A few thousand miles later!

Sorry Friends!
   We have been travelling at a faster pace this half of our 10 week trip.  It has been difficult to keep up the blog let alone making sure we have clean socks! I think we just need to get more socks though. Well, I will do my best to capture all the beautiful places we have been. Since our last post we have gone to California, Utah, Colorado, and Missouri; oh and I write this blog now from Tennessee.
                                                    
                                      CALIFORNIA
   
    From Portland we decided on a whim and an invitation to visit two of my cousins in California. The first, Miss Tara Bayne, in Arcata.  Yes, also known as the marijuana capitol of America.  We had the honor of listening to my cousin sing with her bluegrass band at a local coffee shop, for a radio station fundraiser. Below is a video of one of their songs.  From Arcata we drove 5 hours south to San Fransico to see my cousin Dawn.  Also a very eclectic town of free loving, self employed "street merchants."  We did however get to cross the Golden Gate Bridge, pictured below.
    

                                           UTAH

    From SanFran we drove about 11 hours east to Salt Lake City, Utah to see my pregnant best friend, Nina.  Her and her husband Romey, took us to Park City where we could see an excellent view of the landscape as well as visit some sweet boutiques.  Oh, and we also visited the mormon museum and saw the Temple.  So, normally you would imagine Nina and I would bore the guys with our constant conversation of the "old days" and baby stuff. Well, let's just say if it wasn't for the fact we needed sleep they would've talked through the night, making it nearly 48 hours of religious, political and who knows what else, conversation! Needless to say, Britton made a friend there.

                                                           COLORADO

    Bright and early we arose to book it over to Boulder, Colorado for a worship conference.  This was also a great networking stop.  After meandering into the main auditorium looking aimlessly for a familiar face, I saw the high wave of Anthony Foti of Tinamou calling us over in the distance.  That evening we got to meet Aaron Strumpel, Karla Aldolphe, Robin Pasely, and John Mark McMillan after they performed.  Aaron, a giddy, fun-loving, honest guy spent a lot of time talking with us.  He has several albums out you should get! This was actually our second time meeting Karla.  Originally from Canada, we met her at a house concert at our friends' a few years back She has killer vocals, and also some excellent records out!  Robin is the wife of Ben Pasley who were the driving force and brains behind Enter The Worship Circle. Also very skilled and fun musicians with many albums out!  And of course, John Mark, was incredible. What I love about these folks is that they are not self promoters. They don't want to be worshipped.
    The next day I spent cooking and resting! It was fabulous. Britton went to church with the Parkers, the cool couple we stayed with, and made great connections.  The following day the Tinamou folks and I went hiking for three hours in Estes Park. I still can't believe I did it. I mean I love the outdoors and all but I was scaling the side of this steep mountain for at least a half our then we climbed a tree to get to the very top! Needless to say I was sore for the next 3 days.  Our last night we went to a concert in the basement of a church in Fort Collins.  Due to my false estimation of distance between Pearl Street and the church, we missed Aaron's performance.  We were able to watch Tinamou and this totally unexpected incredible family band called Shel.  My husband has already plastered them all over facebook=) Following is a video of one song. They were so talented I wanted to puke. Not really.

  
                                                           MISSOURI

    After passing through the boring state of Kansas, we arrived in a suburb of Kansas City to be warmly greeted by my good friend Evelina.  This was the most bizarre place we stayed on our trip that's for sure.  I should've gotten video of the exterior but just imagine a 12 year old boy designing a dungeon castle and there you have it. The arched wooden windows and heavy midevel door kept out the light, and the bad guys.  We spent our first night eating bean spread kindly made by our friend Danny.  He was attempting to make vegan bean burgers for us, and well we had to go with plan d =) Britton's cousing Bre was not satisfied, having to finish her dinner with a bowl of cereal. Good times! We also got a little tour of the college and a nifty area called Westport.

                                                        NASHVEGAS

    So now here I sit, writing from my sister-in-laws place in Nashville, Tennessee! Our first night in we got to tour the ministry center she is working at called, Mercy.  Britton led worhsip there and Nicole and her co-worker gave their testimonies. It was awesome.  The girls there were so receptive and sweet.  Nicole and I walked around Franklin our second day while Britton typed away for a few hours at Starbucks.  We met her peeps at Newsong youth group where Britton helped out with worship and shared about The Reckoning. Now I finish this blog from Jackson, Tennessee for the annual Roberts' Thanksgiving!

MORE TO COME FROM OUR RANDOM TRIP TO HOT-LANTA AND THANKSGIVING!

Belated Birthday Blog!

Originally written November 5th 2010

Today is the most important day in the world… and I woke up totally oblivious to it.

How do I begin to explain the last week to you? Well for starters you should be very, very jealous. After traveling through the Canadian Rockies (which are totally better than the Colorado version, although we’ll be able to compare that next week), exploring and getting lost in downtown Vancouver, a scenic drive across the border into Washington, visiting Pike Place Market in Seattle (beware of flying fish), exploring and not getting lost in downtown Portland (which is awesome because they have no sales tax… NO SALES TAX!), and taking the historic route around Multnomah Falls and Mt Hood, we now find ourselves back in downtown Vancouver.  That was just the last week.

But beyond the beautiful scenery and unique local shops are the people (insert Nick Drake music here). Everywhere we’ve gone thus far has led us into new communities that feel like old friends and family. And I guess the thing I’m appreciating the most is that the experiences of the last month are meant to be shared with others (I saw Into The Wild and stuff…) most of all with my wife.

I am so grateful for the life we share. It has been a great 3+ years of marriage and the cliché has been proven true; with each passing day it only gets better. My wife has become my best friend and I see that our friendship has grown since being on the road together, leaving all distractions behind. Except when we are lost and figuring out directions… then we are not friends... more like Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey fighting over who gets to sing the ridiculously high dolphin note (oh for the record, I’m Mariah Carey in this example; I have the legs for it).

Ok what were we talking about? Oh right how much I love my wife... Well now that I’ve ruined the sentiment I guess all that’s left to say is Happy Birthday, sweetheart. I love you.

In case you were wondering I finally remembered it was her birthday during breakfast. You should have seen my face. “Yeah the Tofu Scramble is really delicious… HOLY CRAP IT’S YOUR BIRTHDAY!!!”

Multnomah Falls

The Original Starbucks @ Pike Place Market

The Scenic Route

   Well, we are back in the States as of yesterday=) Although we will be going to Vancouver again next weekend to visit a friend. From Calgary, Alberta we stopped by Britton's 3rd cousin Mandy's place in Kamloops, British Columbia. (Picture Below) Let me tell you, it was the most beautiful drive I think I will ever experience!  The Canadian Rockies were absolutely gorgeous! Seriously breath taking. (Pictures below)
  While we were still visiting in Calgary, Aunt Brenda took us to Banff; which is also know as "the most beautiful place known to manff."  Anyhoo- it's a ski town, with lots of cool shops.  I've also posted some pictures of that area. 
  After visiting Mandy, her husband Scott and their 3 children, we drove to Vancouver to kill some time in the city before heading into Seattle.  Britton found an incredible vegan/raw restaurant in the city called Gorilla Foods.  I won't lie, eating cold, raw, smooth green chili wasn't my thing but the sandwich I got was pretty tasty.  From there we walked around the neighborhood a bit and made our last stop at a catholic church that was open for prayer and confession.  We admired the architecture of the building as we sat quietly in the back row.  Gazing at the intricate stories told in the stained glass windows, our eyes stumbled upon Jesus with a six pack. Who knew? Amazing! Anyway, so then we fought through the city traffic for an hour as we both tried to not pee our pants from all the coffee we had just consumed! Once through the city traffic, en route to Seattle, and after a few bickering remarks to each other, we stumbled upon a furniture liquidation store to have a "potty break." Shortly after entering the highway once again, we had another hour wait to cross the border=) Quite lovely.  This time no questions about weapons or firearms, just a very intrigued patrolman, wondering why we drove all the way from Cleveland,Ohio and won't be home until December. So anyhoo- then we fought through Seattle traffic a couple hours after that and were quite spent once we reached Uncle Terry's.  Tonight we meet some musicians from the church Uncle Terry is a part of and Britton will do a few songs for their open mic night.  So more video coming soon! For now here are some pics:

Britton & Brenda in Banff



Britton and Mandy showing off their Toms:

Oh, Canada!

Hello Dearest Friends and Family!

    So sorry it has taken so long to post again! We've been getting acclimated to Canada. They keep us busy here, haha. 
   Our drive to Canada was quite boring yet we were anticipating the border patrol. Nervous about our crossing the border we left behind a lot of stuff but were able to smuggle in some cds for the family! =) I was sooo nervous. They didn't even check our car or luggage. The woman just asked us about 20 questions mostly about if we have weapons such as nunchucks, throwing stars or fireworks. Britton held back laughter as he replied, "No ma'am." and off we went into Canada! We drove about 13 hours from Minneapolis to Regina and stayed overnight. Got in a fun little tiff because we'd been trapped in a car together for so long=) Then arrived in Calgary, Alberta after 8 hours of driving through more Canadian country!
  Since we've been here we went to the battle of Alberta with Aunt Brenda and Brian; a hockey match between Calgary and Edmonton. Video posted below. We also got our butts kicked by the old folks when we went to bingo with Grandma Gladys (also video posted below). Then we went with Aunt Loretta and her kids to The Royal Tyrell Dinosaur Museum(video below). I was also royally treated by Aunt Sharon at her spa with a full body massage and a pedicure! =)
  Britton has a gig coming up this Tuesday at a local coffee house, then it's off to Seattle to visit Uncle Terry! That's about all I've got for now! We will post again when we get to Portland.

Hockey game:

 Sumo Hockey!

Bingo!



Royal Tryell Museum: T-Rex

Much Love! Brimanda

Downtown Minneapolis Outing

So the other day Britton and I went to The Sculpture Garden downtown.  It is incredible!  There are more pictures on my facebook album.   Also, we went to a sweet restaurant called The French Meadow Bakery.  If I were to ever have my own restaurant, this place is something like how it would be.  Tree branches wrapped in lights, ecclectic wooden furniture, celebrity table signs made of random magazine cutouts, local and organic produce, and of course a selection of fair trade and organic coffee and teas! The works...
    Also, we went to The art Museum yesterday but ya kow how they are about photography... But let me tell you it was awesome! Life size hand carved marble statues, portraits from 1800's to current.  The most bizarre section was of course the modern era.  This specific exhibit was called "The Embarrasment of Riches"  When you first walk in there is a sock on display in a glass case with a card directing you to watch a video in the next area about the value of the sock.  For 10 minutes we watched this live streaming video of an auctioneer selling the clothing on his body.  His sock alone sold for $3000! Sick... Anyway...not sure why he was auctioning off his clothing and why people were bidding but... that's just how wierd this world is I guess. 
  Oh! also pictures of The Westminister Presbyterian Church.  This church was built in the 1800's.  The stained glass windows tell the story of Jesus and his miracles. Also more pics on my fb=)

  Enjoy!

This is a the entrance to the Westminister Presbyterian Church.

This is the ceiling in the sanctuary.

This is the front of the sanctuary. Behind it are about 5,000 pipes for the organ!

                                                         Stained glass lined even the back of the sanctuary. This one is of Jesus:

The Sculpture garden

Another favorite from the sculpture garden

Britton's Instrumental, etc...

  Whoa.... another blog. I know I can't believe it either.  Now that I'm feeling better I can think a bit clearer.  As promised, Britton's performance at Newlife last week.  Coming soon: Britton's new song and a bit about The Fallout, a local arts ministry that is raising funds to open a transitional home for victims of sex trafficking.

This is Youof Little Faith:

This is the instrumental:

Love you guys=)

And we're back =)

Hey Friends!
  
   Sorry it's taken me so long to post again! Can't say it's been busy but enjoying the much needed rest, especially now that we are all fighting colds! My flip was also acting up, mostly because this computer is too ancient to handle the high-tech flip software...
   Last week Nicole (Britton's sister) came to visit in Maple Grove.  First stop... Mall of America, which some of you saw the facebook posts=)  Pretty much it's the most ridiculous mall you could think of.  Friday night we went to a local theatre, YellowTree, to see a play called String.  Absolutely amazingly well done I must say.  Jason and Jessica Peterson who were the lead roles in the play, own the theater.  They are the son and daughter in law of a couple who attend Newlife(the church Britton's dad pastor's at).  Britton will be performing there on the 10th! It's a really cool venue.  Very much my style. When you walk in to the dining area, it has a very Anthropoligie/ "antique-y" look. There is an actual tree-with out leaves of course- in the dining area as well. So fun. Maybe I will post some video next week after the show =) You all know how much of an interior design nut I am!
  Saturday we did a walk for autism.  This walk was especially emotional and memorable.  A little over two weeks ago the wife of Newlife's children's pastor, passed away.  Her son, Isaiah has autism so she had already planned a team for this walk.  So we joined in, in memory of her.  Two trips around a mile long horse track and some sweet boys two men tunes (played by the dj) later we were on our way home.  Quite surreal I must say to be around people who are fighting to find a cure or some way to minimize the affects this disease has on them.  Again my friends, it boils down to diet a lot of the time.  I remember when my cousin found out her daughter had autsim, immediately she had to change her diet. Cut out the wheat, the additives, food colorings, etc. Her health and understanding improved tremendously!

Did you know ...

• Autism now affects 1 in 110 children and 1 in 70 boys
• Autism prevalence figures are growing
• More children will be diagnosed with autism this year than with AIDS, diabetes & cancer combined
• Autism is the fastest-growing serious developmental disability in the U.S.
• Autism costs the nation over $35 billion per year, a figure expected to significantly increase in the next decade
• Autism receives less than 5% of the research funding of many less prevalent childhood diseases
• Boys are four times more likely than girls to have autism
•  There is no medical detection or cure for autsim

Coming later... Britton's performance at Newlife.... and his new song!