a walk down memory lane

This past Saturday we headed down to McMinnville...and walked back in time a bit.  It was such a fun day, really one of the better ones that we've had recently.  The kids loved touring campus, seeing where Kyle and I used to live and exploring some of the buildings.  I loved being back and remembering those fabulous four years.  I loved college.  I loved my time at Linfield and am so thankful for the experiences that I had and the friendships that I made.  It was great getting to relive some of those fun times through stories that I told Carter and Kennedy.  

*a little disclaimer - most of the writing in the post is for the kids when they are older.  I want them to know a little about my life before I was their mom.*

The "whites"

Up on that balcony is where Kyle and I first met - he lived in #14 and I lived next door in #13.

I have so many wonderful memories from these ghetto apartments...great friends, funny stories and so much fun! They hadn't changed a bit.

My freshman dorm, Jane Failing

It was an all girls dorm, which I wanted as a freshman (can you imagine living with boys when you're 18?  I most certainly could not!).  Some of my very best friends from Linfield lived in this dorm with me.  I lived in the basement - the three windows to the right of the door were mine and my roommate's.  I had moved into another room, also in the basement, and lived there for the first couple of months of school.  My first roommate was nice, but very, very different from me.  We didn't have much in common, so when my friend, Brittany, lost her roommate, I jumped at the chance to move down the hall.  Britt and I lived together for the first two years, before I left for France my junior year.  She was a chemistry major, too, and a very good friend.  Melissa and Lindsey, who I lived with sophomore, junior and senior year also lived in Failing.  Nearly every friend that I met in this dorm freshman year has remained a close friend.  It was such a great start to my college experience.

Just one of the great trees in the residential quad - the beauty of this campus was one of the main reasons that I decided to attend Linfield.  It's gorgeous!

I lived on this side of campus all four years, so I walked this path to class more times than I can count.  

Of course we had to hit the book store and get a few Linfield shirts.  Kennedy was so funny and kept saying we were going to cheer for the Cougars.  It took most of the day, but she finally started cheering for the Wildcats!

Academic quad

The campus has expanded and changed so much since we were there - I think it's nearly doubled in size.  There are fancy new, furnished apartments (with washers and dryers!), a beautiful new library with fire places and loads more books (the old library was dark and dank with creaky floors - that building has been renovated), a new arts building and several other expansions on the west side of campus.  Most has remained the same on the original part though, and I was happy to see it the way that I remember it!

I spent a lot of time in this area, just a brick courtyard in between the math and science buildings.  Being at a small college didn't allow for a lot of flexibility in schedules - my science classes were always early in the morning and math was always in the afternoon.  I swear having these two majors ensured that I had crummy schedules the entire time!  No Fridays off for me, no classes for three hours and then done for the remainder of the day.  With labs, five credit math and science classes, plus all of the "liberal arts" requirements, I had full course loads each semester.  And because I chose to study abroad my junior year, I had to take a physics class at PSU the summer before I left.  I often wonder if I chose the right major, although to be honest I am not sure what I would have preferred to do.  Math is what I was good at and science seemed more "marketable."  It all worked out, but I wonder what else I could have done had I explored my opportunities a bit more.

Murdock Hall

The science building where I seemed to spend most of my time.

I stayed at Linfield the summer between my junior and senior years and did research in the chemistry department.  To this day, it was the easiest job I have ever had.  I had an awesome adviser who enjoyed long morning bagel and coffee breaks with us at the local deli.  I didn't make much, but I did do some fun research and was able to present my findings a couple of times throughout the next year.  I even got to go to San Francisco to present our work at a conference.  Fun times.

The sign is new

Sadly we weren't able to get our beloved bentos (best chicken and rice you will ever eat from a gas station!) before the game.  Kyle was bummed!  I guess they don't make them on weekends - we were all a little sad, but this one perked up when we stopped by a new sandwich shop across the street.  

Our main reason for heading down to Linfield was to watch the Cats in the second round of the playoffs.  It was a great game and we all had a lot of fun cheering them on!

Kyle got to tell Carter a bit about his playing days and relive some of those good memories.

Go Cats!

It only took two bags of popcorn, two gatorades and one bag of skittles to make it through the game.  I was pleasantly surprised by how well Kennedy did, she seemed to really enjoy herself!

Such a wonderful day spent with the three people I love most in the world!