Our Trip to Oregon

This past weekend Derek and I decided to take a little adventure down to Portland, Oregon. We went mainly to visit our new little nephew Alejandro. What a beautiful baby boy he is, a full head of dark dark brown hair, perfectly round little face and cute and tiny as can be. Barely 3 weeks old, you truly realize what a precious gift from God children are. We also got to spend lots of good time with our 2.5 year old niece, Sophia, who is having a difficult time sharing mommy and daddy with baby brother. We got to give her some much needed extra attention and see how much she has grown up. It amazes me that I can sit down and actually have a full and real conversation with this girl. She is amazing and so stinkin smart. Overall, the time with the fam was great and we really loved being there. It made us wish we were closer to home (not that 6 hours is much of a drive to get home, but still).
While in Portland though, we were able to do what seemed like a million things. We rolled into town Thursday evening and Derek and I went to McMennamins where he met with Dan and I met with Jess. We went our own ways and took the time to catch up with our best friends. It was wonderful to see Jess, I hadn't seen her since Christmas and it is always wonderful and a blessing to be with her. There is no one else in the world that I can talk to so easily and comfortabley. It was just wonderful to see our friends. The next morning, Friday, we spent with Sophia at the park giving mommy a break and a chance to get out of the house. That afternoon Derek and I went to TARGET, it was glorious, we love it and always make sure we make at least one visit while in the states. I love Target and must say that they are doing a pretty good job keeping up with the current fasions. Makes my heart happy :)
Friday night was a big event and something Derek and I had been looking forward to for weeks. Meeting Dan's new girlfriend, Amanda. The four of us had dinner at her house and later went out for some dessert. It was so great to finally meet this mystery girl who we had been hearing about for months. She is a sweet and wonderful person and I am so excited to get to know her more and more. Dan is truly in love and it is so neat to see the guy so happy and satisfied. Seeing your friends happy brings a joy like none other, and that's what it was. Dan's life is completely different than what we all would have thought it to have been a year ago. The U of O architecture grad moved to Portland to pursue architecture and wound up finding a great job in the city. However, just a few months into this new career, he decides that he hates it and wants to pursue his real passion, middle schoolers. dan has since decided to go back to school and become a Middle School Social Studies teacher. He will begin classes at Portland State in just a month or so. He will still work for the firm until he is done with his Masters though. So between that and this new wonderful girlfriend, things are just way different for Mr. Dan. We are so happy for him and proud of him. Enough about Dan.
Saturday morning we met with my sister, Mandy, at World Cup Coffee. We sat for a couple hours and just chatted. It is always such a great thing to get together with her. The conversation is always good and she is one of those people that is just real. Straight from there we went around the corner to have our hair done at the Hair Lounge, which is where Derek's brother-in-law works. Like always, we are so impressed with him. Derek decided to go with non-haor look and chop it all off. While I decided just to go a bit lighter blonde. Good times. Then we went downtown and met our good pal Adam. We walked around, got smoothies and just had a fun time catching up. We miss you Adam! ( in case you can't tell, I am rushing through this day because I think this entry is already on the lenghtly side). From there we went back to Derek's sisters house and later went out to dinner with Derek's dad and stepmom. We went to this little itlian place called Piazzo Italia. OH MY!! So good and truly authentic Italian. We had a great time and ended up staying there for about 3 hours. Phew..Saturday is over.
On Sunday Derek and I met Dan at his Church, Imago Dei. We had been looking forward to going to this church for a long time and it exceeded our expectations. It was just incredible. Everything about it. Plus, we ran into a couple unexpected friends. A big shout out to Katy Latterty...so good to see you! And Derek ran into his buddy Josiah, who was his Crusader about 5 years ago at Camp Harlow. That was just crazy. After church we went out to lunch at a little pizza place and then had coffee at a fun coffee shop, called Crema. The rest of the day we spent preparing a yummy dinner and spending time with Derek's mom (it was Mother's day afterall)and family.
Okay, that's about it, we drove home Monday morning, listened to Harry Potter on CD during the drive and got home safe and sound. Sorry that I didn't elaborate much on some parts of the trip, but you get the idea. We did have a wonderful time and we miss Oregon very very much. But we will be back in a month for Ben and Deanna's wedding and I can't wait!!!