Matchmaker, Matchmaker Make Me A Match

Done.

Me, Katie, Scott and David

Katie and I

David and I always seem to have single friends, but generally not single friends that we think would be good together, but this time our matchmaking magic worked. We introduced a friend of mine from AZ, with a friend of ours from here in Portland and they GOT MARRIED, so we flew to Utah to celebrate.

An excuse to fly to Utah means I got to see some family including really cute, adorable nephews and a niece.

We hung out in Provo and Park City for the weekend with David's brother, Clint, and my sister, Ashley. And we got to see ghosts of David's past: David, one of his favorite mission companions, and Rob, his oldest friend ever he says. And, I made David walk down memory lane with me as I toured BYU's campus. David was kind to oblige my wish and I think he might have actually enjoyed it :) .

Park City

David and Clint

Y Mountain

David and Clint had to get a couple games of horseshoes in before we headed out of town.

Then I went up to Pleasantview to stay with my brother and his family. I love his kids. Have I said that before? They are crack ups. I was entertained the whole week by this and much, much more:

Of course there must be fighting with light sabers (on a six inch plank).

A little relaxation between all the playing.

Standing on the counter to eat.

A little kid's baseball. The best part was when my nephew Jackson was playing third base and there was a runner on third. The third base coach told the runner to "GO HOME", so my nephew ran home right along with the base runner.

And definitely we must stash ourselves in the kitchen pantry.

Now, all of the entertaining was not done by just my niece and nephews, my sister-in-law Melissa put on a good show herself. We stuffed our faces at Costa Vida on our way to watch Melissa battle it out on the dodgeball field.

From UT I flew with my sister Ashley to Pasadena, CA to meet the new gene. Ambie and Jon's little girl was being blessed and I was so lucky to get to be there for it. And, of course I fell in love with Suvi from the moment I saw her ( and I think she fell in love with me too!).

Introducing Suvi

My parents flew in for the occasion and we walked down another memory lane of our life in CA. Santa Monica Pier, Olvera Street, then we drove by the condo complex my Great Grandma Anne owned in Venice Beach. Too bad it's not still in the family, talk about prime real estate! But, I do think we might still have two vacant, undeveloped lots of dirt in New Mexico. Whoo Hoo! We also drove by the LA Temple since Ashley had never seen it before.

We together for my dad's birthday so we celebrated. My brother-in-law Jon is quite the funny man and during my dad's birthday if he said he wanted anything Jon would bring it to him with a lit candle in it.

Santa Monica Pier

Suvi's Blessing Day

Olvera Street

It was a great trip and I miss my family already!

Bare It All

Today was another BEAUTIFUL day in Portland. I am so hoping these days will stick around until at least October. Is that too much to ask? I'm a little pasty and could use some Vitamin D.

David was on call this whole weekend and since the hospital was really busy, I barely got a glimpse of him, which means I was flying solo. I could not pull myself out of bed knowing that I had planned to do a long run, but I finally did it. I got up. I started the day out with a 12 mile run. I think the last time I ran that far was a half marathon last summer. Once I got going I felt okay, slow, but not tired. At about mile 6 I began thinking about how blessed I am and how incredible it is that my short legs will carrying me for miles on end. That is exactly the boost I needed along with the check at my time and the realization that I wasn't running as slow as I thought. I then turned back and headed home to get ready for the rest of my day.

I got a phone call from David a little later and he was able to break away from work for a bit to attend his co-fellow Erin's farewell BBQ. Knowing Erin is done in 3 weeks made me realize that David only has ONE more year as a Cardiology fellow, but then again, it's not the end end. Just the end of this chapter of training. I think we have at least one more chapter to go. But, the light at the end of the tunnel is getting a whole lot closer and brighter!

David's Co-Fellows and Program Director

Mike, Laurie, Amy, Erin and David

After the BBQ I picked up a friend and we headed to Cirque du Cycling, a street fair and bike race that is held every year on Mississippi. On the way over my friend described an interesting site she observed during her lunch, a conglomerate of naked bikers. I previously heard about the naked bike ride that occurs every year in Portland, but I have never sought out the details. Well, I didn't have to seek anything out this year either. This year, the necked bikers found me. Who knew that in broad daylight at a street, family-friendly affair, men (and sometimes women) would bare it all. And really, on a bike?! That doesn't sound comfortable to me.

Emily and I were walking down the street and I was talking to my dear 68 yr old friend on the phone when Emily shouted, "There they are." I had no idea what she was talking about so I looked in the direction she was gawking and sure enough, THERE THEY WERE. Riding right towards us. NECKED BIKERS. I quickly turned my back to the road and looked right into the open door of the shop I was standing at until the bikers were out of sight. A couple things ran through my head. First, thank goodness for handlebars! All I got a glimpse of was a couple of bare chests. Secondly, I was thinking, here I am talking to this sweet, pure elderly women on the phone and I have about 30 naked guys riding behind me on bikes. She might have died right then and there if she had seen them. Sorry, no pictures.

Then I watched the Crit. And, I saw more skin... What is with today?

If you look closely at this guy's right butt cheek you will notice that he's missing something... a little skin on his cheek. Ouch. And yes, he finished the race just like this. He won the race last year, but I think this little mishap threw him off a bit and he didn't repeat the win.

City of Roses

The Portland Rose Festival is in full swing. From the end of May to the second week of June Portland celebrates roses and we get to enjoy the festivities.

Last Saturday we had a perfect, beautiful, sunshiny day after weeks of gloomy weather, so I had to get outside. We headed to the waterfront to walk around the Waterfront Village and get a glimpse of the Sling Shot, but this year that's all we did, get a glimpse. I included a picture of the riders at the highest point anyways since last year I didn't have my camera.

(Look up to the left side of the picture. They look like ants in the sky.)

Later that night we traveled downtown again to watch the Starlight Run, where people are not only running for the best time, but also for the best costume. My favorite was the group of sychronized swimmers. I so wish I had taken a picture of them. It was 5 men wearing one piece women's swimsuits, goggles and a swimming cap. At certain points along the run they would perform a sychronized routine. Loved it!

Waiting for the parade to start.

After the race we stayed to watch the Starlight Parade. People came out in droves to watch the Parade and I decided that seeing it one time was enough. It ain't no Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade if you know what I mean.

Oregon Coast- One Beach at a Time

A couple of weeks ago our youth group from church took a trip to the coast. This is the 4th beach on the Oregon Coast that I have seen during a youth activity. Maybe if I stay in this calling long enough I'll get to see the whole Oregon Coast.

This last trip we went to Newport and stayed in a yurt. This is my style of camping. Although, since David came along I stayed in the tent with him. Oh well.

We had a blast. We made it to the beach just in time for sunset and made our own campfire girl scout fashion since the guys weren't there yet. Not too shabby for a bunch of city girls! Our hot dogs roasted and our marshmallows burned just right.

Poor David and Joe (male leaders to keep us safe... David did tell everyone they had to fight off bears all night) had to listen to a bunch of girls squeal and giggle all night in the yurt. David says it's good birth control.... I don't think I'll be inviting him along on another young women trip!

The next day we headed to the beach to fly kites and play bocce ball. Then on to the Yaquina Lighthouse, the Interpretive Center and the little town of Newport. The girls had so much fun, and quite honestly, so did I. One of the perks of having a small youth group is getting to take these mini trips.

Sweets Free

As a leader in Young Women's I felt it was only fair that I worked on personal progress along with the young women, so the past two weeks I have been working on the word of wisdom focusing mainly on my sweet intake. As many of you know, I LOVE sweets. So, it is a major sacrifice to cut desserts and candy from my diet for a day, let a lone a couple of weeks.

Let me give you a breakdown of a normal day in the life of Gina:

Eat a meal

Crave sweets

Eat Sweets

Decide I need an extra helping of sweets.

Eat the extra helping.

Eat a meal

Crave sweets

Eat Sweets...

You get the point.

I have officially gone almost two whole weeks without any sweets (as long as you don't count the first couple of days when I was finishing off my Fiber One bars with chocolate :) ). I am debating on extending this journey for a whole month, but I'm not quite sure if my body can take it. I think it has gone into shock. I might actually have gained weight during this experiment. Is that possible? David said my body thinks I am starving, since I do not ever skip sweets, so it is starting to hoard whatever I take in.

Surprisingly I am doing much better than expected. I have been been at several activities/parties where others have been devouring desserts and have not felt even so much as an urge. I guess miracles do happen!

But let's be honest, I am not giving up sweets for ever.