The Walkers

Laurel mentioned that these two pictures looked alike, and I must say... Isabel takes after her best looking aunt. Haha! Just kidding. I just thought - since I don't have any kids of my own to dote on yet, I could feebly attempt to compare myself to my sister's child. (But there are definitely some similarities, eh?) Seriously though... if I'm lucky enough to have kids half as beautiful as Isabel, I'll be one happy camper. p.s. Oh my gosh - I just read the back of my picture (you know - where Mom writes the date and whatnot) and apparently I was 4 months old when it was taken. Um... Isabel is 9 months old, and I'm pretty sure we're the same size. How abnormally fat was I?!

I need to vent. I'm in school right now (prep period). And I just finished straightening the rows of desks in my room. As in any classroom, there is crap written on a lot of the desks. So, I'm perusing the misspelled literature - There was once a kid that scrawled "I LOVE SATIN"... I think he meant Satan - and I come across some teeny tiny words in pencil. It was a very derogatory, very sexual comment about ME. And if that wasn't enough, someone else had responded with an even more disgusting comment on the desk "blog". I have no idea who did it. All the desks were moved around just yesterday, so a seating chart won't help. I'm just so bugged. I'm usually pretty liberal when it comes to this kind of stuff. I mean, they're high school boys just trying to one-up each other. I usually don't really don't mind the swears, the occasional off-color joke, whatever... but COME ON! I know I'm taking this way too personally, but I feel ...

This is in response to Laurel's tag. Normally I'm not that into the chain-letter thing... but I'm supposed to be really busy right now. (For an explanation, see #1.) 1. I have a serious procrastination problem. The fact that I’m even typing this now, instead of grading my never-ending piles of papers when it’s the last week of the term, is proof of my very embarrassing, very harmful, very target-for-punch line, core issue. 2. I have an adolescent crush on my husband. Let me explain: I often stare at his picture. I laugh at his jokes (even when they’re not that funny). I like to meet people who know him or his family, so I can talk him up. I HAVE to kiss him at least 20 times a day or I get hurt feelings. I like to watch him sleep. I’m like a live-in stalker. Basically, it’s an immature obsession… one that I hope I never grow out of. 3. I don’t have a favorite book. Everyone asks me about it, but I just don’t have one. I have lots of runners-up and I’ve had favorite bo...

The Columbia River Gorge! As I was telling Brad on the LONG drive home last week, I truly believe that this is the most beautiful view in the world. I've seen the white sand beaches of the Carribean, volcanic vegetation of Hawaii, sheer cliffs of the Grand Canyon, glaciers of Alaska, and the mountains of the high Uintas... but nothing compares to the view from Crown Point. I may be slightly prejudiced... Anyway - here's my hott mom. She mapped out our tour of the gorge waterfalls from field trip pamphlets. It was actually really cool. We drove along this scenic highway among the falls ...that was I learned was part of the Roosevelt's New Deal, thanks teach'... and walked around to a few different waterfalls, culminating with lunch at Multnomah Falls Lodge. It was so much fun. I think Brad may have gotten sick of our quirky behavior ("How many acres are in a mile?"), but he's secretly a nerd too, so it works out. This is Multnomah Falls... I can't te...

Brad and I are going to visit my parents (and Matt!) next week for UEA, and I'm so excited! I think I get my unnatural sense of excitement from my mom. She's had our itinerary, sleeping arrangements, and menu planned for weeks. This is a picture we took on our last trip to the PNW, at Silver Creek Falls. There's a footpath cut out in the wall, so you can actually walk behind the waterfall and stay relatively dry. If the weather permits, we're planning on hiking to some of the other falls as well. Isn't it beautiful?! I was definitely spoiled growing up around so much greenery... I remember when Brad first visited Camas, he was freaking out because there was moss everywhere. On the trees, on the rocks, on the steps to my parents' house. I love it. And I'll definitely sacrifice a little frizzy hair any day for the benefits the rain provides. (Although struggling with the hair actually instigated a series of haphazard haircuts in high school. Hmmm.) Anyhow - ho...

I just want to apologize for the quasimodo appearance of our blog. I'm too technologically illiterate to know how to revamp it in one sitting, and I'm too busy to have time for more than one sitting these days. So come back in a few days, will ya? p.s. The music will stay off (at least temporarily) due to popular demand.

A Lagoon employee, or as Brad likes to refer to them - a "carnie", actually said the above words to my family and me as we got on the Mousetrap ride last Friday. I don't know if he is paid to parrot the slogan "x" times a day, or if he just really loves his job that much... either way, I was thrilled. I laughed about it the whole ride to avoid peeing my pants, seeing as the Mousetrap is the scariest ride at park BY FAR. Jason hooked up the family last Friday with free tickets to Lagoon and, as always, it was amazing. Brad was on call (not to mention the fact that his reaction to the invite was reminiscent of the Grinch's to Whobilation), so Brett took time out of his busy freshman schedule to be my date for the night. All-in-all, an excellent trip. I urge all of you to embrace the child, or carnie rat, within and take a trip to Farmington soon. Bask in the atmosphere of cotton candy, caramel apples, broken bumper cars, lousy pavilion entertainment, pre-teen ...