Fall 2012

We have been busy! 1. Baby shower for friend 2. Achieved weight loss goal! 3. Planned and implemented a successful carnival for a small nearby community 4. Planned and implemented a car show and anniversary celebration for Bryan's shop that same weekend! 5. Spent time away with Bryan in Portland, then a few weeks later at the beach 6. Spent lots of time with family, babysitting and going on fun adventures with nieces, or hosting a game night and dinner at home. 7. Hosted a Scentsy party for the girls while Bryan was away in Vegas at a car exhibition 8. Joined a community group through church, and later attended a Women's brunch with this awesome group of fellow Jesus followers. 9. Attended a band show and relived my past... 10. Hosted/ Attended several back to school and fall parties and open houses for school 11. Endured Parent/Teacher Conferences and Report Cards Quarter 1 12. Attended several functions around town, including an art show, track day at Portland Raceway,OSU Open House at Nike, and local theater presentation of Anne of Green Gables 13. Bryan joined a recreational baskbetball league 14. I got pink eye and ovarian cysts (within the same weeks of each other) for the first time. Painful on both accounts. 15. Enjoyed time recently with friends I haven't seen in awhile 16. Finally had time to get reacquainted with reading, sleeping, exercising, recipes... 17. Had a restful 5 day weekend and spent Thanksgiving with both families 18. Looking forward to a 2 week break in just four more weeks...:-)and achieving more goals and productivity I cannot believe it is the end of November already! As I looked briefly back over the calendar, it feels like just yesterday much of these things happened. As I look forward to 2013 (amidst the craziness of the Holidays!), I look forward to more great changes through Bryan's work (he is getting so busy!) and hopefully mine as I consider other ways to use my talents and abilities God has given me. Hopefully 2013 will be a year of great change as well! (Good change!)

Summer is Over...

Tomorrow starts a new year of school. This year I am teaching Second Grade. New faces, new curriculum, new responsibilities. Its always so hard to believe when another "First Day" rolls around. So, as I look to the future, I will reflect a bit on the past- the past few months, that is. I am wistful for those carefree summer days, but I do have a twinge of excitement for fall approaching! The end of Spring was marked by the birth of my sister's second daughter and Bryan and my NINTH in the lineup of nieces and nephews. She is a precious baby girl and its hard to imagine our family now without her. Bryan also celebrated his 28th birthday the day after she was born, so we have matching birthdays in the family again! Bryan celebrated this year by taking a road trip with his buddies down to Reno. Instead of joining (or even being invited, being a girl), I worked the first of my three summer jobs, as an assistant to a wedding florist. It was a delightful summer job, that began on weekends during, and hopefully I will get to do one or two more throughout this year. The school year wrapped up pretty uneventfully. That is, until my Dad ended up in the hospital again with complications due to his failing health and neurological disease. Luckily, I was able to be there at the hospital, and finish cleaning up my classroom in the time in between. Unfortunately, however, I myself ended up in the hospital two weeks later with a herniated disc on Father's Day. No fun. But, this gave me time off from my other part-time summer jobs, for one week at least. That also meant more time to spend with my sister from Idaho and her family, who were down visiting for the week. My other jobs this summer included one job I did last summer as an assistant in a property management company, and also I tutored for students at a summer camp at my school. I also interviewed and got a job as a private tutor with a company that is just starting, so I actually have not started that job yet, as they have no clients so far. Bryan and I also celebrated our sixth anniversary with a movie, dinner, and a couples massage. We opted out of any trips this year, as Bryan became solo owner of his shop and did not want to spend time away. I also opted out of a trip this summer because I started a special diet that limits my food intake, and its a fairly spendy program. Twelve weeks later, I am happy to say I am down nearly 35 pounds, and hoping for a few more! The actually day of our anniversary is now shared with my close friend and teaching partner, who was married on June 24 this year! Bryan and I also decided this year to get tattoos! I chose a design that reflects the resurrection, complete with three crosses and a purple (for royalty) clothe draped over the center cross with vines interconnecting (Jesus is the vine and we are the branches). Bryan opted for a driving scene, taking up his whole calf. It is a windy road with a curvy road sign. Both of our passions, perfectly portrayed (although mine is not visible 95% of the time!). We also sold our green car, and a month later, found a cheap car that Bryan could easily fix up. This helped with some medical bills he had acquired through his nasal surgery and physical therapy. Then a couple weeks later, I broke my cell phone at a time when we were eligible for upgrades, and we both got sweet new phones! After that, a king size bed was offered to us at no cost. Bryan and I have been battling it out in our little queen size for years, and so this was a much needed upgrade! With the money we saved from buying a new mattress, we were able to buy a whole new furniture set on sale at Ikea for our bedroom, plus a new office desk center, plus a grill for outside! Wow- God totally provides! We also had mooooore visitors this summer, including an aunt and uncle from North Carolina, my sister and her family from Texas, and an uncle from Bismarck, ND. It was a busy summer and so great to see family! We celebrated my birthday with the local family- I attended a play of one of my former students, then had dinner at Old Spaghetti Factory. After that, we joined friends at the bowling alley and later came back for the fire pit in our backyard. Bryan and I took off the next day for a three day weekend in Bend, which was very relaxing. The only other trip we took this summer was a one-night camping trip at the beach (Ft. Stevens) with friends. This was also a blast! I love to camp and wish we could do it more often! Well, I think this brings me up to speed! Its time to get to bed so I have energy for the morning! I will need it! I pray this fall will bring much more exciting news to share. We are looking forward to celebrating Bryan's second anniversary for his shop, and my oldest and dearest friend is expecting her first baby girl. The busyness of life continues into the new school year...

2012 So Far!

So here it is the end of April, and we are nearly 1/3 of the way through 2012. Here is an abbreviated list of what has been happening in the Heinrichs home: In February, we spent a day at Mt Hood and a night at the beach in Seaside. We got a screaming deal on a beachfront suite that I had been dreaming about, but that we could never afford! This was our Valentine's Day treat :-). We also celebrated Bryan's mom's birthday and welcomed the arrival of visiting guests, my cousin David and his wife Claire from Philadelphia, at the end of February. During this visit, we toured Multnomah Falls, Portland, the beaches, Portland Saturday market, Vancouver, and searched for majestic mountaintop photo ops! :-) We ended our visit with a Blazer game at the Rose Garden arena. It was a great week of fun! A few short weeks later, I enjoyed my annual Spring break. Not to mention, we had record-breaking snow in MARCH, 2 days prior to the start of Spring Break! Lots of visiting and catching up with family and friends, since I always seem to run so short on time otherwise. However, it ended sadly when Bryan had to have surgery on his nose, sinus and tonsils. He is still slowly recovering. But, in early April we enjoyed ANOTHER visit from out of town family, his Grandparents from California and great Aunt Fran from Pennsylvania, and his sister and her kids from Seattle! We spent time eating and fellowshipping together around the table, and we enjoyed a fabulous Easter celebration! We also recently celebrated Bryan's niece's first birthday! What a fun day celebrating such a wonderful blessing with family (see picture below)! I also recently won a Spa Day Off from working in my classroom, via a school fundraiser! I enjoyed a full day of pampering, including a massage, a new hair cut/color, a pedicure, lunch with a friend and dinner with Bryan! Other miscellaneous dates with Bryan have included a couple car shows, and today, we got to go to a Tulip Festival (see picture below)! We have been actively trying to de-stress our lives, as many changes are happening or about to happen. Bryan is in talks with his current business partners to buy out their portion of the business and be solo owner. We also have taken several financial blows so far this year, with the most recent being some medical needs for our cat (and our only baby) Fuzzy. He has the potential of having skin cancer and a tumor and/or infection in his eye. We also deal with ongoing medical issues in our family. However, we are blessed to have a home (and a roommate!), each other, jobs, a (somewhat) steady income, health insurance, cars to travel in, and to be near our family and close friends. We are also blessed that the sun finally came out today and it hit 80 degrees! I am soooooo ready for summer, even though I will be working. However, once again, I am fortunate to have jobs lined up without too much stress or interviewing! :-) I cant believe another school year is nearly over! God has been blessing us tremendously!

Its February already?

I am finding that the older I get, the faster time goes. Unfortunately, the less productive I am as well. I don't think its as much to do with simply time, responsibilities, or even personal fatigue from stress or added weight (although I haven't gained in recent years). I think its everything that comes with being older. I used to wonder why it took older people so long to get things done. And now I know why.

I have also been ignoring my blogging responsibilities. Facebook is so much easier to post my thoughts on. The problem is, people read my thoughts there. And sometimes I just post as therapy to my self or to clear my mind of the senseless clutter. But then people "like" it and comment. So that is why I like keeping this blog around, because I am not sure who still reads it, and that part is kind of nice. And it helps me keep account of the bigger picture of whats been going on lately...and not just the pieces here and there as I am chugging along in the daily grind.

So...after the events of December, I spent early January catching up on aforementioned much needed rest, and taking down the holidays.

We celebrated Mom's birthday by a dinner here and then dinner out to Sweet Tomatos. Bryan found out he will need a tonsilectomy and nasal surgery. That will be fun. He and his business partner are also in talks to split ways and Bryan is looking into becoming solo owner of his small mechanic shop. School has been busy- I planned and threw a baby shower for a co-worker, ended our second quarter/first half of the year, and my co-teacher and I planned a field trip to the Children's Theater that we got to preview with our husbands as a fun double date. At the end of the month, we had a family game night and then I came down with the stomach flu. :-(

So this weekend I was still catching up on rest and feeling slightly overwhelmed by what just a few days of being down can do to my daily do list. Its Sunday night and I still feel behind...so, off now to clean up the house and prepare for the week! One of these days I will be more productive!

Texas! Post-Christmas to New Years!

In 2011, I was gifted two sets of plane tickets to use by a very good friend :-). We spent our first set visiting the East Coast over the summer, and my cousin David. We spent the last set going to Texas to visit my sister and her family. It was a much warmer and drier retreat then current temps post-Christmas in Oregon, and we had a great time! Here is what we did:

1. Stopped in Grapevine for lunch at a renowned chilli place after landing. Grapevine is where the massacre happened on national news the day before...cute little tourist town.
2. We had like our 4th christmas, opening gifts
3. We went to Rudy's Ribs, also famous for down home BBQ
4. Went bowling, to the park, around their ginormous neighborhood (turns out lots of people have huge houses there...)
5. We went to the 6th Floor Museum, in downtown Dallas, from which out of this building the sniper killed JFK. We also saw the x's on the road where the bullets hit and the infamous "grassy knoll"
6. We went to a HUGE aquarium in downtown (three floors of exotic animals)
7. Alex (my brother in law) makes the best dinners and drinks
8. We went to the American Doll Store...omg....Bryan nearly pooped his pants. Did you know there was a two hour wait for kids to get facials for their dolls at $15 a pop? Just google it.
9. Went to In n Out, then a family fun center type place with really fast go-kart tracks (Bryan's idea)
10. Chilled in the hot tub and spent lots of time in front of the fire and the tv.

Thanks Naomi and family for the best vacation!

Merry Christmas! (in Pictures)