7.22

We celebrated our third anniversary on July 22 - we went to Cinetopia theater in Vancouver, WA, for dinner and a movie the Sunday before our anniversary, and then went to desert at Papa Haydn on our actual anniversary (which, by the way, fell on a Tuesday this year, so strange to me - we were married on a Friday).

Guess what? I don't have ANY pictures from either of those events, so there are none for me to post here, but I do have a better 6-month pregnancy picture than what I posted below. Once again, that's with Nate right now, sitting on his camera, so I'll get that uploaded soon and posted :)

the beach again

Nate and I took another trip to Twin Rocks recently, so here are a few pictures from that - it was probably the best weather that we've ever had while in Rockaway.

We took a scenic drive along beaches south of Tillamook, and then spent a decent amount of time in Cannon Beach.

Just another self-portrait...


This was an accident, but I don't mind it! We had shared lunch of fish and chips at Pelican Pub and Brewery in Pacific City.


This is Nate hurrying up to the pedestrian bridge to cross Highway 101 from Twin Rocks Friends Camp to the beach - it was so nice outside that we took chairs along to watch the sunset.


And here's the sunset between Twin Rocks. So clear and pretty! The next day we stopped down at the beach again and couldn't actually find the rocks...a fog had rolled in, although it burned off several hours later.


I distracted Nate from his reading...Cannon Beach, with Haystack Rock (lovely as it always is!) standing in the background.




Six-months pregnant!




We set up another couple trips to Twin Rocks, so we'll go at least two more times before the baby is born. More to come soon!

Family in Town

So, don't worry, I don't have a single picture of Ricky from when he was here for a week not that long ago...I got a few pictures of Grandma and Grandpa Banks from dinner the day before they left, and that by the skin of my teeth, I think.


After dinner that night, Nate and I stopped by my parents' house to spend some time with their new puppy (this was before Rameus was put down). They got another little lhasa apso named Brody. He's pretty cute! VERY puppy-ish still, but learning quickly :)

Sydney Martin

The newest addition to Dave and Tiffani Martin's family arrived on March 31st, about a week "late," and just over a week after Charlie's second birthday. We were able to visit her a few days after her birth - and, hey, she's pretty cute.

Rockaway & Newport Beaches

We had planned a trip to Twin Rocks Friend's Camp for the end of March about a year ago. It happened to be quite timely, following Nathaniel's due date. And during this trip we decided to explore the surrounding areas much more than ever before!

We knew that I was pregnant at this point, so we tested the limits of my endurance pretty much the whole time we were on this trip :) We hiked around and drove alot (taxing on the bladder, let me tell you; taxing on the husband, too, when one asks to stop for a bathroom every 40 minutes or so).

It snowed in the pass the day we were heading out - actually, we were nervous that we'd have to cancel the trip because both of our vehicles are 2-wheel drive. But we made it okay! Here's a picture of the pass.


We visited Newport Aquarium, so here are a few photos from that [expensive] bit of adventure.




And this is a heart warming profile of my hubby on the beach...


These next two pictures are from our stop at God's Finger, off of highway 101. Nate always feels a little trepidation when steep drop-offs are near. The first time we ever visited God's Finger together was along with several of my Ecola friends and we (my friends and I; Nate hung well back) actually went out on the point. Nate and I weren't dating then, so I pretty much just didn't listen to him when he expressed concern at the huge risk I was taking in walking out on that skinny point. This trip he held my hand tightly most of the time, and with good reason. A guy and his wife and dog went out on the point while we were admiring the view and the guy almost fell over the side - he balanced on one leg and found his center again by flailing his other extremities. Yeah, scary.



This picture is from Oswald West State Park, one of my favorite beaches. On this day, it was not so crowded with tourists, which was nice - still plenty of surfers, though.


And now Cannon Beach! I like kicking off the rough edges of sand created when Ecola River flows sharply through the beach to the ocean.



More to come soon!

I found some stuff.

I was browsing through Nate's pictures on his computer and I realized that there were a bunch that I didn't have on my computer slash completely forgot about. So over the next few days I'm going to add some random posts going as far back as March 13...Why don't I start now?

These pictures are from our day trip to Cannon Beach on March 13th, Nathaniel's due date. Personally, I think these pictures are fun, so I hope you enjoy them, too!

Actually, this first picture is of the bouquet we placed on his grave that day before heading out of town. Since then we've finally gotten the headstone placed, so I'll put a picture of that up soon.



Okay, so this next stream of photos are from the trip we took into Cannon Beach...

I disrupted Nate's reading to take this picture. This is his "C'mon, leave me alone" look.



I sometimes giggle nervously when he takes pictures of me.



On the beach.




Okay, so that's it for now!

It's sad.

Mom and Dad had Rameus put down on Monday. He was going downhill and was having a hard time just living life. I remember the day he came into our family. School was out and it was my turn to ride up front in the Suburban. When I got in the truck, I nearly stepped on something furry sitting in the wheel well - it was the little brown dog we had seen at the pet store just a few days before!

Rameus had an interesting life, to say the least: He had an amazing number of near-death experiences, too many for such a little beast. My two favorites are when he jumped out of the Suburban window as we drove 60 mph down the highway toward Magone. He saw cows and was so excited that he took a flying leap to be with them.

His next best near-death episode happened during my sophomore year of high school. Dad was supposed to come to the play Rae Ann and I were a part of through our school ("The Hobbit"). He never showed up and we found out why when we got home that night: Dad had gone to shut the garage door before driving to the school, but Rameus couldn't make up his mind if he wanted to be inside or out, so he darted under the door at the last minute. It nailed him in the shoulders and flattened him to the floor, causing him to go spread eagle - and his little legs weren't meant to go that way, poor guy.

Even though he was small in stature, he was such a tough country dog :) I'll miss him!

Titles...who needs em?

This is just a general update. I don't feel like being creative with a title right now :)

The 4th was good; we celebrated with Nate's family who live across the street from Happy Valley Park. It was an awesome show! Getting out of the neighborhood was a bit ridiculous, though - that took quite awhile with all the pedestrians walking down the middle of the road. So fun.

Ricky is flying back to South Korea today - he flew in last Saturday and pretty much surprised everyone. We had about a two day warning that he was coming. It was good to see him! He'll be back in November. His flight comes in on the 29th, so he was excited about (hopefully) being there when the baby was born, but now that the due date has been moved up to the 21st, I sense that he's expecting the baby to already be born when he gets back into town. We'll see!

I went in and saw Midwife Peggy on Thursday after work. We were both surprised that I had made it three weeks without popping into her office (I made a good go of it when i fell down the stairs, but, in the end, resisted the urge). We went over the ultrasound tech's report from Tuesday and Peggy said that the tech wants us to go back in for another ultrasound because she didn't like the quality or the quantity of pictures she got of the baby's mouth and nose. I don't think we'll be going back to the hospital to do that, though - my insurance won't pay for it and neither will I. I think Peggy will try to do that ultrasound in her office when I go in next month. I'm not sure if either the tech or Peggy are worried to any extent, though. I'm not sure I asked all the right questions when I had the chance...

So that's where we're at! Sorry, no spectacular new photos. I need to take one soon, though - an updated belly shot. I'll get that on here soon :)

Taa daa!

Please meet...


Baby Girl Banks!

We're excited, but a bit shocked! Finding out the sex of the baby totally brought the reality of our due date home. Sure, it's in November, but that feels soon! Oh, and the ultrasound tech upped our due date by eight days...We're now due on November 21st. I'm fine with either November 21st or the 29th, but what a surprise! The baby is measuring large which is why the due date was moved up - ack! She's kicking like crazy these days, not at all phased by my fall :)

So that's our major news...Yeah!!!

Oh, and in case you were wondering, she looks good. We could count all her little fingers and toes, and she has no major deformities or obvious illnesses - Nate and I are breathing easier tonight :)