Sun Seekers

That was it, I'd had enough. Enough of this rain and cloudiness and ick. B and I had Sunday off so in honor of my first Mother's Day, we drove east and found it. The sun.

Spring's Hottest Fashion Trend

This year's spring trends are surprisingly, very wearable. 60's coats, high-waisted flare jeans, mix-match prints, preppy accessories, citrus colors and (yay!) comfy clothes. But I happen to think that spring's hottest fashion trend is: the bump. It is the perfect accessory for any outfit or any occasion. I've put a couple of outfits together below.

Pool-party bump. Just toss a bump on with that bikini, grab your virgin strawberry spritzer and get your butt in the pool!

Tennis bump. The perfect add-on to a Nike tennis outfit for time on the courts during the first sunny day in months.

Wetland Restoration bump. When one is volunteering in the Tualatin wetland, one should always wear comfy, breathable shirts and durable jeans. And of-course, a bump.

College bump. What's the perfect accessory for a Easter Day walk around campus to see the nuclear reactor building? Why, a bump!

A fond farewell

So long toes, have a great summer. I'll see you all again in August.

The signs of spring

Blooming flowers, sunshine, warmer temps, the pasty white legs of Portlanders. All sure signs of spring.

What is the number one sign of spring at the Hoybook house? B, watching a mole hill form in the yard from the kitchen window. This is followed by him running out of the garage with a rake in the hopes that he will catch the little bugger. He doesn't and the mole lives to dig another hole, another day, but it had to be the funniest thing I've seen in a very long time. Thanks for the laugh honey. I'm sure the neighbors don't think you're crazy at all.

The bump goes to Seattle

We were in Seattle last weekend for the wedding of our friends, Mike and Suzanne. We also managed to squeeze in some face time with Jen and baby Addison, who flew in from St. Louis and also Alyson, who drove up from Portland.

We lucked out and got a beautiful weekend--sunny skies both days. Pair that with the spring flowers at Pike's Place Market and you have yourself the first day of Spring my friends!

Portland's biggest fear: weather

Tuesday was an unsettled day, weather-wise, in the Portland area. Heavy rains at times, light showers at times, lots of wind. But the news-making weather didn't happen until around 9pm. B and I watched the opening segment on the 11 o'clock news to find out the details:

Opening broadcaster: "It's been a wild day in the Portland area and we have our chief meteorologist standing by for the latest, but first, let's head out to Megan who is live, on location. Megan, what can you tell us?"

On-location reporter, on the street outside the studio: "Well Steve, you're right, it's been a crazy day. Just about two hours ago, around 9 o'clock, we witnessed a bright flash followed by two loud booms. We're not exactly sure what the booms were, but we did visit with the Colby family awhile ago who will tell us about what they heard."

(Colby family proceeds to talk about how the loud booms rattled the windows at their house.)

About this time, B and I looked at each other, speechless, and turned it off. Hmmm, bright light followed by loud booms. This town is crazy.

I also witnessed the bright light as I pulled in the driveway from work. I came in the house and said to B, "I think I just saw lightning." He said, "Yeah, maybe, I think I just heard some thunder." We did not say, "OMG! What was that? We better call the news!" If Portland experienced just one, mild, mid-west thunderstorm, I think people would freak out and probably call 911. We tend to not experience "extreme" weather in these here parts so when it does happen, look out. Chaos.

Snowpocalypse 2011!

This was the scene on Thursday morning on our street around 8:30am.

This scene caused all the early morning news shows to go on "extended team coverage" with several reporters "live, on location".

This scene also caused every school district in the area to shut down for the day.

Everything melted by 10am.

I will never understand this town.

Brother!

If Mindy wasn't enough of a distraction last weekend, I got another one on Thursday when Scott flew in for 5 days. He had just spent time in Orlando at a golf course conference, time with Ma and Pa in Nebraska and we were the last leg of his trip. He was pretty sick when he arrived so we didn't do too much, but B and I got he and Craig out on cross-country skis on Saturday, Craig and Bridget took him to the coast on Sunday and then Bridget made us all a delicious dinner on Monday night in Corvallis. The rest of the time was spent just hanging out which was actually pretty perfect.

I just love those Olson brothers, they're a pretty good time.

The ski trail at Bennett Pass.

Craig showing excellent "I'm standing perfectly still" form.

The boys try to look epic with Mt. Hood in the background. Only Scott succeeds.

B rips the skins and drops in one of the snowy glades.

The Olson kids.

Sharing the load

Who knew that being pregnant was hard work? Did you know? Oh, you did? Well, I just figured it out. It apparently takes a lot out of a girl to grow a human and I think I've only begun to realize the severity of it. Sure, the first two months were a bit of a hint: December and January flew by in a haze of nausea, lack of motivation and yawns from the couch in front of the TV. (I think the only really active thing I managed to pull off was going skiing and I only managed to do that for 2 hours before I was completely exhausted. Boy, I'm a weenie.) But, I just wasn't prepared for how tired I would feel at 8pm or how I always seemed to want to take a nap at 3pm everyday. Hard work, I tell you. Hard. Work.

But, February has arrived and with it, the second trimester. The glorious second trimester that I've been hearing so much about. "You'll have so much energy! You'll feel great!" Well, I'm still waiting for that to kick in, but while I wait, I had a wonderful little distraction named Mindy come visit for the weekend.

Mindy is also pregnant, about a month farther along, so we definitely lived it up for the weekend. Two pregnant girls on the loose, watch out Portland! We shopped, watched the food network, snacked, got pedicures, went to a movie, commiserated together about how tired we were. It was positively "girls gone wild".

No, actually, it was better than that. It was time spent with one of my best girls. I'm so lucky we get to go through this together.

This may come as a shock...

Baby Hoybook is due to arrive on August 5th.

"Where the hot girls wear glasses."

Finally, someone is making fun of Portland.

Play Date

There is nothing like a day on the mountain with your best friend.

Workin' Hard for the Money

What do you get when you mix 700 people, 250 pairs of snowshoes, 28 degree snowy weather and Mt. Hood?

Just another day at the office.

The REI Team after a long day at Winter Trails Day last weekend.

Cousins and Grandkids

Completely Blessed

There are people in this world who grow up without someone to look up to, to be their role model for a whole host of things--being married, being a good parent, being a good steward of the land. There are people in this world who grow up without someone to come to their volleyball games and basketball games and track meets and marching band contests. There are people in this world who grow up without someone to give them M&M's. There are people in this world who grow up without a Grandpa.

I'm not one of these people. I grew up with an amazing Grandpa. He taught me how be a good partner to my husband-- listen, respect, let him be right some of the time. (He was married to Grandma for 62 years, he knows what he's talking about.) He showed me how to be a good parent-- discipline, compromise, but most of all, love. He taught me to take pride in the land-- Nebraska farmland or Oregon wetland, all have their purpose and place. He cheered me on at countless volleyball games, basketball games, track meets and marching band contests. He was always so proud of my accomplishment. I can't eat M&M's without thinking of him.

Grandpa passed away last week and I already miss him tremendously. There is no one to take his place. And really, no one ever can.

La Nina strikes again

I've been waiting for La Nina to arrive all year. La Nina means lots of snow and lots of snow means lots of skiing. When we started making plans for Thanksgiving at the cabin in the Wallowas, La Nina was on our side, dumping snow on the mountains just in time for some cross-country skiing.

Here's the thing about La Nina. She can be a loose cannon. The "mountain snow" started falling in town on Tuesday and turned our plans upside down. Snow covered roads from The Dalles to La Grande and highs of only 7 or 8 degrees at the cabin. Yikes. So, as you can imagine, we all scrapped plans for Thanksgiving at the cabin and Craig and Bridget came up to Portland for a couple of days. We managed to do cabin things like puzzles and play chinese checkers and of-course, drink an obscene amount of wine and eat an obscene amount of turkey. And, we did non-cabin things like watch an obscene amount of college football. But cabin or not, we have a lot to be thankful for and that never changes.

The Vanilla Ice Project

Winter has descended upon Portland--it's been raining for oh, like ever, the snow is starting to pile up, it's cold and crisp in the morning and it's dark at 4:30pm. In a valiant effort to prevent the Hoybook household from falling in the depths of severe cases of SAD, we decided to buy ourselves some cable television. (Actually, to be completely honest, after we moved, we couldn't get our digital converter box to work anymore and football season was beckoning.) Anyway, part of the "welcome offer" was that we get all of the channels (yes, ALL of them) free for three months. Three glorious months.

Well, what I thought and predicted would happen, has. I watch junk. More specifically, reality television junk. I keep up with the Kardashians, know the details of the lives of crazy Beverly Hills housewives and am getting caught up on past seasons of America's Next Top Model. I know! Junk right? I should use cable for good, but instead, I use it for evil. If you haven't seen me for week, check the couch.

On Friday night, B and I were doing a little channel surfing and since we have ALL the channels, you can surf upon some interesting stuff. So, when we saw "The Vanilla Ice Project" pop up on the menu, we bit. "The Vanilla Ice Project" is a reality show on the DIY network which follows rapper Vanilla Ice around Palm Beach while he buys, fixes up and flips a 7,000 square foot mansion. He has this tattooed posse that follows him around to do some of the dirty work and on Friday's episode, he was wearing a shirt with a handgun on it followed by the words "Pimps & Ho's". It's mostly ridiculous.

Ok, ok, it's definitely all ridiculous, but here's my question: what came first?

Did they find Vanilla Ice and say, "Hey Vanilla Ice, what are you doing these days?" "Oh, you're flipping houses?" "We should make a show about that."

or

Did they have a show about flipping houses and sat around a table and thought, "Who would be the best host for this?" "Oh, yeah, Vanilla Ice!"

Talk amongst yourselves. I have to go, there's a Project Runway marathon on.

Oh Beaverton, you're so charming.

How can anyone resist you?

Autumn in the Gorge

Last week, the Friends of the Columbia Gorge led a guided hike for the REI staff. What a Gorge-ous day!

Portland Migration

This has been a year of old friends for me. Back in March, a good friend of mine from college, Luke, came for a visit to see his brother. We had great dinner and drinks with B. Then, in September, another good friend from college, Marissa, came to Portland on a work trip. We spent the day together, taking in the Portland sights. And finally, over the weekend, Sarah was in town from San Jose. She used to live in Portland and moved a couple of years ago. It was so great to see her again and to meet her bf, Brian. I love that with all three of these friends, we could pick up right where we left off, whether it was eight years ago (Luke), five years (Marissa) or just four (Sarah). I'm so lucky they call me when they are in town!

Time to turn the heat on

Soggy Sneakers

This past weekend was a soggy wet mess. But that didn't stop me! I spent Saturday working in the bike mechanic tent at the Harvest Century ride and then Sunday morning on the streets of Portland cheering on Kendra in her 10th marathon. Even though I was soaked pretty much the entire time, it was a great preview of the La Nina headed our way this winter. Bring it on!

Katie and I waiting for Kendra at the finish.

Kendra (her 10th marathon on 10/10/10), Katie, Jody, me

End of the Year Garden Report

Another year at the garden has come to a close. Not to be dramatic or anything, but it was the worst garden in the history of gardens. Let me explain. You see, this was a tough year for gardens in the Northwest. We really didn't have a summer. It rained the entire month of June, it really didn't get hot all summer and then it rained again most of September. This is great for all of the folks who moved to Oregon to get away from the heat, but its absolutely horrible for our gardens.

Early in the season, I was having the best luck with greens and snap peas and green beans--oh boy, did I have green beans. And broccoli. We ate pounds of broccoli. Around the end of August, all of the "cool weather" crops had bolted and it was time to get excited about tomatoes and peppers. Because the early growing season was so wet and because the deer fence was working so well, the tomato and pepper plants shot up like rockets, full of stems and foliage. The fruit started to set on and I started to get worried about what I was going to do with 150 tomatoes. But then, nothing happened. The days stayed cool and the nights stayed even cooler and the green tomatoes just sat there. I had plants full of green tomatoes for about a month, tiny little peppers and okra plants that never got taller than four inches. However, we started to get lucky and the weather got a little warmer, so I thought maybe things would work out.

Then, I saw Linda at work and she delivered the blow: "The deer tore the fence down and got in the garden." I drove out to the garden telling myself that last year, "the deer only ate the leaves, they left the tomatoes alone, everything will be fine." But it wasn't. Everything was eaten. The leaves, the green tomatoes, the poblano peppers, even the jalapenos. Good lord, do I hate deer.

So, the garden report ends up like this. Tomatoes? Fail. Peppers and okra? Fail. Feeding the deer for the second year in a row? Success. Full success.