A little bit of everything from Colorado

This post is very delayed - sorry! It includes a ton of pictures from our trip to Colorado at the end of December. We had a great time and did a ton. The pictures are from my first bridal shower (thanks mom, Sara, Kari, and Kristen!), opening gifts with my grandpa and grandma for the first time in 16 years, New Years Eve at Josh and Kari's place, and a few from our day trip to Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park. The one with the elk - this was the largest herd any of us had ever seen and they were so close to the street. It was pretty cool to see!

Aunt Erinn and Uncle Dustin!!!!!!!

That is right…Dustin and I are going to be an aunt and uncle as of August 2009! My brother and sister-in-law, Josh and Kari are expecting their first child this summer. I am so excited and can’t wait to SPOIL that child. S/He (or should I say “they” because there is a slight possibility it could be twins!) is going to be the cutest darn thing ever. Fortunately, Kari had her very first doctor appointment the day before we flew back to Portland, so I got to be one of the lucky ones and go with her – there were 6 of us, plus her doctor, all in one little patient room. Thanks for letting us come with Kari. These are pictures of the proud parents to be!

Christmas 2008

For those of you who actually check our blog, I apologize for being so delayed in posting. It seems my time and energy is elsewhere at the moment…planning a wedding takes a lot of time! =) At any rate, we had a fabulous Christmas this year and below are just a few of the pictures to prove it. Despite the snowing weather, we were still able to spend a few days in Junction City with Dustin’s family, including Christmas Eve and Christmas Day this year and had a great time. We then flew out to visit my family for a week in Colorado and got a lot done in that short amount of time…my grandparents from Chicago and Uncle from Georgia were in town for the first few days of our trip, I had a bridal shower (thanks mom, Sara, Kari, and Kristen!) while the boys had a fun afternoon of bowling, Dustin hit the slopes with Josh and his father-in-law, Dave, we had a couples engagement party and got lots of FUN gifts (thanks Linda!), did lots of wedding planning, watched a number of movies, spent the day in Estes Park at Rocky Mountain National Park, celebrated the New Year…and then came home!

More snow fun...

The snow continues to fall...just a few more photos of all the fun we're having with this weather. This first photo is Dustin's backyard - check out how much snow has accumulated on his deck in the background of this one! It's crazy.

Still snowing...

It's STILL SNOWING out here in Portland, which is completely not normal. This is just a quick video of us driving down Dustin's street back to his house after running a few errands this morning. The snow is falling moderately hard and they say that the "storm" hasn't even hit us yet, which is crazy. Everywhere we go its white...but also very slick. We saw a number of cars spinning out and sliding around trying to get to where they were going. We're enjoying it though. Merry Christmas ya'll!!!

Merry Christmas!

This year, we get to look at two beautiful Christmas trees...one in Erinn's apartment and one at Dustin's house. Oddly enough, they are decorated pretty similarily! We are excited to have our own - ONE - Christmas tree next year in our own place!!!!!

Walkin' in a Winter Wonderland!!!!

Portland has been "blasted" with a winter storm since Sunday and WE ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT! This area rarely gets snow, and when we do, it hardly ever sticks. But since Saturday night, the temps have been below freezing so any precipitation that we're getting is snow and it is definitely sticking on the ground. But that also means that Portland pretty much shuts down because we aren't prepared for weather like this. It's been great for me because work has been cancelled 2 out of 3 days this week (I am writing this at home in my PJ's which is fantastic!)...and the 3rd day was our Annual Staff Christmas Party. Dustin has had to go to work, but does get to leave early today. NIKE almost never shuts down, but they have decided to close down a little early to allow people to get home before the roads turn to more ice tonight! What a great week leading up to Christmas!

He Makes Me SMILE

It has been a while since I posted so I thought I would put up one of my new favorite pictures... with my favorite man! We have been really busy the past month or so, with a combination of work activities, wedding planning, decorating for Christmas, but we still try to find time to SMILE and laugh. We are looking forward to doing lots of this (and maybe even some relaxing!) when we spend time with both of our families over Christmas!

God Blessed Texas...

Spring (Houston), Texas was my home for almost 9 years and I absolutely LOVED growing up here. I was blessed with amazing friends, an awesome school, a great neighborhood, and of course, my family all loved being there, too - with the exception of my dad and the hot, humid weather (hints the reason they are now in Colorado!). My sister, Sara, drove down from Austin to meet me there for Becky's wedding, and we spent a few hours reminscing memories - our old house, school, church, restaurants, friends, and more. We had so much fun. This is a picture of our old house...it was awesome. I forgot how nice of a house it was and how awesome of a neighborhood we lived in. God did bless Texas!

To top off our trip, Dustin was able to score a brand new Mustang for our rental car - at no extra charge - and was in Heaven all weekend. This is his favorite car and he's been dying to find a way to drive one recently. So these are just a couple of shots of us in front of the nice Mustang... and then one of Dustin driving it! =)

My Best Friend's Wedding

Rebecca Wilson married Daniel Berezoski on Saturday, November 22 in Houston! Congratulations you guys. Becky and I have been best friends for 16 years and it was so much fun being a part of her special day. It was a gorgeous wedding and everything went so well. Not only was it fun being a part of this wedding, but it was so great to come back to my old home and reconnect with so many old friends. I saw junior high and high school teachers, teammates and friends, fellow church-goers, and more. And one of the best parts - I got to introduce my amazing fiance, Dustin, to all of these people. I hardly ever go back to Texas since my family has been in Colorado for the last 8 years, so this was awesome.

Becky, I am so excited to have you be a part of my special day in 4 months. Miss you already!