The Adventures of 2 Teachers and a Dog...

Happy Birthday Uncle David!

2009-04-14T18:06:00.000-07:00

This is the best way to post the video...Maren's Uncle David has not met her yet, so we have to send video. David...We love you!

Cider making!

2008-10-19T20:53:00.000-07:00

We spent the afternoon on Saturday making apple cider at Nate and Ramey's Annual Cider making party. All my blog friends were there...so I figured I better share some cute pictures. The total came to over 150 gallons of cider, which beat last years record of 100 gallons. Thanks to Nate and Ramey for hosting such a fun event! Gracie may have been the cutest cider maker there...but her friend Sophie was pretty cute too. I'm sure their mama's blogs have more cute pics! Check it out.

The day we learned we were a baby mama and papa

2008-10-19T20:28:00.000-07:00

This is our second ultra sound at 9 weeks and 3 days.

The most exciting day of the summer was 4th of July. We were up at Lake Tapps with Jordan and Kristin for the annual event. Kristin's parents are the such gracious hosts to have us over and over...after last years flu epidemic, Justin's injuries and trips to the hospital. We were enjoying an injury-free day when I was beginning to feel really sick. We had been hoping for a positive test result, but after taking 10 or more pee-on-a-stick tests...we were feeling like this just wasn't going to be the month. Plus...it is pretty normal for someone to get sick while staying with John and Debbie!

During the 4th of July party, I told Justin I just HAD to go to Walgreens to get a few last minute items for dance camp (I was leaving early the next morning). So in the middle of the 4th of July party...I headed out...bought my 11th test and came back to the house. I took the test and was so extastic to finally see the line! But I took about 2 more, just to be sure.

I made Justin leave the party immediately and he wasn't very happy with me. Especially when I made him stop at Wallmart to get a few more things for "dance camp." Really, I was hoping to find a little gift for him that said "World's Best Dad" or something! Couldn't find anything....and so about 30 minutes later, he came stomping into the store, just as I was on my way out. He was so mad at me! But as soon as I gave him a daddy gift, that sensitive spirit of his came back out and we were able to share the moment together...in a Wallmart parking lot...on a hot July day!

Catching Up! Summer 2008

2008-10-19T19:50:00.000-07:00

We had many great adventures this summer, but one of our favorites was canoeing down the Willamette one beautiful summer day. Next year we plan to go from Eugene to Oregon City...anyone want to join us?

Matt, Brandy, and the kids along with my mom and dad went camping at Silver Creek Falls.

Justin went crawdading there...

And we hiked the entire trail.

Barkley welcomed his new friend Ranger into the world. Ranger (who real names is Luke Sky Walker Texas Ranger) looks just like him just not quite as big yet. They love to have play dates when their mom's are planning for dance team.

We enjoyed camping at the lake a couple times

And spent lots of time with growing Tommy...

And little brother Peyton!

And of course we spent a lot of time on the water up at Lake Tapps with Jordan and Kristin. Justin mastered the wake surf and only went to the hospital once this summer.

To wrap up the summer, I ran the Hood to coast again. My brother and his friend Steve come up from Cali. I was pretty proud of myself to be running 3 months prego. And I even ran faster than I did last year!

Here Keely and I are trying to find a few minutes to sleep in between our legs of the race.

Bits and pieces of insanity

2008-03-08T20:27:00.000-08:00

Another year of dance comes to an end this next week. Come and check it out! My girls will be dancing around 7pm at the memorial Coliseum, Wednesday and Thursday. Check out OSAA for more info. They have worked really hard since August to prepare for this exciting conclusion to our season. Our show "Chance of Rain" has gotten even better with an customized introduction from Bruce Sussman (New Channel 6 meteorologist)! I wish I knew how to put that clip on the blog.

As if we don't have enough going on right now with dance, baseball, after school programs, and getting ready to move...we had to replace the roof on our garage. Justin and his dad worked all day, after a morning of baseball practice, on falling through the rotting roof! He'll be listening to a sermon on the ipod while he misses church to finish it tomorrow :) I love that boy! Oh, and if anyone wants to help us move in 10 days let us know!

I thought it was about time to show off Justin's nephew Tommy (the big brother to Peyton). He is just learning to walk and is developing his personality faster than we can keep up with! He loves "where's Tommy" games, "how big is Tommy....so big!", and he just learned to ruff like dog! He is so much fun!

The Packing Begins!!

2008-02-24T20:59:00.001-08:00

We did it! We can't even believe that it was only 20 days ago that we decided to list our house. Now here we are with a sold house and an accepted offer onto the house of our dreams! Ok, maybe not the house of our dreams, but better than anything we could have ever asked for. We had to make the decision between a house that was already built (but still new) and a building a house one street over. It was such a hard decision, and it came down to the bedroom, office, fireplace, fence, and landscaping that this house had and the one we would build did not have. The picture doesn't show the finished landscaping and for some reason they went back and painted the door red, maybe to make us feel at home :) We will be moving during Spring Break March 20th or so...but we have plans to be at the beach all week, so who knows when we are going to be moving. We will be out of our house by March 20th...I think I will cry, I love this little house. But I am sure when I experience 1900 square feet compared to our measly 780...I won't be crying for long!!! We can't wait to have everyone over to make our new house feel like home.

FOR SALE!

2008-02-06T20:29:00.000-08:00

We just put our house up on the market tonight! Whew! We have our eye on a place in Oregon City...so please join us in praying for this important transition. I'll post pictures of the house we are looking at as soon as we get an offer on our place. (We don't want to get too excited just yet) It just all so bitter sweet!
We'll sure miss this little cream puff!

Welcome Peyton!

2008-02-05T22:21:00.000-08:00

Justin's brother and his wife, Jordan and Kristin, welcomed little Peyton...just 11 months after little Tommy was born! So now Justin and I are the aunt and uncle to 5 adorable little ones. Peyton was born on Friday and was a perfect 7lbs 13oz and 20".
He looks just like his BIG brother Tommy.

Fundraising Fun

2008-01-27T20:15:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I just can't believe how much time, energy, and money goes into my love of dance. This weekend we hosted our annual "Winter Festival of Dance." There were 18 teams from around the state and about 3500 people who attend and spend a lot of money. This was a $20,000 endeavour that I (along with my friend Jenn and mom) were in charge of. My mom was an absolute amazing event coordinator. We worked all night Friday and then bright and early Saturday all the fun began. We actually had the entire high school cleaned and all the money counted by 9:30pm which is record time for any dance competition. It was a huge success and now we can fund our amazing state routine. This picture is what I designed for our team logo. So mark your calendars for March 12th-13th to come see our show.

Cabin Fever

2008-01-20T20:34:00.000-08:00

We had a weeks worth of cabin adventures in just one night. Justin's Aunt Kathy has this place up near Mt. Hood. No running water...no electricity...no bathroom! With the long weekend, we took the opportunity to get out of town an experience luxury. Here are some of our adventures:
Justin got stung by yellow jackets 3 times on his belly. I peed in a metal bucket 5 times! We took Uncle Merlin's advice on keeping the cabin really warm and had the cabin up to 104 degrees through the night. We only used 1/2 of Merlin's winter supply of wood. Barkley kept the Coyotes at a distance for us. We did all of our healthy cooking on the wood stove; Jiffy Pop, soup, and hot cocoa. We took a short trip up to Government Camp and then came back to play games and snuggle. Barkley loved the snow...but don't worry we made sure he wore his sweater.

We can't wait to go again when there is more snow and when we can bring some friends.

Merry Christmas from Justin & Melissa

2007-12-20T15:14:00.000-08:00

Welcome to our new and updated blog! We are entering the 21st century...eight years late.
Here are a few highlights from 2007...(Please note the Charlie Brown Christmas tree that Justin chopped down at his parents place!)

Justin continues teaching physics and physical science at Tualatin High School. He had so much fun being the assistant for the freshman boys baseball team and lending a hand in the Varsity team heading to the Semi Final State Championship game. This spring he will head up the Freshman team.

Justin worked hard at building our garage door. We had a 3-sided carport just asking for someone to break in and steal something. Justin designed and put together a nice looking garage.

My dance team placed 7th at State in the Memorial Collesium back in March. I absolutley love coaching and choreographing for the Canby Cougar Dancers! I stepped down as the head coach and welcomed my amazing new friend Jenn to lead our coaching staff at Canby. This year I am still involved with choreography and all the fun stuff. Our state piece this year is to a beautiful rendition of "I Can See Clearly Now" by the Holly Cole Trio. Check our one of our performances at a football game on You Tube. Before we work on our State routine, we do a few little numbers just for fun. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LccQloAcNEo We took home like 4 1st places and 4 2nd places this last fall season.

I am teaching 2nd grade this year, still at Gilbert Heights Elementary. I adore my students and 2nd grade was a really great change for me. I love how the students are still excited about learning and they just love anything we teach.

Spring Break we headed to Rancho Santa Marta with our youth group. We served the orphanage with work projects. It was a really great experience to see how years and years of service can turn a pig farm (literally) into a successful school/orphanage.

Having the summer off IS DEFINITELY all that is cracked up to be for 2 teachers! We haven't really taken the 2 months off as a chance to make extra money...we just spend it. We spend over a week in So. Cal with my brother and friends. We went surfing and hung out at the beach a lot, visited old friends, went wine tasting in Santa Barbara, spent an afternoon in Solvang, went to Six Flags, cheered on the Angels at Angel Stadium, and even went to Mexico for a night. It is always a good time seeing my brother David but we were broke after that trip...so we headed home to enjoy the rest of the summer just hanging out at home.

Running the Hood To Coast might have been my highlight from the year. I ran with a terrific group of teachers and friends from church, and my sis in law, brother, and one of his friends. We had such a great time, even though I wasn't making my sub 6:00min. miles :-) , I made it through and had the 12th, 24th, and 36th leg, so I got to run into Seaside! We had a blast hanging out with family and friends after the race at the beach house. This race got me really excited about running, but I was battling pain with my achilles/heal. Which leads me to our next highlight...

During training for HTC, I developed achilles tendonitis which led to a bone spur. On Dec. 13th I had the spur surgically removed. It worked out great because I am on almost 3 weeks of Christmas break. I can not put weight on my foot for 3 weeks...which means I will get to take my first steps on that first day back to school. I am really excited to not have to deal with the pain each day, and I am looking forward to the Hippie Chick 1/2 Marathon in May!

Speaking of surgery...Justin messed his knee up this summer wakeboarding. So he needed orthoscopic microfracture surgery (the kind Greg Oden had), so he was on crutches for 6 weeks! He is recovering really well, but unfortunately still may have problems later in life.

Barkley Burch is of course the center of our entertainment during the year. Many of you have probably seen his video of his wakesurfing debut...yes, Barkley can surf! It is so cute that we sent it to America's Funniest Home Videos and they are reviewing it! We will let you know if they are going to use it. Barkley also took 2nd place in the Oktoberfest Wiener Dog Races! Please note the picture of Barkley bringing home the oppossum while we had Merrick and Hannah over.