Missing Husband

I have been deliquent on posting, so I have lots to catch up on, but first and foremost, my missing husband.

He is somewhere in Boston saving more babies. He was blessed with the opportunity to travel across the country to work in one of the best cardiac ICUs at Boston Children's Hospital.

So while he has been gone, I've been keeping myself busy, but not too busy that I don't have time to travel to Boston this week to visit.

I spent the last week of July and the first two weeks of August house and dog sitting in Lake Oswego, and all I can say is holy crap, literally. Who knew that two dogs could poop so much in one day. David and I have always laughed at people that walk around picking up their dog's poop and I guess I was getting what I deserved. This dog sitting has reconfirmed my decision to never have a dog. Sorry to all you dog lovers out there, it's just not for me. I am a little too clean freak anal. I would say the perks of being in Lake Oswego were getting to take a canoe out on the lake and taking a ski boat out to tour all the cool homes surrounding the lake on our way to dinner across the lake. As we were driving across the lake, I turned to David and told him I was born to have a boat. Maybe someday, but unfortunately not anytime in the near future.

Once I got back to my home in NE Portland, I enjoyed the Fremont Festival in Beaumont Village, the Twilight Criterium in downtown Portland, where I saw too many men that thought it was okay to walk around in biker shorts just because they were at a bike race. And mind you, some of their shorts were baggy in all the wrong places :) . It's kind of sad when you are that skinny that a pair of biker shorts doesn't fit right.

I also worked on some craft projects. I finished my first ever knitting project and began a second one. And, I made my first rag quilt. An adorable, easy project, just the kind I like.

And most importantly, I began taking care of our newest house guest, Trunks. Our teeny, tiny red-eared slider turtle. A couple of our friends just moved back in town and gave him to us as a gift.

Goodbyes and Hellos

In July, David's cousin Derek passed away. We packed up our bags and flew to Arizona to be there for the funeral. I have not been back to Arizona in quite a while, so it was good to see all of David's family, including extended family. I actually met some relatives of his that I had never met before. I'm not sure I will ever meet them all.

The funeral was so uplifting. Derek was one of those people that always did what was right. He served and loved in a way that inspired those around him to do the same. I knew Derek briefly, but after being there, I feel like I knew him so much more.

During our short trip we played with the family and I was able to see an old friend, Paul, from St. Louis and his cute family. Unfortunately I didn't take very many photos of the trip.

Young Women

Our YW are a little spoiled since there are not many of them and we get to go on lots of fun outings. This past month we went to the zoo and took a camping trip up to Timothy Lake.

Karmen, Gabi and Lacie

Lacie, Christina and Gabi

Timothy Lake

Isn't this just what it looks like when the guys go camping? Theme, cups hanging up nicely so we can reuse them and a fancy dinner.
I only went up with the girls for one night but it was worth it. The location was beautiful and the weather was perfect. The first morning another leader and I, Heidi, managed to start the campfire all by ourselves. We were pretty proud of ourselves. Heidi's husband, Joe, had showed us how to make a 1 match fire the night before, so we were confident that we could do it. Unfortunately we didn't do it with 1 match, but it only took us 3 matches so we were satisfied.

Bulls, Running and the 4th Weekend

David and I went to St. Paul, OR for the Pro-Bull riding Tour. I haven't been to see bull riding since we were dating. The rodeo clown was awesome. A lot of times I think they are annoying, but this guy was genuinely funny.

The hot cowboy.

We did see a lot of this.

July 3rd we headed to Eugene for the Prefontaine Classic at Hayward Field. We are trying to get in all the top track meets before we leave Portland. This meet is by invitation only, so we knew we would be seeing the best in the world and we were not disappointed. There were 20 guys that ran the mile under 4:00. Sick.

Tyson Gay...does that name sound familiar?

I had just happened to park by Pre's Rock, so after the meet we stopped by where Prefontaine died. Coincidentally some graduate students were working on a documentary about folklores and they interviewed David about why we stopped by the rock. So, who knows, maybe someday David will be in the documentary.

On our way back from the meet we stopped by to help David's co-worker pack for her move. I was in charge of entertaining her son, so I managed to do that by having him "help" me mow the backyard. I know you're jealous about the black socks and shoes with shorts. Don't be. I obviously was not prepared to be mowing a lawn and had only brought flip flops.

For the Fourth, we went to a BBQ at our friends after church. I had the most massive burger I have ever eaten in my life, but somehow I managed to eat the whole thing. Go figure. It was definitely a low key 4th, but we did get to see a few fireworks.