Another mostly words post...

Once again, people have been ordering me to update, so here's another mostly words, few pictures update!

A couple weeks ago, Allysa, Brooke, Kaia, and I decided to go up to Lacey, WA to go to Cabela's and then visit Randy. We stopped in Olympia to be all tourist-y :) and took pics of the capitol building. Cabela's is definitely a fun place to visit! Think we coulda spent hours there, but we were on a tight schedule. Had to go make Randy supper--which i think he was very appreciative of! The poor guy is up there alone all week, so even though we might not have been his first choice of company, apparently we're better than nothing! :D Here's a few random pictures from the trip, the computer wouldn't let me put all of them on....

Brooke and Kaia checking the map on the way to Lacey

The state capitol building in Olympia

Maurices!! lol...they don't have these things around here, so i was pretty excited to see one. But Brooke wouldn't let us stop and go shopping....

Hmmm...Otherwise life has been the usual. I really enjoyed Easter weekend! I somehow managed to have the whole weekend off work-Good Friday thru Easter Sunday, so i was able to make it to all the services except Thursday evening.

On Saturday, Branden and I went down to the beach. No pictures tho--my camera is causing problems and having issues! We ended up going to Cape Kiwanda, and I really wished i woulda had my camera because it's super pretty there! The weather wasn't the nicest, but at least it wasn't raining. We climbed the sand dune things there a bit, but didn't explore all of them because Branden decided he was too old! lol..actually i was in flip flops so gotta take the blame! Talk about a good workout though! We didn't even climb to the top, and my legs were burning. Of course i waded in the ocean a bit and got all wet, despite the freezing temperatures! But you can't go to the ocean without at least sticking your feet in, right? Then we went to the outlet stores in Lincoln City. I knew Branden wouldn't be too enthused about being dragged along on a shopping spree, and i was pretty tired by then, so i didn't get my full use of the stores like I normally would....I did find a cute outfit for little Skyler Impola tho, if i do say so myself! :)

Speaking of Skyler, i finally got to go see him yesterday, and he's a cutie! Can definitely see both Molly and Jethro's families in him....

I'll try to update more regularly, but....life gets busy and i forget. And besides, my life really isn't that interesting, as i'm sure you can see! :D

Happy Anniversary...

...to Sarah and I! Two years ago today we made our "Exercising Pact" and have managed to stick with it, getting at least 30 minutes of exercise a day, at least 6 days a week. Proud of us?! :P

Life

It's been awhile since my last update again...Don't have much to report on, since time has just been flying by between work, sleep, and hanging out! But here are a few pictures....

I came home to roses again today!

Carter--my new baby brother! :-) Such a cutie

I went snowboarding again!! My bravery amazes me sometimes! Lol...But for a klutz like me, it's pretty shocking I haven't hurt myself. I hafta say, the second time goes MUCH smoother than the first, and is much more enjoyable. Here's Alyssa and I after a succussfully making it down the mountain!

Work, Taxes & Fun

So, I know its been FOREVER since I've updated (as many, many people have reminded me) so even though I don't have any pictures to put on here right now, I'll write a bit.

Let's see...Zeke and Kaisa Ketola were married last weekend (the 6th) and I gotta say, I loved their wedding! Wish I woulda got pictures there, but of course I slacked off and didn't. I did get one picture with Branden-he was a groomsman-but it's on my camera somewhere, so maybe i'll put it on here someday.

Last week I made Karen help me with my taxes, and then a couple days ago decided to go on a shopping spree with my return. Of course I spent WAY too much money, but, if I do say so myself, I got some AMAZING jeans! :D I love them, and am saving them to wear someday where people can actually see them, so when i'm not working! lol :P

Valentine's Day! I was pleasantly surprised when Brooke brought the garbage out, and returned with flowers, chocolates, and a teddy bear that was delivered to me. Guess who from?!! :D They were gorgeous, and I wish I would have gotten a picture of them, but alas, I didn't. And now they are hanging up to dry. :( I wanted them to last forever...lol. Don't I just have the sweetest boyfriend ever?! :)Branden and I were going to go out to eat on Valentine's night, but neither of us really felt like it, so we ended up going to World Market (My new favorite store!) and then to Coldstone. I didn't really expect anything on or for Valentine's Day, so it was great to get such an awesome surprise!

Work is work.....Last weekend I finally got both Saturday and Sunday off which hadn't happened in forever. Was able to go to the church for the first time in 5 weeks, so I was pretty excited about that! But I talked to my boss and she promised that she'd try to get me down to working every other weekend like I'm supposed to be doing, so hopefully it actually happens. Eventually I start getting kinda worn out when I'm working every weekend, all the time.

This Friday, the 20th, will be mine and Branden's 6 month dating anniversary. Man, time flies! Can't believe I've even been living here that long. I'm pretty sure we're going to the same restaurant we went to on our first date--awww, squish!--so should be fun! :) Maybe I'll actually get a picture of us to put on here, but not making any promises. Neither of us particularly enjoy pictures, so we tend to kind of avoid them!

Well, think that's about it for now! I'll try to get some pictures on here eventually...but could be awhile before I get around to it. Personally, I enjoy blogs with pictures a lot more than without, so that's why I put off writing on here for so long. But, hopefully this will make all the impatient people demanding a blog from me happy for now! :D

Have to get up in about 3 hours to bring Ruth to the airport--lucky girl is heading to SD/MN for a few days--so I gotta head to bed. Good night! :D

Is this scary??

I was talking to Kathy at church last night, and she told me this small little fact that I found kinda weird. A lot of people don't know who I am, so when they ask her who Branden's girlfriend is, she shows them a picture of me. And, strangely enough, she said she's had TONS of people say how much we look alike. So I decided to post a couple pictures on here to see what people think. Do we really look like siblings like people have said? Cuz that's just....odd! :D lol

And Sabrina told me a long time ago that a friend from school thought that Branden and I were brother and sister too....I don't see the resemblance, but apparently there is one!

And I promise, we are not related! :P

Good Times

Here's a random assortment of pictures for your viewing pleasure! They range from before Christmas on....Enjoy! :-)

Gotta give credit to Ruth for this picture and a couple others. I stole them from her Facebook! Brooke was hungry and decided to fry me up! lol...have you ever seen such a ginormous frying pan?! :P

Me, Ruth, and Karen--At our Christmas with Tim and Becka's family

Playing Mexican Train Dominos at our Christmas

Mom and Sammy at our family Christmas. We had it at Brian and Miranda's with their family and Mom and Dad and the kids! Awesome to see them all again after 5 long months away from my Mommy and Daddy! haha:)

Dad reading the Bible--Christmas story maybe?--with the gorgeously decorated Christmas tree in the background. Miranda is a talented decorating lady!

My family is shrinking! There were only 6 of us siblings at our Christmas this year.

New Years 2009-Diana, Lyssa, Rhesa, Brooke, and Me. A bunch of kids--Over 100 of us--went up to Van and Laura Matsons' for their annual party. It was tons of fun even tho I had to get up at 5 in the morning and probably shouldn't have even went! Oh well...you're only young once, right?

I guess a part of their tradition is to make a giant sign with the last year on it so that everybody can shoot it up at midnight. So there was a huge 2008 made out of Christmas lights. After all the guys were done shooting a bunch of us girls shot Branden's pistol. I didn't want to cuz I thought I'd probably shoot someone, but surprisingly I didn't! :) And it was fun, so I'll hafta take him up on his offer of shooting lessons!

Sabrina's sweeping skills. We figured that nobody would find the dirt if she shoved it up under the cupboard there! Not sure how long it stayed before it actually got picked up...Lyssa pry didn't let it sit on her floor too long i'm assuming! :D

Lisa sweetly posed for me at Starbucks. Isn't she just beautiful?!:)

Haha...Brooke and I went to Seaside one day because we were bored! So fun to do spontaneous things. This sign had a meaning when i took the picture, but I really can't remember what! Something that two over-caffeinated girls thought was hilarious anyways!

A big boat somewhere along the way on the drive to Seaside. I stupidly left my camera in the car when we were actually walking around town and down on the beach. So I wasn't able to get any good pictures of the water or our sand drawings-just some fuzzy ones on my phone. But it was a gorgeous day! Sunny and warm-50 degrees-with no wind! Couldn't believe it'd be so nice there in the middle of January!

Multnomah Falls

Awww...I love my boyfriend--and surprises--so I had a blast today! :)

The other day Branden told me he was going to pick me up after work today and that i had to wear shoes with good traction, but that's all he'd say. So I kinda figured we were doing some climbing or something, but didn't know where we were going. As I'm sure you guessed from my title, we went to Multnomah Falls. Pretty exciting for me because I've never been up to the top and have been wanting to for awhile now.

Branden had planned it so he'd get off work early, we'd climb Multnomah, and then eat at the restaurant there before heading home. But apparently people need plumbers so he didn't get off as early as planned. By the time we got there it was after 5 so we ate first and had to make the climb in the dark. Needless to say, we were the only ones walking the icy trails in the cold! But it was super fun! Couldn't really get the greatest pictures in the dark but I did try!

Branden and I on the icy, frozen bridge

The bridge-You can't really tell in the picture, but the mist from the waterfall had covered the entire bridge and the trail on both sides of it and frozen into a thick layer of ice. It was almost impossible to walk on the trail because of the incline. We had to hold on the edge and pull ourselves along, and Branden dragged me for awhile! The bridge was pretty cool tho, because we could skate on it!

The best pic I could get of the water in the dark--the one downfall to going when you can't see anything!

A gorgeous snow heart we found...

When we got back to the bottom, Branden chased a mouse around with my camera to get pictures. Got a few good ones, but the dumb thing kept running away! :P

And then, because he's apparently one of the few people who trust me with sharp objects, Branden bought me a sweet pink engraved pocket knife. He must not be too worried that I'll start swinging the thing around and stabbing people! :D

Despite the cold frozen terrain, I had a ton of fun! Definitely a memorable way to spend our 5-month dating anniversary! :)