Lots of Fun in Oregon

A few weeks ago, we got back from visiting my family in Oregon for a week and a half. While there, we went on little day trips all around to see the sights that beautiful luscious Oregon has to offer.

For Independence Day, we saw the world-famous Monmouth/Independence parade (actually it has miraculously stayed the same since the last time I saw it 5 years ago. But hey we're a small town, we don't change much). Then we BBQed at my mom's house (also world-famous). Tany

a even made home-made elephant ears that were SOOO good. Later, we went down to Riverview Park for fireworks. Mariah loved them. She was a little scared at first because they were loud, but then she had fun pointing at them as they lit up the sky.

On Monday, we went to the Woodburn Outlet Mall. I love Oregon: no sales tax. We bought up Carter's and Children's Place. We found Mariah a super cute pink and white striped bathing suit. Now she's ready for the beach! On the way home we stopped at Yang's Teriyaki for dinner. If you ever go to Oregon, please put this at high priority for places to eat. It's a little hole-in-the-wall teriyaki joint on the outside of WOU campus in Monmouth. A huge serving of teriyaki and chicken costs under $5. It's so good.

On Tuesday we ate at Spirit Mountain Casino buffet for lunch. My family went there all the time when I was growing up. Apparently they re-did the whole restaurant and it's twice the size it used to be. Then we drove all the way up to Tillamook to see the Cheese Factory. It was glorious. Unlimited free samples of cheese. Plus you can buy any of the 38 different flavors of ice cream. I had peach, Brian had the Triple Taster (chocolate, peanut butter, and some sort of brownie-cow concoction). The drive was so pretty!

On Wednesday we went up to Portland and spent the day with my sister Monica. We toured Portland, went to the zoo, ate at a fabulous Italian restaurant, and walked around Portland State University. Portland was cool. We wanted to see a few other places (the bookstore and the rose gardens) but we ran out of time. Next time.

On Thursday we drove the coast. We went to Newport. The beach was perfect. No clouds and it was actually kind of warm. We just put our feet in the water but that's about it. Mariah HATES sand to touch her. I don't know if she had such a fun time. She pretty much cuddled with me so she wouldn't be put down. After a little while at the beach we walked along the bay where all the shops are. We bought an obscenely large bag of salt water taffy (and subsequently left in Oregon after our trip, dang it) and a magnet (we collect magnets from everywhere we go).

On Friday, we went to Silver Falls to hike the Ten Falls trail. It was so beautiful. It took about 3 hours to do the whole thing. Mariah was in the back pack carrier the whole time and even slept half the hike. I'm not much of a hiker, but this wasn't too bad. The scenery is worth the work.

On Saturday, we went to the wedding of my really good friends Nick and Catherine Freeburg. The wedding was really nice. Catherine was such a beautiful bride. It was fun seeing all my friends too.

On Sunday we spent some time with the family. We BBQed again and said our goodbyes.

It was a lot of fun going to Oregon and showing Brian all the places I used to go. We'll be back soon!

The Recession Hits Home

I never would have thought that the Recession would actually directly affect our family. But even we're not immune. Our plan for funding was school was for Brian to get a Navy scholarship (where they pay for all his schooling plus a monthly stipend) and then work as a Navy dentist for 4 years. Sadly, the Navy had to make budget cuts and only accept 60 recipients this year. We didn't make the list.

It was really depressing news to hear at first because school starts in only 2 months. But like Brian keeps telling me, this might be a blessing in disguise. It might be a good thing that Brian won't be owned by the Navy later down the road. We never know what the world will be like in 4 years. We could be in the middle of a huge war by then. And this just means that he'll be starting his practice that much sooner. It just stinks that this was thrown on us so suddenly and there was nothing we could have done to stop it.

But we will manage. Just keep us in your prayers.

Tim and Laisa Delivery Update #2: IT'S A GIRL!

Welcome to the family, Bree! Here is a note from Tim and Laisa:

"Our little girl, Bree Andalyn Miller, was born June 19, 2009, at 5:47 PM. She is 7 lbs, 1 oz, and 20 1/4 inches, and gorgeous! Mom and baby are both doing great."

What a cutie. And another cousin to play with! Yay. What a great Father's Day gift for Tim.

If you would like to see more pictures, Tim and Laisa have their own blog, which I'm sure they will be updating: http://timandlaisa.blogspot.com/.

Tim and Laisa Delivery Update #1

Tim and Laisa are having their baby! They just texted us with the following message:

"We're at the hospital with an epidural, so everything is going well!"

Good luck to them! We will keep the blog updated with any news that we receive. Please pray for a healthy and quick delivery for them. We're so excited to see our little nephew or niece (yes, the gender is still a surprise!).

Happy Father's Day 2009

Since Father's Day has never been rendered as much of a holiday to me (actually, it was an anti-holiday in my family, but that's an entirely separate blog entry...), I was pretty excited for it to roll around this year because it will be Brian's first year as a dad.

I just wanted to take the time to thank Brian and tell people of all of the hard work that he done for his family.

In this past year, Brian has helped me tremendously. He was there to support me through childbirth. He was there to hold my hand during all the complications when I was so scared. He even went out in the middle of the night to get me food afterward. He was awake at most of the midnight feedings, even when he didn't have to be. He took Mariah when she wouldn't stop screaming. He handled some of the worst diapers. He helped Mariah to start loving bath time. Him playing with Mariah have been some of my favorite memories of our family so far. He has done all this and still goes out to support us.

But most of all, Brian has been there to give Mariah time, in both quality and quantity. Though sometimes he feeds Mariah eggs when she shouldn't have them or puts the diaper on backwards, Brian has always been there when either of us has needed him. Without fail.

Brian is the best dad I have ever known.

Happy Father's Day!

Mariah's Raspberries

Here are a few more clips of Mariah's new skills. The first two videos are of her making mouth noises and then the last is a better video of her scooting. She is developing like crazy right now! It won't be long before she's crawling!

 

Boston Vacation 2009 Part 1: New York City

For the first part of our New England vacation, we went to New York City. While there, we saw the Broadway show Wicked (amazing!), took a bus tour of all the major city sites (I ♥ NY!), hung out in Times Square (but sadly didn't get on TRL), shopped on Canal St (I bought a fabulous knock-off purse), and of course ate at a few very good restaurants.

My favorite restaurant was Joe G's Italian. It was FANTASTIC! I had chicken parmesan. The best I have ever had, hands down. I felt like part of "the family" because everyone and their brother tried to hold Mariah. Waiters, the owner, even other guests! But it was really fun.

The whole trip to NY was amazing (except for Mariah getting a stomach bug and throwing up all over me). If you haven't been there before, then GO! It was so incredible.

Mariah's Scooting Skills and Teeth

Much has happened lately with Mariah's development. Skill-wise, she can point out things that interest her. She can say ma-ma, ba-ba, da-da, ga-ga, and so on. She can also make a raspberry noise (that she does frequently for attention). She loves being bounced or thrown in the air. And she loves Peek-a-Boo and songs being sung to her (Itsy Bitsy Spider, Ol' McDonald, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, and B-I-N-G-O being among her favorites). She has discovered how to maneuver on the ground. She can now turn completely around in 360's, scoot, and pull herself up onto people (see video below).

Physically, she's about 14.5 lbs (still 1% for her age group). Her hair has filled in a lot, and she has lost her bald spot completely. She also sleeps through the night (8 pm to 8 am), what more could a mother want? Her bottom two teeth ruptured last week as well! Here is a video of her showing them off.

All in all, she is a very happy baby. She loves getting attention (even from strangers). She is going to have a very out-going and fun-loving personality.

We're in Boston!

This is my first trip to the eastern side of the country. The furthest east I had been prior to this trip was Ohio, where my mom's side of the family is originally from (and where I lived till I was 6). Yesterday I had my first glimpse of the Atlantic Ocean. Beautiful. Boston is really cool (though a little foreign).

Brian's parents just moved here in January for a new job and so it's where we'll be coming to visit from now on. They live in a town called Hopkinton. What I've seen of it is fantastic. It's really enchanting. All the houses have a older, traditional feel to them (even if they're new) and in their neighborhood, all the houses sit on huge plots of land so everyone is nice and spread out and have huge yards. And all the green trees remind me of home in Oregon. It will also be exciting to visit during the holidays when it's covered in snow.

We have quite a few places to visit while we're here. During the next few days we'll be in New York City seeing the sites. I'll try to update as much as possible!

Our New Apartment

Straight from LA, we bring you footage of the new crib. We really like it here, there's room to grow and central air, what more can you ask for?

For some reason, there isn't any sound, sorry! It's sad because I had some fun commentary. Anyway, hope you like our new place. And it's open for visitors!