Happy Anniversary

Today is our 2nd wedding anniversary. Where does the time go? We celebrated over the weekend, since our anniversary happens to occur on a Monday, by going to a nice dinner in Portland. Cheers to 2 years of bliss!

Here we are on our first anniversary. Don't we look happy?

Our wedding day, March 31, 2006, Bellagio in VEGAS! I was a brunette in this picture. As you can see in recent pictures, I am back to being blonde. I can't decide which I like better, or which has more fun, but it sure is fun to switch it up.

Remember the pretty fountains? They almost didn't appear due to the winds, but alas, by chance of luck, the wind settled down and we were able to have the fountains.

View of Portland

I took these pictures from a restaurant in Portland. It is on a hill and the entire side of it is floor to ceiling windows. It was hazy the day I took these, but we could see Mount Hood, Mt Ranier and Mt St Helens. I will be sure to take pictures when it is crystal clear out. That will most likely be in the summer, springtime is has spotty sun and clouds. Can you see the mountain in the distance? I can't tell if it is Mt Ranier or St Helens.

Aaaahhhhhh! Can you see Mt Hood in the distance? It is extremely visable on a clear day.

View of downtown Portland and the Willamette River

Unloading is complete

Those movers worked really hard and now the truck empty. It took approximately 5-6 hours to get everything unloaded. Disaster area...when will it end?Order! At least this room is done. Can you see all the boxes out of the window? Yes, those are from this room. We put them outside and filled our back yard with boxes. We got lucky and were able to recycle most of them to someone who was relocating back to Kansas. Glad they went to good use!

They're here! They're here!

On Saturday, March 15th, 9:00 am, the movers arrived with our things. Time for chaos once again.


Beep...Beep...Beep...
The unloading begins. All of this is ours. Where will it all go?
First box in!
Lucy doesn't know what to think of this. There are a lot of boxes to go through.
Is there a room in there? I can't find the living room! Brian doesn't know where to begin with unpacking.

and finally....Oregon

We are close to crossing the border! At this point we were listening to 80s music while anticipating the rest of our drive...as you can see, only 4 more hours to go!

After a long day of driving, the sun is setting and we are close to crossing the border into Oregon. We still have long way to go, but after driving through Minnesota, North Dakota, Montana, Idaho, Washington, we have made it to the state we will soon call home. It was dark during the most beautiful part of our drive, sad. The Gorge is supposed to be beautiful and the Dalles. We drove past Hood River and Mount hood...the we made it to Portland around 10:30 pm. All of this in 2 days, pretty good!

Washington!

Onto our next state, Washington. We drove through Spokane. The part of Washington we drove through was very flat-more flat than Minnesota and North Dakota combined with a whole lot of nothing in between.

The sun is setting and we are SO close to Oregon. Looks like it will be dark when we drive through Oregon. Only a few more hours left in our drive!

Idaho!

After a long drive through Montana, we made it to Idaho! I never knew how beautiful Idaho was until we drove through it. My first thought is Potatoes, but Coeur D' Alene was the most beautiful city I have ever seen. These pictures do not do any justice, you will just have to see it in person.
This is the Welcome to Idaho sign, however we can't see it with the snow. Lake Coeur D' Alene


We're getting closer! Can you believe we are still on day 2 in our travels?

Montana!

We made it to Montana! We stayed overnight in Billings and took off the next morning. The mountains were spectacular. I have to say they are much prettier in person. We drove through Laurel, Columbus, Livingston, Bozeman (my brother's old stomping ground), Manhatten, Butte, Missula, working our way toward Idaho. Before this day, Bozeman was the furthest west I had been in a car.

Lucy and Brian are frantic in this picture. Poor doggies, they don't want to be left behind. Good news, we did not forget them in the hotel. I would NEVER forget my precious pups! They are such troopers, especially when they didn't know what was going on. Good doggies!

Mountains!

This truck is from St Paul! It says so on the bottom left corner. I wonder if our mail is in there?

Aye Aye Mate! Michael's co-captain for the trip. Brian rested his head on "daddy's" shoulder for much of the ride this day. He was a good second eye for Mike.

Play time! We did take a few breaks to let Lucy and Brian frolic. We are getting close to Idaho!

The drive begins

Our drive begins heading north on 169. There sure is a lot of snow, I bet it will be a rough drive through the metro. This is the only picture I took in Minnesota-I slept through most of it. Obviously not much to see except for billboards, farm land, and snow.

We have made it to North Dakota. Pretty exciting. We drove through Fargo, Bismark, Dickenson, working our way toward Montana.

Is that a huge bison? Yes it is! There was a sign that said so, so I believe them. Only in North Dakota.....

The Painted Canyon on the west end of North Dakota (Medora)was amazing! It is in the Theodore Roosevelt National Park. I didn't know that North Dakota was scenic, but here is is, there is something pretty to see. This went on for miles-much prettier in person, however.

And we're off!

Wednesday, March 5th, we began our trek across the country. We are headed WEST. Here is my new car that took us there. New car for a new adventure. I don't know how we all fit comfortably in it, but I have to say, I love my new Saab! Isn't she a beaut?

Here we go....it is a typical snowy morning in Minnesota. Here is a picture of Hotel Harrington as we drive away. Look at all the snow coming down. It is the start of a beautiful day! As you can see, their house is for sale. They are relocating to Arkansas! I sure hope they don't get flooded out. Mindee and Jordan are waving good bye...it was 6 in the morning. Thanks for letting us stay with you the last 2 nights, we will miss you!

Next stop is Chateau Herrmann to pick up Lucy and Brian and to say goodbye. Here is a blurry picture of us pulling out of the driveway in Bloomington.

Brian and Lucy are comfy, it is time to head across Minnesota, through North Dakota, and into Montana.

Hotel Harrington-the luxury resort!

At Hotel Harrington, I got to hang out with my sister, brother in law, Jordan, Shaddow and Michael. Jordan had a busy day at school, then he went to grandma and grandpa Herrmann's with Ryan, Meggan, Michael and brother Ryan for dinner. It as delicious and we had a nice time and by the end of the day, Jordan sure was pooped. It must have been because he was hanging out with all his lady friends at school....I have heard about him being a flirt, and at such a young age:) I sure miss my bud!

Daddyo and Mammia Herrmann

Lucy and Brian stayed at Chateau Herrmann, while Micheal and I stayed at Hotel Harrington. I have the best parents in the world. They really helped us out with watching Lucy and Brian, which took a lot of stress away from us. They love their "grandparents" and enjoyed their vacation. Thanks mom and dad, we love you and miss you!

Good bye old house!

Tuesday, March 4th, was the last time we saw our house. Believe it, when we moved in, the house was PINK! Technically, it was more of a mauve, but it is still in the pink family. YIKES! Thank goodness for a storm 3 years ago, we were able to get new siding. LUCKLY, the company that did our siding no longer carried pink so, the entire house was redone and we got to pick this lovely color. It really stands out, especially since all of our neighbors got new siding because of this storm and they all chose some shade of taupe.

See what I mean? Hilarious. There sure is a lot of snow....

Don't get me wrong, we had the absolute BEST neighbors in the world. Great neighbors and a good neighborhood are extremely hard to find. We got so lucky to live here for the past 5 years. Thank you neighbors!