2008 Update♦

Since we decided to go ahead and start a family blog I thought it might be a good idea to update everyone on what we've been doing for the last year. Last December went by like a whirlwind with Robin finishing up finals at the beginning of December, flying to Utah for Robin's brother's wedding in the middle of December and spending Christmas Eve with Robin's Grandma and aunts and uncles in Washington and then flying to California to spend Christmas Day with Matt's family. By the time we got back we were exhausted and ready for the routine we are so accustomed to; work, work, work for Matt and school, school, school for Robin. In January we made up for all the places we went in December by doing absolutely nothing other than work and school.

In February, Matt threw a surprise party for my birthday. Unfortunately, I caught my friend texting him and I called him out on it, playfully. Matt explained that he was putting together an early Valentine's Day surprise for me and he needed my friend to get me out of the house so that he could get it ready. So, on Saturday (four days after my birthday) I went with my friend Laura to my cousin, Kimberly's house in Portland to hang out. When I arrived home I expected some kind of very romantic dinner, but what did I find? All my friends from school jumping out of hiding places yelling "SURPRIZE!!" Not quite what I expected, but we had a great time anyway. On Valentine's Day, Matt had to work so I showed up at his work during his lunch break, which was more around dinner time, and we ate Red Robin hamburgers and fries in the car in an attempt to reinact our first date. We couldn't be at the restaurant so I tried to bring the restaurant to us. It was a surprise Matt wasn't expecting and probably the first surprise I've ever kept. (If you know me at all, you know I get so excited about surprises that I end up telling the person it's for before I actually follow through on the surprise.) Why was I successful this time? Because I'm getting better? No, because as soon as I had the idea I went and surprised him.

During Spring break, Matt's parents came to visit us. We had a lot of fun showing them aroun
At the end of March we celebrated Matt's birthday by going out to the Roadhouse Grill in Salem. We had a lot of fun eating, enjoying each others company and we were shocked by the fabulous birthday traditions they have at the Roadhouse Grill. We both got our favorite meat dishes- Filet Mignon for Matt and Barbecue Babyback ribs for me. We used our best table manners, of course, and took pictures of it.
Then when we were done with our meal, the wait staff came to sing Happy Birthday to Matt. During the song they crowned him with a coffee filter on his head and a toilet seat cover around his neck. He also got a brownie with vanilla icecream. We had a blast!

In April we went to Seaside for our second anniversary. We stayed in a hotel room that we could see the ocean from our bed. It was very nice to be able to look out the window and see the waves crashing up onto the shore. It was pretty cold and rainy during our stay so we didn't really go out and walk on the beach, but it was beautiful to look at. On our way into the town of Tillamook we stopped at a mom and pops type restaurant along the road. The couple that owned the restaurant were training their daughter how to be a waitress. It was very fun to see her learn how to be a waitress. The coolest part about the restaurant was that everyone that comes to eat there signs the wall with their name and where their from. We were one of the first to sign on the other side of the wall, because the first side was so full there wasn't room to fit a name. Since it was our anniversary trip we put Cool, CA and Monmouth, OR (the two towns that we have lived in as a married couple). When we went into Tillamook we spent a fair amount of time at the Tillamook cheese factory. We really enjoyed tasting the different kinds of cheese they make and looking through the gift shop at thier amazing souveneirs. We bought a snowman sculpture holding a lighthouse with a Thomas Kincaid painting on the coat that the snowman is wearing. It is absolutely adorable and my favorite snowman I have collected so far.

At the beginning of May we flew to Sacramento. We spent Friday with Matt's Grandpa Martin. We had a lot of fun meeting his parents in Folsom for dinner at Mimi's Cafe. We played a few games of darts with Martin that night. Almost every time we go to visit Martin Matt updates his computer and the three of us play darts while the computer is installing updates. We have many cherished memories of playing darts with Martin. On Saturday morning we drove to Oakland where we had the priveledge of seeing Robin's long-time friend Rachel married in the Oakland temple. Between the sealing and the wedding reception we drove to Sunnyvale and got to spend some time with Matt's sister, Joy, her husband, Pascal, his parents and our neice, Daphne. We brought a present we had bought for Daphne's first birthday, and we really enjoyed watching her play with it. Then we went to the reception in Walnut Creek. We had the opportunity to see people that I grew up with from my ward in Antioch at the reception. It was a lot of fun. That night we drove back to Sacramento and stayed with Matt's other sister, Jody. On Sunday Matt's parents came to Jody's house and we got to celebrate Mother's Day with his parents. Late that night we flew back to Oregon and went back to the grind on Monday morning.

At the end of June we decided to have a day of fun. We dropped everything that we had going on and decided to go to the Marion County Fair. We really enjoyed having fun in the sun. Matt loved all the rides, but I was quickly reminded of how sick rides make me. After only a couple of rides I already felt like I was going to throw up. We went on the ferris wheel, which was my first time. I have never had enough guts to get on the ferris wheel because of my fear of heights. After a while I was ok on the ferris wheel, but at first the butterflies in my tummy were just a little too much to handle. We had a great time though!!

In the middle of July I left Matt in Independence to work while I was gone and drove up to Seattle to go to a family reunion on my mom's side of the family. I was only representative of the Randy and Helen Davis family. I had a really enjoyable time. We went to a lake in the area and went tubing and wake boarding. I tried wake boarding for the first time. I am told that I did pretty well for a beginner. My cousins, Quinn and Kyle, helped me get the wake board on in the boat and then they threw me overboard. That was probably the funnest part. My first two attempts to get up on the wakeboard I did total faceplants. After the second time I had no desire to try again, but with some encouragement and instruction from Uncle Glen, Quinn and Kyle I decided to try one more time. On the third time I actually got up, but I over-corrected and the wake board turned too far to the left and I biffed it again. It was a lot more fun the third time though. After that I decided to let everyone else try. Later I went on the tube with Kim and Ali, but my muscles hurt so badly from wakeboarding earlier I could hardly hold on. It was fun though. After a couple of days of hanging out with my mom's side of the family I decided to drive to Eastern Washington to spend some time with my grandparents on my dad's side of the family.

At the end of August I went to Seabeck, WA across the Puget Sound from Seattle to volunteer as a support service provider and interpreter at a Deaf-Blind retreat. I had a fabulous time. I loved being able to provide visual information for people who are both Deaf and Blind, allowing them independence. There were a few people who really touched my heart. So many of the Deaf-Blind people who come to this retreat are very isolated in their home environment and it was extremely evident in the way they interacted with people at the retreat. It was fun to see some of them really warm up to me. It was so fun to see when one particular woman would get excited about something. If I asked her if she was excited about shopping at the water front in Seattle or going to the dance or getting her fleece jacket, she would get this huge smile on her face and her whole body would squirm in excitement. She was great. When we went shopping at the waterfront I interpreted what the cashier was saying. She then pulled the correct amount of cash from her wallet, but she really struggled to find the right change to give to the cashier. I could see she was so frustrated. The line behind us was getting quite long. Finally, she got so frustrated she put her whole wallet in my hand and asked me to help. I found the correct change and handed it to her. She got this huge smile on her face and gave me the biggest hug I have ever experienced. It was such a rewarding week. At the end of the week saying goodbye was to these people was so difficult. We cried, knowing that saying goodbye meant another year of isolation until they comes back to the retreat next summer. This retreat is a dream come true for so many Deaf-Blind individuals.

In September I travelled with Grandma Harston to Alabama to visit my parents and to attend Corina's baptism. We had a great time. Mom kept us busy. We travelled all day Thursday,and on Friday Mom, Grandma and I took a tour of the Blue Bell ice cream factory (best icecream ever!!!), then we went to Corina's Grandparent's Day celebration at her school. Her teacher let her come home from school early and hang out with us. After Ryan got home from school we went to the local museum where there was a whole room dedicated to the actor who played Gomer Pile on television. He was from Sylacauga where my parents live, so he is the town's "small town hero". Then on Saturday we went to Birmingham where we attended the temple. Our cousins, Jack and Holly met us there and went to the temple with Grandma, mom, dad and I while Ryan and Corina babysat their little one. Afterward we went out for pizza. We had a very enjoyable time chatting and eating pizza. On Sunday, Corina had her baptism after church and then there was a potluck. Monday morning Grandma and I headed back to the airport and travelled all day back to othe Seattle Airport. We all had a very enjoyable time and it was really nice to finally see where my parents live in Alabama.

In October Matt and I made a quick trip to Sacramento where Matt was able to spend some time with his parents while I job shadowed interpreters in the Sacramento area for two days. Then we spent the whole weekend with family. We got together at Matt's brother, Chris' house. His sister Jody and her husband came along with his other sister Joy and her family. Matt and I announced to his siblings that I am expecting while we were there. We wanted them to be some of the first people to know before we announced it to the general public. We had a lot of fun sitting around catching up with family and watching the kids play.

For Thanksgiving we went to our good friends (The Figueroa's) house. It was the most relaxing Thanksgiving we've had in a long time. Matt looked at the Black Friday ads with the husband and kids while Cathy and I cooked in the kitchen. Then we all ate together, cleaned up a little bit and all took a nap. That was the first time that I have actually taken a nap on Thanksgiving (So nice!!!). Then we helped the Figueroa's put up their Christmas tree and watched movies. We had a great time.

This Christmas has been a winter wonderland around our house. It snowed and snowed and snowed. Church was cancelled two weeks in a row. Matt has been able to go to work without too much trouble, but my car couldn't take the snow and ice. I did some work from home, which was really nice. Before long I ran out of work to do from home though. I was mostly stuck at home, because my car couldn't handle the ice. I was going stircrazy, so I more than welcomed the opportunity to go visit Matt's family in California. We were lucky to be able to fly out on Christmas morning. The Portland airport had been closed for several days before Christmas. The roads to the airport were very treacherous. When Matt and I have been in the car together in this snowy weather he has had me drive so that I can learn how to drive in snow. I was driving about 40 mph on I-5 at 5am on the way to the airport Christmas morning and I hit a nasty section of ice. The entire freeway was ice, but there was one spot that was causing the car to slide to the left where a truck was just passing me. I didn't want to hit the truck so I just barely corrected which caused the car to start loosing control. After spinning 90 degrees to the left and right repeatedly the rear of the car finally hit a snow bank. I was finally able to get control of the car, but not without some serious trauma. Matt talked me through it and really tried to calm me down. I continued driving for a little bit longer and then finally, I asked Matt to please drive. I am grateful for the experience, because I really learned a good lesson about driving on ice, but more than anything I am grateful that there were no other cars on the road and that no one was hurt. When we were in California I was so happy for warm weather and clear roads. We really enjoyed ourselves. We spent a lot of time with Matt's siblings and parents. Then we came home and Matt worked one day. He had the next two days off, so we went to Washington to visit my grandma and some of my cousins who were still in town from Christmas! It was a short trip, but we had a great time.