Tamara's Prescription

Cruising The Carribean

2012-02-11T14:13:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago we went on a cruise from Miami to Stirrup Cay Bahamas, Ocho Rios Jamaica, Georgetown Grand Cayman and Cozumel Mexico. We had a lot of fun. We went with my sister Angie and husband Shannon and mom and dad.

Here is Chris surfing in Cozumel. I didn't think we would get to surf this trip but driving down the road in Cozumel we saw a guy renting surfboards on the side of the road. It was really fun.

Here we are at the midnight chocolate buffet. Either I was just too full or it really wasn't that great.

We found a nice little spot on deck 7 that had chairs and wasn't crowded. It was a nice place to go read in peace.

Here I am surfing in Cozumel.

In Grand Cayman we went to Stingray City. It is a sandbar about a mile out that has lots of stingrays. For some reason I am scared of fish and wasn't real excited. At first the stingrays were terrifying and I kept freaking out when they would swim up to me. Finally I got brave enough to go touch one with the guide holding it. It was actually really really soft. I even gave it a kiss and let it give me a back massage.

Me and Chris on the boat. I got my new swimsuit cover up slash dress in Grand Cayman.

Getting ready to go to Stingray city and snorkeling.

Here is our boat. The Norwegian Pearl. It was pretty nice. I thought the food was amazing. Pretty much everything I tried was fabulous aside from the chocolate buffet. I would kill for make your own pasta bar and chef to live at my house! They also had some killer Indian food and a crepe station.

After our day in Jamaica we went to a restaurant and got some curry chicken with rice and beans. It was pretty good.

Jamaica was a blast. We did a zip line and river tubing tour through Jaital. It had I think 5 different zip lines. One of them was basically a free fall before it catches you. It was pretty scary (and pretty painful). Another was a giant swing. I think that was the best part. They pull you up to the top then you pull a rip cord and swing away. I was the person to pull the cord and just didn't expect it to drop that fast! I almost peed my pants! As you can see from Angie, mom and dads face, it was pretty scary.

Here we are eating again. While on the ship, I think that is all we did. I only gained about 3 lbs. Pretty good. I did work out pretty hard every day while we were there. Loving my bodyrock.tv workouts! (If you haven't discovered bodyrock.tv yet go try it. I'm addicted!)

We played some volleyball in the Bahamas. This is Norwegians private island. It wasn't my favorite place but we still had fun. They just try and charge you for everything. They had some chairs with shade canopies and charged $30 per day! Unreal! At least lunch was free.

Flooding

2012-01-19T13:35:00.001-08:00

Winter is finally here. We have hardly had any rain and we are supposed to get about 80 inches per year and it is generally between November and April. We have only had 2 storms so far until this one came. There has been a lot of flooding, especially up where we live. We live up Hunter Creek and it is prone to flooding. I debated going to work today but I had Chris drive me in the truck. It just kept getting worse and we got reports of it being over the bridge and so me and the other girl that live up there went home at lunch so we aren't stuck in town. Luckily we live way up on the hill so we will be totally fine. We just could get stuck at our house. We are going on a cruise and have to get to Medford by tomorrow night (3.5 hrs through river canyons that are prone to land slides). We may have to take some detours but there aren't really any good options. I think we will be taking the truck instead of our sportwagen along with a chain saw and shovels. Here are some pictures of hunter creek on the drive home from work today.

This is the road ahead. Yes completely covered in a few feet of water. We are about half way through it at this point. The road was completely covered for over a 1/4 mile. At one point it was at least to our bumper and we drive a dodge ram with a lift.

Here is the beginning of the bad part.

This is one of the homes along the creek. Totally sucks to be them.

This is a home that is basically across the street from our property. They usually have the most gorgeous yard in immaculate condition. On the right you can see a little duck statue. That is normally a cement wall where the creek is and it is usually about 6 or so feet below that.

This is another neighbors house. There is usually no water here. The creek is actually behind all the trees in the background.

This is us driving through several feet of water.
So it was a fun day at work. Don't know if I will be able to get to work tomorrow or not.

It's Already December

2011-12-07T17:47:00.000-08:00

December just started out with a bang. I found out I was pregnant in early November but my first ultrasound wasn't looking so great. I had another ultrasound December 3 and it wasn't good. I didn't even develop beyond about 5.5 weeks just like every other time. So we had to get a D&C scheduled. My ultrasound was in Eugene on the morning of the 3rd and I had an orchestra concert that night in Gold Beach (only 4.5 hrs away). I had 2 other orchestra concerts on the 4th and 5th also. I almost had to go back to Eugene on the 6th for the D&C but they found someone to do it in Coos Bay (only 2 hrs away). So I had the surgery on the 6th and we are getting the tissue sent for genetic testing this time (this is miscarriage #4). I felt horrible yesterday after the surgery but felt much better today. I spent most of the day on the couch, but we did go get a Christmas tree today. We just drive up the road about 10 miles and cut one down. So back to work tomorrow!

So they aren't the biggest most full trees around but at least it's close to home and only cost $5.

At least this year the trunk is bigger than 1 inch around. Maybe even 4 or 5! By the way--this is me recovering from surgery yesterday!

Here I am at my orchestra concert in Gold Beach. I think we did pretty good this year.

Thankgiving

2011-12-07T17:37:00.000-08:00

We got to go back to Utah to visit for Thanksgiving. We spent about 10 days there. Other than catching up on our going out to eat we mostly just hung out with everyone. I did get to go to the Messiah Sing Along at the Utah Symphony which I loved.

Chris did hydrogen peroxide a few too many times on his hair and this was the result. Shon Feller had fun styling it for him one night. He looked pretty creepy if you ask me.

On our way home from the Medford airport at 2 AM we came across a downed tree on the 197 highway. Luckily Chris and some other guys that pulled up were able to clear it enough to get around it. It would have been a very long detour if we had to turn around.

Chris wanted his hair platinum blond so we had Jess bleach it for him. It had a very bright glow to it after that.

Checking out all the Black Friday adds after dinner.

Here is a niece and nephew playing dress ups. Yes I did say nephew- his daddy is so proud.

2011-10-30T19:51:00.000-07:00

Here's what we have been doing for the past couple months. First of all I got brave and decided to recover my dining room chairs that were hideous! I tried it first with some scrap fabric and had to try it about 3 different ways before it looked okay. So I finally got some fabric and just did it. I am very proud of myself.

Here is the before picture. Pretty ugly!

Here are the after pictures. I think it turned out pretty good.

Chris has been assistant coaching a youth soccer league. I finally went to one of the games and it was actually quite entertaining. They have like 20 kids on the team.

This is a kid from Cardston Canada. He came to church a few weeks ago while biking down the west coast. He needed a place to stay for the night so we had him come for dinner and stay the night. Our Branch Pres didn't want him getting stuck around Crescent City and having to camp there so he had Chris drive him down to Klamath. He was a very cool kid. Small world he knew our friends Shon and Vinnie that live in Woods Cross.

We got a new car in September. We wanted to get something with a little more cargo space and better gas mileage. We were deciding between a Prius and the Volkswagen Jetta Sportwagen. Well we ended up with the sportwagen. We love it. It gets about 40mpg and has plenty of room. We had a long drive to Eugene the other day for me to get my back injected and I put my memory foam in the back and could lay completely straight. It was quite comfortable and one of the shortest 4 hr drives I have ever done. It's a 2012 manual with leather and a panoramic sunroof. The sunroof extends over the back seats- its awesome. Needless to say I love my car!

Plenty of room with the seats folded flat. The Camry was definitely smaller as far as cargo space.

Catching Up On Summer

2011-08-26T08:51:00.000-07:00

Here are a bunch of pictures of stuff we did this summer. Sorry some got out of order and I am too lazy to fix them.

This is my sister Jess surfing in San Diego in August. I had a medical conference there and some of the family met us there and we stayed in a beach house.

We got a $100 surfboard from Costco while we were there.

The sterner boys hanging out at the house and at the beach.

Surfing is hard work. Don't I look tired? Below is Logan trying his hand at surfing. He actually did pretty good.

Here I am at Chili's. We got some of our going out to eat done. We don't get much of that in Gold Beach.

After the family left me and Chris stayed in a hotel. We were exhausted. We checked in and 3 PM and both took naps. We were too lazy to go do much of anything. My neck was also killing me so I couldn't go surfing or anything the last couple days.

Me and Chris went camping up Bear Camp Road. This is between Medford and Gold Beach. If you follow the GPS sometimes it tells you to go this way to get to Gold Beach but the road is only clear from snow for a couple of months in the summer. We camped for the night then were going to head to Medford to go to the temple and do some shopping then make it back to the coast to surf. Well we woke up with a flat tire and only discovered it after we spent 30 minutes carefully packing the trunk to make everything fit. By some miracle a van pulled behind us and he happened to have a little pump powered by the cigarette lighter. It at least got us to Medford to get the tire fixed.

Roger, Kiera and Beau came to visit us in August and we went and hiked Indian Sands. That sand was crazy hot.

When we were in Salt Lake in June we went up to my parents new cabin. The whole family was there and they just about all fit in the hot tub.

Because something always has to happen while Chris is out of town- our TV broke. So we searched and searched for a new one and ended up with a 55" Samsung 7000 series. It is way nice and has internet browser, netflix right on it, 3D, bluray player, the works. I love it!

To celebrate pioneer day our stake does a Make a Difference Day. It is a big service project. This year they did it in Brookings (only 30min south of us) and we put new gravel over a trail. I did a lot of shoveling and my back was not happy about it.

We also did some family pictures while we were in Salt Lake in June. It was crazy as usual.

My Orchestra Concert

2011-05-28T17:47:00.001-07:00

I joined The Curry Del Norte Orchestra this January and we had a concert the end of April. My parents and Lise came to visit and go to the concert. I'm really glad they got to come visit. We miss everyone so much. Here are some pictures from the visit.

We hiked down to the beach near Lola Lake and Pistol River. It was incredibly windy that day and we couldn't really stay on the beach that long because we were getting sand blasted.

Here I am playing at the concert. We did 3 nights of concerts and this is the first in Gold Beach. It was fun but I was pretty nervous. Some of the music was pretty hard to learn. Plus its scary when there are only about 6 first violins, you can really stand out!

While I was at my concert in Crescent City Lise, Dad and Chris went on a little hike near Jedadiah Smith State Park.

Lola Lake Hike

2011-04-08T19:47:00.000-07:00

On Saturday March 26th we went for a hike to Lola Lake Loop. We hadn't been out hiking since last summer so it was nice to get out. It was kind of drizzly that day but at least it wasn't pouring rain and the sun came out a few times. It was a short hike around a tiny little lake that isn't too far from the ocean. Then we found a trail that went down to the beach.

Chris and his little frog friend.

The beach we hiked to. It was very secluded and I don't think many people make it there.

Life After Cancun

2011-02-25T19:57:00.000-08:00

This is twice now that we have awoke to white stuff on the ground. This just doesn't happen here. This morning I made Chris go clean an inch of snow off my car. It has been mighty cold here lately. I thought I moved away from all this crap. It's real fun when you heat your house with only a wood stove and you wake up to 50 degrees in the bedroom.

Well I finally finished my puzzle. It took me exactly 1 year to the day to finish it. I did put it away for the entire summer so I guess I'm not that slow, plus I didn't have any help with this one.

Cancun

2011-02-25T19:29:00.000-08:00

The Silver clan went to Cancun in February. My parents were awesome enough to use some of their newly acquired fortune to take the entire family to Cancun. It was pretty crazy traveling with a group of 16 people but we had a lot of fun.

Chris tried windsurfing and learned that it isn't all that easy.

We got to use kayaks, paddle boats, sail boats and wind surfers for free through the resort.

Shannon and Angie brought their inflatable raft. Chris and Shannon invented a new sport called upside down raft surfing. I did get to surf a little bit while we were there. A guy at our hotel had a surf board and let us use it for a minute. We also rented a board for a few hours but the water was so rough that day there was hardly any surfable waves. O Well- at least I can come back to Oregon to do some real surfing.

Looks pretty fun.

Chris and Eve got to have Sushi. They are the only ones crazy enough to like the stuff. But the tepanyaki at that restaurant was awesome!

It was my moms birthday. She even got a song and a balloon.

We went to Casino night and played some bingo and blackjack. Notice Chris is actually playing instead of watching....this is because they gave us the chips for free. It was pretty fun and I was even the big winner in BINGO.

One of our bus trips to the market and Walmart. It just wouldn't be a trip to Cancun without a visit to Walmart.

We rented a big van and magically fit 16 people in it. We headed down the coast and went to the ruins at Tulum.

Me and Angie found dresses at the market. We both had our eyes on a red dress but the girl wanted around 45 US for it and she wasn't budging. So we settled for these dresses for 20 each. Chris didn't know me and Angie went to the market and on his way back from snorkeling stopped and searched high and low for someone to sell him that red dress for cheaper. Finally he found someone and got it for around 18 bucks. He was pretty upset when he came back to the hotel and found out I already bought a dress. But I was pretty happy- why not have 2 dresses right? By the way I think every single person at church told me they loved my red dress I wore on Sunday.

This was one of our favorite places at the hotel. They had Crepes with lots of toppings, ice cream and all sorts of desserts. Just about every time I walked by I would get a crepe or coconut ice cream. I guess I can't complain about the 10 pounds I gained...it was well worth it.

Chris Got Crabs

2010-12-22T21:00:00.000-08:00

Chris went crabbing this week and came home with 9 crabs. He went out a few weeks ago and they got a bunch that time too. This time he cooked them and cleaned them at our house.

Chris is so proud of his catch.

Here is the cooler full of live crabs.

He let them all out of the cooler before he cooked them and they were crawling all over the floor. It was kind of creepy. I was trying to cook my dinner with crabs running around.

To cook them you put them in a big pot of boiling salt water. It was kind of mean I thought.

After you cook them you have to clean out all the nasty stuff inside. It was disgusting. He gave most of it away to people in the branch but we are going to try and take some back to Utah when we go for Christmas tomorrow. We'll see if you are allowed to take a cooler full of crab meat on airplanes. Wish us luck!

Christmas Tree Hunting

2010-12-22T20:47:00.000-08:00

We got to go get our own Christmas tree this year. We just had to get a $5 permit to cut one down. We drove up our road into the mountains and tried to find one.

Sampson waits patiently in the truck while we go searching. She is on bed rest because she messed up her leg pretty bad.

After searching and searching we finally found one that was reasonable. These type of trees were all so small. If they had trunks that were big enough they were way too tall.

It took me all of about 30 seconds to cut it down.

Do you like our tree stand? A bucket of rocks. When you have such a small tree it doesn't take much.

Chris helped me put on the snowman. It was a little too big for the tree. It only took a couple days for it to fall off.

Here is the finished product. I put the Dickens Village underneath it. Chris didn't even complain all that much when I put up the decorations. I am really proud of him.

Thansgiving

2010-12-22T20:04:00.000-08:00

We went to Salt Lake for Thanksgiving. The trip out there was horrible. We had to stop in Eugene for a doctors appointment on the way. We left Eugene about 2 PM and Chris had the beautiful idea of driving through the mountains on small highways rather than just heading south to Medford and staying on the freeway. We checked the web cams before we left and the roads looked clear. Well we started heading over Willamette and the roads started getting snow packed. We were heading around a small curve and we started sliding. Chris tried to correct but we started spinning and hit the guardrail on the front corner and the back corner. I was sitting in the back getting ready to lay down to sleep. I saw that we were starting to turn so I just laid down and braced myself. So I didn't really see how it happened. Sampson was in the front seat and got all thrown around. From that point on every time we hit a bump she would jump straight to the back because she was scared. After we stopped sliding we were able to keep driving. We got out and looked and the damage wasn't too bad. The front bumper is bent so whenever you crank the wheel to the right it grinds on the bumper. So we continued on our merry way. Well a couple hours later we were heading down a highway and there were two deer on the side of the road. We started to slow down and as we got closer one of them took off right towards us. It jumped right in front of us and we just plowed it. I was expecting something very bad to happen but it just felt like a little jolt. We kept on driving. We couldn't even find any damage on the truck when we stopped. Needless to say I didn't sleep much the rest of the way. So we left Gold Beach at 7 AM and got to Bountiful about 5 AM then next day. We were exhausted.

Chris checking out some of the damage on the truck.

The usual breakfast at Tuttle's. Its good to be back!

It snowed a ton while we were there. It was pretty crazy.

The kids playing with their icicles. So after this trip we have decided no more driving in the middle of winter. We are just going to have to fork over the money to fly.

Home Alone

2010-12-22T19:17:00.000-08:00

Chris went to Salt Lake to help Kiera and Ramon move up to Washington so I was left home alone. First of all we had termites that the pest control guy sprayed for but they decided to come back after he left. They are kind of hard to see but all those little black dots are termites.

The day Chris left I was playing volleyball and sprained my ankle. I wasn't even able to walk out of Volleyball so one of the girls drove me to the ER to get it x-rayed. I had to call the girls from work to come get me and my car and get me home. At least it wasn't broken. It was so hard not having him home. I had to jump around on one foot because I didn't even have crutches the first night. I wasn't able to put any weight on it for 4 days. It was so miserable trying to work on crutches.

As soon as I was able put a little weight on my foot and actually cook something for dinner I decided to slice my thumb open. I was cleaning a knife after I finished cooking and it slipped somehow and went right through my thumb. These knives were only a few months old and are very sharp. I had only been to the ER a few days ago so I decided to just wait until morning. When it was still bleeding in the morning I decided it needed stitches so I had the doc at work sew it up. So now I'm hobbling around and have a gigantic bandage on my thumb.

This is my ankle about a week after spraining it.

Here is my lovely bandage I had to wear for several days. It has been about 2 months and the thumb is still pretty tender and I still can't even think about exercising because of the ankle. I am doing physical therapy now and hopefully things will get better.

Here is the cut post stitches.
Moral of the story- Chris is never allowed to leave me home alone again! It was horrible.

Lise's Requested Surfing Pictures

2010-10-17T15:41:00.000-07:00

Lise has been bugging us to get pictures of us surfing so we finally did. It's kind of hard to use the camera when it is wet, windy and you are soaking wet. That's why it took so long. I finally just did it. So here you go. We went down to Crescent City yesterday. It takes just over an hour to get there but it is a nice place to surf because the water is usually fairly calm and even. It doesn't take all your energy just to paddle out. We are starting to get the hang of surfing finally. We can both get up pretty good now but I just need to learn to turn so I can ride the face instead of riding just in front of the wave after it breaks. Anyway it is tons of fun.

This is me catching a wave.

Here is another one.

Riding it all the way in.

Here goes Chris. It took him a few times while I was taking pictures but he finally got a good one.

Here is a wipe out about to happen.

Here is one where he wasn't far enough in front of the wave and missed it.

I sense another wipe out.

Here he goes with a good one.

The Other New Surfboard

2010-10-10T21:53:00.000-07:00

Well we finally got the second new surfboard. I actually wasn't liking the first one so much. I couldn't really catch anything and surfing just wasn't that fun. We needed a second board anyway so that we could both go out at the same time. Chris was looking at this one online but it was $1200 so we weren't really considering it at the time. He was down in Crescent City at the surf shop and they had the exact one used. It was in new condition and came with a board bag (about $150) and a leas ($25) and the total was only 660. It was a smoking deal. I am so glad we got it (I almost didn't let him do it). It is so much easier to get up on and it just works for me so much better. We are having a ton of fun surfing. We have actually had it for about a month and we were going out almost every day after work. The ocean has started getting a lot rougher the past few weeks and we have only been able to go on the weekends. But I think we are where we belong- the ocean in our back yard! This place is heaven!

This is the Harbor Sano 10 foot long board.

Here I am waxing it before its first use.

Here are both together. Yes mine is HUGE. I can barely carry it.

Waxing is hard work. You work up a sweat pretty fast in a thick wet suit.

I almost forgot. We were coming in from surfing one night and trying to clean the sand off Chris' board when it slipped and hit the gravel. It cracked the edge and got a few nicks in it. Chris was furious! He was beyond depressed. I finally got him to buy some epoxy to repair it and now if functions just fine. Its pretty hard to take sandpaper to your new board prior to putting the epoxy on it. At least it works- it just looks pretty bad on one side.

Look at Mr Grumpy Pants.

The New Surfboard!

2010-08-25T22:04:00.000-07:00

I finally got a new surfboard. While the Tuttle's were here we went down to Crescent City for a day and rented wetsuits and a surfboard. I rented one similar to the one I was thinking of buying. We had fun on it so we decided to buy it. I have been out on it almost every day since. Mostly I just fall and get all banged up but I will eventually figure it out I think. Hopefully we can find someone who knows what they are doing to teach us. All this surfing on top of phase 2 of P90X and riding my bike to work has got me totally exhausted but it's fun!

Heading out after work.

Here is my new board. It's a Steve Waldon Magic Model 3. It's a 9 foot long board.

One of the few occasions were I actually stand on the board as intended.

I am okay at riding the white chop after the waves break but catching a clean wave hasn't really happened yet.

Here is Chris giving it a try. Of course he is better than me already. Hey at least I can kick his butt on P90X Ab Ripper X. He was screaming like a little girl while I can do all the moves no problem.

The Tuttle's Invade Oregon

2010-08-25T21:51:00.000-07:00

Roger and Lise decided to come visit us while Roger had a break from teaching. After they were on the road Kiera decided she wanted to come so they made a small detour and headed up to Boise to pick her and Beau up. After 2 long days of driving they finally made it!

We hiked Cape Sebastian. Even with Roger's knee and Lise's bad ankle we made it all the way!

Me and my girls at the bottom of Cape Sebastian.

Lise enjoys the view at Cape Sebastian.

Watch out for the Oregon ROCK NINJAS! While we were in the trees we were FOREST NINJAS of course! I'm sure there are some great pictures of that but they are on Roger's camera and what are the odds that anyone will ever see those again.

We had tons of fun and loved having visitors! Come see us there is always a place to stay in Gold Beach!

Good to Be Home

2010-08-25T21:37:00.000-07:00

Shortly after Chris got back we ordered me a wetsuit. We can now both go in the ocean. We love it! I get home from work and we head to the beach for a few hours. Seriously- I can't believe we live here!

Chris is boogie boarding.

Sampson always comes with us and just hangs out on the beach while we are in the water. After I get tired I throw the stick to her. She loves to chase it into the waves then bring it back.

We had the door open and a hummingbird flew in. It got stuck in our skylight. Chris had to get it out to set it free. He used an old step ladder we found outside. This wasn't the safest rescue. He just about fell off.

Oh the lovely vitamix! Chris got a vitamix in SLC and we have been using it like crazy since. We made some butternut squash soup that is amazing! Unfortunately when Chris turned it off he didn't switch it down from high. So the next time it got turned on he got it EVERYWHERE! I'm sure I'll be finding squash in strange places for the next year.

Chris was pretty unhappy about his little mistake. I am so glad it was his fault so that I could just laugh when it happened! It got all over the recipe book and I had to take out each page and clean it off. It took us over an hour to clean up.

Our Trip To Salt Lake

2010-08-25T08:43:00.000-07:00

2 days after my parents headed home we got in the car and drove to Utah. We left after work and drove most of the night. We were finally forced to stop because we were out of gas in the middle of no where. We made it to a gas station in Denio Nevada (I think the gas station IS the city). We slept in the car for 4 hrs until they opened to give us very over priced gas. We finally made it to Salt Lake in the early afternoon the next day.

We went on several bike rides while we were there. It was good to actually ride with people and without strong wind.

We had good old Sunday dinner at my parents.

I got to meet my new little niece Lydia. She was so cute!

The boys showed us thier muscles.

Of course we made pork burritos with the clan. YUMMY!

And who could forget chilling on the deck. Robin and Shon just ignored everyone to spend time with their new girlfriends (the ipad)

Imagine that Riley got wet in her clothes.

Chris got to stay another couple weeks and put in sprinklers at our house that we are renting out. I got to fly back to Oregon by myself. It was pretty lonely in that house all by myself. I got netflix and watched a lot of movies.

Chris finally drove home by himself. We were definitely ready to see each other again. He left in the afternoon and drove all through the night and got home at 10AM. He made it all the way to Grants Pass in 12.5 hrs. He finally took a little nap just after that then drove the rest of the way. So it took about 16 hrs- pretty good. He drove up through Klamath Falls again (just about the most middle of nowhere you can go). There are a ton of animals on the road. This baby bird didn't fare so well. It got stuck in the bike tire. We almost hit a herd of horses on the way to Salt Lake.

The Silvers Invade Oregon!

2010-08-11T17:27:00.000-07:00

My parents came to visit the end of June. We hung around Gold Beach, my mom spoke in church, then Sunday we went down to the redwoods and dropped them off in Eureka to fly home. They got stuck in Eureka an extra day because of fog and had to spend another night in LA before finally getting home.

We went down to Brookings Harbor so my dad could re-live his days as a sailor.

Hike down to Thomas Creek Bridge viewpoint. This is the highest bridge in Oregon. When your driving over it, it feels high but when you actually go look at the distance between the ground and the bridge it is crazy!

We walked down to Natural Bridges. We didn't actually go walk on the natural bridge. It is pretty high up and scary.

We went to Secret Beach and hiked around. Sampson chased some sticks into the ocean.

The view from Cape Sebastian before we hiked down. It was way windy that day. Just about blew us off the mountain. When we got to the beach all the we sand was even being blow around.

My mom barely standing up in the wind.

Now that's what I call driftwood.

This is down in the redwoods past Eureka. This one is called Big Tree.

Catching Up!

2010-08-11T17:16:00.000-07:00

Sorry it has been a very long time since I have done this. I will fully admit I am a slacker! So here are some pictures from April and May.

Chris actually beat the marble game. He was so proud he insisted I take a picture and put it on here.

The end of April we flew out to Utah because Kiera and Ramon would be there blessing Beau. It was a quick weekend trip but tons of fun. So good to see everyone!!

Over Memorial Day we went camping with some people from work up at Quosatana Creek (pronounced--you'll love this--Ka-sate-na). We just stayed 1 night. Chris got to play some football which he loved of course.

The Rest of the Sterner Trip

2010-04-14T11:16:00.000-07:00

Here are the rest of the pictures from when Sterners were here. We went back to the beach at kissing rock to play and the boys built a fort.

Asher playing with rocks and twigs.

Logan and James built a fort using driftwood.

Lex tripped and fell (for the 80th time this trip). He was so distraught with sand coming out his mouth and nose he couldn't even get up.

Lex got buried in the sand.

We used a friends canoe and went down Hunter Creek by our house. Shannon and Chris took the boys and started up river. Me and Angie traded with Chris about halfway down. We went the last couple miles all the way to the ocean. It was pretty fun although a little chilly. We tried going the next day with everyone but Angie. I think we were too weighed down. A lot of water got in and I was sitting in freezing cold water. Me and the boys decided to get out when we were by our house so we could just walk home. It was cold!

We went to Secret Beach and played around. We hiked up the stream and the boys played on the waterfall. When we were leaving Lex was trying to cross the stream himself but didn't quite make it. He slipped on the rock and got sucked downstream and completely soaked. He wasn't very happy about it.

A nice family photo for the Sterners.

Chris wanted to try to capture the mess of the house. This doesn't do it justice. Notice the empty bag of Marshmallow Mateys- this is only the 3rd giant bag of cereal they went through. I'm pretty sure they had cereal for every single meal.

Lex and Sampson were worn out so they took a nap together.

The Sterners Invade Oregon

2010-04-09T16:34:00.000-07:00

My sister Angie along with Shannon, Logan, James, Lex and Asher came to visit us in Oregon. They got here on Easter Sunday and it has been crazy ever since. They brought the snow with them and it actually snowed here in Gold Beach. Just so you know that doesn't happen often let alone in April. It rained the first 2 days they were here but it has gotten better throughout the week. Here are our pictures thus far.

Today we went and flew the $3.95 kite that we got at the drugstore. It lasted about 10 minutes before Lex let go of the string and it landed on top of the tallest rock possible. Chris tried to climb up but couldn't get to it safely.

Asher and James played in the sand while Angie did yoga on the beach.

Lex climbed on rocks and jumped off while holding the kite. Don't ask me why he let go.

Here is Chris climbing up to get the kite without success.

Of course Sampson followed him as far as she could. Chris carried her down because one of her front legs is hurt and he didn't want her jumping down on it.

After the kite flying we went to the mouth of the Rogue river to watch the Sea Lions and Seals on the docks. There was one Sea Lion swimming right below us near the fish cleaning station.

Here are a bunch of seals lying on the beach. They all swam away when we got even remotely close to them.

Shannon found a snake in the grass- imagine that! Lex held it for a while. I gave it a quick pet on the head but that was it.

On Thursday we went to Natural Bridges and hiked around. We saw some wild goats walking on the steep hillside.

One of the views at Natural Bridges. AMAZING!

The Sterner Clan.

I guess this is why they call it Natural Bridges. These two big things of rock connect with a little strip of rock about 2 ft wide. It is like a 70 ft drop down to the water. It was very scary. To get a better look down I had to get down on all fours.

One of the views at Arch Rock.

On Wed we hiked Cape Sebastian. We started at the top and parked a car down at the bottom at Meyer's Creek. It was about 3 miles.

Of course Chris found a buoy and rope and thinks he has to take it home. He is like a 3 year old that collects rocks and has to take them home. They have absolutely no use but he has some weird fascination with them. We have like 5 sitting in our driveway. I made him leave this one on the beach.

Lex just showing us that his sock is completely wet from a wave.

Asher wasn't very happy on the hike. When he got his bottle he was much better. This is after he played in the sand obviously.

Why do kids love to eat sand?

On the rocks at the base of Cape Sebastian.

Sterners with the view from the top of Cape Sebastian.

Hanging out after the tornado named Sterners went through the living room.

We had pork burritos for dinner and it was fabulous!

We heat our house with a wood burning stove so the boys helped chop up firewood. They even went to the farm where we cut it and got a whole truck full. Now we are set.

Lex sleeping on the floor as opposed to the two mattresses to the side of him.

My Hair Catastrophe

2010-03-23T21:25:00.000-07:00

I decided to try and color my own hair since my hair stylist lives 1000 miles away. I got a light brown hoping to just go back to somewhere near my natural color so I don't have to deal with it anymore. Well lets just say it didn't turn as planned, it was more of brown with a greenish-gray tint. I looked like a witch. The picture doesn't do it justice.

So here is attempt number 1 at doing my own hair. I called Jess and she said to get something reddish to cancel out the greenish gray. So I went and bought light auburn. And this is what I got.

I am officially a redhead now. I guess I better get used to it. Above is an hour after I did it. Below is the next day, it seemed to calm down a little bit.

Here is Chris in his official census uniform. His job is to interview everyone at RV parks and hotels that have permanent residents. The owners of these places don't like people bothering their tenants and freak out when they try to go interview people. These people can be crazy! Before Chris started doing the census he was my house husband and maid. Boy do I miss my maid! The house has become a mess without him.

Updated Pictures

2010-03-16T18:16:00.000-07:00

Here are the pictures of my greenhouse that I didn't have done yet. And I just finished my piece of driftwood with my address on it. Wow I move to Gold Beach and suddenly I'm creative and I have a garden. What happened? This isn't me.

Lone Ranch

2010-03-16T14:57:00.001-07:00

On March 14th we went to explore more of our beautiful coast. Between Gold Beach and Brooking (25 miles south) there are like 10 state parks or hikes that we need to check out. We have done a few already. We went to Lone Ranch beach. We hiked across the cliffs up above the beach then found a place to get down to the beach and we hiked back across the beach. This was no sandy beach, it was just huge rocks and boulders. It was not an easy task and I am surprised I didn't come home with any cuts or injuries. Sampson is a crazy good rock climber. She can jump things and scale walls that a dog should not be able to do.

Of course hiking doesn't burn enough calories for Sampson so she is chasing a stick.

We found a lizard hiding in the rocks. Unfortunately Chris got it by the tail at first and it let it go. It's crazy how their tail just keeps on moving even when it isn't attached- it was kind of nasty.

When we got to some tide pools Chris caught a crab. He was very proud of course.

I found a seal pup sunbathing on a rock. Kind of cute in a large, fat and chubby kind of way.

When we got back to the main beach there was a seagull that appeared hurt. Chris went and looked at it and it had a chip lodged in its throat and it was bleeding. So Chris pried open its mouth and got all the chips out of its throat. We don't know if it will be okay because it still didn't fly away by the time we left. I wish I would have gotten some pictures of Chris performing his heroic act but I was too busy watching.

Working On My Green Thumb

2010-03-16T14:43:00.000-07:00

Last week we were at George's farm and he gave us some plant starts and some seeds to get a garden going. On Saturday I finally got around to getting them planted. We needed some gallon planters so we went to a lady that has a greenhouse to buy some. She gave us as many as we wanted and also have us some 5 gallon pots for when we need them. She didn't charge us anything. She also gave us some tips on how to plant some of the stuff we have and a raspberry start. This is what is nice about a small town. Everyone is so helpful and nice.

Here I go! Anyone who knows me will attest to the fact that this is a miracle. I don't help things grow, I kill things. I hate doing yard work too. But now that we live here we eat a ton of fresh vegetables and I want to try growing some of our own. I planted tomatoes, cucumbers, peas, onions, garlic, basil, spinach, tomatillos, raspberry, cabbage and some other leafy greens that I have no idea what they are. We have a little shed with one side that is a greenhouse. I am starting everything in there for now then when its warm enough I will move them outside. I forgot to take a picture of all of them in the greenhouse- I'll try to remember. Don't be surprised if all that survives are tomatoes because I don't have a clue what I am doing. I do have some very nice people to help me though.

I think I'm killing this one. It doesn't seem to have any roots but we'll see.

Meyer's Creek

2010-03-16T14:24:00.000-07:00

On March 12th after work we went down to Meyer's Creek so Chris could dig up a rope that was buried in the sand. He has an obsession with finding stuff that is buried in the sand. I think it just gives him an excuse to be in the ocean and at the beach. We were a little late for the low tide so he couldn't get to it very well. He was pretty disappointed. It was a pretty day though. It had been raining on and off all day. There were some very cool clouds and it looked awesome with the sun poking through. We did eventually get chased off the beach by the rain though. While we were there we found our piece of driftwood we were looking for. We are going to put our house number on it to put by our driveway. When I finally get it done I'll get a picture of it.

Sampson enjoyed herself of course. She is a very spoiled dog now. She gets to go play outside just about everyday now.

A little bit cold out. Chris is wearing a T shirt and shorts and is all wet. I am in my 3 long sleeve shirts, jacket and hood.

We found a lot of nice sand dollars. I didn't keep any because I don't really know what I would do with them.

Collecting Mussels

2010-03-16T14:15:00.001-07:00

On Feb 27th we went musseling with a guy in our branch. We went to Meyer's Creek at low tide. Chris doesn't have a shellfish license yet so he couldn't actually collect any. We have learned that you have to have a permit to pretty much do ANYTHING! You can't even pick up driftwood or use a metal detector without a permit. I guess it makes sense in a state where you can't even pump your own gas. Later that week while we were at George's house Chris got to eat some of the mussels they collected. NASTY!

Chris and George scoping out the mussels.

Sampson had her fun with starfish. Forget bacon I think it is her favorite treat now.

I guess the tide was coming in or something because Sampson got stuck on a rock and had to swim back to shore.

Chris' Lovely Poison Oak

2010-03-16T14:09:00.000-07:00

Chris apparently got into some poison oak while cutting down dead trees for firewood. When he first got it of course he wouldn't do anything about it because he is invincible. It kept getting worse and either spreading or he kept getting exposed more. Pretty soon it was on his face, arms, chest, back and legs. It got pretty bad and finally he agreed to use medicine. He tried Zanfel which is supposed to get the oils off but I think we were way past that point. So I got him started on some steroids. Normally it only takes a 5 day pack of steroids to take care of this stuff but he used 3 before it got better. He is finally back to normal now.

Humbug Mountain Hike

2010-03-16T13:59:00.001-07:00

On Feb 20th we went hiking at Humbug Mountain State Park. It is about 3 miles to the summit. You hike 1 mile in then you can choose to either go east or west to the top. Because we think we are so tough we chose the one that is a 1/2 mile longer and took the shorter one down. It was a pretty steep hike. My legs were very tired by the top. I started getting blisters and the way down was extremely painful.

Everyone knows by now that I have a thing for funky moss covered trees.

We actually made it to the top. Unfortunately there was no great view or anything. Compared to the other hikes we have done in Oregon this one was very disappointing.

Even though we just hiked 3 miles Sampson had tons of energy and just started running in circles wanting us to chase her when we got to the top.

I think Chris is contemplating why we did this hike?

Here is a view on the way down. I believe this is part of Port Orford which is the furthest west point in the continental US.

Some more trees of course.

And So It Begins

2010-02-20T20:45:00.001-08:00

I finally broke out the 5000 piece puzzle I got for Christmas. So I officially started it on Feb 18th. Lets see how long it takes me. It feels kind of daunting not having people to help me at all. Chris is no help until there is less than 20 pieces left he jumps right in.

Apparently we were too busy to feed Sampson because she had her head in that empty bag licking up crumbs for like 10 minutes. We finally gave her an extra scoop of food for the day because she was obviously dying.

Florida

2010-02-16T11:21:00.001-08:00

We went to Florida last week for a medical conference and a little vacation. We left on Saturday so we could be there for the Superbowl on Sunday. We got to go to church with Kiera and Ramon which started at 8:30 AM (5:30 AM pacific time by the way). I got to see cute little Beau- it was great. The weather really wasn't that warm-only in the 60's. We only went to the beach one day and it was windy and kind of cold. So really we didn't do much other than go out to eat but I was perfectly fine with that because we got to visit Kiera and Ramon.

Having some lunch before we hit the beach.

We did go jogging a couple times and Kiera kicked my but even though she had a C Section 8 weeks ago. After the run we did some wall sits- oh joy!

We played some paddle ball too.

Here he is- my little boyfriend Beau.

Chris just loves his nephew!

The conference was Friday and Saturday all day then we had to leave at like 5Am on Sunday. Changing 3 time zones is not that fun. We got back to Gold Beach at like 5 PM but we had been up since 1 AM Oregon time. Long day!

Cape Arago

2010-02-16T11:12:00.000-08:00

Took a while but I finally have pictures of Cape Arago from when Robin was here.

Just in case we ever need another wedding announcment picture.

I have a thing for cool trees with moss. I just think they are so awesome looking.

Some of the rocks were just so cool looking.

We found a really funky dead tree too.

We had a really fun day even though I was completely numb by the time we got back to the car. After it got dark we went to Walmart (gotta go whenever we're in town since it is 2 hrs away). We went to dinner at Shark Bites Cafe which was fabulous.

Our First Visitor to Gold Beach

2010-02-05T12:43:00.001-08:00

We had our first visitor to Gold Beach! Robin came last Saturday and stayed until Tuesday. We had so much fun! We love United airlines- weekend specials! First we picked him up in Crescent City which is about an hour away. We at lunch at pizza hut then headed back to Gold Beach. We decided to stop at Harris Beach on the way home and show him all the cool stuff.

Checking out all the crabs running around.

Chris got a starfish that wouldn't let go. It seriously took him like 5 minutes to get the thing off his hand without hurting it.

Here are some of the tide pools.

We stayed until it got pretty dark. Luckily there was another family leaving at the same time that showed us where the trail was. We went back home and hung out at our house. Sunday morning we went to church. Me and Chris had to speak which was not fun at all. Chris insisted I play the violin too so I would take up some time. In the end Chris only had like 10 minutes to talk. It wasn't really fair. After church on Sunday we went up to Cape Sebastian.

This is the view from the top of Cape Sebastian. This is where you park then you can hike down to the beach. It is NOT a short hike. You don't really notice on the way down because you're too busy looking at stuff but the way up took us almost an hour of hiking straight up hill. It was totally worth it though and it was a gorgeous day.

This is one of the outlooks on the way down.

The forest gets pretty thick sometimes. We were watching out for vampires because we all know they live in forests like this.

Another one of the awesome views.

We finally got down to the beach. The rock formations were so cool. We played around on the rocks and watched the waves crash for quite a while. Chris looked for mussels and other creatures of course.

Here are some of the crazy rocks.

Some of these cliffs were way high. Sampson was making us very nervous- she gets way too close to the edge.

You can see how high the cliffs are because Chris is just a tiny spec in the middle of the picture.

Me and my Edward - I mean Chris- checking out the view from the top of the forest. Hold on spider monkey!

The perfect place to spot vampires running through the forest with girls on their back.

After we took pictures of vampires we headed to Secret Beach. It was so awesome. I love this place- every time we go somewhere I think it's the coolest place ever. Is this place ever going to get boring?

Secret Beach

Robin enjoying the view.

Chris climbing around on some of the rocks.

We had to cross a stream. Apparently Robin didn't think he could make it.

Okay- he finally did it.

Chris caught some mussels. He was so proud. He thought the smaller ones were good size when he first caught them. Then he found his other one weighing in at 13.7 oz he was so proud. Fortunately you don't have to watch him eat them- because I did and it was disgusting!

After we got back from our hikes we had enchiladas and played Agricola- it was a pretty good day! Monday I only had to work for like 2 hrs then we went up to Coos Bay to show Robin Cape Arago. Those pictures will be coming soon!

Another Day At The Beach

2010-02-05T12:17:00.000-08:00

Here is more of my trying to catch up on getting all our pictures posted. January 26th was actually a clear day so after work we went for a walk on the beach. The first picture is actually a few weeks earlier. Compare it to the second picture which is only a couple weeks later.

These are the same rock- just shows how much the beach can change with just a couple of bad storms. Pretty crazy!

Chris running from the waves- He is crazy! This water is only 50 degrees!

Chris found a crab pot and he tried to dig it out.

A lovely sunset with the waves crashing in front of it.

Chris went back to the crab pot at low tide to try and dig it out- no success, it was way to burried. Pretty cool sunset though. I only had our video camera so the quality isn't great on the picture. O well!

Harris Beach

2010-01-21T21:54:00.000-08:00

On Saturday the 9th of January we went down to Harris Beach. It is about 30 minutes south of us near Brookings, OR. We went down to the beach at low tide and played in the tide pools. We found some pretty cool stuff. Sterners- you guys would have loved this! You need to come soon!

Chris with one of the million star fishes there.

This view looked so cool. It was so 3 dementional the picture doesn't do it justice.

Chris looking for creatures.

He wasn't paying attention and got hit by a wave.

Chris caught a crab. He was so proud!

Sampson was in heaven. She loves the beach. She could play there all day.

I pretty much just looked around and took pictures. It was raining on and off but wasn't too cold out.

This is actually the beach right by our house.

Driftwood anyone?

Just playing with the camera. I thought it looked cool.

The City of Gold Beach

2010-01-21T21:27:00.000-08:00

As requested here are some pictures around Gold Beach. Kind of boring because there aren't any people in them but here it is. Next post will be of our little jaunt to the tide pools a few weeks ago.

Here is where we turn onto the main highway to get to town from home. I still think the view is amazing every time.

Hwy 101 with one of the few restaurants.

The only apartments in Gold Beach. Some crazy guy lives here and decorates cars as a hobby.

Here is the high school. The beach is just behind it.

Here is the church. It took like 5 times driving by before we recognized it. The first day we went to the branch there were 22 people including us. Last week we made it all the way up to 29 people. We have to speak next week just like we will every 6 months. Pretty fun right?

Here is 1 of the 2 stores in town. This one is actually open 24 hrs. Nearest Walmart 2 hrs, nearest Costco 3 hrs. Hey but we have a Fred Meyer 30 minutes away.

Here is my work. Looks pretty classy right? It's actually not bad and fairly new inside.

Here is the view of Gold Beach from the Rogue River Bridge.

Here are some of the cranberry bogs. They have a ton of them here.

This is a view of the Rogue River with the bridge. Pictures really don't do this place justice.

This is the North Jetty Cat Sanctuary. Basically they had a ton of stray cats so they built these little cat houses for them and they put food in the every day. Problem is the Racoons seem to eat more food than the cats do.

Here is the sign at work. Our first night there before I even started work we saw my name on the sign. Wow an employer that is actually on top of things. I don't think my name even made it on the door at my last 2 jobs and I was at each of those over a year.

The Move to Gold Beach

2010-01-20T21:26:00.000-08:00

Okay I finally got internet in my house so here we go. In case you didn't hear we moved to Gold Beach, Oregon. I got a job in a clinic doing family practice. It is a small town- very small! Wow is it different here. It is fabulous though and we are loving it. More to come later- lets start with the move. We moved to Gold Beach over Thanksgiving weekend. We hurried and got unpacked in 2 days so we could make it make it back for Mel and Spencer's sealing. We worked like mad then drove for 20 hrs straight. What a weekend. Let me present our home in Gold Beach, Oregon.

This is our driveway- very long, winding and steep.

Our driveway- we are surrounded by trees. The property is 5 acres.

Now the fun house. The house is okay other than the fact that it has one closet. Our master bedroom has some sort of excuse for a closet- its two bars bolted to the wall with a random medicine cabinet in between them.

Here is the kitchen- pretty standard. At least it has some cupboard space.

Sampson was enjoying moving in.

Here is Chris in the kitchen.

Looks like fun eh?

Our bedroom.

Classy

Our Caribbean Cruise

2009-05-22T21:05:00.000-07:00

Me, Chris and Robin went on a cruise May 9th-17th. We flew to Fort Lauderdale on a Friday and spent the afternoon with Kiera and Ramon. We got to experience lovely south Florida. We went to the beach and played horse shoes and did some swimming in the extremely calm water. The next morning we had some pancakes, went on a bike ride, then had Ramon take us to the cruise terminal. So started our adventure on the Carnival Freedom.

Here is our lovely cabin. Actually it was really nice and quite spacious compared to what I have had before. The full size window was way nice. It was up on the spa deck so we were right next to the gym and could walk right out onto the pool deck.

Here is a picture out on the deck. The ship had a water slide and mini golf. The ship was decorated horribly but what can you do. The food was pretty good but the selection was terrible. We had our dining time at 8:15PM and had 4 other people on our table. Ray and Todd were the partners going on 10 years from Florida. Lisa and Sherri were sisters from Florida. At first we hated sitting with other people but it was okay after we got to know them. The main problem with the food is that if you didn't want to go to the main dining your alternative was half of a buffet line with about 3 choices and the always open pizza and deli. Their desserts sucked!!! I don't think we had a single good dessert the entire time including the Creme Brulee.

Our first stop was Colon, Panama or as we affectionately call it Colon Blow. We rented a taxi for $100 for the day to take us to the Gatun Locks and Portobello. The locks were interesting and I'm glad I got to see those. Next we went towards Portobello but stopped at a beach. The beach was all reef with a lot of creatures, no swimming really. The taxi then tried to rip us off by saying if we stayed more than an hour at the beach it would be another $20. We didn't really know what was in Portobello and didn't really care to go so we just headed back to the boat. The city of Colon was supposedly really dirty and crime ridden. They told us not to take jewelry, cameras or any money we weren't willing to lose. Pretty much the only thing Panama has going for it is the canal, which I don't even think they get the money for.

Here I am at the Gatun Locks. They use gravity to run the locks and use over 50 million gallons of water for each ship to pass.

This is one of the ships going through. This one had to pay $320,000 cash to cross the canal. They had 25 ships going through that day. WOW- that is a lot of money someone is making every day.

This is one of the original cars that help guide the ships through the canals. They don't pull the ships they just go on each side and make sure it stays centered.

This is the beach before Portobello. Chris played with some crabs and sea urchins. This crab has a hold of his finger.

The lovely sea urchins. They were everywhere. You had watch your step.

Robin's face sums up the day at Panama. We had so much fun in colon blow!

Now to the good part!! This is us on the beach at Puerto Viejo or Playa Cocles in Costa Rica. We rented a taxi to take us the 1.5 hr drive to the beach. It is the nearest surfing beach to Puerto Limon where the ship docked. When we got there we rented a surf board and boogie board. It was a blast!! I love surfing and think I need to move to a beach. Robin didn't seem to enjoy the waves all that much.

Chris catching a wave on his boogie board. The waves were fabulous! They were having a local surfing tournament that day so there were a lot of ripped, hot surfers there! Watching those guys ride the waves was amazing.

Our next stop was Belize. We had a tour set up for $80 each to do the zip lines, cave tubing and jungle tumble. We started on the zip lines. They are pretty fun but they are pretty dang small and short.

Chris strikes a pose while coming in.

This is the jungle tumble. It is a giant ball that you get inside of and roll down the hill. Sounds great right?? It was so fun! You can choose to do it wet or dry. Me and Chris decided on the wet. Chris didn't have his swimsuit with him so he asked the guys if he could go naked. They didn't care so he stripped down and jumped in.

Here they are at the starting line pushing him down the hill. In the wet one you are just sliding around inside while it rolls. The dry one they strap you in so you are against the wall and just tumble head over feet.

Here is Robin after he blew right through the net at the bottom and finally came to a stop. The guys pushed him over the edge then were running like mad to catch him but they couldn't, luckily he stopped. After the Jungle Tumble we went cave tubing. Basically you hike with your tube then float down the river through the caves. There are a few "rapids" but really it's just shallow places where it moves a little faster. Our guide let us take our time and explore unlike the tours booked through the boat that were all chained together and flying through the caves.

After the cave tubing we had a Belizean lunch at the restaurant. They gave us chicken, rice, beans and coleslaw. Outside the restaurant there was a dog and a monkey sleeping under a bench. The monkey woke up and we played with him for a while. He was missing a leg for some reason. He was so cute!

Belize was our last stop so we headed back to Florida. Before our fight on Sunday we had time to go to lunch with Kiera and Ramon. It was nice to see them and I wished we could have stayed longer.

It Can Be Done

2009-04-05T18:57:00.000-07:00

I finally finished the puzzle. It was 5000 pieces and we started it just before Thanksgiving. I was supposed to have help but I pretty much did it all by myself. A few people jumped in at the end of course. So only 4-5 months not too shabby right?

Rent Or Buy My House

2009-03-04T08:21:00.000-08:00

We are probably going to be renting or selling our house soon. If we rent it would be $1050 per month if we sell we were thinking we would list it at 175,000. If you know of anyone interested let us know!! It is 3 bedroom, 1 bathroom, 1080 square feet, 1 car garage, 0.20 acre. It has been totally updated with granite counters, brazillian teak hardwood floors, new carpet, new paint. It is in Woods Cross east of freeway and has easy freeway access. It is on a dead end street that is pretty quiet.

Cancun

2009-02-12T17:19:00.001-08:00

We went to Cancun this year and stayed in the Great Parnassus. It was me, Chris, my mom and dad, my sister Angie and the kids and her in-laws. We stayed for 7 nights and it was great!! Put in a warm place with a beach and I am happy as a clam.

We were going to go to church but we didn't really know where and what time so we just went up to our room and had our own little meeting.

Shannon catching iguanas of course.

We did some boogie boarding and surfing.

This is the view from our hallway. We were originally on the 6th floor in a normal room but Chris but walked by the receptionist and smiled so she upgraded us to a jacuzzi sweet on the 12th floor. Our room was pretty nice but it was quite the hike from the bottom floor. Our rule on vacation is to not take the elevators but when it is 15 flights up I cheated a few times. One time I made it up in under 2.5 minutes.

James had his 7th birthday while we were there so we had a little party in one of the restaurants. We went to Walmart and got candles and the hotel gave us a cake.

They had a superhero show one night for the kids and Shannon and Chris did a tug of war and kicked butt.

We rented kayaks and catamarans a couple of times. My dad was so excited to go sailing again.

We took the ferry to Isla Mujeres.

In Isla Mujeres we went to the turtle farm and rented a golf cart to drive around. Chris and Shannon went snorkeling all day and me and Logan took a ferry back to Cancun. It started raining pretty hard while we were on the ferry back to Cancun. It was the last day so I just went to the beach by myself in the rain. It was pretty cool, I was the only one on the beach or even outside as far as the eye could see. Chris showed up a couple hrs later and we body surfed and boogie boarded until it was pitch black and pouring rain. We watched the storm roll in and it turned black so fast and the rain was so hard it hurt. You could hardly see the waves coming.

All our flights were way early so we were up about 3 or 4 AM both when we left and came home.

While You Were Out- Without Money or Professional Help Of Course

2009-01-18T15:44:00.000-08:00

Okay so I finally buckled down and got the fireplace done. Nothing wrong with having a gaping hole in your living room for over a year and a half right? We did our own version of while you were out. Chris helped Kiera move to Florida so he was gone all weekend. I ask people how to do everything and just went out and got it. My dad helped me install the mantle which cost $20 by the way. I had the 12x2 in the garage already so just had to buy a 6x6 for the posts. My brother came and helped do the scratch coat before doing the stone. Roger came and helped me the next day get started on the stone. We started at 9:30 AM and didn't finish until 11:30 PM. Then I had to get the place cleaned up so didn't go to bed until 1:30 AM. I was exhausted and my back was pissed off. But we got it done!! It's a miracle.

This is the fireplace in used before we even got the mantle on.

With the new mantle which will be stained a dark brown.

There's the scratch coat.

And so it begins.

About 12 hrs later......My mom stayed until midnight helping me finish and get cleaned up. She's a saint!!

Don't you just love my safety glasses. Towards the end we had to make some custom pieces by using the grinder. I couldn't find any real safety goggles so why not ski goggles??

The finished product...almost. I still have to grout all the seams and get new tile or the front floor. But I totally have the confidence that I can do it myself now. Who needs Chris right?? Just kidding he is still in Florida and I miss him terribly- Love you honey!!!

By the way Lise and Robin got some bug to clean out our side yard. I didn't get a before picture but just picture stacks of wood and garbage so high you can't see the back fence. They took two truckloads to the dump. Why is my family so good to me???

White Elephant Party

2009-01-18T15:38:00.001-08:00

We did a last minute White Elephant Party on New Years Eve. It was a pot luck but everyone was too lazy to really bring anything (except Josh and Roush-good job guys). We decided just to order pizza with Drew's Christmas bonus (thanks Drew!). After the present we watched Slumdog Millionaire ( I highly recommend this movie- we loved it!)

Chris tries to pick a present.

My dad was really excited to get his book called "Still Stripping After 25 Years". Its a quilting book we found at grandmothers house. My mom really was excited and she is going to use it.

My mom was also excited to get the Wonder Woman underwear that actually originated from her house a few years ago.

Christmas

2009-01-18T15:22:00.001-08:00

On Christmas Eve my family went sledding up at Eaglewood. My nephew Lex looks pretty serious.

Shannon had some plastic in his car and him and Chris got in it and used it as a sled. Sounds painful to me though.

Even Jess the pregnant lady tried sledding.

Mama Silver helped take some pictures.

After sledding we had some nice hot soup. Then we read the Christmas story while the kids held up puppets.

We also played some Rock Band.

To hold to tradition the Tuttle's didn't have a Christmas tree so Kiera, Chris and me went out to get one. Our neighbors took all the extras from a lot when they didn't sell. They were in their front yard and we just went and picked one out. As you can see it is a beautiful tree. The back was pretty much non existent so it fit nicely against the wall.

Christmas morning we went to my parents first and had sticky buns and egg strata as usual.

We were so surprised to get money!!

I waited in line 6 hrs outside in December to buy my mom Wicked tickets. We are going in April and are so excited. I had a couple that people didn't end up wanted so I sold them for double what I paid. So I didn't have to pay anything for my ticket (except for 6 long cold hours of my life).

Sam and Ella eat their Christmas breakfast.

Opening presents at Tuttles. It just wasn't the same without Grandmother. It took about 45 seconds to open the presents. Usually grandmother makes it into a big production.

We Miss You Betty Tuttle

2009-01-18T15:13:00.000-08:00

On Dec 24th we said goodbye to grandmother. She had been battling brain cancer for the past 4 months. We will miss her a ton. We had a the funeral in Rangely, Colorado on Jan 2. I had to sing with Chris but I didn't even make it through the song so Chris pretty much did it on his own.

This is 2 days before she died. We had a family prayer with her to say goodbye.

Christie and Lise at the funeral.

Roger and Kiera.

Eating lunch after the service. They even used real dishes. The relief society sisters said they thought Betty would come back and haunt them if they used paper or plastic dishes.

Tamara's Birthday Bash

2009-01-15T19:19:00.000-08:00

We had manicotti, ice cream and cake for my Birthday.

Family Christmas Party

2009-01-15T18:48:00.001-08:00

We had a kids Christmas party and an adult Christmas party. I went and took some pictures for the kids party. They decorated cookies and made some Christmas decorations before pizza and sledding. At the adult party we had a turkey dinner then did Yankee swap.

Lex eats some pizza.

Madeline getting ready for sledding.

The snow was coming down hard!!

After sledding Chris read the kids a story.

Thanksgiving

2008-12-14T15:32:00.001-08:00

Thanksgiving was pretty busy. We started off at the Hogan's then I went to my parents alone because Chris didn't want to leave. Then the next day we had dinner with the Tuttle's.

James helps make whipped cream for the pies.

Dad had a little mishap with his pie and got most of it on him and the floor.

Getting ready for dinner at the Tuttle's. Grandmother even brought plates from Colorado.

Chris mostly ate the salad that uncle Jim brought. He loved the beats.

Of course we had a puzzle to work on.

We did some family pictures with all of the Tuttle family there. They wanted to get some pictures while grandmother is still here.

Girls Craft Day

2008-12-14T15:21:00.000-08:00

The Silver girls got together to make a 12 days of Christmas craft. Mom and Jess saw the idea at Micheal's and decided we should all make one. It is a muffin pan and you decorate each hole with a magnetic cover for the 12 days of Christmas. You are supposed to put a treat in each one and count down to Christmas. It was fun to all get together but it took all day to make the things.

Yard Work in November?

2008-11-16T20:28:00.000-08:00

It was a nice day on Saturday so Lise made us cut back the Catalpa tree.

Scottie climbed the ladder to see if he could help.

We only had to take one load to the dump.

Happy Birthday Chris

2008-11-16T20:09:00.000-08:00

Chris turned 30 this year! For his birthday I got a bunch of people together at my parents house. We had enchiladas, birthday cake and ice cream. After we ate we watched The Office and 30 Rock.

Chris lighting his own candles.

He took about 10 minutes to blow out the candles then blew so hard he actually got wax on me.

Forgot to get a picture before I cut the cake.

I got Chris some Bubblegum ice cream. When Chris blew out the candles he blew some used match heads on it and I got a piece of one. It was disgusting.

We watched Office and 30 Rock in my dads new theater room.

San Diego

2008-09-24T20:44:00.001-07:00

We went to San Diego last week for a medical conference. We left a day early so we could play a little first. We went to the beach the first day and it was pretty cold but we still got in and did some boogie boarding. It was pretty dang cold though. The next day my conference started so Chris watched TV all morning until I finished and then we went to the beach. That pretty much sums up our week. Conference for me, TV in the hotel for Chris then hit the beach. We rented a surf board 2 of the days which I loved. I have no clue how to surf but I sure wanted to learn. I did a lot better the 2nd day and got up several times although never with very big waves. We both think that we need to move somewhere with a beach. We both can't get enough. On Saturday night we went to Blue Man Group because I got a free ticket from the conference. Chris had to pay $40. The show only lasted 40 minutes so it was kind of lame. It was cool but I wouldn't pay a ton to go see it.

Chris catching a wave on the boogie board.

Hey I actually got one!

Me and Chris both embarrass ourselves trying to surf. Lots of people nearby gave us some tips, probably because we looked so ridiculous.

Hey this thing is heavy!!

McCall Idaho

2008-09-24T20:32:00.000-07:00

We went up to McCall to stay in Ryan's parents cabin on the lake. We left on Sep 11th so it wasn't all that warm. It was perfect for biking and hiking but too cold for the lake. The first morning we thought we could all try to stay fit and did some Ab Ripper X. I know we are the biggest dorks. Then we went on a hike up to Louis Lake. I didn't have much fun because I got an eye infection and couldn't open my eye because it was killing me. I was so miserable. The next day we went for a bike ride in the afternoon around the lake which is about 20 miles. Angie just about died and we had to go back and pick her up about 100 yards from home. Don't ask me why she didn't just finish it. Chris did do a little wake boarding using Adam's dry suit.

Working those Abs!!!

Is this like Dan in Real Life or what??

Hunting for frogs at the lake.

And obviously they found plenty.

Jordanelle Triathlon 2008

2008-08-24T15:22:00.001-07:00

Well the day I have been working so hard for finally came and went. I started training in January to do a tri in May and continued the training for the Jordanelle Triathlon. I had a few slumps along the way but I made it.

Take a wild guess how I got this lovely bruise. Yep mountain biking it is. I have vowed to stay away from the mountain bike but we'll see how long that lasts. It looks worse that it is because it is completely numb. I did this a week and a half before the triathlon and this picture is the night before the tri (it looks a lot better than it did).

Waiting for the race to start.

Getting my station set up and my wetsuit on.

And they are off! Here goes the swim that I botched again this year. It was about 23 min, (3 longer than last year!) I had the same problem as in Chico with a buildup of air and pain in my chest.

I finally made it in.

Getting set for the bike ride.

The bike is my best part. I did it in about 45 minutes I think. I was the one passing people this year.

I'm off to run (my favorite-yea right). I actually did run the whole time this year even on the hills. I probably could have walked faster than I was jogging but I think I did end up running in about 34 minutes or so.

Look I'm so fast I'm a blur compared to everyone else- yea right!

Here comes the big finish! I am pretty sure my overall time was about 1:48. The official times haven't been posted yet.

Mom and dad were there to support me along with Chris. Roger and Lise couldn't make because his mom is in the hospital and we just found out she has brain cancer.

I was exhausted!! This is probably 5 minutes after finish and I'm sure my pulse is still above 160. I burned about 1500 calories-pretty sweet workout!

Yummy!!

Small Town Fun

2008-08-22T17:36:00.000-07:00

We went down to Freemont for a family reunion on August 15-17. My parents got a room in Torrey and me and Chris camped just outside Capitol Reef. Roger and Lise even came down to go to the rodeo and demolition derby with us. Friday was the rodeo and we got a late start so my family didn't make it to the rodeo on time. We got there for the last 15 minutes or so. The next day we went to the waterfall in the morning then went to the reunion for lunch. That night there was a demolition derby and fireworks. Then on Sunday we went to church at fish lake then made dutch oven for lunch.

Hanging out at the creek by Fish Lake before we headed home.

Mom is amazing and pretty much made all the dutch oven stuff herself.

Angie cuts some watermelon.

This yellow car totally crashed into the fence right behind us. I had never been to a demolition derby and I thought it was so fun. It did go really long and got really cold by the end of the night.

There was a female in one of the regular heats instead of in the powder puff. One of the cars rolled her over. The firemen work on getting her out.

She made it out safe.

Roger has some fun at the park near the reunion.

We went on a bike ride on the highway that was supposed to not have any traffic on it. Sampson came with us but was too stupid to stay out of the road and there were some cars around. Finally we just put her in the chariot with Lex so she didn't get killed.

Chris played with the kids at the reunion.

This is the house that my mom's dad grew up in. They had 8 kids and the original house was not very big.

This is the waterfall we went to. Chris was able to climb up then help me and Adam up. You can barely see Adam jumping through it above.

Part of the rodeo we did see.

Sampson's Friend in Our Yard

2008-08-22T17:30:00.000-07:00

Last week while we were trying to fall asleep Sampson was barking like crazy in the backyard. Chris finally went out to shut her up and to his surprise was a little poky friend. We have no clue how it got in our fenced yard and it looked very scared like it was trying to get out. Chris propped up the fence so he could go under and he was gone in the morning. Luckily Sampson has already had an encounter with porcupine quills in her face and was smart enough to remember not to touch it.

Camping in Bountiful

2008-08-10T20:00:00.000-07:00

We were going to go camping with Kalli and Micah to Joe's Valley this weekend but Kalli had to work on Friday so me and Chris just went up above Bountiful. We headed up above the B and when we got to the top headed south down the mountain towards Morgan. The road was VERY VERY rough. I was getting pretty mad at Chris and wanted him to turn around. We finally found a place to pull off and it was pretty.

After we pulled off we got on our bikes and went for a ride. We had to climb up a way steep hill right by our camp site but after that it wasn't too bad.

This is where we stopped but it looked like it would have been really gorgeous to keep going.

Chris gets our camp set up.

I was sitting at camp reading while Chris and Sampson were exploring. Chris came back to get me and said to get the camera. We walked a few hundred yards and Chris took me to see the owl they found. We took some pictures and it just sat there. There were two of them but right as we walked up one flew away.

Getting the fire ready to cook dinner.

Chris cooking his bratwurst. Doesn't it look delicious.

This is me after about 3 hours of sleep. We got a little rain at about 10 PM and thought it was over. I woke up because it was raining at about midnight then at about 2 AM it hit! There was a ton of lightning then instant loud thunder. We felt like we were going to get directly struck with lightning. Sampson didn't like it so much and was hiding inside our sleeping bag at our feet. Needless to say we didn't get much sleep.

This is the view on the way home. The rain cleared out some of the pollution.

The Opening Ceremonies

2008-08-10T19:53:00.000-07:00

We got together to watch the Olympic opening ceremonies. We had a variety of Chinese food. The ceremonies were pretty awesome but it did last a long time. Next time we watch it taped without commercials.

I think Robin got most of the food for us.

Fejj made the ham fried rice.

Kalli cleaned up the grease that exploded while making the ham fried rice.

Roger's Onesie

2008-08-08T17:59:00.000-07:00

Roger took his bike in for a tune-up and bought some stuff for his bike with his $100 credit. He ended up buying a onesie for $180. He also bought tons of other crap and ended up spending $140 more than his credit. He looks really good in it and I hope he doesn't wear a shirt when he bikes from now on.

Silly Chris

2008-08-08T17:52:00.000-07:00

One Sunday Chris forgot to put the clothes in the dryer the night before and he refuses to use the washer and dryer on Sunday. He would absolutely not use the dryer so he spread the clothes out on the deck to dry. He will play video games all day Sunday and that's okay but using the dryer would definitely be breaking the Sabbath.

24th of July- Sorry a little late

2008-08-08T17:33:00.000-07:00

For the 24th of July the Silver clan went up Farmington Canyon for a bike ride and dinner around the fire. Adam and Eve brought up their Rhino's and Chris and my dad drove the kids in those while the rest of us rode our bikes. After the ride we had tinfoil dinners, corn on the cob and smores.

Chris helps get the tinfoil dinners ready.

Eve and Alex chill during dinner.

Jess recording Ella the drama queen.

Chris helps Lex get into the yummy beaver pond.

Angie and the kids watch Chris swim.

Chris got stabbed in the arm when he jumped in the water.

Sampson enjoys the bike trail.

My mom and Logan did a great job on the bike ride.

Roger collects some firewood to cook dinner.

My First Motorcycle Ride

2008-07-19T19:19:00.000-07:00

I don't know how Lise got the idea in her head today but she insisted that we go teach me how to ride a motorcycle. I did want to learn but I wasn't real excited about going today. I guess I was mostly just scared and thought it would be just my luck to get hurt and be out the $85 I paid for my triathlon next month. Anyway, we went down to a church parking lot and she showed me how it works and I just got on and started doing it.

Here I go! Don't I look like I am having fun!

Still trying to figure out how everything works. I still think the silver handles should be my brakes like on my bike.

Are we done yet??

This is me trying to be brave after I just tipped the bike over. At leas I was smart enough to get away from it and just let it fall. Of course I fell while doing a left turn. I hate left turns!! I can barely turn left on my regular bike let alone a big motorcycle! I take after Zoolander and don't do left turns.
Well now that it's over and I officially know how to ride a motorcycle I guess it was kinda fun. I just don't know if I have the guts to take that thing out on the road.