Hey - Oregon is not so bad!

Don't get me wrong, I (Alina) still have moments that I tear up when I think about how much I miss Texas and everyone back there...BUT so far, the Northwest has treated us pretty well.  Here's what we've been up too:

So after living in Vancouver, WA for 6 weeks (thank you, THANK YOU Teresa!!), we bought our first home in Beaverton - just 4 miles from Jordan's work.  It's in a great neighborhood and an awesome ward.  There are tons of young families and everyone has been extremely warm and welcoming.  We're learning that home-owning comes with a seemingly never-ending "to-do" list and a lot of added expenses (furnishings and what not...), but we're enjoying the extra space and a backyard.  And we now have a guest room with a REAL bed, so visitors are very welcome!

We hosted Thanksgiving in our new house and we were so happy to have my mom, my brother Sean visiting, as well as Jordan's mom, brother Justin, and sister Emily.  Plus, we got our ping pong table set up just in time!

Jordan and I celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary!  Wahoo!

For Christmas we travelled Miami, Florida (loooong flight, but Roy did awesome) for a big ol' Cuban Christmas with most of the Pando side of the family.  We had a blast chillin' with the family, stuffing ourselves with Cuban food, and taking advantage of the warm weather.

We no longer refer to Roy as "baby Roy" - it just doesn't fit.  He is full blown "toddler Roy" or "little man Roy".  When we left Houston he had some bottom teeth, then he grew fangs (not kidding), and now he has a whole mouth full!  He can say "ball", "buh-ball" (basketball), "touchdown", "dada", "mama", "cheese" and perform an array of animal sounds.  Still a feather-weight (at 16 months he still hadn't broken 20 lbs), but he is a super healthy, happy, busy, and fun little boy!

In January, I started as a part-time/on-call PT at a hospital just up the street (Providence, St. Vincent) where I'll be working 2 days a week.  Roy goes to his friend Dieter's house on those days and he loves playing with another little guy.  Jordan's job was rough at first - especially since he was having a terrible commute and he had pneumonia for 4 weeks - but any new job comes with a learning curve.  We've both found things are done very different around here.  We feel blessed to have these good jobs, but we miss a lot about our old ones.

And since we sold my car before we left Houston, we finally got another one to replace it - a 2004 Camry.  Now we have 2 silver Toyotas in our driveway :)

Yes, it is cold and rainy here, but not too bad!  There have been some beautiful days and we've been able to enjoy some outdoor adventures already.

My dad was also able to come out for a visit in January.  We showed him VooDoo donuts, Multnomah Falls, and the Bonneville Dam and Fish Hatchery.  

Jordan's teams are really having a great year!  Of course, the Seahawks were AMAZING in the Superbowl, but the Blazers are doing well also!  We've been able to enjoy a few games at the Moda Center.

So, so far so good!  We love being closer to some of Jordan's family, love the area, and feel super blessed to have found these jobs and this home.  We hope that we will continue to have many more visitors that can help us explore this cool and beautiful city!

Leaving Houston - a BIG and NEW Horrocks Adventure

Most of our friends and family are well aware that Jordan and I (and Roy) recently bid farewell to the great city of Houston to embark on a new adventure in the Portland, OR area. As much as we love Houston, we knew it would not be our permanent home and we had been working towards moving "out west" so that we could settle down a bit and be closer to a lot of our family.  Jordan himself has been trying to leave Houston for years with little luck.  And soon after we got married we started peeking around but nothing seemed very appealing and it just didn't seem right.  I knew that for us to leave, doors would start opening and it would have to be a fairly obvious decision.

Well, at the end of July, Jordan was offered a job at the Orthopedic and Fracture Specialists in Beaverton, OR.  He told me on the way to the interview that he hoped it went "really well or really terrible"so that the decision could be made easily.  Turns out it went really well and we decided to take this opportunity.

Even before all this, I had warned Jordan that even though I am up for new experiences in new places,  I would be so sad to leave Houston (and Texas in general - you know how we Texans are) and that there would be lots of tears upon saying good-bye.  So for 6 weeks as we prepped for the move, I did a lot of crying.  Mainly because I knew how much I would miss the lifelong friends Jordan and I have made here individually and as a couple.  And I knew I would miss BBQ, tex-mex, HEB, bluebonnets, southern accents, and warm winters. But there were also many tears of gratitude for the blessed opportunities and experiences that happened here in Houston that have shaped our lives forever in such positive ways.

So on Sept 22 we packed up our little town home (which I've vowed to never do again!) and put all our belongings in a POD.  We then hopped in Jordan's corolla and began our trek (see pics below).

That road trip was long (9 days), but it was awesome.  We definitely felt like we were on vacation and were able to relax and enjoy the scenery!  Plus, our little Roy was a champ in the car and at all the hotels!  

And now we're here in Vancouver, WA staying with Jordan's mom, Teresa (who has graciously let us crash her place), while we wait to move into a home of our own.  It is cold, wet, beautiful, and different but I think we made a good choice and are going to like it for a lot of reasons.

And so, to end on a very profound note, I refer to a quote I once saw in a Miami airport after I had just been on a cruise: "Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened" :).  I hate closing the good chapters of life (and our Houston chapter was the best yet!), but Jordan and I both know that a new chapter awaits and we are excited for that!  And as we have been watched over, cared for, and guided in the past, we have faith that the Lord will continue his blessings in the future.

Stayed tuned for more updates (and hopefully less wordy and sentimental blogging :))!

Asian shaved ice send-off with my Ben Taub peeps!

Roy was trying to help pack (turns out 1 year olds aren't very helpful :))

Jordan's surprise luncheon send-off at Kelsey Seybold

It's true, we do LOVE Houston!

Our besties!  They helped us so much!

We will definitely miss living so close to Abuelo in Austin!

Quality time with Auntie Em in Phoenix

Cute cousins in Phoenix

Never was there a child more happy to be out of a car and into a backpack than this one!  Roy was laughing and waving to everyone we passed by.  We all LOVED hiking around the Grand Canyon!

Roy proved that hiking the Grand Canyon is so easy, even a baby can do it AND that hiking the Grand Canyon is so easy, you can do it in your sleep

Not a flattering pic, but it definitely captures the experience at Monument Valley on the Navajo Indian Reservation (beautiful but windy!)

Beautiful day hiking and seeing the sights at Arches National Park

Cute cousins in Elk Ridge, UT!

Old roommates reunite and new baby friends are made (with Dave and Erin Dean in Lehi, UT)

Kissing cousins! I guess Anabel and Roy are 2nd cousins...we might have a little trouble with Roy in the future...

 Pando love fest at Grammie's house in Kaysville, UT (minus Seany!)

Justin among the competitors for the "Favorite Uncle" award!

And per Jordan's request, some nature shots: Grand Canyon

Monument Valley in UT/AZ

Arches National Park in UT

Full rainbow in the beautiful state of Idaho!

11 months

Roy is crawling all around, has lots of tricks and is just becoming a little boy so quickly. We took a cruise and he was home for 5 days with Grandma Sally and they had a great time- don't know if he even missed us! Here's some pics and a video to check out.

He loves any sort of ball he can find!

A true quarter-cuban- he loves to eat and spread his black beans everywhere

on the cruise

Remote cozumel beach

us and the Hansens

We zipped around on scooters and got coconut juice and mango- it was a perfect day!

Here is Roy getting his spa treatment....

9 months - early summer!

This little man is 9 months has some new tricks up his sleeve!  At a whopping 16.5 lbs, this kid is a champ at eating puffs and popsicles, chasing balls, crawling through any and all tight spaces/obstacles, sleeping 11 hours a night, clapping his hands, sneaking up on mama, blowing raspberries, and making "scrunchy faces".  Oh and did we mention he had his 5th haircut the other day? 

Houston - our home sweet home...for now...

little vacation with the Markels and Hansens to the Texas Hillcountry - this is at Hamilton Pool.  Ok, is Roy's swim outfit not the cutest thing ever?

These little golf balls are usually found either in Roy's hands or scattered randomly throughout our house

Forget playing in the bouncer - it's much more fun to crawl through it!

Family pic (with Auntie Adrienne) - eating BBQ with friends (goodbye Odoms!!!)

Giving Roy some popsicle was a brilliant and terrible idea

A true "outside" baby - learning from his Qieagle father how to harness energy from nature

Happy baby - chilling in his IKEA high chair (best $20 we ever spent on this kid :))