18 July 2010 - 19:48Black Butte Vacation and Hike

We spent the weekend over at Black Butte with both my family and Adam’s family. The weekend was filled with hiking, biking, swimming, walking, talking, relaxing, eating and drinking. I could have used a few more days of relaxation…but it’s back to work for us. Adam and I hiked Black Butte, which Adam had never done before. Even though I am not a fan of up hill hikes, it is a gorgeous hike with spectacular views. My ankles held up really well and I was injury free…..until I fell down a few hundred yards from the bottom of the butte. So no broken bones, but a scraped up leg and some sore muscles. Still waiting for the day I can do an athletic task injury free. Oh well!

1 Comment | Tags: Life

6 July 2010 - 20:54Weekend of Celebrations

This past weekend was full of celebrations…so much fun, food and laughter!

Friday was my birthday BBQ. Adam arranged for a wonderful BBQ which included burgers, turkey burgers, chicken and sausages! And if that wasn’t enough, for dessert he got a Sweet Life strawberry cheesecake….mmmm! We ended the night with some telepictionary! It was the perfect birthday evening…even though it was five days early.

Saturday was our “4th of July” celebration on July 3rd. I have come to learn that family makes holidays, not dates on a calendar. Adam and I drove up to Adam’s parents and met my parents, grandmother and aunt there. We snacked on appetizers and played badminton before dinner…watch out, Glen is quite good. Then we had a wonderful BBQ dinner (again, but no complaints here). And if I didn’t eat enough cheesecake the day before, we had a wonderful berry torte! After two days of good eating, I was ready to get back to normal eating.

On Sunday, I headed out to Harrisburg (about 20 minutes outside Eugene) for the morning. The Harrisburg Fire Department helped us out with our benefit breakfast, so I went out to help them with their event. I spent the morning greeting customers and helping out with various tasks. After the breakfast was completed, I hopped on top of our fire truck and was in the 4th of July parade. I was pleased to see many familiar faces from the Santa Clara fire district and from work, including one of my students. I was so amazing to see the expression on little kids faces when they see a fire engine! There is something so magical about a smile from a child.

This was my first time out in Harrisburg during the 4th of July, and I had no idea it was a day long event where the whole town, as well as neighboring towns came out for the celebration. It was so cool to see a community come together like this….and the community being basically the entire community. I think I will be returning to little ol’ Harrisburg in the future to partake in the old fashion 4th of July celebration!

No Comments | Tags: Life

6 July 2010 - 20:37Save a (local) Firefighter

A few weeks ago, Santa Clara Fire District put on an event for one our own battling cancer. I was at the station and bright eyed at 6am ready to help out. My task for the day was to greet people and give balloons to the kiddos…it was a tough job, but some one has to do it. The event was a huge success at we raised about $6500 to help our ‘brother’. My mom was down, so she attended with Adam. And being a good mom, she took pictures of the event.

She also got a private tour my responding station and took pictures in my gear and on my rigs.

No Comments | Tags: Life