History

Our history books are filled with moments of great triumph and great despair, the moments that mark the changing of the tides. We'll tell our children and our grandchildren where we were and what we thought of these historic times. 9/11 was the first time that I really felt I had lived during a time that would always be a marker in history, tonight is another. No matter who you voted for, we can all wake up tomorrow morning knowing that possibilities of what people can accomplish in this country are a little bit broader. How many times have you heard the statement: "I just don't know if the country is ready for ______." We are ready.

With any luck the hope we feel tonight will translate through the next 4 years and we may see some real change.

All-Star Evening

Last night was an evening that for whatever reason I may come to remember as one of the great all-time nights. Jenny (Appleseed) was in town visiting (yes i should have taken a picture, damn it.) We DVR'd the All-Star game planning to watch it later, but when I went to pic up Damon from his apartment to hang out for the evening he suckered me into the game by telling me that Mariano Rivera had just been brought into a tie game in the 9th. Instead of Damon coming out to meet us, we quickly parked (This is An Parking Space, Please Park Here) and headed into Damon's place to catch Rivera's outing.

Anyone who watched the game should know, that as soon as we layed eyes on the TV we were stuck watching the rest of the game, however long it took. I can't remember being that interested in an All-Star Game in quite a while. We even managed to hustle out for drinks at McMinaminns (can't spell that to save my life!) in between innings without missing much. My All-Star highlights are as follows:

• Papelbon gives up a run. Suck it.
• Rivera pitches 2 shutout innings, given he'll probably be shot for the rest of the season, but it was nice to see.
• Great defense & pitching & overall some good calls by the blues. I mean a game isn't interesting if you don't have at least a couple calls that can be hotly debated the next day!
• By starting to watch the game in the 9th inning I managed to avoid any siteings of A-Rod.

As a side note: Today Strick relayed a story to me involving a conversation he had with Erin Andrews (ESPN sleuzzy) wherein she stated that A-Rod is a complete sleeze ball/creeper who thinks that he can get any woman he wants, and Derek Jeter is the epitomy of class and dignity, a guy who really "gets it" and is just an all around great person. That Erin Andrews really has a good head on her shoulders. End side note.

So then we left McMinimens only to find that Zeb had left his lights on and now the car battery was dead. But not to worry, a friendly man on a gator (yeah, i have no idea why he's driving a gator around the streets of Corvallis at 11:30 PM) stopped and offered to try and jump the civic from the gator battery, somehow I doubt that was going to happen. Luckily we had another friendly man with an interesting accent who stopped to jump us with an actual car.

So anyway, it might not seem like much. Maybe it was just the fun of connecting with an old friend after a long time, hanging out and telling stories and laughing until we cried, but this really could go down as an All-Time Great Day. I gotta let it marinate, but I think it might.

in other news: Zeb has a new job, and I got all kinds of crafty today after work. I'll try to blog that out soon.

Late, but as promised...

I said I would post up the rest of the Coaches VS Kids baseball game pictures and here they are in no particular order:

Hearty hand claps at the end of the game.

This kid looked to increase his odds of getting walked by Coach Zeb by decreasing the size of his strike zone.

Saaawwwwinnng batter batter.

One of the kids "takes one for the team." Shouldn't the coaches' team have a little more control on the mound? If i remember right, this wasn't the only kid to "wear it."

After making it to first base this kid hams it up for the camera.

A unique catching stance.

Coach Zeb holds down the old six spot. He borrowed this uni from the Boys & Girls Club especially for this occasion. What a specimen.

The coaches' team runs a little short on time and sends their catcher to the plate still wearing the majority of his gear.

With a little extra protection the catcher feels a little more confident on the base paths.

Coach Zeb steps in to take a few hacks, the boys make sure to give him a few helpful pointers.

Looks like this one has been paying attention during practice.

After a nice hit one of the kids makes his way down the first base line.

Umm...Coach Zeb...you might want to spend a little extra time with this guy.

Damon, determined to get on base and provoke the kids to get him in a pickle, takes a wild swing. He used his speed in the first inning to get safely to first with a base hit bunt.

The kids bring it for a conference on the mound after the coaches put together a rally.

Zeb being Zeb

Zeb officially has a Associates Degree in General Studies with an emphasis in Computer Science! Congratulations Zeb! We had a great time at his graduation with Stan, Nita, My Dad (Tim) and Damon. We all went out and had a tremendous (more on the word tremendous later) dinner and all around celebration.


p.s. Zeb taught me how to resize the pictures so that I can post them on the blog without giving myself an aneurysm, that will be pretty useful. More baseball pics tomorrow!

Coaches VS. Kids

Zeb's team played their first annual Coaches VS Kids game today & it was a blast. A picture says 1000 words, so I'm busy working on figuring how to upload a slideshow. Stay tuned!!

later: wow. am so aggravated. just spend gazillion hours trying to upload all these huge pictures from the new camera into this slide show....and it posts up these tiny pictures! what!? anyway, i'll fix it tomorrow and put it up in way that allows you to actually see whats going on in the pictures :(

Thursday Morning: Okaaay. Got a few more up. Something has got to change here, I think that these pictures from the new camera are soooo big that they take forever to upload. I can't blog like this!!! Anyway, here are a few more good ones now & I'll keep on throwing up a few more here and there for you guys to check out.

Damon

Coach Zeb talks to the team

The old guys stretch it out

It's a Great Day to be a Beaver!!!

Beyond my wildest expectations, today I accepted a job at Oregon State University. Is there much more to even say? The job is working with Softball & my first day will be February 18. I can't wait to be home and see everyone - can you say Unpacking Party!?!?

Thanks to everyone who has supported us regardless of weather we were close or far far away. We love you guys. Can't wait to see all of you Oregonians & Pac-10'ers very very soon!!!!

Still More Rafting

More Rafting

Hilarity ensues after we attempt to flip the boat, only managing to flip ourselves. Our Guide Casey pulled Zeb back into the boat but did not expect the massive force generated as Zeb "dolphin kicked" himself back into the boat. Casey was then knocked on his ass. After he collected himself from the shock and awe of the dolphin kick, Emily was the next victim. Casey slung her in the boat like a salmon at the fish market, slamming her head first into the other side of the boat. At this point I was in hysterics and next in line to get slung into the boat. As quick as I was in the boat and sittting safely on the opposite edge, I was knocked into the water again by yes, you guessed it, an over zealous dolphin kick. Does this description even begin to do it justice? I doubt it, but I still go into uncontrolable laughter whenever I hear the words "dolphin kick".
Trust paddles with an untrustworthy guide.
If only we could have kept these booties. They make a real fashion statement.
Zeb taking the dive.

4th of July Rafting Trip

Rafting the McKenzie River this 4th of July with "the usual suspects" had to be one of the brighter idea's that we've had....in a long time/ever. It was an all around great day, one that will go down in the history of All-Time Great Days.

Everyone (including those non-water lovers among us) had a great time.

There are some GREAT stories from the trip, I can't even begin to remember them all.

• Our guide (who's name I forget) called Gal out for not enjoying his description of how to measure the volume of water that passing through a given river at a given time & appearing grumpy - a ballsy move on his part "Let's put our hats, sunglasses, and Allison's bad attitude in the dry bag" (Love you Gal!)
• Spending 5 mins. talking Emily into doing the "trust paddles" with Zeb, only to have the guide toss them both into the water.
• Unsuccessfully trying to flip our boat (what was her name?) and then laughing hysterically and driving our guide crazy as we tried to get back into the boat.

Feel free to comment on your favorite stories of the day, because I'm probably forgetting some good ones.

The following sequence of pictures is Emily and I "riding the bull" and getting soaked. TOO MUCH FUN.

Favorite Quote of the Day (used repeatedly, best when said in thick hick accent):

"America! 9/11! Never Forget! NASCAR! Woooooooooo!"

Late Pass Wednesday

In the true spirit of Late Pass Wednesday, here are the pictures from my bachelorette "party." It was a ton of fun & I finally found the film and took the initiative to get them developed!



How cute is Gal!? Hey, are you shooting this look at the rafting instructor?

Look how excited we were! Remember how nervous that guide made us, talking about the rules and what to do if you fall out? It was not even that bad!

A break from the Pic of the Day

Don't worry, there are pleanty more Pic's of the Day where those came from...but for today, we'll take a break and post a few more wedding pictures at Melanie's request!

Also, just a little bit of a teaser for future posts....there is a family who lives in our neighborhood in Bozeman who keeps their cat chained up on the grass out side of their apartment on a rope. Now I've seen dogs tied on a rope before...but NEVER A CAT. I'm planning on getting a picture of this soon.

The boys being silly as usual!


The Girls


Seeing each other for the first time.


The Vows


Zeb's Baptisim


The Kiss


Cutting The Cake


Tossing the Bouquet


Throwing the Garter


Check out Damon diving for the Garter!