December 16th

December 16th 6PM at Good Shepherd Community Church in Boring, OR. If you are unfamiliar with the area try this: Road Directions to get to the church. The reception will also be at the church following the ceremony.

Clackamas HS

So, I (I being Mark) have a job now. I have had one for almost a month now. I am the Technology assistant at Clackamas High School. What I do is help people when technology is attacking them!!! Then I come out the hero even if it's something as simple as plugging something in or flipping a switch (which happens).

Amy and I went to the Annual Salmon festival at Oxbow Park last weekend. Here is a young Great Horned Owl that we encountered while there. And some fish as well.


Soon the date for our (cue astonishing music) wedding will be up!!

~Mark

White Coat Ceremony

It's official, Amy has started her journey as a doctor. She got her official "White Coat" much like the redcoats but healing rather than shooting. So, back to relevant stuff. Here is a picture of Amy (and me) in her new lab coat. She also just got her Stethoscope today, now she can hear things a lot clearer.

With a little over a week into things Amy has worked her way into the shoulder, back, and spine. She can give a more detailed description, such as the names for every artery, muscle strand, tendon, etc.

Last night/this morning we stayed up late and watched the lunar eclipse. It was fun, we went to Barlow on the softball field to watch it. While there we were also accompanied by a Great Horned Owl and some other loud people not far off.

Registry

We are now registered! We registered at Bed Bath and Beyond (the alliteration store), REI, and at Target. A note on the BBB: there are some pricey Calphalon Brand pots, pans and cookware that we registered for. Ignore those; we registered them just to get a free "breakfast treat gift set". We just can't pass up a free deal. :) So ignore the $400 Cookware set, $40 5 pc bakeware set, and $50 sleeved griddle.

Dr. Starr

Amy got accepted to OHSU!! This means we will not be moving to Colorado (sorry Travis, Eva, and possibly Joel) but will be staying in the Portland area. She will be starting in Late August (probably). After that good luck seeing her for the next 4-5 years. However, she will be accepting volunteers for the blood drawing lab practicum second semester. Any arm is free to apply.

How it all happened

Written by Mark
Edited and "improved" by Amy (mostly, the parentheses are me).

We went hiking on Friday the 20th at Silver Creek Falls State Park. On the way there, the gas light on the car went on (oops)... After a few moments of panic, we got ahold of our friend Charissa and she let us know where a nearby gas station was. We made it to Sublimity just in time to pull up to the gas station on Starr Rd (must have been a sign). After filling up we went on our way to the Falls (really awesome and beautiful if you've never gone. You probably should. We reccommend it). We got to a trail starting area and walked around the falls with squirrels, hummingbirds, Trilliums, and various other forms of beauty, such as Amy, all around us. When we arrived back at the car there were some blacktailed deer waiting for us (which Mark decided was also a sign, I'm not quite sure why. But they were cute.) Then we ate a complete, balanced lunch of fruit, goldfish, and gummy worms.

Since Amy had to work at 4:00, we headed back so she could get back to work on time. What Amy didn't know was that the ring wasn't actually ready until that day (what he would have done if I didn't have to work, I would love to know!!). I had brought it in weeks before and it was supposed to have been ready earlier that week but the gold apparently took longer to get than expected. Wanting to be sure I got the ring before they closed at 4:00, I let Amy know that I needed to pick up my check from Fred Meyer before 4:00 (bah, lies, all lies!!). After having lunch at Quizno's (very romantic I know) we head over to my house. Amy checked some stuff online for her stats class she's taking, while I went to Charissa asking "do you want to go to Fred Meyer?" loudly, winking, and rubbing my finger (poor me, not suspecting a thing. Poor deceived me!).

We left to pick up the ring and Amy went to work (entirely unsuspicious, I might add!) Amy had mentioned earlier that she wanted to go stargazing that night (I played it right into his hands, geez, I'm easy!). Charissa and I then went to scout out an area, and found one at a water treatment facility on one of the hills overlooking Newberg. After that we DID go to Fred Meyer to pick up my check (ok, I guess it wasn't all a lie) as well as other items for the night.

After Amy got off work, we went to dinner at Chan's in Dundee. We figured out later that it was the same place that Amy took me on my birthday when we first starting "going out." (Did we plan that? Nope, but it was an interesting coincidence. Too bad we didn't try to hop a train afterwards, like we did the first time...ask us that story sometime). After we had eaten we came back to my place to watch Planet Earth (the most AMAZING nature documentary EVER made, I get goosebumps every time I see it...for those of you still in the dark about this glorious new thing, you must watch!). Chad, Charissa, and Pat were there--for those of you who aren't aware, I live with Chad and Charissa Burns at their house. Halfway through, Charissa had "just remembered" that she needed to get some food for dinner tomorrow so they left to get it. (Entirely suspicious, but I was so excited about the monkeys on the show, I didn't notice!). Once the show was finished we got some warm clothes on, loaded up some blankets, and headed out.

We arrived at the base of the hill, jumped out, and started to grab the stuff to head up. Amy wanted to grab the tarp we brought but I said we would check it our first and see if we would need it. (I was already tired from hiking, and did NOT want to walk all the way up and then back down again, then back up...he was just being stubborn and annoying, so I started up the hill slightly annoyed at him). We got to the top and discovered something covered with a blanket. (THEN I got why he didn't want to bring the tarp). We walked over and I lifted up the blanket to discover to bean bag chairs and a cooler. (At this point I was super touched that he'd gone to all the trouble of this amazing date, but STILL didn't get it that he was actually going to ask!! I made this WAY to easy for you, Mark). I sat Amy down and went over to open up the cooler. I pulled out a large candle, lit it, asked Amy if she wanted to make some S'mores, and handed her a roasting stick. Always up for making S'mores, she gladly took the stick and I reached in the marshmallow bag to grab a marshmallow. I had already pulled the ring out of the box in my pocket when I grabed the lighter for the candle, so I put the ring in the top of a fat marshmallow and handed it over to my girlfriend for the last time. Once she had realized I wasn't joking or merely practicing, (I really did have to ask to make sure, kind of embarrassing!) she said yes!!!! (obviously or we wouldn't be writing this story). After freaking out for awhile, praying, and then freaking out some more (well, it was mostly me doing the freaking out), we proceeded to roast the marshmallows over the "fire" and eat them (a tasty treat at the end of an emotional day!).