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Last weekend I went cabin camping at Silver Falls State Park with my girlfriends. We went on a couple great hikes, saw lots of water falls, made s’mores, and had an awesome time. We didn’t even get rained on which is always amazing in the Willamette Valley in winter. We also took some pictures…






We have a great time and I hope we can all head out of town together again soon. Also the cabins at Silver Falls are great! There was sleeping space for 6 people, heat and lights all in the cabin.

XC Skiing Pictures

This weekend I had a glimpse of life after school on a xc ski trip to Montana. Our traveling group left on a train from Portland Friday evening and the next morning we arrived in Essex, MT at the Izaak Walton Inn.

When I told friends about the trip before leaving this is how the conversation went:

AA: I’m going skiing in Montana!
Friend: Where in Montana?
AA: Essex, Montana.
Friend: Aaahhh…Umm where is that?
AA: I don’t know.

Now I understand that no one knows where Essex is because it is a town of 30 people that is not really a town at all. Essex is just a cement platform where the train drops people off who are going to stay in the Izaak Walton Inn. The train tracks are literally a few hundred yards in front of the Inn.

The Inn consists of a couple floors of rooms, a restaurant, a lounge with fireplace, and a full bar downstairs. After skiing and then warming up in the sauna everyone settles into the cozy chairs by the fire to read, tell stories, and rest tired muscles. Last night the fireside scene was bubbling along when a couple people started coughing, then the people next to them started coughing, and next thing you knew the entire room was cleared out. Not a single person in the hotel was safe from the scratchy throat, watery eyes, gasping for air syndrome also known as bear spray accident. We discovered that a woman had bear spray in her backpack which somehow sprayed and temporarily poisoned everyone in the lodge. It took at least an hour before everyone stopped coughing again and before a few people drifted back into the lounge area. Aren’t all of the bears hibernating right now?

I don’t have any skiing pictures because the rain has kept me from bringing my camera out onto the trails. But, the ski trails are awesome! After three consecutive days of skiing I am gliding along quite gracefully on the flats, cruising up the hills, and almost surviving the downhills. If I had my snowboard I would be just fine, but I never learned how to downhill ski. Today I discovered that my Sporthill ski pants have a lovely water resistant butt patch which doubles as a built in sled so I can slide down the steep slopes on my butt. This technique is fun and much more graceful than my attempts to ski down the steeper stretches of trail. I will try to get some photos tomorrow to prove it.

On a completely different topic–this Thursday I have an interview for the nurse-midwifery program at OHSU in Portland! I was told that they had 60 applicants for 10 spots this year so I am thrilled just to have an interview. Wish me luck!

AlexAnn

Oh Christmas Tree…

Christmas tree decorating at the Westlake’s…


This morning my dad and sister opened up all the chests of Christmas ornaments. They set up the tree in the living room and they put the lights on it. Then they spent all day long in the living room, with the ornaments and the tree, yet there is only one ornament on the tree…

The ornaments are over flowing off the couch, and the table. They’re lined up on the window sill and scattered across the floor, but they are not on the tree after a full day. Rather than decorating the tree, my dad and Sierra spent the day sorting and labeling ornaments. This is the first year that my brother Nathan will have his own Christmas tree in his own house because he and Camille just got married and bought a house this year. That means that all of the ornaments my dad has saved up over the years must be divided up between Nathan, Sierra and I.

I’m unsure whether it’s a good thing or a bad thing that I missed out on the day full of sorting. Supposedly Sierra was picking out which ornaments I would have wanted. Except that she admits she always picked out her favorite one for herself first. Nathan missed out too, but my dad was picking out ornaments for him. After selection each ornament is labeled with a little metal “N”, “A”, or “S” tag that my dad made hundreds of so there will be no dispute later about whose is whose.

I’m being called back to the living room to do some picking and choosing for myself now so I’d better go!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

It has been far far too long since I last wrote in my blog. I have no excuse and the consequence will be an epically long blog post. I never even posted that I graduated back in June and it is now September already. That means I skipped months worth of blog posts. So here we go! Back to June!

NCAA Track Championships at Hayward Field

I got tickets right above the finish line at the NCAA Track Championships and my dad and I went to the meet. We saw Aston Eaton and Andrew Wheating run and all of the other awesome UO track athletes. I ran down to the fence to get a high-five from Andrew when he did his victory lap. Here’s me waiting:

And I promise this next picture is him reaching out to give me a high-five. Just ask my dad, he took the picture:

Shortly after the track meet came my thesis defense and finals week. My thesis defense was outstanding! Professors Priscilla Southwell, Melissa Cheyney, Juan Epple and Helen Southworth all attended as members of my thesis committee. After I gave a brief presentation on my project and conclusions they asked me tough questions to determine the strength of my work. Afterwards I left the room with my friends and family and they discussed my performance and awarded me a “Pass with Honors.” Thank you to Mom, Dad, Janell, Mark, Will, Adrien, Jon, Johanna, and Kelsey for attending as well. It was wonderful to have you all there for support!

With thesis done and finals done I only had graduation left to look forward to. I decided to only attend the UO Honors College graduation ceremony. I could have also attended the general UO ceremony and the Romance Languages ceremony but I decided that one was enough. The morning of graduation I invited friends and family to go on a hike and then come to brunch at my parents’ house.

Here’s a photo of our hiking group on top of Mount Pisgah:

That evening I attended the graduation ceremony. We lined up ourselves to walk in and sit down so I go to place myself right between Christie and Adrien. Unfortunately the lighting was bad at night in the ballroom and reception area so I only have a few good pictures. Here’s my mom and I after the ceremony:

After graduation I started working full time in the UO Development Office. This is my third year working in the Development Office and I have learned a lot from working there. But my job there ends in just a few weeks because I can no longer work as a “student” worker now that I’m one full term past graduation.

On the weekends I also work for Eclectic Edge Racing helping with event set up, timing and results for running races and triathlons in Eugene and surrounding areas. It is mind blowing how many running races occur in the Eugene area during the summer. On most weekends runners can choose from multiple running race options without leaving town. No wonder this is Track Town USA. I was introduced to Eclectic Edge because they do the timing and results for the UO Triathlon Team at the Duck Bill Thrill. At the beginning of the summer the owner William told me they were swamped with work so I offered to help out and I am glad I did because I’m really enjoying it!

Tiffany’s Wedding

In July (yes I’ve only made it to July, August is still yet to come) Tiffany got married!! Wooohoooo!! I was a bridesmaid for the first time ever and family from my mom’s side came from all over to visit and help celebrate. My cousins Della and her husband Lee and their three boys, Jay, Cole and Shane stayed at my parents’ house for a few weeks! They brought their horses (Briar and Rebel who used to be our horses) all the way up with them from Arizona. The three boys are 14, 12, and 10 and they are so much fun! I loved having them around and they can come back anytime in my opinion. Of course I also work from 8am-5pm so I didn’t have to, I mean get to, spend all day with them everyday.

But! Back to the wedding. Here are a couple photos of the beautiful bridal party and of family.

I thought I had more pictures to show but it turns out the good pictures are on my mom’s computer so these will just have to do for now. But in summary, the bride was gorgeous, the weather was really hot, the cake was delicious, and it felt wonderful to see so many family members all together for the occasion.

A few more weeks of work passed and then August rolled around. I was desperately in need of a vacation and some fun. And Will it turns out was in need of a road trip companion to help him get from Portland to Asheville, North Carolina. He had been saying he was going to move there since winter so the time had come to follow through. We decided that we would take the trip together just a couple weeks before we actually left. The only problem was Will didn’t have a car. But he had two weeks and his parents’ offered to put $5,000 toward a car for him as a graduation gift.

Of course just because he had two weeks doesn’t mean he used those two weeks. Down to the day before we left I was still hesitant to tell people that we were going because I didn’t know whether or not it would actually happen. But when he finally bought a car (the day before our departure day) I was convinced and ready to go!

While he was hurrying to buy a car the day before we left I went boating with the Hutchinsons at Hills Creek Reservoir. I got up on the wake board on my first try! I love it so much that Kitty could have pulled me back and forth across the lake all day and I wouldn’t have stopped until my legs and arms gave out. Thanks for inviting Sierra and I and thanks for the fun time!

So Will and I had a car, we had a plan and we packed. We traveled for two weeks and we survived! Will has now been in Asheville for a few weeks, he has a job and he has a house. I couldn’t possibly write about the entire trip in my blog, especially not in this post which is already very very long. But I will list off the highlights. For the full view of the trip check out the photo album: Will & AlexAnn Road Trip Photos

Road Trip Highlights:

1) Lots of hiking, both in Lewis and Clark Caverns State Park in Montana and in Yellowstone.

2) “Boiling River” swimming spot in Yellowstone. It’s a spot where the hot springs flows into the river and you can sit in it. It’s a little tricky to find the perfect spot because the flow of the water makes it shift between hot and cold but it felt so good after a few days of not showering.

3) Visiting my Aunt Chris in Sheridan, Wyoming and seeing the Koi ponds build by my Uncle Dave above their earth home (the front is normal but 3 sides and the roof are built into the hillside). My Uncle Dave was killed by lightning on July 12 while out running to train for the Leadville 100 ultramarathon. I’m really glad we were able to stop and visit my Aunt and see my Uncle’s ponds during the trip.

4) We visited Will’s Grandma Greta in Neilsville, Wisconsin! She took very good care of us, that’s what grandmas always do.

5) We mountain biked in Brown County State Park in Indiana. This is the self-proclaimed “Mountain Biking Mecca of the Midwest”. We rented cheap bikes so I was single speeding it the whole way. Also the bugs were HORRIBLE and it was EXTREMELY muggy. Will made me go in front because he said, “You have to because if I go in front I’ll go to fast and I’ll crash!” So I went in front and got all the spiderwebs in my face.

6) CouchSurfing in Asheville, North Carolina (at some very interesting houses). If you haven’t heard of CouchSurfing before check it out: CouchSurfing.org.

7) Swimming in the Atlantic Ocean! It will never cease to amaze me how you can actually SWIM in the ocean in some places! It is so cool!

8. The plane ride home was sad because my vacation was over and I was leaving Will behind in North Carolina. To make matters even worse the flight experienced a lot of turbulence and I felt sick most of the flight. But this still falls into the “highlights” because I happened to sit next to a Nurse-Midwife who studied Midwifery at OHSU on my flight from Chicago to Portland. I was thrilled when I found out she was a midwife and I asked her questions for the rest of the flight.

My quick list of highlights ended up being quite long. In the future I will be better about writing more consistently to avoid huge posts like this one. Fall is slowly sneaking up on us now. I know because my UO friends are trickling back into town. I suddenly have a social life once again! I’m taking the GRE at the end of this month, then I will be taking two classes at LCC fall term and working. In a couple weeks my brother is getting married at Salmon Creek Falls Campground in Oakridge. Sierra and I will be flower girls in the wedding ceremony.

Last thing, I want to say thank you to my family for letting me live at home this summer! It has been great. And especially thanks to Sierra for letting me share her bedroom. I am lucky to have such a generous little sister!

On Thursday May 27th I successfully defended my honors college thesis before a committee of four professors at the UO. The final product was 121 pages titled “Choices and Decision-Making in Childbirth: A Qualitative Study in Valdivia, Chile.” It feels so good to be done! And that means it’s time to look forward to graduation!

Announcement & Invitation:

The Westlakes are pleased to announce that on Sunday June 13th, after four full and rewarding years, AlexAnn will graduate from the University of Oregon and the Clark Honors College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Spanish!

To celebrate this exciting day please join us for the following:

Sunday June 13th

9:30 am – 11:00 am
Family and friends hike up Mount Pisgah.
Meet in the arboretum at the base of Mount Pisgah at 9:30 am.

11:00 am – 1:00 pm
Brunch at the Westlake’s home.
Drop in whenever you’d like to chat, eat, reminisce, play games, and celebrate! Location: 37701 Summer Creek Road, Dexter OR 97431.

Please RSVP to: awestlak@gmail.com (that is correct without an “e” at the end). Whether or not you can attend on the 13th please email me your mailing address so that I can mail you a formal graduation announcement.

Love, AlexAnn & Family

Racing to the Finish!

Arrival at the Summit!

Time to Nap and Recover!

“The One and Only” Wildflower Triathlon at Lake San Antonio, California was May 1-2. The UO Triathlon Team made the 13 hour trip down with 6 large vans and 30 student triathletes. We camped for 5 days, raced 1 day, and had inconceivable amounts of fun.

This picture shows just how big the race was. This is a picture of the transition zone with the lake in the background. It was so big I couldn’t even fit it all in one picture.

I made everyone on the team pose for pre-race shots the day before our race. Here are some of the resulting photos:


Then race morning came along and everyone was super pumped. More photos came to be.

Finally everyone managed to squeeze into their wetsuits and we did a quack cheer. The UO men were ready to go and took off 5 minutes before the UO women.

Then the women went in our pink swim caps. This is the start of my race. I’m that one making a really big splash, towards the front on the side close to the dock. You know, that one.

And everyone finished! The UO team placed 5th out of all the collegiate teams.

Then the most impressive feat of all occurred. We stayed Sunday night and then left at 6:00 am Monday morning to drive home. 6 vans, 30 students, 13 hours of travel with only 3 stops! I was absolutely amazed.

Sunday was my birthday and I went on a 90 mile bike ride to celebrate. It was gorgeous and about 20 of us all bike from Eugene to Pleasant Hill to Dexter all the way up June Mountain and down Eagle’s Rest and then back to Eugene. Lots of sun, a spectacular view, and only 3 flats and 1 crash made a pretty sweet ride.

Afterwards we had an AlexAnn Birthday BBQ. Here are some pictures.


Here are some UO Triathlon Team members in Corvallis after the Beaver Freezer Spring Triathlon April 4th:

Below is Gabe in the kitchen. On Saturday during the triathlon I was on the run about a 1/4 mile from the finish when some crazy guy covered in mud from biking and wearing a speedo swimsuit with a Texas flag on it and a bright yellow grandma style swim cap with a chin strap went sprinting past me. My thought at the moment, ‘Who on earth is that ridiculous guy!?’

Well a few moments later I crossed the finish line and standing right in front of me was my friend Gabe, covered in mud and wearing a speedo and yellow swim cap. He also won his age group therefore I think all the guys should dress like that for triathlon races because it must be the fastest way.

Here’s a picture from the UO Triathlon Team’s 24 hour Bike-A-Thon fundraiser and bake sale that happened last Thursday 8 AM to Friday 8 AM outside the UO Duck Store. This picture was 1:00 PM Thursday:

10:00 PM Thursday – This was the busiest time of the day:

5:00 AM Friday – Molly and Jon were having a dance party when I showed up for my early morning shift:

Other news:

- I have finished 2 out of 4 chapters for my thesis.
- May 1st is the last day to register for the Duck Bill Thrill Triathlon, go to duckbillthrill.com to register.
- I’m only taking 2 classes but I feel like this is the busiest term of my life.
- Sunday is my birthday and I’m turning 22.

Choose your favorite thesis title in the poll below. I have to register for graduation by midnight on Wednesday and the title I pick now will appear in the graduation program and they will read it at graduation!

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