or feeling awake out of habit). While I definitely love Kyle and Abby, I must say I savored every minute of having my best friend all to myself...it's been a while! 

Shopping Success! Baby Jeans.

We made our way back to the apartment to hang out with Kyle and Abby (I also got to meet their friend John). That night a couple of friends from Laura's work came over to watch Abby (sleep) while we went to Legal Seafood for dinner (after a pit stop at Best Buy to purchase the new iLife). The food was yummy, we all had a drink and amazing dessert, and genuinely enjoyed each other's company. After dropping me off at my hotel, Kyle an Laura headed home, and I headed to bed.

Hanging out on the subway.

Sunday: Left the hotel at 5:45 am (Eastern) and arrived in Eugene 2:30 pm (Pacific). For once, I had good timing--as I sat on the airplane and looked out the window, I watched the first snowflakes from the big storm about to hit the NorthEast fall. When I arrived in Eugene, Ricky took me to lunch, we enjoyed a lazy afternoon on the couch, and tried not to think too much about all the work that needed to get done. ;-)

Even more adorable on Abby!

So, a huge Thank You to Kyle, Laura, & Abby for entertaining me with your friendship. You are the bestest! And yes, Laura, I've been thinking about how we must definitely live in the same town again in the next few years...