A Failed Attempt

1. Decide you need to stop being lazy after hours of watching Netflix.

2. Get excited about going to the farmers market in downtown Portland.

3. Get really excited because you love the farmers market and you love Portland!

4. Walk to the MAX.

5. Buy ticket.

6. Board.

7. Watch as two people fight about who is more disabled and deserves the priority seating.

8. Notice that the ride is unusually jerky today.

9. Sigh as the MAX stops unexpectedly - between stops.

10. Watch as the lights go out.

11. Listen as they announce that a supervisor is on his way to look at it.

12. Get off when ordered to.

13. Wait as they try to get the train out of the way so another one can come.

14. See that the next one has no empty seats, even before one person from your train boards.

15. Cross the street.

16. Get on train going in opposite direction.

17. Arrive home.

18. Consider it a failed mission.

19. Be sad for the two hours of your life wasted.

20. Go back to watching Netflix.

Time to Get Serious!

After an extended break from blogging, I am ready to begin again. I'll post some highlights from the past year which may or may not be in order. I can't even remember at this point.


1. Boeing

Daniel was fortunate enough to get an internship with Boeing for the summer. He is working in their Human Resources department in Portland, Oregon. Unfortunately, this means that we have been living in separate states all summer. Boo!


2. Friends

We have made some great friends this year. Jessica and Dave were nice enough to let us tag along to Las Vegas with them. We had lots of fun - mostly eating. Apparently, I do not have any pictures of Dave. Sorry, Dave! We will have to fix that.



We also went on a fun adventure to The Crater in Heber with Skylar and Tiffany. If you get the chance, you should go. It is kind of like a hot spring, but it is in this crater with a dome on top. We also walked out on the frozen lake. It was freezing! And the sun was very bright - this is the only picture of me and Daniel where his eyes are not closed.




I also had some wonderful friends from Freshman year move back into town.
Hooray! But this time they have two beautiful little girls - and I love those girls. We have so much fun playing together. None of these are good pictures, I know... I guess the last picture that I have of me and their mom is from about 3 years ago. Sad.





3. The Car Crash

Daniel was in a car accident! Yikes. Someone turned left in front of him (Grr!), and Daniel ended up with a broken wrist and thumb. After 4 or 5 casts and three months, his cast is finally off! Poor guy. And poor car. He did get a new car, but he also got his first gray hair. We first noticed it at the doctor's office right after the accident.





Look for Part 2 coming soon...

Get Ready for a Bit of Catch-Up...

Well, it has been about 10 months since our last post. That means that I have felt guilty for about 10 months. Finally, it got to be too much.

Here is what we have been up to:

We went to the Tulip Festival at the Thanksgiving Point gardens with our friends, Brooke and Ryan. Unfortunately, we choose a day that rained (and eventually hailed). Notice Dan's choice of shorts and flip flops. It was an especially fun day for him.

We spent a fun weekend in Arizona with Daniel's whole family. It was fun to be together and to have a little break during the last month of school.


My parents came to visit over Memorial Day weekend. They came to visit my classroom and we had fun showing them all of our favorite spots in Utah.

We were able to go to the Bretzing family reunion near Bear Lake. What a beautiful place!!


The 4th of July weekend has got to be my favorite weekend in Utah! We went to see the hot air balloons and spent that night with our friends, Trevin and Kalisha. Yay for America!


We had a great visit with out families in California. Here we are at the beach in Santa Cruz...
A really flattering picture in San Francisco...
Another beach (Rio del Mar, I think)...
And even indoor skydiving at iFly. WOW!

We went to Zion National Park and Cedar City, Utah for the weekend with Kalisha and Trevin. We are at the top of Angel's Landing - it is a miracle I survived that hike!
The Shakespeare Festival was really fun! Hopefully, that will become a tradition.

Happy 1 Year Anniversary to us!

We went in the Provo Canyon to take some pictures. The leaves were beautiful!

Look at our Christmas tree decorating skills!

Whew! There you have it - part one of the last 10 months of our lives. Bonus points for you if you made it this far!

Duck Walk

Alexa and I went on a duck walk the other day to find things that I could take pictures of with my new camera! She was especially fond of the cute baby ducks.

So fond, in fact, that she was filled with an immense desire to pet them. The ducklings were not, sorry to say, as keen on the idea as she was. As friendly as she tried to be, they ran from her...


Slipping and tripping frantically...
We caught another duck taking off almost gracefully. I'll have to work on my angles.


Bored with the ducks, we went downstairs in the MARB to check out the fish they have in tanks on the lower floor. I think this one was quite fond of me.

Afterward, back up the elevator.


And then down the stairs. I hate these stairs. I have to climb up them every day to get to class. It's a very sad thing.

And that was our duck walk! It's a great thing it's summer.

Easter

This Sunday was Easter Sunday. It was the first Easter that Alexa and I spent by ourselves. I don't plan ahead very well. We ended up talking Saturday evening about ways that we could celebrate, and the best thing that we could come up with was an Easter egg hunt.

Alexa hid her eggs while I was at work, and I hid mine when I got home.

The rice bowl was one of mine...


As was the pocket of the apron...


I also thought that I was pretty clever hiding an egg on the edge of our first scrapbook...


Failing to notice that she had already hid an egg further in the pages of the book

I thought of hiding an egg in the bowl of the mixer, but Alexa had thought of that first... So I found her egg early (don't tell her).


There was also an egg with the oranges

Now, Alexa was kind of mean. Do you see any egg in this picture of my closet?


Neither did I. I needed a hint to find the egg in one of my rolled up sleeves.

But I did one better. Do you see an egg in this picture?

Ha! She never would have found that one!


What was in the eggs, you might ask?


Well, I might answer, "PEZ candies, IOU's, and clues to extra presents."


These clues led to, for me, plastic dishes (I keep breaking the solid ones we got for our wedding) and for Alexa, cute shoes for summer (you can see which spouse is favored in this household).


But it was a fun hunt all the same, and we had a great Sunday meal compliments of my sweet wife (we were too hungry and forgot to take pictures).