The Visit in July...(two months later)

Finally we are updating our blog...apologies for the late entry!

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In July our dear SLO, CA friends, the Carters, came to see our new digs up here in Eugene. It was crunch time for Corey, as he was nearing the end of his quarter (which meant many close to all-nighters building models). Donna was able to entertain when Corey had to slip away to do work. We were able to go to something that we really enjoyed the entire summer up here in Eugene, Friday movies in the park. This one was the movie, Big... so much fun, love the chopsticks part! They play the movies on a big inflatable screen, bring your own chairs, they provide the popcorn—perfect!

Donna made sure that the Carters got to go to one of Donna’s favorite clothing stores, Buffalo Exchange. All left happy with “new” old clothes.

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So after an almost all night of building a model, we took Joel and Sarah to Eugene’s Saturday market—because everyone here in Eugene knows that the best way to understand Eugene to its fullest is to witness this event! Below is one of the performers at the market. (we have seen unique performers bang on the neck of a guitar—or what was left of a guitar—with a spoon, so this performer was impressive in comparison).

After we had our fill of the market, we headed on up to Portland for a day trip. Especially for Sarah, we went to the Rose Gardens as the first stop. Founded in 1917, Portland’s International Rose Test Garden is the oldest official, continuously operated public rose test garden in the United States...and Portland is called the “Rose city”, so it was fitting to visit! We got quite carried away with all of the photo ops. Here Joel, Sarah, and Donna all take time smelling the roses (while Corey plays paparazzi as he does so well). There were different sections of the garden, and many interesting rose-names, we just could not help but take pictures at many of them. Below Donna is doing her best attempt at a dainty royal wave, if she had tripped over the roses in front of her I think it would have become a royal flush! (waah wahh) The romantic rosey atmosphere brought out the best in the couples.

For all of the shots in this rose garden, you can thank Corey and Sarah, caught in the act. Awww, here is more of the romance that we were looking for in this beautiful garden. These roses were called “Dream Come True”. And not to be outdone, Corey and Donna show their take at romance... well the roses were called “Passionate Kisses”. Do not worry, this is an exaggeration of their kisses... or so you hope! Donna showing the excitement of golden petals at the flowers named “Strike it Rich”. Sarah and Donna were attempting at...“Voluptuous” as these roses were named. Sarah is doing well with her hand on the hip but Donna... not so sure about that pose. Yay, frolicking in the roses. (it is fun aside from the things called thorns reaching out for us) Sarah is in her element here among the beautiful roses. Around the rose garden and Washington park, the guys just happened to find prime examples of Dr. Evil, with the help of their pinkie. None of us could remember the last time we were on seesaws! Corey and Joel’s goal was to balance on the seesaw. Ahhh, very calming guys. Sarah and Donna’s goal was to fly as high as possible. So fun! Each one of us had different ways of expressing how we liked the garden.

An amazing event happened while at the garden... and it was caught on film...

(So what did you think of the video? Pretty amazing huh? Well, we thought it was.) • Sarah was excited about going to the Shakespeare section of the rose garden. In this portion they have all of the herbs, trees, foliage that are mentioned in his plays. She is teaching Hamlet and was looking forward to finding some Hemlock to take a picture for her students. We searched and searched and could not find any. Donna even tried to ask the trumpet flowers... they hadn’t a clue. Little did Sarah know that she had seen hemlock the ENTIRE visit with us. Right before they arrived Donna went and picked some beautiful wildflowers to have on display in the house for the guests. She even went so far as to say that if she could do it again, she would just pick wildflowers like these for wedding flowers! Well, no one knew that it was the poisonous HEMLOCK that Donna picked! So here is the beautiful deadly bouquet that was used to welcome guests:

Most evenings we got to have dinner together and make homemade ravioli, yummy salads, and—as shown below—a new pesto pizza...YUM! Sunday afternoon while the boys went to play golf, the girls went to get manicures. Sarah, Teagan (friend from Ekklesia), and Donna had to do a little hunting to find a place open on a Sunday but were successful! At the end of the manicure, Sarah convinced Donna to “brave” a little design on her toes. Sarah was getting flowers... one of the workers decided to join in the discussion (of course they get paid more if you get a design) and he said that he can do wild flames on the toes. So as a dare, and just for Sarah, Donna went for the flames. The little nail shop had never seen flames done so crowded around Donna were all the workers looking on as she had flames added to her big toes! It was quite an event. The guy who did the flames wanted Donna to come back in and next time get zebra stripes or leopard print. (not a chance) When Donna got home she felt inspired by the flames and grabbed an outfit that was more “Harley”. That night was a crazy event that only Joel got to witness (as Corey was busy working away), poor guy. Sarah and Donna picked out a movie that was supposed to be a nice Christian movie that was like The Notebook but it turned out FAR from that. Horrible acting and cliche lines lead to insanity between Donna and Sarah. Seeing a side that Donna has never seen, Sarah busted out her “sassy” comebacks that left Donna’s jaw dropping to the ground. Unfortunately no photos were taken during this crazy time (Joel was probably too scared to do so, can't blame him) we do have the image of the movie. DON’T RENT THIS BELOW. The quote on the box says “If you liked The Notebook, this film will hold you in its emotional grip...” Yeah—if you consider an emotional grip being delusional laughter and tears because of the poor acting, then yes. Joel and Sarah got a brief tour of the campus and were able to see the actual model that Corey (and Donna at times) spent hours creating. As well as seeing other drawings and projects he had done throughout the quarter. Reenacting the “support” role that Donna played throughout the quarter, we posed for a photo-op.

After campus, Sarah and Donna lured the guys to a wonderful little place they had discovered by chance. It is a cute little patisserie that has delicious chocolaty desserts.

We all indulged.

We LOVED having the Carters stay at our place. It was truly a blast! Now if we could only get them to move up here! • Next blog: camping fun... to come.