Sorry Deb...

Had to post this on your behalf! : )

Food food and more food

We couldn't be more grateful that we were able to spend the holiday with both sides of our families - a huge thanks to Doug and Evelyn for hosting and of course to Fritz and Susanne for making the trip up here. After a traffic packed drive up to Doug and Evelyn's Wednesday night, we settled in, had some wine, caught up and overall had an awesome time hanging out. Evelyn, Susanne and I hung out in the kitchen most of Thursday while Doug and Ashley did some work in the rain outside (and poor Fritz nursed his cold). There was of course tons of good food and plenty of attention for the dogs.

Evelyn checking on the turkey

Getting ready for the big meal...

So good!

The whole group right before the feast

Blurry, but a cozy picture : ) Hanging out after the meal.

Darby and Fiona find a buddy

Spoiled Fiona

All the dogs on the couch : )

Back in Portland - all sorts of good food throughout the weekend! Ashley hunted for wild chanterelles last weekend and we cooked up them up into a pasta. Dad - this is the bottle of Landmark Pinot! We called you as we opened it : )

Fritz and dessert

Finished fence! (and a muddy yard).

Back in Portland, Fritz continued to battle his cold, and he and Ashley worked on building a gate for the fence. Susanne and I got to wander and shop around the Pearl District downtown, explore Powell's, and cook some more food. We JUST dropped them off at the train station and got back home to a too quiet house. I hate it when guests leave! But am so glad we have our December trip to look forward to. Can't wait to see everyone : )

More photos of trees than people....

We had a wonderful weekend with Dad and Jean in town!

Thursday: picked them up from airport after work, and Ashley cooked a wonderful birthday dinner for us. Drank wine, ate dessert and opened cards and hung out by the fire. Was a perfect birthday night, but didn't get any (good) photos.

Friday: I had to work, but Friday night we had friends over for dinner, wine, watching the World Series and baby holding. Again, no good photos...

Saturday morning we headed to Portland's Japanese Garden - it was a sunny morning and the colors were just beautiful.

On our way out the door. A photo in front of the fence-in-progress.

Bridge in the garden

Lots of Japanese maples....

Beautiful fall colors....

Dad holding some guy's Flat Stanley : ) Thought the nieces and nephews might get a kick out of that!

The guests of honor (Dad being goofy and hiding behind the branch...)

Saturday afternoon Dad and Ashley worked on the fence....

Then we watched the disaster of a Badger game at a restaurant nearby. Oy.

Sunday morning they worked on the fence as well, and Sunday afternoon we relaxed, watched TV and just hung out. Took them to the airport this morning! Short but sweet. Can't wait to be home again in December...

Lots of trick or treaters and activity going on the neighborhood tonight! Can't wait to see costume photos of everyone. : )

Miss you all!

What do pierced ears and babies have in common?

...Nothing, but I'm going to put them in the same blog post anyway.  Lame, I know.

B got her ears pierced.  A picture is worth a thousand words...she was a little scared.

And there was a very brief moment of near tears...

And viola!  "Ooo la la" as Fancy Nancy would say.  The next day she woke up and said it was the best night's sleep she's ever had.  She also said she had the best dreams ever and it's all because her earrings are so sparkly. 

The 2 mommies to be at Jenny and Greg's Baby Shower

Isn't this darling?!

Grandma with Matt and Emily picking pumpkins behind Bill's house.

Delaynee with Adelia and Gretta

The parent's to be

Fall Visit To The Cabin

We went to the cabin in mid Sept. It was a BEAUTIFUL Fall weekend as you can see.  So many fun memories...

Couldn't resist...the ugliest cute cabin you've seen

Kayla came with us.  Morgan's first friend up to the cabin!

Can't pass up a visit to the waterfalls on such a beautiful day.

What a beautiful day at the beach

Probably Macy's last bath in the cabin sink.  About time, hugh?

We picked so many apples - we made 6 pies, 4 big containers of apple sauce and gave away a couple bushels.  It was an amazing crop this year

One branch.  We had 5 trees that were LOADED!  Beth,  do I sound like Fritz?:)

Grandpa picked the best one;)

Leavenworth Oktoberfest Marathon

We got back late last night from Leavenworth, WA from the marathon. Sore today but glad to be done!

We left mid day Friday and got into Leavenworth by 7pm to pick up race packets. Had a pre-race dinner in Leavenworth and crashed early at our hotel.

We left hotel by 5:20 Saturday a.m. to get to catch a 6am shuttle at the Fish Hatchery to get to the marathon start.

The shuttle took runners 11 miles up a forest road into the mountains. I didn't have a camera on me but the first 11 miles were absolutely gorgeous - through the mountains along a beautiful river into the town of Leavenworth where the second half started...

Mile 17 after our first pit stop to see our support crew - Evelyn, Ashley, Darby, Fiona and Carmen. SO happy to see them! 

Beautiful fall day and scenery for the run....

Mile 26 and still smiling!

DONE! 

Cheering squad

So happy Evelyn made it! As usual she had all sorts of treats for the marathon end.

Including a bier for the car ride afterwards. YUM. 

Gorgeous fall day!

We didn't get any pictures of the town of Leavenworth, but its adorable and was PACKED  with visitors for their Oktoberfest. The crowds were a bit frustrating, but we got our pizza and beer after the run and felt much better. We headed back to Portland Saturday afternoon as neither of us had much energy to explore the town and partake in festivities (and we wanted Sunday to get things done around the house), but we would love to go back to Leavenworth again (without the 26.2 mile run ;)

More catch up

The weekend before our anniversary we went to Pendleton, OR for the Pendleton Round up, one of the ten biggest rodeos in the country. Its 111 years old this year and in a really small town about 4 hours east of Portland. The whole thing was a pretty cool piece of history.

We drove out early Saturday, went to the rodeo and camped that night:

Fun cars and carriages driving to the Round up.

The arena. Kinda reminded me of the old Lambeau Field!

The cowboys are insane. "Let er Buck" is the rodeo catch phrase.

Check out those chaps!

Lots of cowboy hats. This is the event where a cowboy jumps off his horse while at full speed and tackles and ropes a calf. So crazy.

In the stands.

Ashley cooked up pulled pork in the dutch oven for dinner at the campsite.

Last weekend (our anniversary weekend) and this weekend have been spent working on the yard. The stone wall is coming along.

Sean, Ashley's friend, has been chipping away (pun intended) on the wall all summer. Here's him and his nifty old truck.

Working on the wall and digging fence post holes.

And last weekend we ate our one year old cake on the china with silver from Fritz and Susanne, and used our cutter from Heather, Matt and girls. We added another knot to the ribbons from our ceremony :)

Yesterday we poured concrete footings for the new fence, cut the posts and today hope to get the posts bolted in. We then went to Claudia's, the sports bar down the street to watch the Badger game with neighbors from Nebraska.

I'm off on a training run now and hopefully won't be too wiped to help with the fence afterwards (I have a feeling I won't be off the hook :)

All of you are probably heading off to Greg and Jenny's shower now. Have tons of fun and wish I could be there. Say hi to everyone for me and Go Packers!