It was a weekend of goodbyes for Jim.

We had parties in Corvallis for his family and

friends to see him one last time before he heads out.
Denny....I stole some of your pictures so his family could

see them:)

Here's the friend gathering.

Thanks Jenna and Phil for hosting!

Here's one of Jim's outfits.....we told

everyone to dress patriotic/military

Tristan and Jackie, I hope you appreciate Jim's

use of your present:)

Even the kids dressed up!
This is what Jim showed up in.....gotta

appreciate the sense of humor

The girlies

You all might have to zoom in to see the tattoo

in honor of my awesome husband:)

Aiyana hands down wins the best costume contest

All duct tape Wonder Woman outfit!We had a family party at Jim's parents house the next day!
A salute to Jim!
Oh Hey Heather!

Road Trip 2009!!

Jim and I decided we needed one last trip before he leaves

in 2 weeks and thus began ROAD TRIP 2009.

We had no plan.....we just drove

Day 1, leaving our driveway



We headed west and ended up at the Oregon Coast.....we started

heading up 101 and hit Tillamook, where I told Jim about the awesome

cheese factory. He was so excited so we stayed the night in Tillamook


Sipping margaritas at an authentic hole-in-the wall Mexican restaurant

Day 2: breakfast in Tillamook

Big boy orange juice

We love cheese!

But wait, they don't make cheese on Saturdays!

Jim was so disappointed.

But they were still making ice cream....Woohoo!!!

We might have taken a wrong turn when we got

into Washington but we found this ghetto put-put

place so it was all worth it!

Check out that swing!

Jim, not surprisingly, killed me at golf

That night, we took a turn off 101 and ended up at the most amazing

lodge ever! It's called Quinault lodge....built in the 20s and so stinking cool!

I was a giddy girl!

Claw tub and other awesome antique features!

Here's the main lodge area, big fireplace and leather couches.

Jim wasn't quite as excited as I was, but that's normal:)

We had dinner and breakfast the next day at the lodge restaurant

which overlooked the lake

We found ourselves (totally unintentionally) in Forks, WA

which happens to be the town from Twilight....don't judge me!

We headed east from Forks and made it to Port Townsend where

Jim's aunt and uncle live...this was an old wheelhouse from a boat

that they turned into a cute little bunkhouse on their property

Beth took us down to the pier where we checked out their boat

After 3 days on the road, we were pretty pooped but

I got my second wind when I heard we were going to drive out

on the water.......

Well not exactly but we took a ferry where we could drive

our car onboard. we went to the top level and ate while we

crossed the Puget Sound....pretty cool!

Random fact: it's the largest ferry system in the world!

Bad picture but you get the idea....we started in Kingston

and ended up in Edmunds Washington

We planned to stop in Seattle but were pretty exhausted,

so we drove around the town a bit before we headed to

Newberg to stay with Heather and Jeff.

Our awesome room for the night was their tent trailer!

So cool. We were in their driveway but it still felt like we

were going to walk out and find ourselves on a lake somewhere.

We had lunch today at Heather's new place of employment,

Li'l Cooperstown....fun fun!

We headed out from there and are finally home

I forgot how awesome road trips are! It needs to become

an annual routine from here on out

We are in need of a major update, and for those of you who gave up on our blog, I can't really blame you:)
I figured I would at least attempt to fill you all in on the latest happenings of the Roe's.

• Jim celebrated his 27th birthday last month on Groundhog's Day.....next time you watch the movie, think of him!

Jim got his favorite, mandarin orange cake.....please take note of the lovely come over!


His present from me was a back inversion table......he claims it's supposed to reduce aging by reversing gravity and allowing nutrients to flow freely through your body....I personally don't buy it, but it does feel nice on the back and we both use it every day:)

• 
  A lot of why you haven't heard from us is that we're getting prepared for Jim's departure and trying to enjoy every second that we can. He will be leaving for Iraq in less than a month and will be gone for more than a year. Neither of us have any idea how difficult this time will be so we'd appreciate all of your prayers. The longest we've been apart is 3 weeks, and it was horrible, so I can't even imagine a year!

Luckily, I will have my awesome support system here to keep my mind preoccupied and Jim will be getting care packages every week from his annoying wife!


Me, Mom and Kels all got haircuts together.....girl days will be a must to keep me busy!

Kelsi's actually home for good and will be staying with me while Jim's gone. She already moved most of her stuff in. I forgot how much I loved living with my sister!

• Jim is taking care of all of his loose ends, including lasic eye surgery, which he underwent yesterday. He's already seeing 20-15 a day later......oh and he has to wear these goggles to protect his eyes. Amazing right?!
  

• In other news, the shop is doing so well! I absolutely love going to work every day. We have been so busy and keep getting new people in every day. God is truly blessing this place and we're so thankful. We've gotten a lot of free publicity too, which is great! We were featured on a cooking show, because they heard we were the best breakfast and lunch place in Redmond and we'll be in the paper next month for a "Hidden Treasures" feature.
  
  I was going to try and find the video from the show but they don't have it online. This link, however will show you the cooking show site that has our recipes and info....kinda fun.

• All in all, things are great. I promise to be better about updating in the future, but I apologize in advance for the lack of material I will have without Jim around. If you could all keep us in your prayers, that would be awesome!