5th Sunday Church picnic

Can you believe, we're sitting in service this morning and as we get ready to close out the service, with great anticipation for the church picnic, it all of a sudden is pouring rain outside?! Pastor announced we'd all go home til 1 pm and see how the weather is. At 1 pm the sun started to peek through, so everyone headed out to the park. There was a little spell about 2 pm when we started to eat that it got rainy and cold. Then it cleared up and we even got some sun. It was clear all the way til we wrapped up to leave about 4:30 pm. It turned out fun, in spite of the weather. I guess that's how it goes in OR. The weather is a bit unpredictable, and rain is always inevitable. That's why it's so green and beautiful here! :) I don't have any pics, although I brought my camera, without a memory card...argh! Maybe I can get some from my dear friend Marilynn and post them later.

An interesting close to our summer...

Saturday started out to be a great day. We had plans to drop off a bounce house rental in Oregon City and do some shopping in town. Victoria was playing at the party who rented the bounce house and Dillon was still at the coast with his friends. David and I got to enjoy lunch, shopping and yogourt at the town center when we got a call of an incident involving the bounce house. Our nephew Ethan had broken his arm. It was a very serious accident that involved surgery at OHSU. He is back home now and seems to be doing much better. His arm is in a cast and we're praying for a full recovery. We may not know the affects of the surgery or accident for an entire year.

On the way home we stopped to pick up another bounce house rental, near Kelda & Steve's and it was the first time I actually helped David with a rental. It wasn't too bad, but it wasn't hot or rainy either. We all got home around 10 pm and went to bed, exhausted!

Take me to the Fair!!!

I worked 1/2 day yesterday to take the afternoon/evening off to go to the State Fair. It is so nice to live so close to it. It was one of the best we've seen since we started going, this being our 3rd year. The parking was way out in timbuktu, but it was FREE, so you can't complain much. There was so much to see and do, we didn't even make it to the livestock. Imagine that! Going to the fair and not seeing the livestock. I know...we might have to go back. We did get to see the New Shanghai Circus, absolutely incredible! They did an amazing performance and the girls were so cute! We also got to see a real rodeo. This was David's first. The kids and I saw one in Texas once, while visiting my inlaws. It was a lot of fun. See my short clip of the bucking broncos below. We ate all sorts of yummy foods. You know, the usual, cotton candy, corn dogs, Thai food, ice cream, funnel cakes, etc. etc. Hey, and we didn't buy another gadget from the vendors this year. That is a miracle in itself! Oh, it's always tempting, but we finally had the courage to walk away, several times. I did buy some Tupperware. One can never have too much Tupperware, right?! The weather was perfect, a warm 82 or so. It was a fabulous night to be at the Fair! Sadly Dillon is not in any of the photos because he opted to go the Coast with some friends. I guess he really is growing up!

Scrabble anyone?!

Usually I'm not into board games. Not so much I don't like them, but I always feel like I have stuff to do and can't make myself sit down, relax, and play a game. Or at least, any game that involves much though or brain power. In fact, I was just finishing up the dishes and in the middle of laundry when David and Dillon got ready to start a game of Scrabble. I decided I would sit down and play with them. I forget how much fun the game is! And it was a victorious night because I beat them both! :)

Last week of summer vacation!

I can't believe summer is almost over! This is the kids' last full week, before school starts next Wednesday (9/3). So, we're going to see how much we can squeeze into this last week. We still have to finish up on school shopping, there's the State Fair to attend, the church picnic is Sunday and in between, David is getting ready for his job and the kids pick up their schedules. Dillon is torn because he was also invited to the coast with some friends. So much to do and so little time left!!!

Aumsville Corn Festival

Saturday, 8/23-This was the first time we've been to the annual Aumsville Corn Festival. We've never seen so much corn, ever! We arrived in the afternoon. Kelda and Steve were in line for the free corn. We weren't sure what that was all about, but they said to hurry and we made it up to the line, right along with them. There was a HUGE long line. We got up there and was handed 2 ears of cooked, buttered corn. WOW...YUM! We ate corn. I guess that's what you do at a corn festival. Well, they were selling it too. Really cheap! I think you can get 10 ears of corn in a bag for $1. We didn't buy any because I pretty much had my fill there, but I'm sure I'll get some at the grocery store before the seasons over. My favorite way to eat it is when David BBQs it. We walked around to the different vendor booths. Victoria got her cotton candy, Dillon got his shaved ice, and I got my elephant ear! As we were leaving, the festival got ready for a corn eating contest. We tried to talk Dillon into it, since he loves corn, but those two ears had done him in. Oh well...maybe next year!?

Portland's CityFest

Ok, I see another sign. I went out this morning to go work out and the car was full of dew. I could feel the chill in the air and am reminded that yes, fall indeed is setting in.

Tonight I rushed off work and we headed to Portland to Portland's Cityfest. Noel drove and it was David, Dillon, Marilynn and Tory. We went to pick up Jacob in Portland. It was a night of Christian concerts at the Waterfront Park. We got there shortly after 6:00pm and it was just packed with people! Our hope was to see Kirk Franklin, which we did, but from quite a distance and in between lots of jammed packed people! It was exhausting and nerve wracking because some folks weren't acting very Christian. We watched all of Kirk Franklin and when Luis Palau got up to preach, we left shortly after that. It was a bit hilarious. We hung onto hands and sqeezed our way through a sea of people and could finally breathe once we got out of it. We decided maybe going to dinner might be more enjoyable. We ended up eating al fresca at Macaroni Grill. It was such a wonderful summer evening. As we were leaving, we walked back through the park, still packed with people, but we did get to catch Chris Tomlin's last two songs, very worshipful and beautiful songs to end a perfect evening! There is so much to see and explore downtown. I really love it and can't wait to spend a leisurely weekend down there one day.

The Interview

I can't even remember how many years it's been since I've been to a job interview, but to give you an idea, I've worked for my current company almost 15 years! So, when I applied for this state job, I was a bit nervous and anxious at the thought of entering the work force, in an office, working 8-5. The job posting sounded very promising, for an IT business analyst. Basically everything I do now for the travel company, but for the Judicial Dept. My application/resume was submitted the end of July and I received a call on Monday, 8/18 for an interview on Thursday, today.

My interview was not like your typically job interview where they ask you about your work experience, what your weaknesses/strengths are, where you see yourself in 5 years. It was about the skills acquired and give examples, also I was presented with a couple of meeting scenarios and had to give a resolution to the situation presented. It wasn't hard, but it was tough to think of answers for each scenario, on the spot. Thank the Lord, I was given the questions 15 minutes before my interview, so I had a chance to think through them.

I felt the interview went very well. The two ladies that interviewed me, both worked 20 years there. WOW! I'm a bit concerned about the 'limited funding' for the position as well as the amount of travel required, but they assured me the 'limited funding' would not be an issue and couldn't really give specific percentages on the travel. I think I can live with it. It won't start up for awhile anyway. They are ready to hire someone right away. The decision will be made by tomorrow. I'm praying for the Lord's will. If it's meant to be, the doors will open. If not, I still have my current job and I'm just as happy, working from home.

I also wanted to add that I'm so sad summer is almost over. It was evident tonight, when it was completely dark outside, at 8:30pm. I remember during the summer, it would be 9:00pm before it got dark. Fall truly is setting in and it's almost time to say good-bye to summer! Boo hoo! :(

Kaneko Day Camp at TIUA

Friday was the close of Dillon's 1 week Japanese Day Camp. It was held at the Tokyo International University of America, which is not far from here. He had such a blast, all week long, learning all about the culture, society, language, calligraphy and art. The last day, they did a performance for us as well as serve a bento lunch. It was such a neat thing and we can't wait til Victoria is old enough to join in next year.

A river baptism

This is something I've never seen before. Sunday we went down to Wallace Marine Park to baptize a man, in the Willamette River. It was so neat. I guess in the literal sense, he did have his sins washed away....all the way down the river! :)

Saturday was HOT!

This is a bit unusual for these parts to get so HOT, but on Fri and Sat, it reached 100 degrees. It's definitely not a problem when you're sitting at home with the air conditioning cranked. Thank God for A/C! Today I did a few chores, talked on the phone with my friend Holly, and baked a cake. We later went over to Kelda's for dinner. We met up with my Aunt Ezet, Anthony and Mom. Aunt Ezet and Anothy worked on moving him down here for his new job. We had a fabulous dinner and then went onto the mall to do some shopping. It was a really nice (warm) evening. Of course, anytime we see mom, we're loaded down with FOOD!!! I think I have enough junk food to last the kids til spring break!

No more late night chocolate!

Ok, it must have been the chunk of bittersweet chocolate. I went to bed about 11pm and could not fall asleep til 4am! I couldn't believe it. It's so miserable when you know you need to sleep because you have to get up in a few hours and you lay tossing and turning. Usually a melatonin helps, but it sure didn't work last night. UGH!

I hope I make it through the day. It's going to be a scorcher today (102), but I'm excited to be going to Dillon's Japanese camp lunch and program this afternoon.

Hiking through Joryville Park

I should've brought my camera. We drove to this little tiny park, way out in the country, only 5 miles or so from where we live. This property once belonged to a pioneer family who settled here in 1847. Here is a very interesting article about there family, http://www.endoftheoregontrail.org/piofam/famjory.html.

We parked the car and hiked part way through a paved path, but then it ended and there were foot/horse trails through a huge thick of forest, brush and greenery. We got all the way to the top of this "mountain", caught our breath and made our way back down. It was quite a hike, but the kids loved it. It was so neat to go exploring. David picked at a few different berries, but most did not look edible. And then we had to dodge horse poo along the way. It was a great way to end the evening and walk off our dinner.

Going out after church

I was feeling very nostalgic last night. Since moving to OR, we discovered people don't go out much after church, or are there very many places to go, that stay open late. There was no Mimi's Cafe, Ruby's Diner, or Guppy Teahouse. The hotspot in Salem, after a late night event is...good 'ole American DAIRY QUEEN! Yes, my hubby and I shared a banana split. The kids both ordered cones. It was fun, but I couldn't help reminisce about the good times from our previous life in southern CA.

Victoria's hair

I know this may not be a big deal to some, but for me it was HUGE! Victoria has finally started letting me do her hair!!! I mean, I comb it just about every day for her, but for the longest time, she would not let me curl it or put it up or do anything cute or elegant. Then a couple weeks ago, she started to say yes and loved the hair do's I was doing. YEAH!!! Here are a few pics of how she looked for camp meeting one night. She looks so grown-up.

Family Camp

This past week was the OR District Family Camp. The day speaker was Rev. James Littles, Jr and the night speaker was Rev. Sam Emory. The kids went then entire week to the day activities and services. David and I made it to the evening services on Wed-Fri. The preaching was awesome! It was so fun to catch up with old friends. The BEST news is that Friday, during the children's day service, Victoria got the Holy Ghost. She thought she got it earlier in the week, but by Friday she was sure. This is so exciting!!! We all had a great and blessed week!