Thanksgiving with the ShepAlders!

In the past few years, Josh and I have spent Thanksgiving with my family because we spend Christmas with Josh's family. However, this year my parents and my brother went to spend Thanksgiving with my sister in Texas, and my sister who lives in Eugene went to visit her husband's family in Utah. So Josh and I were on our own. We had also just been sick, so Josh and I spent Thanksgiving with just the two of us, but we still tried to have all the Thanksgiving foods that we love the most.

So I made white rolls FROM SCRATCH! It's the first time I did this, though I have been making various breads for the last month, so it wasn't such a huge feat. I was still proud of myself.

They were doubly yummy because they were homemade!

Josh loves stuffing, so he made that. Though, I hate stuffing, so I didn't eat it. Together we made mashed potatoes. Josh made gravy (from a mix), and we had ham. We didn't make turkey because there are just two of us and we can't eat a turkey, but we went down to Eugene on Friday and ate some of my friend Carissa's turkey.

I'm so proud of myself because nothing says "adult"
like being in charge of your own holidays!

We also got fancy and drank our DDP from the wine glasses Josh's aunt and uncle gave us when we got married. They actually gave us a little basket with fruit, grape juice, and wine glasses. Since we drove to San Francisco the day after our wedding, we ate the fruit on the way down. But I digress. . .

Josh, toasting to the fact that he was going to play NCAA football
on the PS3 with his friend Ray later that night

The best part of Thanksgiving was the next day when we drove down to Eugene because Josh made the infamous Ribbon Jello. When I first met Josh's extended family (Christmas 2006), someone made Ribbon Jello, and as soon as I tasted it, I knew I had to marry Josh. Well, okay, it wasn't quite like that, but it's really good stuff. Josh got the recipe from his mom and made the entire thing himself.

One part Jello, one part cream, all parts heavenly!

It's called "Ribbon" Jell0 because it's made from several different type of Jello and thinly layered so it looks like ribbons. I can't even describe how good it is. Maybe I'll talk him into making it more often.

A close-up of the layers.

We had a good time, though it was strange to be by ourselves since we're so used to chaos during holidays (I am the fourth child of six and Josh is the oldest of four with a HUGE extended family), so we probably won't be doing Thanksgiving alone again for awhile. The cats weren't very good company either, since they were all cranky and chasing each other around. Maybe they were just confused to see Josh and I in the kitchen for so long? :)

Flu Season With the ShepAlders

These objects have become commonplace in our house this past week!

It turns out that even we are not immune to the flu, though we were having a good run of it there for awhile. Josh definitely got the worst of it, as he was sick from Thursdayish and is STILL SICK. He has mostly had a sore throat and a cough, which has made his snoring even worse. I was feeling a low level of sickness earlier last week, and I randomly started sleeping a lot, so I figured that I passed Josh something that didn't actually make me very sick, but I was wrong.

On Sunday when I got back from church (Josh was WAY to sick to come with me), I took a nap that lasted for seven hours and when I woke up I was sick with a fever, body aches, and a stuffed nose. That pretty much lasted until Tuesday. For those few days, whenever I woke up I would just eat because I was ravenous, take medication because I hurt, and try to drink water so I wouldn't get dehydrated and die. My temperature got up to 101 degrees, but that was really the worst of it. I felt like I was freezing and burning up at the same time because my body was giving off so much heat.

It wasn't fun, but I think we're pretty much over it for now. This may have been the first time Josh has been so sick since we've been together. Josh doesn't get sick very often. I, on the other hand, get sick all the time. So this was the first time Josh was sick and I wasn't (for the most part), though Josh wasn't that demanding like I am when I'm sick (and not sick).

We decided to sequester the cats while we were sick and I just let them out today. When I opened the door to the Bonus Room, it was like a cat stampede! That is, until I put food in their bowl and they were all clamoring to get back in the room.

So this is all why I've taken a break from continuing my DC posts, but more are coming soon.

P.S.
17 days 'til BNAT!

Washington DC: Capitol, Library of Congress, & Supreme Court (Now with MORE PICTURES!)

In August, Josh and I went on our long-awaited, much-planned trip to DC. We had wanted to go together basically the moment that we met, and were planning to go on our honeymoon, but the Smithsonian Museum of American History has been undergoing renovation for the past few years (and what is a trip to DC without seeing the Star Spangled Banner?) I know that by now this is old news, and many who read our blog (do people really read our blog?) may have already heard all about our trip, but I wanted to post some pictures and thoughts from my journal.

I'm going to organize this based on what we did each day and try to include pictures that didn't make it to our Facebook albums (along with pictures that did).

We stayed in a Best Western in the Foggy Bottom neighborhood, right next to George Washington University and these neat townhouses:

We walked down this street a few times a day. We got to be very familiar with it! We were also down the street from Embassy Row, which we drove past on our way to the temple.

These were my initial impressions (from my journal 8/19/09):
"Breathtaking (when we first drove into the city in the shuttle bus, I was speechless); the general inhabitants I've seen are are mostly younger than I expected (very few middle-aged white guys, though probably because Congress isn't in session); I expected to feel unsafe, but there are guards, police officers, and tourists everywhere. It is ridiculously humid, which makes me exceptionally cranky-- I'm not sure I've sweated this much just walking down the street since Hawaii."

The Capitol
(disclaimer: I'm going to add new pictures later since some are no longer on this memory card)

From my journal:
"We started with a tour of the US Capitol at 9am. I couldn't sleep the night before [. . .], so I was in a crummy mood. It was the first experience Josh and I had with DC during the day in August, and it was really surprising to be soaking with sweat at 8:30am. When Josh had last been to DC in 1998 with a school trip, the Visitor's Center has not yet been constructed. It was awe-inspiring and I may have gotten a little teary-eyed during the introduction video (after they fixed the eardrum-splitting audio problems). Although we looked high and low, we could not find either of the two statues from Oregon! Josh took a million pictures of everything."

The new visitor's center!

Emancipation Hall, the main body of the Visitor's Center,
is in the background


Me with Lady Freedom, a replica of the statue on top
of the Capitol dome

A close-up of the Lady herself


The Apotheosis of Washington
If you read The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown, this mural plays a part


The Statuary Room, where Congress used to meet, and which now houses two statues of notable people from each of the 50 states' histories (though not all statues are in this hall)

The above picture illustrates an issue I had the entire time (but mostly the first day) we were in DC. I wrote about it in my journal: "I thought I was going to fall apart yesterday because I wore new shoes that were supposed to be good for walking. At first they were okay, but as we walked more and stood up longer, my feet swelled and my toes were rubbed raw and blistery. [. . .] Thankfully, most museums have a plentiful array of benches from which to choose. Of course, my feet cause much complaint. Josh is handling me admirably well. I definitely married the right man!" After the first day, I wore sneakers. But we still walked A LOT! Josh says that, because of his mission, he can walk forever in any kind of heat, but I didn't go through that! In the above picture, I'm wearing the aforementioned shoes and sweating and just generally hating life.

The Library of Congress

From my journal:
"Then we took the air-conditioned underground tunnel to the Library of Congress where we saw the Gutenberg Bible and the first map that included 'America.' We even saw the Reading Room, though from a balcony and behind a glass. We also saw Jefferson's original contribution of books."

The lobby of the library (do libraries have lobbies?)

We also took a tour. When the docent asked, "What did Jefferson do?" I replied (like the wiseass musical-lover that I am), "He played the violin!" I think I made an enemy, but, seriously, what kind of a question is "What did Jefferson do?" The docent ignored me for the rest of the tour. (This was our first in a long string of docents and tour-leaders who asked stupid questions and receievd equally stupid answers in return from me).

The staircases had these cherubs, each celebrating an advancement
in areas such as farming and chemistry

The floors had all of the astrological figures.
Of course, I made Josh take a picture of mine-- Leo.

"We ate lunch at the US Capitol restaurant/cafeteria. It was interesting because there was the crowded main eating room with kids running around, then an overflow eating room about two feet away with maybe 20 or 30 tables, yet it was entirely empty except for an older couple and us. People had to walk past the overflow room to get to the food, yet 99% of the people chose the super crowded area. Josh said it was the mob mentality or lack of forethought, since the cash registers led into the main dining area."

It's weird what you notice when you don't have kids. I'm not sure why I included those thoughts about the cafeteria in my journal, except that now it's one of the most salient things for me about the Capitol.

The Supreme Court

Josh was extremely excited because Sonia Sotomayor
had just been elected as the first Hispanic Supreme Court Justice


Josh geeked out at the fact that we were able to
peek our heads in the courtroom.


We poked around everywhere, and found our way to this back spiral staircase made from marble. Apparently each step is a separate piece, designed to pressure-fit into place. This picture really doesn't do it justice.

From my journal:
"After lunch we walked over to the Supreme Court building and saw the courtroom. We saw a diorama and a video in the basement (ground level? We had to climb what felt like about 100 stairs to get to the entrance).

"Then we took some pictures from the inauguration side of the Capitol, and then walked to the National Art Gallery, first in the East building because it was closer, but then we were told by a guard that the West building was better, so we walked over. [. . .] We did a mad dash through the paintings, then went to the temporary exhibit 'The Art of Power,' which was a collection of armor, weapons, and tapestries from Spain. Unfortunately we only got through 3/4ths of it before the museum closed."

We Love to See the Temples!

I am proud that Josh and I established a tradition early in our relationship to do temple work when we visit new places. As of right now, we have been through 27 different temples together (thanks mostly to our Grand Temple Tour last year).

Most recently (well, in August and September but I haven't updated this blog in awhile), we went to the Washington DC temple when we were in DC for a couple weeks, and also to the eastern Idaho temples: Idaho Falls and Rexburg.

Since it's been awhile, I will just quote what I wrote about these temples in my journal at the time of our visit.

Temple #25: Washington D.C.
From my journal, 8/25/2009:
"In the evening we went to the temple (and of course got lost on the way). It's huge! [. . .] We missed the 8pm session waiting for someone to show up to help us. There were only 4 people in the 8:30 session, including us! It was sad to be in this huge temple-- the only one for several states-- with so few people." One unique thing about this temple is that there is a whole light system set up to let people know which room to use. It's interesting to have been to so many temples and see how crowd control has evolved over the years. The DC temple was dedicated in 1974.

Another unique thing about this temple is this skyway that connects the front part of the temple to the back. You can't tell it exists from the front, but it separates the different ordinance work. I got all geeky about this because I like learning things about the temples that I didn't know before visiting.

DC temple at night


Temple #26: Rexburg, ID
In September we drove to Boise for the sad Ducks vs. Boise State game and decided to visit the east Idaho temples (since we probably would never have another reason to drive out there).

From my journal (9/6/2009):
"There isn't much to do in Rexburg. The temple is next to a huge field of nothing. The construction of the temple is similar to Twin Falls, but smaller (it seemed, maybe since there isn't a main, central staircase, but rather two side staircases). The endowment room has a beautiful environment mural that is indicative of the newer temples, though I don't think it was a mural of the surrounding Rexburg land, since that's mostly fields. What a difference in attendance, though, from the DC temple! There were a lot of young couples, of course."


Not really the best picture, but it proves we were there!


Temple #27: Idaho Falls, ID
From my journal (9/6/2009):
"On Saturday morning we went to the Idaho Falls temple, which was begun in 1939. It took a moment to figure out where to take a picture since the area was tight due to a Visitor's Center added later. [. . .] When we came in, they gave us stickers to wear to show off that this was our first time at the Idaho Falls temple. It didn't help, though. I still got lost and had to ask for directions rather than the workers volunteering to help. So the sticker was pointless (and I lost is somewhere). The Celestial Room is one of two with murals (the other being LA). It was funny because when I sat next to Josh he pointed to a wall and said, 'There's a picture of you in here!' He said he could tell it was me because the woman is holding an open book. In the mural, the woman is sitting on a bench with a book looking up at a guy who is offering a flower. She is sort of frowning at the guy and her hand is next to her like she's saving the seat. I said, 'It looks like that guy wants to sit down and I'm having none of it!' Josh said, 'But where am I?' I said, 'You're late and I'm saving your seat!' We laughed. It was the best part of the trip."

This picture is one in a long string of pictures of me pointing at things. I can't exactly explain why, except to say that it changed things up a little bit.

Coming up in December we're going to Texas again to visit my sister and her family. In the past we have visited the Houston and San Antonio temples (I think San Antonio is still my favorite, behind Portland), and this year we're planning to go to the Dallas temple. After that, the only Texas temple we have not been through will be Lubbock, but we'll get there someday too. It gives us something to look forward to.

Here's Hoping!

Well, it's that time of year again, where Josh and I apply for Butt-Numb-a-Thon, which is a 24-hour film festival held in Austin, TX. This is also, coincidentally, where my sister #2 (of 4) lives with her family. For the past two years, Josh and I have applied and been accepted to BNAT, but so many people apply (approx. 2,000 for 200 seats), it's kind of a nerve-wracking experience getting our applications in and waiting around for the results.

This year, the theme of BNAT is "BNAT 1138" in reference to the movie "THX 1138" starring Robert Duvall and because the guy who started it (Harry Knowles from Aintitcool.com) is turning 38. So for our applications, Josh and I had to submit head shots of us without hair (the characters in "THX 1138" are bald). It was an event that took a week of procrastinating and an hour of photoshop, but here are the results:

Josh thinks BNAT 1138 will be fun. . .
and frightening!


I, like in most pictures, mostly look inconvenienced

It's been radio silence for the ShepAlders on this blog, I realize, but not because we haven't been doing anything! In fact, we've been doing too many things, so I'm not even sure where to begin. In the future, you can (hopefully) expect posts about our various travels, including DC, Philly, eastern Idaho, Anaheim, San Diego, and (coming in December) Austin!

UPDATE: We made it in to BNAT 1138!!! From a pool of more than 6000 applications, we were one of the 188 lucky people selected to attend. We're so excited and can't wait to go back to Austin. For a couple of die-hard film geeks like us, it's truly one of the coolest experiences out there. Now the training for a 24-hour movie marathon begins! Trust me... it's harder than you think it would be... like sitting through 6-8 double features, or watching the entire six-film Star Wars saga twice in one day. So awesome.

Celebrating 2 Years of ShepAlder!

It's true: Josh and I have now been married for two whole years, which means that we have been together for three and a half years. Yikes! For some of you, that may not seem very long, but for me it seems like a big milestone.

So I just wanted to share some pictures and memories from our life together (so far):

Josh and I started hanging out more often when our friend Mike's cat had kittens. We would make a date of sneaking into the Hansen's garage and take pictures/videos. Our cat Falkor is from this litter. We had also adopted his sister Ambrosius, but when we moved to Hillsboro, she had a hard time living with my cat Mercury, so we had to give her to Josh's old roommate Jeff.

Here are Ambrosius and Falkor in their kitten days



This picture was taken a year exactly before we got married. We were at the Oregon Zoo for a concert (Dar Williams & Shawn Colvin). I think I broke up with Josh a few days later, but it didn't last because I kept wanting to hang out with him!


In 2006 my family took a trip to Friday Harbor in the San Juan islands.
For the first day, the only thing I could think was how much cooler it would be if Josh were there. So I called him and invited him along. He missed a day of work and drove almost 300 miles, but we got to go to the Whale Museum.


One of the things Josh and I love to do together is go to Ducks games. Back in the day when Josh was a struggling journalist, he was able to sit in the press box, which was cool because they served food and cookies at halftime!



January 2007 we got engaged, but that's its own long story.


My dad took our engagement pictures up at Hoodoo



We gave this engagement picture to our friends.
I think it accurately sums up our relationship.


We have a habit of hugging ducks


This is how we registered for wedding gifts.
Perhaps this is why we only received one or two from our registry.


For Spring Break 2007, my family went to Disneyworld and Josh came along.
I made him buy a matching sweatshirt so people would know we belonged together.


We went to Vegas in May 2007 and went to the temple.
It was the first non-Portland temple I had been inside.


In Vegas we also went to the wax museum, where Josh hit on J. Lo


And Babe Ruth hit on me!


We got married July 28th, 2007


We went on a honeymoon to San Francisco, where we visited Alcatraz
and took a city tour


And spent a week in Jamaica, where we sat on the beach and read books

Josh got a picture in a Jamaican bobsled, which was
worth the trip for him.


August 2007 I started graduate school
(this is me on my first day!)


We hung out a lot in our first home together-- a townhouse in
the Tanasbourne area of Hillsboro, OR


December 2007 we went to Texas for the first time.
My sister had just moved to Austin 6 months earlier.


We spent spring break 2008 in Disneyland, San Diego, and Hollywood


Josh grew a beard at some point
and we went to a bunch of concerts together
(we think this one was The Decemberists, but we can't remember).


I randomly wore a moustache.



April 2008 we bought a house!


But first we had to look at about a million inferior houses.


In August 2008 we did a Grand Temple Tour
and visited 13 temples in 2 weeks

We dressed up a lot.



In December 2008 we went to Texas again to visit my sister,
her family, and to do other stuff.



For Spring Break 2009 we went to Disneyland (again) with Josh's dad and youngest sister.
We drove there and back. It was a long trip, but we had fun.



We adopted our third cat May 2009 and named her Mr. F.

That, in summary, is what 3 1/2 years of ShepAlder looks like. Hooray!

Josh + Emily = Awesome!