200th Post/ Mary's Peak

Wow, 200 posts is a lot...I love having this blog to help me remember all the events in my life.

We took the motorcycle up to Mary's Peak last night, it was a beautiful evening. I'm not sure...but we think that the bright strip in this picture is the sun reflecting off the ocean.



We could see Mt. Hood, Mt. Jefferson and the three sisters. The paintbrush was blooming along with several other flowers.




These guys were flying all over, but this one was unlucky for one reason or another.

Taking the motorcycle feels like a mini vacation every time we go somewhere. You can smell all the wonderful forest smells as you drive along. We're going camping this weekend, any suggestions within 3 hours?

Busy Father's Day

We had a full day today. We left for Salem a bit early to make sure we got to see this sweet little girl (and Amber and Bj of course!). Tuesday really took to Aaron, loved looking at his shirt and touching his beard. I could just eat her up.



We had a father's day bbq at my parents house. We had lots of time to catch up with them (my sister's bf is in quarantine with swine flu, yikes!) and we got to see the baby bluebirds on their property. My dad monitors bluebird boxes and puts meal worms out for his. The father bird will see him come down and immediately go to the worms. He flies in, gets a few, flies to the ground, lines them all up in his beak, gets some more and takes the beakful to his babies. It was the last day we could safely pull out a baby and not risk them fledging. My dad does this periodically to make sure they are doing alright and that they don't have parasites.


Peruvian lily in my mother's garden. Their garden was making me so jealous. I guess they have a few years on me, but still I want beautiful rows of everything. We have a lot of grass popping up in our plots since we just tilled the grass in.


Nikki got some attention and yummy food.

We then toured a few homes (Tour of Homes) and headed off to Albany for Father's Day #2. All of Aaron's siblings were there and we had a nice dinner. Home at 10:30 is too late for me though. This weekend went by way too fast, I don't know about these 5 day work weeks...I think they might be for the birds.

Cherries and a Green Dress

As we were walking back to our house from the Saturday Market, one of our neighbors offered us cherries!

Aaron set to work making a pie



Super yum.

I honestly can't remember the last time I bought myself clothes that weren't scrubs...it's been well over a year. I went into Ross to find a one piece, since we got Dixon memberships and we'll be swimming several times a week, and found this great dress. $23 for both!

Friday with Tuesday

I cut out of work early to visit with Amber and Tuesday. They stopped by for a bit and Tuesday was in a great mood. Unfortunately Aaron still has yet to meet Miss T, but hopefully soon before she gets much bigger. Thanks for visiting, it was fun!

Canoe Camping

We pieced together a last minute camping trip last weekend with these two wonderful individuals.


Jesse and Lauren put me in their canoe and Aaron paddled in his sea kayak. I think this may be the new car camping...plenty of room, no driving to your destination and less people!


We had some clouds, but mostly perfect weather.



Jesse found this rubber ducky while doing his business, from a duck race they do every year. Lauren promptly strapped it to our bow.


When we got home we went strawberry picking and made jam. My co-worker told me how you can make jam without pectin...this probably works, but we were making so much it would have taken hours...anyway we were still up until midnight. We picked up some rhubarb too and made strawberry rhubarb, but I think it got burnt or something because it didn't turn out very well.


Aaron accidentally ladled some onto his thumb. It was red and he kept running cold water over it and saying it hurt. Today it turned into this:

And actually it's double that now. It looks like it's going to rupture. Kind of gross.
We went for a long hike after work today, I love having beautiful places so close to home. I hope we can get some more sleep this week...why is there never enough time in the day?

Daily Happenings

We bought some sausages from the farmer's market. I didn't realize they were going to be linked!


A monarch graced our yard with its presence yesterday, that was exciting. I can't remember if I've ever seen one in Oregon before, maybe once, but they are not very common here.


I had my last final today, in pharmacology, the hardest class I've taken in my program. Aaron made me this fantastic salad for dinner last night and it was perfect. I'm lucky to have all his love and support while in school.


He also quizzed me for my test, which was not easy since there were words like: adrenergic, ethosuximide, metronidazole and celecoxib.
I passed my test (86%!!) and got a 91.47% in the class...we'll see if she gives me an A or not, which is a 92%. I am home free for the summer!

Dinner tonight: Homemade stuffed crust pizza with yellow bell peppers, roasted red peppers, pepperoni, feta, mushrooms and pineapple.

Catch up post...

Some recent events:
Aaron made me breakfast last weekend. French toast with strawberries and powdered sugar


The yard pre-garden:


Aaron tilling up the yard. You can see my previous post to see the plots after they are done.


My corn is already 3 inches tall, the onions, beets, potatoes and carrots are coming up. Today I planted green onions, pumpkins, green beans, lettuce, spinach, mesclun mix and put my basil and yellow bell pepper starts in the ground.

A bad habit I've gotten...peanut butter s'mores in our gas broiler nearly everyday. Why wait for camping?


We bought some lion's mane mushrooms at the farmer's market and made a quiche with them. It was delicious.


One more final and I'm done with my first year!