Date day and New Hair

     I always have Wednesdays off but Erik always still has to go in to the lab to work so I was expecting to stay home, sit on the couch, call my people, do some laundry, and overall have a lazy day. BUT Erik's boss was not in town so he decided to take most of the day off with me. YAY! Our normal haunts when we want to get out of Corvallis include Newport, Salem, and Eugene (Mostly because they are all within about a 45 minute drive. We can't go too crazy and go too far away!) Since Erik's Mom and stepdad are coming out next weekend and we will most likely be heading to the coast we decided to go up to Salem to do some shopping. 

     My number one biggest complaint about Corvallis even over the fact that we don't see the sun for 4 months out of the year is that we don't have a mall. I mean seriously? We live in a college town with no mall. What  kind of sick trick is this? No mall, no Kohls, and no Costco. It's a 25 minute drive to a Costco and Kohls and about a 45 minute drive to a decent mall. Needless to say we can't live here forever just for that reason. Ok, rant over. 
     Before leaving Corvallis, however, we stopped at Burger King because they are one of the only places in Corvallis that has those new Coke machines that have every flavor of the rainbow soda in them to last us our drive up. To remedy our mall need we drove up to Salem which has a big city center mall spread out over a few blocks it even has the whole skywalk things to connect it which is definitely more my speed. After shopping to our heart's content, we drove over to Costco to fill up on gas and get a tide me over snack from the sampling ladies since it was only about 3 in the afternoon. Sadly, the sampling was on the skimpy side since I swear we were just far enough behind to where the person in front of us would get the very last sample and we'd walk away trying not to be too sad about it. We then decided we needed a churro. Every time I get one I think of that time when my sisters were trying to tell my little brother something while walking through Sam's Club in Logan and after a minute he pipes up and says "Sorry, I wasn't listening to you guys. I was thinking about Churros..." Well Dylan, I got a churro just for you. Haha! 

     We then proceeded to the other mall which is the smaller one in Salem but it has a Burlington Coat Factory which, as lovers of the office all know, if you go in to Burlington Coat Factory with 582 dollars, you are, quite literally, a King. Also it is always surprising to me to find myself as the minority in that mall. So much so, that they even play Spanish announcements over the intercom. So after wandering there for a bit and realizing we were still starving even with our samples and churro experience at Costco we decided to go to Olive Garden for their never ending pasta bowl! Another thing about Corvallis. No Olive Garden. Ugh. So what I have learned from going to the never ending pasta bowl with my family is that you have to eat enough so that your last helping you can take home with you so you can't just get sick of it halfway through a bowl or you can't take home a full bowl for later so naturally you should be about ready to puke when leaving and then some. haha So after making ourselves sick at Olive Garden we drove our little selves home to be lazy on the couch the rest of the night and try to digest our food intake for the day.

     One more thing is I went to work early yesterday and got my hair colored which it has been needing really badly (see previous blog post picture...being blonde makes me have the worst regrowth) so it was time to go darker again. I like it I think. It always takes some getting used to. 

Foils always make us look so pretty...

  


Before and After. I know it's really hard to tell much difference but I'm quite a bit darker and it kind of has reddish tones to it. 

  













  On one last note work is going really well for me. I've been really steady busy all week and I'm pretty sure I have a full day ahead of me today as well. I'm amazed at how well this job has worked out for me and it will only get better. The people I work with are really nice and the clients are awesome. I'm loving the variety this job provides and I've learned so many new things already. Erik is doing well at his work too. He's working hard to get things done before school starts up again at the end of September when he has to TA again. We definitely stay busy! Congrats if you made it to the bottom of this post this one was long. Oops. :) 

Matt's 30th Birthday

Today after work Erik and I went to celebrate our friend Matt's 30th birthday! Matt and Krista live next to us in our apartment complex and they have their little 2 1/2 year old Lillie who Erik and I love to death. It was lots of fun! We had a BBQ at Avery Park. The theme was a very manly birthday so we did man-like things, gave man-like gifts, and ate cake that was in the shape of a moustache. Pretty manly... Here's Erik and me after stuffing our faces with cheeseburgers.

This is Matt doing the log toss. I am super impressed that these guys could throw a big huge log like that I mean seriously? Intense. 

All the people at the party watching the men throw logs...

Another competition was the wife carrying race. Erik and I did not participate in this one...it looked just a bit too sketchy for my taste but it was hilarious to watch! All the men had to carry their wives on a foot race around a tree and back again. Luckily no one was injured...at least not irreversibly...

Rounding the corner on the foot race. My favorite in this picture is Krista in the red shirt with Matt she looks like she's going to fall off backwards any second!

Matt blowing out the candles on his moustache cake. Happy Birthday Matt! 

I love all of our friends they are all so fun they are our little family up here. I miss all of my family living so far away but these guys make it so much easier. 

Hello family and friends!

    So I finally decided that I would try a blog. With Erik and I living so far away from family I thought it would be a good way to let people know what's going on in our every day lives. That is, assuming people would find it interesting. I guess we'll see! 

     Erik and I got married May 14, 2010 in Logan. We lived there for a year then moved up to Oregon when Erik got accepted into graduate school at Oregon State for a PhD program in molecular and cell biology/biomedical sciences. We really love the Pacific Northwest. It is so beautiful here year round and really mild weather for the most part. It snows maybe twice a year which I love! The only problem is we have a really grey, cloudy winter which gets to me by the end of winter. 
     Since living here I worked for Supercuts up until a few weeks ago when I got a new job at a day spa here called The Retreat. It is so much fun! I get to do so many different services and it makes my day much less monotonous and way more challenging. 
     Erik is just about to start his 3rd year at OSU in September. He is currently working on getting together information to start his Lit review which will be the beginning of his thesis for his PhD. He is also preparing to do his prelim exams sometime around Christmas which will make him an official PhD Candidate. It's basically a practice defense like what he will be doing when he goes to finish his degree. Unfortunately he has to TA in the fall to make sure he gets paid. We have been so blessed with Erik's schooling and grateful that when he graduates we will be debt free. What a huge relief! 
     We have made some awesome friends here which you will probably hear me talk about frequently. We have been very lucky to have such good people living around us and living in our ward. This weekend we have a ward party (which I can't go to because I have to work) and a friend's birthday party. We stay pretty busy with all our awesome people to hang out with. I will try to take pictures this weekend so I can post some. 
     This summer we have been determined to participate in all Oregon has to offer. We have been hiking (I know, doesn't sound like me right? They are more like intense trail walks if that sounds better) Also we have been berry picking because there are TONS of berries here in Oregon. We got blueberries, blackberries, and raspberries. We also picked plums from a tree of a lady in our ward. We made blackberry jam and plum jam which we have never attempted before but now we have more jam than we know what to do with! With fall around the corner our friends the Butlers are going to take us apple picking with them and we are going to make apple cider and dry apples for winter. YUM! By the way most of this has been 100% free! 
    Sorry for the long post, next time there will be more pictures and less gabbing from me.