I'm 25!!!

Last weekend Nate took me out to a very nice restaurant to celebrate my 25th year of birth.
We had so much fun! The food was by far the best I've had in years...perhaps ever! If you come to visit, the name is Strawberry Hill. And it's located in a shaddy part of town, but you wouldn't know it from the inside!

Thanks Naters!
and thank you friends and family who made it a very enjoyable birthday! I felt loved!

Food born illnesses....our friend

Last weekend Nate and I drove up to NYC to hang out with Carmen and Leo. We had won 2 tickets for SNL and got to see Justin Timberlake bust a move on stage. His girlfriend was there too, Cameron Diaz.
But the real reason for going up was that Carmen had been hit with Salmonella! She wasn't able to get enough fluids in her body to keep up with how much she was losing. After about 60 hours of this, we admitted her into the hospital. The IV really seemed to help her as she was finally able to get the fluids she needed.
And her hospital room had a magnificent view of NYC!! Leo took really good care of her while she was there.

This weekend we are headed back up to NYC with my parents for the holidays. This time by train, praise the LORD! Poor Nate is going to have a heart attack from all my gasps and shreeks in the NY traffic! I think he's more excited about taking the train than I am.

Needless to say, this morning I woke up violently throwing up. I'm not sure if it relates to Carmen's salmonella or not, but good thing I work at a doctor's office. Nothing like a car breaking down in an autobody shop!

So we'll see what happens. Please pray for health and safe travels this weekend. I hope you all enjoy your times with family and friends!
We miss you and love you

Our first Christmas!

Making up for lost time...

Today was a monumental day!!! Internet was just installed in our apartment!!!! Praise the LORD!!
Nate and I decided when we got married that we wanted our first year of marriage to be t.v. free. Our hope in doing this was to spend more time together and build a good foundation for our lives together. However, we also slipped the internet into the category of t.v. mostly because it has in the past sucked many hours of our time away from each other. Recently we discovered the internet is our main source of communication to family and friends. Being that we are hours and even days from family and friends we thought it was important to give the internet a try again.
Although it tends to take some of our time from each other, it also connects us with very important people in our lives. We are looking forward to staying in better touch with everyone. And having lived without the internet for 3 months, we have learned to not lean on the internet as much as in the past.
Thus, today marks the day of being back "in-touch" with the rest of the world.
Now our blogs should be more updated and we can check out your blogs as well!!
Thank you to all who have made good use of the telephone. We still have those too.

As you can see the last three posts where from today, however the stories and pictures are from these past couple of months. We are making up for lost time.

These are our "ACTION" fall pictures. We have a delay on our camera, so you can't quite get the full action feel with the leaves, but imagine if you will leaves falling from the sky or being thrown at you.

The fall here has been really nice! We love taking drives down country roads to see more of the trees with unique coloring!
I've been burning fall scented candles, baking cookies, and wearing mittens as often as possible. It's hard to do all three at the same time though.

Enjoy your fall!

Lititz is 250!!

We live in Lititz. Population...small town. But it sure feels like we live in a big city sometimes!
Check out this this parade!!! My favorite float was the one of "MEALS ON WHEELS"!!! Those are some big mashpotatos!!
The parade was in celebration of the 250th birthday of Lititz. There were close to 100 floats much like these ones. Nate and I walked over to Jim and Kelly's house (2 blocks from us) for a birds eye view of this production. They live in a balcony apartment on the main corner of town.
We like have them so close by!

Pet smart

Many people have asked us if we have a pet. And the answer is: yes, we had a butterfly, but it flew away.
Here is the picture of our pet Monarch. Our neighbors Jim and Kelly Graser gave us this little fella when he was just a little larva and we took care of him until he was like this. I think we saw him fly by our window once. Ever since the weather has changed, we have not seen the little guy.
I think if we ever have kids and they ask for a pet, we'll get them a little larva instead of a dog. They're much easier to take care of. But then they would probably be sad when it flys away. They might even post "LOST BUTTERFLY" signs around the neighborhood. And then we would end up with a whole butterfly farm from all our nice neighbors.

A stuffed dog might be nice.

NYC!!!

Carmen and Leo only live 3 hours as the crow flies away from us, but by car it takes at least a good hour just to drive the 7 miles through the city. The whole time my eyes are bugging out of my head as Nate is manuvering through lanes of cars, people, bikes and other things that make their way in our path! Good thing he's better at video games than I am. We definitely experienced a few close calls!! Each time was followed by a scream or shreeeek from me!

E. Coast fall

I find myself looking out windows like a curious little kid. The fall colors have shown themselves in brilliant reds, bright yellows and oranges! Oil paintings can't even capture how bright these colors are! Our God is truely creative in his design and use of color.

OUR WEDDING PICS!!

Our pictures from the wedding came in! You can view them at:

wedding pictures

Thank you everyone who helped to make it so beautiful! Nate and I both felt so blessed by all the generosity from so many people! And we loved to see so many people from all stages of our lives!

Love to you and hugs!

A Few Things We Saw in Yellowstone...

We only had one full day to spend in Yellowstone, so we had to pack all the sites in that day.
Let's face it there are some crazy looking things here! The Mirror Pond was one of my favs as well as Mammoth Hot Springs (white mountain). That "cloud" behind our heads is Old Faithful. Sure enough...she was right on time!

Trip across America!

This crazy cloud was following us into Yellowstone National Park...but luckely we got to our camp site with no rain near us!


The picture to the left is of some wildlife in the Park...and a fuzzy picture of Nate. We saw so many different kinds of animals: deer, bison, pelicans, goats, chipmunks, baby buffalo and our personal favorite - the picas!

Day Three is coming but first our nephew!

Two days ago a child was born! A beautiful little one. Our first nephew. Aaron ---- Muth

check him out the little fir ball
We love him and can't wait to meet him Congratulations Michael and Jenny!

Day two....WE SAILED!

Here's our friend Tiff! She took the day off to hang out with us while we were in McCall. And she even taught us a new way to play bocce ball!







We forgot how beautiful McCall can be! This is a picture of the lake. We had a similar view outside our bedroom window. No one was staying in Lakeside, so they let us use it while we were there...very nice!


















And as a final surprise to our McCall trip, Jon took us our sailing in the camps newly donated sail boat!!
It was a blast! Only Jon of course had to take it to the next level and break some records with how far he could tilt the boat before it fully tipped into the water. Of course Tiff, Jen and I were screaming while hanging on with white knuckles! It was a blast and a great memory!

Day One.....On the open road

Fignutons, you all know this is a staple for a road trip. And of course CD’s galore, a worn atlas and our dashboard Jesus. We are now ready to head eastward! McCall, Idaho is our first stop and an easy beginning to our adventures.

Our camera died on us early on in the trip, so we stopped at the faithful Wal-mart to pick up this one that is now running a marathon!

We got to McCall pretty late, but enough time to stop by camp and see the Walkers and the girls. We forgot how beautiful McCall is in the summer! Tiff, Jenny, Jess, Nate and I all met up at the park on the Payette Lake and tried out our new ice cream maker from REI. It’s a plastic ball you throw around and it makes the ice cream after about 10 min.

wedding bells keep ringing...

What a great time that was! Thank you all for coming to and helping with and being a part of our wedding. Both Nate and I enjoyed seeing so many of our favorite faces all in one place.
And boy was it hot outside!

Our trip to Lincoln City was the best we could ask for!! The weather was probably the best I've ever seen. It was the first time we both got sunburned on the Oregon coast!
My Aunt Sharon kindly let us stay at her beach house for the week. It's a cute little place not too far off the beach. When we arrived at the little house, we were warmly greeted by a basket full of various food gift cards! All week long Nate and I would randomly select a new place to dine for that day! It was a perfect honeymoon and we couldn't have wished to be anywhere else.

Now we are back here in Corvallis preparing for our journey out east. Boxes and Boxes later, I think we are finally finished!

We will be sure to post news and pictures as often as we can.

Thank you for being a part of our lives!
Much love,
Lissa Forbes

buy this car to drive to work drive to work to pay for this car

I am feeling better! Some were still concerned if that I was still sick. I am not. I am however quite busy getting ready for the wedding.

So this blog is taking a break until the road trip begins out east to PA where we will be journaling our journey along the way.

peace is in,
nate

headache

I have had a nasty headache with a fever since saturday morning, please pray for me

nate

Pictures of engagement

This past weekend we went to the coast for engagement pictures and our photographer went kinda crazy, two hours later we had 248 pictures. Click on the picture or the link to see more.

http://portlandphotographer.net/lissanate/albums.html

So maybe I'm not a paragon of a blogger

So my friend missy reminded me that the purpose of having a blog is to use it. So i will blog a little here.

I will blog with pictures because creativity is lacking in my mind. But on random side note my van broke down and I was bummed because i thought it was the transmission. but i am bumming no longer because it only cost sixty-two dollars to fix it since it was just an unmounted mount. end of random side note

blog starting: Lissa made me a cake for my birthday yesterday

I turned 25. My mom and dad got me balloons for

25. Lissa picked up a crab and made an awesome face

because i turned 25

I faked a live crab feed because I was 25.

Lissa and I ate at clam chowder at mo's and made

tired faces at the camera because of of 25.

And this crab died because I turned 25.

Turning 25 is a lot of fun.

“Beannachtaí na Féile Pádraig duit!”

I am a grocer and I use paper

So it is true, I am a college graduate and I bag groceries. Sometimes I think that it is lame,
OK more than sometimes but nonetheless it is a job that keeps me entertained. It is a rather monotonous job, bagging eggs on top of butter and "facing" the canned corn. Yet every so often something catches my eye and makes me go "huh?" or maybe "arr?" or i migh not actually say anything but think it. Actually that is probably more the case more often than not.

Well yesterday I was next to the corned beef and I noticed a can that said "One Whole Chicken without giblets" That is sick, I hope no one ever purchases that item. Whelp here it is. EWw

Newt Crossing?

The other day Lissa and I were out for a walk with her mom and we came across a newt he was a cute little guy but after poking him with a stick and moving him into the grass I thought nothing about it until when we came back I noticed this sign that said "newt crossing" Here Lissa is pointing at it. Now I have seen a lot of interesting signs but this one is definitely the best I have seen for some time. I know all the animal rights people activists were rejoicing when this sign was erected. I think Oregon should change it's state motto to "Your newts are safe with us!"

Rocket Launch

Click here for a video of the Rocket Launch of '05!

Lissa and I went to p-town this past weekendand stopped at the Multnomah Falls. While we were hiking it brought me back to my love of nature and creation.