Autumn

The leaves are almost off the tree's. The ground is covered in a beautiful mix of colors, and I find it almost impossible not to kick the leaves in the air when I walk through them. The wind is so comforting at night, and the air is so clear. My sheets feel softer this time of year. The blankets and my slippers all feel like pieces of heaven. Fall truly is a magic time.

Throughout October, Erhan and I have heard our baby's heartbeat on more than one occasion. Every time we witness our little miracle doing anything, it brings tears to our eyes. We are in our 13th week, a few days shy from beginning our second trimester. We had an ultra sound recently, and watched our baby swim and kick and move their little body around. Erhan and I were holding hands so tightly....it was a very special day. We both have a framed picture of our "Little Bean" on our desks, thanks to fabulous ultra sound pictures. Technology has come such a long way from when my son Dallas was born. Erhan and I are still working out a few names, we really want to know the gender, before we really decide on something. December 22 is the big day, I made the appointment at 8am! We are counting down the weeks. It's going to be a wonderful Christmas.
This Halloween, we attended a costume party at our friend's Chris and Katie's home in Scappoose. It was my first time out to their new home, and it was lovely. They put out an awesome spread of food, we got to see friends we don't see to often, and play a few games. We had a really nice time.
On the night of Halloween,the entire family took the kids Trick 'Or Treating in Murray Hill. My brother Taylor and I watched our own children ring the doorbells of the houses we used to collect candy from, and we brought a few tears to our mothers eyes. Dallas's costume was "Jason" at home to hand out candy and a "Dead Executioner" while running around outside. Trinity dressed as "Belle" from "Beauty and the Beast" and instead of saying "Trick 'Or Treat" at the door she yelled "Happy Halloween!". It was awesome.

Now, we await Thanksgiving and Christmas. We will be eating turkey at my family's home this year, which I honestly cannot wait for. It has been a couple of years since we had Thanksgiving at my folks house. I love my mother's cooking more than anything in the world. It's going to be a fabulous night. I am praying for a ton of snow again this year. I love how quiet the world sounds with snow on the ground. I'll have to be a little more careful walking in it this year. I am very anxious to get our tree up and decorated and I've talked Erhan in to hitting "Black Friday" again this year. Bring on the deals! This season, we need all the help we can get.
More to come as always. Here's to a fabulous Holiday Season!

Another Season Is Upon Us

The leaves are changing, the wind is picking up, and the air smells like rain. Autumn in Portland is my absolute favorite time of year. Erhan and I decorated a little for Halloween already, and I am hoping to pick up a few pumpkins this coming weekend for our front porch.

Dallas is back in school. He started Junior High this year, and mom says he is all smiles every day walking to and from the bus. I am overjoyed he is loving his life. He is and always has been, such a care free child. There isn’t much that gets him down, and I believe him to be a true inspiration to us all. He is growing up so fast, but he still has that little boy in him I love so much. I am so proud of him.

Our summer was a very slow one. We didn’t have a lot of money this year, since I spent the majority of it unemployed. The heat was unbearable this year, and since we didn’t have air conditioning until the very last minute, we mostly melted and moaned on our couch for several weeks. We had many sleepless nights dreaming of winter. I was told by my cardiologist that I could go off of the heart medication I had been on since the beginning of April, due to a condition I had caused by an awful flu I contracted in March. I was so excited to be free of all of my medications, and given a clean bill of health by my Dr.s.

We did manage to take a few camping trips this summer. Our first trip was in June, for an overnight trip at Fort Stevens. We had a wonderful time, riding our bikes on the trails and breaking in our new tent. We rode ten miles on our bikes, the weather was just perfect. Fort Stevens was a lot of fun, and being that close to the beach was an even bigger bonus. We stood at the tip of the OR. Peninsula, and climbed through the old military barracks together. I hope to return to Fort Stevens many times during my lifetime, it’s an amazing campsite.

For our second trip, we celebrated our one year anniversary in the beginning of August by going to Florence OR, and then to Newport OR.. We camped in Florence and climbed the dunes, which was a beautiful experience. The view from the top, watching the sun set, is something I will remember forever, especially standing wrapped in Erhan’s arms. We went to the new casino in Florence during our stay. I lost $40 and Erhan made $40, so we ran out of there before we pressed out luck. We were rained out of our campsite on the second night in Florence, so we shacked up in a cozy little roadside motel that had HBO and a shower. I’m not much of a camper, so I couldn’t wait to shower off the dirt and turn on the TV! We drove to Newport the next morning and stayed at a nice oceanfront hotel for two nights. We enjoyed dinners out and a trip to old town and the aquarium, which was just beautiful. My favorite outing was the wax museum, in old town Newport. I always find wax museums campy, creepy and really fun. Erhan and I had a blast. He is so much fun to travel with, he is always up for anything. Erhan bought me a beautiful ring for my anniversary present and a bottle of my new favorite perfume. I couldn’t ask for a more considerate husband, who always knows the perfect gift to give. The trip was wonderful, but after four days of being away from our home, we couldn’t wait to get back to town.

We found out shortly after we returned from our trip, that we were going to have a baby! Erhan and I found out this past August, and we are so happy about the news. I am two months along right now, and have been feeling VERY morning sick. Everything seems to be progressing nicely, even though we did have a small scare last week, when we thought we might lose our “little bean”. I was put on bed rest and have since returned to my new job, feeling just fine…..besides the constant gagging. The two of us are focusing on our amazing future with our child. We are hoping for a healthy pregnancy and a safe delivery. My folks are overjoyed about the news of another grandchild, and Erhan’s parents are ready to embrace their first. I can’t wait to start picking out baby things, decorating the nursery and planning for many late night feedings, and before I know it, the teenage years. We are turning Erhan’s upstairs office into the baby’s room, and Erhan will be moving outside to our finished space to create an even larger studio for himself. We will find out the babies gender hopefully before Christmas time. The holidays are going to be very special this year. My parents are going to host Thanksgiving, and I am praying for tons of snow like we had last year!

Updates are in order

Wow. It's hard to believe I haven't blogged in such a long time. Recapping would take to long, just like our Arctic Blast that "almost ruined" Christmas '08, so I'll try to keep it brief. Thank God we were the only family members with chains on our car. E and I got a work out picking up and dropping off family members like presents :) It was wonderful as always to visit with Erhan's brother for the season, and as an extra treat, family from Turkey was staying with the in-laws. How awesome to have more family around. I miss Atila's sister being around when we visit with Erhan's folks. I wish everyone didn't have to live so far away.
My birthday came and went in January. Sometimes you have good birthdays and sometimes you try to hard to make it amazing. 31 has been a challenging year so far. I lost my job in March and haven't been able to find something yet. I'm a full time home maker as of now, and that can be part stressful and part enjoyable. I love having fabulous dinner's waiting for Erhan when he gets home, a clean house and plenty of time to catch up on seeing my son Dallas and visiting with my family. We watched our good friends Viktoria and Justin tie the knot in March, in a gorgeous location on a beautiful night. Weddings are always so romantic, and since E and I are still newlyweds for a few more months, it reminded us of our very special day last year.
I am recovering form a heart problem I was hospitalized for in the beginning of April. I caught the flu towards the end of March (first REAL flu in about 5 or 6 years) and towards the end of my recovery the flu started attacking my heart, filling it with liquid. I stayed up at St. Vincents for 6 days, and needless to say it was a very scary experience. I have to admit though, it was also a huge eye opener to what my body can handle. I am so proud of my "road to recovery". In many ways I have conquered fears that have been plaguing me for years. All of my blood work came back normal, and I am a healthy girl! Was there ever any doubt? I have been on medication every day, which will hopefully end in August after all of the water around my heart is absorbed. Everyone keep their fingers and legs crossed!
Dallas turned 11 while I was in the hospital, but we had a fantastic celebration on my release date, enjoying Easter AND D's birthday with him all in one day at our home. Mom's birthday was special, we combined it with Trinity's 4th (Oh My!) and Mother's day was sweet (Dallas always knows the perfect present for me. I wonder where he gets that from "Mom"?) We had Grandma's two year "passing" anniversary on Memorial Weekend. We had a family BBQ in her honor. I miss Frances every single day AND we miss having our very precious Veona with us in our lives. I will never forgive Janelle for robbing us of her life, and for being so selfish and cruel, but we are definitely moving on with our life. My thoughts are with my brother always.
Erhan's hours got cut at work so he is working extra hard to keep us afloat. We are having a yard sale this weekend, and hopefully more contract work will come in so we won't have to worry so much. My husband is the hardest working man I know, I adore him for that. He is my rock, my support and my best friend ALWAYS. We came back from Cannon beach a week or two ago and it was amazing to be back on the sand with a fire. I wish we could escape to the coast more often. We always come home feeling more refreshed and ready to take charge of our lives. We will be celebrating our one year anniversary the first week of August this year, starting with a camping trip in Florence, Oregon. Erhan has always wanted me to see the dunes and I hear there is a casino not to far from our camp grounds. That was pretty easy to talk me in to. Then we will be heading to Newport Beach for a few nights, I haven't been there since I was a child. I can't wait for a little time away from the house (for more than a night), and as rumor has it, we are talking about trying to conceive children this fall or winter. Wish us luck! I will for sure keep everyone posted. Summer is on the way! Enjoy this amazing weather we have been having.

New Beginnings

Unless you've been in space these last couple of months, anyone reading this would know that Erhan and I were married on August 10th this year. It was all I could think, breathe and talk about for months. Countless days and restless nights went into worrying if everything was going to look okay, taste okay, fit okay. Late night trips were made to the venue sketching the floor plan, booking my lunch hours and breaks with phone calls and reservations. My "To-Do" lists were overflowing. I mastered the art of typing multiple emails to multiple people, balancing my cell phone on one shoulder while getting my coffee fix all at the same time. 

It turned out, as things always do, to be the most picture perfect day-it was everything we could have asked for and more.

The honeymoon was incredible, Victoria B.C. is so gorgeous! We wished every day that we had more time to spend, lounging and dinning and talking long walks through the city. I took a bath every night in our huge soaker tub. We were on the 9th floor with such a beautiful view of the Parliament building all lit up at night. I could see cruise ships docked at the harbor from our window, and in the morning hours there was nothing but the sounds of seagulls and silence to wake up to. Erhan got us a horse carriage ride that took us up against the water front at sunset. The Canadian mountains are so amazing. I hope we visit again next year for our anniversary.

I am back to work now, and BORED believe it or not. Relaxed and relived, but still bored. I had been planning our wedding for almost 8 months, and now that it's over, I find that I don't really know what to do with myself.  I need a new hobby quick! Hence, this website.

We have opened all of our wedding presents and the house is "almost" back in order. We kind of let things go a few weeks before the wedding. We went from not having a moment to do anything, to now having all the time in the world now to complete jobs left undone. I bought paint to color a wall in our living room, and Erhan is building shelves for our closet upstairs. Our roles as "Bride and Groom" are over, and now it's back to reality. It feels great :)