Wedding Anniversary #18

Eighteen years ago today I was nervous/excited!  After coming to terms with the fact that Marysville Church of the Nazarene did not have air conditioning on the hottest day of 1994, we made the best of it and had a glorious day!
When we were packing up the house in Marysville, I looked at our wedding pictures before they went into the box.  Most of us looked a lot younger!  Some things I would've done differently in regards to the wedding, but I wouldn't change the groom for anything!  Vaughn truly does complete me, and I think he would say the same is true for him.  Our strengths definitely complement each other.  XOXO

We decided to go out for breakfast instead of dinner on our special day.  Vaughn has a bit more flexibility on Mondays since the church office is closed.  We went to Tally's in Oakland, a very small town north of Sutherlin.  The atmosphere and music took us back in time, and we had a tasty brunch.  After our meal, it was off the the office for Vaughn and piles of laundry for me.

The Sutherlin Stampede

Up in the bleachers - in the shade.

The Sutherlin Stampede flag - all of the sponsors had flags.

After the kids fell off the sheep, the sheep gathered togther for support.

The bulls looked like they were going to throw out their back-ends with all of the kicking.

Saturday, the 21st, we continued our discoveries of Sutherlin by spending some time at the Sutherlin Stampede.  This is a free (entry was a can of food for the food bank) rodeo that is paid for by sponsors and those who participate in the event.  We had heard to get a good seat, one needed to arrive early, so we did which is also why we didn't last for the whole event.  The bleachers were really hard, and we didn't bring secondary entertainment for Griffin.  The first event was "mutton busters" - kids (ages 3-6) riding sheep.  This was very cute!  After the sheep came the calf riding for kids 6-9.  These calves had no intention of letting anyone ride them, so I think about 3 seconds was the winning time.  Girls' barrel racing came next.  That was fun, although some of the horses decided to not cooperate and headed for the gate.  The first bull rider we saw got stepped on, which was a bit scary.  He was on the ground with the EMTs for quite a while.  We saw one more bull rider and then called it quits.

Happy Birthday to Me!

July 16th turned out to be a pretty special day!  Since we knew Klaus was going to be in his kennel for part of the afternoon and evening, the kids and I took him on a two mile walk.  The weather the last couple days has been overcast until about noon, so it was a nice morning for it.  Vaughn worked until lunchtime, then we piled into the van and headed for Eugene.  Faith had gone online and looked up directions to the malls/stores we wanted to hit, so we were ready!  The Valley River Center is very nice and has a lot of the stores we like:  Macy's, See's Candies, JC Penney, Aeropostale, Game Stop, etc... Nearby is Barnes and Noble so of course we had to go there!  Old Navy wasn't at Valley River Center, but we did end up there before having my birthday dinner at Olive Garden.  Throughout the day I received phone calls from family and friends which was awesome to be remembered.

Wildlife Safari Part 2

Yak

Emu

Griffin's favorite, the cheetah

Siberian Tiger

Faith's favorite, the flamingo

Our little lamb

Miniature Donkeys

I couldn't get all of the pictures I wanted to include in the first post, so here's the second post about the Wildlife Safari.

Our Trek to Wildlife Safari

When we came down to Sutherlin the first weekend in May, the church gave our family a gift certificate to Wildlife Safari.  This park is south of Roseburg in a little town called Winston. (Every time I saw the sign I thought of Uncle Chuck and Aunt Diana's beloved sheepdog named Winston.)  Anyway...since today was Vaughn's day off, we decided it would be a good day to visit.

Ostrich

Lion

One of many giraffes

American Bison

Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See?  I see the Stehr Family looking at me!

Amazingly beautiful zebras!

Elephant

This giraffe practically blends in with the trees!

Black Bucks

This place is pretty amazing!  The majority of the park is a drive through where the animals roam around and you make sure you don't hit them!  We took a zillion pictures!  The zebras were my favorites - just seeing their patterns reminded me of how God created such beautiful and complex creatures!  I also liked the bison since I taught my 8th graders about how so many were killed on the Great Plains during the building of the Transcontinental Railroad.

Daily Walks

Sutherlin is a very interesting town!  The main street (Central Ave.) is nice to walk down because that's where most of the businesses and shops are and it has sidewalks.  The side streets are mostly residential without sidewalks - especially in the older parts of town.  The houses are so interesting to look at  - some are old and beautiful while others are just old.  There's a lot of poverty in this area as the timber business has struggled for many years.  There are a lot of retired people in the community (and in our church) and those who aren't retired seem to work in Roseburg. 

We try to take a walk every day either in the morning or evening - that way Klaus (and us) gets his exercise.  He's doing a lot better now, and has adapted to apartment life well.  Last night the kids, Klaus and I walked down to McDonald's for ice cream cones.  Griffin ended up wearing quite a bit of his.

Griffin before his face washing.

Options in Hot Weather

As we continue to have hot weather in Sutherlin, (yesterday was a bit cooler at 83 degrees) we find ourselves hanging out in the apartment.  Faith, usually on her laptop, chats with friends and plays games.  Griffin plays Wii, and I search for jobs browsing various school district websites.

One of my goals this week is to find somewhere nice and safe to swim.  The Umpqua River is nearby but evidently is quite dangerous.  The closest local pool is at the Roseburg YMCA, and it's indoors.  I think I'll propose to Vaughn and Stewart that the church should put in an outdoor pool for summers as an outreach.  Wow!  I really like that idea!  :-)

Sunday Morning at Calapooia FMC

This morning Vaughn preached in both services, but the kids and I attended the first service at 9am.  This is the one we will normally attend.  It's a small group, but it was great to have another family with kids there.
Fortunately, it was cool in the sanctuary as the temperatures soared outside.  The kids posed with "bunny ears" outside of the church building.
Klaus stayed home by himself this morning in his kennel.  We didn't get dirty looks or complaints from the neighbors so I think he quieted down rather quickly after we left.  We decided to keep the "Andy Griffith Show" marathon on the TV to soothe him.  :-)

As settled as it's gonna get...for now

Living room and eating area

My little kitchen

This is the dining room that we're using for a pantry and storage.

Faith's room

Griffin's room

Master bedroom

So that you can visualize where we live, here are pictures of our apartment on the second floor.

Fourth of July

Even though we are new in Sutherlin, new friends invited us to hang out with them.  First was a BBQ during the day with Chris, Brandi and Malachi Black.  They included us with friends from their church.  I had to keep moving from sun to shade to keep from burning.

As the sun started to go down we headed to Bill and Betty's home for fireworks.  (Betty is the secretary at Calapooia FMC.) Their grandson shot off a bunch of fireworks that we enjoyed watching.  Faith and Griffin entertained us with sparklers and pop-its.

223 Sherman Street Apartment 210

Thursday the 28th, we left my parents house at the crack of dawn to make our way down to Sutherlin.  Since I didn't really sleep that night, the morning started with a latte!  Vaughn's dad drove the moving truck, I drove the van with the kids, Vaughn drove the pickup and my parents took their pickup and trailer.  We didn't caravan but kept in contact with each other during the journey.

That day we unloaded the essentials into the apartment.  That in itself was a ton of work!  The next day we spent time at the storage unit unloading what we can do without until we get a house.  Then, it was back to the apartment to unload the other things that didn't get unloaded the day before.  These two days were very stressful because our dads worked so hard and we were watching them carefully to make sure that they didn't overdo it. 

Griffin wondering how in the world this kitchen will ever be functional!

Once we had the unloading done, it was time to rest.  We've taken our time putting things away.  There is so little storage in the kitchen that we will be keeping many things in boxes.

June 27th Empty the House and Clean Day!

Griffin showing Faith, Alaina and Melanie his muscles.

Taking a break for lunch

Can't beat the Little Caesar's 5.99 deal!

Erik still smiling even after he cleaned Vaughn's shower!

Looking back at this day, we were overwhelmed by the number of people who came to help us!  From my dad and Dennis loading the truck, to Bob, Mike, Marcus, Vic, Harv, Steve, Jason, and Rick, who emptied the house, and Faith's friends Melanie and Alaina who came to "help", it was a whirlwind of activity!  Once the truck was all loaded, the cleaning began.  My brother, Erik, came after work to help us and hang out, and it was the perfect end to a day of trying to keep my emotions in control.  A special thank you too to my mom who took the kids in the afternoon and provided a yummy dinner at the end of the day. A HUGE thank you to everyone who gave of their time to us!