Birthday #24 & #1

Saturday I had a birthday and it was special for 2 reasons: 1) it is always special to have a birthday, 2) it was my first birthday as Mrs. Bailey (I've yet to have anyone call me that out loud, but it would probably freak me out just a little!)

Since Marcel and I have been together we've always planned the other person's birthday. I think that is the only way to do it so that you have plenty of surprises on an already special day!

My day looked like this:

At 9:30am I was no longer able to force myself back to sleep. I told Marcel I wanted to sleep in and at one point in my life that would have meant sleeping until 1pm, 9:30am is great compared to my normal mornings. Plus, our house smelled so good I couldn't stay in bed any longer. I then discovered Marcel had done the cleaning on our list (we keep an ongoing list of what needs cleaned and whoever has time works to get somethings marked off) and made me a birthday cake! I then got served my favorite breakfast of all time: a bowl of cereal--I'm sure it seems so simple to most of you, but I live for cereal in the morning so to be served it, shows me how much I am loved! After lunch, we headed out to see Fame. It was a really great movie that we had both been wanting to see! Then our day led us apart, Marcel had to be at church for worship practice at 3:15pm so I spent a few hours sitting & borrowing internet at Panera Bread before joining him for service at 6pm. After church we headed out to Olive Garden, chosen because it is too far away to go to that often, but a birthday is a perfect excuse and because they have been showing Olive Garden commercials here 24/7 and we got sucked in! Marcel told our waiter it was my birthday, which I knew was going to happen and he managed to gather up a few singers, which was also expected, but Marcel recorded the thing and I was not impressed as you'd be able to tell if I actually uploaded it! Besides that you don't even get a free dessert, not that I really needed it since I had cake waiting for me at home, but I was just a little disappointed.

dinner at Olive Garden

"MB" using 24 candles

This video is only being uploaded because I am not the one singing; be forewarned that in 7 months when we are celebrating Marcel's 23rd birthday there will not be this video on our blog! And I really wish he wouldn't have shown me in the video, but it is better this one than the one from Olive Garden :)

Sunday: birthday festivities continue!

Marcel on worship team = be at church at 8am but Marcel is a perfectionist so we get there about 7:40am, leaving me plenty of time to nap before going to service at 9am (I went a second time because the message didn't sink in through my distracted brain the night before). After teaching Sunday School, I told Marcel that I had vetoed his next birthday plans: ice skating because I wanted a day at home with absolutely nothing to do, so we rented New in Town & Lakeview Terrace, both selected by me since it was still my birthday! Marcel made me a delicious dinner: steak, homemade french fries, and I added white rice.

We are still eating our way through the cake and hope to have it gone soon so I can get back to believing we eat fairly healthy :) All in all a great birthday weekend, even if Marcel thought it was pretty lame, but only in comparision to last year where we spent the weekend at the beach and then got engaged 3 days later. I told him it was still a fantastic weekend and that I'm glad he was saving up his birthday planning skills because next year I'm 25 and I know he's looking forward to throwing some crazy party since I will officially be closer to 30 than 20!

Zing Zang Zoom

Last week Marcel asked me if I had any plans Saturday which I did. I intended on spending the whole afternoon to myself since he was driving a school club to Portland as a way to earn us a little extra money. Well, he changed those plans by buying us tickets to the Ringling Brothers circus stop in Portland. Turns out he was driving them to a place one bus stop away from the circus and I'd be off work in plenty of time to take the MAX into Portland. I had been hinting about wanting to go ever since the gym had flyers for discounted tickets (good thing I work with those little kiddos) but didn't think any of the times would work out.

I have no idea the last time I was at the circus and neither did my mom--I called to ask her! We had a great time even if we spent the first 30 minutes at the top of the section waiting for the ushers to figure out why our seats had been sold twice. Turns out we had to move (as did the whole row in front of us). Marcel didn't necessarily like our new seats but I have to say I think they were a bit better (not as close to the floor but more at center ring)

Marcel mainly recorded videos but I don't want to upload them now, maybe another day, so here's his fantastic photography skills, yet again!

Pre-circus everyone had a chance to meet some clowns

my "clown"
Marcel said she wasn't a real clown, hence the picture below

my clown for real this time

the elephants were my favorite


Marcel made sure I knew this was no photo trick
the guy is really standing untder the elephant's trunk


Enjoying a great day together

Afterwards, I surprised Marcel by suggesting we ride the new MAX line--the Green line to Clackamas. I have no idea what his desire to do it was all about but he had been begging us to do it so what better time than when we already had MAX tickets. We rode it to the end which was the the Clackamas Mall, we walked around the mall, ate at the food court and then headed back to Forest Grove. He's strange, but I love him anyway!

Oregon Coast Aquarium

For Labor Day weekend, my mom and stepdad always head to the Oregon Coast (last year it was a month late and came just a few days after our proposal so they were here to celebrate with us!) and luckily enough we were able to meet up with them.

We met them in Newport, a beach I had never been to since it is about 3 hours from Forest Grove, and went to the Oregon Coast Aquarium. It was really cool and the main exhibit was "ODDWATER" so they had plenty of very strange animals there. We then went shopping at the Outlet Mall but only had time to make it through Old Navy before closing time, but I got the outlet discount plus my 25% employee discount, so it was nice saving 65%! Next we met up with my aunt and uncle in Pacific City (where we spent the weekend for my birthday last year) for dinner. Overall it was a great way to spend yet another one of my full days off. Seems since I posted that I never get them I've been getting more and more ;)



with the coolest bird we saw



in a tunnel that allowed fish to swim all around us


my vote for the oddest animal we saw
it was so human-like it was scary


He waited very patiently to play like the other kids


And if there is a silly picture of Marcel I guess it is only fair there is one of me too!

A Life Changing Conversation

I always desire that this blog can serve as a place to write about my feelings and emotions, not just the fun stuff I experience, and that is what this post is all about.

Every week our church has the elders and the members of the worship team gather at the front of the sanctuary to be available for prayer. As we were leaving our seats Marcel tugged me to go receive prayer with him. Without knowing what he wanted prayer for, I was tugging him back--it's well out of my comfort zone to tell complete strangers my life story. Marcel just told the guy (a member of the worship team, and a fellow drummer) that we were asking for guidance in where our life was going next, with plans for a big move and that we desire to see God's hand in our decisions so that we are constantly on His path, not our own. This prayer led to tears for me, so we walked around the outside of church until we found a quiet place to sit, talk, and reflect.

Some big decisions were made that day, ones the assure me that we are indeed following God's will for our lives, together and individually, because they are big changes in what we had set out as our next steps. For instance, Marcel will not be continuing on with his education to obtain a Master's in Teaching. While he knows that is something he desires and is gifted to do, he feels that it is not the right time for it (how I can I say anything to that? I too wanted to take time off before I embarked on anymore school?) He will be looking for a job in the Boise area, as we both feel it is in our best interest to head out of the only area we've ever known together. It will give us a chance to experience something new together; even if I do know Idaho, I still feel that this time in Idaho will be far different than any other time I've been there. I think that Marcel has always known I am ready for a change in my employment it wasn't until that conversation where I could tell he understood why. I no longer want to stress all day Thursday waiting for an email with my work schedule praying that I will have enough hours to pay the bills. I no longer want to feel guilty about taking a weekend off because it may mean a paycheck that is way too small. I no longer want to leave the house at 8am and not return until 9pm for only 8 hours of work. While I realize I have a lot to be grateful for in that I do not only have 1 job in the economic situation our country is in, I have 2, I am excited to think about what opportunities are ahead of me. Through our nearly 4 months of marriage, I have seen more financial blessings than I ever thought someone could have over a much longer time period. Marcel has made me realize the importance of tithing. I have been in church my whole life and while I have sat through countless sermons on that very principle, I could never quite wrap my head around the fact that money would just appear out of nowhere if I gave the fair share to God first. It has been an eye-opening experience to always be blessed at just the right time in reward for our faithfulness. If I could only take away 1 thing from the short time we've been married, that would be it. I never felt that a short 30 minute conversation could hold so much meaning in the words we shared that day.

We pray every night that we'd hear and see from God daily and that He'd show us the path he has set out for us. After that time with my husband I know without a doubt that we in fact keeping God first in our relationship and that we are faithful to obey Him and the desires He has for us.

The Seasons Are Changing

Yet another quick post...I'm not borrowing internet from the laundromat, but instead from Pacific University, so it is fast enough not to drive me crazy!

My favorite season is fall. I love the weather, even with the Oregon rain I've come to love, and I love the colors of the trees, but by far my favorite thing about fall is: stepping on leaves and hearing the crackle under my shoes. Marcel laughs about this, because I'll go out of my way to step on a leaf and am quite disappointed if the crackle doesn't satisfy me. Today on my way to check our mail (which is something else that brings me great joy every day!) I found one leaf on the ground and I did in fact walk a bit crooked in hopes it would have that awesome sound to it. To my great surprise it crackled! It let me know that fall is quickly approaching, which I can't wait for after the long and miserably hot summer we've had.

I was looking for a new blog background because I do like to mix it up every once in awhile and this one was entitled "Crackling Leaves" and although it isn't my favorite background in the world, it seemed just right after the morning I had.

Hagg Lake

August 1st, we spent the day at the beach, because by some crazy miracle I wasn't scheduled at either job and we wondered when we'd have another chance to spend a whole day together. Just 17 days later I had another day off, not by a miracle, rather because I switched some shifts around to have a full day off. In just 24 more days, I don't have one day off, I have 2 whole days off! I did request them off but we have no plans but to be together and celebrate my 24th birthday :)

With our approaching move in December, we have decided to squeeze in as much Forest Grove as we can handle in the next 4 months. This started with a day at the local lake: Hagg Lake. I had been there once a year every year I was in college because Orientation had that as an activity, but until this visit I had never been in the water. It is very muddy at the beginning of wading in and was gross enough to make me not want to continue, but with Marcel's help we made it out to beautiful water and enjoyed about an hour just floating on his inflatable shark and catching up (we went a few days after he had spent a few days with his mom and brother). It was a great date and the start of great Forest Grove experiences!!

We only took pictures once we drove around the entire lake and found an awesome pier I'd never seen before...Marcel's handiwork, of course!

the pier

in love at the lake

Marcel's best artsy photo of the trip

Marcel's Vows

I started this post a very long time ago, but due to our very slow internet (we borrow it from the laundromat down the street) it would never load the video correctly. Getting my Grandma's memory card for her video of the song, reminded me about this post!

For our wedding, we decided that we wanted our ceremony to be very personal yet we still wanted the traditional vows. So we prepared messages for each other. Of course, mine was a short, simple, yet sweet message to my husband, but I of couse was in for a huge surprise when he jumped off the backside of the stage for his guitar!

Thanks to Kristen for the video--it's a bit shaky at the beginning, but it does get better. It's funny to watch because you can hear people laughing at certain lines of his song.