happy two-years-of-blogging anniversary to us!

my, how time flies! it's hard to believe we've documented two years of our adventures for all the world to see. and to think, we started this blog as a way to share pictures and stories with family and friends as we wrote about our move across the country from indianapolis to portland. and now here we are, two years later, living in oregon.

but here's the thing: unless people leave us comments, we really have no idea if anybody is actually reading our blog. if you ARE still reading after all this time, we thank you. or perhaps no one reads about our adventures anymore. we could just be writing this for our own amusement. who knows? not us.

anyway, for those of you out there who are still interested in what we've been doing (and who still read our blog), here's the latest and greatest.

last weekend we met our favorite boyz in oregon city (which is really just a far, far suburb of portland) to ride the only outdoor municipal elevator in the united states. exciting, huh???

a little background: oregon city is sandwiched between the willamette river and a cliff. at the top of the cliff is a neighborhood. in order to connect this neighborhood to the city's business district, a water-powered elevator was installed in the early 1900s. this elevator was super popular, but the big issue was it prevented water from getting to the top of the cliff, where the rich people lived. as such, the rich people weren't happy about not having water. of course, controversy ensued (as it always does) and eventually years later, an electric elevator replaced the water-powered elevator.

here are some pictures of us and the boyz in the observation deck

the observation deck looks like a spaceship

then we went to the boyz' house for a fantastic dinner and a short hike in the woods (their backyard) to see oregon's state flower, the trillium.

and then it snowed.

crazy weather we've been having. here's hoping the weather is cooperative when lucky's mom visits in a couple of weeks. we're so excited to see her!!!

as always, we're sending lots of love and hugs across the miles...the girlz

glorious sunshiney saturday

the temp on saturday reached almost 80 - we were in heaven! we took full advantage of the gorgeous weather by getting outside as early as we possibly could.

we set out on our journey to the farmers' market via our super cool neighborhood and took some great photos along the way.

as we walked past the portland artists' society, mn spotted this stone bench with beautiful flowers laying on top - such a great contrast between temporary and permanent.


this is a beautiful mansion not too far from our place. we love the architecture and the simplicity.


it's all about the details


continuing our journey, we passed a house with a garden-like yard in front. we noticed there are little figurines placed throughout the landscape - so creative. how many doo-dads you can find?




we reached our destination and partook in one of our favorite leisure activites - people watching. here's lucky...


here's mn....


and here's the dynamic duo...


here's a shot of part of the market - as you can see, lots of people took advantage of the great weather...


we also passed some time catching up with our friend elizabeth. imagine our suprise when a little lamb – yes, a lamb – wandered over from one of the vendors' tents. it was hanging out with the vendors' kids much like you would see a dog hanging out with kids. only in portland...


it was a spectacular day and we're so grateful we were able to get out and enjoy it together.

we love and miss y'all very much!

sudoku master of sudoku monster

whenever we purchase the sunday oregonian, lucky and i attempt to solve the various puzzles (crossword, jumble, teleword) found within its pages. over the years, we've gotten pretty good at them. the sudoku puzzle, however, is one lucky has no interest in working on with me. yet every week i attempt to solve this frustratingly complex, yet simple, puzzle. and every week i've failed to break the code...until this past sunday's puzzle.

behold, i give you my completed sudoku!



i've proudly hung it on our refrigerator door.

hope your weekend is filled with solved puzzles and lots of love. as always, we're sending lots of love and hugs across the miles...the girlz