Punkin' patch

It has been raining for about three weeks now, but every so often, we get a really nice window of gorgeous fall weather. We took advantage of one last week and went to the pumpkin patch/apple orchard down the road with Jody and Jonah. As usual, Bryan brought along the camera to catch some autumn action.

I'm sorry, who?

Allow me to introduce my friend Gayle. The Atoo-ele-opus-flamingo.
Meet your own new friends here: www.buildyourwildself.com
Isn't the internet sometimes the most divine waste of time?

Autumn Cheesecake

I found this recipe for cheesecake on the blog of a friend of a friend. Bryan made some dulce de leche sauce and we drizzled that on top. Seriously delicious.

Autumn Cheesecake

1 cup graham cracker crumbs
3 T. sugar
1/2 t. cinnamon
1/4 c. margarine, melted

Combine crumbs, sugar, cinnamon and margarine; press into bottom of 9-inch springform pan. Bake at 350 for 10 minutes.

2 (8 oz.) packages cream cheese, softened
1/2 c. sugar
2 eggs
1/2 t. vanilla

Toss cream cheese and sugar, mixing at medium speed until well blended. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Blend in vanilla; pour over crust.

4 c. thinly sliced, peeled apples
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 t. cinnamon
1/4 c. chopped pecans

Toss apples with combined sugar and cinnamon. Spoon over cream cheese layer; sprinkle with pecans. Bake at 350 for 70 minutes. Loosen cake from rim of pan; cool before removing rim. Chill.

Bryan on ice

A couple of weeks ago, Bryan spent a day ice climbing on Mt. Hood with our friends Rob and Geoff. They climbed on, or really I should say "in", the Eliot Glacier on the north side of the mountain. You anchor yourself from the top of the crevasse using ice screws and then rappel in and climb back out. B pretty much loved it.

Rob making his way out of the crevasseGeoff up top

An ode to Oregon

Yesterday, October 21st, marked my four year Oregon anniversary. In honor of my new home state, I present to you (drum roll please):

The Top Ten Reasons You Should Move Here
10. #1. Yep, that's the rank of Portland among U.S. cities for percentage of residents who commute by bicycle.
9. Portland is home to 46 micro-breweries and Oregon is home to over 300 wineries. Yay beer and wine!
8. When it snows, the city of Portland completely shuts down and you don't have to go to work!
7. It's possible to see the sunrise on the ski slopes and the sunset on the beach, all in the same day.
6. You aren't allowed to pump your own gas. No, no, this is a good thing.
5. Incredible urban boundary laws that keep the city in and allow eoungh room for the outside to still be out.
4. If you feel like protesting something, don't worry, no matter what it is, you'll find several others willing to protest with you.
3. We have the MAX, the streetcar, the bus system and even a tram.
2. Mt. Hood is always out there and offers you an open invitation to her summit.
And the #1 reason:
We live here. You should too.

Another stage of adulthood

I have been noticing a few rather distinct stages of my adult life. The first was the "everyone I know is getting married" stage that hit me during the summer of 2002. I attended seven weddings that year and was a bridesmaid/personal attendant in four of them. After that summer, the weddings started to taper off to only one or two a year. Then, last year, it was finally my turn to get married and it seemed to officially end that stage because now I have entered the "everyone I know is having babies" stage.

Over the past six months, four of my very close friends have had babies. Two of Bryan's close friends have had babies and I can think of three other new little ones in this world whose parents might have a connection to B and me. Right now, two other friends, Heather and Mike's wife Jen, are both expecting. There must be something in the water.

I wanted to take this blog opportunity to introduce you all to some of the new little faces in the lives of my friends:

Gavin Lucas Keller
Aubrie Jeanne Burke

Jonah Dee Lawson
We are so lucky Jonah's parents, Jody and Travis, live in Portland. We get to see this little guy all the time. He has become B's favorite photographic subject.
Cadence Rebekah Fritz

26.2 miles

The Portland Marathon was on Sunday so I met my aunt and uncle downtown to watch our friend Rich run. He had to break the 4 hour mark to qualify to enter the Boston marathon in April and he came in at a cool 3:59.26. Or some time very close to that.

I'm thinking about training for a marathon myself. Might start out with a half-marathon, just to get my feet wet and then we'll see how I feel about the whole situation. My friend Dena recently posted a blog entry about her experience with the Chicago marathon this past weekend. It's all just very inspiring don't you think?

Honorary Wildcat

When you get married, you not only marry the man, but you also marry everything about his life. His family, his history, his job, his car, his fantastic skills in the kitchen, etc., but most importantly, you marry his loyalty to his alma mater.

Fortunately for Bryan, he married into a Nebraska Cornhusker football family, full of national championships and long-standing tradition. Unfortunately for me, I entered into an Arizona Wildcat union. While this is great during March madness, this is not so great during this time of year. Arizona football is not.... how should I say this.... very good.

Putting that aside, and being the sweet and incredibly thoughtful wife that I am, I got tickets for us to see the Arizona/Oregon State football game last weekend in Corvallis. The Beavers CRUSHED the Wildcats, 31-16. Once, when B cheered for a Wildcat first down, the woman in front of us turned around, patted his knee and said, "Ahhh, that's sweet." I told her I wasn't used to being one of the only people in a football stadium dressed in red.