Festivities

So I have decided I am horrible at blogging. This follows with I am horrible at keeping in contact and talking with family and friends often. I usually attempt in some way to be somewhat consistent at keeping in touch, but in the past year I have been particularly horrible. So I decided it was about past due enough to post once again my three months. I haven't been taking a lot of pictures really recent, but there are definitely enough to post some event from the past bit. It seems as though work keeps me so busy that all I want to do is veg with Nick or visit with friends.

Back in October, Nick and I drove down to Eugene to see Emily dance with a company called Breakdown. They are a group of awesome christian girls... and boys that love the Lord and dance for the Lord and do it wonderfully! It was so much fun to see, now Em and I need to get into the studio and get back into shape (me that is).


Sara (Em's mom) and I at Em's performance. Miller (her adorable tiny yorkie) is hiding under the brochures.


My mom came up to hang out with us for a weekend and we went to the Rose Garden. Not only had my mom never been there, but Nick proposed there so it was extra-special getting to show her where he asked!



We also carved pumpkins at our Monday night dinner. We have the dearest friends, Anne and Joe Kaplar, that we absolutely love hanging out with. They have dinner Monday's and we all get together and have a blast! Here are Janie and Anne carving...





I cannot lie Kennidy is definitely one of the most irresistible little ones out there. She is so intelligent, and soooo cute. I love her songs especially singing worship. You can see she loves her daddy so much in this pic. This is one of my favorite pictures for sure.



We also went to her b-day party. Em got her a cute stuffed animal that she was attached to all night. Please note: the only reason she was attached to this toy is because it was from Emily. Emily is her "best friend" and she often wants to come home with us:) It is really cute.




Nick and I also celebrated our six months being married and my b-day. I know we didn't celebrate these together, but I cannot remember which was what...yikes! The picture of Nick and I together was before going to Pambiche, which I am pretty sure was for my b-day. It is absolutely the most amazing food even, oh and Cuban so of course I love it!



So for celebrating our anniversary we did dinner and then came back home. Nick made a fire, which I had wanted one for SO long. It was wonderful! We also had a bottle of dessert wine that was this delicious little voigner from Walnut Creek Cellars in McMinneville. When I went wine tasting for the Bachelorette Party they gave me a bottle since it was labeled. It was fantastic!



Well since I work, work, work, I should go to bed. I hope to post about November soon:)

End of Summer, Beginnings to Fall

I seem to be lacking in the blog world. Work eats up much of my time these days. I am not sure who all knows that I am now our Department Manager at my work:) It definitely keeps me busy. So, we have been doing lots of fun things lately. We have a Monday night dinner and the girls made gold, copper, and silver painted pumpkins. They are perfect for Autumn. I haven't had time to take a picture yet:) Hopefully in a future blog. We went to seaside with Anne and Joe for a nice relaxing time at the beach home.

We had our sixth month anniversary for our marriage on Sept. 1. Nick brought me home these flowers:)
He also took me to Palomino and we had a delicious dinner! We went to the Rose Garden where our first date and where Nick proposed:) Here is a pic of us at the Rose Garden.
Beautiful Roses! I was having fun with the Macro setting on our camera and took a pic of our rings, which look pretty dirty, but I still like 'em;)

Labor Day weekend we went camping at Beverly Beach with Athey Creek. It was a blast! We had a campsite with Chad & Amy, Charles & Sarah, and Mitch & Christine. It was couples fun! It only sprinkled a little at night, thank goodness. We had roaring fires lit by a torch each night thanks to Chad:)



Nick and I had so much fun! It was our first camping trip together:)




It was fun to hang out with the sis too! The sunsets were beautiful, and Nick of course brought his LAX sticks and played around with the men!




So mid-September we had my cousin's wedding in Southern Oregon. Mr. and Mrs. Austin Anderson;) It was so enjoyable, and it was amazing to get to see my family since I don't see them very often. We also were able to spend time with Matt & Lisa Hammonds.



The cupcakes were so cute! They had one giant cupcake too!

Of course Mom and I had to get pictures. And by of course I mean I made mom take a picture, or two, or three with me:)

They had these cute little gift boxes with their names and the date on it!

Then about, I think, two weekends ago, we went to Seaside with Joe & Anne which was amazing! It was so fun to hang out with another couple especially them! They are so dear to us. We left Friday evening and stayed until Sunday. It was absolutely glorious. We had fun walking on the beach with the dogs and just chilling watching TV. Oh and falling asleep in the middle of the day;)
Here are pics of Nick and Joe stretching, hehe.




Oh and of course a pic of Anne and me. It was so fun Sunday we came back and got pedi's and mani's.
She is definitely the BEST "big" anyone could ask for and I love her to pieces. I am very glad now that we are married we plan on raising children together.... someday! :)

This last weekend we went to Derek Barth's for the Presidential Debates. It was nothing less than interesting. Our men, Sel and I, and their friends love to discuss items. Now this can be architecture, science, religion, or politics. They truly follow the verse as iron sharpens iron. I love hearing their thorough discussions of whatever topic of choice. In fact, Selena and myself enjoyed ourselves this much...



No but we seriously did enjoy the debate, but we were soo pooped. The men are below listening to their questions so they can pause TIVO discuss each President's answer and move on;) Our debate attentiveness is below, hehe. I don't know why I can't get that picture bigger without blurs.



So Selena was doing her "cleanse" right. I always wish I had the willpower to do something like this, but I am too much of a glutton and cry and get grumpy without food. Here is her "mocktail" I like to call a "Cleansetail"... SICK!

I am happy to announce she didn't suffer long as Sunday at Julia's Bday party the "Roller Diva" had some pizza:)



Aust did a photo shoot and Sel is the product so she is all dolled up with crazy make-up. The other pic above is of Austie and Selena being those sultry and sassy sis's they are;)



The guys of course had to play air hockey. They definitely had a lot of fun. I came to take a few pics and realized it was a little too intense for me.



I, of course as always, tortured Nick and made him take some pictures with me. One happy, one serious...grrr!



Poppa Jones is so adorable with his little Ava. Oh and please believe the roller diva was all over the rink and I am sad I didn't get better pics of her in action. Selena had some stiff competition once the rink opened up to the public. An old man about sixty brought his moves to the floor and of course Selena was there to cheer him on and he was definitely showing off for the hot roller diva!



Julia is so adorable. It was her 30th bday party at Skate World. So a bunch of us hit the rink full force eating pizza, cake, and skating like we were from the seventies:) Here is one last pic of us before leaving.



Sorry the post is so long! I need to get a bloggin' a bit more. All is wonderful in married life and we look forward to seeing the 'Bama fam come Thanksgiving! I will definitely blog that with probably too many pics;)

What Mr. & Mrs V have been up to

Wow it has been so long since the last post. I guess I can start with a more recent update. Our very dear friends, Andrew and Jamie Palmer, are having a little one. This was the first time when I heard a close friend was pregnant. It is such a special thing! So, I am very happy for them;)

So much time has passed since I last blogged... so bear with the oh so long postage of many items. Nick and Chad finished the mantel. I would like to post a blog someday...haha... of a progressive take of the building. We will see. So here it is finished!

Yaay! So other things...

We went to Zach and Amanda Gerig's wedding and it was absolutely delightful. I wish I would have taken more pictures. I got the adorable one above with little ms. jones and Nicky. He will be such a wonderful father!


I was so blessed to see Emily. I miss her so darn much! It is different not being able to hang with her, Colette, or Haley as often. So I spent most of the day while her mom was doing a glass convention chatting about life and catching up. It was very wonderful!!!

A few days before the fourth we were also sooo blessed to meet up with Andy and Jamie. That was awesome to just spend time with them hanging out! I miss them so dearly and now that they have the little one on the way we definitely want to visit them sometime soon, but more than that we wished we lived closer! :( Below is a picture of us all hanging out watching fireworks at a country club. Oh and Andrew made this wonderful Manicotti I must get the recipe for;)


After that we were off to the coast for the 4th of July weekend. We went to Charleston where my mom and dad met....

At the Portside restaurant. It was such an amazing weekend and blessing to hang out with my mom where she met my dad. We sat in the lounge chatting as the live musician joked and played many songs from my mom's era. It was so touching and a very special time. I love having Nick see where I had spent many summer weekends; crabbing, visiting friends, and reminising. I was able to show Nick the Lost At Sea monument for fisherman who were lost to the sea. It is so undescribable the experience of knowing how much fisherman love their job and the ocean. My dad was one of those and it was awesome to share what I could with Nick and show him my dad's name on the monument they built when I was like four or five.

So of course on the vacation we crabbed! Okay, but we usually go during the winter and the crab was soft and well all considered it probably wasn't worth me waking up early and sitting nearly all day on the dock. I enjoy more of the tradition of crabbing we have had in my family rather than the idea of a catch. Although, I was pretty dissapointed. I would like to go again this fall:) Nick and I are on the dock at like nine after I was down there for a while:)
So we may have not caught anything, but we got some amazing prawns from the boat behind us on the dock. They were all alive and flipping around, and then the guy just pokes his finger below the body at the top of the tail and KILLS the thing and gives us the good part. It was a little weird, but please believe the cooked up little buggers were amazing. It was by far the best prawns I have ever had!



Then we went to Roseburg for the family BBQ on the 4th. It was a long weekend, but fun! My grandma and great auntie marge were there which is nice since I usually only see them once a year.



Right after that Kristen my former boss decided to quit. So we were able to go to her birthday later in the month! See the pictures below. There is a good chance now that I have been filling her position for a month that I will become the department manager of our Wet Chemistry department. It will be a challenging and fun role at the same time. I look forward to the challenge!

Kristen insisted on serving her own birthday cake. Don't ask, I have no idea why. So she is serving her nummy carrot cake to everyone.

Theresa and Nate were there. She will probably kill me if she realizes I put up this picture. So please forgive me in advance Theresa:) This pic is of her and her boyfriend Nate. They are very adorable;)

Then Kristen and Dustin together. They are always fun to golf with in the evening....hehe!

Last but not least this last weekend we went to Nick's moms birthday dinner. Her birthday "gift" was to have all her kids at the house for dinner one night. It was nice to see everyone since I have been working like crazy we have not had time to visit or see anyone! It was really weird realizing I hadn't seen any of the kids or Randy and Alisa in a long time.

And of course I needed a sister pic now that I have a sister. Ooops, Amy the other sis is missing! Well, I hope to write a blog again soon, but who knows when I will get off on time and sit down:) I hope to stay more on top of writing and such. We will see:O