Star Struck

You are NEVER going to believe this, but I have Adam to vouch for me.

Yesterday I am driving Adam home from work, we are on NW 229th Ave which is about 1 block from our apartment. We see someone riding a bike (which you see all the time around here) BUT, this was Zack Roloff from Little People, Big World! No Joke!! Adam was like hey isn't that Zach and I was like YEAH!

Of course I don't have my camera in the CR-V, so I don't have a picture, I actually thought about going to get it since we were right by the apartment but then I was like I don't want to be a stalker.

So this got me thinking, I knew they lived in Oregon, and I wanted to go to the Roloff Farms for pumpkin season. I looked up the farms and they live right here in Hillsboro, and we will be here for the pumpkin season! I LOVE Oregon!!

Pacific City, OR

Pacific City is our favorite place to go in Oregon! We celebrated our 5 year wedding anniversary while we were in Iowa so we decided to go to PC for the weekend just the two of us, and Lilly.

This is one of the Haystack Rocks which is in Cape Kiwanda in Pacific City. This is sunset the first night we were there.

Adam built us a fire on the beach and we made s'mores. They were delicious!

Lilly was fascinated with the beach, she wanted to chase every seagull and pelican. She would run up and down the shore.

Adam recalled a phrase his dad would tell him about fires while we were sitting on the beach.... Indian make small fire stand close, white man make big fire stand back.

We love the Pelican Brewery. There have amazing clam chowder and they brew their own beer. We ate here for lunch, brunch, and dinner over the course of two days! We could have eaten other places but it is just too good.

This is sunrise on Monday morning and our view from our room while staying at The Inn at Cape Kiwanda.

This was a great way to celebrate our 5 year anniversary! It will probably be that long before we get back again, but, we will be back!

Adam, I love you! Thanks for making the last 5 years my best 5 years! It just keeps getting better. :)

Rachael got MARRIED!

So, we went to Iowa for two big events in the Schaad / Straw family! One was my sister Rachael's wedding. She married Grant Stokka on 8-9-08 which just happened to be five years to the day that Adam and I got married. We are so glad we could make the celebration.

Finally, "WE"

Rachael's bouquet was beautiful!

My favorite part is the cake, Rachael had delicious cupcakes.

Rachael and Grant we are so excited for you, we wish you all the happiness in the world!

I will have pictures of the bride and groom during the ceremony and family shots once my dad sends them to me, so stay tuned.

Birthday Queen!

Happy Birthday, Gram!

Adam's Grandma Betty turned 80 years young while we were in Iowa! We had the pleasure of celebrating with her and the whole Mewhirter family.

Gram, I gotta tell ya, you make 80 look fabulous!

The Iowa State Fair

I am sure many of you have heard how much I LOVE the Iowa State Fair! Adam and I have not been to the fair for 5 years, we were really excited to go on our trip home last week. There is really no way to show you everything I love about the fair, so I have picked a few of my favorites.

This is a map of the fair which seems to get bigger every year! Everyday at the fair there are concerts, talent shows, contests and the best people watching!

Upon arriving at the fair there are two things you need to start your tour. One is a HUGE turkey leg.......

the other is a fresh squeezed lemonade!

The first main attraction is the Big Boar, he really needs no introduction except to say that this years winner was 1,259 pounds!

I think I heard this is the biggest boar in Iowa State Fair history! This picture does not do him justice, he is enormous.

This cute little pig had a long day. He was so tired that his tongue was stuck to the floor while he slept.

The cows start out sooooo cute......



then they grow up.

The Giant Slide is a tradition in my family! My dad says that I have enjoyed the slide since I was little and sometimes it was hard to get me off of it.

I have to go on the slide at least once every time I go to the fair. This time Adam's sister, Sarah went with me.

You lean forward, put your arms in the air if you are brave enough and scream all the way down.

When you get to the bottom you collapse in a heap of giggles!

The fair always has a butter cow and it is placed in none other than the dairy barn.

Isn't she a beauty.

Every year the lady that makes the butter cow does a tribute to someone. This year she chose Shawn Johnson who is from Des Moines Iowa and is in the Olympics.

You can get anything imaginable on a stick at the fair and every year they come up with something new. This year there was a salad on a stick and fried pineapple on a stick. I did not have the salad on a stick as I thought I really did not come here to eat healthy, I did however have the pineapple on a stick which is amazing! It is a huge chunk of pineapple dipped in funnel cake batter, fried and then smothered in funnel cake glaze. Heaven on a stick!

When you leave the fair you no doubt have spent every last dollar in your wallet and your husband says, I hope there's enough left to retire on.

To check out all the other cool stuff at the fair go to http://www.iowastatefair.org/

Mr. Toby, he's a good dog!

So I have been home in Iowa for two wonderful weeks! One of the many highlights was seeing Toby. Toby is our black lad mix, he is about 13 years old. He was not able to make our trip all the way to Oregon because of his arthritis, so he is staying with my dad in Iowa. We have missed him very much here in OR, so it was a real treat to see him.

You may or may not know, but Toby LOVES car rides! (unlike his sister, Lilly) These pics are of Toby chill'in in the back seat on one of our many car rides.

Three Sisters Camping and Hiking

Byline: Adam

While Angela was on extended travel in Iowa (she will have some posts from IA later) I took an opportunity to do a little camping and hiking in the Three Sisters Wilderness Area. I got all the necessary supplies...hot dogs, s'mores, firewood, etc. I even bought a new pack for the trip (a Camelbak) which turned out to be awesome. I was a little late arriving on Friday which was nerve wracking because I didn't have a campsite reservation. I did get a nice campsite near Hosmer Lake, however, and started a fire. I had hot dogs but no s'mores because my stomach was feeling strange. I thought it was nerves from having to rush to find a campsite. I realized in the morning that it was not nerves...I got sick shortly after waking up. I decided to tough it out and went on a hike to another Mirror Lake (this one mirrors South Sister). I didn't make it, however, because I was REALLY tired, but Lilly and I did find another lake and a stream to sit and read by and keep cool (it was 100+ degrees over most of inland Oregon this weekend).

I thought about heading home after the hike, but was feeling better and decided to stay Saturday night. I was hoping to get another hike in on Sunday. It was probably a bad choice as I was sick again Saturday night. Feeling like I had been "tough enough" for one weekend I packed it up around 6am Sunday morning and headed home.

All told the trip was amazing. Despite the stomach bug, I really had a great time. All things being equal, I would probably even do it again. I could really do without the stomach bug, though. It was good to get out in the great outdoors, especially the time Lilly and I spent on our mini hike to the stream and lake.

I realize this picture is blurry...but I decided to post it anyway because it was amazing to see. This was taken near my campsite Friday night and is a full-moonrise with a sunset behind me lighting the trees.

Lilly grabbing a quick bite to eat at camp Friday.

Sunset on Friday night

Lilly at play at Sink Creek. It turned out to be kind of buggy here so me moved on.

The view of Kokostick Butte from Bristah lake. Lilly and I both went swimming here. Lilly actually did swim out to me one time...a big step! The lake was shallow, but cool...a welcome change of pace from the hot weather.

Lilly had the upper hand on the bugs at the lake. She gave them all they could handle

Sunrise over Mount Bachelor on Sunday morning

Mirror Lake

Byline: Adam (my first post on Straw World)

After Todd, Angela, and I went to the coast on Saturday, Todd and I went off to hike on Sunday. We hiked to Mirror lake (so named for its reflection of Mount Hood) and then on to Tom, Dick, and Harry mountain...one mountain, really, with three distinct peaks. The hike was fairly easy especially given the GREAT views you get as reward. Not only can you see Mount Hood from the top, but Mount Rainier, Mount St. Helens, Mount Adams, and Mount Jefferson as well.

The lake was not glassy enough to be a perfect mirror, but you get the idea.

Lilly came along and had fun "swimming" in the lake. Actually, she doesn't swim, she goes in just as far as she can still touch. We are working on the swimming thing.

A view of Mount Hood on the way up.

Todd on the summit of Tom, Dick, and Harry. We never really found out which of the three peaks we had climbed.

A boy and his dog.

The mountaineers.

Another artsy shot inspired by my Dad who loves the foreground image (mostly dead trees, flowers had to do in this case).

He Loves Me

Adam professed his love for me while we were watching the sunset after dinner at Roseanna's.

Three Arch Rocks and Roseanna's

We ate dinner at a place called Roseanna's. It was a wonderful meal. They had great seafood and marion berry cobbler. This is where Todd and Carrie ate the day they got engaged. I should have taken a picture of the front of the restaurant but all we took was this picture from the beach. One of the building's on the right side of the picture is Roseanna's. You can see how close to the water we are.
This was our view from the restaurant. We were there around sunset and watched the rest from the beach.
What a beautiful sunset!

Rock Beach in Oceanside

Walking in the really cold ocean in Oceanside, OR.
So I don't know the real name of the beach or even if it had one, but it had all kinds of great rocks on it. Todd and Adam skipped rocks for a long while.
Drying off my feet so I can put my shoes and socks back on.