this week has been ridiculous! as a few of you may know, my car got broken into - yes, again. that puts us at just about one major automotive crisis per month this year. i’m choosing to take it as a sign that God is done with our current cars and can’t wait to get us somethin’ new ;)
i digress… i’ve been under a mountain of paperwork and decided to trip back through time.
a couple weeks back nellie and i got to spend a few days in vegas with of few of our closest friends… here’s the frames.
breakfast…
and lunch…
on our way up, we were trying to determine if this was a poor coincidence or a prophetic warning.
little stretch break portrait session. here’s one that nellie got of me.
and one i got of my hotness.
mmm… this image is sooo right, i can’t describe it with words!
in an attempt to stretch every penny as far as we could, we spent a good portion of time prowling for $5 blackjack. i try to stick away from “posey-posey” pics like this, but john looked so dirty, i could barely resist.
the last 2 days were absolutely stunning! with only a handful of things that we really wanted to see on the oregon coast, we to decided to book it down highway 1 and spend some more time in san francisco!
first thing on the docket was to check out this really cool shipwreck. truth be told, i have no idea which of the oregon shipwrecks it was. if one of you wikipedia buffs want to figure it out, i’m sure that someone would be glad that you did. ;)
you can still see the skeletal outline of the entire ship. it was a bit creepy.
traveling through some farm country and lovin’ me some big empty silo action.
yes, that’s a 2!
if you’re traveling on the 1, let me give you a friendly piece of advice. they take the speed limit vary seriously. because towns just magically appear every 20 miles, the speed limit will drop by 30 mph without you realizing it, and they’re quick to enforce it. as we noted before, people from oregon are some of the nicest we’ve meet. now, nellie’s has charmed her way out of a number of tickets but blowin’ through a 35 zone at 65 requires a lot more than good looks and quick wit. ( of which she undoubtedly has both ;) ).
the next day we stopped by to see paul bunion and his magical blue ox. this was a ‘mind-blowing’ experience…
of course. what babe lacked in brain, he made up elsewhere.
most thrilling $4 bucks i ever spent. i’m tempted to call six flags and tell them they wasted their money.
arcata is one of those places i’ll probably drive on by next time i’m really desperate for a tank of gas.
yesterday we spent 11+ hours in the car. i’m not excited to do that again but the scenery was well worth it!
with a car full of shattered glass and a snow entrenched botanical garden on the docket, we decided that it was time to make our way back across the border. so, we made the 2 hour trek home, in the rain + snow, without a window. the worst part is that we didn’t even get a picture of it!
however, despite all of this turmoil, God is faithful. we had friends that we had desperately wanted to visit in mt. vernon, and they were gracious enough to let us intrude a day early. not only that, but they had a replacement window all lined up and ready to go by the time that we got there, put us up for the night, and treated us to some FABULOUS gorgonzola topped pizza!
we were so blessed to have a couple days with the maas family. daryl and christianna have a beautiful son, johann, and a baby girl on the way.
i love taking pictures of little kids. here are a few of johann.
johann is one of the cutest kids in the world. he’s engaging. we all had a good laugh when we asked him how old he was. he very confidently responded ‘big’. ‘why, yes you are big,’ we responded ‘but how many years old are you?’ and being the young existentialist that he is, very assuredly, answered ‘johann’.
when asked ‘the question,’ daryl wished that he had the ability to fly, christianna desired to be completely immersed in the love and power of the Holy Spirit, and johann seemed pretty content just to be him ( thought we’re pretty sure ‘bob the builder’ would have been a close second ).
daryl, christiana, and johann, thank you for making us feel so welcome and ‘at home’ with you. we hope to have the opportunity to treat you with as much hospitality as you have shown us. of course, under more pleasant circumstances ;)
just in case you were waiting for the official word on our travel status - we are home. of course, being home has it’s responsibilities, none of which are blogging the last 2 weeks of our road trip ;)
but faithful friends, i know that you’ve made the daily sacrifice to type “michaelandnellie.com/blog” into your beloved internet explorer 6.0 location bar, and diligently hover over the “comment” button thinking “will this be the day that i make my presence known, or will continue to be stingy with my blog love?” i know you want more, and i’m planning to give it to you.
so, while i catch up on work and process the rest of our pictures, i offer this sign of good faith…
with kim ( nellie’s sister ) in town, we’ve been exchanging a lot of our favorite youtube videos. here’s a few that have been played a few times more than once ;) enjoy!
this girl is awesome!
improv everywhere is amazing! these guys are the guys responsible for the hilarious annual “no pants” days on the subways of new york. of course, in light of the grief of got for posting a picture that said “i [heart] boobies,” i’m going to let ya’ll find that one yourself.
as we turned the corner to see the canadian border, it was like driving into a picture. the clouds opened softly, sharing a thin beam of warming light across the quiet ocean, as geese flew gracefully over head. no joke! can’t wait!
the pietsches were our family for just shy of a week. they are fantastic friends and unbelievable people! the first day that we were there, we had a delightful lunch over the topic of the perfect murder - which turned quickly into a recap of CSI episodes we’d seen. but i do not exaggerate when i say that we’ve had some of the most profound conversations of this trip with them.
here’s jeremy and trevor researching some very “important” demographics of portland ;)
and jeremy with the lovely stacy, in a picture that i couldn’t get enough of.
thanks you guys for showing us so much love and for really meeting our hearts. it was an inspiring and revealing week.
so, on our way into seattle nellie decided that we had just a bit too much room left in our mini-van home. so, we made a stop by the best of swedish furniture stores, IKEA. some of you may have been concerned but i assure you that the excess of space in our car is no longer a problem.
we got to seattle a little late but managed to meet the pietsches just in time for really fantastic free-form, featuring many of the first year students of mars hill graduate school.
