The Big Move....

Wow- what a process it is to move across state lines. I haven't had internet for over a week so this post may be a little long. The move really began right around Valentines Day. Our original plan was to leave the following Monday on President's Day, but it was going quicker than we had planned for and there was a snow storm coming. We moved quickly and left Logan Saturday at about 12 p.m.

We couldn't have made it without all of the help of others. Our good friend Chris helped us load boxes. Justin's family came and helped load the larger items and took us to dinner. My sisters helped clean and wrap up the loose ends. My dad drove the truck and horse trailer to us in Logan and from Ontario to Troutdale. The members of our new ward helping us unpack. I felt very blessed and loved when it was all over.

Another challenge that came on during the move was my eye. The day before Valentines, my right eye started to droop. The next morning it wasn't any better and was actually getting worse. I thought that I had a stye, and went to the optometrist to see if he could work some magic. He told me he saw a little Giant Papillary Conjunctivities or GPC developing and a little stye.

"I could give you a steroid to clear out the GPC, but I'm not going to. It should clear up on its own," He said.

He further recommeneded to wear my glasses and heat pack my eye. I tried to be hopeful and returned home to carry out his instructions over the next couple of days. Well, it progressively got worse. As we made the trek from Logan to Ontario, my left eye began to hurt and burn and feel like it had dirt in it. The next couple of days were not fun as that feeling only progressed.

When I arrived in Ontario, my six year old niece informed me that I look funny wearing glasess. (My glasses are from high school.) Thanks Megan. :) My other six year old nephew didn't even recognize me.

Luckily my mom has a good friend in the community who is an eye doctor. This woman opened her eye practice doors special for me on Presidents day. Her diagnosis: No stye, just a bad case of GPC. She put me on eye drops and within a couple of hours my eyes were filling soooo much better. I am so grateful for her kindess and skills.

Now that the eye problem was getting under control it was time to brave the weather and make the next six hour drive to our new apartment. We only saw rain on our way to Troutdale and arrived with plenty of time to spare before our help would be there to unload.

Our apartment is on the third floor. This meant quite a good workout that afternoon. Several people from our church showed up to help us unload. I don't know if we would have made it without there help, those stairs were killer.

It took us two full days to unpack and get situated. It was exhausting, but it has been well worth it. We are loving the area, Justin is loving his job, and we are loving the people. I am looking forward to the experiences I will have in this beautiful part of Oregon.

Justin and Ruth Blazzard

Valentines Day

I tried making these little beauties for my wonderful husband Justin. However, I killed the yeast (right after I got off the phone with my sister and my mom both warning me to be careful not to). While they may look cool, they were a bit dense. Next year will be better- hopefully.

Justin made my Valentines day exceptional. I got an eye infection the night before Valentines and that put a damper on the day. He brought home my favorite mexican food for dinner, and bought me books instead of flowers. My man knows the true way to my heart. :)



We topped the evening off by watching a logging themed movie called, "Sometimes a Great Notion." Comical-yes, romantic- not at all. In the end the guys wife leaves him and he doesn't even go after her. We had fun.

Justin and Ruth Blazzard

Sawing Trees and Ripping Out Stumps

What Justin and my brother Kevin did over Christmas break.Thought this was a pretty sweet pic, so I had to post it.
Justin and Ruth Blazzard

Portland

If you haven't heard yet, we are moving to Portland Oregon. In a previous post I talked about our trip to Portland. The purpose of that trip was for Justin to go and interview with a couple of different companies that work largely with the forestry industry. Upon our return home we really had no plans of moving there because the job offers weren't really anything better than what we had there.

At first we felt really good about our decision to stay in Logan, UT. As time went on though, things just weren't what we wanted. On a Tuesday night after work I asked Justin what he thought we should do. He smiled at me and said, "Pierce Pacific called me today."

The General Sales Manager had contacted him for the second time and said that they would really like Justin to come work for them. A week later we got exact measurements for the position and they got a commitment from us.

We are so excited for this move and feel like the Lord has really guided us to this point in our life. The company, Pierce Pacific, is a manufacturing company that produces specialized equipment for big machinery. Alot of this equipment is used in the forestry industry. For that reason, Justin is really excited.

He will be training for the first six months and then will move into a position as a sales/product support specialist. The only thing that concerns me about this move is the rain. When I was 18 I spent a lot of time on the western side of Oregon and that was the hardest thing for me. However, I know this is what we are supposed to be doing, so I trust I will adjust ok.

We will be sad to leave the wonderful friends and people we have met in Cache Valley, but are so looking forward to the new people and experiences we will get to have. I am looking forward to the Outlet Mall we will be living next to. :)

Justin and Ruth Blazzard

No Television

Justin's grandpa was appalled when I told him we don't have television at our house. He said, "Well what do you do then?"

I laughed and responded, "Just sit around and make animal noises at each other."
Not really though, we have been watching these shows courtesy of the Logan City Library:

Little House on the Praire (Justin had never seen them before and they are awesome!)
Rocky III
Rocky IV
So inspiring!

Ok, so the list is short, but I sure do like the library, because what else would we do with our time since we don't have television? Hahaha.

Justin and Ruth Blazzard

Addie- Pattie

Meet my adorable three-year-old niece Addie. She is independent as they come and only if you make friends with her will she actually talk to you. I luckily am one of her friends. Over Christmas, Addie offered to paint my fingernails. What an artist!



She even did butterflies on them.



I let her borrow my camera to snap some pictures. When you are 3 I guess this is what you see.



Addie you are fantastic and I am so grateful you are my niece!

Justin and Ruth Blazzard

Portland Trip

To kick off our two week christmas vacation, we headed up to Portland, Oregon for Justin to investigate some jobs in the logging industry. We stayed with one of my good friends, and team mates from my State FFA Officer year, Kaci Sinteck. Her Dad is actually the general manager of one of the companies Justin went and looked at. It was a fun trip, full of rain or mist, great food, great company, and a ford focus for a rental car.

This is the suitcase I packed. I had to take a picture because this is the first time I had ever traveled that far with something that small. It worked out great (for the most part) and no checking bags at the airport!


Us at the airport before leaving Sunday morning. I had to borrow a couple scarfs from my sisters, just so I could make a trendy impression. :)



Here is our trusty car. We went to pick it up from the rental car office and the guy asked us what type of insurance we wanted. I said, "Well we don't have to get insurance right?"

He responded with something about laws in Oregon and this is the cheapest insurance you can get etc.

I was still confused. So I asked him again, looking simply for a yes, or no answer.

Again he had some elaborate answer about laws in oregon and if the car is out of comission, etc.

We didn't pay for the insurance. It was fine. Great sales answer thought car guy. We also ruled out ever buying a Ford Focus in the near future.



Before we went up there my family and Justin and I had a discussion about 'real loggers' who spar trees and pack their chainsaws with them. Well, I just so happened to see one of these 'real loggers' while in Portland. My friend Kaci's boyfriends Dad was having a person trim some trees for an advertisement for a winch line. It was pretty cool.



Justin as a Jedi at the movie theater.



Our last day there we had some time to go see a few tourist attractions. Multnomah Falls is east of Portland and is right off the freeway. It is a giant waterfall you can hike up to and is beautiful. Not to bad of a hike either.







Portland Temple. Beautiful!





Lastly we went to OMSI (cool science museum in Portland). As we were coming over the bridge we saw this huge submarine in the water. Justin commented on how cool it was to see one and a little weird too. He said they cary nuclear warheads. Well when we got to OMSI we discovered there were no nuclear warheads on this submarine. It was an old World War II sub and we could tour it. It was really neat to go through, smelled like diesel fuel and was very tight living quarters for those who ever had to stay their longer than 35 minutes. This sumbarine is still in working condition and has been used in several movies, one being The Hunt For Red October.



When our trip was over I was grateful to be flying back to Ontario where it was sunny and there were less people. It was a great trip and we had a lot of fun with the Sintecks!


Justin and Ruth Blazzard