The First 6 years. wow!

The first year, it is on paper and I can't find it, but I will locate it and post it at a later tme. So the 2nd-6th years. Still a good read...

Second Year 2002 to 2003:

• Trip to Italy from May 18, 2003 to June 4^th, 2003
• Trip to Disneyworld with Casie’s mom, Jeff, and Bear – Four days in September,2002
• Trip to Lincoln City for the weekend – October 2002
• Spent 3 days in Sunriver with Troung Hoang, Dave and Terri Shear, and Ben and Jill Ashley during the last weekend of February 2003. Troung, Casie and I skied at Mt. Bachelor one day in brilliant sunshine
• Trip to Fresno, CA for Casie’s cousin’s wedding. Rachel and Dan married on June 30^th Viginia, Willis, Mari, Jeff, and Bear were all there too. Also saw Matt and Kristie who were John’s friends in college 2003.
• On our 2^nd anniversary, August 4^th, 2003, we went to a Dave Matthews concert at the Rose Garden with Scott and Amy Merrill and Aric McCardell
• We went to many Oregon State games in 2002. Team went 8 – 5.
• Went camping with Dave, Terri, and Cody Shear at Elk Lake near Mt. Bachelor at the beginning of August of 2002 for 3 nights.
• Went camping with Scott and Amy Merrill for a weekend at Ollalie Lake. Got a flat tire in the dirt and had to change it with a wobbly jack (July 3003)
• Spent the first weekend in February 2003 in the Seattle area. Casie was doing volleyball clinic with Kathie Woods. Casie and I had dinner at Kel’s in Seattle and toured Pikes’ Place Market and the Space Needle
• John spent the first week of May 2003 in Las Vegas working for ISI at the International Car Wash Show.
• Casie spent 3 days in Charlotte, NC in April working for ISI at the Automotive Oil Change Association Show.
• John’s mom and dad both celebrated their 60^th birthdays. Mom on November 9^th, 2002 and Dad on April 7^th, 2003.
• Both of us went to John’s 10 year high school reunion the first weekend of September 2002.
• We spent Thanksgiving 2002 at our apartment. John’s mom and dad were on 2 week cruise from San Diego to Hawaii and spent the holiday in Honolulu. John’s brother Chris spent the day with us along with Scott and Amy Merrill
• Early in our 2^nd year of marriage we finally paid off all of our wedding bills.
• We went to Mt. St. Helens for a day in July with John’s dad. Just spent the day and took a few pictures
• Took an Italian language class during January and February of 2003 to prepare for our trip. It was at Portland Community College.
• We began looking to buy our first home during June and July of 2003.

Third Year 2003 to 2004:

• We went to the Seaside volleyball tournament the first Saturday of August. We stayed Saturday night in Cannon Beach with Kathie Woods. We decided on that trip to buy our first home in Oregon City.
• We went camping with Casie’s grandma and Willis the 2^nd weekend in August at Lake Billy Chinook.
• The 3^rd Friday of August, John went to Prosser to meet his immediate family and aunts, uncles, and cousins for Grandpa Wes’ 60 pin ceremony for the vets club.
• We completed buying our home at 12960 Joys Dr. in Oregon City, OR 97045 for $216,900 on August 29, 2003
• We moved in the following day.
• Spent much of the Fall of 2003 buying things for the new home and doing work in the yard.
• John’s parents and brother spent Thanksgiving with us in our new home in 2003.
• We had snow on 4 separate occasions at the end of 2003 and the beginning of 2004. The best was a snow storm on New Years day that was completely unpredicted. We woke up to practically blizzard conditions and got about 6 inches of snow. On January 6^th through the 9^th, we had very cold temperatures and lots of freezing rain that added up to several inches of thick ice.
• The 2^nd weekend in January 2004, we went to Klamath Falls to celebrate John’s Grandma’s 88^th birthday. We saw John’s Uncle Rob for the last time in good health. He later passed away on March 1^st, 2004 from bone cancer.
• The third weekend in February, Jake Jabusch and John built a 20 foot section of fence between the neighbors yard and our house.
• Also on the third weekend, Casie discovered that a deer had died in our back yard. We tried to get help from local agencies, but was told to put the deer in the garbage! It was too big for that, so Steve Alden, Chris, and I (Steve and Chris were here because we picked them up from the airport after they went to New Orleans for Marti Gras) lifted the deer in to the back of Steve’s truck and he disposed of the deer at the end of some road.
• We drove to Klamath Falls the last weekend in February to see Uncle Rob for what would be the last time. He passed away on Monday morning on March 1^st a day after we were there. It was his 56^th birthday.
• We went back to Klamath Falls the following Thursday night to go to Uncle Rob’s funeral on Friday. John’s parents were there and had been for 2 weeks taking care of Grandma Dort and helping out where they could. Chris couldn’t make the funeral, but was had flown from Seattle to Klamath Falls to see Uncle Rob. Unfortunetly, Uncle Rob passed away just hours before Chris got there.
• After Uncle Rob’s funeral, we spent three nights in Ashland, OR which we had already planned to do. We went to a Shakespearean play, skied Mt. Ashland, went to Jacksonville, OR for the day, and spent quite a bit of time at Lithia Park. It was 70 one day which was the warmest weather we had felt since the previous September or October.
• John went to the International Car Wash show again in Las Vegas during the first week in May.
• We took vacation and went to Lake Tahoe with Phil and Tracy Nelson, Jamie and Jennifer Boutin, Scott and Amy Merrill, and Phil’s brother and his girlfriend. We spent 4 nights in a huge condo and had a blast.
• We spent John’s 30^th birthday hiking Multnomah Falls
• The last Saturday in May, we went to Jim Hewey’s funeral. He was John’s first boss and a good friend. Later that evening we went to a Portland Timbers soccer game with Matt and Chris Schmitz and Phil and Tracy Nelson
• The second Saturday in June, we took a day trip to Tillamook, OR just to go for a drive. We drove from Tillamook up to Seaside and back. Weather wasn’t the best, but we had fun.
• Much of the rest of June and July was spent leveling the back yard, spreading 2 full dump truck loads of top soil, trenching it for sprinklers, installing a sprinkler system, and finally laying sod. We had some help from friends and Kathie, but this was primarily all completed by just Casie and I working together.
• The 3^rd weekend in July, we were completed and went camping at Beverly Beach with Scott and Amy Merrill. It was 100+ degrees in Portland, but in the 60’s at the coast with fog.

Fifth Year 2005 to 2006:

August 2005

• Came back from Yellowstone and the Tetons
• Casie was the assistant coach at CCC volleyball again.
• The didn’t have a very good year though
• They didn’t make the NWACC end of year tournament.
• Scott and john went camping at Crater Lake for three nights
• They hiked to the top of mount Scott and did several other hikes too.

September 2005

• Went to all of the Oregon State football home games. The team went 5 – 6.
• School started backup for John’s MBA program
• We went to Spirit Mountain Casio to see Drew Carey and the Improv. All-Stars

October 2005

• Went to dinner on a Friday night to Ruth’s Chris’ Steakhouse. Very good filet and steak.
• Stayed over Saturday night at Best Western in Lincoln City.
• Went to Newport and saw the sea lions.
• I had parmesan halibut at Kylo’s and Casie had seafood curry – very good.

November 2005

• John sent to the Civil War with David Shear. Oregon State lost 14 – 56.
• Casie’s Mom and Step-dad spent the week of Thanksgiving with us.
• We went to Albany to see Casie’s grandpa
• Played football with neighbors on Thanksgiving day.

December 2005

• Finished up the first year of MBA class on the 12^th.
• We had a Christmas party the following Friday night with friends.
• John gave Casie a 5-year anniversary band as a white elephant gift.
• Casie’s brother spent Christmas with us.

January 2006

• Celebrated New Years at our house with Scott and Amy
• The first weekend in January we went to Lincoln City and stayed Saturday night at the Best Western again.
• The second weekend in January we took Amtrak down to Klamath Falls with John’s parents.
• We celebrated John’s Grandma’s 90^th birthday

February 2006

• Went to Matt Schmitz house to watch the Super Bowl
• Seahawks lost to Pittsburgh
• Casie went to Jill Ashley’s baby shower
• Same Saturday, John went skiing w/ Truong, Jake, Ben, and Phil.

March 2006

• First Saturday, celebrated Kathie Woods 50^th birthday on the Portland Spirit (lunch cruise).
• Woke-up to three inches of snow 2 days in a row, but the snow melted quickly in the mid-morning.
• Second weekend, spent a three day weekend in Bend with Scott and Amy.
• Went to Super Diamond
• Went to Kelso for a Sunday as John’s Uncle Jim was having health problems.
• Flew to Phoenix to celebrate Casie’s Grandma’s 69^th birthday. Casie’s mom and step-dad were there too. Had a BBQ to celebrate and went to Tortilla Flats.

April 2006

• Casie and I went to San Diego for the AOCA show (quick lube convention) for work. We went to Croce’s for dinner.
• Went to Prosser to help clean out Grandpa Wes’ house.
• Had a nice dinner with the whole family (John’s parents, brother, Aunt Sandie and Peter).
• John was pallbearer in Uncle Jim’s funeral.
• End of April went to Miami and then Key West.
• Went to a Floida Marlins baseball game.
• Went to Everglades National Park.
• Went to South Beach in Miami.
• Stayed at FontaineBlue in Miami.
• Stayed at The Reach in Key West
• Stayed in Chicago because of flight delay when returning home.

May 2006

• John went hiking with Scott and Amy in the Gorge.
• Took John’s mom to the airport for her trip to Ireland and Scotland.
• Had a BBQ on Sunday of Memorial Day Weekend with many of our friends and John’s brother made it too.

June 2006

• Picked up Mom from the airport with Dad on her big trip.
• OSU won the baseball world series.
• Kathie’s uncle Dick died and Casie helped with the funeral arrangements and went to Medford for the funeral.

July 2006

• We went the annual 4^th of July BBQ in Kelso.
• John started summer break from the MBA courses on July 15^th.
• To celebrate we went to Lincoln City for the evening and had dinner at Kylo’s.
• John went to a Mariner vs. Red Sox game with Matt Schmitz, John Gault, and Matt Liston. They stayed overnight and played golf in the Seattle area the next day.
• Casie went to the beach with Kathie and then later to a wedding.
• Casie and I went to a Tom Petty concert at the Clark Count amphitheatre
• Began work on the backyard fence.

August 2006

• Spent August third with parents in Kelso
• Went to Olympic National Park on August forth.
• Camped 4 nights at Heart of the Hills campground.
• Went to Victoria on the ferry for the day.
• Spent one night at home and then went to Vegas for 3 nights with Scott and Amy.
• Stayed at Mandalay Bay resort.

Sixth Year 2006 – 2007

August 2006

• Casie and I built the fence in the backyard
• We bought a brand new 2007 Toyota Camry XLE (with all of the bells and whistles for Casie)

September 2006

• We went to all of the home games for Oregon State Football. The team went 10 – 4 with a bowl win that I will mention later.
• John went to a double header high school football game at PGE Park with Brad Price.
• John started back up with school with 3 classes remaining to reach his MBA.

October 2006

• Casie walked the Portland Marathon on October 1 with Susan James and Linda Gunselmen from ISI. She completed it, although she got sick the next day and had to miss work because she was dehydrated.
• John got promoted to Technical Support Manager in the middle of October after his boss, Mike Franzen, left the company to own his own quick lube.
• We hosted a poker party on a Friday night. John Gault won and John Hulden came in 2^nd.

November 2006

• Casie got rear-ended on I-5 coming to work. She was not hurt, but the new Camry sustained $6,600 damage. The insurance company of the person who ran into her paid for the damages, so we were not out any money. It took over 2 weeks to get fixed and we had a free Ford Mustang rental during that time.
• Casie helped coach in the NWAACC championship game. Clackamas v-ball came in 2^nd place overall.
• John’s mom and dad stayed 3 nights over Thanksgiving. John’s brother Chris was able to make it for Thanksgiving Day (John picked him up at his hotel near Jantzen Beach). John’s mom and dad along with the two of us went to the Civil War the next day and say Oregon State win a nail biter by 2 points. It was a great game.

December 2006

• John was voted ISI Employee of the Year for the second time. He was awarded $400 that we used to help fund the trip to go to the Oregon State bowl game in El Paso, TX.
• John went to a Seahawk game on a Thursday night. Seattle lost to San Francisco and the weather was terrible. It rained as hard as John had ever seen. He was drenched the entire game and got a nasty cold out of it.
• We took a 30 minute ride on the steam train 4449 at Oaks Park.
• We went to Flambe in Oregon City (now out of business), saw Rocky Balboa, and went to Christmas Eve service on Dec. 23rd for Casie’s birthday.
• We spent Christmas at John’s mom and dad’s.
• We flew to the Sun Bowl in El Paso, TX to see Oregon State beat Missouri 39 – 38. Oregon State was down by 14 in the 4^th quarter and mounted an exciting comeback. With 20 seconds left, they decided to go for 2 points and were successful. It was an amazing game and trip. We flew back on New Year’s Eve and spent the night with Kathie.

January 2007

• We spent 01/01/07 watching football at Kathie’s
• We made are first trip to OHSU for artificial insemination. We made 6 attempt from January through July of 2007, but were unsuccessful in conceiving a child.
• Casie flew back to Nashville to see her mom, Jeff, and Bear. Casie also met Bear’s wife for the first time.

February 2007

• Casie stayed a Saturday night in Lincoln City with Kathie to celebrate Kathie’s 51^st birthday.
• John finished his MBA on February, 20 2007. It was a great relief to be done and it took seemingly a month to get caught up on sleep.
• We celebrated the accomplishment of the MBA on the first Saturday after he was done. About 25 family and friends came to the house to celebrate. We served Buster’s BBQ.

March 2007

• We took 3 days off from work and a 5 day weekend. We went to Lincoln City and Yachats during our time off. We stayed a couple of nights at The Coho in Lincoln City before spending 3 nights at The Overleaf in Yachats. The weather was really stormy the first couple of days and then turned beautiful.
• John was contacted by a friend from his MBA class regarding a job opportunity with a company named CUI.
• We went to Jake and Shana’s Jabush’s going away party as they decided to move to Monroe, WA because of a promotion for Jake.

April 2007

• We hosted another poker party and Casie came in 2^nd this time.
• Truong told John he was gay.
• Casie spent a Sunday going to an Oregon State baseball game in Corvalis (OSU won) while John drove out to the Gorge to take pictures.
• John’s parents left on a cruise that started in New York City and ended in Seattle. The trip took over three weeks.
• John went through formal graduation for his MBA at the end of April. He graduated with a 3.96 GPA.

May 2007

· We went to Seattle to see the OSU baseball team play the Huskies at Safeco field. It was the largest crowd (almost 10k) to see a Pac-10 baseball game. OSU lost the game. We stayed at the Silver Cloud hotel right next to Safeco Field. Truong went to the game with us and we met his partner the next day. We walked around Pike’s Place Market and went to the big REI store. We also met my brother for dinner at Pyramid Ales. The next day we drove to Monroe to have lunch/dinner with the Jabusch’s. We drove home that day, but we had Monday off so we got an extra day to relax.

· The next Tuesday, John was offered a position at CUI to become the Business Process Manager. We thought about it that night and John accepted the position the next day. John told his boss at CUI later that day. John had worked at ISI for over 10 years. John gave ISI 1 month of notice so that the transition would be easy for the company. We went to the Blackpoint Inn to celebrate.

· On Memorial Day weekend, we drove to Pacific City for one day.

June 2007

• We went caming in the Wallowas for 3 nights. The first night of vacation, we stayed in Pendleton and then the next day we drove the rest of the way to Wallowa Lake. We went horseback riding (first time for John) and took a boat onto the lake. On the way back, we stopped for a couple of hours to see John’s Cousin Angie.
• John’s last day at ISI was June 8^th
• John went to John Gault’s bachelor party for the weekend of June 8^th. It was in Redmond at Eagle Crest.
• John had the next week off from work while he was between jobs. John went hiking one day with Scott in the Gorge and also took his parent to Mt. St. Helens.
• John went to Atlanta, GA for his Lead Auditor ISO Certification class. Out of 8 students, he finished at the top of his class despite having no experience on the subject.
• While John was in Atlanta, Casie spent 3 nights in Las Vegas with Susan and Kathie. They stayed at Paris. The first night there was a mix-up and they were given the top penthouse suite. The say the show O.
• Casie’s aunt and cousin Rachel met us for lunch in Oregon City.
• Oregon State baseball won their second consecutive national championship.
• John started his first day at CUI.
• We went to John Gault’s wedding on 6/29. The reception was at the Crystal Ball Room

July 2007

• We went to John’s parents for the 4^th of July
• We went to the Blues Festival on a beautiful night. John’s brother and Brad were there along with Matt and Krista, and Scott and Nan.
• We drove to Tillamook and Seaside for the day.
• We had a BBQ at our house.
• We went to the Inn @ Spanish head for a Saturday night to celebrate our anniversary.
• Angie, Stan and the rest of the family stayed with us on a Friday night as they were in town to buy a van.

August 2007

• We went with John and Katie, Matt and Krista, and Matt and Halle to the Mariner vs. Red Sox game. The Mariners won. The next day the girls went shopping and the boys went golfing at Hawks Prairie.