Middle of Nowhere, Oregon

After Taran and Melissa's open house we stayed in a town called McMinnville, it was about 20 minutes away from the open house. The next morning we walked around the town for a little bit before heading to Taran's house to see where he grew up.

Here is a picture of Richard feeding Taran's goats.

Taran and Melissa

We picked Grandma Christensen up from the Portland Airport on Friday, August 20th at about 4:15. We then headed to Willamina, Oregon for our friends' wedding open house. The drive from Portland to Willamina was supposed to take about 60-90 minutes, it took THREE HOURS!!!! It was the most insane traffic I have ever seen in my life! It took us 90 minutes to go TWELVE miles! But once we got there, it was great, and we loved seeing Taran and Melissa!

Richard took a picture of this sign because he found it amusing... :)

Quarter of a Century

Doesn't he look happy to be a quarter of a century old!?!?

The day started out with Richard opening the cards that he has gotten from family, he got some good stuff in there. :)

Then we went to this really great place downtown called Garage Billiards. About a month ago we got an email about a Living Social deal (best things ever) where we could get $50 to spend there for just $25, so we looked at the Garage website and found that it looked way fun, so we bought one. We are glad we did because it was a great way to celebrate Richard's birthday. The only catch was that we had to spend the full $50 in one trip, so we took full advantage of it, the pictures ahead show our great day/evening...

It started off with some bowling, just $10 a lane for one hour.

Yes, we tied on one of the games.

Then we took a break from activity and got some food. Richard got a really good chicken and pasta dish and I got a BLT with fries, it was all DELICIOUS!

Once our hunger was satisfied we rented a pool table for an hour, just $5! Sweet!

When we got home Richard opened the presents that I got him.

Then the day ended with dessert, chocolate pie, Richard's favorite. However, we were so busy enjoying the pie that no pictures were taken.

It was a great day and we had lots of fun celebrating Richard's big day.

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY

Today is our 2nd anniversary! I can't believe how fast time flies! We had some other things to do today so we celebrated our anniversary on Thursday, it was Richard's turn to plan it and he did a GREAT job! It started off with lunch at the Spaceneedle, which was AMAZING! The food was delicious and the view was spectacular, we LOVE LOVE LOVE Seattle!

After lunch we walked around for a little while trying to find a place to get ice cream, we couldn't find anything so we decided to go into a Rite Aid and buy a pint of Ben and Jerry's, it was delicious.

After eating ice cream we headed over to Safeco field for a Mariner's baseball game, unfortunately they lost 5-0, but it was still fun.

Happy Anniversary to my love! I am excited for many more years of celebration! Love you!

Ward Party, Seattle Style!

On Saturday we had the best ward party ever!

Our bishop lives right on Lake Washington so our ward has an annual boating and BBQ, it was so fun! The party went from 1-9pm and we were there from about 1:30-7 and we loved every minute of it. Toward the beginning of the party (before there was a big crowd) we went boating, Richard tried water skiing for the first time in 5 years and he did great! Then we went tubing, which is always a blast. There was lots of delicious food and great company! We have a wonderful ward and we are quickly making some great friends.

Unfortunately, I forgot to take my camera so we have no pictures, but it was amazing nonetheless.

Chef Jessica

I LOVE Chinese Food and a couple of months ago I came across a great recipe for Orange Chicken. I have made it about 3 times, and it is better everytime I make it! YUM! That is what we had for dinner on Thursday. It was great! And I am OBSESSED with cream cheese wontons, they are so easy and delicious that I just eat them as a snack. YUM!!!

NACHOS!

On Monday we had some friends over for FHE (lesson, games, etc.). And we got to talking about restaurants, one couple told us about this great restaurant called The Matador. They have happy hour everyday from 4-6pm and a bunch of their food is half off ($4 or $5). So we went and got these delicous nachos which were huge and only cost $4! We also got some really good chicken tacos that were also $4! So we both ate (and were stuffed) for only $8.80! It was AMAZING! YUM...can't wait to go back! :)