My brother, Travis, is now in Groningen, Holland, rooming with his friend from the States. They both hope to sign on with FC Groningen, a division 1 soccer team there. Best wishes to them both!
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Crossing the 99-Day Parallel
Today is one day short of a milestone 100 days of us being married. I’m sure as time goes on, the number of days will not be as exciting after the number gets too big, but we’ll enjoy the “newness” of it for a while longer. The picture was actually taken on January 13, 2005 when it was 99 days until we got married, so it’s nice to reflect from the other side of the wedding day.
Jenni told me on a drive home from the park tonight that she loves that she gets to share life with me. More than just talk about experiences, dreams, and hopes, but striving, experiencing, and celebrating life together. I couldn’t agree more. We bought our first car last Saturday together and we’re pretty happy with it. Just like life, it has a few bugs, but with some debugging, we’ll get it operating well.
Also we’re launching a new look for our web site. I’ve been wanting to develop a web site using several of the new ideas from redesigning my work web site. The primary enhancements are more for my own learning, but it also provides a channel for Jenni to communicate on our web site too. I’m looking forward to reading what Jenni writes.
For those geeky in nature or interested in web technologies, here’s a quick rundown:
- Valid XHTML and CSS. Working toward web standards have been a big goal of mine, but also a big source of frustration. I’m old-school in doing layout with tables so I had unlearn those old habits and learn some new tricks. Using web standards allows me to work toward the model of separating content from presentation.
- WordPress Publishing System. I’ve wanted a blog for over a year. I actually created one on Google’s Blogger, but I felt it was too limiting. WordPress is one of the best blogging systems available. It’s open-source, very modular, and great documentation. It has forced me to adjust how I approach working with my site, but I think it allows our site to be ready for the future. Its template system allows me to swap in a new layout quickly when the time is right. Also, it’s been great hearing people enjoying learning about us from our web site during our wedding month. So now with a full-blown blog, we can receive comments too!
- Content is King. Now that both Jenni and I will be writing to our web site, hopefully that’ll mean we’ll have more interesting things to look at when people visit. We enjoy sharing about what God’s doing in our lives and we’re looking forward to reading the comments people write.
So here’s to 99 days and many more days to come. Happy reading everybody!
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Olay – olay-olay-olay!
My heart and prayers go out to my brother, Travis, right now as he is in Europe, trying out for a professional football (soccer) team. He arrived in London the morning of the bombings. Mom and Dad called a number they saw on t.v. so that if he arrived at a hospital, they would call us. We waited anxiously for quite a while, but then received an email from him saying he was alright. He and a friend had waited in line for bus tickets when they found they had been waiting for a long time in the wrong line. They got in the correct line but, by then, a bus had been bombed and transportation was shut down all over the city. Thank God, he’s ok!
Currently he’s in Belgium, but may be headed to Holland if things don’t work out with getting to play on a team that can give contracts. Go Travis! We’re dang proud of you!
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Jenni’s Red Shoes
I smile when I see Jenni wear her red tennis shoes. Not only is red my favorite color, but they’re vivid and eye-catching. When I’m doing photography, it always seems that the red shoes are photogenic.
The top picture was taken in her brother Rex’s apartment after we finished taking our “Save the Day” pictures for our wedding.
Next, in her wedding dress at our reception, she had the red shoes on because they were more comfortable to walk in, but no one knew because her dress flowed over them. Regardless, she wasn’t ashamed to show them to the wedding photographer.
At the Portland zoo for my company picnic, I asked her to get into the photo booth so I could get a picture of her shoes. I think throughout this blog I’ll have a random post about her red shoes from time to time.
The bottom picture was at Long Beach when we visited Oysterville. I liked the story of the picture, it’s like watching a close one leaving you behind and moving on.
Stay tuned… the red shoes will be back!
So for Stupid Movie Night™, we ate tater tots (What else? Gosh!) and watched “Napoleon Dynamite” with my brothers Cory and Rex, Clark and Mary, and Jess and Nate at their house. Then we watched stupid movie #2, “Encino Man.” I had to show David some of the interesting vocabulary such as “wheezin’ the ju-uice” and also why Clark and I say “Awwww Dave!” What a great time of just hanging out, playing with the Rommel’s kittens and kids, getting new ring tones for Mary, and catching up on life in general.
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Fort Stevens
David took the day off for my birthday and took me to the beach! It was a beautiful day at Ft. Stevens Park. I’ve camped there as a girl many times, so it was fun to show David the old shipwreck, the lake, and Battery Russell (old war fort). At the sea shore we hiked up the sand dunes a bit to find a warm spot away from the wind and watched a line of pelicans fly low inbetween the waves. We ended up taking a nap right there in the sand, and David got a cool V-shaped sunburn on his neck. We ate rice pasta with chicken at the lake, and watched some guys catch 2-4 inch long fish and throw them back. Then I took him to Battery Russell. The fort is made of cement and it is really dark in some of the rooms. Once, when I was little girl, I peered around a dark corner and saw a creepy man who was unshaven and dirty, who started laughing a deep “heh heh heh” that scared the stuff out of me. To this day, that place gives me the creeps, but for some reason I still go back.
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Portland Dance Festival
Ah… dance conventions. To all those who have experienced one, those two words will bring a fair share of memories. Where else are you going to learn about dance all day, socialize with friends, compete, dance until 5am when the ballroom closes, and then wake up at 8am to do it all again for a couple more days?
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Relaxing in Oysterville
Hope everyone had a great Fourth of July weekend. Jenni and I spent it catching up with Clark and Mary at Oysterville. I have to confess that I’m always a little leery of the 2.5 hour drive. Yes, I know, it’s not much, but it’s still 2.5 hours on my behind staring at the world coming at me. But when I get to Oysterville, it’s all worth it.
It’s so relaxing to be away from the city and just be with nature. I enjoy the small beach house that Clark’s family owns because it’s cozy enough for everyone to gather around and talk but big enough for a sizeable party.
At any rate, it was a great weekend of enjoying the gorgeous weather, fellowship, photography, and loads of junk food. The stay is never long enough, but a great time to reflect on life when there’s nothing else around but peace.
Oh yeah, the drive doesn’t bother me anymore now that I have an awesome copilot I’m married to who reads me Chronicles of Narnia or dreams with me about dance, dance, and more dance!
David makes me laugh. Just when I am tempted to feel “ho hum” about some mundane routine, he starts spinning tales and making light of everyday situations. For instance, my diet is limited by many food allergies. And so, while I try not to complain, I do get tempted to view the ever-familiar meal of rice and chicken as dull and repetitious… until David invites me into the world of imagination where I am a villanous chicken eater. Every place that I go… every state, every country of the world that I visit, is only to feed my ravenous hunger for ALL THE CHICKENS OF THE WORLD. I seem very innocent as I listen politely to conversation, until I learn that the stranger, friend, or foe is a chicken farmer. My eyes glint and my salivary glands kick into over-drive. “Chickens?” I think to myself. “Gotta get more chickens!”
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Wedding Photos
Thanks to Jerry Hart, we have 1615 pictures from our wedding. Luckily, Jenni and I managed to cut it down to just under a 300 for your viewing enjoyment. It was such a great party! We are so happy that so many people were able to come celebrate. If you got any fun stories to share from that day, please let us know!
Married life is awesome. Things are going very well and we look forward to years and years growing together in Christ.