Japanese Gardens

A couple weeks ago, Derek surprised me with a trip to the Japanese Gardens in Portland. It was absolutely the perfect day to go! It was a beautiful day (surrounded by rainy days), and the leaves were turning all sorts of hues. I hadn’t been there since 4th grade, and was taken aback by the quiet peaceful beauty. It would be a wonderful place to read.

I found out that Derek was originally thinking of proposing to me at these gardens, and had taken my mom to scope it out. When he found what he thought would be the perfect nook, he knelt down and gracefully stuck his foot into the pond. I guess that was a sign. (For those of you who don’t know, Derek proposed to me in a rowboat at our church campout.)

If any of you haven’t been to the Japanese gardens, you should go. It only costs a few dollars to get in, and is a great place to relax and enjoy God’s creation.

We took the plunge!

As most of you know, Carrie and I are avid scrapbookers/stampers, and have been pretty loyal to Close To My Heart, the brand. So we decided to go into partnership and sell their product. So we are now offical consultants!!

We are going to hold our first gathering on Saturday, November 18th, and plan to do some Christmas Card workshops after that.

Somehow I don't think this venture will make us rich, but we'll have the best stamp collection on the block!

Random Food Thought of the Day

I recently discovered the Cinnamon Raisin Cereal Bars from South Beach Diet. I'm generally pretty leary of "diet" foods that often taste like cardboard, but decided to give these bars a try.

Yumm...I think they taste like a cream cheese cinnamon roll (of course in a granola bar form). Best thing...they only have 140 calories and are loaded with 10 grams of protein. Go protein!!

Breakfast just got a little eaiser.

Derek is 27!

Derek's birthday was on Friday, and I took the day off to spend with him. We drove over to Multnomah falls in the morning, and made the hike up to the top. I have never been all the way on the top, and it was quite a view of the gorge. After the falls, we stopped at the Vista House for more great views.

The weather was perfect, but both Derek and I had a cold, so we were pretty wiped out after our hike.

We ended the day at Rob's gathering...The day turned out really well.

Saturday morning we slept in super late (after taking NyQuil the night before). We didn't even leave the house at all; we just stayed in, got some house work done, and hung out. It was great!