Scott's Birthday Family Dinner and Bower's Baby Shower: Sunday, April 16th On Sunday April 15th, we got to enjoy a birthday dinner for Scott with his family. We went to the Cheesecake Factory at Washington Square Mall. Yes they serve Cheesecake, but that's not all. They have HUGE MEALS at decent prices, and the service was amazing. Well, with a party of 10 people plus a highchair for our nephew Hunter, we needed a little bit of special attention. Those attending were: Us (Scott and Heather), Scott's parents (Steve and Sue), Scott's Grandparents (G'pa Richard, G'ma Bettie, and G'ma Carlene (G'pa Stan was home sick)), Scott's Siblings (Sjana and her husband Brian, Seth) and our nephew Hunter (Sjana and Brian's son). Before the dinner, Heather enjoyed Bethany Bower's Baby Shower! Baby Rhubarb (they didn't know the gender), was due May 5th. We haven't heard yet whether Rhubarb is a boy or a girl and the new corresponding name. While Heather was partying it up, Scott was at Starbucks lesson planning, and finishing the book "The Ezekial Option"

To see more pictures from our weekend click here.

Hello friends and family! Wow, we can't believe it's been over a month and a half since we last posted. Sorry it has been so long. Don't give up though, we still want you to know what's going on in our busy life. Scott is back in the job hunt now. His one year temporary contract is ending at McMinnville and we are looking to see where God wants us to be next year. Heather only has to drive up to Portland fifty more times for her internship. Thirteen weeks left and she will be finished with this chapter of her life. She is learning a lot though and her music therapy skills are improving daily. Please pray for us as we are once again in life's transitions. Take care everyone! Here are some highlights of the last month and a half.

Happy Birthday Scott! Scott celebrated his 24th birthday this weekend. He awoke Saturday morning and was surprised to receive a waffle iron as one of his first gifts of the day. He had told Heather many times how much he loved waffles. Heather is not a huge waffle fan but decided that in order to satisfy Scott's desire for waffles she would need to buy an iron. So, Heather made waffles with fresh strawberries and syrup and whip cream on top. He was really happy and ate a lot! Scott also got a book of love certificates for things like boy movie rentals, desserts of his choice, special homemade dinners that Scott likes, board games like Risk, Clue, Mastermind, and Monopoly that Heather would not usually pick, and different cleaning jobs that neither of us like to do. He also got the game Settlers of the Catan which he will really enjoy playing soon. We went to Airport park, and had lunch outside of the Evergreen Aviation Museum. That night, Heather tried to surprise Scott by having people over for dinner, cake and ice cream but Scott became suspicious when we started cleaning the house. Our guests included Aaron Young and Evelyn Williams, Dave and Amy Bertolini, and Deborah Barber. Check out these pictures.

Darts anyone? We have been having so much fun on our back patio lately. Scott hung a dartboard we got for Christmas and we can play regular darts and baseball darts. Come on over and we'll play some time. Check out these fun pictures!

March 29th. Scott and I went out to dinner tonight at McMenamins in Downtown McMinnville and met up with David and Rhonda from church. We also met Kevin who is friends with David and Rhonda and Heather got a ride on his sweet Harley. We have also been having a wonderful time with Jeremy and Claudette Stevenson who we also know from church. Claudette even offered to highlight and cut Heather's hair one Saturday. She is an engineer and also went to beauty school for a while. She did a wonderful job on Heather's hair and she would love to have Claudette do her hair in the future. Here are some more photos.

Sunday, March 11th was daylight savings! We went to the 9:30 service at church, cleaned house and had G'ma Bettie and G'pa Dick come visit us. It was the first time they had seen our apartment and we enjoyed going out to lunch with them at the Golden Valley Brew Pub. We love our family!

Last weekend we had a wonderful opportunity to head east and see our families. We first spent time with the Overbys where Grandpa Stan (Overby) was celebrating his 80th birthday! In attendence were Stan and Carlene, Richard and Bettie Mills, Steve and Sue, Brian and Sjana MacSwan and their son Hunter, Seth, Uncle Spence and us (of course). Uncle Spence (Overby) flew in from Arkansas to be there for his dad's birthday. Unfortunately the girls (Shantelle, Stephenie, and Samantha) and Kathy were not able to make the trip too. Soren and Sarah were also missed. They took a Praxis test in Corvallis that day and had not arrived by the time we left. If you need a diagram of the Overby family we can draw one for you later. :-) We enjoyed a wonderful lunch together (the Overbys always seem to get together when there is food involved), Grandpa's birthday cake, playing with Hunter (who just turned 1, and as everyone knows 1 year olds always steal the show), and seeing Grandpa open his presents. In the pictures you'll see the Overby cousins gave him a Arkansas Razorbacks hat. He also received a scrapbook full off pictures and notes from the entire family.

After our time with the Overbys we headed up to Welches to see Gene and Cinda Tilgner. They recently returned home from a sailing trip in Mexico. They are soon leaving for Arizona where they will visit Thomas, Beth, Andrea and Gavin. So this was our last opportunity in a while to see them. Cinda made an amazing meal with Steak Fajitas and Fish Tostadas. Mmmmm. We enjoyed several games of Pinochle (one of our favorites the other being Hand and Foot), and just being with them. We spent the night there, and had a relaxing Sunday with them as well. Scott worked on some lesson planning while Heather went for a hard walk with Cinda. But, all good things must come to an end, and we came back to McMinnville where Scott spent the rest of the afternoon and evening lesson planning. This is what fills most of our evenings now. We can't wait for next year when all this time he's putting in now will pay off! That's all from our world, we hope you're doing well wherever you are. To see more pictures from our weekend click here.

Last night we had the privilege of seeing two very dear friends of ours from Willamette get married in a beautiful ceremony ordained by God Himself. Dan and Carly Kenagy are a lovely couple and are now husband and wife. We enjoyed seeing them, of course, and also enjoyed seeing many other Willamette friends at the wedding. Some of the people we were delighted to see were Tom and Lindsay Regan, Jeff and Tammy Poush, John and Kari Konrad, Kevin Hall, Josh Ray and Katie Bruhn, Tommy Balcolm, Doug Allan, Tyler May, Jun Zhang and Michelle, Israel Zurich and Becky, and many more. We had a wonderful time celebrating with Dan and Carly and we pray they will have a joyful life together. To view more pictures click here.

I (Scott) had the opportunity to celebrate with a bunch of guys from college the upcoming wedding of my friend Dan Kenagy. That's right, a Bachelor Party! The festivities included some intense basketball at the Tualatin Rec Center on the outdoor courts. Then Dinner at the Mongolian Grill. Video games at Wonderland, and Milkshakes at Jack-in-the-Box. It was a blast seeing these guys who I haven't had a chance to hangout with in a couple of years. The attendees were John Konrad, Tyler May, Joel Flachsbart, Jun Zhang, myself, Josh Edson, and of course the Groom-to-be Dan Kenagy. One of the highlights was getting giant gumballs at Wonderland! They were so big it hurt our jaws just to chew them. We had a great time together, and we are looking forward to Dan's upcoming marriage to Carly Smith. Congrats Dan! If you want to check out more pictures click here.

While Scott was enjoying time with the guys for Dan's Bachelor Party, I (Heather) was spending the weekend with nine women in a music therapy assisted childbirth course in Portland, provided by Sound Birthing. As you may know, I am currently doing my music therapy internship in Portland with Earthtones Music Therapy Services. This Music Therapy Assisted Childbirth Training (MTACB) was a continuing education class that I chose to take. I learned so much more about childbirth and the many ways music can be used to enhance the childbirth process. I will soon be taking another certification training course with DONA, which is the largest and most recognized doula association in the world. I am really excited about music therapy assisted childbirth and I’m looking forward to using my skills to assist many women in labor and delivery. On Saturday evening while Scott was with the guys I went to my dear friend Bethany’s house for February's Fantastic Fondue Fiesta for Friends. I had such a wonderful time with Bethany, Corey, Brad K., Annie, Aaron, Brad C., Andrea and Amanda. We ate cheese and chocolate fondue (of course), played Taboo, and laughed jovially at all manner of conversations. Scott had the camera at the Bachelor party so I did not get any pictures of the fun. Trust me, there would have been some great picture taking at this get together.

Oh man, the joys and trials of life in the "real world". Heather is realizing what it is like to work full time and commute at least 100 miles a day. She is now full-swing in her music therapy internship with Earthtones Music Therapy services in Portland, Oregon. This is a six month unpaid internship that is required in order for her to become a board-certified Music Therapist. Scott just began his second semester teaching at McMinnville High School. On top of all the Algebra and Pre-Algebra classes he was teaching last semester, he is now teaching a geometry class as well. That is a lot of lesson planning every day! That's what he gets for being a first year teacher. He does like it though. Today was Superbowl Sunday. We had a young marrieds meeting before the game and we stayed at David and Rhonda's house to watch the game on their big screen TV. It was a good game to watch (our one game a year) as it was fairly evenly matched. The Colts controlled most of the game and ended up beating the Bears. It was fun to have an opportunity to hang out with friends and make some new friends as well.

Our third snow day in a week! Wow. We got the call at 5:30, which allowed Scott to actually sleep in. Heather's internship was also canceled for a second day in a row. We played more cribbage, went to see Charlotte’s Web at the Moonlight Theater, and got a new sink! Our maintenance guy came to replace it on the absolutely perfect day, both of us were home. He also gave Heather a few tips on playing the accordion. Turns out he took accordion lessons when he was younger. What a beautiful snow day.

Wow, another snow day! We weren't expecting this on the Tuesday after Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Scott got the call at 6:45 and it completely caught us off guard. Heather also received a call from her supervisor saying her internship was canceled for the day. So we get another day together! As we enjoy the day at home decluttering our apartment, we look outside as the snow comes pouring down. What a wonderful weekend. Two snow days in less than a week. Unfortunately this will be hard on Scott as far as lesson planning goes. Now he only has 5 full days before finals to get his students ready. Hope you are safe and blessed wherever you're at.

On Thursday morning January 11, 2007 we were blessed with a wonderful snow day! Scott woke up at 5:30, his normal time to get ready for work. At 6:30 he received a phone call that the school was on a 2 hour late start! He used that time to finish some grading and make his lunch. When it was light enough, he looked outside and saw a fresh blanket of snow and more coming down! He went online and checked the reports, and sure enough McMinnville School District- Closed. He ran into the bedroom waking up Heather saying, "You've got to see this!" This is a huge blessing, because Heather just finished up the last of her paperwork and projects for Marylhurst the previous day, and those items have been causing alot of stress recently. We were able to enjoy the snow day together, playing outside and creating our snowman "Sam" (Scott was the creative one who came up with the name). Yay for snow, it's a beautiful day, walking in a winter wonderland. To see more photos click here.

Heather's big Christmas present this year was a trip to Disneyland! In September she told Scott this is what she wanted, not realizing that it would become a reality. We left early Sunday December 17, and spent Tuesday-Thursday December 19-21 at Disneyland and California Adventure. What a fun time. We got to break in "Cam" our new 2002 Toyota Camry for the trip. We had fun experiences and mishaps, and hopefully we'll post more soon. But for now, here are some pictures of Disneyland! Click here to see the album.

On Sunday, October 8th we drove out to Hood River with the McCarthy family. There, we wandered through a corn maze, walked through a pumpkin patch, drank home brewed root beer, sampled and bought fresh apples, and spent time with wonderful friends. What a fun day! The Sunday drive was also a fun outing in our new 2002 Toyota Camry. To see more photos click here.

A day at the tulip fields in Woodburn with Beth, Andrea, and Gavin. Beautiful flowers!

Picture Perfect Scene. After our time in Europe, we had a chance for some R&R at Lost Lake. We had a wonderful time as we hung out by the lake, hiked around the lake, and enjoyed the view of Mt. Hood. This camping trip allowed some much needed rest and "us" time.

A kiss captured in Puerto Penasco, Mexico. This was at Beth and Thomas' wedding (Heather's sister and now brother-in-law). Heather was the maid of honor and Scott was the husband tag-a-long. We had fun spending time Andrea and Gavin (our niece and nephew).

Here is a picture of us in LeDay, Switzerland. It was a small stop on our way from Bern to LeBrausses to visit Heather's relatives. We had a wonderful time in Valley de Joux and would love to go there again next summer.