How much bigger can I get?!?

Here's a couple photos Cory snapped on his phone the other night of my ever expanding belly. This is as I enter the third trimester at just 28 weeks... 

So, with potentially another 12 more weeks to go I'm really starting to wonder just how big I can possibly get?!?!?

Oh baby!

OK - So, if you haven't noticed in the mammoth posts below I'm preggers... up the duff, knocked up, baking a bun - whatever you want to call it, I'm it!

I'm right at 16 weeks and so that means I'm in my second trimester, I should be starting to glow and enjoying being pregnant and looking beautiful... hummm, well two of those things haven't happened and I wouldn't exactly say I'm 'enjoying' being pregnant, but it is exciting.

Flying while pregnant - not recommended!

Being back home with my family for Christmas was great, getting there was horrible!

I never, ever want to travel longhaul again while pregnant. Travelling to LAX was bad enough, but then having to get onto the 10.5 hour flight to London Heathrow was bad... real bad. I thought since we were there for almost 4 weeks that I'd be feeling 'much better' by the time we had to make the journey back home... I was wrong. The flight(s) home were even worse. The flight to LAX from London was a nightmare, nothing else can describe just how bad it was. I had sickness the whole flight and I couldn't get a moment's rest. I'm sure having just experienced an emotional goodbye a couple hours before flying didn't help but let me just say, DON'T DO IT! It's horrible!

Mr & Mrs Marvin Fast

Here are a couple of photos from Grampa & Wilma's wedding. They both looked lovely and it was a beautiful ceremony. They are such a special couple and great together - I am so glad they found each other!

Love you both!

October Already

I can hardly believe it's October already - it's scary how quickly this year has flown past.

Yesterday it had been a year since I was granted my Green Card, hard to believe it had been a year already, but in some ways it was also hard to believe it had ONLY been a year... a lot has happened in the past year.

To celebrate we made a 'full English breakfast' meal for dinner, and I made a Red Velvet Cake for desert - since it's our green card birthday, we had to have cake... right?

Oh my word, that cake was so good... now I'm not saying that to blow my own trumpet, especially since I got the recipe from a blog I read all the time, but I'm saying it because it was... the ganache topping was so chocolaty and so rich that it was perfect... I hate to imagine the amount of calories in the tiny sliver of cake I ate.

Since it was so rich and there was so much of it we figured there was no way we'd get it finished while it was still in it's prime, so we cut two large chunks and brought them to our neighbours.

Catch up after a long week!

It's been a long week since I last posted on here. I can't believe it has only been a week...

So, all the things I had intended and planned to since I last posted on here haven't quite happened, as I said, it's been a long (and very strange) week.

On Wednesday last week I had grand plans, I started strong and got going with things I needed to do... Then I got a phone call from my dear hubbie, saying that his Mom had taken a fall and was hurt and was heading to the hospital. So, I put everything on hold, threw together a pot of spaghetti, put the rest of what would be dinner in the truck and headed out there.

It turns out that she was going out the sliding doors and her flip-flop caught on the rug and she took a dive. She whacked her face on the cement and landed on her wrist, it was smashed up. Broken in at least 4 places and in a right mess.

I got the house cleaned up and dinner finished before she came home, and boy am I glad I did. She came home with her arm in a splint and a partial cast, and she was hurting pretty bad. There was no way she would have been able to do those things, and I knew she'd be worrying about it getting done.

It was a pretty late night, I guess we got home around 9pm, which doesn't sound too bad, except that poor hubbie had been gone at work all day and hadn't even got his shower til we got in the door.... we crawled to bed for some much needed sleep.

The next day I headed to the farm with Cory to look after his Mom, she had grand plans of going out shopping and running errands with me, but I knew there was no way she'd feel like it... and when we got to the house she said she realised it too. So, I just stayed with her that day and did some things round there, helped her manage her pain and did some grocery shopping... There was no way I'd be getting the things at home done, so I just put them out of my mind.

The weekend crept up on us and I was glad it was here. On Saturday morning Cory's Dad called to ask if I wanted to go and do some target practice... I really needed to before deer season started, so we headed out there and shot targets for an hour. It was actually really hard work, the guns I was shooting were so heavy and the stock was really long, so it made it hard for me to get a comfortable position. My aim was good though, and my Father in law said I would be good enough to go hunting. I definitely want to do some more practice sessions before the 1st Oct, but my confidence was a little better.

That afternoon I headed to a friends baby shower. She was actually a friend of Cory's growing up, but we've hung out a few times and she's a really awesome and fun girl. It was also my first ever baby shower... so that's something else to check off the list... I didn't know what to expect, but it was a fun afternoon!

That evening we headed out with some other friends downtown, our friend Nat was having a birthday and they'd gotten a babysitter so were trying to make the most of it. It was a nice evening, but another late night... I'm not used to all these packed days and late nights!

We crawled into bed a little after midnight to catch some much needed Zzzzzzz's!

Sunday after church and lunch we headed to Amity Vineyards with John & Janet. The vineyards here in Oregon are amazing, and there are always so many of them! If you're a wine buff then you should definitely get out here and take a tour, you'd be amazed.

After that we were shot, we needed to kick back & relax, so we ordered a pizza and chilled out for the evening... The weekend was gone...

September already!!!

Today is September first and I can hardly believe it. It seems like this year has just flown by and I feel like I'm still trying to play catch up.

The last two days of August were chilly and blustery. It really started to feel like Autumn was on the way, and I must admit I'm kind of excited for it to get here. I know we didn't have much of a summer and some people really like the heat but I'm not the kind of girl that likes it being much more than 80-85F regularly. Mid to upper 70's is much more my kind of thing ;)

I'm not really sure what this month will hold but I do know that the next couple of days will involve apples...

I've been trying to get my hands on apples at a really reasonable price and I even hit a produce stand this morning to see what kind of a deal I could score. I was pretty impressed at the price for a box really, considering you'd pay twice as much in the grocery store...

But, as I was having coffee with a friend of mine this morning my hubbie called to say that his Grampa was on route to our place with two types of apples for us. I couldn't believe it - I was stoked! There's really no better price than free... Only shame being that I wasn't home, but he said he'd leave them on the deck for us.

I got home to find that he'd brought us two big boxes of apples, each one almost full! I was so excited... It means I'll be having a double date with them and my canning supplies for the next couple days! (Yah, I'm weird and/or easily pleased)

Well, the other exciting thing that happened today was that I bought my very first hunting license and deer tag. Yup, this means I'm definitely going hunting this fall! It's kind of a weird thing for me, since I don't know if I'm actually going to have the guts to aim and shoot at the deer when the time comes, but I'm definitely up for the challenge and am starting to look forward to it.

Not so much of a city girl after all, eh?

Bluergh!

The last couple of days I am feeling totally blah, bluergh and ick! I don't really know why and can't really put my finger on it but I just don't feel 100%. My back hurts and my stomach is icky so I have been taking it easy this afternoon.

On Friday we left town to go camping for the weekend. I was really looking forward to getting away and also for some cooler weather. It had been far too warm for little ol' me and I was starting to feel a little wilted. I needed some cooler temps!

Dear hubbie loaded up the truck on Thursday evening and I did the last few bits on Friday morning and then I jumped in the truck to go pick him up from the field and we hit the road. We headed just south of Bend to a place called La Pine but as we pulled into the campground we were greeted by the 'Campground Full' sign. Uh oh, this was bad news. We hit one other campground and saw the same thing so we decided to head up to Paulina Lake.

We had wanted to camp up there but I was a little nervous because of the lake and the mosquitoes, but since the other two sites were full it was a sign so we headed up the road to Paulina Lake. Neither of us realised it was so high up and it seemed like the road just kept on going and going... at 6350ft we entered the campsite and it wasn't full. Infact, it was only about half occupied! YAY - I was excited!

We found the perfect spot and jumped out to start setting up camp and WHOOOSH, the mosquitoes were on us like crazy! I could even feel them biting me which is a first, usually the first I know that I've been bitten is a few moments later when it starts to swell.

Ugh! Cory was willing to leave and go find another campsite somewhere else but I didn't want to, it was so pretty there and it was an adventure after all.... a few painful bites later I was starting to feel like I was going to go crazy, so I got inside the half erected tent while Cory set up everything else and got a fire going.

A few moments after the fire got going they started to leave, they really didn't like the smoke so we kept the fire really smokey!

We walked over to the lake and it was just beautiful, it was as if we were on top of the world. There was no other point of reference that we could see from where we were and at over 6000 feet we really were up high!

After that we went to find the host and paid for the night... he warned us that it would be cold (and it was) and that hopefully we had enough blankets to keep warm for the night. I was actually looking forward to it being a little cold, and already had my beloved beanie hat on! ;)

We went back to the campsite and fixed up a yummy dinner and chilled out by the fire before hitting the hay early.

It was pretty cold that night, it hit somewhere in the low 20's and we felt it but we were very glad for lots of warm blankets and a blow up mattress! After breakfast and a walk to the lake we packed up our stuff and hit the road.

Saturday evening we stayed at a campground at Detroit Lake and it was substantially warmer than at Paulina Lake (it was also substantially lower in elevation) and had next to no mosquitoes. I didn't get one bite that evening nor did I even see a skeeter lurking nearby.

We camped close to a little beach on the far side of the lake and it was quiet and calm. We had a fun & very relaxing weekend... laying on the beach, relaxing strolls, throwing rocks and just not having to do any of the stuff waiting for us back home.

ooooh, and I almost forgot to mention that we had the first smores of the year and they were perfect! :)

Good News!

Just a quick post to share some good news. I just got back from seeing my Maxillofacial surgeon for my 2 week follow up and he is so pleased with how much healing has taken place since the surgery.

AND (yes, it gets better) he is giving me the go ahead to move into ortho treatment right away.

Awesome huh?!?!?!

I should have another 4 week wait before I'm ready for ortho, but my body is healing so well & he knows I'll take extra good care of myself and my teeth so he's letting me start!

I am so excited - it means I get rid of the flipper sooner rather than later and that we're taking another step in the right direction. This is also the first time for a long time that something has happened ahead of schedule with my health and dental issues!!!

So, watch this space people - brace face will be showing up a little sooner than scheduled! :)

Now I really need to get off here and get cracking - I have so much to do today and tomorrow. We're heading camping tomorrow afternoon for the weekend so we have to pack all that stuff into the truck and for some reason while I was at the store I thought it would be an awesome idea to take advantage of the deal they had on apples, so I just bought 10 pounds of Granny Smith apples that I am planning to make canned apple pie filling with and I still have berries in the refrigerator downstairs. Not to mention the chili and scones I'm making to take with us camping... Oh and dinner for tonight...

Yikes!

Over & out!

Hello & Canning so far

Well, it's been a while since I've written on here... Not too sure why, probably just since I haven't had much to say... so I'll keep this post short so as to not bore you to death.

Last weekend we picked berries, and we picked a LOT! It's craziness how many blackberry bushes there are at the farm. It seems like with the weather this year everything is late producing fruit, the blackberries are no different. There was plenty of ripe and juicy berries for us to pick but I'd say about 75% of the fruit weren't ready yet. We picked several gallons of berries and will probably wait a couple weeks before another mammoth picking session.

So, I made jam for the first time ever! It was quite a process but so much fun, AND the jam tastes yummers too, so that's a bonus. I made two batches, one just straight blackberry and the second is blackberry, blueberry & strawberry mix. I also made a batch of blackberry pie filling and canned that, but all the recipes called for a product called 'ClearJel' that I couldn't find in any of the stores close by so I subbed with cornstarch. I don't know if it turned out ok, it seems a little runny to me, but I guess the only way to know for sure is to make a pie and see... so I guess I'll be doing that next week sometime too.

I'm still holding out for apples... I have an awesome recipe for canned apple pie filling and I'd love to have that stashed away for the winter.

Yah, I'm nutso

Well, those of you who know me will know how I love a good project... ideas bubbling over, sometimes I can't sleep at night because of ideas going round my head, or popping into my head in the middle of the night... my brain just keeps ticking over and over with ways in which to make it better and more exciting... and that in turn makes me more excited about the project... (Yeah, I'm nutso)

Some of you will also know (hopefully less of you) that I am just crazy about recipes... yep, you heard it. I'm a feeder. I love to cook, bake, create some kind of yummy edible goodies... and I love to also research these goodies, read about them, drool over them and they get my brain going in ways I just can't explain. I don't know why, except perhaps because I'm nutso.

So, imagine the insanity that would explain my excitement if a certain project also involved recipes and or cooking in some fashion, add that to the love I have for family and you have pure craziness. Well, that's exactly where I'm at right now!

I am working on a project that has all of those elements, and it's awesome. I am putting together a book... Yep, you heard it. Crazy, huh!?!?!

As you know Cory's Grandmother passed away in March, she was a wonderful woman and she loved to entertain, cook, bake and create... story has it that she was as crazy about recipes as I am and would often sit reading cook books for inspiration and ideas (YAY, I'm not the only person in the world who would happily take a recipe book to bed).

I wish I would have had some time to know her in the prime of her life, I have a feeling we would have gotten on like a house on fire.

Anyway, I have collected books and books and just tons of recipes from her and I am probably not even a third of the way through. I am sifting through the recipes and books and collecting ones that she loved to cook and some that stand out to people when they think of her.

My plan is to put these together in a book that people can have, and so not only will the memories of Paula Ann Fast live on, but her recipes will also.

It's working title is: After all, there's nothing quite like Grandmother's cooking!

Canning time!

Laugh if you will, but I have never done any of my own canning before. Probably partly due to the fact that I grew up in London and it's not really the thing to do in the big smoke.

Last year we had an awesome vegetable garden, a bumper tomato crop and grand plans of canning sauces and all sorts of goodies to see us through the winter months.

Unfortunately, my diagnosis of Graves Disease and then the dental stuff on top of that kind of put a spanner in the works and we just couldn't keep on top of the garden or get round to doing anything with the produce either. We were up to our neck with other stuff going on so we had to just let people have the tomatoes from our garden. At least they didn't go to waste - that would have been unbearable.

This year we had high hopes too. We planted our garden and were excited about being able to have our own produce to see us through the winter months. Unfortunately the weather this year wasn't quite as good as last year for tomato plants and we haven't had the bumper crop of last year that we hoped for. It's kind of sad, but hey, that's life. We will have some tomatoes from the plants but they're coming so late. I doubt we'll have much to can though.

But the canning story doesn't end there... no, no, no... We still have grand plans! We are going to whip up a batch of berry jam and I'm planning on gifting some of that to friends and family and we have grapes galore in our garden too that I will find something awesome to do with. We're going blackberry picking this weekend too and I'm planning on using some of those for the jam but most to make pie filling and we'll be getting our grubby hands on some apples too for pie filling. So, it should be pretty awesome... and there are rumours that a friend of ours might have a bunch of extra tomatoes that they'd be willing to share with us... YAY!

So, watch this space people - the canning extravaganza is going to start in the next couple days... I have no idea how easy or hard it will be, but I'm guessing it's not rocket science... and after all, we are two fully grown and fairly smart adults, I'm sure we won't blow up the house!

I'm a chipmunk... just not sure which one!

Well, it's been several days since surgery and simply put I feel terrible.

Cory stayed home from work on Thursday and Friday to help me and that was awesome. A good perk of being ahead on the farm during harvest.

I was doing pretty good up til about Sunday when my swelling started to get worse and the bruises took on some colour. My mouth is pretty stiff and sore and I think I look like a chipmunk. I totally don't look like me, I look different... weird.

I spent most of yesterday doing not very much. I rested and slept most of the day and kept cool in the basement. Today has been pretty much the same thing, I've been bored out of my head but there's not much else I can do about that. I've been reading online, searching out recipes and watching a little tv - yep, sounds about as boring as ever, huh.

I'm thinking about canning... yep, sounds exciting huh? Apple pie fillilng, jam etc etc.... So, perhaps we'll be out picking fruit this weekend! :)

Anyway, that's about the height of it. I'm scheduled to see Dr Johnson for a follow up next week on Wednesday, unless the swelling and pain doesn't go away, in which case I'll see him sooner...

No Surprises

This is from an email I sent to some friends and family members yesterday afternoon after surgery - As you can read, there were no surprises and everything went by the book.
My sleep was restless last night but I am taking it easy today and Cory's Dad told him to stay home with me too, which is awesome. It's nice having him here to take care of me :)

----------------
12th Aug at 17:21
Everything went well this morning. Last night I was very anxious as I went to bed but I woke up this morning filled with peace and the nerves had reduce substantially. (I didn't even cry as we drove to the appointment - and I'm telling ya, that is a first).

Dr Johnson performed the surgery expertly. He reported that the cyst was large but that they were able to clean it all out nicely and graft the site with bottle-bone. He also removed some tissue underneath a 1st molar on my lower jaw - it looked like it was forming a cyst there and they didn't want to take any chances. Thankfully we didn't need to graft that site and hopefully it will heal well by itself. The cyst in this site was so close in proximity to the other cyst there that it doesn't appear to be anything to worry about. They have sent the cyst tissue to OSHU for biopsy and I will receive the results in 2 weeks. Dr Johnson is 99% sure it's the same type of cyst we found on the upper jaw and should be nothing to cause further concern.

Everything went so smoothly, my Doctor couldn't have wished for anything to go any better - this is also a first for my surgeries and I am very thankful!

I'm in a fair amount of pain right at the moment but I have some pain killers that I will use tonight if necessary and they already gave me some meds through my IV that should keep the swelling and bruising to a minimum. Movement in my lower jaw is very restricted at the moment but I'm doing good & Cory is doing a great job of taking care of me.

I'm in love with Nolan

Yep, you heard it here first.
I'm in love with Nolan...



No, no, no - don't go jumping to conclusions like a little busybody - Nolan is my new motorcycle helmet, and it's mine... all mine.

I've been using a helmet we borrowed from a friend for all the motorcycle rides we've been on but it really doesn't fit well and isn't comfortable, plus it's extremely heavy.

My main reason for needing a new helmet was my jaw and all that dental crap we've been dealing with. My lower jaw is weakened from the cyst that took control over my body so I didn't want to ride with anything less than a full face helmet. It just wasn't worth the risk (trust me) and I totally needed a new helmet anyway.

So, on Sunday after church we headed up to Beaverton and hit the Honda store there. They had the new Nolan 103 modular helmet in stock and after trying on a few others it was the one I wanted. It was light, a full face but also has the modular feature which allows me to lift the jaw section (not sure of it's technical name) and raise it up with the visor.

It's nice!

I haven't had the chance to try it out on a ride yet but I am itching to get out on the bike now... We're hoping there will be a sliver of a break in combining on Saturday so we can go with the Hillriders up to Seaside to the bikefest.

Oh and a big shout out to the Honda store up in Beaverton for price matching for us too - we got an awesome helmet at an awesome deal!

Happy Independence America!

Well, our Independence day weekend was quite a lot of fun. We drove up to Mt Hood on Saturday morning (a little later than anticipated, but that's ok too) to meet up with my good friend Dave who is also an expat and his Oregonian girlfriend Katie.

They live in an absolutely beautiful area at the base of Mt Hood, at an elevation of about 1500 ft - I hadn't thought of the elevation being an issue but it was interesting.
After we got there we headed out to the Salmon river and did a little hike. I say hike, which is wasn't really - but it was a little more than just a walk, so I guess it was a 'little hike'. It was beautiful though and fun - except that I was hiking in my flip flops. I hadn't brought any other shoes, just two pair of flip flops, and I managed to dig another one out from underneath the back seat of our truck. Ugh.

After that we headed to the golf course and played a little lawn bowls. It was SO much fun and the weather was just perfect. We played Dave & I against Cory & Katie - England vs USA.
Cory & Katie beat us by a point, which was ok I guess - since it was Independence Day weekend... but we WILL have to rematch sometime (soon)!
We grabbed dinner out and then made a dessert run and got some yummy cakes and pies! The gooseberry pie was my favourite, and surprisingly I really liked the coconut cream pie too - something I have never been a fan of, but it was really good!
Sunday was the 4th, and Katie was snowboarding with her brother up at Timberline so the rest of us had breakfast and then headed up to check out the lodge. I'd been there before and I love the lodge - it's amazingly beautiful and the view is always stunning. It was cloudy at the house but perfectly sunny and clear up at the lodge.

We met up with Katie & Sean (her brother) for a drink and snack before heading back to the house to get prepped up for the BBQ.
We headed home as everyone else headed to fireworks - it was getting to be late and Cory had to work first thing in the morning. Swathing grass seed = early morning starts.

We got to see so many fireworks on the way home though, for pretty much the whole drive, and we made it in record time too. There was hardly anyone else on the road, I guess everyone else was watching fireworks or celebrating Independence somehow!

4th July weekend is almost here!

While this is not my first time to celebrate the 4th of July, nor is it the first where I've actually been here in the US to celebrate (that was last year), this year is the first time I will celebrate the 4th of July at "home" in the USofA.

It's pretty exciting, and seems a little unbelievable since I've been here for what seems like a lifetime (19 months, but who's counting?), but yes, this is the first Independence Day as a Permanent Resident of America.

It's kind of exciting - I'm not really sure if I'm supposed to feel some sense of pride or excitement or something, but I do know that we're going to have a fun weekend.

My good friend Dave is in town from NY - well, he's actually from 'back home' but he's now living in NYC. He's here in OR with his girlfriend Katie who is an Oregonian. So, we're planning to meet up with them for a weekend at the mountain (Mt Hood).
I'm excited - I've never really spent much time at Mt hood outside of the winter months. It's so pretty up there too!

So, it's bound to be a fun weekend... I'll let you guys know if it feels any different as a non-alien ;)

Fun 3-day weekend

So, with Cory being a farmer now it just so happens that sometimes days off for holidays have to be switched around, otherwise he'd never get any time off.... Well, the 4th July holiday is one of those days. Since Cory is almost certainly going to have to work next Monday he took yesterday off and we had a 3 day weekend. It was so much fun, and I really enjoyed having him home and getting time to hang out. I LOVE spending time together.
So, on Friday we just about finished the flooring at the rental house - which is a big relief because it had been looming over our heads like a humongous hail cloud and we needed to get the majority of it done. Also, they were having a party there on Sat, so we really wanted it to be looking good for them.

Saturday morning we made a trip to the dump - all the flooring from the rental house needed to be disposed of and it had been riding in the back of our truck for a little over a week - yuck!
After that we had plans to go up to hang out with our friend Aaron and some buddies for his birthday - we had to make an unexpected stop at Les Schwab due to a cling-on nail we picked up at the dump, but we got to watch the second half of the USA vs Ghana match on their TV while we waited so I didn't complain. Too bad the USA lost and were sent home.

So, we got back on the road and headed to meet Aaron. We were heading out on the boat for the day and we were looking forward to it. It was near perfect weather and we were in need of a relaxing day - it was exactly that. We got to meet some new people too, so that's always an added bonus. I like meeting new people.
After that we headed a friend's who is also Aaron's neighbour and had a BBQ there - I'd brought a birthday cake and some watermelon so I didn't feel too bad about showing up at their house for food. The one thing I completely hate is going to someones house empty handed.

The food was yummers! A great day all round!

Sunday at 7am was the England vs Germany match. I was so nervous. The history with us and the Germans in general is pretty bad, but in football it's so prickly that I could hardly contain myself. We needed to win, not only to progress to the next stage, but to prove a point that we still had what it took.
I was in church, working on the projection with the live stream on my phone sitting beside me on my desk. I was hardly able to contain myself. The Germans scored - NO!!!!!
Then we had a disallowed goal and I could just feel that it was all downhill from there.

The game ended just a few moments before Church started, the score was 4-1. Our boys were going home, we'd been well outplayed by the Germans, our tails were firmly between out legs.

Boo!

After church we grabbed lunch and headed home to work on the yard - it needed a fair share of TLC!
We were still wrecked from the previous day on the boat so we snuck in a little afternoon nap too. It was a good afternoon!
Cory got sun burnt though, pretty badly on his back. All day Saturday he had kept applying the sunscreen while on the boat, but something about working in the yard without his shirt on he forgot and he was suffering. The aloe was soaking in almost instantly - I felt bad for him, I'd been there before... several times!

Yesterday we decided that we were going to have a chilled day too, so we grabbed a bite to eat and headed to the coast. It was warm when we left town, but by the time we got to the beach it was chilly, grey and starting to drizzle. I kind of liked the break from the heat!
We did a little window shopping at the outlet mall, went to the beach and then hit up Mo's for an early dinner before heading home.
Oh, and on the way home we took a little detour and looked at Oregon's oldest covered bridge. It was originally built in 1914. It was pretty cool to have a look at and read the story of how it was saved and relocated. :)

After we got home we did a quick 2 hour whizz around our house and it looks clean as a whistle, it's amazing what you can do in so little time eh?

After that we chilled - watched some TV and had a relaxing evening.
All in all a great 3 day weekend...

Here's some pics:

Few pics and quick hello

Not much to report from us, except that we have been working on our rental house this weekend and we are sore... and when I say sore, I mean really sore. I could hardly walk yesterday and when I did it was definitely more than a waddle accompanied with "ouch, owie, ugh...." etc type moans with every step. Not so attractive!
Yesterday was our second, first wedding anniversary. Yep, you heard it right, our second, first wedding anniversary. We had two wedding's right....?!?!?!? Therefore two wedding anniversaries! ;)

We had a fun day, went out to lunch at GVB after church which was really nice, and after that we went up to Tualatin to Erik & Krista's place to say a quick hello to them and Cory's parents since it was also Father's day.

Anyway, here's a few photos from around the Fast household recently... yes, a random collection!
Over & out!The Grosbeaks seem to have left us now, which is kind of sad since I'd gotten used to them and their feeding habits, oh, and not to forget their noise... But here's one of the last pics I took of them. I love how the two far birds have 'locked beaks'!
Our daffodil bulb 'crop'. We sat digging and dividing daffodils out of our yard so we can move them around next spring. There was so many - we left at least the same amount in the ground!

We had two pair of black headed grosbeaks feeding at our house towards the end. This is one of the males. I love how orange their colour is - they are really pretty. The females look different too. They were fun to watch!

Our niece (step-niece if you want to get technical) received an award at school, it was the 'Love one another' award. So I went with her Mom and brother to watch her receive it. Isn't she adorable?!?!

So, I did say it was a random selection of pics, right?!?!

Well, I love the lillies we have in our garden and I am so happy that we have so many too. We spent a lot of time this spring moving and separating out the tubers, but I was impressed that we still got so many with super large flowers.
Yes, Cory's hands are dirty - comes with being a farmer I guess ;)
River walk, Salem OR
"The Mountain's Out"