1 Year Anniversary-Part 2

We arrived at our hotel at Cannon Beach pretty late. The next day we woke up and opened our back doors to the beach. Here are some pictures of our fun there.

We took a trip up to Seaside to visit the aquarium there.

We did eat one dinner in the Stephanie Inn. Here are some pictures of our amazing dinner/dessert.

Here are some pictures of the beach at sunset.

We spent the first two days looking for sand dollars at low tide and ended up finding only one. The last day before we left we decided to try one more time and ended up finding several. I guess it is just luck sometimes.

Skyler did do an impressive job of convincing me that Portland was beautiful and worth moving to. With all the trees, beaches, and sightseeing it was pretty hard to disagree that it is a pretty great place.

1 Year Anniversary part 1

Ever since I've known Skyler I have heard him brag constantly about how amazing and beautiful Oregon is and especially his home town of Portland. Lately this usually leads to a discussion about where we will move after Skyler graduates in 2 years. I've told him that before the whole moving to Portland or anywhere else would happen I'd have to visit and see how "normal people" are in that city. This last weekend was our one year anniversary so Skyler was convinced that the best place to celebrate would be Oregon. This was also his chance to prove how amazing it would be to live here.

We left for Portland at 9am after I'd worked the night before. This makes the longest drive we've ever had arriving in Portland just before midnight after a couple of stops. We stayed in a hotel in Portland for the first night and ventured out the next day to see the sights. Our first trip led us to the Portland Zoo. I think we were the oldest "kids" there. Here are some of the animals we saw.

Next we went to the Rose Garden in Portland. There are several hundred varieties of roses and we spent some time walking around.

That night we ate dinner at Skyler's favorite pizza place called Pizza Schmizza. Skyler was pretty happy about it.

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The next day we went to OMSI where they had a bunch of science experiments we could play with. After that we went to the Pittock Mansion to see the view of Portland.

That night we went to see the Portland Temple before we drove out to the beach.

One Year and Counting!

On Sunday we celebrated our one year anniversary and first of many to come. We are blessed to have one another and share so many amazing experiences over the last year. Here are a few pictures of the beginning.

Four years of preparation, well actually five years of preparation went into this day. April 22nd I stood in blue cap and robe ready to graduate with my bachelors degree. My parents and Tiffany's parents came into town to celebrate this day with us. I graduated with a music degree in Saxophone Performance and a minor in Computer Science. I have learned a lot about music over the past several years and I have enjoyed every minute of it. I was lucky to be under the instruction of Ray Smith and many other faculty to help me develop my talents and abilities. I have also enjoyed the opportunities of performing in a wide variety of ensembles. It was a lot of fun and I have learned much about hard work, putting in the time needed to accomplish your goals, and dreaming big.

Now the fun continues in a new direction. I begin the Masters Program in Computer Science. I'm excited to be working with Dr. Ventura and doing music related research. Music is something I always want to have in my life. I plan to always be doing something with it.

I'm glad to have had the support of Tiffany this last year. Being married and always having someone there to support you is a wonderful thing. She has been a great voice of reason and encouragement this last year and I know that I married a wonderful person. I am lucky to have her as my wife.

A thing that made this interesting is that I was asked to perform a solo piece for the College of Fine Arts Convocation. It was the first time a person from the sax studio had been asked to do so and I worked hard to represent us well. You can check out a recording of my performance here (YouTube). I was a bit nervous having to play it memorized but it turned out really well and a lot of fun.

One funny aside to this whole thing is the conditions of my last test and the weather on graduation day. I took my last test on wednesday of finals week and as I walked out of the testing center, elated with the realization that I just finished my last final, it was raining. This wasn't just any rain however, it felt like, smelled like, and seemed like, Oregon rain. You think rain would dampen my spirits on that day but it only fueled them. The next day as well, when I got up in the morning, would you know that there was snow on the ground? I will take all the blame for that happening. The weather knew I was graduating and decided to make it all the more memorable.

Truth.....or April Fools?

These last couple of weeks seemed to fly by and I didn't realize April Fools was here until the night before while I was at work. Another nurse and I were talking about jokes we'd heard of in the past and I remembered one that I had heard about last year. I wasn't sure how well it would work, but I thought I'd give it a try anyway.

During my lunch break I walked across the street and bought a home pregnancy test. Toward the end of the shift I had asked one of the other nurses (about 6 months pregnant) to create a positive pregnancy test. When Skyler came to pick me up I didn't say very much the whole way home. When we got there I asked Skyler to clean the kitchen to create a distraction while I went into the bathroom for a few minutes. When I came back out I put the pregnancy test on the counter and walked away to wait for Skyler's reaction.

It took a few minutes, but finally Skyler walked back to wash his hands and I heard him pause. He then came out of the back room and sat next to me at the table while I pretended to be looking at something on the computer. He put his arm around me and said a couple of things like "that's pretty exciting" and "I know it isn't what we planned on but we can make it." During the whole one sided conversation I started to feel a little guilty, but it was cute to see him try to convince me that it would be okay while also trying to convince himself. I could tell he was totally nervous. After a few minutes I couldn't handle it anymore and burst out laughing. Skyler was completely confused until I asked him what day it was. He sat there for a few seconds and then shook his head at me. We laughed about it for the rest of the day.

On another side note we tried to tell Skyler's mom and sister about our day and ended up somehow convincing them it was real. We found it funny that we expanded our April Fools joke without even trying.

Easter Sunday

Here's just a few pictures of our first Easter Sunday together. We spent the morning coloring eggs and using those to make deviled eggs. They might not look too appetizing, but they tasted better than they looked. We spent the afternoon watching general conference and eating lunch with a couple in our ward. Overall we had a good day.

My New Hobby

My latest new project was inspired by Skyler's grandmother. When they flew out for the wedding in July his grandmother had made me this bracelet and earrings out of real crystal. Her mother had owned some furniture with beading on it so instead of throwing it away she made jewelry for her daughters and granddaughters. I loved it and have been wanting to learn how to make beaded jewelry for a long time. I'm not always the most creative person, but this seemed pretty easy.The other day Skyler and I went to the store and I was reminded of this goal. I got a couple of bead chains, pliers, and a simple pattern to try with the idea that I could bag it if I didn't enjoy it. It actually turned out pretty well for a first project and I've been waiting for an opportunity to wear it somewhere outside the apartment. I'm working on project number two right now and thinking maybe a few more posts might be warranted. It has been a great stress reliever the last couple of weeks.