A PLACE OF JOY (refer to the bottom picture)

For MY SISTER'S BIRTHDAY (yes, that's right...her birthday, not mine) she got me a plane ticket to come see her for the weekend! Now, time for my cheesy post. I HAVE THE BEST SISTER IN THE WHOLE WORLD. Here are of few of the reasons that she is the best: She always knows how to cheer me up. Whenever I get sad JP tells me to call Hollie because he knows she can make me happy. She is the most thoughtful and generous person I know and doesn't want/expect anything in return. She gives me presents and surprises like crazy and will threaten me with my life if I ever try to pay her back. She won't even take an hour of babysitting for free, (that's kind of messed up, I know) and I LOVE babysitting her kids. She is the funniest person ever. I could write a book about her all-time funniest moments because there are so many. I would list a few, but I'm not sure she'd be very happy with me :) She is very protective of me and everyone else she loves (hence her awesome comments on my blog). She is an amazingly talented dancer and cares about each one of her students. She really invests time, energy, and interest in those girls and they all love her. She is an awesome mom and has the coolest kids. She is crazy busy, but will make time for anyone who needs it. I could go on and on forever, but I'll save that for a rainy day (there are a lot here, so it won't be too long!). I hope you had a Happy Birthday! I love you!!!

I'm a little bit of an obsessed aunt, and it was sooo fun to see the kids. Libby and Hollie have the same birthday, so it was a combined celebration with the fam.









Libby got her first real manicure and pedicure. She's starting young!





The kids were as cute as ever and it was so good to see my family. For the Utah family and friends I didn't get to see, please don't hate me! I really didn't have very much time.


Believe it or not, I did not post every biking picture we have ever taken. I guess I'm a little camera happy and we are a little one-dimensional in our hobbies. JP and I slid and fell at the exact same time. He stood up and asked me how I fell at such an easy spot and he was serious (it was very dark, steep, and muddy), so I asked him the same question :) I'm frowning because I'm covered in mud and JP is examining the damage.





A little fun with iphoto. I think I'm going to frame these and hang them next to each other. They will fit right in with the rest of our overly colorful apartment.




A view of Mt. Adams and Mt. Rainier. We could also see Mt. Hood and Mt. Saint Helens. The other side was the coolest view I've ever seen (way prettier than this), but our camera stopped working. JP and I could not believe how pretty it was. We went on a 28 mile ride in Hood river with some guys JP met. I thought I was going to puke by mile 2, but managed to finish alive. It was sooo beautiful!

Moments before we got robbed :(

The lone rider. He's pretty lonely without his crew!

These pictures were just taken yesterday. Can you believe everything is so colorful in November? This was our first official ride in the pouring rain. It's about triple the workout on the uphill and pretty muddy! I should've taken before and after shots cause we were covered in mud.


I thought JP was going to make a goofy face because he always does, but look who's the goofy one now!





Just before the downpour of rain. I LOVE all my headbands Kelene (I don't know if you ever look at this)Thanks again!

The sign above him says, "A Place of Joy". We both thought that was pretty funny, but we did have a joyous time.

Mean trick without a treat :(

Last night we went up the canyon for one last refreshing bike ride before the rain starts coming. We had a pretty good ride, but when we got back to the car we found that someone had broken in and stolen our phones, JP's wallet, his sound system, i-pod, and xm radio (not that we needed all that to begin with, but it still hurts and we had a lot of info/pictures on our phones). JP kept saying that he was sure he locked the doors, but I was having a hard time believing him until we realized the meanie buppet (that's for you, Lor) sneaked (not snuck, that's for you Liz), into the back of the truck and smashed the windows in :( I lost all my contacts, soooo (that's for you, Alison) if you could please call or text me and let me know who you are, you might just get lucky enough for me to call you back... someday.

Don't forget to call or text me!!!

These sunflowers are all over the place. I think they're so pretty.

Happy crabbers! Do you think JP is sick of having his picture taken? He is so photogenic!

JP is really lucky and works with some pretty awesome people. Last week one of his co-workers took us crabbing. We caught tons of crab, but most of them were too small to take. The crabs we are holding were vicious and ripped each other's legs off. JP was scared to pick them up, but I wasn't! It was an overcast day and it started pouring rain. Good thing I am married to Mr. gear guy himself because we were more than prepared and we had an awesome time. His motto is, "You just gotta have the right gear." So true. Luckily, I think it's really pretty when it's overcast here and there's still a lot to do when it rains.







My dad actually mailed us our conference bowling game presents. Can you believe that? I had to take pictures because I have never been away from my family since the existence of the bowling game, and I had to prove to my dad that we held our own. Our set up was pretty pathetic considering we don't have a yard, we couldn't find a ball, and we used coolers and duffel bags in place of buckets. It just not the same without the family, but we managed to have fun. Thanks for the prizes dad! And yes, I do realize I look just like Carmen San Diego in this picture and should probably say goodbye to that hat.

There is a nature preserve park right next to where we live. It is beautiful. We love to go on Sunday walks there.

JP and I went to Portland to see the Matchstick Productions ski movie Claim. It was really good this year. After the movie they told us to stick around because Sweatshop Union was playing. I was pretty excited because we didn't even know they were going to be there until after the movie (this is one of Josh's favorite bands), and only about 20 people stayed to hear them play. I took this picture so I could mail it to Josh, and if we had a camera other than our phones it might have even been decent. I was loving it, but JP was really tired (he has to wake up around 4:30) so we only stayed for a couple of songs. As you can see, the next day I made him listen to them and have our own little dance party with the dogs. They make great dance partners!

HELP!

Something is wrong with me! No matter how hard I try, I cannot make chocolate chip cookies. If you have a good recipe (or some secret tricks) PLEASE TELL ME! It will be OUR little secret :)