Fun at Newport!

We decided to get out of town over Labor Day at drove 45 minutes to Newport, Oregon to take advantage or our season pass to the Newport Aquarium and enjoy some sunshine at the beach! The water was FREEZING cold and it was pretty windy but Macy LOVED running away from the waves and playing in the sand! It's fun to live so close to the ocean and Newport is a great little seaside town!

Macy Turns 3!!!

Macy turned 3 years old yesterday! My little girl is growing up! She has been counting down to her birthday for months now. If you asked her what she wanted for her birthday, she'd tell you "a bike...a purple one." I knew she would LOVE a princess bike and couldn't believe my luck when I found a purple princess bike at Kmart! She was so excited when we gave it to her but she cannot figure out how to pedal, let alone steer. She's never even had so much as a tricycle to get her accustomed to the whole pedaling thing so this may take her a while. She loves it though, especially since it has sparkles on it and a "purse" to put her toys in.

Later that night, we threw Macy a little birthday party with some friends we met at church who have two daughters, and another couple who have twin girls that we randomly met at Costco. They moved to Corvallis from Texas the same weekend we did and we exchanged phone numbers. Little did they know, I would really call. The girls had a blast together decorating princess crowns and parading around the house (half naked) in dress-ups. They all got along so well for just having met each other. When I asked Macy, what her favorite part about her birthday was, she said, "the kids." She LOVES little playmates and she was so happy to have some friends over to play with. At one point, all five of them were up jumping on Macy's full sized bed together.

Birthday Party Girls (or should I say Princesses!) Macy, sisters Rilee & Taylor, twins Danielle & Nina.

Also at the party...

Macy's Birthday cake. I decided to start easy!
(Alyssa, I almost called for help!)

Singing Happy Birthday to Macy! We are way off tune!

Coming Soon!

Mark and I seriously cannot believe it!!!! For those of you who know us, we are CRAZY Chipotle fans! We ate there at least every week for two years when I was working as a financial accountant for Chipotle in Ohio and the Columbus market was my domain! Also, chips and guacomole were the only things I could eat those first few months I was pregnant with Macy. We use to joke she'd probably come out half Mexican because that is all I ate when I was pregnant with her! I know, sounds horrible! We seriously LOVE the place! It has always been on our list of things we can't live without! You can imagine how disappointed we were that Corvallis didn't have one when we decided to move here but being a university town...we were holding on to our hopes that one day, Chipotle would come. We were seriously screaming out loud in the car and obviously, pulled over to take this picture! You better believe we will be there on opening day! We'll be their best customers! Chips and guac for life, baby! I canNOT even WAIT!!!!!

Karlee on the Move!

Karlee has always been on the go! When she was 3 months old, she was rolling over and now at 7 months, she can practically maneuver herself anywhere she needs to go. She has been tucking her legs up underneath her and then falling down on her stomach to make her scoot forward. She is everywhere now and is one determined little girl! When she wants something, she finds a way to get it! I am going to have to keep a SERIOUS eye on her! I don't think I'm ready for this stage! My house isn't even put together, let alone baby proof! Thank goodness, Nicholas doesn't look like he's going anywhere yet. He's starting to do some push-ups and is turning in circles, but he can't quite get to the places that Karlee can.




Below was a failed attempt. I don't think the toy car was as enticing as the teacup!

The Alpaca Farm

Today, we went to an Alpaca farm that is just minutes from where we live. Alpaca's resemble a small llama and are raised primarily for their wool, unlike llama's that are used as pack animals. As you can see, they have some crazy hair. Macy got a kick out of feeding them!

Where Have We Been?

View of the Coastal Range from Mary's Peak.

You are all probably wondering where we have been and even if we are still alive! The answer to the latter question is "BARELY!" We've had a fun but crazy month traveling across the country and moving in to our home here in Corvallis (which we absolutely LOVE, LOVE, LOVE!) It has been so nice to unpack boxes and to find a place for everything knowing that we don't have to move again in a year or two. We love our neighbors, our neighborhood, being in our own home and having a yard that Mark loves to mow. But who knew home ownership would be so much work?!

This place is so beautiful. Everything grows here! Every type of flower and tree (yes, I've even seen a palm tree) and berries, berries, berries. Raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, marionberries, cherries. Mark has been whipping up different shakes each night. He's such a berry fanatic. You can buy the berries at the farmer's market or you can go to the berry farms and pick them yourself!

So, I don't know where to even begin to sum up this past month. Mark made the long drive from Columbia, SC with his Dad in two and a half days (just shy of 2200 miles) while my mother-in-law helped me fly with all three kiddies! All of them did amazingly well on the flight and needless to say...we survived! We spent a week in Logan seeing family and then Mark and I drove up to Oregon with the kids. I spent the majority of the drive sitting between the twins' car seats feeding and entertaining babies. We moved into our home on one of the hottest days on record here in Corvallis with no air conditioning. We had to make an emergency run to Kmart to buy fans that we clipped to the babies cribs so they could have some relief from the heat and sleep that first night! I am happy to say that we now have A/C. For the most part, however, the weather has been perfect here.

Mark has been working for three weeks now and is loving the office, his patients, and the work. They have kept him very busy and he is so happy to be where he is at. My mom flew out last week to help us pull our house together (which has been hard for us to do with Mark starting work so early and me chasing three little ones around). We took her to the coast and the county fair (Yee-haw). We had such a great time with her! She was such a great help and even gave Mark and I a night off to celebrate our 7th Anniversary! We went to a fancy-schmancy restaurant called Strega that had great food and a great view of the city and then went to see "The Dark Knight." It was such a fun night! I had almost forgotten what it felt like to be with Mark alone, and no kids!

So here we are! We have met so many wonderful people and we can already tell that we are going to love raising our family here. It feels like home already!

Below are pictures of some of our adventures so far here in Oregon.

Bike Valet at the Da Vinci Days Festival. This is a very eco friendly town. I guess I'm going to have to get
myself a bike.

One of the events at Da Vinci Days is what they call the kinetic sculpture competition. These machines (or whatever you call them) are all human-powered and have to be able to make it over sand dunes, through mud and be able to float in the river (although I don't think some of them could float). They do this every year! This city if full of engineers that love nothing more than coming up with stuff like this!

Fun day out in Newport at the Oregon Coast Aquarium. We drove up the coast to a town called Lincoln City and hit the outlets. We stopped at Moe's on the way home for some clam chowder and fish 'n chips.

Pretty, but not quite your South Carolina beaches.

Macy at the Benton County Fair! She LOVED the animals and the rodeo!

My cute mom eating some famous Tillamook ice cream.

Macy going on her first ever roller coaster ride! She wasn't scared one bit!

Mark and I on the balcony at Strega where we had dinner celebrating our 7th anniversary! I'm still crazy over this boy!

Nicholas and Karlee eating their toes! They now have their two bottom front teeth and are chewing on everything!

I think that is everything in a nutshell!

So Long South Carolina! We'll miss Y'all!

The movers are here and we are on our way out! We'll be in Logan for a bit and then it's off to the great Pacific Northwest. We have loved South Carolina and will miss so much about it. We'll miss the great weather, the way of life, the food, and most of all, the wonderful friends we have made in our short year here. Thanks for all the memories! We'll miss y'all!