Why Am I always Sick?!

Don't get me wrong, I love living in Portland. It's absolutely beautiful, there are lots of fun things to do, amazing restaurants and I have made some incredible friends since moving here. However, I am furious.... I have been sick an extraordinary amount of times since moving here. Every time there is a wave of sickness that comes through town, I catch it as well as a few extra bouts of my own in between. It is beyond frustrating. Right now I am battling two weeks of bronchitis, now going into week three. And to top it off, last night Darin got a fever, muscle aches and sore throat. Sounds like the beginning of a nasty flu for him (and probably for me too given a few days). I did a 5-day round of antibiotics this week. At the end of which, I only started coughing more... I'm not really sure what that means but I am not happy about it.

Needless to say, we are playing hookie and ditching church today. So here I am coughing and head pounding, Darin is sleeping on the couch and Macy is probably taking a nap under our bed. Soon she will wake up wanting to play and be entertained. 

As for updates, not much new has been going on. Darin goes to school while Macy and I go to work. Yes, I get to bring my dog to work with me and I love it :). Last weekend Darin broke his finger in an accident that involved two bowling balls and faulty equipment. That meant a midnight visit to the ER last Friday night. Luckily we were only there for about an hour and his finger wasn't completely crushed like I was expecting it to be.

Maybe I will go join my people and take a nap as well. But I am not a nap-taking kind of person so I will probably just end up folding laundry on my bed... I hope you enjoyed attending my pity party. It's over now, time to get back to real life. 

<3

Just a cute picture of Macy I took recently

The busted index finger on his left hand

The top view of his finger

Two Zoolander References in One Day?

Well it has been a couple weeks since my last post but I am back! It has been a busy couple of weeks and I am happy to be in to the new year! I will just do a quick little re-cap. We aren't super interesting people with really awesome lives, but we have made a nice little life for ourselves and I am grateful.

Darin has been on a two week break from school and is heading back to start his 6th quarter tomorrow. I can't believe we are already five quarters in! I have been working and Darin has been skiing (of course!). Christmas was low key and fun! I made crepes for Christmas breakfast. Crepes have become a Christmas tradition for us over the last few years and we both love it! We had a Christmas dinner with two other couples that don't have family around Portland and didn't travel so that was a lot of fun to spend Christmas with our friends. Darin completely spoiled me with a really special present this year. He seriously NEVER spends money on unnecessary things so I felt pretty great. I think he loves me a little bit ;-).

New Year's Eve was fairly simple. Sometimes I feel like such an old lady! We just had some friends over and ate pizza, played some games and then went to bed by 10:30. I went to work on New Year's Day so I wasn't too keen on staying up all night for no reason. I know, I am super boring! Maybe when we have more money, we will do some fun stuff for New Year's!

Macy had her six week check-up on Friday  and the x-rays/doctor said that she is doing great. She won't be seen by the surgeon again, so it is up to us to increase her activity and build up her strength. I am so happy that we can now start playing with her more and letting her have a little more fun while she gets stronger!

Yesterday, Darin and I had a little date and went up to the mountain. We left Macy with some friends who have a new puppy and we headed out to go skiing. He has been pestering me about going but the snow has been terrible and I didn't want spend the money on crappy snow. But we finally went and it was a little icy in places, but overall was not too bad. I was in a really good mood (a rare occasion) and kept messing with him and managed to make two Zoolander references within the first hour we were there. He turned to me and said "Two Zoolander refences in one day? I'm impressed!" I guess I quote movies when I am happy! We stopped for dinner at Calamity Jane's which is a super popular burger place out here. I was so much fun to have a nice little day-date with my honey! <3

I am super excited about the new year, I think this year will be a good one for us, 2013 was rough for me. I have only made one resolution and so far, and I have been doing great. My resolution is to keep my bras that I am not currently wearing hung up in my closet. I know, it sounds ridiculous but I have never been the person who makes tons of resolutions, I have never felt the need. However, my closet floor is always littered with bras so on New Year's Eve, I hung them all up and they have stayed that way for five whole days. *pat on the back* I am very proud of myself. Don't judge me.

I hope you all have made super meaningful resolutions, and are becoming better people because I certainly am (insert sarcasm). But I do hope that 2014 brings great things for all of us! Love you all!

Happy December!!

For a while now, I have been thinking of doing a weekly blog. Just a quick little thing to keep people (mostly just my mom) in the loop of what is going on out here in Oregon. But let's give it a try and see how I do. I'd bet anyone that this doesn't last but who knows, maybe it will. 

This week has been pretty simple. Macy had surgery two weeks ago. She tore her ACL a while back and we finally decided to get it fixed. It has been a long two weeks and we still have four more to go. She has an appointment for a recheck on Monday so we will see how she is doing and find out if I have been doing a good job in her rehab!

After work on Friday we decided to get our Christmas tree. It as been freezing cold lately and we all about died at this U-Cut Christmas tree place. We went with some friends and their two kids were frozen solid! But on the bring side, we got a $5 Christmas tree, hot chocolate and cotton candy. Friday night was spent decorating the tree and the apartment, so it officially feels like Christmas!

Darin hit the mountain on Saturday, of course. My life as a ski widow has officially begun and I won't have my husband back until March or April. On the bright side, I got some good cleaning done on Saturday and made a cheesecake. :) I haven't eaten it yet but I am definitely looking forward to it! Saturday night was the Christmas party at church. It was great food, with fun skits and presentations. It was a Whoville themed so everyone was in their jammies and all the kids had a blast!

Today we had a group dinner with a bunch of friends. We love getting together for dinner's like this since most of us don't have family nearby. Everyone brings a piece of the dinner and it all comes together. Right now, Darin is sleeping on the couch. He hasn't been feeling well today so it is good that he is having a little cat nap. It is getting close to finals for him so there will be lots of studying to do soon.

Well that about sums up this past week. I have lots of things on my calendar this coming week. It is going to be a pretty terrible week though since Kira is moving.... Kira is the best and I don't want her to leave me!!! :( I am hoping to make some Christmas treats this weekend. I love making treats this time of year!! Merry Christmas!! <3

What's New in the Life of Him, Her and the Dog??

Well it has been an awful long time since my last post which practically makes me the worst blogger EVER! Life has been so crazy and we have been up to so many different things that I hardly have a second to myself to even think about blogging! And if I do end up with a minute to spare, it's usually spent on the couch with Goldfish or some other snack and a disc of Friends. (If you don't know me at all, then you don't know how much I LOVE the TV show Friends!) But I have a few minutes to spare today, Darin and Macy are both asleep on the couch. After church we came home and I made lunch followed shortly by a little adventure around this pond/lake thing in the woods by Target. However, there is a sink full of dirty dishes that are trying to guilt trip me. But do not despair, I am committed to recapping the events of the last month!

So after our hike to Muddy Fork, which is chronicled in my last post, we took a little trip to California to visit my family. It was a last minute trip but super fun! We got to spend time with my parents, my brother, my sister-in-law, my niece Evie and my nephew Aaron. We also got to see some of my extended family which is always awesome! Also, I met up with my high school friend Rachele and her husband for some fro-yo. I can't believe it has been over 6 years since I have seen most of my high school friends! I didn't get a picture of me and Rachele, I can't believe I forgot! But here are some of the pictures I did manage to take on our trip!

View of Crater Lake from the plane on our way to Sac-Town

Darin and Aaron

Aaron and Grandpa

Darin and me at a River Cats game

Darin in his cute pink life jacket

Aaron and Grandma

Aaron and his Tia :) I love this boy!

Me and Aaron on the Tube

 We came home from Sacramento on the evening of the 4th of July. So we hurried home and then took off again to find somewhere to watch the fireworks. We managed to find a good spot near a high school that is famous around here for putting on a good show. Macy is surprisingly well behaved when it comes to fireworks so she got to tag along and cuddle up on our blanket!

Waiting for the show to start!

That same weekend we made plans with some friends to hit up Ski Bowl. It's a smaller ski resort in the area but in the summer they have some awesome activities. We found a Groupon for half-day admission so we took full advantage of that! They have an Alpine Slide (SO FUN!), rock wall, mini golf and all kinds of other fun things to do!

Darin and me on the lift at Ski Bowl with Mt Hood in the background

Alex and me waiting for the rock wall

The next fun thing we did was a trip to the beach! Some of Darin's school friends had been talking about going surfing and Darin really wanted to try it out. I surprised him and got a hotel for us so we could stay the night before surfing and have a nice, relaxing weekend by the ocean. We drove out to Seaside on Friday afternoon, went to the beach for an evening stroll, got fish and chips and just relaxed. The next morning we got up early to go rent Darin's wetsuit and surfboard then drove down to Short Sand Beach, which is known as a pretty good spot to surf! We invited some other friends too so we ended up as a pretty big group at the beach. Macy got to chase seagulls, run in the water, play with some kids and other dogs. She was so tired but she couldn't stop playing, it was just too much fun! Then after a long day at the beach, we took some friends and got pizza in Cannon Beach.

Here is Macy perched up in the window at the hotel

At the beach with Macy digging a hole

One of Darin's friends decided to help Macy dig!

One happy, tired and sandy puppy!

Heading out to hit the waves

Macy wanted to go out surfing with Daddy!

Darin found a crab out in the water

Darin paddling!

Macy and Darin playing the freezing water!

Crazy Macy!

Darin and his 9 1/2 foot board

Family Picture!

I hoped you enjoyed the little recap of the past month. We have been so lucky to be able to get out and do so much! Summer is such a fun time of year and we are loving our first summer here in Portland. Up next for us: Our 5th wedding anniversary (yep, FIVE!!), we might be going camping, Labor Day festivities, and who knows what else! Until next time, Cheers!

All about Him, Her and the Dog!!

HIM:
He is Darin and he is my husband. He was raised in Othello, WA (don't worry, no one else knows where that is either). He has two brothers and a sister, and he is the baby of the family. He served an LDS mission in Michigan from 2005-2007. He went to BYU-Idaho for two years and then transferred to BYU and graduated from there in 2012. His bachelors is in Exercise Science. He now attends the University of Western States, which is a chiropractic school. He just started his third quarter (out of twelve) and he tells me that he loves it! He is an avid freestyle skier and it wasn't until about a year after we were married that he would admit he loved me more than skiing. He loves to do anything sports related, although he tore his ACL about a year ago, so doing those things isn't always easy for him :(. He can't stand to be doing nothing, he is almost always on the go. He makes breakfast almost every day, even if its just to get out the cereal and milk. His legs will not stop moving when he has something to say. He works so hard at anything he is given and always sees it through. He can sing and dance better than me (I'm still the better cook though). He let's me do things my way (for the most part) because he knows my OCD-self would have a mental breakdown if I couldn't. He gives the best hugs in the world. He will eat almost anything, except cucumbers. He drives me crazy because he is so wonderful. He is the most well-rounded, level-headed, low-stress person I have ever met. So ladies, cry yourselves to sleep at night, because my man is 10x better than yours. <3

Park City in 2011

HER:

On a cruise in 2010

She is me, Melanie. I was raised in Sacramento, CA. I have three older brothers and I am the baby of the family just like Darin (it makes for an interesting dynamic when two "youngest" get married).
I went to BYU-Idaho for two whole semesters. Then I realized I was wasting my time and money in something I didn't care about. However, hope was not lost for my education! I had always wanted to go to cosmetology and so that's what I did and it was one of the best decisions I ever made! I just started a new job working for a family friend who owns an eBay store. We sell all things related to snowboarding. I think Darin sees me as a traitor since I now know all kinds of things about snowboarding when he is very much a skier through and through. I also do some hair on the side for close friends. I love to cook and bake, it's probably my favorite hobby. I dream of being super rich and having all the fun kitchen gadgets and just cooking all day long. This dream comes with a person who does all my dishes for me because I hate doing dishes! I also love to read and be super lazy. I love movies and most kinds of music. I like to think I can sing... but it just doesn't happen. My closet is color coordinated and categorized by use. I alphabetize and categorize my DVDs. If you haven't guessed it, I'm self-diagnosed functional OCD. My toenails are pedicured and painted about 99% of the time. I love to eat good food. I love Friends (the TV show) thanks to my lovely friend Kyrie who got me majorly addicted. I love animals of all kinds except birds. And I am deathly afraid of dragonflies. So ladies, be grateful you aren't as weird as I am!

DOG:

After a fun day playing with grandpa!

The dog is Macy. She is 1 1/2 years old. She was born on 10/17/2011 in Payson, UT. Everyone asks us what breed she is. Surprise, we don't know! Her mom was a black lab, and it is pretty dang clear that she is not 100% lab. Everyone has a different opinion on what breed she is and so I just call her Mystery Flavor. We got her when she was about 9 weeks old and she had my heart from the first second. She and her brother were the last of their litter and they were the only puppies we ever looked at. I held her brother for a few minutes and he just wanted to be put down. But Macy... oh man. Darin was holding her first and she was so captivated with him. She was completely engaged with us and I knew she was the one I wanted. Darin tried to get me to look at some other litters, but I said "no way Jose, this is the one I want." She was only 4 weeks old, so about a month later we went and picked her up and took her home. Now she is part of our little family! She absolutely LOVES to swim and be in the water. She is super groggy when she wakes up. She loves to wrestle. She loves her daddy more than anything and can't contain herself when he gets home from school. She loves kids and other dogs to play with. She burps, a lot. And she is so sweet, intuitive and completely perfect. She loves to cuddle and have her belly rubbed (typical dog). She hates to have her ears touched. Macy is the first dog I have ever had, I never grew up with dogs and I will never be without a dog again. Although, I can't imagine having a dog that will ever be as cute and awesome as Macy is. :)

This is when Macy was just a little puppy!

US:
Darin and I met in Rexburg, ID in January 2008. He didn't ask me out till the ski season was almost over. We were married in Oakland, CA on August 28, 2008. We are closing in on our fifth anniversary this year. Macy joined our family in December 2011, just two days before Christmas. We currently live in Troutdale, OR which is just the east side of Portland. We will be living here about about 2 1/2 more years. So far, we have moved seven times since we have been together. After he is a chiropractor, life is a blank page. The only thing I know about the future is that the mailbox will say Dr. and Mrs. Darin Haworth and I am totally fine with that. :)

Playing in the snow by our house in Provo