Oregon (day two)

After a really good breakfast at the hotel (no, seriously, I was surprised too, it really was super good!) the Elwer family drove down to the wedding location to start helping with set up.  To our surprise we found ourselves on the cutest little road, driving by the cutest little houses, in Turner, OR!

And then, all of a sudden, the trees parted, and we were there! The Turner Memorial Tabernacle!

The reception hall was being set up first, so of course we started there.

However, when we got there, there were a lot of people we didn't know at all standing around looking at a bunch of tables scattered all over the room. After realizing they were trying to position them for the reception I called over "Math Boy" (aka Adam) and with in minutes tables were being moved and we quickly had a set up that worked really well and made Katrina happy (which is the ultimate goal of course, even if we did boss people around... but seriously, they were just standing there! They needed to be directed)

Katrina's mom was super organized and was ready for us to decorate tables just as soon they were in place. Each table got a table cloth and then a lace tablecloth on top of that, then flowers and three different sizes of candle jars (and then later came some strands of pears). It was very cute!

There was a bit of a pause in the room as the men were taking off to get their tuxes so Hollie (Katrina's sister-in-law) lead herself and Katie and Katrina in a sun salutation... Bennett had no idea what was going on!

Bennett did find a piano in the corner and was more than happy to entertain us all with his "music"

So basically we spent the morning moving furniture and decorating for the reception. Once the ladder showed up it was on to the church to hang things and start the transformation over there.

So stuff got hung, people (and Bennett) were cleaning, the present table and guest quilt table were set up

Isn't that the cutest?! All the guests wrote there kind words and blessing on a quilt with fabric markers! Love it! 

The boys also took care of random projects that included lots of kicking and hammering and what not - I'm glad they were all there!

So we finished all our projects about 1 o'clock and we realized that we didn't have to be back for the rehearsal until 4:30, so.... We called Becky and Michael and to our surprise they were free and suggested an outlet mall about 40 minutes from both of us so it seemed like the perfect place to meet up! We arrived within minutes of each other and went and got some food! We missed them so much! It was so nice to sit and talk over chips and coffee (even if our son was being a crazy person)! Due to said crazy person, we didn't stay inside the restaurant too long, and went for a walk together.

On our walk we found the most amazing tree house that just had to be explored!

And before we knew it, it was ten till four and we had to head back for the rehearsal! We hugged and said our good-byes but we knew we would for sure see them the next day because Becky and Michael were babysitting Bennett during the wedding! (Pretty awesome to travel and still be able to get a babysitter you trust completely!)

Upon arriving back at the church, we were all overjoyed to be able to meet Jodie's son Luke for the first time! He was/is a doll! Seriously, one of the cutest, squishiest, sweetest babies I've ever seen!

The rehearsal went great (Katrina was super on top of all the details!) and the whole thing went really quickly!

Before you knew it we were all climbing in cars to head to Padington's Pizza in Salem for the rehearsal dinner. The pizza was great but the place was super crowded and Bennett and Adam were not enjoying themselves. So we stayed through dessert (of course) and then made our exit to head back to the hotel. After some relaxing in the hotel room, we decided to go for a family swim down at the pool. I'm bummed I forgot my camera, Bennett was trying to copy everything Adam was doing in the pool - it was adorable! But upon returning to our room I did get the cutest picture of all time while playing peek-a-boo before getting into our pj's!

Stay tuned for day three... the wedding!

Oregon (day one)

So we went to Oregon this last weekend (well, Thursday thru Sunday) for my college roommate's wedding and to visit our friends who moved to Oregon in June! So, funny/ odd fact ... my roomamte's name is Katrina, her fiance/ husband's name is Louis just like the wedding I cordinated in 2008 for another couple with the same names! Weird huh?!

Here's the 2008 Louis and Katrina

And here's a preview on the 2010 Louis and Katrina

 Anyways, let me start at the beginning, as the beginning is the crazy part ... our flight to Portland was out of Long Beach and seeing as we have friends that live in Fullerton we asked them to babysit our car for the weekend. No prob right... wrong! We'll get to that in a bit. So we were on the road about 11:30'ish and all was well. We got to their new place no prob. Had a super yummy quinoa salad for lunch, socialized and relaxed for a bit and then it was time to head to the airport.

 All was well, we made it to the airport in about 25 minutes and then the drama started! As we are pulling our bags out of the car Adam says to me, "You got my wallet right?"  And I'm thinking, "Your wallet? It's YOUR wallet, why would I have it?" Anyways, through a series of communication misunderstandings, Adam's wallet was left in our friend's dining room! Lucky for us, her sister Hillary was still at the house in Fullerton so she jumped in the car to drive it down to us. At that point our friend takes our car to head back to her house. And so we wait....

 Let's say about 10 minutes go by and our friend in our car calls, "Has your car ever overheated before?" "No..."  And really, it never has before! We were clueless as to what to do! She pulled over, opened the hood and there is water spraying all out of the reserve! AHHH!!! Are you kidding me?! (remember, at this point Adam still isn't allowed on the plane!) She ended up having to call a tow truck and have our overheating car towed back to her house in Fullerton! (The radiator cap had broken and wasn't able to vent properly... I still don't know how it all works but praise the Lord  my parents next door neighbor is a Acura mechanic and that we have very gracious and helpful friends!)

So we are still waiting for Adam's license...

 We had decided to check Bennett and I in because we will take the longest to get through security and what not. At the desk we learn that Adam can check in up until 3:19pm. So I go through security all by myself and needless to say, I am stressing!!! My phone rings at 3:18, it's Adam, "Well, I guess you should just get on the plane without me..."  I hang up with him and call Hillary immediately, "Where are you?!!!!" She's like, "I'm here, I'm here I'm just pulling in!" About two minutes later, I see Adam, shoes in hand run, around the corner, we had the lady our boarding passes and we are the last ones on the plane!

This was Bennett's second time flying. He flew last September (weird huh? Hopefully we find somewhere to fly next September to keep the tradition alive!) to Ohio for Adam's Grandma's funeral. Look how cute he was...

He's kind of making the same "lip curl" face

Oh and did I mention that our assigned seats were two middle seats in rows 23 and 24! YUCK! But luckily the Lord saw fit to save me from a total melt down and one seat was open in row 24 so we got to sit together!  And truthfully, that was it, the drama was over (well, sort of, the car didn't get fixed until Sunday at like 5pm, it did kind of plague our whole trip... but after we made it on the plane nothing new went wrong!)  The flight was great! Bennett slept and with good 'ol Jet Blue we just watched TV the whole way there! It was actually really relaxing after all that airport drama!

Upon arriving and the man at the rental car place asking us if we wanted to stay with our "Mid sized, Toyota Corolla type car" or upgrade to an Subaru Outback, we decided to stay with the Corolla (as driving the Outback would make us want a new car too much) we got to our car and it was a brand new Subaru Legacy! It was so nice! We loved it! And yes, it made us want a new Subaru!
Here's Adam leaving the airport...

We made our hour drive to Salem (with a dinner stop at Subway ... we're super classy!) and Adam offered to drop me off at the bridal shower first and then go check into the hotel later so I could get there as soon as possible - What a sweet man I have!

The bridal shower was at a place called "Roth's" and I had no clue what to expect because well, I had never been there before. There were a number of rooms (like six maybe) that where in use for different dinners and partys and what-not with is a totally normal'ish thing - right?! We were in this room...

But here's the not so normal part, looking out the above pictured window of the "Glen Creek Room" was this:

 No joke! 

We were in a grocery store! 

It was really rather entertaining and hilarious!

After the shower was over... 

(I only made it for the last 15 minutes of the shower and missed this awesome game involving black trash bags) 

 ... the ladies in the wedding party and a couple others headed back to Katrina's parents house for the Bachelorette party.  This was a fantastic time of socializing and catching up with/meeting for the first time the people that Katrina loves! We all gave gifts to the bride to be and then answered questions/discussed conversation topics that Katie (the fantastic maid of honor) had prepared ahead of time. The conversation was great and it was so nice to be with complete strangers and hear life-giving, Bible-based, Holy Spirit inspired things coming from their mouths! Katrina has great friends and family and I felt privileged to be there among them!

Just because I can and I love her, here's Katrina and I in July of 2005

Stay tuned for more of our Oregon adventure...

19 months today!

At the doctors yesterday Bennett was 33 1/2 inches tall (75th percentile) and 27 1/2 pounds (70th percentile). His head is 20 inches and we just bought him a size 7 shoe this last week at Stride Rite. He's currently wearing size 24 months clothes and pants when he's wearing cloth diapers but if he's wearing disposables we can still get away with 18 month pants.

His vocabulary currently includes: Mama (mom) , Da-E (daddy), app (apple), nack (snack), yeah, no, thanks, wha (water), bat (bath), hi, bye, Uh- oh, nurse (only said to mom of course), nana (banana), this and that. (There are probably more, but that's all I can think of right now)

Bennett still loves anything to do with being outside but some of his favorite things to do right now are dancing and clapping to music, trying on people's shoes and trying to walk in them, playing with pretend food / playing in kid sized kitchen, running, sword fighting, looking at books and anything to do with cars! Play cars on a race track, driving his cozy cope around the house or driving with his toy steering wheel but most of all he LOVES sitting in a real car where he can play with the steering wheel and put his seat belt on! (Trust me, there is no temper tantrum like a temper tantrum when we have to take him out of a real car! The boy looses his mind!)

Speaking of, yes, the boy has started temper tantrums. We are working on ending them but he's figuring out that he has opinions and that he is able to convey them to us. We just need him to quickly figure out that they will not be tolerated in our home! :)

His favorite movie as of yet is the original, old school, Disney version of the Jungle Book. He loves it! He marches with the Elephants and dance with the animals! It's very cute! He watches Veggie Tales a little bit but looses interest quickly.

As far as eating goes he pretty much eats everything we give him. The only thing he has totally spit out has been cooked spinach, however he did eat it when i dipped it in his spaghetti sauce first. His current favorites are: Beans and Rice, Cucumbers, Broccoli, Kefir and Veggie Straws (which had to be banished from our home due to the previously mentioned temper tantrums - they may make a come back some day, but probably not for another month or so)

Bennett is a joy and so much fun to be around! He's funny and has personality coming out his ears! 

Home safe and sound!

We made it home from the land of green and wonderful ... Oregon!

Don't worry, we didn't sign any papers that would cause an immediate return, but if we found a job or a school in Oregon, we wouldn't be disappointed at all!

We had a great time seeing friends and celebrating love and as soon as the 50 loads of laundry are done and we've all caught up on our sleep ... I'll post about the trip.

But for now, I leave you with a couple pictures I wish I would have had last week to include in my last post!

Look how cute this picture is - the Howleys and Saldanas

Brian and Crystal-Lee Tie the Knot!

This whole summer seemed to be filled with all sorts of wedding things (hence the abrupt stopping of this blog)  but the most fun part of course is the last twenty four hours or so!

Before the rehearsal, Crystal-Lee threw a Bridesmaid Luncheon for all us girls! It was so nice! I had never been to one before but was really blessed listening to all the nice things people had to say about Crystal-Lee!

After the luncheon, it was rehearsal time! It was the hottest, yuckiest afternoon! 

We were all melting and a little on edge during the rehearsal... but that ended quickly once we got to Sweet Lumpy's for dinner!

Basically, this place is amazing and we ate meat ... serious amounts of meat!

And then came the donuts ... serious amounts of donuts! 

Bennett loved it all so much he basically just ran laps out front of the restaurant!

It was the perfect place to have a layed back relaxed evening

The morning of we all got ready at South Coast Winery in one of their Villas!  What a wonderful morning!

Crystal-Lee looked stunning as usual!

We did some driving for the pictures but I think the pictures will be awesome when they come back!

Bennett and Adam met up with us all at the church

Doesn't my mom look great? I really loved her dress!

I think Brian started crying when Aaron and I were walking down the isle ... we were the first ones! ha ha! Poor guy! 

And then the ring bear
I must say was stink'n cute being accompanied by his Uncle Casey!

The Ceremony was beautiful! 

Taking pictures in between gave us a nice amount of time to say hello to family.

The Blattler family (my uncle and aunt and cousins)

Uncle Ted with my cousin Brittany

Brittany and her fiance Javier

Auntie and Uncle Armin

And then here's our whole side of the family now! 

The Howley's (and Elwers) are a pretty good look'n group!

And a quick last minute shot of the whole wedding party

The reception was perfect too!

The pears were for the perfect pair... get it! Cute huh?!
(Also, we stole a bunch of them and made a pear pie the next day! Yummy!)

During the toast, Bennett wanted to go say hi and ask for chips

Then of course he had to wave to me to let me know where he was! 

After lots of super fun dancing and having root beer floats for desert the happy couple was ready to go!

It was such a great and perfect wedding! 

Couldn't have been any better! 

Welcome to the family Crystal-Lee!