Alyssa's New House

 Alyssa and Greg moved into their new house yesterday!  Here are some pictures that were taken before the moving truck arrived and all the chaos hard work began.  The house is 10 years old and only 10 minutes from our house.  It is 2300 sq. ft., 4 bedrooms, 2 1/2 baths. It is upgraded throughout and the previous owners were neat and tidy!  The house is like brand new.  We are so happy and excited for them. 

 Lets start with this immaculate garage.  

 This is the living room/dining room.  They are putting their pool table and bar here.

 This is the family room.  Love the built ins and slate floor. 

 The kitchen was recently remodeled. 

 Oh, and my dream outdoor fireplace.  Love it.  Also, that is not grass, its astro turf!  Perfect.

 There is a small loft at the top of the stairs along with the the laundry room.

 Beautiful built ins in this room. 

 The office

 The guest room

 The master bath, that's a huge closet over on the right.

 Master bath vanity.

 Master bedroom.  It just so happens, their bedding is blue and dark brown.  

Daisy approves!

 Well, after 20 years of dreaming of having wainscotting, my dream has finally come true.  We installed wainscotting in the entry, living room and dining room.

 Now, I must continue on the time consuming, hair pulling, frustrating task of picking out paint colors.  I'm looking for neutral paint for a soft, relaxing feel and adding blue in my accessories (see pillows above).  I've ordered a rug that I hope looks good from Overstock.com (can't beat the prices) that is cream, blue and taupe.

 Sorry for the blurry pic, but I'm too lazy to take another one.  We were super happy with our woodworking guy: Chris Black of EJ's Home Improvement.  He did a wonderful job.

My trusty sidekick keeping a watchful eye on all I do. 

10 Ways to Pray for a President by Dr. Charles Stanley

Charles Stanley has asked that we put our individual wants aside and ask God who should we vote for. I personally, have been praying that God gives us not the leader that we deserve, but will have mercy on us and give us a leader that will benefit our nation and follow God's heart.  

I'm hoping for what I call, "A Chick-fil-A" moment in American, but most of all, in California.  One which people will stand up for God and our Nation and no longer sit meekly by the sidelines "turning the other cheek" as we loose our rights and freedoms.  

From Charles Stanley's Service Oct. 28, 2012:

How can you pray for the presidency during these challenging times? Dr. Charles Stanley of First Baptist Church Atlanta and In Touch Ministries shares 10 ways Christians should pray for the President.   
Pray that the President would:

1. Realize the position was obtained either by God’s choice or His permissive will.
2. Recognize personal inadequacy for the task and look to God for the wisdom, knowledge, and courage to succeed.
3. Restore dignity, honor, trustworthiness, and righteousness to the office of the presidency.
4. Readily forsake a political career and personal ambitions if it is necessary to do so for the best interest of the country.
5. Reverse the destructive trends of humanism and atheism—which attempt to dethrone God and deify humanity—because they ultimately result in an ungodly society.
6. Respect, honor, and obey the Constitution of the United States—the protector of our freedoms.
7. Reject all counsel that weakens our defenses against aggressors or endorses agreements that would do so in the future.
8. Refuse to promote a way of life in which citizens of our nation become increasingly dependent upon the government for their needs, thus surrendering their freedom to prosper.
9. Remember accountability to almighty God for attitudes, motives, behaviors, and decisions that affect our nation.
10. Resolve to establish a presidential term in which America regains its position as first among nations—when people can prosper individually, feel secure, and take pride in their American citizenship; and Almighty God is recognized as the source of all our blessings.

I hope and pray that you will cast your vote in God's will.  I've already seen God working in so many ways during this election.  Your vote matters.  Yes, your single vote!  It is a privilege and therefore, your responsibility to get out there and protect your rights and freedoms.  

The Train

 About a mile from the lodge, along the river side, a train passed through several times a day.  Early mornings and into the night, you could faintly hear the whistle blow and the clackity clack from our lodge.  I loved it!

 When we were heading out on our Falls Creek Falls hike, I finally got the chance to photograph the train.  

In the small town of Stevenson.

Random Photos From Northwest

 Beautiful hanging baskets in the old Pioneer Square area.  They were so lush!

 Loved the writing on this building.

In the midst of 1800's architecture, the city looms.

 Sitting in the adirondack chair, admiring the view.

Kite surfer.  On the first day we arrived, they river was full of these guys.  

I don't even know...

Falls Creek Falls - Hike

We went to the Ranger Station in our lodge and asked the Ranger where we could go that would be a beautiful hike, not a lot of people, sort of off the beaten path.  She told us about one of her favorite hikes: Falls Creek Falls.

You go down a lonely highway for 15 miles, then you turn on to a forest road for 1.8 miles (above) and the hike is 4 miles in and back.  We had a crisp, cool and sunny morning and we started out about 9am.

 We had the whole place to ourselves, just us and God.

 I was cold at first, walking in the hollows and all that shade.  My hands were so cold for about a mile until we began to climb.  We followed a crystal clear and deep creek all the way up.

 We crossed this cool suspension bridge.

 As we began to get deeper into the woods, my thoughts turned to this beautiful old hymm:

 O Lord my God,

When I in awesome wonder

Consider all

The world Thy Hand hath made,

 I see the stars,

I hear the rolling thunder

Thy pow'r thoughout

The universe displayed;

 Then sings my soul,

My Saviour God, to Thee

How great Thou art!

How great Thou art!

Then sings my soul,

My Saviour God, to Thee,

How great Thou art!

How great Thou art!

 When through the woods

And Forest glades I wander

I hear the birds

Sing sweetly in the trees;

 When I look down

From lofty mountain grandeur

And hear the brook 

And feel the gentle breeze;

 Then sings my soul,

My Saviour God, to Thee

How great Thou art!

How great Thou art!

Then sings my soul

My Saviour God, to Thee

How great Thou art!

How great Thou art!

And when I think,

That God, His Son not sparing;

Sent Him to die,

I scarce can take it in;

That on the Cross,

My burden gladly bearing,

He bled and died

To take away my sin.

How Great Thou Art Our Mightly God!!!

Portland, Voodoo Donuts and Cannon Beach

Weird, dirty, grungy, gritty, tons of homeless and mentally ill people.  You couldn't walk 20 feet without being accosted by a homeless or mentally ill person.  Not my kind of city.  I felt bad for these people, they should be in shelters and hospitals and not out in the cold and rain.  In this particular area, right behind the "Keep Portland Weird" sign was a nude, nude, nude club.  Great. I didn't like Portland at all, give me that little OC Bubble any day. 

All that aside, I was excited to go to Voodoo donuts.  They are well known for putting all kinds of weird combinations together on their donuts.  I've seen them on all the food channels and it was a must see for me.  As we approached the building, I saw this huge line.  HH is not a fan of lines, he won't wait more than 20 minutes, but I told him how exotic these donuts were going to be and everyone in line raved about them so he was good to stay.  This line took about 30 minutes.   We were accosted several times by people wanting money and some guy came and sat at our table and babbled nonsense, made me very uncomfortable.  

The Voodoo Donut, raspberry filled chocolate bar.  Got to love the creativity.

 After waiting so long in line, HH decided that one donut was not good enough.  Several people in line gave us recommendations on their favorite donuts.  We got the chocolate bavarian creme filled, the maple butterscotch creme filled, a regular glazed (to see how good just a plain donut would be compared to donuts at home), The Voodoo Donut, a maple with bacon bar and a peach fritter.  They had ones with mango filling, covered in oreos, captain crunch or fruit loops, they had mocha and so many different combinations it made it hard to pick.

 The  maple bacon bar was delicious, they were all delicious.  The cake donuts were awesome, the fillings were rich, the glazes were thick and tasty.  It was worth waiting the 30 minutes in line.  We had them as a snack later and as breakfast the next morning, I was donutted out!  I definitely recommend Voodoo Donuts in Portland on 2nd Street.  Also, surrounding the area were tons of food trucks.  If Portland had been a cleaner, more scenic city, we would have stayed around for lunch because everything that was coming off those food trucks looked and smelled wonderful.

 We then drove another 1 1/2 to the seaside and a pretty little resort town at Cannon Beach.  The Drive was spectacular. Above is our destination, a beautiful stretch of sand and the rocks above called Haystack rocks.  We first went into the visitor center to ask where the most scenic part of the beach was and we were told we had to go to the beach to see the beach in a very nasty tone. Uh, no duh lady, we were just asking the tourist office where a tourist should go, if you don't like tourist, don't work in the tourist office.

 There were pretty little cottages all lined up along a small access road with this beautiful view.

We had a great lunch at a little bar and grill and the town itself had tons of boutiques and shopping.