I Have Been Tagged (and maybe you have, too!)

So, I don't usually do these silly chain letter things, but my good friend Nicole tagged me, and it looked kinda fun, so here we go...

LIST OF EIGHTS

List of eight tag:
1) Post rules on your blog
2) Answer the five '8' items
3) Let each person you tag know by leaving them a comment

8 Favorite TV Shows:
1) The Office (I can't stop laughing
2) American Idol (lame, I know)
3) Don't Forget the Lyrics (So funny, I wonder how I would do on it)
4) Design to Sell
5) Rachael Ray
6) House
7) Lie To Me (It is kind of intriging)
8) 30 Rock

8 Things I Did Yesterday:
1) worked
2) P90X (work out baby)
3) Paid off credit card!!!!!!!
4) read a zillion books to Owen
5) Took Owen to 1 year-old check up (he got shots)
6) Took Tom dinner (he was studying late at school)
7) Learned how to edit pictures on PikNik (loved it)
8) Stayed up wait to late

8 Things I am looking Forward to:
1) Going to Utah in March
2) watching Owen grow up
3) Tom graduating
4) Not having to manage apartments
5) Owen Starting to walk
6) not being in debt
7) having our Dream house
8) having more kids

8 Favorite Restaurants:
1) Calamity Jane's (best burger joint in Oregon)
2) Carol's Corner Cafe (best pancake house in Washington)
3) Caloway's (best Italian in Smithfield)
4) Asian Star (best Chinese every)
5) Texas Roadhouse (Mmmm Boy)
6) Red Robin (Yum)
7) PineApple Pete's Island Eats at Seaworld (this is where I told Tom I love Him for the 1st time)
8) Pier 49 Pizza (I have got to plug my In-Laws restaurant)

8 Things on my Wish List:
1) Not having to manage apartments
2) My Craftsmen style house with a wrap around porch on a large amount of land
3) A Toyota Siena Hybrid :0)
4) I nice large tub, that I can actually stretch out in
5) Tom did not have to always go to school
6) To go to Italy
7) People would just be nicer to each other
8)I lived closer to my family

8 People I Tag:
1) Jenn
2) Amy
3) Katie
4) Lindsey
5) Charis
6) Moana
7) Sarah
8) Toshia

I can't believe it, I have a ONE-year-old!

Yesterday was Owen's first birthday. 

 I seriously cannot believe how fast this past year has gone, and how much he has grown.  I don't have a little baby anymore, that is for sure.  It is always said that the older you get, the quicker time passes, but I think having kids multiplies that truth by at least 10.  Things seem to be going by a lot quicker now that I have a kid: every moment he is just being super adorable (which is often) seem to fly by; the times that I am trying to take a picture of him doing the funniest things, and then they are gone; his naps (they are WAY too quick); this past year of Tom's school has flown by (hurray).  Even cars seem to be driving fast lately.

Anyway, enough of my emotional rambling, on to more exciting things... OWEN's Birthday!  

One is a BIG deal.  It is the every first birthday.  So we had a couple of friends over for cake and ice cream.  

Look how cute of a cake I made! Click Here for the instructions.

Owen had never had cake, or chocolate, or ice cream, before yesterday, so I wasn't sure how he would respond to them.  I think he liked it though, what do you think? 

Owen sharing cake with his cousin Van.

Some friends at the party.

Tom helping Owen open some presents.  Owen is playing with a microphone he got, which is his new favorite toy.

Now I think those parents whose spend tons of money on their kids first birthday parties are crazy (no offence if you are one of them, but come on folks, the kid is not even going to remember it).  But Owen LOVES to swim, so we decided to take him swimming, and invite some friends to come along.  It was a blast.  

Owen playing in the fountain.

The big water slide.

Tom shows off his mad Cheer skills

Van and his dad, Derik, in the lazy river (which wasn't so lazy).

Here we are having a blast in the water.

Doughnut Math

I had an urge today, a doughnut urge.  Tom and I were talking to our friend Jenn, when all of the sudden a doughnut sounded really, really good.  It was unaminous, what better way to celebrate President's Day then to gorge ourselves one an All American Doughnut?  And what better place to get a doughnut then Portland's famous Doughnut shop Voodoo Doughnuts?  So we all pile in the car, and embark on the day adventure to the doughnut shop.  

There are 2 Voodoo Doughnut shops.  We went to one, only to find out that they only take cash...who carries cash?  So we decided to try and find the other location, which is in the Heart of Portland.  The roads in Portland City Center are crazy, so needless to say we drove around for a while with out finding our destination.  

So we headed home, a bit crestfallen, and then we remembered that there was a Doughnut Shop just a few blocks from our house: Winchelle's DO NUT (why people spell doughnut like that is beyond me).  We each wanted A doughnut; three adult = three doughnuts, simple math right?  You would think, but we found out that a "Doughnut dozen," which is 14, was only $5.50. Tom's doughnut math kicked in, and he realized we could get 3 doughnuts for $.88 each (thats $2.70), OR we could get 14 for $5.50.  Lets be honest folks, we are American, of coarse we ended up with 14 doughnuts. Did we need 14 doughnuts? No.  Did we want 14 doughnuts? No.  But the fact of the matter remains, we got 14 doughnuts, and we will eat, and enjoy those 14 doughnuts.  Why because we are American, and thats what Americans do, we buy things that seem to be a better deal wether we need them or not. But, Mmmmm boy, this time it was good.  I like doughnut math.

I don't know, what do you think?

It seems like the further I get into life, the more people around me have FaceBook accounts.  And the longer I live, the more people tell me to get one.  Well, I once had one.  Back in my college years, when I was on the cutting edge of cool (ha ha), I actually had a FaceBook Account.  But you see, I was so cutting edge, hardly anyone else had an account because no one knew what it was.  I did it for a while, and decided it was lame, because the only people I talking to I lived or worked with, and I could talk to them for real.  So I stopped using it like 4 years ago.  

I have a philosophy that there is a certain progression in the social world of the internet.  MySpace is for High Schoolers; FaceBook is what college and/or singles folks do; and Blogging is what post-college and married people do.  This makes sense, right?  Well, so many people in the past few months have asked me if I FaceBook, that I decided that maybe I should activate my account, just to see what all the hype is about.  I tried to sign in, and apparently my account had expired.  Oh well, too bad.  But Tom has been thinking about starting up an account, and if he does, then I might as well.  I don't know though.  What would that say about me if I digress in my own standards of internet maturity?  :-)  Is FaceBook really all the great?  Especially since I have a bog?

My little Dare Devil

Owen has taken up a new hobby in climbing.  Yes, I have a climber.  It is his new favorite game to see how high he can get. Usually he climbs up on the back of the coach or up onto the ottoman, which is quite the accomplishment for a guy with such short legs.  I thought that his climbing was fairly harmless, until now.  Here I am, sitting in my office, working on the computer, when all of the sudden I hear Owen laughing.  I thought that he was playing with some toys on the floor.  I look over to see what he is up to, only to see that is really UP.  Some how he had managed to open my office closet door, and climb up the closet.  There he stood, pulling office supplies down to the ground.  He was really quite proud of him self (as you can tell in the picture).  When I went to grab him, he just grinned at me, as if to say, "Aren't I a cleaver boy!"

I am sure this is not nearly as exciting to any one else, but Owen has taken his first real steps!!!  He is getting really good at waking from Tom to me, and back to Tom.  I tried to get him to walk to me from the couch the other day, and he chickened out, and got down and crawled.  But he is almost there.  

Pancakes Anyone?

Today, I joined 2 Million fellow Americans, and stood in line for a FREE Grand Slam Breakfast from Denny's Restaurant.  I met a couple of friends at the local Denny's at 11:30.  Oh Boy, was that a joke.  There was a line that literally wrapped around the building.  I had heard on the radio that they were getting people in and out of there with in 30-40 minutes.  I asked some one at the front of the line how ling he had been waiting, and he said it had only been 25 minutes, so we decided to wait it out...for a while.

We stood in line for 20 or so minutes (luckily it was a beautiful day), and decided that we weren't getting free pancakes anytime soon.  Our time was worth more then free food.  So we decided to go to 

our place and make pancakes and eggs instead.  It turned out pretty fun!  And they probably tasted just as good.

Happy Birthday to my Sister

Today is my sister, Charis's birthday.  In fact, it is her golden birthday (when you tun the age of the date you were born).  She is 27 on the 17th.  Pretty cool!  

I just wanted to let her know how much I lover her, and how grateful I am that she is my sister.  Yes, we have had our ups and downs, but she truly is one of my closets friends, and I know that I can go to her for anything.  

She is one of the most selfless, caring, strong willed people I know, and I totally look up to her.  I can be like her when I grow up (that is if I grow up).  

I love you!!! You are the best sister I have ever had!!!!  Not to mention the only one. 

A Quote from her favorite cartoonist: 

"Big sisters are the crab grass in the lawn of life."  ~Charles M. Schulz