Mark's whirlwind trip to Oregon! (with pics)

I was extremely excited to have Mark visiting with us. Cory hadn't met Mark yet, so I was excited for that too... I was determined that he would have a fun trip and that we would cram as much into the few days he was here as possible... Oh boy! We sure crammed in a lot!

I didn't really know if I was going to be able to cope with being "on the go" all the time, but I was sure going to give it my best shot!

On Thursday, after the big ordeal getting here we decided to have an easy night. Cory went to work when we got back to Mac and Mark and I just took it easy. In the evening we had dinner a few drinks and chilled out.

On Friday we had a birthday party to go to at a friends house, so we didn't do too much during the day. I showed Mark around McMinnville and we went to a few shops. We dragged him along to my Dr's appointment too (I'll post about that separately) and then came home and got ready for the party. As I was waxing and scraping my snowboard the "boys" started on the drinks... Oh boy! Then we headed to Dave & Heathers place... Heather was turning the BIG 30!

We had a really fun evening, and although we bailed before 10.15pm and before bowling we were beat. Even Mark was ready to hit the hay (even though he didn't want to admit it). He'd had at least 11 shots of varying sizes and concoctions, plus about 6 beers... Ewwwww. No wonder he fell asleep on the sofa! Cory tried to wake him, but there was no budging him... So, we left the light on to his room and hoped he would find his way there when he got cold or uncomfortable.

He did!

In the morning we got up and started getting things ready for the trip to Mt Hood! Mark was a little dizzy, so was trying to get re-hydrated, and Cory cooked a yummy breakfast to keep us going til our late lunch in Sandy.

With the truck loaded, we hit the road!

Snowboarding was such a lot of fun! I didn't really have enough energy or stamina to do as much as I had wanted to, but I still had a blast. At the end I had to sit out in the café and let the boys do the last few runs by themselves. They were having fun, and I didn't want to overdo it and turn to mush for the rest of Mark's vacation. Mark did really well on the snowboard for it only being his second time ever... I realised that I am not as much of a daredevil as I used to be and that I would much rather take things in my stride!

When the "boys" came back to me after their last run they were both laughing so hard. It took a few mins and a few attempts to get the story out of them Apparently Mark had gotten tired and the last run had really stretched him. He did several awesome wipe-outs, including one really hard face plant, and one somersault come cartwheel where he landed hard and his board was upright in the snow! Mark was a little sore, but they'd had fun... and best of all, there was no serious injuries!

We left the mountain at 8pm and were home a little after 10 - that was good going!

On Sunday we got up and going again - this time we headed west to the beach! We started at Pacific City, one of my very favourite beaches. On the road to PC we stopped at Irish Road... We always give a little chuckle as we pass by, but this time we jumped out so Mark & I could have our photo taken!

At PC we climbed up to the punchbowl and then the boys decided to climb up to the top of the sand dune! There was no way I would be able to do that, esp after snowboarding the day before... I decided to walk back down and let them do it themselves! They had fun, and ran the whole way down the dune!

We walked back to the Pelican and grabbed some drinks and onion rings to warm us up... then we headed to Lincoln City, and to the outlet malls!

Man, there was some good deals at the outlet malls... GAP had some crazy sales, and then on top of that there was an additional 40% off the lowest ticketed price! I grabbed a few tank tops... each for less than $2! Cory and Mark both grabbed some awesome deals on jeans, and Mark got some shirts too ... with the exchange rate he got a superb bargain!

After that we were starting to slow down and get tired, so we headed back to Mac. We grabbed some pizza's on the way and went round to Dave & Heather's for a few, then back home and hit the sack again!

Monday and Tuesday in the daytime were fairly quiet. Mark and I just chilled around here, did some shopping and took it easy. On Monday afternoon we packed our warm rain gear into the truck and went and grabbed Cory from work to head up to the farm! Cory gave Mark a quick lesson on shooting a shotgun - he did really well! We threw some skeets (video below) and once all the shells were done we jumped on the four-wheelers and headed up into the trails around the farm!


I was on the back of Cory's and Mark had his own four-wheeler, and we went through the grounds and area where Cory grew up. It was such a lot of fun, and it was a nice relaxing evening! I'm pretty sure Mark had a lot of fun too, there was a big smile on his face as he was revving the four-wheeler through little streams and racing across fields! We had some dinner with Cory's parents and then headed back home... it seemed like we had spend the whole time on the go, and a lot of time in the truck!

On Mark's last evening we took it easy... I made spaghetti for dinner and we had that, a few drinks and watched a couple of episodes of Dexter. By 8.30pm we were all considering going to bed, but we managed to wait til 9.30pm... The alarm would be going off soon... real soon!

At 4am the alarm made it's terrible noise and I knew it was time to get up! Ugh!

We got the truck packed and on the road on time and with just a quick stop at Dutch Brothers for a caffeine fix we headed directly to the airport! I was so sad to see Mark go. We thoroughly enjoyed having him here, and the week had gone so quickly.

Thankfully, his flight left Portland without delay, and the connecting flight also left Newark on time... the flight home had no glitches! I was glad for that!

Here's the video of Mark skeet shooting...

Déjà vu

With January firmly under our belts I thought it was about time I took a few minutes to blog... I am really going to try and be more consistent this year about blogging, but I can't make any guarantees...

My nephew Mark arrived from Ireland last week to visit with us and we had a GREAT time together. His flights were on Wednesday from Dublin, via London and then Vancouver BC before getting here to Portland. Well, he didn't really get off to a good start. The UK received a right royal dumping of snow the night before his flights and all that morning, and London Heathrow were not prepared (shock horror!)! They had all the passengers strapped into their seats before they realised that they didn't have a deicing machine available... so, they went and found one of those (it took them hours) and then once they got it they realised they didn't have any deicer! WHAT!?!?!? So, about FIVE hours late, while everyone is still strapped into their seats they finally managed to get ready for take off.

Needless to say, Mark missed his connecting flight in Vancouver. They had transferred him to the last flight out of there that evening, but he missed that one too... it was to take off at 8.30pm and his flight didn't land until 8.20pm.... He had to spend the night in a hotel - but at least it wasn't a night at the airport...

We had gone up to Portland to pick him up, and had heard of the delay, but we still thought he would be able to make the connecting flight in Vancouver. So, we did some shopping and had a bite to eat while we waited... At 9.15pm once Mark had gotten through security and found out what was happening he called to say he wouldn't be arriving til the morning... Boooo

We were going to go and stay at Cory's brothers in Tualatin which would have meant a lot less driving and a lot more sleep, but it wasn't to be. I didn't have the pills I needed to take that evening or first thing in the morning... so we headed home and went straight to bed.

The following morning we got up and headed to Portland. His flight was due at 9.50am, so in order to miss the rush hour traffic we left a 7.45am. A little early, yes, but it would be miles better than sitting in traffic. I had the weird sensation of Déjà vu...

As we were driving I received a text message from Mark saying there was a delay. A sensor on the plane wasn't functioning correctly so they were going to try and fix it! Oh boy!

Well, they couldn't get it fixed, so instead they got a new plane.... a little, bitty twin-prop! Yikes!

We parked in the cell phone waiting zone at the airport and waited... and waited! Finally his flight had landed... 90 mins late, but it was here.

So we headed over to the airport and met him, grabbed his bags and got back on the road... headed for Mac... after 36 hours of travelling he was here... finally!

So far a quiet start to the New Year!

We celebrated New Years Eve with our friends Dave & Heather. It was fairly quiet and low key, we started at their house, and then went to Third Street to catch some live music. Unfortunately, the music wasn't really all that good so we decided to move on to the Cabana Club. Oh boy, that's a strange place... A very varied and 'interesting' crowd... if you've ever been there you will know EXACTLY what I mean!

So far this year so far has been fairly quiet for us. On Friday we went to see Avatar at the theatre with John & Janet! It was a really good movie, and I'm glad we spent the couple extra bucks to watch it in 3D. The SFX were brilliant and well worth it! The movie is 2 hours 4o mins long though, so if you're going to go see it, I'd recommend getting a small size drink!!!

Yesterday and today have been fairly low key too. We had lunch with Cory's brother Erik yesterday, and his girlfriend and her two kids. We hadn't seen them around Christmas time so we still had Christmas gifts for them, so that was nice. They're cute kids!

After that Cory and I worked on the house a little bit. I'd bought some rubbermaid storage boxes on sale to organise my craft stuff, so I worked on that for a fair chunk of the afternoon. Cory was mostly trying to get the plumbing done for the basement. It turned out to be a MUCH bigger job than we had expected. The old plumbing line was weak and when Cory connected the new line it gave way! Oh Crap! So, we put a temporary fix on it to see us through the evening and today after Church went to Lowes to get the rest of the copper pipe and fixtures we needed.

Today was my first solo as the visual projection person at Church. I am pretty pleased with how it went and I think it went ok. Thankfully we had gone to the music practice on Tuesday so I could type up the two new songs. Otherwise it could have been a little more hectic this morning, especially since the service times were changing to earlier today too!

So, right now Cory & Andrew are working on getting the last bits done on the plumbing and hopefully they shouldn't have much more to do. It'll be awesome when it's done and we can do the first load of dishes in the dishwasher!

I guess I had better get going and make the working men some dinner too... I'm going to make Shepherds pie tonight and it will be nice to have a relaxing evening before the working week starts!

Here are some pics of Cory & Andrew plumbing in and installing the dishwasher... Please try to look beyond our messy house ;)I almost didn't add this one, because of the state of the kitchen in the background... but if you understand what was going on you'll be able to see pass the bomb site. I had just got water back and was in the middle of cooking a yummy Shepherds pie for the working men. They had just pulled the dishwasher out again for the millionth time and I almost spilled the pie on Andrew while transferring it from the counter to the oven. What a disaster that would have been, we were ALL VERY HUNGRY! Right before Cory snapped this shot I'd grabbed the instruction manual to double check they'd done everything right! hehehehe

Within about half hour of this photo being taken our kitchen was transformed! The dishwasher was in place, running a cycle and the kitchen was tidy. I guess I should have taken an 'after' shot so you'd believe me ;)

Goodbye 2009 - Hello 2010

Well, it's really hard to believe, but it's New Years Eve already. Yes, December 31st 2009.

I can't quite believe the year has been and gone and we are now dawning a new year! I haven't even gotten caught up from the summer yet! Whoopsie!

2009 has been quite the year for Cory and I. It's been busy and hectic at times, it's been crazy and fast-paced. It's been emotional, it's been scary, it's had lots of highs & lows and it's had lots of really fun and wonderfully memorable times. One thing I know for sure is that 2009 will be forever etched on my memory!

We started the year excited about what it might hold, but completely unsure what the year was going to throw at us. It threw a LOT in our direction. Sometimes we ducked, sometimes we just braced for impact and other times it feels like I fell apart. But even with all those things, I'd still have to say that 2009 was a wonderful year in the "Book of Me".

My wonderful boyfriend asked me to marry him and we had the most wonderful wedding imaginable. We had a lot of friends visit us from far and wide, and my Mum, Alfie & Morgan came all the way from London to see us. That was one of the real highlights!

The Summer was really fun, but with the Graves Disease we had our own fair share of struggles. I had my thyroid radiation and started on the "regulation road" as we call it... where we try and balance the synthetic thyroid supplements perfectly so I have enough thyroid hormones to make it through each day.

Autumn was a LOT of fun! We tried to do as much fun stuff as I had energy for, and we even went to my first real football game, the OSU homecoming game. To be completely honest, I don't really get "American Football", it's all a bit weird to me. The rules don't seem 'natural' and the whistle blowing every 30 seconds is frustrating to me... oh well, perhaps I'll learn the rules enough to understand a game sometimes!

Winter has been fun, but has gone by so quickly and the weather has been mild. Oh, and I celebrated my first Thanksgiving this year too! Again, it's not something I 'totally' understand, but it was fun and the food was great! ;)

I absolutely love Christmas, and always have since I was a child, so I was very pleased to work on all the Christmas stuff and get the house decorated. I loved our Christmas tree too, it was just beautiful! I just wish my family could have been here to celebrate with us, or somehow we could have orchestrated it that we could have been in several places at once...

So, with 2010 on our doorstep Cory and I are excited for all the things the New Year will bring our way. We know for sure that there are some struggles coming our way, and challenges that we will have to face together, but we also know that it will be a good year. We will have some fun times, make some wonderful memories and best of all, we'll do all these things together!

Christmas in the Fast Household

When I was a child I was always allowed to choose a gift to open on Christmas Eve. So, Cory and I have decided that we will continue this same tradition in our house too.

On Christmas Eve we went to visit with some good friends of ours. It was really a fun time, talking with them and laughing about silly things. They're really special people and fun to be around.

When we came home we opened our Christmas Eve gifts and it was late (and we're old, I guess) so we went to bed!

This year we decided that we would have a relaxing Christmas morning, instead of rushing round trying to get here, there and everywhere on time.

We hadn't set an alarm for the morning, and when I first woke it was still really dark outside, so I looked at my watch - it was only 6.15am! Too early to wake up Cory. So, I tried to go back to sleep, but I couldn't. At 7.15 I nudged Cory to test how sleepy he was and said "Merry Christmas!" He replied, "Merry Christmas" but he was still sleepy.... At 7.45 I couldn't wait any longer. I nudged him and said "It's Christmas, we have to get up!"

I have always loved Christmas, and the magic feeling it brings. It isn't about the presents but it's just a really special time of year... Don't get me wrong, the presents and the food are nice, but they're more a bonus... the cherry on top!

So, we settled into the couch and started opening our stocking gifts and it was really a fun and relaxing way to start the day!

Then we opened our gifts from each other. We had set a budget this year, and I'd spent it all on his main gift so I was excited to see if I'd chosen the right gift for Cory. I had, and he was really excited... and I was glad! I'd got him a North Face jacket, and not only did I not really know if it was the right style, but the sizing was a little weird too. I bought the size he usually gets in NF stuff but it looked huge when it arrived... It was perfect though and I was happy!
It would have been terrible if he only had one main gift to open and it wasn't the right thing! *Phew!

Cory did really good on my gifts too. He got me an awesome Brown Betty teapot which I adore and use all the time, and he also got me a beautifully framed photo from our wedding. It's a 20x30 and we put it up on the huge blank space in our bedroom, and it's more than perfect! He also got me some craft stuff and things from home. He's a real diamond geezer!

After opening gifts we called my Mum and Dad back home. It was great to talk to them and the boys too. Alfie said it "was the best Christmas ever, he got everything he had ever wanted". He's a sweet, sentimental little boy and even though he was sick with the swine flu he was having a fun time. Morgan was just so excited about everything, and it was great to hear the excitement in his voice as he explained about the gifts he'd got and asked if Santa had made it to our place.

Morgan was a little worried that Santa might not remember where we were, so he left a note out with the cookies and milk telling him not to forget about Me, Cory & Tittr here in Oregon. He's a real fun little guy, and looks out for his Auntie Mary!

After talking to them and calling some other family back home we made a yummy breakfast and got ready! It was nice to not be rushing around like a headless chicken!

Once we were ready we loaded the gifts up into the truck and headed to Cory's parents place. We were going to exchange gifts there and have dinner with them.

The afternoon was lovely. Genie did a great job with dinner and it was a really fun time had by all. It was also Cory's Grampa's 80th birthday on Christmas Day, so we sang "Happy Birthday" to him and Jesus and we had birthday cake from his party!

It had been a long but very fun and memorable day... we headed home and put our feet up for the rest of the evening!

Here's a few photos for ya:

Cory helping his Grandmother open her gifts

Last year I introduced the Christmas Crackers tradition and this year we even got everyone to wear their crowns! ;)

Yep - it's a crazy person infront of a pretty Christmas tree!

Our first Christmas as Mr & Mrs Cory Fast

Merry Christmas & update from The Fast’s

Merry Christmas & Update from the Fast's

So, I guess I should firstly say that I am not a ‘regular’ at writing these update letters… So I am hoping to keep it short and sweet (a bit like me I guess – hahahaha)!

Anyway, 2009 has been quite the year for us. For those of you who live on the moon and don’t yet know - I have immigrated to the USA! Yes, I am now living in beautiful Oregon! The process was fairly stressful and very lengthy, but it was very worth it, and I am now the proud holder of a Green Card.

I’ve been here for 12 months now, and will say that all-in-all, it’s one of the most wonderful places to live. It is beautiful all year round and we are excited for the snowing to start here in a couple of weeks (or days from the forecast I heard this morning) – the snow is hard work, but it’s such fun!

I do miss my family & friends from home though, and am trying to be good at keeping in touch… and we are VERY excited for our trip in the spring and will try and see as many of you as possible!

The other big news from us is that we got married! Yes, that’s the reason I am no longer little Friel – I’m ‘Fast’ now!

Our wedding was just about as perfect as it could be. My Mum & two nephews came from the UK, we had friends travel from the UK, Finland and all over the US to be with us. We have so many special memories from that day – a big thanks to all of you who made it SO special – and yes, that includes those of you who were in on the ‘Bandit’ plan to kidnap me from the wedding reception!

Other than immigrating and getting married, the main thing going on with us is unfortunately my health. A few days before the wedding after several tests and Doctors visits I was diagnosed with Graves Disease. GD is an auto immune illness and basically, it causes my immune system to attack the thyroid. I was having fairly intense symptoms and was put on medication to help with those while I waited to see the Endocrinologist. Back then, I don’t think we really knew what an uphill struggle we were in for.

A few weeks after my diagnosis, Cory and I went to the hospital to receive my radiation treatment. It was a scary time, but for us it was a step in the right direction. A step to getting better and we were in the struggle together. Once my thyroid started to die off it went very quickly… It seems like it should have been on a gentle downward slope, but instead it took a sky dive and that is not fun to experience. I quickly fell into being hypothyroid (under active thyroid function) as well as having Graves Disease. Oh what fun!

We hadn’t been warned what a journey it would be (I think my Dr was surprised that I crashed so hard & fast too), so every day we were learning. In fact, I’d say we are still learning. I am now taking synthetic thyroid replacement medication, but we still have a few months of my thyroid dying and getting regulated to deal with before I’ll be standing on my own two feet.

Anyway, I know it’s easy to moan about being ill, and to say what a horrible time it’s been, and it really has, but I’d also like to say that it’s been quite an incredible journey too. Cory and I as newlyweds have had to really be strong together, and he has been just wonderful. He has taken care of me when all I was able to do was be a grump and stay on the couch. He has seen me through the good days and bad, and has helped me keep pushing on, keep fighting, and keep looking forward to the day when I have my energy back, and have this illness firmly under my thumb. I am so thankful for a husband that is my best friend, my soul mate and my life partner. That is more than I could have ever wished or hoped for.

We also attend a great church here in McMinnville, and that has been such a blessing to us. The pastor, Charlie, has such a gift as a speaker and is captivating to listen to. This whole summer every single sermon that he has preached has felt like it was specifically focused on us and our situation. God knew what we needed to hear, when we needed encouragement, when we needed direction and when we just needed to rest in His awesome power. He has carried us both through this hard time, and is still doing so today.

We are looking forward to the New Year, and all the new challenges it will bring along. We’re also looking forward to our trip ‘back home’, to seeing dear family and friends, and to hopefully having restored health. Wishing you all a wonderful 2010, filled with joy, happiness and laughter!

Love & hugs to you all, from

Cory & Mary xoxoxoxox

YAY for Andrew & Adie

So, Cory and I are excited, bcause tonight we get to go pick up Andrew and Adison from the airport. They're arriving from NC for three weeks over the holiday season.

We just heard a couple of hours ago that one of their connecting flights was cancelled, so they had to switch to a different flight, but the good thing (I think) is that their flight now arrives at 7pm instead of 11.30pm - at least we'll get back here to Mac at a reasonable time!

It'll be good to see them both, we don't get to see them often enough :)

That's all for now, time to go and bake some yummy cookies....

Catch ya later :)

It's begining to feel a lot like Christmas

This will have to be a quick post, I have a ton of stuff to do today, but I don't know if I will get to write for a few days, so thought I'd make a quick post and update.

I still have tons from the summer to update, I promise I'll get round to those soon... My goal is before the New Year! Yikes!

Anyway, with December firmly here and Christmas rapidly approaching we finally managed to get our tree.
We went up this weekend and picked out the most perfect tree. Cory cut it about half way up which looked like it would be about right. We went to help Doug (Cory's Dad) cut down the one for him and Genie, and we carted them back to the four wheelers. I was getting excited.

Cory climbed a tree for some mistletoe too. No Christmas decorations would be complete without that! I know you're supposed to "shoot" it out of the tree, but we didn't have a gun and it was getting dark!

While Doug brought the trees back to the Farm on the trailer Cory took me on a one of the trails on the other four-wheeler. It was a lot of fun. The trails are so pretty!

We visited a while with Cory's parents, and niece Julia. Everyone was excited about the news they'd just heard, that Cory's sister in law, Katie was six weeks pregnant.

So, on Sunday after church and lunch we decided that we were going to put the tree up... Cory had to cut about two and a half feet off the bottom of it, and about another six inches off the top to make it fit, but it looked perfect!

We had a lot of fun decorating the tree, some new ornaments, some old, and John & Janet brought us some ornaments that they used to have on their tree back in California too.

I added a few other decorations around the living and dining rooms and we were just about done. The house smelled so Christmassy, and it sure looked it! I love my tree - I think it's just perfect, and I'm excited for this Christmas...

... Our first as Mr & Mrs Cory Fast!

(Here are some pics from the Christmas tree hunt)

Newest addition to the family.

This past weekend my brother had a little baby girl. She was born healthy in the early hours of Saturday morning
12th December 2009.

They have named her Charlotte Ann.