West Coast Road Trip

Movin' Michael

After doing the long-distance thing for 6 months, Michael finally decided to make the move to Washington. Hurray! One of my best friends and former college roomates came along to help with the 5 day drive through Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and up the coast of California, Oregon, and Washington. It was a beautiful trip...but VERY long.

Kara and Me

If it wasn't for Kara I probably wouldn't have met Michael. Her family is the one who rallied for me to go to England, where I met Michael. Having the exact same majors and career paths we were in lots of classes together in college and were roomates for 2 years. I love her!

Sand Dunes in Southern Oregon

Neither Michael or Kara had been to Oregon before. They were thinking of trying to drive through it in the night and I convinced them that it was something worth adding an extra day onto the trip for. We were all so glad that we did. It was a breath taking day! Much better than my last Oregon coast trip, where it rained the entire week!

Sunset in N. Oregon

Christmas 2007

Christmas with Ari

Arianisa was born December 8, 2007 and 3 weeks later Michael and I flew down to Texas to
see her over Xmas. I couldn't get enough of her! She was so cute and tiny! Here she is with Michael. It was his first time to hold a baby! He got lots of practice in over our week long stay!

Aunt Kate

Aunt Kate holding and admiring Ari...pretty much what I did the entire stay. We spent several long nights up together, with me taking baby duty to relieve the exhausted new parents!

Ari and Reagan (the new mommy) checking each other out. SO cute!

Deming Family Photo

My Uncle Henry drove my 89 year old Grandma Van all the way down from Colorado to see her first great-grand child. It was so special for all of us! Grandma just couldn't stop staring at Ari!

Grandma VanSchoonhoven and Ari taking each other in.

Aunt Kate!

Arianisa August Deming

I'm SOOOO excited!!! I'm now an Auntie to little Ari who was born early Saturday December 8, 2007. This was a picture sent to me, but I'll be flying home this week and can guarantee there will soon be more!

Fall Fun

Thanksgiving in Texas

Michael came down and joined me and my family in Granbury for a wonderful Thanksgiving! It was 75 degrees when I landed Wed. evening and snowed Thanksgiving Thursday...go figure. It was beautiful though and Friday I was able to show Michael around my little hometown square all decorated with lights.

October Pumpkin Carving

I love pumpkin and what better way to celebrate than a pumpkin carving extravaganza! Doreen and I hosted a night of pumpkin treats and carving at Bryan and Sue's house with close to 30 people showing up. The results were pretty amazing!

Just one of the "carving stations.

And the final result...stars, swirls, owls, cannibal pumpkins, haunted houses, pirate skulls...Amazing!

Ireland

Ireland:

After the choir headed back to Dallas, I headed on to Ireland and met up my friend Kateen from Seattle. We rented a cute little red car and embarked on an incredible journey down Ireland's winding roads. It was above and beyond what either of us had expected.

Our Irish welcome heading into Dingle Ireland...a much needed change of luck after having had our rental car backed into by a bizarre little Irish man only 2 hours into our road trip. Dingle was a wonderful quaint little Irish fishing town filled with friendly people, amazing food, and wonderful live Irish music.

Just one of 100's of pictures I took of Ireland's beautiful coastline.

This little sheep thought he was king of the hill. He just stood there and watched as we laughed and laughed at him.

The Long and Winding Road

This picture was taken along the coastline of the Dingle Peninsula...sometimes there was barely room for us to squeeze by, which made for numerous "hold your breath moments"!

Stained glass in a little pub we stopped at for lunch. I believe it was in Levenworth. We of course had the soup of the day, which in Ireland is always vegetable.

A very common occurance when traveling in Ireland...herding sheep down the road.

The little port of Roundstone. It was cloudy when we arrived and then the sun finally managed to peek through.

Somewhere near Clifden I believe. What a gorgeous day...I guess the more accurate way to say it, is "what a gorgeous moment." The weather in Ireland is constantly changing throughout the day and can be rainy and cloudy, then sunny, then foggy, then rainy and cloudy again.

This time instead of the usual sheep herding we got to herd cows.

Kylemore Castle (1868) We lucked out and got there just in time to take a few pictures before it started pouring down rain.

Sigh...this reminds me of New Zealand. Absolutely beautiful.

Seriously...the best salad I have ever tasted...hands down. Yes I realized that there's really not too much in way of "salad" per say, but maybe that's why it was the best I've ever had:) It was quite un-expected seeing as we were in the tiny little surfing town of Strandhill...yes I know, surfing in Ireland? In the morning we went for a refreshing jog on the beach.

Strandhill Beach: The beginning of a spectacular sunset...get ready, I tried to condense the 100+ I took to just a few. Not easy!

Me on the beach just before the sky cleared up a bit and everyone in town came out to watch the sunset.

One of the local kiddos, enjoying the evening.

Yeah...it was an amazing evening:)

On our way to the cliffs of Slieve League...we just had to stop and explore one of the many little dirt roads.

Ok...talk about holding your breath...this was the little road winding up to the the cliffs of Slieve League...supposedly the highest sea cliffs in Europe. The only thing between us and the drop-off was the make-shift fence you see.

Sheep, sheep, everywhere...the top of the cliffs were no exception. They seemed to be oblivious to the fact that were teetering on the edge of certain doom if they slipped.

Behind every picture is a story and this one is certainly no exception. After coming down from the cliffs we passed through the little village and I happened to see 3 older Irishmen sitting on the bench, fully engrossed in their ice cream. Being an extreme ice cream fan I couldn't resist having Kateen pull over the car. I'm sure they thought I was a complete nut as I ran over and asked to take their picture, but they agreed and it's probably my favorite of the entire trip.

England, Wales, & Scotland Continued

Bath, England

One of the beautiful sandstone buildings in the city of Bath. All of the town's buildings are made of this special sandstone. We were told though, that the quarry is almost finished and they're not sure what they're going to use for future buildings. The town is best known for it's Roman baths. Great if you like the smell of sulphur!

Another view in Bath. I had visited the town in 1998 and toured the Baths then, so this time I decided to walk around and see the other sites the town had to offer. I found out that Jane Austen supposedly lived here.

One more picture taken in Bath. What a beautiful evening! There were hot air balloons everywhere adding to the already picturesque view.

Tintern Abbey, Southeastern Wales

Two pictures taken at Tintern Abbey in Southeastern Wales. The fog and misty rain gave it a wonderful enchanted feeling. The area was surrounded by mountains and I loved the cows grazing on the little farm that butted right up against the abbey's ruins.

Chester, England

Hurray for finding my own personal store in the little town of Chester! Unfortunately it was closed since it was Sunday. I guess I'll just have to take a trip back someday to check it out!

Hadrian's Wall, England

An unplanned diversion led us to Hadrian's Wall out in the middle of no where. I was much more captivated by the countryside than the little museum or the wall. It was blissful to walk barefoot up the hill, skipping through the sheep fields. I highly recommend it!

Edinburgh, Scotland

A picture of Edinburgh Castle and then a view of the city from atop the castle. Edinburgh is hands down one of my most favorite cities in the world. It's hard to even begin to comprehend the history this city has witnessed! When we arrived to sing, there was a Scottish wedding taking place and bagpipers were playing from the castle walls. Quite an entrance!

Sterling Castle

A much smaller castle than Edinburgh, but still amazing. We had a wonderful last concert here! It was an amazing trip!

Michael

So one of the biggest surprises of the whole trip was meeting and falling head over heels for an amazing fella. Michael, an incredible countertenor, and I happened to stand by each other during the concerts. It was half-way through the trip that we really started talking and quickly hit it off. He is originally from St. Croix, part of the Virgin Islands, but currently lives in Dallas. Since the trip I've been to Dallas, he's been to Seattle and now I'm back to Dallas at the end of the month to introduce him to the family. Who knows what the future holds!