The Hamiltons

Dec 4th

2011-12-08T22:02:00.000-08:00

David and I went and got our Christmas tree On Sunday. We went to a U-Cut where any size tree was $10. Awesome! When we got home we finished putting our Christmas lights up outside. We are ready for Christmas!

Grandma "k"

2011-12-05T21:18:00.000-08:00

My grandma Kachel has been one of the most loving, encouraging, caring, ....(I could go on forever) women I have ever known.She has 7 kids and about 40 grandkids (including great). She has never missed a birthday or any other important event in my life. I am not close at all with my other grandma so she has really been the only grandma I ever had until I got married. On Thursday she turned 85!!!!!!!! My dad, sister, brother (in-law), David and I went to celebrate with her!

Grams blowing out her candle

Happy Birthday sweet Grammy

Sweet Husband

2011-12-05T20:55:00.000-08:00

For our anniversary, David got my ring done. We got the original solitare's band taken away so it is just held up by my wedding bands. I love it! Yay for a super sweet husband <3

Dancing with Brad

2011-12-04T09:32:00.000-08:00

I went to high school with a boy named Brad Ventura. In 2008 age 20 he was diagnosed with Sarcoma. In June 2009 he lost his battle with cancer. Throughout his treatment he kept a positive attitude and would make dance vidoes with his sister and close friends. It is so incredible to see someone going through something so terrible keep a smile on their face. I wanted to share his story. To learn more about Brad and to see more of his videos go to http://www.dancingwithbrad.com/about

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Bathroom Remodel

2011-12-03T22:33:00.000-08:00

Bathroom project in progress:
So far:
New counters
Fresh paint
New lights over the shower and new vanity
New decor
Still needed:
backsplash
Cabinet doors
Paint touch up.

October

2011-12-03T22:10:00.000-08:00

One year anniversary

2011-12-03T21:33:00.000-08:00

For our first year anniversary, David and I went to Lincoln city for the weekend. We stayed at an adorable little cabin, had gorgeous beach weather and won some money at the casino! We got married at a mcmenamins, so we decided to have our anniversary dinner at a Mcmenamins over looking the city with some delish Mcmenamin's brews. So fun!!

Boating

2011-08-06T12:34:00.000-07:00

After 4 years Dave got his boat running again! He took us out last weekend along with Ben, Tera and the kids. It was so fun! Love being out n the water on a hot day!

Day 23

2011-08-06T08:23:00.000-07:00

Favorite book:

Day 22

2011-08-06T08:12:00.000-07:00

Something you wish you were better at::
Being organized.

Day 20

2011-06-16T09:12:00.000-07:00

A place you would like to travel:

Italy

Day 18

2011-06-16T08:47:00.001-07:00

Biggest insecurity:
SKIP

Day 17

2011-06-16T08:46:00.000-07:00

Something that has made a huge impact in your life recently:

Having a (nearly) finished kitchen! For the last year and 1/2 David has been remodeling our kitchen. It went from being gross and completely closed off to

bright and open. I am in love. While the kitchen was in shambles I kept all of our dinnerware in the pantry and did not have real floors. It is so nice to finally have things put back together and in order. We just have to finish the island and some other odds and ends and I will have my dream kitchen. Thank you David ♥

Day 16

2011-06-10T10:15:00.000-07:00

A picture of someone who inspires you:

Teachers! I have worked in the Oregon City school district going on 5 years now. I have been privileged to know some amazing teachers. It is extra hard today with all of the kiddos who have a 3 second attention span due to T.V. and Video games. These teachers are so patient and kind and do such a fabulous job with today's youth.

Day 15

2011-06-08T09:34:00.000-07:00

Something you want to do before you die:
I would love to travel, especially to Italy ♥

Day 14

2011-06-07T21:02:00.000-07:00

A picture of someone you can't imagine your life without:
I chose David obviously. He was Hula Hooping on the Wii. Kinda funny.

Day 13

2011-06-07T20:43:00.000-07:00

A picture of your favorite band or artist:

Johnny Cash, Mumford & Sons, M. Ward (half of She & Him) Dean Martin, and The Beatles.

Day 12

2011-06-07T08:37:00.000-07:00

A picture of something you love: Oregon. Especially in the fall

Day 11

2011-06-07T08:31:00.000-07:00

Something you HATE:
Ground Beef. YUCK!

Day 10

2011-06-07T08:24:00.000-07:00

A picture of the person you do the most f'd up things with:
This night in Mexico, I locked David out of our hotel room in his boxers and wouldn't let him back in. He had to get security guards to unlock the door. I will never drink Patron again!

Day 9

2011-06-07T08:13:00.000-07:00

A picture of the person who has gotten you through the most:
There is no way I can just choose one person.

Day 8

2011-06-07T08:03:00.000-07:00

A picture that makes you laugh:

Day 7

2011-06-07T08:02:00.000-07:00

Most treasured item(s):
My rings.
My wedding ring, promise ring, and a ring from my Grandma.

Day 6

2011-05-20T08:06:00.000-07:00

A picture of someone you would love to trade places with:
Emily Blunt.

successful actress, dated Micheal Buble and is married to John Krasinski. Nuff Said.

Day 5

2011-05-19T21:04:00.000-07:00

Hands down, best memory ♥

Day 4

2011-05-19T21:03:00.000-07:00

A picture of your night: = Very unhealthy

Day 3

2011-05-16T07:00:00.000-07:00

Cast of your favorite show:

In my opinion The Office is THE best show on T.V.
It doesn't hurt that I have a huge crush on Jim.
But I am super sad that Micheal Scott left. The show will not be the same!

Day 2

2011-05-15T16:46:00.000-07:00

The person you have been the closest with the longest:

Well since my husband is a cradle robber I am going to say him.
David has been my confidant and my rock over the last 9 years. He has helped me through some really rough times and has been there during some of the most joyful. He truly has been my best friend.
(2002)

I am BACK!

2011-05-14T13:49:00.001-07:00

I have not blogged in over a YEAR! A lot has happened in that year. I figured a good way to get back into the blog world was to do the 30 day picture challenge. So here I go!

Day 1:

A picture and 15 facts:

1.I hate vacuumimg when I am home alone. The noise scares me.

2.I can be VERY shy.

3.I eat dark chocolate almost every night.

4.I LOVE kids and want one now!

5.I am very uncoordinated and clumsy. I take corners too sharp and run into walls all the time.

6.My family is my everything.

7.I bite my nails.

8.I I have been with the same guy for almost half my life.

9.I can not stay mad for more than an hour.

10.I hate ground beef and will do almost anything not to eat it.

11. I have a sweet older sister, and a brother in-law who has been a brother to me for 11 years.

12.I drive like a crazy person.

13.I love Oregon! I could never live anywhere else. The fall here is unbelievable.

14.I watch awful reality T.V.

15.Dean Martin melts my heart with his love songs.

2010-05-09T21:32:00.000-07:00

Amber had her surgery on Friday. They cut open her skull and put 90 electrodes in her brain which are sticking out her her head. These monitor brain activity. The next step is waiting for her to have 3 seizures to locate where exactly the seizures are coming from and fix it. She had a seizure night before last, so we are still waiting for 2 more. My dad has talked to my uncle only a few times and that is where we are getting our updates. Amber is awake and talking and just waiting. Poor girl could be in the hospital for days. I am just happy that at this moment all is well. It is also reassuring to know that she is at one of the best hospitals in the US for brain surgery. (UAB). I will keep you posted as I learn more. Thanks for all the prayers and support, I am going to show these blogs to Amber after she is out and I am sure she will appreciate the love. :)

Amberlee

2010-05-06T13:09:00.001-07:00

My closest cousin growing up is having brain surgery tomorrow. She has suffered from Epilepsy for about 10 years. She can't drive or get a job or do any of the normal things a 21 year old girl should be able to do. Hopefully this surgery will fix that! She is really excited for the surgery and for life after Epilepsy! Tomorrow they will cut open her skull and remove part of her brain! Scary! last week she shaved her head in preperation. Her brother and boyfriend shaved their heads too. I talked to her just a bit ago and she is calm and ready to go. Please keep her in your thoughts and pray that tomorrow goes well!

Love you Amber!!

Michael Buble

2010-04-03T14:42:00.000-07:00

Last night my friend Krystal and I went to see Michael Buble in concert! It was SO fun! He is such a great performer and puts on an awesome show! Love him!

New Pupper-Doo

2010-03-06T17:20:00.000-08:00

David and I have been wanting to get Bear a playmate since we moved into our house. She is an outside dog and needs a friend. The last couple weeks we have been going to the pound to look for a puppy. Today we went in and saw an America Bulldog who is 5 months old and who had just gotten to the pound. He has no health problems and is super mellow like Bear! American Bulldogs are great with kids, super loyal and great with other dogs. We let him and bear play for a while and they got along fine! We put in an application and will find out Tuesday if he is ours!!

Bridesmaids

2009-12-12T18:15:00.000-08:00

Today My lovely sister and I went shopping for bridesmaid dresses. We went to Davids Bridal and found some pretty cute ones. We had it narrowed down between 2.....

We ended up finding one that we both LOVE! We decided on the strapless one with pockets! We are going to order it in the color of the first dress though. It is called Truffle brown.

10.15.10

2009-11-29T19:21:00.000-08:00

So after putting off the wedding this year, we finally set THE date. We will be getting married 10.15.10. We booked the venue so it is official! It will be on a Friday and probably around 7:00 PM. The venue is the McMenamins Cornelious Pass roadhouse in Hilsboro. It is really pretty and romantic. My dress is in and just waiting to be worn! I have a cake picked out and I think my colors are going to be brown and orange. I am so excited!

2009-08-27T10:22:00.000-07:00

Happy 25th to my love!!

7 Years

2009-08-02T14:07:00.000-07:00

Today is our 7 year anniversary. Who would have thought that the 17 year old boy and 14 year old girl that met at Cresent Lake would still be together and engaged? We have grown up together and I feel lucky (most of the time) to have my best friend as my future husband. :)

Alpine Slides

2009-08-02T13:01:00.000-07:00

Friday for work I went to the Alpine Slides.....

While speeding down the slide with a 7 year old girl in my lap, the sled came out from under us and made us skid about 15ft. Sarah, the little girl that was with me started skidding on her head so I pulled her on top of me and continued to skid on my right arm. luckily Sarah didn't get hurt too bad, just a goose egg on hear head and a few scratches... She was so brave though. My right arm is pretty torn up. The slides are made of fiber glass so technically my arm is burnt. I went to the doctor yesterday and they gave me vikodin and got me all patched up... Here are some pictures :)

Home

2009-07-23T19:10:00.001-07:00

We have lived in our new house for about 3 weeks and have been fairly productive. David is somewhat of a workaholic. Within the first 2 days he had already built a workbench in his garage and a folding table for the laundry room! He will work a 10 hour day and come home and pour concrete. That was his major project this week. We have an 18' slider downstairs going to the back yard that David feels is poorly supported. He decided to put beams in for extra support. So far he has broken up the existing concrete and re poured with brackets that will hold the beams. This was a major project! Now all that is left to do is put in the beams.
This weekend he is going to pressure wash the house so that we can paint the house next weekend. Busy Busy Boy!! He has also pulled up and filled in the creepy cellar, and built a fire pit.
I like to keep the work on the lighter side and install things like, shelf paper. I got the whole kitchen done which makes it feel SO much cleaner. Bear has adjusted nicely to the new house and has done better with not barking at the poor little girls next door. There is so much more to do around here, but in the meantime we are enjoying our home :)

2009-06-30T17:40:00.001-07:00

David signed his life away today. We get the keys Thursday, and will start moving Friday. I am so proud of him! A home owner at 24! Good job babe!! We are going to be having a BBQ on the 11th. We want everyone to come! I will have more details soon :)

"This is my great dance!!"

2009-06-15T21:21:00.000-07:00

This is one of the Many reasons I loved Park Place! At work we would have random dance offs and the kids LOVED it! Here is a compilation of their great moves! This main boy is probably the cutest kid EVER! He is 6. Love him! Enjoy :)

Good Bye Park Place

2009-06-11T10:01:00.000-07:00

For the last 2 years I have had the pleasure of working at Park Place Elementary in Oregon City. It has been a dream job. One of my best friends Tina is my boss, we have the most warm and welcoming staff and the cutest most fun kids.
Tuesday Park Place closed for good due to budget cuts. It has been around since the 1860's, and some staff has worked there for over 30 years. All 265 kids are going to be divided between 2 nearby schools. All but 3 teachers will have jobs which is great. Tina and I are not directly affected because we work for the district and will be put at another school. Out of all the schools in Oregon City, Park place was most envied for its warm staff and well behaved kids. I have met such amazing, genuine people. The kids are a riot and at times very challenging, but I wouldn't have it any other way. These people have touched my life and taught me soo much!! It is so surreal that the school is closing. When you work with people for so long they become like a little family. It is really sad to see it go.I am so thankful to have been a part of the Park Place Family!

These are 2 of the best women I know

The right one?

2009-06-01T21:45:00.000-07:00

So after all the excitement of finding a house that David and I really liked, reality set in.Because it is an older home there are bound to be faults...... This weekend David and his friend/old boss did a home inspection of the house. There have been some concerns about the home but have just now started to sink in. There are a few structural concerns that David has about the home and there is also a giant tree LEANING right over the house which would have to be moved immediately. Due to the fact that the house has already been reduced $60,000 we are not so sure how negotiating would go for those things. We have about a week before we can back out so it is a lot to think about. To fix the structure and make it sound, as well as cut down the tree it would cost around $8,000 which we don't have... hmmm. We are going to look at another house tomorrow but now we really have to sit down and decide if the house is worth the extra money.........

I mean it, Punk!

2009-05-31T12:34:00.000-07:00

Last night Tera called David and I and invited us to come spend some time with her and the kiddos.
We met up with her at the Old Navy in clackamas so she could finish up some shopping. We then decided it would be fun to take the kids to the Starlight parade! I have never been so I thought it would be fun, and David went along with it because he is a good uncle :)

We got the kids some dinner thanks to uncle David...mmmm $1 lunchables from Fred Meyer! Then we were off to Portland. We decided to park a couple blocks away from the Burnside bridge and walk over to try and beat some traffic and parking. The walk there was good!! Both kids were excited to see the parade and were walking on there own. We found a good spot to watch around 8-8:30. Taylor was loving it but she thought it was a little loud. She kepttelling us "they keep going boom boom, and its too loud for people" She got to sit on uncle Davids shoulders and see the whole parade. There were some teenage cheerleaders that came through and she looks and me and says "Those girls are teenagers just like me!" haha soo cute! Colbs was getting tired so Tera was holding him for the whole parade. He was getting sleepy and wanting to go home so we started walking back. Poor Tera, who had been holding Colbs for the whole time we were there had to carry him the whole way back because he didn't want anyone else to. we walked over a mile with him on her hip. He let me carry him over half the bridge which gave Tera a little break. We finally got back to the car and Tera got to rest. Colbs went right to sleep. Tay started to get a little grumpy and started saying "I mean it Punk!" everytime she wasn't happy. Tera was getting upset because I guess she says it all the time, but David and I could not keep ourselves from laughing, which only made it worse. Sorry Tera:) I bet the the rest of the car ride home for Tera was a joy!!

House Hunting

2009-05-28T21:07:00.000-07:00

So David and I have been house hunting for the last little while. We decided that with David having a very stable job, the housing market being a buyers market, and the $8,000 tax credit that it is as good of time as ever.
We having been working with an awesome real estate agent who has been so great about letting us know as soon as houses we would be interested in come on the market. Our ideal place to live is West Linn. It is a nice community and is in a school district that we would love our future children to go to. We found a house that David realllly liked and me not so much. It is in West Linn but on a short sale. using the term short sale is deceiving because the process is anything but short. Because short sales involve the bank as the third party it can take up to 4 months to hear a response after putting in an offer.

We decided to put an offer in on the house with low expectations of getting it. There were 3 other bids on the house so we contined our search.
We started looking in other locations like Oregon city and Gladstone but weren't as excited about the location as West Linn. It seems like Every house we have looked at is either on a short sale or was built in 1862 and ready to fall to the ground. We had been getting very discouraged.

Last night our real estate agent Rosemary calls at 9:00 at night and tells us there was Just a house posted in West Linn in our price range and that we should probably take a look at it soon because West Lin is so competetive even in this housing market. At 9:30 PM David and I meet Rosemary at this huge split Level house in West Linn, right by the high school. This house had just had a $30,000 price reduction and had previously had another $30,000 reduced... $60,000 in total! and was NOT a short sale!! This house is 1900 sq ft with 2 fire places and a 2 care garage and a good sized back yard for our pup. We fell in love right away. Rosemary pulled out the paper work so we could write an offer and that's what we did. At 10:10 PM our offer was made. We were the first and only offer. We had to wait all day for the owner to get back to us on if he accepted . He is a very motivated seller due to the fact that he has already moved to Southern Oregon and purchased another home! The offer was ACCEPTED!!Now it is just a matter of inspections and appraisals before we can hopefully be first time home owners!

2009-01-28T20:19:00.000-08:00

I haven't blogged in a looong time but I decided that this was blog worthy.

On Friday David was taken to Meridian Park Hospital due to trauma to his ribs and lung. At Meridian they decided that he had 3 broken ribs and thought that he had a punctured lung due to his broken ribs. They also thought that there might be bone fragment in his lung. If this were the case then he would need surgery to remove the bone fragment. With this possibility Meridian decided to ambulance him to Emanuel Hospital which would have supposedly been better equipt to handle the surgery. When David arrived at Emanuel he was made to lay flat in a stretcher which irritated his broken ribs and was left in the hallway for 45 minutes while doctors leaned against his stretcher and talked about their weekend.

When he finally got settled in his room Dave, Ricka , my parents and myself got to see him. I was previously allowed to see him at Meridian which made it easier to see him and know what to expect at Emanuel. He was pretty drugged up due to his pain on the first day. I stayed the night with him the whole time he was at Emanuel and was able to witness everything with him. For Emanuel being well known for their outstanding care, the care in the trauma unit, was just that.... Traumatic.

The nurses would not come in and give him his meds unless we used the call button or if they were hunted down. We ended up being the ones to keep track of when and what meds were needed at all times. David was bed ridden for the first day and 1/2, but when we were able to walk in the hallways his nurses would turn their heads and pretend they didn't see us. David only talked to a real doctor a couple times for a grand total of 15 minutes. He was dealing with interns that looked like 15 year olds almost the whole time. It was mind blowing.

Although the care was awful, what they found was that he didn't have a punctured lung or fragment in it but he had a bruised diaphragm which caused fluid to gather and collapse his lung. In order to make the lung take in air, they had to insert a tube about 6" into his chest next to his left nipple. This helped drain the fluid which then helped inflate his lung. They took the tube out yesterday which relieved A LOT of pain.

Three of his ribs are broken, one of which is broken into 3 pieces, the middle piece is turned sideways and sticking into his diaphragm but appearantly they don't need to do surgery because his body will somehow fix it. We went to another doctor today to get a second opinion which agreed with Emanuel. The real doctor was much more helpful and explained to David why he didn't need surgery. He is really glad to finally be out of the hospital and in his own home. The pain meds are helping but are not near as helpful as the drugs they had him on in the hospital. He just has to get through the next few weeks...... good thing he is such a trooper.

Thanks so much to the people who came out and saw him. It really meant a lot to him! Thanks for all the goodies Patty, your the best!

Future Mrs. Hamilton

2008-10-25T20:26:00.000-07:00

So, I finally decided to get a blog. I have been planning my wedding and am getting so excited that I felt the need to share :)

As most of you know in May David and I got engaged (finally after 6 years of dating). We met when I was 14 and he was 17, so nobody (including myself) expected our relationship to go anyehere due to the almost 4 year age difference, but I am thrilled to say that it did! ;)We will be getting married in a little over a year on November 7th 2009!!

Last weekend the fam and I went dress shopping and I found my wedding dress at the first store that we went to! It was a little different than what I had imagined myself wearing but I love it and can't believe that I have to wait a full year to wear it! We have also booked the venue. We will be getting married at the McMenamins octagonal barn in hillsboro. We are wanting lots of candle and twinkle light so that it feels very cozy and romantic.