HIPSTER

Greg and I Stumbled upon this....and I laughed so hard...

And here is my best hipster look...

And here are our chickens! Bob and Joy. Yes, they are both female. And yes, they were named before we got them.

Seester!

This last weekend my sister Kristi came to visit.

(Below: Kristi at the Chowder Bowl- the best chowder in Newport!)

Isn't she beautiful?!!!

Here is why having a sister around is so great:

1. They may bring you CLOTHES! Oh-yeah, hand-me-ups galore! Plus, a few gifts. You are the BEST! Thank you so much for my new duds. 2. Bike riding in the rain. 3. They can help you with your make-up and teach you how to do "wings"- cuz they are pretty sexy. 4. Baking- cooking and goodies galore! 5. Girl talk! And straight talk. They'll let you know if you are annoying. 6. Hair tips, and the best hair products. 7. LATE nights. 8. LAUGHTER!

I always liked the number 8, so I'll stop there. But seriously- I had a great time with Kris- we all did. I'm too lazy to plug in my camera and download the few pictures that I took, so here are some photos that are compliments of Kaitlin. She is always great at taking pictures and documenting what we are up to!

(Below: Me and Kristi shopping Downtown Corvallis)

(Below: Kaitlin, Kristi, and me- bike riding in the rain. BTW- I totally biffed it on a wet wooden bridge- watch out! They are slippery!)

(Below: The gang: Kristi, Me, Justin, Kaitlin and Greg all at Calapooia *thanks G!)

(Below: Kristi, Me and Justin- we aren't related at all - are we?!)

Sisters are truly the best. I miss you Kristi. I miss you Jeni! Jeni- you should move back, and Kristi, you should just move here! It would make borrowing clothes and stuff so much easier. :)

Night Glow

Every year, Albany hosts an Art & Air Festival. Last year I posted pictures of the balloon launch early in the morning. This year, we were way more interested in checking out the night glow. These big bright and colorful balloons are so beautiful to look at.

Especially when they are glowing at night.

Getting Caught Up

I was talking to Kristi the other night when she suddenly said, "Dude! When are you going to blog again? It's been like over a month." Well sis, here you go. I have been meaning to, but, you know, I can just be really lazy about it. Here are some pictures that I've been meaning to share....

If it gets too hot here, like towards 100 degrees, we can always escape to one of the many rivers or lakes. Not to mention the coast.
On this particular Saturday we went to the North Santiam River.

It sure was a nice escape from the heat. And extremely beautiful.
Next, we have photos of when McGreggor's family was here. It was so nice to see them. I hope they enjoyed themselves here in the great Pacific Northwest. They sure did do a lot of driving and saw some lovely countryside. I unfortunately had to work the whole time they were here, but did get to hang with them on the Saturday before they left. We took them up to Belknap Hot Springs. We swam and went exploring the gardens. Love you guys!

All righty then. That's all for now. Enjoy the ends of summer everyone! I'll do another post soon.. Promise!

The Sun is shinning. The weather is sweet.

As you probably guessed from the title, Summer is in full swing here in Oregon and we couldn't be happier. To make things even better, we have our new backyard to enjoy it in. Here are some pictures of our new abode.

Andrea is so excited to have a house with a front porch. I picked up a rocking chair for Andrea at a thrift shop so she can sit outside and keep an eye on the neighborhood. I acquired the chair for a bargain price too. Only $4.50, can you believe that. All it needs is just to be recovered. You can Barely see it on the right side of the porch.

It's fantastic having a deck in the back as well. We lay out on it during the day to soak up some rays, and at night it serves as a good platform for star gazing. I also like to use it to work on projects. In fact here are some pictures of me building our cats a feline tower.
I built it out of wood scraps and some extra carpet from the local carpet shop. We wanted to buy one but they are just way to expensive. The one I made was completely free! Here is a picture of Dora's reaction to the finished tower.
As you see she was very excited about it. After she came back to Earth she was much more calm. she even posed for a good picture.
Marco on the other hand, wanted nothing to do with any of it. He was to busy warming up the floor under the bed.
As you know Andrea has talked about how much we love riding our new bikes. I figured I'd show you what they look like so you can have a better idea of how cool we look on them.
Not to brag or anything but I am responsible for the spectacular paint jobs. Pretty sweet Eh?
Last but not least. say hello to our new friends Barry and What's his name.

Well that's all for this post. hope it was as good for you as it was for me.

So much to tell, so much I tell you!

First off, I can't say anything without mentioning a trip to Utah that Greg and I took back in June to say goodbye to Grandma Jolley. She will be greatly missed by her family and friends. She was full of life and I was so glad to learn so much about her while we were there. The above photo was taken at the cemetery where she was laid to rest. It was a lovely service. Going out there was the first time I had the opportunity to meet the rest of the Jolley family. They are a great bunch and I only wish we could have been there under different circumstances to spend more time to get to know them. This is another "someday" thing. I know it will happen.


On to other news:
The good news is that the Royal's (everyone in the above photo) are going to be here on the 27th this month! And, the other good news is that we've moved so we have the space to entertain them! Yes, that's right, we live in a house now! With a yard- a HUGE yard, and a HUGE garage, and it is the cutest little house with a big covered front porch. I can't tell you how much we love living in a house. Mc. Greggor (yeah, sometimes i call him that) got to work on our yard the very first day we were in. He's in hog heaven with yard work. The garden beds are in pretty bad shape, so he went right to work digging and turning it up, and we have a compost going so he can amend the soil. We've got to get some fall crops going pronto before its too late. Thing is, what do you plant at this time of the year?

I have so many pictures to share. But it might be a little bit because we have no internet at home right now. Which is why I've been so MIA with blogging. Oh- wait, that's pretty much all the time (hehe). But I want to share pictures of our house, of our trip to Utah, of me that my talented friend Shelley took while I was in CO visiting, of Greggors (cause he's so handsome), and of the beautiful summer we're finally having!

By the way- hope everyone had a great 4th of July! It is my favorite holiday, we had our first BBQ to celebrate it and then set off some sweet fireworks and ran around with sparklers. Love living in Oregon! And it always makes me think of Grandma Suey and Ken- they were married on the 4th! Happy anniversary!

Colorado

I was recently in Colorado to help my friend Shelley photogragh a wedding (Shelley is the owner of Studio S Photography- she's amazing!). I only got a few shots of the trip, and then found out that my camera was acting faulty. Uh-oh. Luckily, I had another camera with me that did work, and she had a back up as well, which I used for most of the day. The wedding was big, and it was a long day, but was super fun. While I was there, I was able to meet up with some friends for dinner, see Justin and Emily's new baby boy, stop by my old job at Access, and catch up with some of the best girlfriends a girl could have. I miss Colorado and its big Rocky Mountains. They are so beautiful and majestic. I miss my friends that I made there. But I have to say, it was wonderful to come home to Greg, my cats, and the lush Willamette Valley.