Rob, Jen, Lydia, and Brooklyn Oslund

August Update

2011-09-05T11:20:00.000-07:00

I have to admit that I love Rob adding some posts every now and then, he is a lot more interesting at it than I am. I think my posts are a little more mechanical. With that said August was an awesome and eventful month. It started with a week long camping trip at Lake Tahoe with my entire family. (Rob couldn't come...that was a big bummer!) My youngest brother had just gotten back from his mission and it was really good to see him along with everyone else.
The week was fun an relaxing with the normal things, sailing, canoeing, hikes, playing on the beach, campfire stories, bears ransacking the camp, etc. Really bears came one night when we forgot to put a cooler away and they ate everything during the night! My dad shined a flashlight at them and they climbed up the trip right by the tent Lydia and I were sleeping in. The next morning I found a big chocolate chip cookie that had somehow been smuggled into the tent under the sleeping bag! I was very relieved that the bears decided against eating that. The next night the bears came back and I could here them breathing right outside my tent for about 20 minutes (no exageration) I was horrified that there might be another cookie hiding in my tent. If that isn't enough to scare a pregnant lady alone in a tent with her daughter while I heard the bear breathing something bumped my tent twice!!!
On a happier note Lydia had a blast with all her cousins and was an angel on the plane flights.
Rob and I had our 7th Anniversary and Lydia her 3'rd b-day, and I my 27th b-day. All which were fun and exciting events.
We survived an earthquake on Lydia's B-day and a Hurricane later that month that left us with no power for 12 hours (half were in the night) We were lucky to not have to deal with any flooding or extended power outages like others around us.
The other days were filled with the norm. cleaning, work, errands, and playing at the apartment pool.
The final hoorah for the month was when Rob's Dad, Steve came to visit for just under a week. We went to NYC one day and saw some sights, including the top of the empire state building. Showed Steve around Princeton, and then took a weekend trip to Boston. Can I just say that I LOVE Boston! It is a really nice city. It was a lot of fun.
Now we are trying to get back into the normal swing of things etc. With the exciting news that Lydia starts Preschool on Friday. 3 days a week for 3 hours. She is so excited and it will be good for her, as well as for me when the new baby comes. The cool part about this school is that it is right by Rob's work on the campus to where she can see his work window from her playground, Lydia keeps on telling us how she is going to scare Daddy while she is on the playground by saying 'BOO!'

current Lydia'isms: In love with barbies, dolls, fairies and pretend. Liked to cut things with her scissors, is singing a lot of songs to herself, is constantly asking us to tell her a story.

current Pregnancyisms
I am borderline obsessive compulsive with my plans for what I want to have done a taken care of before the baby is here. Luckily my family has been tolerant of my 'projects' and has not tried to persuade me that staying up till midnight to make Christmas stockings is not in the least bit odd for this time of year.

baby got her second ultrasound, all is good but again they were not cooperative with letting us know for sure the gender. It is a most likely girl with a small chance of boy.

Lil' Lyd turns 3

2011-08-21T04:33:00.000-07:00

Like every other parent raising kids, I can't believe how fast my little girl is growing up. This weekend magnified that thought as we celebrated Lydia's birthday number three. We had a little party for her right on the grass next to our apartment. A family from down the street came over to celebrate with us. They have three kids close to Lydia's age and she was so excited to have them over. She talked about it all week and come the day of her party, she couldn't talk about anything else.

This was actually the first day of complete sunshine for the entire week (luckily, the thunder and lightning didn't carry over from the previous 4 days). As part of the party, I made a pinata (if you tilt your head and squint your eyes it looks like a butterfly). Eventhough Lydia was scared to hit the pinata (she didn't want it to fall on her head), the pinata was actually her favorite part of the party. I think a close second to the pinata was receiving a gift from her friends that attended. She got a baby Ariel disney doll. As soon as she got it, she learned that baby Ariel loves to swim in the bath tub. To our surprise, Lydia immediately left the party to go take a bath with her new baby doll. This effectively killed the party.

Later in the evening, Lydia came down with a strong fever. All she wanted to do was lay down and sleep with me at her side. Selfishly, I didn't mind one bit. This gave me some time to let my thoughts slip away into the past as I reminisced about the last 3 years. True, raising Lydia has had its share of troubles and sacrifices (I don't think I have slept through the night more than 20 or so times in the last three years). But none of the trying moments came to mind. All I could think of was how wonderful and rich life has been with Lydia in our family.

To my dearest Lydia, happy birthday!

Why I Love New Jersey

2011-08-07T06:26:00.000-07:00

(written by rob) Someone pointed out to me that, in my last post, I was being too negative about New Jersey. So, lest anyone think that I/we don't like New Jersey, here is a blog to the contrary. Speaking for myself only (Jen and Lydia are still out of town), I love this place for its rich history. So here are some photos of historic places/landmarks near our home (and, for better or worse, some thoughts to go along with them).

The photo above is something I ride by everyday on my way home from work. We actually live in Kingston, not Princeton (even though we have a Princeton zip code). To make it a little more confusing, Kingston is not a recognized town in New Jersey, so we actually live in the South Brunswick Township...or something like that. At any rate, the Kingston "village" or whatever you want to call it was founded around 1675 when the British King was still in power (hence the moniker). The road behind the sign was around for much longer, it was a road used by the Lenni Lenape Indians, early settlers and dutch fur traders, and eventually by early British settlers during colonial times. As you can imagine, a lot of cool history took place in Kingston.

I ride by this place (seen in the picture above) everyday on my way to work. It is the Kingston Presbyterian Church Cemetery. This is perhaps my favorite historical site of all. You are probably asking what is so cool about an old graveyard. Well, something very important happened here during the revolutionary war. On January 3rd 1777, General Washington and his troops made a middle of the night escape from Cornwallis in Trenton, New Jersey to surprise attack the British in Princeton. Despite a few wrinkles in their plan, it worked. After defeating the British in Princeton, General Washington and his troops marched up this way as they exited Princeton so as not to be caught by Cornwallis and his large British Army who were trying to catch up with them after they fled Trenton. Anyway, General Washington was faced with a dilemma in this very cemetery. Should he continue up the road (leading behind me in this photo) or should he head to the road on the right and settle in for the winter. It was freezing outside (it was early January) and he and his troops had been up all night marching to Princeton for their successful surprise attack. Up the road about 30 miles lay a British pay chest of about 70,000 pounds (probably a lot of money back then) and, in his mind, if they could get to it, this just might end the war. Heading to the road on the right would no doubt prolong the war. In this very spot (now a cemetery), General Washington counseled with some of his officers (now referred to as the "council on horseback") and, ultimately, he decided against marching his cold and tired troops to the pay chest and headed into winter quarters. EVERY time that I go by this place, I am reminded about Washington's decision to be patient even when you are so close or you are tired and want struggles to end. I also think about how important it is to LISTEN to those close to you (yes, I really do think about this every time I ride by).

Ironically, 6.5 years later General Washington would return to the Kingston area within a few miles from the cemetery to live at Rockingham (see photo above). This is the front of the house (and is supposedly the actual house, though it has been moved three different times so I don't know how much of this house is the original). This is where General Washington stayed at the end of the war as they awaited final word on the treaty of Paris, and this is where he announced his retirement from the Army. Every time I come here I always imagine Washington walking out of his front door. I would love to strike up a conversation and I almost always envision it involving a discussion on how bad both of our teeth are. I don't know if he had a personal dentist back then, but I would assure him that dentistry hasn't changed all that much and that he would have to go all the way to a place called Seattle to find a really good dentist (Dr. Andrew Lewis is the only good dentist I ever had). I would finish by telling him thanks for being a Bad-A.

This is Jen, Lydia and I in front of Nassau Hall on the Princeton University campus ( see the picture above). As part of the surprise attack on Princeton, the continental army actually fired cannon balls at this building in order to the get the British troops to exit and surrender. Apparently, you can still see the structural damage from one of the cannon balls on the building. I have looked and I can't find it. I guess I must not be a true American.

Finally, this is a picture of the Princeton football stadium that I ride by every day on my way to the chem lab (you can actually see the chemistry building in the background to the left (blue glass building). The point of the picture isn't to discuss in any way, shape or form Ivy League football (the Pac-12 and Mountain West will always be near and dear to my heart). The old stadium that once stood here (Palmer Stadium) housed football games as early as 1914. Knute Rockne and his Notre Dame teams played here. Jesse Owens also ran on the track that once stood here. In fact, his triple jump record (from 1936) stood until the stadium was torn down in 1997. I find it inspiring to ride my bike where old legends once roamed.

Thanks for New Jersey for such rich history!

It all started 7 years ago...

2011-07-31T13:26:00.000-07:00

Our family that is. Like so many others who watch portions of their life pass by on the time scale of years, I too am amazed at how fast this all goes.

I started this blog over 4 years ago with the idea to chronicle some of our life for those who care to read about it and to have an online repository for thoughts, experiences, and photos. However, I soon found myself creating moments or staging photos so that I could "blog" about them. The notion that I was creating fake moments to boast about was a bit of frightening realization and it was in direct violation of my number one rule of "keeping it real always." So I stopped writing in this blog. Anyway (if you are still reading this, thanks!) to make a long story short, Jen took over and is trying hard to revive our blog as we start a new chapter in New Jersey. She also keeps asking me to write something, but I keep opposing because of the reasons above. However, Jen and Lydia have traveled back west for the week and I am left to an uncomfortably quiet home. There is no laughter of a three year old, no one to roll their eyes at me when I make snide remarks, no smell of amazing food, no hugs or high fives, and no sense of completeness that comes from hanging out with my team. This all serves as a reminder of how much I appreciate and love Jen and how much my family means to me. So to satisfy Jens request to blog something and to detract from the quietness in our home, here is a post from me.

Seven years ago, Jen and I walked out of the Jordan River temple sealed as husband and wife. Here is a photo that I could find of that moment. When I look at this photo, a couple of things come to mind. First, I am extremely fortunate that things have turned out well for Jen and I. I could honestly say that, having gone through the past seven years together, we would be all smiles walking out those temple doors if we were to get married all over again (with each other, of course). Second (and maybe I am being to harsh on myself), but I think that I was the bigger wild card out of the two in the photo above. Jen did take a chance on me and I sincerely hope it is paying off (if anything, she learned what REAL food is from our adventure in Seattle).

Lastly, I look at Jen above, who is cheesing it up in the photo, and think about some of the things that she has taught me over the years. From introducing me to simple things like Dave Matthews, good food, theater, and enjoying nature to more profound/complex things like achieving balance, seeing past the mistakes of others no matter how messed up, and never, never, never underestimating what she is capable of. I think Jen is often underestimated for what she can do. Sometimes, if I watch closely, when she is getting underestimated she gets this look on her face or sound in her voice that she is going to take the underestimation and use it as fuel and rise to a whole new level. In other words, if Marshawn Lynch has a beastmode, Jen Oslund has a Bad-A mode. I love it when Jen goes Bad-A on situations/events. It is fun to watch and it is inspiring. Finishing her first half-marathon despite years of knee problems and her coach (gasp! me!) quiting on her was Bad-A, giving natural birth to Lydia despite the attending physician pushing an epideral on her was Bad-A, leaving friends and family for the East coast in return for a sleepy town, fewer friends and crappy food and never complaining on top of it all...has been one of her finest Bad-A moments.

Jen, the best teammate in the world, here is to seven great years and counting!

July in Jersey

2011-07-25T18:15:00.001-07:00

This has been a hot month. We were pretty worn out from June so when the 4th of July came up we kept it low-key. There were fireworks at the Princeton Football Stadium that we went to. They were fun to watch. Lydia was scared of them again but I got her to stop crying sooner this time around. (Thanks again to fairies) at the end of the show they must have forgotten to light a couple fireworks and they went off at a weird time. Lydia actually saw them this time before she could hide. She started a nervous laugh and said how it was silly the fairies surprised us. And again like last time she was adamant about calling the 'fairies' to thank them for the show, which over the phone she talked about them like she was watching and enjoyed it....go figure.

On the 4th we decided to follow the tracks of the Revolutionary soldiers and see a site where the battle of Monmouth occurred. It was cool to walk along the same trail by the same fence and up to the same house it all happened. We were the only ones there.

On the way home there was a peach orchard that we stopped by and picked some peaches.

The middle of the month was fairly uneventful. Errands, housework, library visits, our weekly visit to the farm, exploring some new parks, etc. Our favorite thing has been the pool that is a part of the complex. There have been some really hot and humid days here and the pool has aloud us a way to get outdoors.

I got to celebrate my 27th b-day early due to a family vacation Lydia and I will be going on. Rob took Saturday off of work and we went and saw kids play in the park (the little mermaid). I especially loved how they used Justin Bieber as the prince's statue! We then walked around Washington Crossing. We made some Baklava that I have been dying to try for my cake and had a small party for FHE on monday.
It was a lot of fun and was thoughtful of Rob and Lydia.

Favorite Lydiaism's of the month:
When Lydia cuts with the scissors she is so concentrated that her mouth will open and close with the scissors without her knowing.

She has starting making up her own stories (which are fun to listen too) each story consists of the phrase "and one day" at least 15 times in a louder and drawn out voice. love it.

Oh and for those who have been asking for a pregnancy shot here is one (I was going for a catalog shot but it came off studio ;D......

June Life

2011-06-30T19:44:00.000-07:00

(Belmont Horse Races)

(cousins)

(Glass blowing workshop at Asbury Beach, Lydia got to make a mural, Anika and Alyssa got to make a blown glass thing)

(Avalon Beach)

(Monmouth Battle reenactment)

(Lydia makes 'soup' while I am in the bathroom. Note that she got all ingredients on her own into the bowl and even chopped the potato with her kids knife, scary but secretly I am a really proud mother.)

The month of June was full of adventures. Chad came down with Anika and Alyssa for a week and then the girls stayed for another two weeks after. We did all sorts of things including: NYC, Philly, Two beaches (there was a whale at the first one!), Monmouth Battle Reenactment, Girl Party, Cooking class, chuck-e-cheese (my first time there),visits to farms, fireworks, ghost tours, fishing at the canal, Belmont horse races, and Rob and I going on a date....yes a real date to the Princeton Art Museum (free with an AMAZING collection)
I have started swimming laps again since the pool at our complex is open, Rob is working like a mad man but keeping his cool. Lydia loved having her cousins around. Child is most likely a girl, but they can't say anything for sure because the child was uncooperative during ultrasound in that department so it is only a guess but I am 24 weeks along with the expected due date of Oct. 31.....what are the chances they actually come out then??????

Current Lydia-isms
Loves fairies especially Silvermist (water fairy) and Iradessa (light fairy). Those fairies have helped Lydia though some tough times, aka loud fireworks that scared her until we told her we though Irradessa must be helping to make them. Going to bed, it turns out fairies leave a little treat in a fairy stocking if you fall asleep by yourself (she though of it, not me). She calls them on the phone (thanks for those who help with that one ;D) and is currently wanting to skype tinkerbell to find out where she is because she hasn't found the fairy tree around our house (any volunteers??? She does make fairy houses.

Also She is potty trained fully. Other than the slight detail of we had her pee in the trees while fishing, she liked it so much that she is constantly asking to go to the bathroom in the trees at home, she has gone poop in her emptied garbage can and in a empty yogurt container than she then buried inside one of my herb pots (another plant bites the dust) clever but not gonna work.

Funny things.....burped and laughed really hard saying "I farted out of my mouth!!!",

Lydia in May

2011-06-02T10:52:00.000-07:00

Thought that you all might enjoy some pics.
We had a week of rainy weather. I got desperate for some indoor activities to keep us from going crazy. Finger painting was a big success. Lydia loved it and keeps asking to do it again.
Clean-up wasn't as bad as you might imagine from the pic

Other activities have included dress-up, making bread, and barbies, and building with blocks (yes there is a lot of 'girl' in her)

For now the sun is out and we are in the 80's-90's. F
For Memorial Day Lydia and I went to a pancake breakfast and parade by the Princeton campus. We picked up Rob from work and went to a Revolutionary War Re-enactment at an old battle ground from the war. On Monday we went to a ward picnic at a park.

As for the new kid in the oven here is a picture at 16 weeks. I go in on the 14'th to find the sex of the child (plus all the other stuff =D)

We also went to Philly when we first got here. Here is a family pic at where they signed the Declaration of Independence

Should I Stay or Should I Go?

2011-03-11T22:14:00.000-08:00

I didn't realize people actually read this blog. I was in a weird mood when I wrote it, sorry if anyone read the original post. It was pretty out there.

Brother goes on Mission!!!

2009-06-20T14:31:00.000-07:00

My youngest brother, Jared, just left on a mission. He is going to Florida. Before he left Lydia and I got to go down and spend a week with him and the family. It was really good to be able to say goodbye in person. We did a lot of things from a pool party, hike, etc. What can I say I have a pretty awesome family!

Lydia Crawling

2009-06-20T14:23:00.000-07:00

I thought this was cute. Lydia goes back a forth from going on all fours and going on her hands and feet. This was 6:30am. Lydia just has to wake-up to say goodbye to Daddy....

Trish and Roc come.

2009-05-09T07:16:00.000-07:00

The fun continues. (Thanks to Southwest plane ticket sales!) Trish and Roc, Rob's parents, came to visit. We went North to the Tulip Festival and south to Mount Ranier and the Northwest Trek. At Mt. Ranier Lydia touches snow for the first time, and we had the word's best blackberry pie. The Mariners had a turn back the clock night where they made everything seem like how the team was in 1939. So naturally I was more worried about getting there in time for a free throwback hat than I was to see the game. It was a fun week. Lydia was incredibly patient and good with the long car drives and late nights which helped make the week even more fun!

Spit-up Happens

2009-05-08T07:33:00.000-07:00

Just thought you should know

Girl Party!!!

2009-05-08T07:10:00.000-07:00

A very good friend from my childhood flew up to Seattle to visit. It was wonderful spending time with her I showed her the sights and we went to a play together. On Saturday another friend of ours drove up from Portland and we all spent time downtown together. For you movie buffs, this picture is where Tom Hanks sat during a scene in Sleepless in Seattle.
It was a fabulous weekend.

Rob B-day

2009-05-08T07:04:00.000-07:00

Rob had a Birthday on April 19. We celebrated by going to a Taco Stand inside of a school bus and then going to the batting cages the Saturday before and then having B-day cake and flying his remote control helicopter that he got. The joke is that Rob is the kid that I never had...I think that Lydia finds this offensive.

Visitors!!!

2009-04-05T21:28:00.000-07:00

I must say that I am very grateful to Southwest for having a really good deal on plane tickets recently. It has made March-May pretty exciting. Rob's brother, Chad came to visit as did my Mom. We had some good times. As always it went to fast. Luckily more visitors will be coming soon!

Here are some fun pics of life lately. These are of Rob and Lydia thinking that they are a Bob Marley and JT. And then us taking some pics of us supporting the Huskies (too bad that can't win a game!)

Last of all here is Lydia looking cute in the dress that Anika (her cousin) got her in Hawaii, since Rob and I were not able to make it. Oh and Lydia in a bear hat that my sister got her. I think that no kid should go without one of these. As Tyra Banks would say, "This is fierce!"

Christmas/New Year Break

2009-01-17T20:22:00.000-08:00

Finally I blog about Christmas and New Years. Christmas and New Years was a great break for Rob, Lydia and I. Lydia and myself went down to Utah early to spend some more time with family and friends. It was great. I got to spend some time with my new nephews and friends I have not seen in far to long.

We did a lot of fun activities from Girls Night out to watch the all so corny 'Vampire Movie' to bowling to being introduced to an awesome rock band by my brother. It was so fun to be with the family. Lydia got a chance to see snow for the first time, but as it turns out she would have had that experience in Seattle as well. While we were in Utah Rob was in middle of the worst snow storm Seattle had experienced in the last 15 years. We were not sure that his plane would take off on the 23'rd! Luckily he made it and Christmas was saved! It is probably the last time (at least in a really long time) that all my family will be together for Christmas. So we took the classic family picture. It only took about 100 shots to get a descent picture. So not to burst your bubble but most pictures did not turn out even close to this.

After Christmas we took a reminiscent road trip to Las Vegas to spend New Years with Rob's family. Rob and I were a little nervous how Lydia would handle the six hour drive and by some miracle she did really well. In fact she slept for about 4 hours of it (which really is a miracle!!!)

In Vegas we soaked up the sunshine took the ever so important pilgrimage to Ghiradelli ice cream shop to have some of the best ice cream ever!! It so happens that the ice cream hut is right by a music stage that is always playing some sort of funky music. Rob's mom (Trish) and I decided to be hot shots and dance to a little music off to the side. Little did we know that Disco Steve (the lead singer) would run over to us and practically drag us onto the main area. Luckily Trish and I had some killer moves to impress the bystanders with. Unfortunately it got caught on camera....yikes....

New Years Eve was fun and we celebrated my watching Momma Mia. For some reason Rob was unable to stay awake during these festivities...
Anika (one of our nieces) was very effective at waking him up though so by the time the clock struck twelve we were all awake.

As always the break went to quickly and it was time to fly back to Seattle. Before leaving for the break I had been having nightmares about what could happen with a baby on the plane. On the way down she slept so on the way back my guard was down and she had a major blowout I just had to throw the outfit away because it was so bad. Of course this was literally the only time I did not have a spare outfit in the diaper bag. So she got my outer shirt very fashionable wrapped around her for the remainder of the trip. I made sure to let her know that this will be the only time that she will get away with such a scandalous outfit in public.
That was the break we are now adjusting to life in Seattle. We can't wait to have Family come and visit in March and April.

Thanksgiving

2008-12-08T22:18:00.000-08:00

This was our first year hosting a Thanksgiving. Rob's Aunt flew up from Arizona and Pat, a friend from Seattle, came over. We had a good relaxed day and of course the turkey was 3 hours late! Here is a picture of Rob's Aunt Michelle (Lydia's middle name is after her) and Lydia together.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

2008-10-31T23:58:00.000-07:00

Ok so Rob and I were pretty lame this Halloween. We went to the Whole Foods Cafeteria for dinner and then watched a funny movie. Yup didn't even have the energy to be scared. Rob and I had the great idea to dress-up Lydia as a Hippie with a really cool tye-dye onsie that was given to us. Lydia on the other hand had another idea and promptly peed all over the onsie when I was changing her diaper in the morning before any pics could be taken. That lead to plan B (which Lydia seemed to like better) where Lydia was an Angel. It was very obvious to see that Rob and I were walking zombies.

Happy Halloween!!!

A mouse, a baby and a move

2008-10-16T19:50:00.000-07:00

OK Lydia will be 8 weeks this Saturday, I think it is finally time that I write a little but about it all. (From a girls perspective that is). First of all Lydia was ten days past her due date. Needless to say I was ready for her to get moving. In the meantime by Mom was helping us pack so that we could move to our new apartment. While cleaning she noticed two suspicious objects under our stove. I thought that maybe it could be moldy food that got stuck under there only vegetables don't have tails. We got out a flashlight and saw that there were two mice!!! YIKES! This got me really worked up and grossed out. I had to keep from gagging. When my mom got the nerve to scoop them out from under the stove, to our relief we learned that the previous tenants of our apartment were really good practical jokers....the mice were fake!

I believe it was the fright that these mice scared Lydia out of my womb, because the next morning I was in labor. Rob already gave the low-down on that experience so I won't bore you with the same details. What I will is that I did not plan to feel as much joy and awe for this kid as I do. She surpasses all expectations that I could have come up with.

She was born Saturday August 13, we were in the hospital until 9:00pm Sunday night and the move was on Wens. (Oh ya I couldn't really walk or sit so well either during all of this.)

We moved into a little paradise. Aka the bottom level of a home that is about 200 feet from a lake/park. I LOVE where we live! Getting everything put together has really been a work in progress so I don't have pics of the inside of our apartment yet.

We like to take walks by the lake and do quite a bit, here is a pic I took of Rob holding Lydia there last Saturday.

The first couple of weeks after we had Lydia there was a lot of help. First my Mom came, was a lifesaver in so many ways, she helped finish painting the front room in our apartment, distracted me when the baby would not come, helped pack and unpack from a move, help take care of a baby, and just about anything else you could think of. She was great!

Here is a pic of the two of us right after the move. The welcome sign behind us was made by our wonderful upstairs neighbors. The whole family signed it (including the dog, cat, and chickens who they had put paint on their paws and walk across the paper!) it was really thoughtful of them.

After my mom my sister and her whole family came so Lydia was able to get to know some of her cousins. It was really fun having them around and I was able to learn a little better how to get out and about with a baby. Rob and Jared were able to go to the BYU/University of Washington football game too. It was a really close game and they had a lot of fun.

Last but not least. Lydia got to meet some of her girl cousins and her other Grammy. Rob's mom came up with our two nieces and they helped us gain to take the final steps to rebuild our sanity before everyone left us to fend for ourselves. Rob was able to take our nieces (Anika and Alyssa) on a day date. He took them on their first canoe ride on the lake and then to a pottery shop where they got to paint and glaze their own ceramics and then have them put into a kiln.

They were also here for the baby blessing as was Rob's Dad and step-mom with some of their kids. At the beginning of the blessing we thought that Rob was pausing because he was getting emotional about having such a beautiful baby girl, it turns out that it was really that the dress she was wearing was a little slippery and he was trying to make sure she wouldn't slip out of his hands! Oops. Luckily no baby was dropped and the day was a very special experience.

We loved all the help we got and loved having so much family around. Life is rich and full which also mean lacking in sleep. Oh well we will get sleep soon enough. Lydia is growing so fast we wouldn't want to miss a second of it anyways.

Pictures that Sage and Allison Wheeler took for us...thanks again guys!!!!

2008-09-02T15:48:00.000-07:00

Lydia Michelle Oslund

2008-08-25T10:09:00.000-07:00

Alright, so with Jen absolutely wiped out after giving birth, Jen has delegated the first baby post to me. So, here are a few pics and no it was not my idea to have her pose next to a football...she actually wanted it.

Jen and Lydia are doing good. Jen delivered unmedicated which meant I had to really be at the top of my game. I have been lifting weights the past year to beef up my pipe cleaner arms in anticipation of this day. She really squeezed my left arm back down to its bone. At one point she was biting me which was something that I wasn't too prepared for. The whole experience was great and Jen really showed her true colors...she is a true soldier. The only negative experience was the male anesthesiologist who tried to push Jen into getting an epidural right when we got there. At one point I started to wonder if anyone read her birth plan at all (I think maybe they have women write a birthplan just so they feel good...but then again I am a chemist so what do I really know about this!).

Lydia Michelle was born on August 23rd at 1:02am weighing 8lbs 6ozs and was 20 inches long. Towards the end of labor, Lydia's heart beat dropped pretty low so they had to pull her out with a vacuum suction device as Jen pushed. There were a few extra doctors in the room because of that, but she passed all their tests. She also found her lungs immediately as she has mastered the art of crying...especially during the night time. We got home last night at about 9:30pm and one of the first things I did was look for a baby pic of Jen. Jen and Lydia look really similar which is a good thing because I am not the most handsome of people, and having a girl version of me roaming the earth would be down right wrong.

I am sure more pictures of Lydia will be posted by Jen as she grows. So baby and mom are doing great. Now it on to moving to our new place this week....yeah for adventures!

My Two Undergrads

2008-08-06T14:14:00.001-07:00

I was thinking about how most of our future blogs will be filled with pictures of Lydia and stories about her and what not and then I realized I shouldn't leave out two other youngsters I work closely with. I have two undergrads that have been working with me for at least this past year. Nate (black shirt shaved head) is a 19 year old whiz kid who joined college at the age of sixteen. Phil (black hair on couch) is about to graduate. Phil's recent GRE quantitative score I think was higher than my verbal and quant scores COMBINED. Of all the graduate students around me, a small minority have an undergrad working with them...somehow I have two. At first I thought that it would be a little overwhelming, but the hard part is being intellectually challenged from below. My Boss is way smarter than I am and dealing with that can sometimes be difficult, so having two young guns below who are smarter than I am can sometimes leave me wondering where I fit in. Its all good though, I got over the fact that I wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed the time I was 9 or 10 years old and riding on a doom buggy and jumped off to help slow it down and got ran over in the process...yeah that pretty much did it for me.

Phil will be leaving our midst at the end or August and Nate will hopefully be sticking around. I did such a good job mentoring Phil that he is preparing to head into the Peace Corps. I can only wonder what fast food restaurant Nate will pick once I am done mentoring him! They work hard and here is a picture of me giving each of them $1 for their efforts (actually, Phil I took $2 dollars out of your wallet to pay you both, so Nate you owe Phil $1). If I couldn't teach them much intellectually so I hope they learned to value hard work a little bit and know that good ideas aren't much without the wings of hard work.

Brad and Tess Parker Visit and 4th Floor BBQ

2008-08-06T06:48:00.000-07:00

Man this summer sure is flying by. Our great Friends Brad, Tess and Laney Paker came to stay with us during their trip to the Pacific Northwest. It was fun to see them again and joke around like we used to when Brad and I were roomies at SUU. Their daughter is so cute and unfortunately I don't have a picture to post of them, check their blog bradandtess.blogspot.com. I do have a pic of Brad and I at the 5k that we ran in downtown Seattle. There is a messed up story behind this race...apparently they forgot to send a guy (or even put out a cone) at the turnaround, so the top 30 of us ran 4 minutes longer! Now you look at a skinny person like me and think no problem...but behind all that thick muscle is a mercedes benz engine that one can so easily envision, but actually more like a little lawn mower engine that hasn't been well oiled (if you ask Jen she will tell you its because I eat crappy food...against her wishes I must add). Adding another four mintues was the death of me in the race (in all my low key training I don't think I ran more than 3.1 miles exactly). I wanted to break 18 minutes, but my time was 22:22 minutes. If you take off 4 minutes for the extra portion that we ran, another 22 seconds due to being tired from the extra 4 minutes that I ran, another 30 seconds for having to weave in and out of all the people on the way back, another 15 seconds for the strong waffle smell just off the Alaskan viaduct that was somewhat nauseating, and at least another 10 seconds for having to analyze all this and I would say that I did pretty well. Its all good though because I complained and got free registration for next year. So check out our blog in one year from now because I am actually going to train and eat right (I promise sweetie!) and I will be ready to roll...SON!!!!

Another co-worker and myself put together a 4th floor chemistry bbq at Matthews Beach. It was one of the best events I have participated in since I have been in grad school. Almost everyone showed up, the meat was awesome (thanks Jen for going against what I thought was a good idea and totally rocking the show in the hamburger deparment...people have still been talking about your hamburger patties!!!). Now I know what your thinking, chemistry bbq equals one big nerd fest...but I balanced things by bringing my football to toss around just so we could blend in with the rest of the folks at the park....whew! Here in this pick is good friend of mine from the lab named Zhanglin. He taught me all I know about cell culturing. He will be leaving our midst at the end of this month. It was a good time.

I think that about does it for blogs about us...hopefully the next one is about the arrival of Lydia. We are really excited for the life change and to have a new addition to our home.

Baby Showers!

2008-08-05T08:18:00.000-07:00

Only a week to go until my due date. Pregnancy has taught me a great many things, one of which is how generous and loving people are! Above is a picture of my first baby shower (a couple of months ago) that my Mom and sister threw for me in Utah. It was really fun to see old friends and family along with neighbors I grew-up with.

Recently some friends threw a shower and they really made it special! It was so fun to spend time with everyone. Lydia is definitely hooked-up for a while now! You may notice that I am not the only pregnant woman in the picture (even though I am the one due in a week)! This goes to show that Lydia will have plenty of friends to play with as well.

Thanks again everyone for how generous and loving you have been! It has really made this pregnancy special and so much easier to prepare for.

Happy B-day/Lydia is coming in less than two weeks!!!

2008-08-05T08:06:00.000-07:00

It’s official; as of July 29 I am now 24 years old. Too bad maturity doesn’t always come with the age… It was a good B-day. I was pretty tired and so we went and had dinner and watched a chick-flick at home. Only two more weeks until my due date! It is crazy to think that Lydia can come anytime now. It is hard to say whether or not I feel ready since I am not exactly sure what to expect! Let’s just say I am really excited to see her and start this new stage of our lives! The pregnancy has been really mild and the only real difference is that I have been more tired this past month and when I walk, I waddle and it looks like there is a stick stuck in my rear (sorry for the gross visual). Rob and I found a two bedroom apartment that we will be moving into by the end of August. We will put up pictures of that soon.

Rock Out

2008-08-05T07:55:00.000-07:00

As a part of my graduation gift from my Dad and Kelli, Rob and I went to an outdoor concert at Marymoor Park the beginning of July. We listened to Live, Collective Soul, and the Blues Travelers (all bands that I idealized my high school days). It was really cool. We got a bonus feature too, once a good portion of the crowd had their alcohol settle in, Rob and I got to see some killer dancing too! Lets just say good music doesn’t always lead to good dancing. Granted seeing an eight month pregnant woman ready to rock out probably entertained a good amount of people as well.
Unfortunately no cameras were allowed in the area so I have no real evidence that any of this really happened. But then again I might be doing you a favor sparing you from seeing the details!

Happy 4th pre-baby vacation

2008-07-06T18:59:00.001-07:00

Well, Jen and I took a little break from life before Lydia comes to see a little more of the Northwest and to celebrate the 4th of July. We went to Orcas Island and stayed at a bed and breakfast. Of all the San Juan Islands, I think Jen and I both love this one the most. It isn't as touristy as Friday Harbor, and it has some small mountains that really liven up the terrain. We actually caught Mt. Constitution on a semi-sunny day.

On the 4th, we went to Friday Harbor. We drove around the island on a scooter. We had to make a stop at 4th of July Beach which is a craptastic beach with not much to see...I am not sure why they even went out of their way to designate it a beach, let alone waste such a good name like '4th of July' on it (my pregnant wife pointing at the sign was actually way more interesting than the beach itself...trust me).

We stayed at Buck Bay Farms Bed and Breakfast, I highly recommend it. Great Food, Great Service and Great People. They even have satelite tv and high speed internet in case being in the woods is too isolating. They also had sheep to feed, a tiny little pond to check out, lavender to pick, and a bottomless jar of cookies.

We had a blast, like most vacations, we came out more tired than we went in. The point was to rest up, but I think that plan back fired. Well, we hope everyone had a great 4th of July and are enjoying their summers!!!!

Miracles Happen!!!

2008-06-29T19:37:00.000-07:00

This blog now proves that miracles do happen. I don't know what is the bigger miracle, my graduating from college or my actually blogging about it....I guess time will tell.

It is official I graduated with my BS in Nutrition from Bastyr University last Monday (June 23) Rob's parents and my Dad and his significant other (Kelli) all came down to visit. It was great having them all there to support me, Thanks guys!!! Luckily it was not too hard for them to find me in the crowd during the ceremony, it turns out that a 7.5 month pregnant woman who is a foot taller than the person she is sitting by is not to hard to miss!

Other than that Rob and I are getting ready for Lydia to come 6 weeks to go! I can't believe how fast it has gone. Lately I haven't had any classic pregnant moments, though I must admit in the beginning I had a few classic stories! Oh the joys of maternity!

Yeah, we are pretty lame at this

2008-06-05T22:02:00.000-07:00

Okay, for those that still actually read this blog, our regrets for not updating this as much as we should...I want to say that its because we have been pretty busy...but then I realize that so is everyone else.

Where to start...the stork is scheduled to drop off our baby this August. To prepare, we bought car seat...I think we are pretty much set. Jen disagrees. I would spout off her list of "things" that we need but that would take a lot of blogs to cover. We are both really excited for the arrival of Lydia. Her name will be Lydia Michelle. First name is because it seemed to fit nice, and middle name is after my Aunt whom Jen and I absolutely cherish. You can't always be 100% sure of a name, so we have reserved Gertrude Agnes in case Lydia Michelle doesn't quite fit.

Lets see. I recently passed my general exam. I am trying my hardest to come up with a positive or non-offensive adjective to describe the experience. Needless to say, I passed and it is over. Jen came over to the UW to go out and celebrate. Those exams can really leave you feeling empty, but to make up for it, my boss let me teach his organic chemistry class. He now even lets me feed his fish when he goes on trips (man, this PhD thing is really moving me up in this world).

As for Jen, she is in the final stretch of school. On June 23rd she will graduate with her Bachelors in Nutrition. Hopefully she will blog about that when it happens. We actually try to get out and enjoy this time of year...when the Sun is suppose to be out. I took this pregger snapshot of Jen at a place called Carkeek Park...

Oh and as the weeks go by, Jen has been feeling a 'nesting' urge. I guess it is pretty common among the pregnant folk. To remedy this, we bought Jen a bird feeder for our porch. The bird feeder attracts a bird called a Steller's Jay.

These guys are pretty smart. They first would come by only once or twice a day to get some food, but they now come by about 10 times a day and take loads of peanuts. I guess they bury them or throw them and lesser birds or sell them at Mariners games or something...I don't know.

Anyway, thats all on us. Hopefully we will turn a few more blogs out this summer.

Little Miss Oslund

2008-03-14T17:23:00.000-07:00

Well, we have some exciting news to announce...we are having a baby girl in August!!!!

We just found out this Monday what our baby was going to be. I already knew month ago that we were going to have a girl...I guess her and I already have that connection. Yeah, I am secretly hoping that she ends up a daddy's girl. I think of all the fun things we will do together...me taking her full speed in a baby carrier around Green Lake, a baseball game or two, a football game or two, and hopefully a basketball game or two. I will do my best to make sure she is educated in the ways of college sports...this I know!!!

So that leaves me with a question for everyone out there (I have 16 years to answer this, but you can never be too prepared for this).

Which of the following weapons below should I invest in?

The one on the left is a state of the art M16 that would scare most out of their witts, but in this case I only care about 16 year old hormone-crazed boys. The one on the right is a ramulon disruptor rifle seen on star trek. I have never actually seen what it could do to a living organism, but if some young hotshot brings my daughter home even 10 minutes late, I would have no problem seeing what type of 'disruptin' this little guy is capable of.

Of course, I am open to suggestions...so let me know.

I wish I could say that this was the only big news to consume our lives, but Jen and I have been super busy...if our lack of blogs aren't evidence of that.

Besides being pregnant, Jen is busy being a full time student and full time worker at Super Sups . She has finals next week and will then head to SLC to hang with her family for a few days. She is really looking forward to that.

As for me, pretty much the same old thing. Just busy with work and preparing for a big exam on April 1st.

Jens pregnancy has been pretty mild (knock on wood). She has been pretty chill and not too moody. However, this morning was pretty funny though. I came out from the bedroom at my usual 5:20am only to find Jen busy in the kitchen cutting up potatoes, onions, and a whole assortment of other veges and fruits. Something you would expect at a Vegas Style buffet. She was all fired up about eating healthy and she started telling me about how tired she is of eating bad food and the negative effects it has on a persons body. At one point during her monologue, I looked down at my freshly prepared toast drenched in magarine (much to Jen's demise, I love magarine) and actually felt a little guilty for my poor health habits, until that is, I sunk my teeth into the warm toast and let the magarine absorb into my blood. At the end of her speech, Jen looked at me and asked if she was being too extreme...now I am not dumb, I knew not to answer that one...never answer an open ended question from your wife that you don't have a way out of.

On a serious note, Jen and I are doing well here in the Emerald City and loving every minute of it.

Catch up Blog...2007 gone in a FLASH!!!

2008-01-09T12:23:00.000-08:00

Well, its been a while since we last put something down in our blog. So for all that we missed, Happy Halloween, Happy Thanksgiving, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Looking back, we were extremely busy the last part of 2007.

We carried on the Halloween Party Tradition at our home. It was started by Jake and Nicole Froerer recently gone from our ward and it was so much fun that we wanted to keep it going. Unfortunately though, I am still a little bitter about it since I lost best costume (I was 2x reigning champion) to Scott Hale the robot man. This year I am going to represent to the fullest (its one of my new years goals right above reporting every perpetrator illegally using the carpool lane).

After Halloween, our next big event was Thanksgiving. We bought thick juicy steacks and grilled them on our new grill (Thanks Tom and Kelly). We had a good friend Craig over from our ward and ate some steaks and watched Spiderman III.

Next we went to another UW football game where they actually beat Cal. Did I say how much I love college football? It seems like they win whenever I go, so Coach Ty if you are reading this can you hook me up with some season tickets? You bet I will be there in less than 8 months for UWs win over the Y.

Lastly, in 2007 we went down to Vegas and SLC. It was our first vacation longer than 3 days this whole year. Vegas was awesome, we went to the temple, we played Rockband of PS 3, we took some family pics, we watched movies at home, did the jacuzzi thing, and had a wonderful Christmas of course. My favorite part was staying over at my Brother's house on Christmas eve and watching my Nieces open their gifts on Christmas morning. Speaking for my wife, I know her most favorite event was our trip to see "Phantom of the Opera" at the Venetian Hotel. The stage effects were awesome and, to top it off, it only lasted 1hr and 45 minutes. Normally you have to see the 3.5 hr version pretty much everywhere else. So guys, if you want to please your woman without inflicting too much pain on yourself, check out the Phantom at the Venetian. You will have to ask Jen sometime about how I tricked her into thinking that the Phantom here in Vegas was a topless version...lets just say the joke wasn't as funny as I had planned.

SLC was awesome too. We saw a lot of Jens family and had a good time hanging out at her house. I even had a root beer with my cute little nephew Tyler. We really enjoyed seeing the Church Museum right next to the family history center. They have upgraded from 2.5 years ago when we were last there. They have done a really nice job and I recommend it to everyone. We celebrated New Years by playing boggle, and watching her neighbors light off illegal fireworks...we are talking the hardcore kind that you have to go to the park or other open spaces and watch professionals light off. I threatened to call the Police or even Bishop on these people. I am turning into quite the hypocrite, because I was once a pyromaniac myself, but when you do it everyday in a lab, the fire and explosions start to lose there effect. We finished up our trip sledding and freezing in the snow.

We hope that everyone reading this had a great New Years and Christmas as well. We are so thankful for our friends and family. Thank you for all you have done for us and been to us in our lives. Best Wishes on a happy and exciting 2008.

Surprise B-day for my boss!!!!

2007-10-26T18:38:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I took a pretty big risk and helped plan a surprise bday party for my boss. The reason it was so risky, is because my boss has a reputation for being a little "gruff" and so we absolutely had no idea how he might take it, but he was turning 50 and, well, it was something we had to do. We were smart about it though and enlisted the help of his wife and a few other professors...however, I still gave 3-1 odds that he would not take it very well.

To my great surprise, he absolutely loved it. We had about 50 people from the dept show up and had a professor lure him into room where we were waiting. Two other grad students and myself prepared a gentle "roast" of "how to think like mike gelb." We included such things as quotes from the undergraduate classes that he teaches ("It's only five points, it's not gonna mess up your life. And if it does, your life is messed up already") to funny emails that we have received.

We then had some cake for him and enjoyed a few minutes chatting. He was extremely delighted and said he was surprised that anyone would do something like this for him. It was a risk well taken. With that said, lets just hope that I don't come in tommorrow and find all my stuff in a box outside my office...

My Uncle Kelly's Wedding Reception

2007-09-30T16:16:00.000-07:00

My Uncle Kelly (the less handsome of the two in the pic above) got married the beginning of Sept. and had a reception this past weekend in the small, but beautiful town of Dunsmuir, Ca. I wasn't going to miss this event for the world. Kelly is one of my best friends and one of those kind of people that would give you the shirt of their back. It was great to see him and his awesome wife Jasmine. We are excited to have her in our family!

The reception was great, I spent a good deal of my time interviewing people at the wedding on camera to get advice for the newly weds. Also, there was some fun dancing that went. I was also exposed to the art of burning sage. Now, if you have never smelled burning sage, it smells an awful lot like marijuana, so for a while I thought I was at a hemp fest and I started to worry about getting a contact high and my future in my church, until someone told me later that it was sage. I thought they were lying until I looked it up on wikipedia. I guess sage is to marijuana what O'doul's is to beer!

I spent most of the time with my mom (in glasses) and aunt (black shirt). They are a lot of fun and made the whole trip great. They even bought me new clothes to wear because they didn't like what I was wearing. Eventhough I am 26, my ego isn't big enough yet to let my mom and aunt buy clothes for me (or maybe its because I am a broke grad student). Unfortunately, my wife was not able to attend the festivities due to work and school, but she was there in spirit.

Congrats again Jasmine and Kelly!!!!

Visit from Dad and Kelly

2007-09-16T13:34:00.000-07:00

My dad and is girlfriend/fiance came and visited the beginning of this month. We went to different areas around the city and also showed them where we went to school. It was a lot of fun having them around. After seeing our apartment they decided that we were is great need of a BBQ and so we got an early Christmas present! We are waiting for the shipment to come in and until them I keep fantisizing on what would have to me the first thing we grill...
Now that all of our visitors have come and gone Rob and I are focusing on work, school, and grilled steak... Thanks for coming Dad and Kelly

2007-09-09T10:48:00.000-07:00

U-DUB WINS!!! Jen and I went to yesterday's game against Boise State. It was a lot of fun. Brian Turner (our hometeacher) gave us his tickets which were great seats (50 yard line). I told Bro. Turner that the tickets are worth at least 12 months of hometeaching visits...

It was a great game. Its especially nice to see Coach Tyrone off to a great start. Their schedule is hard, so who knows what will turn out the rest of the season...but we had a blast watching them win.

I might as well throw in here how much I love college football. Unlike the NFL which seems mostly about contracts and who gets paid more (plus its on sundays), college football is a little bit more about the game and about coaching. You are constantly losing players each year, so recruiting is important, as is team chemistry. I love the fact that a walk on can become a star, or a Boise State can beat Oklahoma. Its a fun game with a lot of energy and thrills...now if I could only get my wife to feel the same!

The video is pretty crappy, I admit. I had another video that was much better, but apparently I didn't save it to the phone...but this gives you a little idea of what 70,000 plus fans at Husky Stadium feels like.

HOOD TO COAST

2007-08-28T07:46:00.000-07:00

We got 'er did!!! 18 stops, 197 miles, 15 honey bucket stops(8 in the dark), less than an hour of sleep totals up to one crazy adventure. It was unlike any other race that I have performed in previously in that it is very team oriented (obviously). We were a 12 person team divided into two groups. Here I am with my team (van 1) at the start with Mount Hood right behind us. I ran 3 legs at 9:45pm, 4:30am, and 1:20pm respectively. They were very challenging as I treated each one as a race (not smart considering that I didn't train very well). I averaged 6:30 pace for the first 6 mile leg, 6:12 pace for the next 5.8 mile leg, and 7:00 for the last 6 mile leg (in case anyone really cares...I am putting it here so I don't forget.)

This was taken on my last leg at the top of a very steep 4 mile incline (luckily I had 2 miles of a steep downhill to the finish). My team was awesome! Aside from cheering me on with make shift finish lines like the one above, we would frequently stop to cheer each other on. We were named the "underpants gnomes" which apparently is from South park which I have never watched so I didn't really get it, but people who saw our name would laugh along the way. In fact someone evenly left a fresh pair of whitie tighties on our front windshield which he proudly taped to the back of our van. We finished 24th out of 292 teams in our division (it took us 24 hours and 41 minutes, which is about 7:30 pace).

Before I finish this little blog, I would like to thank my amazing wife for supporting me and motivating me to get out and train. What really made my day was when I got home after the race and saw she had bought me both Fruit Loops (an outlawed cereal in our home) and tillamook ice cream, two huge favorites of mine, to celebrate. Can it get any better than that? I submit to you that it cannot!

...Now its on to college football season!

Family and Friends Blitz

2007-08-08T08:18:00.000-07:00

My Parents came into town last weekend and I guess the question is "What didn't we do?" From riding a seaplane around Seattle (one of the coolest things I have ever done) to visiting our Cannuck neighbors to the North, to watching the Mariners barely lose to the Red Sox at Safeco field, I came away from this "vacation" more exhausted than I went into it. It was great to see my parents, we caught up on current events and I played tour guide and showed them around.

My dad I went fishing on the Sound and caught us some coho salmon. Well, he did most of the catching. What I thought was a fish was really a jelly fish on the line. When I brought it up, I was going to keep it to at least walk away with something, but the skipper of the boat wouldn't let me (he said they don't make good eatin'). We also went up to Hurricane Ridge on a clear day...looks like a scene straight out of "The Sound of Music". In fact I was waiting for Julie Andrews to walk into the scene a bust a few notes.

It was a great break! In fact, I was able to see more of my wife during this time. Lately she has been working nights at supersupplements, so when she gets home I am usually asleep. There is a plus side to her working at supersupplements though, because now we get all these free samples. From cod liver to glucosamine to "natural gum", we are getting the hook ups. I have been begging her to get us some polyjuice that harry potter uses.

Before my parent came, my good buddy Andy Dixon and his wife and son came to visit. It was a good time. We went canoing, and we took them to one of our favorite restaurants (Tutta Bella). Watching them with their son doesn't make having kids so bad...so recently we ordered our kid off of ebay, but the little tiger hasn't come in yet. Apparently, he got caught up in customs. Oh well...until then I will continue to be Jen's big boy.

Gittin' her Potter on

2007-07-22T07:35:00.001-07:00

Let me first start out by saying my wife if a huge Potter fan. This picture was taken at 1:30 am on Saturday morning as we returned from the Barnes and Noble (hereafter refered to as "B and N") midnight magic party where Jen got her Potter book (she stayed up till almost 4:30am reading it!!!). While I definitely admire Rowling and her writing skills, I have not taken the time to read her books yet until this one came out (I was able to use wikipedia for the other books and catch up on all the details :)). Sadly, I only had time for the last five chapters which were some of the best modern writing I have laid eyes on (some of you may think I don't read enough...but if you were to read all the boring science papers that I trudge through, I am certain you would agree with me). I wish there were more creative writers like her living in this world.

The Potter book did not come without a sacrifice. Jen went Friday morning to line up and get her reserved bracelet at B and N so she would be one of the first in line when the book came out. It turns out that the line was too long and she couldn't get it. So Jen appointed me as the bracelet retriever. That required me running to B and N in the pouring ran (close to 1.5 miles), waiting in line soaking wet (I got a lot of stares), and then running back in the pouring rain protecting the little bracelet as if it was one of Voldemort's horcruxes. I would like to see Rowling try and crystalize that heroic event on paper. Come to think of it, I am the real hero of this blog.

I hope everyone reading this is doing well and that they are enjoying their Potter books as well!

Party in Seattle with the Family

2007-07-11T14:06:00.001-07:00

The fun keeps on coming this Summer, my Mom and two younger brothers (Justin and Jared) came and spent a week in Seattle. It was a blast showing them around to all the sites and showing them where we live. There were some intense nights playing a board game called Settlers of Catan, no matter what happened my mom always ended up winning! We also went through quite a bit of ice-cream, Rob and I introduced them to Tillamook ice-cream and my brothers were determined to try as many different flavors as possible. I have never had so much ice-cream... I think Rob felt like he was in heaven.
It was a lot of fun and we will miss having them around. The apartment will be a lot quieter.
Now it is off to work until the next visitors come at the end of the month.

Happy 50th Mom

2007-07-02T11:40:00.000-07:00

Jen and I went to Vegas this past weekend to surprise my mom for her 50th Birthday. It turned out to be quite the surprise. She didn't know it, but my brother (only showing his face in this picture) and his family and my aunt (green shirt) showed up to surprise my mom at a restaurant in Lake Las Vegas (unlike Seattle that has natural lakes, we make our own lakes in Las Vegas). While in Vegas, we also cruised the strip at one in the morning (That was acutally Jens idea believe it or not), we went to the Temple (so pretty), did some swimming, some bbqing and of course lit off some early fireworks. It was a great time, but the best part was definitely the look on my moms face when she saw us all there at the table.

IS IT SUMMER YET???

2007-06-07T22:13:00.000-07:00

I just realized that the whole month of May went along and we did not post a blog...how lame of us!!! Come to think of it, not much is really going on. Jen is extremely busy in school and finishes in a few weeks. I am just plugging away doing chemistry. Oh yeah, I am now training to run the HOOD TO COAST relay from Mt. HOOD to Seaside Oregon. 200 miles...(of course I will be part of a 12 person relay team). Thats about 17 miles a person (spread out over 3 different legs). So here I am dusting the local competition in Seattle.

Be on the lookout for some up and coming blogs from us this summer. Jens Mom and two younger brothers Justin and Jared are visiting us, my Parents visit us, and Jen's Dad and girlfriend Kelly are visiting us. We are really excited to have family see us and we absolutely have a blast when they do. I am sure we have you all on the edge of your seats waiting for the next blog.

Finally...I am out of the dog house!!!!

2007-04-27T14:22:00.000-07:00

Exactly one year later I made good on my promise to take Jen to the tulip festival. As you can see by the picture Jen looks happy. Its too bad that you can't see the relief-filled smile on my face as I take the picture.

In hindsight, I should not have rainchecked Jen's desire to go to the Tulip Festival in 2006. Think about it for a minute, that was one full year in the dog house. When I didn't feel like doing the dishes or taking out the trash, and especially when I was engaged in a college football game, Jen would use the Tulip festival card...until now.

It was very pretty, and I wish we would have went last year. The tulip festival is only about 1.2 hours from our house. My favorite part of the excursion was the pit stop at the factory stores. Banana Repulic has killer deals. If anything, come visit us for the deals they have at this factory outlet.

Trip to Canon Beach

2007-04-27T12:48:00.000-07:00

Recently Jen and I went to Cannon Beach, Oregon on a two day get away. That part of the Pacific Coast is absolutely amazing. Its a little different than the SoCal beaches Jen and I are most used to. There is a constant flux of waves coming in and there are interesting monoliths like the one pictured behind us called "Haystack."

All in all, the trip was fabulous! We went on a rain soaked bike ride, took nice walks along the beach, and saw a play (a surprise I did for Jen). If you haven't been, you should make a point to go there once (if you have extra room, you can even take us). We uploaded a video onto youtube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s87qJTIrU1E) of the rain soaked bike ride in case this post and accompanying picture aren't enough.