Though the two states in this post are basically unrelated, I did notice that the landscape around Boise is very similar to that of West Texas–mostly stark, very flat, and either loved or hated by visitors and residents.

So, to start with Texas. On Friday, November 13th, I flew down to Texas for a brief visit with my parents and sister and her family. My sister, Mom, and I got to spend most of Saturday together just talking (and looking at quilt tops made by my great-grandmother that my mom had quilted recently). Here are a few pictures from that weekend.

It was sunny and beautiful that Monday, so my body enjoyed soaking in the Vitamin D.

From left to right: Nathaniel, Tommy, Wade, me, and Ella
(sorry, Wade, for not naming in the first version of this post. I thought I had!)
(I personally love that Tommy is helpfully holding Nathaniel’s head to face the camera. Maybe he should’ve done the same thing to Wade )

And just because I love it, here is the quilt that used to hang in my room for a time when I was little. I hadn’t seen it in years but as soon as I did, I remembered every little bit of it. The next quilt pictured below it was in the living room for a long time growing up and soon it will be in our home

I loved looking at the farm vignettes when I was little. One of my favorites was the girl at the very top.

This was made by my father’s grandmother. I love the semi-randomness and the colors.

Now, on to Idaho we go. For Thanksgiving, Donnie and I traveled to the town of Star, Idaho, which is just east of Boise to stay with the parents of our friends from Young Marrieds. We rode the 9 and half hours in the little Honda Civic with Natalie and Daniel and their cute pug, Merriweather.  And as a huge blessing, I didn’t cramp up and die in the car! We did, however, stop at all but 2 of the rest stops that we saw along the way. Natalie and I became quite the connoisseurs of rest stop bathroom aesthetics. And even with all the stopping, we still made excellent time.

There are way too many pictures from the trip for me to post them all, but a few of the highlights are here. The Friday after Thanksgiving, we went out to some BLM land where people often go to shoot guns. I shot a .38 and .22 (both in rifle and revolver form) and two different caliber shot guns that I don’t remember the specifics of. I really wanted to shoot a sawed-off shotgun but Natalie’s Dad unfortunately forgot to bring it. For the first time, I was taught how to shoot skeet and though I never fully “killed” one of the clay pigeons, I did wing two.

If you’re feeling intimidated, don’t fight it. That’s how you should feel.

Handgunning Spouses: Daniel and Natalie

Doesn’t Donnie look manly with a .22 bolt lever-action rifle?

“But I don’t know if I can shoot skeet….”

“But I suppose that with the right technique and stunning form, I can do anything!”

The flesh-toned sumo suit helped make the whole afternoon worth it

The next day, we hacked into some pumpkins with Natalie’s father’s honest-to-goodness samurai sword. I wasn’t particularly successful, but Donnie was. Here is the video to prove it.

I think it’s quite obvious from these videos who is the better wielder of the sword, but I won’t taint you with my opinion.

Posted in Habitual, Pictorial ]]> http://clairecarpenter.wordpress.com/2009/12/11/ah-texas-idaho/feed/ 1 clairecarpenter Me, Mom, Sara Me and the nephews and niece 1 Blue Quilt - 2 2 Great Granny Quilt - 2 Fierce Claire Revolvering Spouses Donnie rifling Claire and shotgun Claire aiming Claire in jacket http://clairecarpenter.wordpress.com/2009/12/06/ah-fishies/ http://clairecarpenter.wordpress.com/2009/12/06/ah-fishies/#comments Mon, 07 Dec 2009 01:24:17 +0000 clairecarpenter http://clairecarpenter.wordpress.com/?p=771 ]]>

Now back to our regularly scheduled blog posts. Here are some pictures from our trip over to Newport with Lori and Lee on November 1st. Our major stop on the coast was the aquarium, and each time we go, we have lots of fun. We also ate at the Rogue River Brewery & Pub on the bayfront and hung out for a bit at Nye Beach. Overall, it was great day, particularly because the weather cooperated and gave us sun!

The sharks are going to eat Donnie!
(Even though Donnie didn’t mean for his head to be in the photo, I still like it. We had the camera lying on the ground, but he leaned over just a bit too far.)

I’m afraid of the Megalodon!

No, wait, I am the Megalodon.

Nevermind. We’ve been eaten (though, surprisingly, we actually don’t seem that scared.)

The famous Lori and Lee at the Historic Bayfront.

Hanging out at Nye Beach.

Before finishing posting pictures from our friends’ trip to Oregon and then our Thanksgiving trip to Idaho, let me post a few more of our favorite maternity photos now that I finally finished editing them!

We were sitting on a log that suspended part way across the Calapooia River that runs alongside our neighborhood.

I just like that we’re laughing

There are more but I’ll stop there!

Over the Halloween weekend, our friends from Texas, Lori and Lee, came up to see Oregon and all of its glory! This included us and a visit to the Oregon Zoo, which Donnie and I had never been to. The zoo is nestled in hills west of Portland, so it was cloudy and a bit rainy at the start of our morning. But we managed to see all the exhibits, I think, and to get some fun pictures.

Me and my Maternity Den
(And no, the bear cubs are not trying to get away from me)

They had just finished eating a carcass, as a sign outside their enclosure warned us. We thought we might actually get to see them eating, but alas, they just sat there, looking regal.

Rawr!

Can you tell it was Halloween?

These pretty zebras have tan shadow stripes between the black stripes…

…which you can see better in this photo!

That night we hosted the Young Marrieds 3rd Annual Halloween Party, so we hurried home from the zoo in Portland and started helping our friends, the Kenneys, set up the house. Here are a few pictures of our scary front porch, some of the decorations, and costumes.

I love fake cobwebs!

Our scary pumpkins. All the more scary since the mildew and mold had started taking over their insides!

The scary snacks

Now it’s twice as scary to look at yourself in the mirror.

I can’t let myself ruin the awesomeness of Bob & Rachel’s costumes by even verbalizing who they are. If you don’t know, then I pity you (Kristen, be sure to show Seth and see if he can guess!)

Our illustrious party planners, the Kenneys, as Coraline and Whybie

Lee and Lori as Dwight Schrute and Angela Kinsey from The Office (note that she is wearing the RIP Sprinkles shirt! And you can’t see it, but Lee has an authentic Dwight nametag )

Pregnant Hermione: The Untold Story of the Summer between Year 2 & 3

Donnie and I did feel a little bit bad about making Hermione pregnant, but we needed a costume that involved robes or other large amounts of loose material, and this one fit the bill! (Plus, it somehow seemed way more appropriate than the pregnant nun/priest combo.)

The next post will have photos from the rest of Lori and Lee’s visit–namely our trip to the coast!

We’ve had a busy past few weeks with a Housewarming Party and a Halloween Party at our house! So here are some pictures from the Housewarming Party.

I actually made these iced pumpkin cookies for the Harvest Party two days before but it was my first time making them and they were super yummy, so I thought I’d share

Donnie weeding in preparation for the party. Our back patio was “infested” with dandelions, grasses, and the actual grass from our lawn, so he kindly went through and dug up or at least trimmed the offenders.

For refreshments, I made tiger butter, pumpkin cheesecake cupcakes (with ginger snaps as the crust!), lemon bars, and queso. And I also set out some grapes and sliced oranges. And almost everything was eaten, which is always a good sign!

I don’t think that Wheel of Fortune will be calling for my services anytime soon….

And here are some photos of our bedroom and the nursery. Both are coming together slowly but nicely. I’ll post pictures next time of the living room and kitchen. I somehow didn’t take pictures of them when they were all gussied up for the Housewarming. I guess that means I need to go clean again.

The ceiling is vaulted, which makes the room feel nice and large. I’m still trying to figure what I’ll do with the “display” area that runs above the closet to the bedroom door and what color I’ll paint some of the walls. Since it will require big ladders, I want to make sure I choose correctly before going through with it.

One of my favorite things about the bedroom is that there is room for the dresser with the mirror. Since we were married 5 years ago, we’ve never actually had it in the room with us. So now there’s plenty of room for folded clothes and we no longer have to share the one dresser!

On to the nursery! This is the dresser I bought at one of the Antique Malls in Albany. The color isn’t necessarily my favorite, but I think it goes with the clouds on the other two walls and will work for a baby. If I ever do paint it, it will probably be white. And I might change the knobs as well, though they are the exact same kind as the knobs on the big toy cabinet I had in my room growing up (Oh and, Lauren, notice the onesie on the dresser? I left it out so people could see it on their tour of the rooms )

Here you can see some of the clouds and the matching nightstand. To the left will eventually be the brown swivel/rocking chair and ottoman we ordered from the Toy Factory. And to the right will be the crib. Right now, it’s the Pack n Play I use for Allison and that we’ll use for the babe at the beginning in our room.

Apologies for the unattractiveness of the photo, but the main reason I’m including it is for the little bookshelf. It was previously a blond laminate that had seen better days. So I lightly sanded, primed, and painted it white. I’m not sure if it will stay in this exact location, but that’s where it’s living now. And all but a few of those toys spilling out from the bottom shelf are borrowed from my generous friend Kayla! I need to buy some cubby baskets to hold them all And the bird hanging in front of the window is from Bogota, Colombia, and was a gift from my parents last year. It looks more fun in front of the clouds than it does in this picture.

And one last photo. I took this one of the pretty Red Sunset maple in all its fall glory back on the 16th, but here it is now. Mom and Dad (who generously bought us the tree and two others), doesn’t it look gorgeous?

Next post, I will have pictures from the Halloween party and more of the house.

We had a follow-up ultrasound on Friday and received two new pictures of the babe! I was exactly 28 weeks so the baby is theoretically about 2.25 pounds and measures about 15 inches. We had a lot of fun watching him move around; at one point, he had his legs up over his head, with his feet almost touching the top of his head! I suppose babies are quite flexible before they put on the fat

It was also amazing for me to watch him punching and kicking while simultaneously feeling it! At one point, the baby was keeping his hands in front of his face when the tech wanted to get a good look at his face, so first he tried poking the baby with the transducer. We wanted the baby bounce in response to the poking but he wouldn’t move his arms. So then the tech asked me to give a few good coughs because, as he said, “That usually gives everything a good shake-up.” And it did!

Cutie with a cute nose

He tried to give us a "high foot"!

So, as expected, my stomach region is growing and is apparently now noticeable to friends and strangers alike. I’m 27 and a half weeks, so I’m glad it’s now obvious that I’m pregnant. Of course, I feel like it’s been growing and visible for quite awhile now. On Sunday, a friend of ours took some maternity photos for us. We wanted to get some pictures out among the beautiful fall leaves, which, because we’re in Oregon, leaves us with a pretty small time frame when the leaves are still clinging to the trees and it’s not raining or about to rain or soggy from having just rained. We’ll be getting all of the photos soon, but here is a sampling that he sent along to us.

Yep, that's where the babe lives...for now

The hand on the left is Donnie's, not mine. Really.

"Look, baby, a leaf!"

Mirrored bellies. I think Donnie's relieved mine's the most noticeable.

On a similar note, this past Saturday, I bought the dresser and little side table for the baby’s room. Will post pictures soon. I also painted the two-shelf laminate bookshelf a nice white color so that it didn’t look so shabby. Hooray for nesting!

Here are some of the aforementioned photos from family visits over the last few weeks.

I didn’t have my camera with me when we went to the coast, so I have no cute photos of Jackson running into the very, very, very chilly Pacific in his swim diaper. You’ll have to head to Seth and Kristen’s blog for those, but since they’re on the long drive to Washington, D.C., right now, it might be a bit before they’re posted.

But here a few that I do have.

Seth, Jackson, & Kristen (and little Owen–not pictured)

We’re both pregnant; can’t you tell? I guess black really is slimming.

Ah, there are the bellies. Too bad we’re a little bleached out.

The day after Seth and family left, my parents arrived. We only stayed in Albany briefly before heading over to Bend for a weekend of trekking around lava fields. Here are some photos of the Bend trip, some taken by me and others by the Donnie.

Me and the babe (and a transfixed Mom) on the lava cone

Tree on lava field

Lava tunnel entrance (as seen from inside)

Dad, Mom, me, and the babe in the lava tunnel

In the lava tunnel (the tunnel was usually much, much taller)

Where the Big Obsidian Flow stopped flowing

Obsidian from the Big Obsidian Flow

Overall, the trip to Bend was a lot of fun, and the weather was glorious! That Sunday morning, Mom and Dad headed up to Portland for Dad to attend a conference through Wednesday afternoon. Once they returned Wednesday night, one of the first big tasks that Dad (and Donnie) accomplished was to plant the three trees that they generously bought us: a Cherokee Brave Dogwood, Red Sunset Red Maple, and a Kwanzan Cherry (follow the links for pretty pictures of what they will look like in their appropriate seasons). All beautiful!

Dad & Donnie planting the maple

Mom and Dad also helped us complete many projects. Photos of their handiwork and the house coming together to come soon!

Posted in Habitual, Pictorial ]]> http://clairecarpenter.wordpress.com/2009/10/08/699/feed/ 1 clairecarpenter Kolbs 9/09 Preg bellies Ghosts with bellies Me and babe on the lava cone (and Mom) Tree on lava field Lava tunnel entrance Mom, Dad, Claire, and babe in the lava tunnel Me, the babe, and Donnie Big Obsidian Flow end Big Obsidian Flow Planting the Maple http://clairecarpenter.wordpress.com/2009/09/28/ah-busy/ http://clairecarpenter.wordpress.com/2009/09/28/ah-busy/#comments Mon, 28 Sep 2009 22:58:27 +0000 clairecarpenter http://clairecarpenter.wordpress.com/?p=683 ]]>

We successfully moved into our home on the 11th and have since been entertaining family! I have photos but can’t remember where I packed/placed the cord to transfer the photos from the camera to the computer, so they’ll be here as soon as I (or Donnie tells me where to) find it.

After Seth, Kristen, and Jackson’s visit last week–which involved fun at Newport, playing in parks, and shopping at Woodburn–my parents arrived and we quickly headed over to Bend for trekking around the lava and obsidian flows. So today, I’m a bit wiped but have been trying to be productive. Unpredictable mood swings aren’t helping either! I’m hoping to get to bed extremely early tonight to get rid of the blah and tired feeling.

Tonight, starting at 6:00, we’ll begin loading up the U-haul (and up to 10 other cars!) with all of our personal belongings and heading over to Albany. We’re very excited (and tired) and looking forward to spending our first night in the new house tonight! Maybe next time we move we’ll be super-wealthy and can afford to have someone else to do all the packing and lifting for us. Ah, dream of dreams.

Photos of the work in progress at the new house will appear in the next few days.