Sarah's Visit

One of my best friends, Sarah, came to visit for a weekend! She said she needed a vacation so I said, "Come to Portland!" We really only had one full day to see as much as we could in Portland. That's just not enough time but we made the most of it. I loved having her here and showing her where we live. We had a great time!! I miss my friend but I am very grateful for the time we had. Here are a few photos of our activities.

Pumpkin Picking

One Saturday afternoon the Wilson's and Badriaki's headed to Sauvie Island to pick pumpkins, take a hay ride, and walk through a corn maze. Well, we picked pumpkins, sort of went on a hay ride (it was kind of dusty) and the maze was more like a hay maze. The ultimate goal was to enjoy some time with our friends and get some pumpkins. At the end of the day both of these were accomplished. Although we did not exactly go the pumpkin patch that Kristen had originally planned, we did find it on our way home so we know for next year right where it is! Thank you to Kristen who organized the who day. It was a beautiful day and we came away with some pretty good looking pumpkins. Enjoy the photos...

Andrew's Birthday

Andrew turned 24 this year! We did a couple of different things for his birthday. One was to have dinner with some good friends. He has been friends with these people since he was a little boy. We met at Olive Garden in Vancouver, Washington. What a fun evening it was to celebrate Andrew's life with people who we know truly care about him.

In the photo, from left to right. Kathy and Dale Wright, Wayne Benette, Ana, Grandma Grace, Andrew and Shawn Burdette

Portland Zoo

Andrew's brother Pete drive back to Portland with us to spend a little time up here. One thing he wanted to do was go to the zoo. So off we went! We were joined by our friends Shawn and Chris Burdette. It was a beautiful day and a huge zoo. As cool as it was I have to say that zoos just aren't the same after you go on an African safari. But it was still loads of fun!

Pittock Mansion

One Sunday after church we joined Michael and Kristen for Indian food in downtown Portland and then we headed to Pittock Mansion. It was such a beautiful day and the view from the mansion was amazing! It looked right over the skyline of Portland. Here are a few photos from our outing.

Downtown Portland

Home!!

The first item of business when we got back to Portland was fix up our apartment. The furniture we had before was fine. It was what we could afford at the time. But after working a bit and saving our money we decided it was time to get some nice and comfortable furniture. So as I headed off to a meeting, the boys cleared the apartment of all the old stuff. We met at IKEA got a couch, went to Costco got a recliner! After a few more trips to IKEA, Target and Home Depot the living room area is pretty much finished. We moved the TV to a better spot and this opened up our living room a lot! I also had fun putting up new pictures from Africa and also summer and family pictures. We did not take many pictures of our apartment before the change but here are a few before and after shots. We just love it now and we love having people over. It's been so fun!!

Before

After

Before
After

And we got Andrew a nice big desk for work on for school. Now we can use our dinning room table for eating!

And finally.....WE HAVE A PO-ANG!!

Summer Pictures...Badriakis visit!

For our last few days in California we were accompanied by our friends from Portland, Micheal and Kristen Badriaki. They flew down to San Jose and then spent a few days in Fresno meeting our families and seeing the beautiful central valley. It was the first time either of them had come to Fresno. We drove them to downtown Fresno, showed them were we got married, we bowling and the number one thing they wanted to do was....go to In & Out!!! Then when it was time for us to head back up north, Michael and Kristen were kind enough to drive back with us. We had a great time with them and were so happy they could come to Fresno!

Family Pictures

Since Andrew and I were in town for the summer, both families decided to get some photos of everyone before we headed back up north. So here is a small preview of what was taken

The Wilson Family

The Horn Family

The Wilson kids

Summer Pictures...Santa Cruz!!

The day after Half Dome, we (Andrew, Anna and our friend Shawn) drove over to Santa Cruz to see some of Andrew's family and to just relax after our hike! Of course it was beautiful over there. We were only in SC for a few days but got to see Andrew's grandma, a few of his relatives and swim in the freezing water! One night I got to hang out with some of the Wilson girl cousin. It was the first time since we got married that I spent time with Andrew's cousins. It was a lot of fun to have a girl's night and just feel like part of the family. I felt very welcomed and just loved by them. I really love his cousins and appreciate them accepting me and making me feel special! Here are just a few pictures.

Summer Pictures...Half Dome!

For the past few summers I have wanted to climb Half Dome in Yosemite. Last summer we were all set to go but forest fires kept us from going. But this summer there were no fires around so up to Yosemite we went. There was about a group of 11 who made the climb. The group consisted of veterans but also a few first timers. We camped at Bass Lake the night before and then had an early start. On our way up the mountain the clouds began to roll in and there were thunderstorm warnings for that day. We made it all the way to the cables and then it started to hail. Before the hail came there was nothing to stop me. But HAIL...that's pretty bad. Plus my husband, who tends to have better judgment, advised against it. If this was my first time up there, I would have gone all the way to the top but this was my third time so I was ok with not making it to the top. I was more disappointed for those first timers who made so far but not all the way. Oh well, guess we'll just have to go next summer. "Half Dome, Summer 2010, Night hike"...who's in??

Summer Pictures...Fun times!

So besides all the fun things we got to do, the best part of the summer was spending time with the family. Right after FCA camp, Andrew's dad, Andrew and myself drove up to Lake Almonor to meet up with Andrew's mom and brother. They were up there visiting Andrew's aunt and uncle, who have a house on the lake. We relaxed, rode jet skis, and enjoyed lunch on the party boat. It was beautiful up there and so fun to Uncle Gary and Aunt Colleen.

I also spent a lot of time with my sister, Amy. One of the things we really wanted to do was go to the Farmer's Market in Clovis. We finally made it and enjoyed walking around and eating some great ice cream.

This is my sister with her two kids, Mary and Rocco.








And finally...a favorite of mine was to go over to my grandparent's ranch and go skiing. Every Tuesday my brother would put his boat in the lake and we would ski or wakeboard. It was a great time to see family and just hang out.



This is me attempting to jump the wake.








One of the best parts of the summer for me, was to see how Andrew interacted with the kids. They all knew who Andrew was but this was the first time they really associated the two of us "together". Its interesting that in just one day Andrew became an uncle! I loved watching him play with young one and to hear them laugh....so great!




Here is Andrew and Jacob enjoying the boat!







And finally this summer....we got a new niece...Claire Hannah Horn. My oldest brother David and his wife Amy welcomed their second child on June 26th. She is adorable and I couldn't be more excited for Dave, Amy and Micah!



Andrew and I with Claire.

Summer Pictures...Las Vegas!

For the month of July not too much happened. Andrew taught summer school every day and I enjoyed the California sun! I did make a weekend trip with some of my family to Morro Bay and that same weekend Andrew helped coach a Clovis High water polo team in L.A. But at the end of July, we took a little weekend trip to Las Vegas to watch some basketball and visit some good friends of Andrew's. Bob and Jan have been like adoptive grandparents to the Wilson boys since they were very young. It was so fun to finally meet these people I have heard so much about. I am hoping this will be an annual trip that we will make. Oh and to watch basketball...glorious! One morning we went for a drive through Red Rock Canyon. It was beautiful!! And now for the pictures. If you do not recognize any of the basketball pictures, ask someone who know about the NBA and maybe they can help you identify some of the people.

Oh and I played the slots for the first time and I WON....52 cents!!

Summer Pictures....FCA Camp!

My first adventure for the summer was helping out at a Fellowship of Christian Atheletes (FCA) sports camp in Monterey, CA. My college basketball coach is one of the camp directors and she asked myself and my friend, Denise Feil, to be the Huddle Leader Coordinators. Basically our job was to train the huddle leaders and to encourage them throughout the week. The huddle leaders are sort of like counselors to the campers. It was a great week full of lots of laughter and growing in the Lord. Everyone seemed to be challenged in their own way. Its neat how God meets every person exactly where they are at and helps them grow in their own way. It was awesome to be used by God to encourage high school athletes to be competitors for the love of the game but to also honor the Father with their abilities. Here's just a few pictures from the week. Just to explain a few of the photos. The basketball coach is a two-time Olympic gold medalist for woman's wheelchair basketball. She even let us put the medals around our neck! So cool! Also, a few of our veteran huddle leaders decided to play a prank on Denise and I on the last night. They taped our door with athletic tape and put mattress around the door to barricade us in. It was pretty funny but nothing compared to Timmy...don't ask! Enjoy a taste of FCA camp!

Summer time!

Wow....it has been forever since I have posted anything! I am not going to write much but just wanted to give a small update. Andrew and I have spent the summer down in sunny California. It has been lovely, but hot! Right when we got to California I headed over to Monterey to help out at an Fellowship of Christian Athletes Sports camp. It was a blast but by the end of the week I was pretty tired. After that we spent a few days up at Lake Almanor with Andrew's family and his aunt and uncle. It was so nice up there and very relaxing. We also took a weekend trip to Las Vegas to visit some great friends of the Wilson's and also to watch the NBA Summer League. I also spent a weekend with some of my family at Morro Bay while Andrew was in L.A. coaching water polo. Besides these few small get-a-ways, Andrew has been teaching summer school at a local high school and I have been enjoying the sun and just relaxing! Andrew is now done with summer school, our friend Shawn is here from Portland and this week we have lots of fun activities planned, which include, floating the Kings River, hiking Half Dome and visiting Grandma Wilson in Santa Cruz! We will be heading home to Portland in about two weeks. We have really enjoyed the summer but are looking forward to getting back up north and starting school. When we get home I will post pictures from our adventures of this summer and update you on what this next year holds for us. I hope you all have had a wonderful summer!!

Yay for Aging!

Yup, it is true, I have turn another year older! I am now officially in my upper-twenties. I am not sure how I feel about it but so far it isn't bad. Our good friend Michael from Uganda said that people in Africa look forward to getting older. He is almost thirty and says he cannot wait to be thirty. So I have decided to take on this attitude, hence the title of the post, "Yay for aging!"
On my birthday Andrew took me out to dinner at Claimjumpers. I so wanted to go here so I was very excited! He even told the waitress that it was my birthday and she brought out a cupcake thing for me. It was really cute and tasted great!

Then on Wednesday we went out to dinner again but this time we invited some friends. Michael, Kristen, Monica, and Shawn joined Andrew and I at the Spaghetti Factor on the river front. We ate some amazing food and shared many laughs. After dinner we decided to go for a walk along the river but much to our disappointment the path was under construction so we were only able to walk about 20 yards. There is a Rose Festival thing going in downtown Portland and I wanted to go see it. Our friend Shawn was put in charge of getting us to this festival thing. We drove a little ways and then he turned on a road headed for the river. Here we parked and started on the path again heading for downtown. But once again the path was under construction and we only made it about 20-30 yards. We figured that we wouldn't walk for long periods of time but rather in small strides. We got a good laugh out of it and never made it to the carnival thing. Oh well, there's always next year. We did however, manage to get a picture of the girls. So here we are on the river front. We had a great time and I am very grateful for good friendships!!

JO Qualifier

This past weekend Andrew's water polo team had a tournament up in the Seattle area. This tournament was a Junior Olympics Qualifier for the Pacific Northwest Zone for USA Waterpolo. They had to get at least second place to qualify for JOs in July. His team played three games. Lost the first and then won the next two, which put them in second place! Now they will be playing (without Andrew) in San Jose, CA at the JOs. Way to go Drew...you have done a great job with these guys!

Drew with the trophy.

The trophy.

Sweet victory!

Tillamook Get-A-Way

For Memorial Weekend we decided to get out of Portland and have a mini-vacation. And a vacation is not complete without good company. Yeah Andrew and I enjoy each others company but having another amazing couple to share the weekend doesn't hurt. We invited our good friends, Michael and Kristen Badriaki, to come over to Tillamook with us. We had a coupon for a hotel room from our last visit and decided this would be a perfect time to use it!
On Sunday after church we picked the Badriakis up and headed to the coast. Since this was Kristen's first time to Tillamook our first stop had to be the cheese factory. We did not think about it being a Sunday so the factory part was closed (which I was so sad about because that is my most favorit part) but of course the ice cream shoppe was still open. We ate some great Tillamook ice cream then went to check into our room, where we talked for a while and then played half a game of dominoes. After dominoes it was off to Main Street Pizza for dinner and some great conversation. Following dinner we drove to the beach and to work off our dinner we had a dance party in the car! Good times!!! The beach was beautiful with a georgeous sunset. We walked along the beach, took pictures, skipped rocks, and Michael tried to teach Andrew how to do the moon walk. That night back in the hotel room we finished our game of dominoes (where yours truly won...a thank you!). The next day it was another stop at the chesse factory for lunch, crab catching on the beach and then one final stop at the factory for ice cream.
We had a great time and laughed and laughed and laughed! Michael and Kristen are two of the coolest people we know and we feel so blessed to have them are our friends! Andrew and I look forward to many more get-a-ways with these two!!
Hope you enjoy the photos....

Our Scottish Friend's Graduation

On Friday night I attended the Master's Graduation for Multnomah Biblical Seminary to witness the robbing of our dear Scottish friend Scott. He graduated with his Master's of Divinity. I tagged along since Andrew was out of town and gladly took video for Scott. I just had to share this with you because it makes me laugh every time I see it and I think you will enjoy it too. Can you see why we are friends with him? Imagine...he might be the pastor of church someday! Wouldn't you love to be a part of his church? I would!!

Annie's Exploration: Columbia Gorge

What's a girl to do? My husband is out of town, its probably 80 degrees out, just beautiful...so what's a girl to do? Go exploring of course! I packed a lunch, filled up with gas and headed out. With a full tank of gas and a map I set out toward Multnomah Falls with a stop at the Vista House, then Multnomah Falls and finally for the drive home I decided to take a scenic route around Mt. Hood towards home. On my way to Multnomah Falls I stopped at a smaller waterfall and took lots of pictures. I hiked to the top of the falls and back right along a river. It was really nice to get out and see God's beauty! On my way home I decided to take the long way home to see Mt. Hood up close. It was absolutely beautiful! So here some pictures. I hope you enjoy them!!

God's Faithfulness

While I was in Africa I just loved the sunsets. I am sure I would have loved the sunrises too...but I never woke up earlier enough to see them. This evening there was a beautiful sunset.

For me, sunrises and sunsets remind me of God's faithfulness. Every day the sun rises and it sets. Some days we can't see it but we know its there. The same goes for God's faithfulness, we may not always believe its there, but it is always there regardless of what we think. I knew when I was in Africa that when I felt lonely and homesick, I knew God was right there with me, the faithful friend. The same goes for me in my life now. As you all the know the economy is horrible right now and Oregon is one of the states really suffering. Schools are especially hurting during this time. Across the state schools are making huge budget cuts. Many teachers are receiving pink slips or in my case, not having their contract renewed for next year. So as of now, I do not have a job starting next school year. At first it was really stressful but as time goes on I am reminded of God's faithfulness to his people. Andrew and I both know that if God's will is for us to be here in Portland and for Andrew to attend seminary, then God will make a way. We are trusting in that and trying to be obedient to the Lord's way for us. A verse that has been on my heart lately and has been my prayer is Psalms 25:4-5, "Show me your ways, O Lord, teach me your paths; guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long." The other night I went to class with Andrew and the professor started class by singing "Great is Thy Faithfulness". Amen!!


Great is thy faithfulness, O God my father
There is no shadow of turning with thee
Thou changest not, thy compassions, they fail not,
As thou hast been, thou for ever will be.

Great is thy faithfulness
Great is thy faithfulness
Morning by morning new mercies I see
All I have needed thy hand hath provided
Great is thy faithfulness, Lord unto me
Great is thy faithfulness
Great is thy faithfulness

Summer and winter, and springtime and harvest
Sun, moon and stars in their courses above
Join with all nature in manifold witness
To thy great faithfulness, mercy and love

Great is thy faithfulness
Great is thy faithfulness
Morning by morning new mercies I see
All I have needed thy hand hath provided
Great is thy faithfulness, Lord unto me
Great is thy faithfulness
Great is thy faithfulness

Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth
Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide
Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow
Blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside

Great is thy faithfulness
Great is thy faithfulness
Morning by morning new mercies I see
All I have needed thy hand hath provided
Great is thy faithfulness, Lord unto me

Easter Weekend.....Sunday Morning!

This one's for our moms...

Although our outfits don't exactly match, we still managed to take Easter Sunday pictures. It is difficult though to get good pictures when there is just the two of you and you both want to be in the picture. But we tried. So here it is...our first Easter as Mr. and Mrs. Wilson...I even added dialog so you could get the full experience!!

Anna: "Is it going?"
Andrew: "Yup"

Andrew: "Why are we doing this? It's too early for pictures."
Anna: "Come on, babe, it will be fun. You'll thank me later."

Anna: "Smile!"
Andrew: "Are my eyes open yet?"

Anna: "Thanks babe, you're the best!"
Andrew: "Are my eyes open now?"

Anna: "...."
Andrew: "I couldn't resist." (actual quote)

Easter Weekend.....Saturday!

Saturday evening we enjoyed the company of Shawn and Chris Burdette. Andrew has been friends with the Burdette as long as he can remember. All four of them even drove all the way down for our wedding. Anyways, we had a coupon to Sweet Tomatoe's (we love that place!) and then it was back to our place for some Dominoe's. That's right...one of our most favorite games!! I won't write much but I'll just let the pictures tell all....