Our negative one year anniversary

In exactly 365 days, I will marry my best friend. So begins a year of planning, celebrating, laughing, and loving. I'm so excited!

Bernadette's Baby Shower

Bernadette and Chris are expecting their first baby...and it's a boy! For all you couples looking to get pregnant, apparently rubbing a larger than life "fertility" egg in the middle of a hotel lobby on your honeymoon in Bali is the secret! The girls at work wanted a way to celebrate this joyous occasion and also wanted an excuse to spend some time together outside the confines of OHSU. Here are some pictures from the evening!
 

Allison made bruschetta and bought enough cherries to feed an army. She also made cucumber cream cheese sandwiches. Elise brought the delicious tomato flatbread (which is actually puff pastry!). I made pear and brie quesadillas and a fresh-squeezed strawberry lemonade mock-tail. I was super excited to use our food processor for the first time!

Julie helped me put up the decorations....

   

which proved to be a difficult task!

But I think they turned out great!

You can't really tell, but those are pictures of celebrity babies. One of the games was to identify the famous parents. April won hands down and her gift was a baby-linen smelling candle. We're hoping it brings her and her new husband some luck ;)

 

Next up?!? 

Check out the AMAZING cake and cake pops Allison's friend baked for us!!

  

The theme of the presents was "My favorite childhood books." What was great about this theme (which was totally unintended) was that many of the books were new to Bernadette. She grew up in Germany and moved to Florida when she was in middle school. We introduced her to classics like Richard Scary, Mother Goose, and Where the Wild Things Are.



We had SUCH a great time. Thanks to Allison and Julie who did most of the work (I basically just volunteered the house!)

Bern's due date is coming up! I can't wait to meet the little guy!

An EVEN MORE perfect proposal

About a month ago, Mark said he wanted to go to the beach. We looked ahead in our calendar and picked the weekend of July 21st. Last weekend, my parents went down to the beach house to clean it for our out of town family. On the drive home, my mom called to tell us that the beach house was clean and closed to any more visits. Mark began to sweat. As I was talking on the phone with my mom, he was yelling from the other room, "Tell her we really want to go!" And then, the strangest thing happened. My mom said we could use the beach house one more time before the out of town family arrives. (I found out after all was said and done, that my dad may have urged my mom to change her mind).

We drove down bright and early Saturday morning. We decided to hike Cascade Head, which is a beautiful hike just north of my parents beach house. I had done this hike a million times when I was younger, but never as an adult.

Mark was soooo excited and SUPER chatty. He was driving the small talk, which is a first in our relationship! Usually I'm the talker of the two of us.

We started trekking through forest.

We took corny pictures.

 

The scenery was breath-taking!

Our favorite part were the bridges along the way.

Why are walking bridges so freakin cool?! I just love them!

Finally we emerge from the forest and are rewarded with a spectacular view.

The Salmon River.

The Pacific Ocean

More corny pictures ;)

Me and my boyfriend.

What I'm pretending to think: Wow, what a gorgeous view. This is spectacular

What I'm actually thinking: OH MY GOD! Could this be it?! What's going to happen when I turn around. Play it cool. Play it cool.

Well, I turned around, and we proceeded to eat our peanut butter and jelly sandwiches on the grass. There was some more small talk. Then he asked me to stand up. Okay. More talking, some hugging. Then he said, let's sit back down. Oooo-kay. More talking. He kept commenting on how many people were on the hiking trail. Then he said, let's stand back up. Ooooo-kkkkaaayyy.

Then, he began to tell me how much he loved. Sooo much, in fact, that he would climb to the top of a mountain and shout it to everyone who could hear. He dropped to one knee, and my vision started to blur. I'm pretty sure he said "Will you marry me?" and I'm pretty sure I was frozen. So frozen that he had to ask me a second time! "Oh yes! Of course yes!" He then asked if he could put the ring on my finger. My blurry vision then somehow was able to focus on the ring. It was PERFECT! I dropped to my knees, frantically took off the claddagh, and slipped on a one-of-a-kind 1940's engagement ring!

Isn't it beautiful!?

Me and my future husband!

Engaged!

I couldn't focus on the hike back down! Thank goodness we took pictures along the way!

My fiance, a glass of champagne and my gorgeous engagement ring. I couldn't be happier!

Paws for a Cause

For those who don't know, I am a physician assistant at the Parkinson Center of Oregon at Oregon Health & Science University. There's so much I love about my job: the coworkers, the patients, the science and research, the fundraising, the educating. I could go on. One of the more successful (and fun!) ways that all these areas intersect is through a fundraising event called Paws for a Cause. Paws for a Cause is a community dog walk and fair that raises money and awareness for Parkinson's disease. Here are some of my favorite pictures from the event.

Event MC and husband of a patient Larry brought is 1933 Ford for the event

Complete with Paws for a Cause sign of course!

Kelly, Charlie and Delaney

Ahna and the firemen. Hot!

Julie poses with "Hunter Dog" - poor Hunter

The Parkinson Rebels dance to MJ's Thriller

Charlie was very attentive during the FireDog demonstration

She's SUCH a good dog! Auntie Shannon loves you Char!

      

I tried to get Charlie and Bailey to model the Paws for a Cause Doggie Fashion Line, but they kept sniffing each other. Clearly they need to watch more ANTM.

Equipment Manager

From "How Stuff Works" on Football Equipment Managers:

The role of equipment manager has become an extremely important one for every NFL team. The equipment manager has two big areas of responsibility:

• Protecting the players - First and foremost, an equipment manager's job is to fit each player on the team with a customized array of equipment that will provide maximum protection against injury.
• Managing the logistics - The equipment manager must handle the tons of equipment the team uses on a daily basis, keep all of it repaired and in stock and move it around for all of the road games.

These twin responsibilities have made equipment management both a science and an incredibly demanding role on any NFL team.

                                                                          *****

Now lets edit this to apply to my family:

The role of DAD has become an extremely important one for every Donovan daughter. The Dad has two big areas of responsibility:

• Protecting the family - First and foremost, the dad's job is to provide each daughter in the family with a customized array of opportunities that will provide maximum protection against the challenges of life.
• Managing the logistics - The dad must handle the tons of equipment the daughters use on a daily basis, keep all of it repaired and in stock and move it around for all of the road games.

These twin responsibilities have made fatherhood both a science and an incredibly demanding role in any family.

                                                                         *****

For as long as I can remember, my sister, mom and I have always referred to my dad as "Equipment Manger." On the morning of a soccer game, my sister and I would have our soccer bags packed, water jugs filled, and scrambled eggs and toast already made up on the breakfast table. When the family was trying to get out of the house to catch a flight, Dad would set multiple alarms on his watch to make sure we were right on schedule. He'd have the tickets printed and filed in a travel folio. The bags would be perfectly stacked tetris style in the back of the Dono-van.

Take all this at face value, and you may draw the conclusion that we were spoiled little brats and our dad did everything for us (which actually...is a true statement). But I'd like to take this a little bit further to give you a little insight into the character of the most amazing dad there ever was.

My dad is the definition of selfless. He daily makes personal sacrifices so that his family can be happy. He arrives at the office at 5:30am so that he can leave by 4pm and pick Kelly and I up from soccer practice. He passed over multiple opportunities for prestigious promotions because he didn't want to uproot our family during those formative middle school years. He worked hard...man did he work hard...to be the best lumber salesman anyone has ever seen so that my sister and I could have the opportunity to pick our college based on the right fit - not the right price tag.

More than all this, he NEVER, not once, asked for anything in return. I'm not exaggerating. Ask my sister or my mom. He loves loving us. He legitimately felt joy when I scored a goal. You would think that he ran a personal best 400m in the state qualifying track meet because he was so happy watching me cross that finish line 2 seconds faster than I had ever run before. No one would have guessed that he wasn't in Boston when the Red Sox finally won the world series because you could hear his cries of joy from coast to coast. My sister and I were extensions of him. When we laughed, he laughed. When we cried, he cried. When we succeeded, he succeeded. No matter where Kelly and I are be it Boston, Eugene, or the next room over, whether we're 3 years old or 30, we can always talk to my dad and know that he'll instantly react, triage, advise, and execute the way a trustworthy Equipment Manager would.

I love you Dad! Happy Father's Day!

New Year's Eve with the best date ever.

Jack Jr and Jack Sr (aka the original awesome dad) 

Supporting the Red Sox at Safeco (we won the game).

"The Rarr"

Jack's cedar plank grilled salmon is legend...wait for it...dary!

Mary Ann's - the local BC bar. It may have been 2005, but we partied like 1975!



 And like a champ, Dad rallied for tailgaiting the next morning in the mods with Mr. Bourque and Mr. Pierson...two other top notch dads!

Equipment Manager does a final bag check before sending me away to his alma mater. Notice how many carry-on's I have. Clearly this pic was taken pre 9/11 (by about 2 weeks).



Mom makes the most amazing Christmas lasagna. Usually the lasagna wins, but this particular Christmas, Dad and Kelly were determined to finish. Please note Kelly's unbuttoned jeans and the closest thing you'll ever see to a pot belly on Dad.