Jagger

Tomorrow is my dear friend Sarah's birthday. This is a flashback on how we celebrated last year.

 At the London Dungeons...

 We were totally traumatized afterwards.

 Pizza Express

 YoSushi

 Visiting Peter

Hanging out at Covent Gardens.


Sarah, we miss you and hope you have a truly legendary birthday!

Just a little update

We made it to Spokane. To be honest, it's kind of pretty up here right now--lots of fall colors. Jud had a grand reunion with Molly, and we had a grand reunion with Jesse's dad, sister, and cousins (our great friends). Jesse's job is going well, and I've been keeping busy doing yard work, house-hunting, and cooking. That's right--house hunting. We're thinking of taking the grown-up plunge into homeownership. But, that's still a little ways off.

Jesse will be flying back tomorrow evening to the little town of Medford. Back to my lovely parents and the lovely valley, where he will spend the night and drive back up here on Saturday with our car and the rest of our stuffs. So tonight, he's taking me on a date! We're going to Madeleine's (my favorite restaurant here; just picture it--smokey cassoulet with grilled, buttered baguette and butternut squash bisque with crab meat) and then we thought we'd stroll over to Williams Sonoma to spend our two-year-old gift card there.

This is the park by our house.

So that's what we're up to. What's everyone doing for Halloween? Think we'll be handing out candy.

Tribute to Jim

Since July, Dad and I have been going on a 5-mile loop walk. A few things usually happen on this walk. We try to avoid being hit by cars on Hwy 238. Generally, we stop to eat blackberries (and Dad has to wait around while I pick "just one more"). We pass the sunflower field and the walnut trees. And before the field of Burros or the mother and daughter Beagle team, we visit Jim.

Jim is clumsy, but loves to dance. He's small compared to some, but seems to be a born leader. And Jim is always smiling. We call him Jim, because he looks like my Uncle Jim--somewhere around the eyebrows and amused upturn of his mouth. I've gone on jogs during the day, when all the other llamas are in the shade of their barn, and there's Jim, standing sentinel at the door. 

A really really really good day: probably too many exclamation marks

So, while we were soaking up some California sun, Jesse was back at the ranch. Monday (yesterday), he had his last day teaching Seminary. His kids made him a HUGE card with quotes from him and bits of things they learned during the last 6 weeks. He really made an impression on the kids. We are so grateful for this new job, but we've promised each other that Jesse's still going to be a teacher someday.

Which brings me to the good stuff...

Jesse had his first day at Avista. He was the bearer of good news yesterday. He called while we were at Grandma and Grandpa's house to say...we passed our theses! We have Masters degrees! Yahoo!

Then, he texted me some more great news: we have full benefits!  And three weeks paid vacation!

So when he got home, we broke out some sparkling cider and he was the toast of the town. A good day indeed.

Weekend in California

This last weekend, I crashed my parents' super romantic long weekend trip to California. Really though, I wanted to see some family and friends down there, and we don't get to that neck of the woods very often (hey, they asked if I wanted to come!).

We headed down to my Aunt Maxine and Uncle Jim's house in the Bay Area and had a nice visit with them and spent the night. 

Since I was little, my birthday cards have been signed  "Maxine, Jim, Patches [may she rest in peace], and Marshall." Marshall is now 21 years old and walks like the Tin Man before oil. He can't weigh more than 5 pounds, and he's a little hollow around the edges, but he is one well-loved kitty. Or Cakeface, Bob, Buffy, Pooky, El Pooko...you get the picture.

Then we walked around downtown Walnut Creek and window shopped at Restoration Hardware, Williams Sonoma, and Pottery Barn. Mmmm. We had a delicious dinner at Mom's friend Julie's house. It's nice to see people you've known your whole life. The next day we headed up to Redding to Aunt Susan's house for a dinner and games. Yesterday we continued north to Ashland for lunch with my grandparents and good chat. So that's what I did this weekend. Where was Jesse, you want to know?

More on that in the next post.

Head 'Em Up

Jesse and I celebrated our fifth anniversary in September.

5 Years = 2 dogs, 2 bachelors' degrees, 2 masters' Degrees, 3 states, 10 countries visited, and 7 addresses.

(Between the two of us) we have been a tutor, personal trainer, roofer, logger, boutique clerk, retail worker(s), donut fryer, mortgage inspector(s), set painter, waitress, nanny, gym membership salesman, and HR specialist.

Student life.

So here's the big news. We're about to add to our jobs/addresses. Now that Jesse has made it official with work, we're moving to Spokane. Jesse got a really good job with the utilities company up there, and he starts training on Monday. Yeah, this Monday.  He'll train for a week at their offices down here, and then he'll begin the next week in Spokane. This has thrown a wrench into some of our long-term plans, and we're a little dazed still, but it's a really good thing. However, we'll miss our family and the beautiful Rogue Valley so much. 

But, we'll get to see more of this guy:

 and this guy

 and these guys.

We're excited for all the exciting things in the works, and we promise promise promise we will not spend our whole lives in Spokane. So there.

Harvest Weekend

Last weekend, while Dad was working on his steps...

Mom and I went a-harvesting at Seven Oaks Farm in Central Point.

We saw heap-big pumpkins,

 went on a hay ride,

 and bought a few pretties.

We love fall!

Power Tools and Jam: 26 Things to Master While 26

So my friends Carrie and Liz like to make new goals every birthday. I'm a little late on this, but here are my 26 things to do while I'm 26 (the pink ones are done, the blue are in progress):

1. Learn to can/make jam

2. Make a table/learn how to use power tools!

3. Make a wreath

4. Get published, even if it's in a teeny tiny magazine
5. Become a really good visiting teacher
6. Go camping. This seems silly--especially for Jesse and me, who love camping--but we've never been camping together.
7. Run 5 miles without stopping. I'm getting close. Or rather, I got close once...
8. Learn to hem pants
9. Go to the temple by myself
10. Sew something I can actually wear
11. Unpack all our stuff that's been in storage for 2 years
12. Surprise Jesse. With anything. I've never been sneaky enough to do this
13. Make a chocolate souffle
14. Experiment with "raw food"
15. Make a blog book of our England adventures
16. Start a family
17. Build something out of pallets
18. Make my bed everyday
19. Fly a kite
20. Visit a new state
21. Have our own Christmas tree
22. Join a Zumba class (I spy on this class in the gym and laugh at the old guy who shakes his booty and the girls who get really into the moves, but it's only because I'm jealous...)
23. Make some kind of artwork that I actually want to put in my house (painting, photograph, etc.)
24. Throw a croquet party
25. Sing in a community choir
26. Read at least 10 novels for fun (sounds strange for a girl with an English degree, but I've completely gotten out of the habit in the last few years).

Here are some of my finished goals:

 Raw food's cool and stuff, and I found a few recipes I really really like (like chocolate frosting made with avacado!), but I love to cook. And that involves some heat.

 This wreath is a first attempt, and yeah, it turns all funky-parallelagram on me and isn't sturdy, but I like it.

 Jesse and I made this table. We picked out the wood (some of which was rescued from the sideyard) and built it from the ground up. I love it. To find the plans, visit ana-white.com. She posts tons of free plans and works with lots of salvaged wood,. I was shocked at how cheap it can be to have nice furniture, provided you're willing to invest the time. This is the "Tryde Side Table" plan.  Our ambitious plans include making a matching coffee table, building Ana's "Farmhouse Dining Table" and the "Farmhouse Bed".

Flashback

 Today was the dreaded day. My dad drove me to the DMV and I took my driver's test. I had let my license lapse while we were in England, and apparently you have to retake the driving exam to renew after a year...  Not to say I haven't been doing a little illegal driving. Anyway, I passed! I have to admit, I was nervous. How embarrassing would it have been if I had failed?  To celebrate, Dad and I went out to lunch and to ice cream. Also, we had our community choir practice tonight. Mr. Reppert, my dear old director from high school, is the director.

Today, I could really have been 16 again. Only I paid for my dad's ice cream, and I passed my test on the first try. 

J + K at 16 and 18.

Catch up!

There have been some big changes to this old blog. For starters, I've merged My old blog with the Silly Pilgrims blog. Consequently, all the posts say they're by K + J, when a good portion of the posts for the last year are by Sarah or Annie. But I needed some continuity. Too many different blogs.  So here we are.

We got home from England! ...Three months ago!  Here's a tasty shot of Jesse in the Keflavik, Iceland Airport, trying out the Wii. I wasn't the only one who thought it was funny.

 This picture was taken around 2 a.m.  It was super duper weird that the sun never set.

We had a layover in New York, where our long-lost friends James and Jeff picked us up. We drove around Queens, trying to find a good pizza place. Because of traffic and time constraints, we only made it to Taco Bell. So we've kind of been to New York!  Anyway, it was just wonderful to see these two boys. Wonderful and kind of surreal. 

Shortly after arriving home, we celebrated my 26th birthday. Mom made me some lovely strawberry shortcake.

Let's see, in other news, Jesse's working for H and D in their HR department. I'm working on my writing, and we have some other projects in the works. Oooh, so cryptic. It's been great to spend time with my parents. Mom and I spent August canning peaches, blackberry jam, applesauce, strawberry jam, tomatoes, and green beans. Jesse and Dad do boy things like watch football and play the Wii (when they're not working. So they've done those things twice.) Jesse is also teaching morning seminary, which he loves. Things are good for now.