Date Night

It was not quite as exciting as the one with Steve Carrel and Tina Fey.... but only because Mark Walberg wasn't there..... The rest of it was awesome.

This was the view from the roof top of McMinnemins in McMinnville....that's a lot of M's and n's.

We ate here. It was incredible. And I looked good too....although no pictures to prove it. I wore my new boots and a military jacket.

Afterward we listened to a folk rock live band downstairs. 'Boulder Acoustic Society'. We bought their CD and talked to them afterward. One of the band members said they were on Itunes.... I told him that I thought they had "made it " than! He said, "tell that to my wife". I thought that was funny.

Amazing.

Benefits to living in the Country:

You see things like this on the way to Walmart.

This is an antique store in a big red barn in the middle of no where. We were taking the back roads to Walmart and thought I would stop on this beautiful day.

Grace at the entrance.

We didn't find anything, but can now mark it off my bucket list.....

Caves

On our trip down to Coos Bay this summer, we stopped at the Sea Lion Caves. Sooo cool. Sooo expensive.

This was the before shot. That other little girl would just not get out of the picture..... I figured I would just have to crop her out. Kind of funny.

The actual sea lions. They were all out sunning themselves and not in the caves on this day.

We took an elevator 300 feet below the ground. I thought it would be a little claustrophobic, but it was actually really cool.

The view from the north side, inside the caves. I couldn't get any pics of other views because there was 'no flash photography'.

The description:

The Lighthouse north of the caves.

LADY

GAGA

Someone much more poetic and prolific at writing could describe this experience.....I can only say it was FREAKIN AWESOME!!!

Kiran came up just for this concert this summer. It did NOT disappoint! Worth every penny and markup we paid for the tickets that were immediately sold out on the website, and doubled in price on Stub Hub moments later!

Purple hair??? I know of only ONE person who could rock that!!!

We were so excited to get in there.... and me, being the rule follower that I sometimes am, didn't bring my camera inside! The tickets said No Camera devises, the website said No Camera devises..... And I believed them. Well sucks to be ME, because EVERYONE had cameras!!! There were times we were 10 feet from Lady Gaga. I could actually see her face! The pics would have been amazing....

The below were taken with my sucky camera phone. I guess they are better than nothing.

Her entrance to JUST DANCE:

Craziness. I still smile thinking of it!

The Next Closest thing to a Beach

More catch up from this summer:

Kiran came to visit in Aug, it was a short trip and my heart always hurts when she leaves. We packed a lot of fun in this little visit, including some sunshine.

This spot actually has the word Beach in it's title.... Cottonwood Beach. And it really does feel like a 'beach' without the two our drive right on the Columbia.

Sisters.

I love my sisters. They understand me, make me laugh, make me want to be smarter. Help me to be compasionate. Force me to see myself as I really am, which is mostly better and sometimes worse than I think. I can't think of anyone I would rather be around.

Coos Bay Catch Up

The Bridge leading to Coos Bay and North Bend from this Summer's Trip

Visited the cemetery where many Gaunt relatives are buried.

Brian's Grandparent's house. He has so many memories of visiting them.

The local market where they frequented as kids and bought candy cigarettes.

Dylan, Brian, and Scott

Cousins.

On our last day there Brian, Scott, Dylan and cousin Steve rented four wheelers and cruised on the dunes.

Catch Up : The Wedding

Thought I would do some catch up blogging from this summer..... (Many posts to follow)

We headed down to Coos Bay in late August for Brian's Cousin Kirsty's wedding. It was beautiful, as was she! The setting was on these beautiful gardens right next to the Ocean.

Sadly, we got no pictures of the entire family....why would we, considering it was beautiful out and we were all dressed up.....

Bri with Sassy-kins.

Cutt'n a rug at the reception. This kid really has some rhythm....

Relaxing on our last day with cousin Rachel in the hot tub.