Random August Fun - 2013

... oh boy ... can I just be honest and tell you that I'm so glad that August is over.

We did manage to have a little fun last month, as you will see in a few minutes,

but it was also a pretty emotionally rough month for us ...

Near the beginning of the month we received the very unexpected news

that Ann, Nate's cousin's wife, had passed away. The details of her passing are

tragic and heartbreaking, and this news really threw us for a loop. Ann was such a

brilliant and passionate woman and she had such a beautiful smile and laugh. 

Aaron and Ann are not much older than we are, and our hearts have been aching

for Aaron as we pray for him during his time of grief.

Around this same time we received news that one of our best friends was not

well and that she and her family were also going through a very difficult time.

We had many sleepless nights, spent hours on the phone offering love and support

wherever we could and again, said many prayers on their behalf. Our beautiful

friend is now home with her family, but she is still struggling with many things -

it is so hard for us to be away from their family during their time of need -

one of the few things that we dislike about being in Oregon. 

We feel so blessed to be able to lean on each other through times like these, and

we are blessed to have supportive friends and co-workers to that we can talk to

as well. We hope and pray that these two families will feel of God's love for them.

Okay ... enough of the heavy ... August was very busy and looking back, I am

glad that there was too much to do to help keep us distracted from the things we

couldn't control back in Utah ...

We had a lovely google chat with our besties ... boy oh boy do we miss these guys!

We had an awesome rain storm or two that helped clear out the yucky smoke

that sat in Grants Pass for several weeks - it has been SO wonderful to be able to

open up our windows and let in some fresh air!!

The City held their last 'Concerts in the Park' series for the season - I went with my work

ladies to hear the fabulous 'Funktional Fusion'  play. This was my first official outing

with the ladies - it was a lot of fun!!

Little Rascal just continues to sleep a lot ... every day I notice her age a little more ...

we need to take her in for a visit to the vet but part of me is dreading what they are going to say

so I have been putting off making her appointment - she doesn't seem to be in any pain,

she is just slow and sleepy and has lost a lot of weight ... we'll be taking her within the next 

couple of weeks though, so if you're thinking of us, wish us luck, will you?

My friend Talia, and I, got a bunch of people that we work with together for dinner
at Wild River Pizza one night! At our Club, the Admin Staff works upstairs and the
Program Staff works downstairs - Talia & I are working on bridging the gap
so that we can all get to know each other a little better! We all had a great time at dinner
and I'm glad that Nate enjoys being around my work family - I have a feeling
we're going to be seeing A LOT of them :)

My work had an event in  Medford called Thunderstruck! A custom bike shop owner has

a bike show every year and donates all of the proceeds to the Club - Nate & I decided

to head down to Medford for the day (on one of his rare Saturday's off) and we actually

got to go to a mall - something we haven't done since we moved here! We had food court pizza, 

got some jeans and shoes and other things we needed and I got brave and added a little 'bling' to my ears ...

The smoke came back a little on our drive home from Medford and I begged Nate to snap

this picture - I LOVE the way the hills look (even though you can see the dead bugs on our windshield ;)

We had ANOTHER event for the Club - this one was at the Grants Pass Golf Club!

We spent a Thursday evening hosting a gala for our sponsors and on Friday we arrived

bright and early to check people in and sale raffle tickets - I really do love my job and the

ladies that I work with - they make the work seem like fun!!

The last Friday of the month I hung out at the Club for a bit while Nate worked to help facilitate 

Teen Night ... it was an 'end of summer' party complete with a bouncy jousty arena ... it was a little

too much fun ...

My poor friend Talia landed so awkwardly ... just so you know, her back was a little sore, but she's okay!

Nate & I went on a super hot date to a Chris Isaak concert in Jacksonville,
but that date was so awesome that it is getting it's own post. 

So there you have it ... that was our August ... we're looking forward to a less emotional September,

but if for some reason it is not, we know that we have each other to lean on,
and for that, we are grateful!