Random things

I have been busy the last couple weeks with school and my goal this year to do some canning. The canning has been more interesting then I thought. I bought three bushels of peaches to can and it took longer then I thought. We did not even get to all the peaches, they were too hard and I was sick of peaches. With my dad, mom, and brother helping we got a little over 2 bushels done and it took all day. We got thirty jars. So I think that I learned that for next year to try and spread it out over two weeks.

I also made raspberry jam. I learned that it takes me 2 1/2 hours to pick 10 pounds of raspberries. Also you have to follow the directions on the pectin or your jam will not set. I have a batch of raspberry syrup.

This is my other project making herb vinegar. I planted herbs this year and decided to make some bottles of herb vinegar. I just did on Friday so it is too early to know if they came out good. But they look pretty so I guess if they don't taste good I can use them as decorations.

School is going well. It is starting to get harder. I have a test this week and an assignment due. I still have a ton to read. I am learning a lot though. I like all of my classes, especially Constitutional Law. What I am surprised at are some of the kids in my classes. I might sound like an old foggy, but kids now are lazy. In my Chinese Politics class our professor was lecturing and this kid next to me was reading in a book. I thought it was weird he was not taking notes. I looked over and he had a notebook full of notes and I realized that he had borrowed his friend's notes who had taken the class before. All I could think was I really hope that I don't have to work with you later, you are lazy. In my Political Analysis class there is a girl who was making a bag or something on this plastic hoop. I thought that was weird. There is another girl who sits in the front row and she texts and reads the paper right in front of the professor. I thought that was rude. She could at least sit in the back of the room if she is going to goof off.

I just don't think that most of the people who are in college realize how nice it is that they can go when so many people would like to and can't. I know I appreciate the opportunity more now that I have gone back. But I think that most of their parents pay for it so they probably don't care if they are wasting money.

my first week of school

I finished my first week of school. Is it possible to be a month behind when there has only been a week of school. My work load is pretty heavy. This first week I have read probably 200 pages of homework. I drive to the U, sudy before class, go to classes, study afterwards, go home, and study some more. I am glad that I did not try and work and do this. But even with all the work it is still really great and I am learning a lot. Ijust have to keep my level of dedication through the whole semester. Right now I am doing good, but around finals I might be ready to crack. So that is what is going on in my life right now, studying. It will probaby be that way for the next 3 and a half months.

Our vacation part 2

After leaving Coos Bay we drove down the rest of the Oregon Coast into California. I have never been to California before so it was all new to me. We stopped in Crescent City to eat the lunch my Grandma had packed for us. She is so nice. We stopped by this beach and watched the ocean while we ate. It was called pebble beach, not the golf course one. You can tell by the pictures that it was foggy. In fact most of the coast was foggy that day.

After Pebble Beach we toured the Redwood National Forest. The trees are huge and beautiful. We did not have time to go see the really big ones, but the ones that we saw were still really big. We drove one scenic road. I can't remember the name right now and we hiked two short trails. Luckily we did not run into any bears.

I really love this tree.

This was the best picture I could get of how tall the trees were. The forest is so pretty.

Jason is in a tree.

We stayed in Eureka California and the next day headed down highway 1. First we drove through the Avenue of the Giants, which is close to Eureka. We then drove down highway 1. We did not get as far as we first planned. The road is really windy.

This is us in Mendocino at their state park. They had all these cliffs overlooking the ocean. It was Jason's favorite place. After this we drove on little highways through Sanoma and Napa. It was pretty with all the vineyards, but I like the trees better. We stayed in Fairfield.

The next day we went to the JellyBelly Factory. We did not do the tour because it was just a video tour. I thought that was lame. But we did buy a crap load of jellybeans. We then drove to Lake Tahoe. Someone at work told me it was super pretty and she was right.

We took a drive around part of the lake. It is really blue like Crater Lake. It is also super fancy. We drove through one town that was mostly multi-million dollar mansions. It was weird driving our Civic around all the Mercedes and Escalades.

We had dinner at this restaurant on the lake and this is the sunset from the restaurant. It was pretty romantic.

The next day we woke up early and drove the boring 9 hours back through Nevada. I thought the Idaho drive was ugly and boring, but no this was uglier. I could never imagine living there. Just dirt and a few plants. But we got home okay. Well all in all it was a wonderful vacation. It was hard to come home especially when it was so freaking hot compared to the coast.

Our Vacation part 1

The last week we have been on vacation. We went to Oregon and California. Our first day of vacation we drove 12 hours to Portand, Or where we visited my Uncle Tom and Aunt Pat. We had a nice visit with them and stayed at an Embassy Suites which was nice. The next morning we woke up and drove to Tillamook, Or. We went to the Cheese Factory, where we ate lots of cheese curds. Nothing beats Tillamook cheese. We then drove to Lincoln city where we were staying for the night. This is the view from our room pretty cool huh. Our hotel was pretty much right on the beach. The room was so nice and we walked on the beach twice once at sunset.

Pretty huh.

Unfortunatly we only stayed one day. Monday we spent the day driving down to my grandma's. We went to the aquarium in Newport.

The otters are my favorite. I love them.

After that we drove to find a little beach we found last time. We accidently passed it and had to turn around and find it again. There are tidepools and stuff to look at.

There was also a little cave. The tide started to come up though so we left and went to my Grandma,s. We stayed with her a couple of days and it was so much fun. I wish we could see her more. She really is a wonderful woman.

It is amazing how little the town that I grew up in has changed. I mean some of the stores have changed, but the town has the same feel. I just wish that I would of appreciated how wonderful it was when I lived there. Not the small part, but how close to the ocean it is, all the wonderful trees, and how it only gets to be like 70 during the summer. It was hard to leave. I really love Oregon. Here are a few more Oregon pictures and my next post I will talk about our California part of our trip. I know you are all excited.

My first canning experience

Today with my first day of freedom from work I decided to make some pickled peppers. Jason and I went up to Willard on Saturday and got some bananna peppers. So today I picked up some other peppers to make a pepper melody.

Here are the results. We have to wait 5 weeks to see if they actually taste good, but Iam pretty happy that they all sealed. Also this weekend I got 12 bags of corn frozen. Hopefully I can get another 20 bags, gets some peaches canned, tomatoes and green beans. Oh yeah and some raspberry jam. We will see these peppers took me three hours.

My last day at work

Friday was my last day at work. I can't believe it. Even today I thought that I just had a day off. Work threw me a little going away party on Wednesday which was really nice. They gave me a box full of file clips. It was funny. They were from a project a few of us were working on. It made me laugh, and in the box was a giftcard for me to get something for our vacaton. I thought it was so nice. I took a picture of the clips because it made me laugh, the box is like 18 inches deep full of these. I will miss a lot of the people that I worked with.

So I have only three weeks until school starts. I am kind of nervous and scared, but also super excited.

Happy 8th Anniversary

This Sunday is our 8th wedding anniversary. I can't believe it. I tried to find a picture on my computer of our wedding, but all I could find was the front page of the collage that Elizabeth made us for our adoption. So I posted it, she did a fantastic job with it.
In some ways I can't believe that it has been 8 years. It seems like we just got married yesturday. In other ways it feels like I have known Jason all of my life. I can't imagine my life without him. I guess I could get all sappy, but that is not really me. I will say that Jason is a wonderful husband. These 8 years have been wonderful and I can't wait for what happens the rest of our lives. Like all couples we have had our trials and disagreements, but that has just made our marriage better. I hope that we have hundreds of trips, late night talks, times where I laugh so hard my sides hurt, shopping trips to the craft stores that he hates, times where Jason calls me some pet name he knows I hate, and even disagreement over the next 100 years or so.