Getting Ready

These past couple of weeks seem to have been some of the busiest I have ever had. After leaving Eastern, I thought working would provide a welcome relief from an overwhelming schedule since I would no longer have homework to worry about when I got home. Unfortunately this has not been the case! Homework is still piling up from my last two classes I am taking at the community college and even though I rarely do it (I forgot an entire test last Thursday!) it still is always in the back of mind. Add that on top of working full time, plus the million appointments Sierra has preparing for the new baby and the endless list of projects that have to be completed before Grace gets here, my new spot as a Scout leader, Sierra's new responsibilities in relief society, and we have one busy schedule! 

Of course I don't want to sound whiny! We love living so close to our family and we have a TON of help! So I can't really complain, but I just never imagined how busy we could be. I have a feeling it isn't about to let up either with a new baby soon and then heading off to graduate school in the very near future!

One thing I do have to say though, is thank you SOOOOO much to everyone who has helped us out by donating/giving us gifts of so many wonderful things for Grace! We seriously have enough clothes such that she could wear a new outfit every day of her life until she is one year old I think! Plus the Swings and Boppys and Diapers and Blankets and I don't even know what else. We are so grateful to have all of you wonderful people to be helping us out so much. Thanks again! It is a bit bizarre though owning so much baby stuff... It's like we are real adults now or something :)

Anyways, I came into work today (Saturday) to do some software tests and I have ten minutes of down time in between each test, so I had a chance to edit the pictures that I took of the Sullivan family (plus me) while we were on vacation this summer in Lincoln City, Oregon. So here you have it!

Sierra, Mariah and Cameron:

The Sullivan Family At the Pier:

Brenda and Greg:

Again, How Cute!

Brenda:

Cameron

The Whole Family on the Pier:

Just the Girls on the Beach:

Us Guys on the Pier:

Another Angle, We are Cool :)

The Sullivan Family Holding Hands... Trust me, it is hard to catch all 6 people in this family with everyone opening their eyes :)

Greg and Janae framing a fishing boat in the bay:

Janae hamming it up:

Mariah

Me:

The Siblings:

The Whole Family on a nice Beach Log

The Whole Family again:

All of us on this really sweet Log we Found:

Well I suppose that is all for now... Hope you enjoyed the pictures!

For Anyone Interested

I recently posted this picture to Facebook, and someone had asked whether or not I had a high resolution of it anywhere. Well here it is a good bit larger resolution. The original file is about 14ft long and 3ft tall and in case you don't have a fast connection that could be a pain to pull up... So this is about a quarter of that size. Just click on the picture and it will take you to the full size version:

For those of you who didn't already know, this is a panorama I pieced together from a series of pictures I shot while on a hike on the Oregon coast. It is where the Salmon River meets the Pacific Ocean and it is just north of Lincoln City. That outcropping of rock just past the beach in the foreground is the very north end of Lincoln City beach, an area they call Road's End if you're familiar with the area.

If you are still interested in the gigantic one, I can give you that too.

-Ryan

The Beauty of Pregnancy

Today I took some time off of work so we could do a photo shoot! Sierra found out on Tuesday that she could go into labor as soon as next week, so we figured we should get our pictures in now! So here are a few of them that I have been able to edit:

Sierra holding her daughter :)

Doing her best to relax

A beautiful silhouette

So happy!

Already teaching her to spell her name :)

These are just a few of the shots we were able to get. I have to give credit to Sierra and Kirby for the blocks idea, it turned out awesome! Hopefully you enjoy them as much as we do... We tried to keep it tasteful :) We  only did indoor stuff today, so hopefully in the next few days we will be able to get out and get some sunshine with some outdoor pics. Thanks for checking them out!

-Ryan

Let's Get Up to Speed!

Hello all, and welcome to the beginning of the Orr's family blog. This is Ryan making our first post. Sierra and I are excited to keep in touch with all of you that are interested in keeping up with our family. One of the biggest reasons we chose to get started is because our family is soon to be 50% larger! (And yes, as this is half my blog I retain the right to implement mathematics into my posts as I see fit) Yes, we are soon to be welcoming a new baby girl into our family.

A quick synopsis of recent happenings in our life to bring everyone up to speed:

In August 2008, Sierra and I were married. Due to very fortunate connections (my family) we were able to take a two week honeymoon to the Carolina Coast, it was spectacular! We returned to Washington and spent our first year living together in Cheney while we took classes at Eastern Washington University. That fall we got a new Chihuahua puppy, bringing the total number of Chihuahuas in our household to 2. Their names are Tucker and Layla and though they can be quite obnoxious, we love them both! After a year at EWU, Sierra and I both wrapped up our undergraduate studies with Sierra earning a Bachelor's of Science in Exercise Science and me earning a Bachelor's of Arts in Mathematics. I took a job at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) in Richland, WA doing intern work for their Statistics and Sensor Analytics group (You can see the software we are building here). My parents were kind enough to offer their housing to us and we are living with them while we make money to pay off our loans and prepare for our new baby. Our stay is temporary, however. I am currently applying to graduate programs in Statistics around the country and in the Fall of 2010 we will again relocate so I can attend.

So there you have it... The 2 minute summary of Sierra and I's first year together. As I am short on time, pictures and other good stuff are to come in the very near future. Thanks for reading (If you are reading!) and we hope that we can stay in touch with all of you through our blog!

-Ryan