Paul & Julie
We recently joined a community garden that is about 2 miles from our apartment. First of all, may I say that I know absolutely nothing about gardening except that I have killed several herb plants on our patio. However, this spring I have had this strong desire to learn. I went to a party they were throwing at the Cedar Cottage Community Garden because I was looking for a gardening mentor, you know, someone I could follow around the garden, teach me how to plant, when to water, etc. When I got to the garden I found that they had just built at least 10 new raised beds and they were available for those who wanted to join the community, come to work parties (where everyone comes out to weed stuff, plant stuff, shovel compost, etc. - I'm so technical). So, I ended up getting a gardening plot! The great thing about being in a community garden is the "community" - I have met people in the garden who grew up on farms & have been gardening for years & some others who are just starting like me. Everyone has been very helpful & willing to answer questions. I figure that gardening is a great experiment, so you are always learning & I've heard things may never grow quite the same from year to year. It has been a fun adventure so far and a great activity for Paul & I to do together. We have planted tomatoes, zucchini, bell peppers, strawberries, lettuce, carrots, basil, thyme, & nasturtiums. So, maybe we were a little overzealous for our first planting, but once you start putting stuff in there it is hard to stop.
Notice the baby green pepper on the tall plant behind me!
Paul & Julie
We had a great weekend. Saturday was a full day, especially for Paul (who had to work at s-bucks after a long day of grilling...). There are a few community gardens in the area. One is called, MOBY (My Own Back Yard), they decided to reclaim a lot across from their garden, that I think was known for drugs, trash dumping, etc... & turn it into a playground. They also decided to dedicate it to a local neighborhood police officer who was killed in the line of duty some years ago. They have been planning & fundraising for this for quite a while. Paul & I went to a fundraiser a few weeks ago at a local restaurant, where we ran into Michelle, who works with the Business Improvement Association in the area (we met her during a community clean-up that some Harding students helped us with during spring break). She asked us if our church could grill hot dogs for the volunteers building the playground. So...we called around to find a grill to borrow & went to the playground build which was this past Saturday. There were over 175 volunteers from the community!! Paul is now a Master hot dog griller (he can even do veggie dogs), after grilling like 200 hot dogs. It was so cool to be a part of. They had a dedication that afternoon & tons of police officers were there to honor, Sgt Larry Young. They also encouraged the community to take ownership in the playground area to keep it clean.
Meanwhile, our good friends, Aaron & Amy were helping with a community clean-up day sponsored by the local community policing centre. They led a group of people through the neighborhood to pick up trash & keep it clean. Afterwards, they joined us at the playground, where Amy helped with landscaping and was on the local news. She is famous now. We all had a great time meeting new people & being a part of this wonderful opportunity to improve our community.
Paul & Julie
Paul's brothers & Cheyenne came to visit in January. We got to do some awesome touristy stuff while they were here. Paul took them hiking around Multnomah Falls. We took a day to visit the Oregon coast. Who knew we would drive through snow on the way to the beach! If you're from the south that just makes no sense. An awesome & beautiful surprise, we got to play in the snow. It was freezing at the coast, we tried to watch for whales...who were supposed to be swimming by on their way to the south from 10am-12pm...how do they know that anyway? We must have missed them b/c we didn't get there until 12:30, I was ticked. We spent the other days in Portland at Powells city of books, getting coffee at the Pied Cow (Hooka anyone? just kidding!), eating at BJs, & of course hanging out with the Etheridges. We had so much fun & their trip went by way too fast! Here are some other pictures...
Can you believe how stinkin' beautiful this is? It was incredible. We froze our butts off, but it was so worth it to see this part of God's creation.
Paul & Julie
Hey, it's Paul. Julie showed me our new blog the other day & I just had to point out that she took that picture of Mt. Hood on the top where our title is. What an amazing picture! My brothers and Cheyenne were here just a few weeks ago and we never saw Mt. Hood because of the clouds. Here are a few pictures Julie took from the plane the last time we flew. On the bottom pic, you can kind of see four mountains: Mt. Hood, Mt. St. Helens, Mt. Baker, and Mt. Rainer.
Mt. St. Helens is actually pretty close to where we live (the small one on the left above Mt. Hood). It still occasionally puffs up steam from volcanic activity. These are some of the blessings of living in the northwest (not the volcanic activity!), when you can see them.
Paul & Julie
So this is my very first blogging attempt ever! I'm always way behind the times. But, I'm pretty excited. Even though it is already the end of January, I'll fill you guys in on Christmas, etc.
CHRISTMAS with the SAMPLEYS
We got to go home to Atlanta to visit my folks for Christmas. It felt really good to be home for a while. We spent alot of time with my parents, sister, brother-in-law, & of course my sweet neice Caroline & precious nephew Will. We baked Christmas cookies, played nertz, played battle of the sexes (a hilarious game to play with the men in our family), dad even busted out the karaoke machine. I also loved holding my nephew Will. For those of you who don't know this about me, I'm not the type to long to hold a baby, normally when people say, "want to hold her/him" (whoever it may be), I make up some excuse because I don't really know what to do with a baby, they seem so fragile & I salute all the moms out there because you are incredible. Hence, that is why we don't have kids yet...but I actually did start to get that feeling, "hey, I kinda like this, I might want one of these," when holding my nephew. It was a great feeling, but don't get your hopes up yet mom..haha
Here are a few shots from the holidays...
Caroline & I playing dress up...we also got to watch Cinderella daily
Will pulling things out of his stocking
