Orange and Black.

Yep.

I'm not a huge fan of Halloween.  When I was little I liked it okay, but I have a long string of bad days on Halloween, so it just isn't my favorite holiday.  My mom and my sister love it, but it's just not my favorite.  Especially since in a lot of cases, it seems to be a good excuse for girls to dress skanky and go out in public wearing lingerie.  Ugh.  Anyway, we got invited to a Halloween party by one of our REACH friends and her fiancee, so we decided to go.  Erik LOVES the color orange and happens to have a full orange suit that he only gets to bust out about once a year, so I decided to play off that.  

Yes, that is my real hair.  And the gray hue is finally wearing off.  So no, I probably wouldn't recommend doing this to your blond hair, but it was fun while it lasted.

Insomnia.

And no, I don't mean I can't sleep!  There's a cool coffee shop in Hillsboro, OR, called Insomnia, and they have live music a few times a week.  The boys played their third show (second as the headliners) there a few weeks ago, and as usual, it was really, really fun.  Their shows are always a good time, and my roommate and her fiancee were finally able to hear them.  They did a great job.

Our friend Deborah opened for them.  

She's awesome--we sing together sometimes, and it's always lots of fun.

Johannin in action.

Puddy, aka Dave, the guitarist.  

He sings harmony and back-up vocals sometimes, too.  He's cool.

Erik, the lead singer/beatboxer/tambourine-and-other-random-percussion-player.

I bought him that shirt.  (MxPx is his favorite band.)

Randy, the bass player.  He's fun, and an incredible musician.

Evidently there was a little photo shoot at the end.  

Obviously Randy didn't get the "look hard core" memo.

Fun With Plywood Cutouts.

I've been really pitiful about posting lately, and since I just loaded the photos off my camera and into my computer, I realized I actually have a few things worth posting about, so I'll put up a couple quick posts.

The photo above was from a trip we took to the pumpkin patch with a local high school choir.  Erik and his roommate, Puddy (aka Dave), were asked to be chaperones for the trip, and they asked me to join them.  It was lots of fun.  The kids were cute, and it reminded me of being in HiLites.  :)  (The lady on the far left is the director.)

There were lots of these silly things around, so we took a couple photos.  Apparently Erik was grumpy about being in the photo.  :)

And the coolest thing was the pumpkin launcher!!  :)  They had a whole huge crate full of those itty-bitty mini pumpkins, and you could pay a dollar and put the pumpkin in a slingshot, then try to launch it way out into the field to hit a big plywood pumpkin target.  Both the boys tried it, and neither of them won, but it sure was fun!  :)  (This is Erik's roommate, Puddy, giving it a whirl.)

Thanksgiving: The Pre-Quel

So, I've already told you that I love Thanksgiving, and that I'm more of a little social butterfly than I care to admit.  I started thinking about it and realized we all usually spend Thanksgiving with our families, but don't really get that same opportunity with our friends, so I decided to have a little pre-Thanksgiving Thanksgiving.  :)  I'm really excited--I think it will be really fun!  We're having a bunch of friends get together for a lil' Thanksgiving dinner this Thursday, a week before the actual day.  I think it's going to be a blast!!  I'll let you know how it goes.  :)

"I'll Be Home For Christmas..."

It's TRUE!!  I bought plane tickets the other night, so I will be heading to Utah for Christmas--yay!!!  Unfortunately it's going to be a SUPER quick trip, but I'm excited!!  

The two upcoming holidays are TOTALLY my favorite!!  :)  I LOVE Thanksgiving--I have believed for a long time that it's really important to thank people who have had an impact on your life or made a difference in your world, and I think it's awesome that we have a holiday to celebrate exactly that!  Sometimes I think, just like with Christmas, we get so caught up in the hype of the holiday that we forget what it's truly about.  I love seeing some of my friends who are doing awesome things with their families to get in the right spirit--we have so many blessings, and this is a perfect time of year to remember it as we begin to get ready for Christmas.

Plus, as we all get older, I think I realize more and more how important my family and friends are, and I LOVE getting together with people for the holidays.  I think, secretly, I'm more of a social butterfly than I usually am willing to admit.  I haven't been home for Thanksgiving since my senior year of high school--NINE YEARS!!  Luckily, I've been blessed to have family in the Northwest who have taken me in each year for this special holiday, and it's always a blast.  One year I went to my grandparents' house in Montana, most years I've spent Thanksgiving with my aunt and uncle and a random assortment of other various people (cousins, friends, siblings, etc.) in Seattle, and the last two years, I've headed to Kennewick, WA, to hang out with Erik's fam.  Even if I couldn't be with my immediately family (I think I've spent Thanksgiving with my folks twice since high school), the awesome people in my life have gone out of their way to include me and make the holiday special and enjoyable.  This year promises to be just as wonderful!  I seriously CANNOT WAIT until Thanksgiving!!  :)

But back to the topic of this post...I'm going home for Christmas!!  Granted, I always go home, but for some reason, I am SO READY for a break!  I can't wait to go frolic in the snow and sit by the fire and chill with my family.  My sis and bro-in-law are heading to Peru the day after Christmas for a mission trip with her in-laws, so our visit will be very short, but it will be super fun to see them!  So, in case you're interested, I'm flying into Salt Lake on Tuesday evening, December 23rd, and flying back out of Salt Lake on Sunday, December 28th.  If any of you happen to be headed to Vernal, too, I'd love to see you!  :)  Happy Holidays, everyone!

Really, Monday? Already? Really?

Oh, man, one-day weekends are SO not long enough!!

So, I have just enough time to give you a quick update before I drop off into dreamland, which will inevitably be much too brief anyway.  I have been pitiful about posting these last couple weeks, partially because it hasn't felt like I've had anything worth saying (or reading, for that matter), and partially because I've been ridiculously busy!

I've FINALLY completed my CPR/First Aid Instructor re-certification.  A word to the wise: when you get complicated certifications that take DAYS of boring training, DON'T let your cert lapse!!  My gosh, it was annoying to sit through those classes when I already know the stuff, I've taught the stuff, and frankly, it's not that difficult in the first place!!  The people in my class were nice enough, but apparently experience is super important in teaching, because what came super easy to me seemed pretty tough for them--even though one lady was a retired teacher, she still wasn't any good on the teachbacks.  Oh, man.  Let's just say I am happy to be done giving up my Saturdays, but THRILLED that working Saturday means I get an extra day off at Thanksgiving.  Sometimes being busy has it's perks (especially when you aren't yet eligible for vacation time!!).

Today was an awesome, fun-filled, jam-packed day, but sleepiness is setting in, so I'll have to fill you in on it later.  It was a blast.  But one day is SO not enough to have off!!  Oh well.  So here are just a few quick thoughts before I go:

*I am SO glad the political ads are over.  And I don't even miss them at all.  Hip hip hooray for a little break in the madness.

*I am SO glad the election is over, and I hope we have at least a little time (like until January, when it will pick up again) for people to take a break talking about it.  Let's call a time out on the political talk.  What do you say?  (I'm SO glad I work at a place where we've all agreed just not to talk politics at all to the greatest extent possible.  Yay for that!)

*I'm so proud of Audri for being a poll-worker!!  Way to show people that you don't have to be a little old lady to work the polls!!  And way to represent the young adults!  Good job, Audj!  :)

*If you want to see something amazing and beautiful, click here.  Beauty exists in the midst of extreme poverty.  And that's all I'll say about that.  (And yes, I was directed to this video through thepioneerwoman.com.)

*Have you heard of the book "The Shack"?  Have you read it?  If you haven't, you should.  And then you should tell me what you think.  And we should talk about it.  No matter what, it definitely will make you think, and that's good all in itself.  And after you read it, I'll tell you something else about the book that makes it cool, too.  :)

*Christmas has come to Portland.  I'm serious.  And at first I wasn't ready for it, but now I think I am.  More on this later.

Good night everyone!  Sweet dreams, and have a good tomorrow!

Toy Story?

Just in case you know these folks, I thought you might enjoy the following photo--it pretty much made my day:

Janna, Ryan, Ben, and Joseph Remien...as Toy Story.  :)

Miss you guys!