the ADVENTURES of...

Shenandoah National Park

2011-08-29T07:54:00.000-07:00

(Carol-Ann)
Summer session has officially ended, and I am starting my second year of school. It's amazing how quickly this last year went by, and that's emphasized even more when I see the new group of first year students. Hard to believe that I was in their place just a year ago - it's good to be on this side of all those anatomy courses. This fall has several interesting classes in store for me. We are starting to get into what we consider to be the "real" PT stuff - where we get to practice skills that we will eventually use in the clinic or hospital. The two most interesting classes are MSK and Neuro Practice Management. MSK means musculoskeletal, and in this class we learn all of the special tests and interventions that involve dealing with joint & muscle issues. Starting at the neck, we will work our way down the body throughout the year. Our Neuro course is similar, except that we are focusing on skills for treating patients who have neurological diseases, like Parkinson's and Multiple Sclerosis. This is a very interesting and complicated course, because often times these patients have many different things going on, and it's important to be able to see the bigger picture and prioritize with the treatment plan. These patients can also end up with MSK issues (and vice versa), so there is a lot of cross-over between the two courses. It will be a challenging but fun semester!

Clinical placement - I received my clinical placement for my third year! The way our program works, we have two years (including summers) of coursework at Duke, then we head out for 36 weeks of a full-time clinical rotation. At the end of this summer, my class went through a selection process and we received our clinical placements for next year. I will be headed down to Jacksonville FL to Brooks Rehabilitation Center, starting late July 2012. The year will consist of three different rotations within their rehab facilities, and I will get a variety of different experiences. Ethan and I are excited because we will be able to move down to Florida together, and we will be able to spend the entire year in one place rather than moving for each of my rotations. We've also heard a lot about Florida ultimate frisbee and look forward to some fun games on the beach! (Did I mention we'll be right near the beach? Taking reservations now for those who want to visit!)

Look for a post coming soon about our summer backpack trip to Shenandoah!

Vacation on the Beach

2011-08-20T16:09:00.000-07:00

(Ethan)
New York counted as a vacation, most definitely, but it was also a Tyler style vacation. Constant activity and excitement to get up early in the morning so as to not miss anything was the rule. Carol-Ann was kind to me and gave me breaks, let me sleep in while she and Kenny went out early for runs in Central Park and that sort of thing. Even so, the pace and the walking and the general bustle was a bit much for me. New York City is a fast paced place and I did not come back to work terribly rested but it was a blast of fun.

Outer Banks Beach

So to balance things out a bit, Carol-Ann and I got ourselves a couple of nights at a bed and breakfast across the street from the beach at Nags Head in the Outer Banks. This was a Nelson style vacation. Extreme relaxation without a thought toward, "what are we going to do today?" It was paradise. We just grabbed up chairs and those little umbrellas that you screw into the sand and headed out to lounge in the hot sand. The water was warm, the waves luxurious. When we weren't sleeping in the shade of our beach umbrellas, or sipping fine microbrews from the shore, or throwing the Frisbee in the nearly perfect wind conditions, we floated aimlessly in the ocean and watched our stuff get smaller and smaller as the current carried us down shore.

Breakfast at the B&B

The bed and breakfast was wonderful. The proprietor was wonderful, sort of funny to interact with but extremely friendly and helpful. It was the kind of place you could go to and not worry about packing. Just throw some beach clothes in a bag and head out. Once there, everything was taken care of. They had blow dryers when you needed them, beach equipment when you needed it, bikes to get around town and coolers with ice. Five stars to the Nags Head Beach Inn!
We had Tuna steaks, juicy burgers, ice cream... oh, and did I mention the microbrews! hmmm, looks like I did mention them, but they deserve triple mention. Microbrews on the beach and absolutely nothing to do. Perfect :)

NYC TRIP WITH KENNY (part 4)

2011-08-20T15:55:00.000-07:00

Phantom of the Opera
(Ethan)

Well, a few years back, Graham and I visited New York ourselves and made good on the opportunity to go see Phantom of the Opera. This is one of those shows that, if you have not seen it, you have to grab the chance when it comes. When we were there, we almost missed it by losing track of time. Thankfully the subway system was on time with its scheduled promise of getting us within 3 blocks with less than 5 minutes to spare. We made it into the theater just in time, and sweating from our run.

So... with Carol-Ann and Kenny in tow, neither of them having seen it before, I gave it a high recommendation and we got ourselves tickets.

Thankfully nothing like the frantic last minute dash messed with our plans, however there was a brief moment of fear as we neared because there was a line at the theater a block and a half long (for the phantom) and there was no way standing in the back that we would make it into the show before curtain.

I went to the front, tickets in hand having printed them from the Internet and got the scoop... there was a group all trying to get in together (quite a group being a block and a half long line of people). Carol-Ann, Kenny and I went right on through and found our seats.

It was a little difficult to hear some of the words to the opera in some portions, especially the rounds (or whatever you call it when multiple voices overlay different lyrics on each other in harmonies). But it was well worth it. I noticed some small variations in this performance from my previous memory and I think that running this show for so many years has lead different performing groups on Broadway to try and instill their own little sense of character into the time-worn show.

It was very good, and as always, the phantom was outstanding, chilling and got a standing ovation.

NYC TRIP WITH KENNY (part 3)

2011-07-18T11:00:00.000-07:00

Day 4
(Carol-Ann)

The morning of our second full day in NYC, Kenny and I decided to wake up eary (in true Tyler fashion) and head up to Central park for a morning walk. It was a beautiful day, and we wandered through on different trails, seeing everything from Turtle Pond and the castle that sits above it, to watching a huge group of people playing various sports on one of the giant lawns. There were bikers, runners, people playing baseball, and others doing pilates in the grass. We spent several hours in Central Park, and still only saw a small portion of it!

We ended our walk through Central Park at the west side, and took a brief look around inside the American Museum of Natural History. It was incredible to see the enormous dinosaur skeletons - they had every kind you could imagine, and as we walked through the displays I couldn't help but think about scenes from the movie "The Land Before Time".

That afternoon, Ethan caught up with us as we headed down to "Top of the Rock", which is the outlook at the top of Rockefeller Center. It gives a 360degree view of the Big Apple, along with several observation posts that allow you to zoom in on different buildings. We had fun looking for the landmarks that we had seen from the water earlier in our trip. It was certainly a different view, looking down on these huge buildings from above! We spent the rest of our day wandering around the streets of New York, ducking into the Metropolitan Museum of Art for a quick look at their Van Gough and Monet paintings, then heading back to the hotel to get dressed up for the highlight of our trip - a show on BROADWAY! (more on that soon)

NYC TRIP WITH KENNY (part 2)

2011-07-13T09:10:00.001-07:00

Day 3
(Carol-Ann)

We decided to start our first full day in NYC with a boat cruise that took us around Manhattan in a path where we would see the Statue of Liberty, Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island, and the many bridges that cross the water. Our tour guide did an excellent job pointing out all of the major sights along the way, adding in fun stories, historical points and common rumors about the history of each landmark. Here are some of the pictures from our cruise:

That afternoon, Kenny met up with some of his high school buddies, while Ethan and I wandered around NYU, visited a farmer's market at Union Square, and saw a filming of the Muppets at Washington Square Park. We found a great place to eat "famous" burgers, tried some yummy gelato, and picked up a bottle of apple wine at the farmers market. A very big portion of our time in New York was spent eating - it's a good thing we had to walk everywhere!

Speaking of food, our dinner plans that night included stopping by to visit with our cousin Alice and her boyfriend, Parker. We got to see Alice's cute apartment, then wandered down 9th street to find a restaurant. The boys insisted that we find "good food and great beer" so we stopped at a restaurant that had a decent looking menu, several draft microbrews, and was packed with people - always a good sign. Fortunately we were seated quickly, and easily found several menu items that looked enticing. From crab dip to bison and lamb burgers, we happily ate and talked the night away. We said goodnight to Alice, and headed back towards our hotel to recover and recharge for our last day of adventures in New York City!

NYC TRIP WITH KENNY! (part 1)

2011-06-24T16:05:00.000-07:00

Days 1 & 2
(Carol-Ann)

We were so excited to have Kenny join us for over a week out here on the east coast! He came out during the in-between time after graduating from OSU and before starting his new engineering job in Portland. It's plenty hot and humid out here so I warned him to pack shorts, comfortable shoes, and layers. I've discovered that I always have to bring several layers of clothing with me, because it's unbearably hot outside, but cold and air-conditioned inside. So I can now go from a tank-top to a long sleeved cardigan in a half second flat. And my friends out here now know that they can count on me for an extra jacket when things get cold.

Kenny arrived late Sunday night after a LONG set of flights across the country. We had a half-day to explore Durham before we needed to catch the Megabus up to DC then NYC, so I took him for a walk around the Duke campus and gardens. We also made a quick trip to one of my favorite dessert spots in town - Local Yogurt!

Monday afternoon we had a pretty smooth bus trip up to DC. The bus was packed, and Ethan was nice enough to let Kenny and I sit next to each other so we could watch movies on Kenny's laptop. Ethan ended up making friends with the guy next to him, and they passed Ethan's phone back and forth the whole trip playing games! We made a quick stop in DC and crashed at our friend Lori's apartment for the night. For dinner, she took us to a great German place with hundreds of unique beers to try. After the long bus ride, we were happy to relax with fish & chips and a cold one!

At Lori's cute apartment!

The next morning, Lori and I went on a run through some fun DC neighborhoods. It was a welcome stretch for my legs before embarking on the next leg of our journey, DC to NYC! We found the Megabus stop and were excited when our bus arrived - it was a double-decker! Being the strategic ones, we planned it so that the boys loaded our luggage while I ran up into the bus to get us some seats in the top section. Kenny and I spent another trip watching movies and watching the landscape fly by. Once we made it to NYC, it was a short walk through Times Square to find our "1.5 star" hotel - the only affordable (by our standards) hotel available.

We were relieved to check in and see that there were indeed clean sheets and towels - that's all we really needed, right? The room was extremely small with barely enough space for the two double beds, and it was comical to see the unusable dresser with its drawers squished up against one of the beds. It held an ancient TV on top, which we determined immediately as a waste of space and proceeded to pile our clothes on top of it. That evening we headed up to the "Museum Mile" block party that was being held along the street that houses the MET, Guggenheim, and other famous NY museums. We had grand plans to find a funky neighborhood bar, but the back-to-back bus trips had worn us out and we headed back in the evening to sleep.

2011-03-27T11:51:00.000-07:00

Duke Women's Ultimate Team
Here are a few pictures from our most recent tournament down in Georgia. We played 8 games over 2 days, and Saturday was a hot 89 degrees all day! I came back from the tournament tired and a little rosy, but it felt good to play hard all weekend. Our team did fairly well, winning 6 out of 8 games. Next up is the sectional tournament, and if we place high enough we'll head to regionals in April.

with Laura, a fellow PT classmate

2011-03-23T16:19:00.001-07:00

Well, spring is in the air in Durham NC. With daylight savings shift,days are longer and we're getting less sleep than ever (but we have the good excuse of having more fun). The weather has warmed up and we've had our first hints of oncoming summer humidity although right now i'ts in that nice comfortable zone a little warmer than cool and a little dryer than balmy.

So that is really enjoyable and I'm looking forward to hanging outside in our screened porch to just soak in the heat. Along with the uptickin temperatures is the uptick in bugs. We're just one week in and I've killed one massive spider, observed one or two roaches skitter away in our attached laundry facilities and killed one large yellow jacket wasp that somehow made its way into the porch.

And, since we're on the topic of large bugs, we're seeing first hand the 'hornets' that Charlotte's NBA team is named after. These things are enormous. Bee, fly, hornet, wasp are all nouns inadequate to describe these fearsome flying monsters. Hellspawn, demon, and flying-horse-of-the-apocalypse are much more appropriate definitions. Even with the enclosed porch, it is unsettling to have these things hovering just outside. They literally cast gold ball sized shadows into our peaceful space and I'm convinced that if so inclined, they could land and cut their way in with 2 or 3 quick chomps to our screens. They dogfight... the sound of their mid-air impacts is impressive as they scrabble around. Needless to say, I will have myeye out for any signs of nests.

Carol-Ann's starting to become quite the ultimate frisbee player working with her team mates on Duke Chakra and we are both making strides trying to gel with our Spring league team. My shoulder still hurts when I throw the hammer, but it doesn't re-injure, so I just keep throwing it and my distance and accuracy are improving significantly.

Work is work... I think this whole recent project I've been working on should be renamed the 'bumpy road' project. Quite a learning experience. I've avoided past mistakes, but traded them for new ones, some unavoidable and some that I know I will do differently next time. But, the product will be good and useful for LTD and its partners.

So that's about it. Oh yea, Carol-Ann and school... well, I cannot say much on that subject because at this point she's studying the development of axons... which as far as I know are the second cousins twice removed from protons. Its fun to see her get really good in a specific field of study and based on what I see her learning and being tested against, I think physical therapy is definitely headed in the direction of being something that people can have direct access to, wherein meeting with a physical therapist means meeting with a professional, independent diagnostic specialist not dependent or reliant on the "real doctors". So that's pretty exciting. I think she's going to be great! but then again I'm sort of bias.

-Ethan

2011-03-05T12:01:00.000-08:00

Christmas Visit!

Over Christmas break, we had a wonderful visit with family and friends. It was also very special because we got to celebrate with Andrew & Morgan as they got married on 12.11.10! Visiting home made us realize how much we miss our wonderful friends and family back in Oregon. We spent the week playing cards with family, eating tons of food, and running along the bike path. The wedding was beautiful, and many amazing pictures can be seen on Facebook, but here's one of me and my dad:

2010-10-20T15:03:00.000-07:00

Since I arrived in Durham, I've had a part-time project I didn't expect or prepare for. No, it has not been stepping up in the house hold and taking care of more day-to-day things and no, it isn't finding work on the side to supplement the income. This side project haunts you every time you go out for milk, run down to the mall or really go anywhere here in the Durham-Raleigh-Chapel Hill megasprawl. Its navigation. I can honestly say that I'd be homeless and astranged from my wife if it wasn't for GPS and Google maps on my cell phone. In trying to find places on my own I think I once ran into the wrong store on accident and managed to get groceries.

Well, I'm writing because I'm finally begining to understand navigation here in Durham and it has taken some serious effort. Let me give you an example of how I've been able to retrain my entire thinking to get from one place to another.

This evening, I wanted to head out to forest hills park and play some frisbee. Our place is just a couple of blocks away from some major freeway and highway interchanges and where I'm headed is to the North and East a couple of miles, so instead of braving the ever twisting, double-backing, shifting surface streets, I head out to the freeway/highway complex. Like I said, I want to head North and East so I know right away to do the opposite... First, I head due North taking the 147 South so that I can connect with highways 15/501 North. I take this East until my exit, then cut sharply across three lanes to pull the hard right I need to make it to the park. Yup. That was for real. On the way home, I naturally want to reverse my directions... home now lies South and West of forest hills park. So, again applying the lessons of opposite thinking, I weave through a few surface streets and hop on to the 15/501 South to head West until I can catch the 147 North, thus continuing my progress South to my exit.

Its that simple. Oh, I forgot to mention one thing. My exit for Morrene Road is labeled Chapel Hill 15/501 South... at least the direction is right. So I take exit 16B to Chapel Hill, then quickly veer left, mergeing with traffic in the leftmost lane to get get out of the exit only for 108B (yes, that would put me right back where I came from heading North on 147 South), go a quarter mile and then merge right to exit 108A and head down a few blocks. I'm writing this account... so I must have made it home.

2010-09-25T10:54:00.000-07:00

[Carol-Ann] Wow! We've been in North Carolina now for almost 2 months, can you believe it?! Our weeks are packed full, and most days it feels like we live a week in a day. I've caught myself talking about something we did "last week" and realized that it was actually just yesterday! Here's what a typical day looks like for me - class from 8-5pm, exercise in the form of racquetball, ultimate frisbee, biking or running, late dinner with a few hours of studying, then sleep! We live only 1 mile from the Duke rec center, and since Ethan has a spouse membership, we have a lot of fun biking down there to play racquetball twice a week. We found two ultimate frisbee pickup games in Durham, and I actually joined the Duke women's ultimate team! My team will have 2 tournaments this fall and several more in the Spring. The weather pattern is so different out here, the big season for outdoor sports is winter! We've heard that we should get a little snow over the winter, but we're still sweating through 90degree days, so snow looks a long way off.

A few weeks after arriving, we headed out to the Outer Banks, one of the most popular beach areas on the east coast. It is an incredible place, with several-mile-long bridges joining peninsulas and islands, in total spanning over 40 miles long! Their bridges are long, flat, and seem to be only a few feet off the water - a big contrast to the bridges we're used to driving in Portland! The drive from Durham to the Outer Banks is about 4 hours, and we were excited to visit some of the quaint, historic towns along the way. However, it turned out that nearly every town shuts down for the weekend - not quite sure how that works for tourism, since the weekend is the only time most of us can travel! But the outer banks was amazing, and we enjoyed the weekend camping, driving on the beach (yes, people drive out and set up tents, with bbqs, beer, lounge chairs...so fun!), and the water is WARM! We were running into the ocean with Reya, and wading in up to our waists. There are strong riptides, so we decided not to test our swimming skills this time. Here are a few pictures of our trip:

on the beach!

one of the long bridges going to the Outer Banks

crab dinner!

2010-08-11T16:19:00.000-07:00

[Carol-Ann] We made it to Durham! It was a long couple of days, but after a few wrong turns (one that forced us to re-route completely) and lots of night driving, we arrived in Durham and got the keys to our new place. It feels good to have landed, and over the past week we've been running all over trying to find furniture and get ourselves stocked up with supplies before my program starts. We have also been having fun exploring of the local cuisine! One of our first nights here we found an incredible french restaurant. The meal started with homemade blueberry-vodka cocktails and fresh bread that I ate so quickly, they brought out a second basket! Ethan was brave enough to get the house special, which was an entire roasted bass, head and all. It took about 30 minutes to cook, but was well worth the wait! It also took some effort to successfully peel off the skin and get to the meat underneath, but the fish itself was flaky, moist, like butter. It was quite an experience! We even took a few pictures:

Buying furniture through Craigslist is a great way to get to know an area. While trying to find different houses, we have been so lost, so confused, and have ended up in some interesting neighborhoods and cities. Hillsborough is a small, historic town just 20 minutes from Durham, and I drove out there one afternoon to pick up a dresser. Now when I say historic, it is very different from anything I have experienced in Oregon. As you drive into this little town, there are signs everywhere that have dates, names of the people who lived or worked in the building and historical significance. Many of the signs say that a particular person "was born 1500 feet west, worked in this building, died 200 feet to the east, and is buried 1 block north" - no joke. From any given corner, you can trace the entire steps of someone's life - born, lived, died, buried. Along with the historical interest, Hillsborough is a very cute town with fun art galleries and a chocolate factory that infuses their truffles with lavendar, mushroom oil, and other curious things.

Another good thing about getting stuff on Craigslist is that you get to meet lots of local folks. Now, we've sold and bought stuff through Craigslist in Eugene, and the conversation with the other party usually lasts around 5 minutes - just long enough to say hello, load the merchandise and pay. Not so here. Nearly every time we've gone to pick something up at someone's house, a 20-minute errand turns into a 2-hour visit. We're always invited in and given a tour of the rest of their house, along with a few stories about the area and several dozen tips about good restaurants, shopping centers and coffee shops. Such a difference from what we're used to, and we're enjoying this taste of local culture! One of the tips we got landed us at Cafe Driade, a very Eugene-esque coffee shop in Chapel Hill (near Durham), with about 20 outdoor tables on a garden-like patio area. Very fun - I'm sure I'll be back to study there in the coming weeks!

front of our duplex

screened porch

We are pretty settled into our duplex here, and although it's very different from the house we left in Eugene, it's already feeling more homey and comfortable. When looking for places to live, we decided to go for a lower cost of rent, but still found a spot close to campus and big enough for Ethan to have a home office. Needless to say, we did sacrifice some things for the price. For example, there are two drawers in the kitchen (only 2 - think of all the drawers you usually use in a kitchen) and both of them are blocked by appliances - the dishwasher has to be open to use one drawer, and the fridge completely blocks the second one. So, we're making really good use of the abundance of shelving that this place has, haha. There is one bathroom, and it's small but certainly adequate - the only catch is that there are no electrical outlets. I had to set up a station in my study room in order to have a place where I can blow dry my hair! And we got Ethan a rechargeable razor so he can still use it in the bathroom. What we love about the place is that I'm only a 1/2 mile from Duke's campus, we're on a quiet street, the A/C works amazingly well (which is an absolute must during these hot months), Ethan has his own office that's on one side of the house, the wood floors, and we have a super cool screened in porch (also a must when you get the equivalent of one mosquito bite per minute that you are outside).

Ethan's office, Reya likes to hang out with him

living room

My program starts next week! I'm excited, but also trying to enjoy these last few days before life gets crazy again. We'll be back with pics of the Duke campus and more stories - Ethan has some good stuff to share about the insane road system!

2010-07-30T12:49:00.000-07:00

Friday July 30th, 2010 [Ethan's post]

Wow, we have a lot of catching up to do. Here are some highlights.

July 19th – Left Eugene and headed out toward Idaho. We made camp at some little campground along highway 21 just for the night. It was about 30 miles out of town in the direction of Stanley and I forgot to put gas in the tank necessitating a trip BACK into town before we could really get going. Oops!

July 20th – Made it into Stanley. Idaho, we discovered, is made of dust. The mountains are dust, the ground is dust, everything and everywhere is dust. The exception is Stanley. The place is gorgeous and it’s hard to describe the beauty of this little Idaho mountain town. Driving highway 21 up into the mountains, your car emerges suddenly into this vast, green ranching land doubling as a ski resort hemmed in by peaks. The river meandering through this town sparkles with golden high-elevation sunlight. A conscious effort was required to just keep eyes on the road, not miss any speed signs and not cause an accident because this place was hard to take in all at once.

July 21st – We drove for what seemed like forever and made it all the way to Salt Lake City, Utah. It was such an interesting place. Their city planning seems to consist of mining the surrounding rock faces level and then building malls with Starbucks on the new foundations. This is not exactly your Eugene-esk urban growth policy, but I have to admit it’s not like drilling through the Coburg hills… this area was bleak, and I mean bleak! Well, that’s about it for Salt Lake City.

July 22nd – Wow, these western states are BIG. Making our way through Utah seemed to take forever, but we did finally make it to the area surrounding Arches National Park. We were finally seeing some terrain that was absolutely spectacular and seemed to scream, “this is Utah!” Giant formations of rock hundreds of feet high and all sandstone red, precariously balanced boulders the size of large SUVs teetering above freeway roads and vistas of rolling, colorful desert, broken here and there by craggy canyon and jagged cliff face. We didn’t have the time to really appreciate the landscape so carefully crafted by God. Think of trying to take in a Van Gough exhibit in fifteen minutes. But here are some pictures for you to enjoy, and we highly encourage a visit to this magnificent National Park.

July 23rd – Independence pass! I’m so proud of our little Jeep. We climbed thousands of feet with an extra thousand pounds packed into the back and on the roof. With the suspension almost bottomed out, the air conditioner going full blast for ourselves and the dog, with the Rockies before us, we leapt into the sky and finally reached the summit. At the summit was the Eisenhower tunnel.

For those of you with claustrophobic tendencies, I do not recommend this approach to the mid-western states. I was driving at the time and carefully paying attention to my engine temperature, maintaining high RPM’s to keep the fan running in the traffic when I saw the mouth of this tunnel looming to swallow us. Giant exhaust pipes the size and length of big diesel train engines came out of the side of the mountain to vent fumes from the interior. Long haul trucks were scattered in various places running at various speeds, some even parked for brake checks at a massive turnout area adjacent to the freeway. With a mass of vehicles behind us, all running hot from the arduous climb, the pressure to maintain speed was tremendous… stopping meant certain death for our engine, an instant over-heating scenario, and being stranded amongst the big rigs on the side of the road was out of the question. With mammoth trailer trucks crazily shifting lanes, adjusting speed and gearing from climb to downhill mode, we found our way through the maze and were engulfed by the three lane, gaping entrance.

The tunnel, I’m certain, stretched for at least a mile and a half. I am still incredulous that human engineering is capable of drilling straight through the side of a mountain range. Were there to be a wreck, we’d all be toast, stuck in the middle of a tube of hot machines all burning gas and diesel into the enclosed space around us. The grade was so steep, I dropped the jeep into neutral, controlled my speed with the brake and revved the engine a little over 2000 RPM’s to cool it from the climb. By the time we exited the great Eisenhower tunnel, I was back in business, locked into 3rd gear and rode the compression down toward Denver Colorado.

Like I said, this might not be for everyone… but for me, it was one of the most exciting portions of the trip!

Cheyenne group

July 23rd & 24th – Quick stop for dinner at a coffee shop / bar/ restaurant / former fraternity house/ college hangout spot in Fort Collins, Colorado. Then we barreled into Cheyenne Wyoming the same night on the 23rd and met with one of Carol-Ann’s friends from Willamette. Now, Cheyenne was a cultural shift. Please understand as you read this portion of the blog that many, if not most, of the things we experienced in Cheyenne and at the Frontier Days rodeo would be illegal in Eugene. Let me start with an example. The night we rolled into town, the rock band Kiss was playing a concert at the track. But our group wanted to go visit the beer tent, crush some Bud Lite and watch ‘Mini Kiss’. Mini Kiss is a group of midgets (called little people in Eugene) who dress themselves up just like the real thing, face paint and all, and perform live, singing covers of the real Kiss songs. To a vast crowd of inebriated cowboys, this is hilarious entertainment. While I wasn’t terribly interested and not nearly as amused as the hoard around me, it was refreshing to be in a group of people who simply didn’t care if others might consider what they were doing offensive. Mini Kiss didn’t seem to care either… I suspect they were well paid given that tickets went for 15 bucks a pop and the ground in front of the stage was full of not hundreds, but thousands of people.

Oh, and in case you didn’t catch it, I DID say Bud Lite. In Cheyenne, it was explained to me that they value quantity, not quality of alcoholic beverage. Your universal options consisted of, Bud, Bud Lite, Miller, Miller Lite, Coors, Coors Lite and Mikes hard lemonade for the ladies. I yearned for the Mikes given the limited selection, but in a concerted effort to immerse myself in this strange new culture, I ponied up the outrageous 5 bucks for a tall can of Bud Lite and swallowed it down. At least it was cold.

I explained to our new friends that I could count the number of times on one hand, actually the exact number was three, that I had consumed beer of lesser quality than Corona in the past. They stared at me with disbelief and made me repeat myself. In fact, the further East we drove, the more I realized that I have become a beer snob. I never would have considered myself one, to this day feeling that I really don’t know much when it comes to hops and barley and wheat etc. Apparently, hoppy beers are a thing of the west coast; no one has ever heard of an IPA and luxury beer consists of imported Belgium wheat beers. Ick! I’m really going to miss this aspect of Eugene. PLEASE SEND GOOD IPA’s!

The real highlight of Cheyenne Wyoming was the rodeo. Brooks and Dunn were great, but the rodeo was fantastic. I watched men speed ride their horses alongside 700 pound steers and jump off, grabbing the steers around their necks and horns and wrestle them to the ground, flipping them onto their backs in under 20 seconds and sometimes as few as 6. We saw partner roping events where a team would first lasso the head and then the two back feet of racing steers and finally turn their horses to face each other with unbelievable precision. Bucking broncos challenged riders to hang on for an 8 second bell while at the same time kicking their spurs in such a way as to leave their balance totally exposed to the violently and unpredictably kicking animals. The most amazing of all were the bull riders. These bulls weighed 2000 pounds, were mean, had wicked horns, and were surprisingly flexible and adept at tossing the unwanted cowboys from their bare backs. I even witnessed one of these giant beasts stamp a cowboy into the dirt with its hind legs. I figured he was dead, that his rib cage had probably caved in, but the medical team came with a stretcher and was waved off; the rider insisted on being carried upright off the field. I’m fairly certain I saw another rider break his forearm in an ugly spill with one of the broncos because he held it stiffly at a funny angle as he slowly and casually walked the long way back to his team on the sidelines. No medical personnel went onto the field for that “minor injury”.

The greatest part was the final event of the rodeo, the wild horse race. There are parts of Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona where wild horses roam freely, untouched by humans. These horses are captured and brought onto the track with a long white rope tied to their bridle. Three men teams are tasked with subduing the animal, saddling it, mounting it and racing it around the entire length of the race track. To make things worse, gunshots and cannon-sized explosive charges are set off at random to panic the horses. At one point, I saw a very determined mugger (the team member tasked with holding the wild horse in position) dragged at a gallop on his belly for about 200 yards before he finally gave up and let go. It was bedlam! It was awesome!

From Cheyenne we traveled WEST (yes, it was painful) so that we could camp and hike in the Medicine Bow Wilderness. Well worth the trip, even though we were covered in mosquito bites within five minutes of stepping out of the car. We spent one night camping by a lake, then hiked up the tallest peak (Medicine Bow Peak), which topped out around 12,000ft. The hike itself was actually pretty easy, especially since our memories of our trek up the South Sister are still so fresh (a 17-mile, 11-hr story from an earlier blog). After the hike we packed up the car and drove out toward Lincoln, NE. Kansas City was to follow, and a wonderful visit with my Uncle Kevin and his family. From Kansas City, we traveled East and South, through Louisville (pronounced ‘Louaval’)

P.S. More road trip necessities: WATER, bandaids (we even used them to fix a tent pole!), lots of bug spray for every type of bug imaginable, assortment of candy, Starbucks gift cards (thanks Mary and Timmy), and a cooler full of ice!

**Thanks for reading! We’ll post stories and pics about life in Durham, so check back!**

2010-07-22T09:02:00.000-07:00

Road Trip Part 1

Three Doors Down is playing over the car speakers, Reya is sleeping in the backseat, and we are surrounded by rolling valleys covered in Pines with a backdrop of craggy mountains that look like they burst up from the earth years ago. Rocky, dusty, patches of snow, bushy green dotted with ice blue lakes, fields where cows roam freely, campsites and cabins, and a small town every 50 miles, this is the heart of the Sawtooth Wilderness in Idaho. We’re leaving Idaho a day early, but not for lack of beauty. I think we’re just excited to flex our freedom muscles and see what lies yet to be discovered on our road trip across the country. It’s finally beginning to sink in – that this is not just an extended camping trip, but a new adventure, a big life change. We are headed to North Carolina with our Jeep and our dog, and we’re going to explore our way across the country.

The first day of driving we made it from Eugene to a campsite on highway 21, just past Boise. Long days of driving are hard to get used to, but now that we’ve reached day three we’re starting to get the hang of it. Every time we tear down our campsite and repack the car, I get better and better at knowing what items go in which crevices, which is a very important skill if you’re trying to fit your entire life into a Jeep. Our second campsite was beside a beautiful lake in the Sawtooth Wilderness, but the dust came up like a cloud wherever we walked and the mosquitoes and horseflies had a field day with our skin. We conquered a short but blazingly hot hike into Yellow Belly lake and Reya swam while we read on the shore. We hiked back to camp and decided to pack up the campsite that night and do a night drive to Utah. Good decision! We not only avoided huge construction areas that are sure to be congested during the day, but there’s also something about night driving that makes you feel like you are on a genuine road trip. The sun set over the Sawtooth mountains as we headed down highway 75, and on to Salt Lake City. One last blessing of the day, we got to stop and say hi to a good friend of mine who lives in Nashville, but happened to be in Idaho! It was so great to see Melissa, even if it was a short visit.

Today we venture into Colorado, one of my favorite states! I’m so excited to drive through the Rockies – I’m sure there will be pictures and stories later. Internet access is hard to find when you’re camping, but we’ll try to get another posting up when we can. Until then, enjoy the sunshine!

* Must haves for a long road trip: jolly ranchers (thanks Faith!), mint gum, a John Grisham novel, plenty of music, sunglasses, and water, water, water!

*previous post*

North Carolina, here we come!

On a recent trip to visit and interview at Duke's Doctor of Physical Therapy program, I had a wonderful time visiting my friend Katie! We wandered around the Duke campus and gardens, and tried to find the Durham downtown area (we were either unsuccessful or it is pitifully small; at least I've heard good things about their farmer's market). It was so fun to have an entire day to walk around and catch up on life!

As for the school update...After seeing several different programs, Ethan and I have decided to move to Durham, North Carolina this August so I can attend Duke's program. Goodbye mountains, hello humidity! This summer will be dedicated to packing, hanging out with friends, seeing family, and enjoying a few more camping trips in the northwest.

We are excited for this new adventure!

2009-10-01T09:32:00.000-07:00

Green Lakes Camping and
South Sister Summit!

We had a great backpacking trip to the Green Lakes area inbetween Broken Top and the South Sister. Our hike to the campsite took us next to alpine meadows, glacier streams, and through short forests of pine - the brave ones that were left at the edge of the tree line. Our hike up the South Sister was long - 17 miles and 11 hours of trekking around lava beds, across streams, and up the side of one very high mountain. It was a great trip - we are so glad we made it out before the cold weather hit! Now we get to look forward to snowshoeing and snow shelters this winter!

2009-09-15T11:02:00.000-07:00

Graham is married! He and Aavery had a beautiful wedding on her grandparents' property outside of Cottage Grove on Saturday, September 12. We are so excited for them and were very blessed to be a part of their celebration!

2009-09-09T10:00:00.000-07:00

Ethan's Great Grandma Ethel Haug celebrated her 95th birthday! We went over to Florence for her birthday party, then took Reya out on the beach. It was a fun afternoon of cake, sand and salt water!

2009-06-25T12:10:00.000-07:00

We just got back from an amazing, restful, wonderful trip to Arizona. We stayed at a friend's house in Scottsdale and spent most of the time relaxing by their pool, soaking in the sun, eating gelato and making Richmond Gimlets. However, we did make it up to the Grand Canyon for three days and it was incredible! A hard shift to go from the 95 degree Scottsdale weather to the 65 degree, rainy edge of the Canyon, but the view was well worth it. We camped for two nights at a campground on the sound rim. The coyotes kept us up most of the night, and I had only packed one blanket (not realizing the cold weather), so we huddled under the blanket and 2 towels for warmth. The sun did break through on the third day and we hiked down below the rim on the South Kalibab trail. We saw California Condors gliding in and out of the canyon, and were in awe at the layers of rock that stretched out in every dimension. It was incredible - I'm already planning our next trip down the canyon! Many more camping trips and outdoor adventures to come!

2009-05-12T10:12:00.000-07:00

Spring is here! Well, spring has finally come to Eugene, which means beautiful sun and lots of green mixed with rain, clouds, and lots of mud. With the warmer weather all of the flowers in our back yard have come up, and Carol-Ann has been working on identifying everything that we have growing in our yard. Since the back yard is like a mini forest, that's no small task. We have been spending our time playing ultimate frisbee, visiting the Eugene Saturday market, taking Reya on runs, and trying to fill our yard bin as many times as we can. It's been a good Spring and we're looking forward to an awesome summer here in the valley!

A few fun activities recently - we were invited to attend a Western themed auction dinner. The food was amazing, the auctioneer was incredibly entertaining, and with the help of some friends we found fun outfits to wear for the evening! Last weekend we drove up to Seattle to a friends' wedding and managed to make a mini-vacations out of the trip. In the evening after the wedding we found a small italian restaurant in downtown Seattle that hosted a jazz trio until midnight. The next day we watched Star Trek at the giant Imax theater and stayed as long as we could before driving home late Sunday night. This summer we're looking forward to many camping trips with friends, and lots of days in the sunshine!

2008-12-31T10:09:00.000-08:00

CHRISTMAS PARTY 2008!

We hosted a Christmas party at our new house - it was so fun to have the house full of so many of our favorite people! I've posted several pictures on Facebook, so this is just a teaser.

This winter season has already been full of fun activities and great adventures! We're heading out for our second snowshoeing adventure this weekend. The plan is to take a 3-4 day trip where we'll stay in a shelter or cabin for a few nights. Reya loves the snow - she runs after snowballs and will actually bring back a big chunk of snow like it's a tennis ball!

Ethan is still loving his job. It is very challenging but rewarding for him. Worship at the church is going really well and it's so much fun to be adding new people to our band! We are stretching ourselves in new directions every week!

I head back to classes at the UofO in January - anatomy, physiology, physics...prerequisites for a physical therapy graduate program. The classes are a lot of work, but I'm enjoying them!

2008-04-02T14:26:00.001-07:00

In March we were so blessed to be able to take a trip to visit Israel. Shannon (our pastor) led a tour group to Israel for 10 days and we packed in everything we could! We visited Ceasaria, the Sea of Galilee, the Dead Sea, the Jordan River, Masada, and spent several days in the heart of Jerusalem. It was an amazing trip - we saw incredible, ancient structures and learned about the many different nations that have affected this small country. During our time in Jerusalem we got to visit the old city, which is a walled-in area in the center of Jerusalem. Inside are markets, holy sites, restaurants, and the Western Wall.

One morning Meredith, Caitlin and I (Carol-Ann) went wandering through the old city's markets, and I bought a Bedouin instrument called a Rababa. It's the size of a banjo, but with only one string that you bow to create different notes. We kept walking through the market, and suddenly I realized there was a guy running after me yelling "Wait! Wait! Let me see that!" I turned around and he said "I am a Bedouin and my father and grandfather make those instruments". He played my Rababa for us and invited us into his carpet shop where he immediately made us fresh mint tea. We spent an hour sitting with him, hearing stories about the life of a Bedouin and how his grandfather traveled to the United States. Above his shop, he had a huge sign that said "Don't Mess With Texas" and throughout our conversation he kept saying phrases like "Shalom, Y'all" and "Y'all come back now ya hear?" We had so much fun talking with him - you just never know what will happen when you carry a Bedouin instrument through the middle of a foreign city.

2008-01-02T10:26:00.000-08:00

What a fun winter we've had! With the new snowshoes Carol-Ann got for Christmas and our fun puppy dog, it's been a great month of snowshoeing, hiking, running, playing ball in the backyard, going to Christmas parties...we've really enjoyed this Christmas season!

Carol-Ann got to visit with some very close friends over Christmas break. Lori came through Eugene while visiting home (Roseburg) on break from PT school in Georgia. Amber came up from Med School in California and joined Carol-Ann, Elena and Reya for a fun snowshoeing trip in Willamette Pass (pictures included). And the best part was having Carol-Ann's brothers home for Christmas break! We had several nights playing games and hanging out together, and even talked Kenny into going snowshoeing with us!

Next week Carol-Ann heads back to school to take a few courses (biology and chemistry) as prerequisites for application to several Physician Assistant programs. She is also volunteering at a local clinic once a week, and is looking for more opportunities to use her EMT skills. Ethan is still loving his job with Lane Transit District as a software developer. He is working with a great, motivated group of guys and is accomplishing some big stuff over there. We're looking forward to more snowshoeing trips this January and are excited for what the New Year will bring!

2007-12-08T10:42:00.000-08:00

We've had a great fall so far, and are excited for Christmas to be here. Over Thanksgiving week we moved into a house (only a few blocks from our old duplex). Now we have storage space, a laundry room, and a big yard. The day after Thanksgiving, we went out to Greenhill Animal Shelter and picked up our new puppy! Now, the term puppy might be a little misleading, because she is 10 months old and is already 90lbs! She is a half black lab, half great dane, and is all black with light brown eyes. We decided to name her Reya, which means "friend" in ancient Hebrew. We've been having fun introducing her to the house and taking her on runs through the neighborhood. She still needs some training, but Reya has a happy, friendly personality and we're very excited to have her as part of our family!

I'm (Carol-Ann) eager for January because I am taking a few classes during winter term. I've decided to start working on my pre-requisites to apply for a Physician Assistant program in a year or so. I'm so excited to get back on campus! I have also started volunteering at a low-cost medical clinic in Eugene. I go in once a week and help room patients before they see the doctor. I get to take their vitals, find out what they're coming in for, and help the doctor with any tests or procedures they will be doing. It's an exciting season for us!

2007-09-12T15:15:00.001-07:00

Well, it's been a summer filled with hiking, camping, singing, preaching, mint s'mores and broccoli cheese soup. I wanted to share some of our fun camping & hiking pictures and stories.

July - Ethan finally got his birthday present in the mail - I had ordered him a new GPS unit and he loves his gadgets! That night we went tromping around the foothills in Eugene, trying to find Geo cache spots that other people had marked as good views.

August - We reserved a campsite on Orcas Island and my brothers came & camped with us for a fun weekend on the islands! There were some bikers camping next to us and they recommended that we go to the Saturday farmers market on Lopez island. So we drove down to the ferry dock, walked onto the ferry, and disembarked at Lopez. We started walking up the ramp onto the island, turned the corner, looked at what we thought would be the downtown/market area, and all we saw was a long paved road stretched out ahead of us. As it turned out, the market was not near the ferry dock - it was on the other side of the island! We walked for about a mile with our thumbs out until a nice woman in a truck picked us up and drove us down to the market. Once there we ate wonderful vegetables grown by a horse-drawn farm, and had gorgonzola & raspberry crepes for lunch. It was a fun time with my brothers!

One Saturday morning at the end of August, Ethan and I decided to be spontaneous. We called his brother Graham, told him we were headed out to summit Diamond Peak, and that if he wanted to come along we'd pick him up in 30 minutes.

So I packed as many sandwiches as we could carry and we drove out to the trail. After hiking along the trail for a few miles, we decided it would be a lot quicker to head straight up to the peak. Ethan got out his GPS and we blazed a trail over rocks, through woods, across scree and past a mini-glacier to the top of the peak.

It was grueling and very steep, but we made it past two false summits and to the top! What a fun adventure!

September - The first day of September was a lot of fun for us! We traveled up to Seattle to pick up our friend Lori and the three of us drove to Sequim, WA to attend our WU friend Sara Reichner's (now Schafer) wedding. We camped the night before at Sequim Bay State Park, and got all sorts of strange looks as we put on dresses and makeup in the camp bathroom! Their wedding was on a lavender farm and it was beautiful! It was so fun to see many of our Willamette friends there and the ceremony was wonderful.

That same night, crazy people that we are, Lori, Ethan & I changed into hiking gear, donned our backpacks and hiked out in the dark into the middle of the Olympic Mountain wilderness. We camped at the second of three mountain lakes, with ridges and forest surrounding us on all sides. Sunday was spent exploring, cooking, and teaching Lori how to play Texas Hold'Em. It was so fun to spend time with Lori, and the area was incredible - we'll definitely be back!

2007-07-03T15:06:00.000-07:00

Ethan has officially graduated with a philosophy degree from the University of Oregon! We threw two graduation parties for him, then packed our bags and headed to Hawaii for a week's vacation in the sand! Our friends Ryan and Hayley live in Honolulu and let us crash at their place while visiting the island. We had so many great adventures! One day we spent at Hanauma Bay, snorkeling and swimming with a sea turtle. A few days later we went scuba diving and saw a HUGE turtle and a 6' long white tip reef shark. The shark was about 15 feet away from us, swimming and diving underneath a shelf of coral. It was more scared of us that we were of him! We also drove up to the North Shore and spent the evening on the beach, watching the sunset and playing in the waves. Our last morning on the island we woke up at 3am and drove across the island to watch the sunrise. It was beautiful! What an incredible trip - we're already thinking about where we want to go next!

2007-04-02T22:27:00.000-07:00

Well, our Spring Break plans changed and we found ourselves in a little coastal town in northwestern Oregon called Oceanside. We had to cut our vacation week short so we decided to do a smaller version of our originally planned road trip. We drove up to Oceanside where we had reserved a cozy "artist's studio" in a motel that sits on the top of a cliff and has a magnificent view of the Pacific Ocean. We were there in the peak of whale watching season and we were able to see their spouts, backs and tails as they migrated north to Alaska for the summer. It was awesome!

* These are pictures of us at the Tillamook factory tasting cheese :)

We also attended our friend Alisa's wedding that Saturday and got to see Kirstin, Andy & Laura at the wedding. Afterward we went out to dinner with Andy & Laura and we drove out to Oceanside to one of the restaurants that the wedding invitation had recommended. On our way there, we noticed several signs on people's front yards that said "Boycott the Anchor!" We were trying to figure out what the signs meant, but didn't have any ideas. We drove into Oceanside, and as we parked in front of the restaurant, we looked up at the sign and said "'The Anchor' - now why does that sound so familiar?" We didn't realize until we were already inside that it must be "The Anchor" that the signs were urging us to boycott! We found out later that the restaurant had been purchased by new owners who added a third story to the building, thus blocking off the view of the people living behind them - yikes!

Our vacation was incredible and we spent all of Sunday & Monday driving Highway 101 down the Oregon coast. We even found a place that let us take our Jeep out onto the beach - I'm including some pictures of us driving into the waves! It was an awesome trip and we're so glad we went. Now we're planning our Arizona trip for after Ethan graduates in June!

* These are pictures of us driving on the beach in our Jeep and the view from our room :)

2007-02-15T08:56:00.000-08:00

Hello again! It's been a while, so I thought I'd give a quick update. We had a great holiday season and are now enjoying the little glimpses of sunshine that we get - they're few and far between, but we still appreciate them!

We had a WONDERFUL Valentine's Day - Ethan surprised me by "borrowing" a friend's guest house, so we had a mini-vacation for the evening. He got me flowers, chocolate, bread, cheese & wine - all of my favorite things! And the biggest gift of the evening was when he brought out a CD with 5 songs that he had composed on the piano for me. What an incredible evening!

Now we're working on planning our Spring Break road trip to Utah and Arizona. The plan is to drive through Utah first, meet our friend Katie for some hiking in the canyons, then stay at a friend's house in Scottsdale. We'll make our way back through California and hopefully we'll get to see Amber on the way!

2006-11-13T21:39:00.000-08:00

We just spent a fun weekend up in Seattle! I (Carol-Ann) went to a songwriter/worship leader conference and spent 2 days just soaking in everything the presenters had to say. I'm still trying to let it all sink in so that I don't forget anything! Ethan came with me and got to hang out in our downtown Seattle hotel - overlooking the sound (this picture is the view from our hotel room). The few days we had there went all too quickly, but we enjoyed every minute!

2006-11-03T18:00:00.000-08:00

Happy Halloween! We had a fun pumpkin carving party with friends a few nights ago and were very proud of our creations :) They are now outside "guarding" our house (although Carol-Ann's looks quite friendly). Here are some pics of the carving festivities!

2006-10-30T11:29:00.000-08:00

We just spent this last weekend up in Seattle going through an exhibit of the Dead Sea Scrolls at the Seattle Pacific Science Center. One of Ethan's professors is a Cambridge PhD and has studied the Dead Sea Scrolls in depth, so he took us on a "guided" tour. It was incredible to see these 2000 year old scrolls and learn about the culture and terrain that surrounded them. After the exhibit, we spent the day wandering around downtown Seattle. Ethan visited Pike's Place market for the first time, and we made sure to stop for a seafood lunch down by the pier. It was a quick, but fun trip!

2006-10-30T11:19:00.000-08:00

Several weeks ago I (Carol-Ann) got to head up to Salem for a baby shower for Tom and Lindsay Regan. It was so fun to see all of the CUTE baby clothes and presents they got, and it was like a mini WU reunion with all of the people who came into town for the shower. Tons of fun! And just a week or so ago, baby Grace Marina Regan was born! I've included a few pictures of the shower and a picture of the newest member of the Regan family. Sorry they're so small, but I had to copy them from a friend's online photo album.

2006-10-17T22:45:00.000-07:00

Well, we just spent our first weekend apart (*sniff sniff*). Ethan went down to Chico State to play in an ultimate tournament with the UofO men's team. Those guys are crazy! They drove down Friday afternoon, played four games on Saturday, two more on Sunday and drove back Sunday night. It was a crazy weekend and Ethan's team (named Baywatch) went undefeated until their last game against Stanford. I held down the fort here in Eugene and played a wet soccer game on Sunday - our first rainy game! Now I'm gearing up for our first choir rehearsal this week. I'm excited, but definitely feel a bit in over my head. We'll practice for 2 weeks before singing on Sunday. I've recorded parts on practice CDs for everyone to listen to - it'll be fun to see how it turns out!

2006-10-14T19:12:00.000-07:00

Wahooo! I just watched my brother Kenny go sky-diving for the first time. I was the official "camera girl" for Kenny's first dive out of a 10,000 foot high and very tiny plane. We met at the dive shop at 3pm and waited around for three hours before he got to go. But, it was worth it. They loaded into the planes, took off and started flying in circles, climbing up to 10,000 feet. I even got nauseous when all I could see of the plane was a tiny dot in the sky. Well, he survived and even enjoyed it, and I got some pretty good pictures to share.

2006-09-16T19:58:00.000-07:00

SPORTS TIME! As the summer ends, we find ourselves itchy to stay outdoors as long as possible. So, we decided to join community sports teams. Sunday, after packing up the instruments and saying goodbye to our church buddies, we head out onto the field - Ethan with a frisbee in hand, and Carol-Ann with a soccer ball trailing ahead. We'll keep you updated on how our teams do and will definitely have some muddy pictures to share!

2006-09-14T21:00:00.000-07:00

We've had an incredible summer since we've been back! Our weekends have been packed with fun activities - BBQs, camping trips, and we even managed to go sailing in the San Juan Islands! What a whirlwind of a summer it's been!

2006-09-03T17:50:00.000-07:00

Getting settled into our new house! It's finally starting to feel like home now that we have our furniture in place and some decorations starting to show up on our walls. We are renting a 2 bedroom duplex that is just south of downtown Eugene, which is a great location because we are close to grocery stores, coffee shops, and there's a wonderful park only 2 blocks away! We like to walk down and play frisbee/soccer. We throw the frisbee and kick the soccer ball to each other at the same time, so we're always chasing something down - great way to get back into shape!

2006-08-28T23:58:00.000-07:00

We're back from the honeymoon and eager to share our wedding pictures with everyone! We had an incredible time in Aruba soaking in the sun and eating incredible food. What a fun summer this has been! Thank you to everyone who was involved in our wedding and who came to support us. It was a wonderful day and we felt so much encouragement and love - it was better than we could have dreamed of!

*Check out these links to see and order our pictures from the wedding!
(you have to create a username, but then you can order prints that will be mailed to you)

Getting Ready:
http://www2.snapfish.com/share/p=895161158474895516/l=211719250/g=71493821/otsc=SYE/otsi=SALB
Ceremony:
http://www2.snapfish.com/share/p=272161158474822371/l=211718847/g=71493821/otsc=SYE/otsi=SALB
Reception:
http://www2.snapfish.com/share/p=322161158475323213/l=211719253/g=71493821/otsc=SYE/otsi=SALB
Group Pictures:
http://www2.snapfish.com/share/p=210161158474865502/l=211718848/g=71493821/otsc=SYE/otsi=SALB