Road Trip!

This September, the end of our summer, Joe and I took a road trip and it was fabulous. We headed east through Oregon and Idaho, stopped in Jackson, the Grand Tetons, Yellowstone, drove over the Bear Tooth Pass into Red Lodge, hit up Billings, Bozeman, Helena, and Missoula, cruised through Spokane, ate in Walla Walla, and came to a screeching halt in our own comfy bed.

We keep a running list of places that we want to go together, and this trip was an opportunity to get to some of those places. We intended for the trip to be relaxing, an adventure, and to be an opportunity to check out some towns we were considering as potential final destinations. Don't worry, we're not planning on heading out just yet, nor are we sure of where we'll go or if we'll even leave.

The first two days of our vacation were almost entirely driving. Luckily we'd taken a wise risk at the state fair and bought two lower back support devices for the car. We've tried this before and found that we'd mostly thrown our money away. That was not the case this time! We were almost entirely pain free. I had forgotten how incredibly beautiful Eastern Oregon is. I think it's often thought of as flat and endless, which indeed it is in some places, but we were constantly impressed by then landscape ahead of us.

We made a brief stop at John Day Fossil Beds. It was brief largely because we drove right by it the first time. A heads up for those of you hoping to visit the fossil beds: They are not in John Day. You must turn left as you enter an enormous canyon. We assumed the beds were in John Day, being the John Day fossil beds, and we both missed the sign because while the canyon is beautiful, it takes some concentrated driving efforts to navigate. It's not hard, just the sort of place where you don't want to mess up. We turned back and found the fossil beds. I must say I think we were both disappointed. Not because it was unimpressive, more because we had the wrong impression. It was odd that the fossils were behind glass. We thought it might be more interactive. I also thought that the fossils would be pretty. You know, leaves, pretty little fish bones? No, these were big tortoise shells and enormouse jaws of things long gone. At least it satisfied our curiosity.

We had planned to stay in an Oregon state park that night, but we were feeling adventurous and energetic. It made sense to reduce our driving the second day by driving the first day while we still had energy. That choice also gave us more time in Jasper and the Grand Tetons. It also meant we had to find a new place to camp. Easy right? Um... A few hours from the Oregon border I started researching places to stay just outside of Boise. Mountain Home became our destination. There was an RV park that would take us. Now don't turn up your noses; there's no reason not to stay at an RV park if you're just heading through. Actually, they can be kind of plush with bathrooms and clean showers to boot. We pulled into Mountain Home at about midnight. The kind woman who had answered the phone when I called said we could just pull in next to the pump house and pay in the morning. Excellent! We drove through a charming area of Mountain Home, into a slightly less charming area, and then into an area where shops featured bars over the windows. Hmm. A few blocks later we found RV park, which was actually a trailer park, and a highly sketchy trailer park at that. It's just weird to pull into a neighborhood and set up camp, especially when you feel like you should have your thickest shoes on to prevent being stabbed by used needles. Now, it may not have been that bad, but since neither of us were willing to get out of the car, we figured we shouldn't go to sleep with only a thin layer of nylon separating us from whoever was passing by. Luckily, we had passed a sign for a KOA on our way into town. We turned back, hoping desparately to find refuge in the KOA. Now let me tell you, I am now a huge fan of KOAs. Not only was it clean, they had a night check-in system, coded bathrooms, granite countertops (seriously), mold free showers, and a flat place to pitch our tent. Joe was not as big a fan; in fact he was down right disturbed to be camping with a "K". He wasn't a fan of the park-like feel of the camping area that made it anything but private. He also thought it was weird that there were homes around the actual camp ground. However, when I explained that it really was camping with a "K" and that if what you needed was a safe and clean place to stay in the middle of the night, kamping was just right. I grabbed a KOA map and felt secure in the fact that wherever we went, we'd never be too far from kamping.

We took off the next morning and made our way to Grand Teton National Park. The drive was fairly uneventful, but you should see the speed limits in Idaho! It was also prettier than I remembered it being, though the scenery didn't make my heart sing. Also, google maps let us down. Luckily our own ingenuity pulled us through.

We set up camp and went for a walk around a lake near our campground. It was gorgeous. The sun was setting, the lake was calm, and the mountains were as beautiful as ever. We headed back to camp, had dinner, and conked out. The next day we drove south through the park, stopped at every turn out, took tons of pictures, and ended up at the Jackson Hole tram that goes up the mountain. Beautiful. We spent the rest of the day checking out Jackson and headed to Yellowstone that evening.

Our first order of business in Yellowstone was setting up camp. After only two nights of tent sleeping, I was sporting bruises on my pelvis, despite our luxury version thermarests. No backpacking light stuff for us; we like to be comfortable. However, I wasn't. While Joe checked us in to our second site (the first one was too far away from bathrooms and people for me--I'm not a big fan of bears) I cruised to the Yellowstone general store and bought another set of camping pads. No, I'm not ashamed to admit it. We were both much happier, more comfortable, and less purple. That night we had an amazing dinner of bison, asparagus, garlic mashed potatoes, decadent desserts, amazing appetizers, and good cocktails at the Yellowstone Lake Inn. The sun was setting over the lake, and it was just spectacular.

Both mornings in Yellowstone we got up, drove to the showers (a good distance away) and I got to walk back to Joe making me breakfast. Those walks were pleasant and there's nothing like rounding the corner into your campsite as your husband dishes up eggs. I am spoiled rotten.

I should add here that our first few mornings of camping were frustrating. When you have to unload and load your car every time you eat, change, anything, things get slow and tedious. We had to do this because of bears. In Oregon you just leave your crap out wherever, not so much in Yellowstone. It was also taking us ages to get out of camp and it took us until our last day camping to think, "well duh, let's get some cereal and pour milk over it. We don't have to have a hot breakfast every morning." Yeah, we're smart. I did enjoy those breakfasts though.

Yellowstone was great. We did the majority of the loop that day and saw paint pots, springs, geysers, and all geological features Yellowstone has to offer. We're lucky to have a friend who is a former Yellowstone Ranger and he'd given us a list of must see places. We took almost every turn out and walked and walked and walked. That afternoon we explored Lower Geyser Basin, where Old Faithful is. We had already seen it erupt, and headed up to Observation Point. We were lucky to get there just as it erupted, so we got to see it from a distance and up close. While we were perusing the basin a heard of Buffalo was working out some group conflicts. For the most part, people were keeping their distance. We watched a bit and continued on. When we were headed back on the other side of the loop, we were cautious because the buffalo were right on the other side of the small river. As we strolled along, one of them popped out from behind a tree about 75 yards from us and started a quick stroll along the path toward us. We wasted no time in turning on our heels and walking briskly back where we had come from. It was hard to do because we'd covered some serious mileage that day and were hoping to make it back the short way, but then, we were also hoping to make it back. As we turned we recruited a woman who was gazing across the river to follow us out of harms way. She came along and called to her husband who was a few yards back. He was feeling super human and suggested they stay, so they did. We did not. We talked to each other about how stupid people can be on our way back to the turn back to the parking lot. As we came back along the other side of the river, we looked across to the other pathway to see our friends of limited intelligence on the path between two buffalo. I assume they made it out okay because there wasn't anything in the news. But come on people, use your heads! There's a reason there are signs in all the bathrooms talking about folks getting gored. Is that really how you want to spend your vacation?

The next day we drove out through Lamar valley and saw wolves, prong horns, and more buffalo. But the best was still to come. We drove out the Northeast Entrance and over Bear Tooth Pass. This is one of those you must do it before you die sorts of places. You drive up the mountains on switch backs to just over 10,000 feet and then do the same thing back down to Red Lodge Montana. The views are indescribable and impossible to capture on camera, though I tried. I went through 2 rounds of batteries. Each turn was more beautiful than the last. Near the top you enter Montana. We wanted to get a photo there, so I set the camera on automatic on top of the car and ran to join Joe. We did this three times. Now, when you look at the picture you might wonder why we parked so far away. I did too after 3 sprints near 10,o00 feet. I'd say more about the pass and feel like I should because we both agree it was the best part of the trip, but it was all just feeling and seeing. You must must go.

Red Lodge was fabulous. It was tiny, cute, fun, and had pizza. We set up our camp at a charming RV park and headed into town to indulge in pizza. Indulge we did. I think we both ate an enormous amount. We slept well that night, got up and had cold cereal and headed into town for our morning coffee and tea.

That day we covered the ground in Montana. So, a bit about Montana. Much of my family is from Montana and I've always found that it just feels like home. I don't know why. I never lived there. We also have friends from Montana and pretty much anyone you meet from Montana proclaims it as God's country. Joe had never been, but he needed to check it out to see if it could be on our short list of places to live. That day we made a quick trip to Billings and found it to be a most uninspiring place. The water front is wasted on industry and the landscape is no where near as appealing as other locations in Montana. Granted, it is better than what lies east of Billings. We then checked out Bozeman. We found Bozeman to be charming, but it seemed a bit snooty...okay not a bit, just outright snooty. While we were in Bozeman we had the great opportunity to visit a college friend of mine and her family. Last time I saw Rachel, she was single and headed off to start her PhD. Now she's nearly done, is married, and has a wonderful son. It was so nice to reunite, even just briefly. We left there and headed to Helena to see my Aunt Beck and Uncle Herb.

I love visiting my Aunt Beck and Herb because they are just so relaxed and relaxing. They live in an historic neighborhood with neighbors who all talk to each other. Their front porch has room for chairs and looks out into the neighborhood (the front porch is a lost art and I think it has huge ramifications for community connectivity--but that's another story). It's the perfect place to sit and be after a morning hike up Mt. Helena, which is about 3 blocks from their house, or to drink tea on a cool evening at dusk. They also have a tiny little house at the back of their property with, get this, a bed. We fell into bed that night and slept like only campers can sleep. The next morning we toured the town. We walked downtown, reserved a loaf of fresh baked bread from the bakery, checked out the shops in Last Chance Gulch, and walked around Carroll College's campus. I can't remember the exact order of everything, because it was so relaxing that I didn't have to keep a schedule in mind. While we were there we did hike up Mt. Helena, saw our dear friend Brian, and had lunch at the Windbag, a place that was a brothel up until the 70s. We spent a lot of time just chatting too. We were both sad to leave Helena and it definitely made the short list.

On our way back to Washington, we drove through Missoula. We fully expected to love Missoula, but it was definitely a college town and we'd like to be able to get away from work a bit more than college towns really allow. As we left we realized that we didn't like any of the towns people said we would like, and did like Helena, which everyone told us we would find boring. Well, mystery solved. We're boring people who just want a few good restaurants, a cozy neighborhood, a lot of sun, at least some snow, outdoor opportunities, and a bakery to frequent. Shows, shops and all that are not necessities for us. We like to go to bed at 10. We're boring, but very happy being boring.

We intended to stay in Spokane, but found it to be completely unacceptable. Before we visited it topped our short list. We drove and drove and drove trying to find a place we could live. It just wasn't there. At that point we were tired of traveling and ready to go home, but we still wanted to see Walla Walla. We decided to make the trek all the way home, but to spend a few hours in Walla Walla. We headed south through the Palouse. I'd seen photos of the Palouse and it's beautiful, but driving through gave me an incredibly eerie feeling. The hills are so big and so regular that I could absolutely picture being forever lost. The houses lie in the valleys between the hills. If I lived and farmed there, I would never leave without a GPS (which I have never thought of as a necessity nor owned) even though I have a fairly amazing sense of direction. It made me wonder how people lived there before GPS.

Walla Walla was charming little town and probably deserves more of our attention later on. It seemed very far from anywhere though. Perhaps that was because we reached it through the Palouse. We had a great dinner there at a Mexican restaurant, checked out Whitman's campus, and headed home. I remarked that if I could still be guaranteed to get Joe out of the deal, I would go to Whitman if I had the opportunity to do it again.

It was a long drive home, but we made it. We unloaded the car at 3am went to bed at 4am and woke up without any unpacking to do!

The trip really was wonderful. We learned things about ourselves, each other, how we like to camp, and where we might like to live. Perhaps the most surprising result of the trip is my new desire for a travel trailer of some sort. I don't want anything big, but if we're going to be camping with bears, I'd just as soon have something hard sided to keep from having to do lots of loading and unloading. Besides then you can just pick up and leave anytime you want. The tent served us well though, and we came back rested and happy.

Fall already?

Even though the last few months have seemed to fly by, as I reread the June post, I was struck that it seems like ages ago.

I think the first update needs to be that I've scrapped the teaching idea. This is a bit embarrassing for me to admit, because I feel like I will never settle on anything. That tendency is frustrating. I hope it isn't permanent, but for now I wouldn't trust me about anything I think I'm planning on doing.

That said, I'm taking a mediation class and investigating being an Ombudsman. While we were on a trip recently I discovered my strength. I've had a hell of a time doing this because, though it may sound cocky, I'm pretty good at lots of things. Like most people, I like getting compliments. So, when I do things well and then get compliments I have the false feeling that I like doing those things. The truth of the matter is that I do a lot of things well that I can barely tolerate, say...event planning. And, though I do many things well, the things I most enjoy doing, are the things I enjoy doing best. So, what I enjoy most, and therefore do best, is listen to people with differing opinions, or people who aren't communicating effectively and help them see eye to eye, how they actually do agree but may be experiencing language/communication issues, and help people see options they hadn't considered before. Thus, perhaps a career as an ombudsman. We'll see though. I don't trust me, so you shouldn't.

So, now some summer catch up.

We headed up to Joe's parent's lake house for the 4th. The weather was perfect so we spent some time swimming and just basking in the sun. We did a few small fireworks on the back patio, but the lake neighbors had some serious stuff going on. I'm still amazed at the fireworks that are legal in Washington. It was great to sit on the deck and watch tons of fireworks fly into the air and know that we didn't pay anything for them. Free shows are great!

The next weekend was our local rodeo and our 4th anniversary. We got the wildcard weekend pass (woohoo!) and went to all four rodeos, the dance, and the parade. I have never seen so much candy in all my life than at that parade. Every entry had candy to throw. We spent the entire parade sucking on something, and the kids sitting next to us shoved candy in their faces until looked like the were tie-dyed with fruity tootsie rolls. The kids gathered up all the candy they could take, and still, there was candy left in the streets. The end of the parade was particularly fabulous....hilarious...whichever. Apparently there is a family in the area that owns a trucking company. Everyone in the family has a truck with their name on the door and everyone in the family drove their truck through town. It was a large family..very large..even bigger in trucks. I have a serious passion for the rodeo (God knows why), but it was particularly fun because we got to spend so much time with friends. Virginia and Marg came down for one of the rodeos and the parade. My mom came for a night of rodeo. We also had a bunch of friends over one night for a bbq before the rodeo. Joe set the mood with a new rodeo classic mix...Beer and Jesus. Good stuff.

A few weekends later we headed to Oceanside to spend time with the McLaughlins. My Aunt Beck and Uncle Herb were out from Montana, so it was nice to have most of the family together. We were just missing Brendan and Treg. We ate well, hit up the Tillamook Cheese Factory for ice cream, and spent time walking and lounging on the beach.

August held a few adventures as well. We camped with my mom at the beach which was fabulous. She's the best camper and always a joy to hang out with. We taught her how to play Rummikube, an old game that's new to us. Soon afterward, we got the chance to see one of my oldest friends, Joel, when he came up from Louisiana to visit. At the end of August we headed back to the lake house one more time to spend a bit more time with the Evans folks.

In September we had a great adventure that deserves a post unto itself. We'll see if I can get to that before May....

Now we're hunkered down with the term. Joe's plugging away at class and really enjoying his job. We're embracing the fall, cooking good soups, walking and running on crunchy leaves, and we recently fired up our fireplace again. Pumpkin carving is coming right up!

June

As usual we have been busy! Joe and I are often looking for ways to slow down and really need to get better at that. However, I'm learning that we really like to do things which has the natural side effect of making us busy people.

Because we have so much to catch up on, I'll break them down into June and Julyand post in stages

June:

In June I took the Oregon Educators Licensure Assessment (ORELA). Why you ask? Well, I've discovered that sitting behind a computer is not my cup of tea. Unfortunately, my exercise psych degree is a bit ahead of its time so I really could only work behind a computer or behind a computer with a phone headset on (ick). To address the sitation, I made a list of everything I wanted and, lo and behold, going back to school was the one thing that kept me from having it all. I am now planning to go to WOU to get my teaching license. I'll start in January 2010 and finish in June of 2011. The ORELA wasn't much fun, but I got my scores recently and I rocked it!

The weekend after the ORELA, we headed back to Eugene to celebrate my dad. He made a lovely habliut dinner for Joe, Grandma, Grandpa and me. Unfortunately, Sue had to take her dad to the hospital (he's recovering!) so they couldn't be there. It was still a nice afternoon with good company.

The next weekend, (see what I mean about busy?) we met Virginia and Margaret at Detroit Lake to kayak and canoe out to Piety Island. Last summer we all paddled around Waldo Lake. Joe and I weren't able to camp that time, but we vowed to do it again. Virginia and Marg are such good company. When we got to the island, we had to first find the perfect campsite. Virginia is very particular and would inspect an infinite number of sites to find the best. I don't go to quite the extreme she does, but I certainly play into it. Joe and Marg followed us and piped up with an opinion when we asked, but I think they would have been happy with just about any site. After we set up camp, we went for a hike and then a swim. While we were hiking small animals raided our breakfast, so, after our swim, we paddled over to the nearest marina to buy some oats. The wind was horrendous. We'd paddle and paddle, but didn't really advance. We finally made it back over the choppy water. After all that work we were ready for V & M's amazing dinner of fresh figs with balsamic vinegar and blue cheese and pasta carbonara. We felt a bit bad that our gormet oats had met their demise and that we only served them quaker oatmeal. I guess we brought lunch too...Still, I felt inadequate. I should get used to it though because Virginia's dad is the ultimate camping gormet chef and she clearly takes after him.

That night our campsite was raided by horrendous monsters that looked a lot like deer and didn't do any harm. To make a long story short, deer sound a lot like people tromping through the bushes, Joe is brave and will shine a flashlight at anything without a plan of attack to see what it is, and I'm more inclined to ensure that I can get a firm grip on a paddle and surprise whatever evil lurks so I can beat the crap out of it if necesssary. But then, I'm often over-prepared.

We got up that morning, broke camp and scurried off to rehearsal (for Marg) and pictures (for Joe and me).

Yup! We didn't just camp that weekend; we came home, cleaned up, and headed out to O & L Nofziger Gardens, where we got married, to have our pictures taken. We figure we look a whole lot better than we did when we got married and we should have some updated pictures. Blue Castle Photography did an amazing job and we had a great time with them. We both expected it to be awkward, but it was so much fun and you can tell from the photos.

Birthday, Beer & Backyard

It has been an amazing month and I am having a hard time believing that it is already May--Ack!

We started off April with a bang, celebrating my 26th year. Kerry really made it a special celebration with a choose-your-own-adventure themed day. The adventure choices were: a day at the coast, a hike to Silver Creek Falls, a hike through the Forest, or a trip to Portland to check out OMSI. Each trip had food components. Because it was my birthday I got to mix and match the food and the trip.

I decided that, because the weather was phenomenal, that we would stop for lunch at McMenamin's, hike Silver Creek Falls, and then return home making a stop for pizza along the way. Lunch at McMenamin's was great, the hike was beautiful, the pizza excellent, and the company perfect!

My big present from Kerry was a brew kit from our local brew store. While it took me some time to actually get brewing (who knew that yeast had to sit so long), I am pleased to announce that my wheat ale has been sitting in the secondary fermenter for about a week now. Next step: bottling. I will be sure to send pictures of the process.

Here are some pictures from the hike:

We, Hiking.

From behind one of the falls.



Pretty.

Pretty too.

Now what's this about a backyard? Not too long after we bought our house we consulted with Kerry's Uncle, Grant, about the backyard. As a pro landscaper we figured he was more than qualified to give us some guidance. Boy did he.

Up until just a few weeks ago we had just sort of been chipping away at the backyard: putting in new grass, fixing the drainage, planting things here and there; you know, the usual. Right before my birthday we decided that we would look into refinancing our house and as such we wanted to get our humble abode into the best shape possible.

Without a moment's hesitation we spent an entire week repainting all that hadn't been painted since we moved in--most of the house. Because we are intrepid folks, the next week we had patio and retaining wall blocks, 4 yards of bark, 3 yards of dirt, 2 yards of gravel, and what seemed like and endless mountain of sand delivered to our house--we were very hungry caterpillars indeed! The result? A beautifully landscaped yard that we are absolutely thrilled with!

Here are some before and after pictures:Our Backyard as we got it. Notice the puddle and the drowning grass.

Before: The muddy mud pit of doom.

Before: A lovely desert scape.


Before: More dead grass and a bush.


After: A lovely patio, designed by the lovely Kerry

Mid-course: A sump pump, catch basin, and some gravel.

After: No dead grass, desert scape, or bush.


After: A garden wall, healthy grass, no puddle, and good smelling plants.

Catch up!

It really has been ages since we last posted, so I thought I'd do a quick overview of other events over the last few months. Joe will do two updates fairly soon as well.

It feels like we've been going non stop since January, and overall, I think that's true.

In February my Grandma Marion cashed in her birthday present of a pizza dinner made by us along with our company. It was so much fun. We knew it would delight her, but didn't know that it would delight her to that extent. She reveled in having a meal prepared for her, celebrated the dressing, and chortled over the opportunity for leftovers. It was just great to please her so thoroughly. Afterward we hung out in her living room and she and I flipped through some of her old knitting catalogs. I think it was that interaction that launched me into my current knitting frenzy.

March was incredibly busy. We headed up to Puyallup for Elizabeth's 21st birthday, but she was thwarted and sick for her birthday. She stayed in Portland, but we had the weekend all free so we headed up and had a nice visit with the Evans side of the family.

The next weekend we went to Sunriver with our friends Megan and Steve. We rented a perfect condo with a wee round hot tub and a great little kitchen. We cross country skied, which Joe and I miss so much. This was Megan and Steve's second time skiing and they did an amazing job on a moderately complicated loop. They even braved hills that I chose to sit down on at the halfway point in order to slow myself down before continuing down the rest of the hill. We were pooped when we finished, but that made dinner that much better. That night we walked to the lodge for happy hour and had fabulous artichoke dip and a "winter warmer," which was quite tasty. It was a short weekend, but it felt quite luxurious.

The next weekend (see what I mean) we went to the coast for Kathryn and Virginia's birthday. I've known K & V since first grade and we've been buds ever since. Their whole family was there and it was great to see Ann and Jeff and Sarah (it was her birthday celebration as well!). The weather was horrific, but so horrific that it was fun rather than just disappointing. The wind blew so hard the window bulged in and the rain sounded like rocks hitting the window. We had a wonderful time inside anyway. In true K & V style, we filled our day with wholesome activities like "round the clock ping pong" where 3 to 5 people play and run around the table taking turns returning the ball to each other. When that got boring, we switched to one legged ping pong where teams of 2 had to hope on one leg through the whole game. We finally ended up playing musical round the clock ping pong, which is much like round the clock ping pong, except someone runs the music and periodically turns it off. The last one to have hit the ball is out. What happens when only two are left you ask? Well they hit the ball back and forth and spin around after they've hit of course!

Even though we've been busy, it's been a fabulous few months. I think I've brought you all up to date to the point where Joe will take over!

Friends in Alaska

Sorry it's been so long since we posted. I wrote this quite awhile ago, but needed pictures to go with it. This trip took place at the end of February.

In our first post, we wrote about all the major life events that preceded our blog. One of those was making good friends while we were in Alaska. Those friends are two couples, Meg and Neil and Kyle and Abbey.

Joe had a conference in Alaska early last week and we used the opportunity to extend his tickets and use our miles to buy me a ticket so we could spend time with friends. Kyle and Abbey are still there, but Meg and Neil have since moved to the warm land of Texas so Neil can go to flight school. Meg joined us all in Alaska, but Neil was pinned to the books so our set was incomplete. This is Meg and Neil...just as a tribute to our missing part.


Most vacations to Alaska involve whale watching, cruises, kayaking, hiking, skiing, hunting, snow mobiling (machining if you're from up there), and other such outdoor pursuits. As former AK residents, we pretty much skipped all that. We spent the week cooking, playing cards, chatting, sitting in the hot tub, running, rearranging furniture, setting up a new TV and sound system free of cords, contemplating new furniture, and racing to see who could find out the implications of an infant not urinating the fastest to assist Abbey in her homework. We did spend a day sledding, and I shoveled Kyle and Abbey's back deck while playing fetch with Kenzie, but overall it was low key. We also hit up a few of our favorite Anchorage eateries. Moosestooth and Thai Orchid were delicious as usual. Joe and I also had our first visit to Simon and Seaforts amazing happy hour. The rest of the crew had already been and let us in on the secret. Yum!


Really, while it might not be great reading material, the great thing about these friends is the every day. We've had many an adventure together, and I suppose we had a few this week as well, but the ease of just existing together is what makes it special. It's also what makes it so hard to say goodbye each time. Before we left, Meg reminded us we'd see each other again and I think I said something similar about our last dinner not actually being the last. Later, on the way to the airport, I remarked to Joe and Kyle that it wasn't that I wanted to see them for another great extended get together, it's just that I wanted to be able to call and invite them to dinner.

It really is amazing to have such good friends who are so supportive of each other, enjoy their spouses, and are always funny and enjoyable. I am incredibly grateful for all our time together. It was a wonderful trip.

Some photos from our adventure:

Frosting Abbey's Turtle Cake. I haven't perfected it yet, but I will. Meg and I cooked for about 10 hours that day!


Meg and me doing a yoga tribute to Eeva, our amazing yoga instructor. Meg will be an expert on this soon!


Abbey taking a break from studying to join us in the kitchen. She jokingly called us her "wives" for the week. We were delighted to fill that role.


Me, Joe, Kyle and Abbey at Kincaid Park.


Kenzie and Joe doing his slow motion sledding.

Vacation

Joe and I learned an essential lesson this Christmas season.

If you have limited time to take off, take it off after Christmas, not before.

In the past we've had time both before and after Christmas and never really realized how essential the post X-mas recovery time is. So we took the 3 days before Christmas Eve off and went back to work for 3 days starting on the 29th. By Tuesday the 30th, I was so exhausted that I was convinced I was going to get sick, so I splurged vacation time and took off the 2nd of January. I feel much better now and may be able to survive the 5 day work week.

Our vacation round 1 was nice. We had a few days to chill and I honestly can't remember what we did. Due to the huge snow and ice storms that hit the Northwest in the two weeks prior to X-mas, we had a downsized McLaughlin Christmas eve at our house. Dad, Sue, and Grandma and Grandpa Mac joined us. It was very low key, but so enjoyable. We did miss out on the big family Christmas which was moved to the 28th in order to have some rest before returning to work. I know it wasn't the most popular decision, but they all seemed to understand. Given my high level of exhaustion the next week, I think that day of rest was the only reason I made it through.

We spent the 25th in Puyallup with the Evans side of the family. Last year we were unable to make it because we spent the night before Christmas in the ER because Joe had the death plague. It was certainly good to be back in the heart of the family and not to join Dr. Disney (seriously) for another Christmas. Everyone was there, the food was delicious, and the gifts were bountiful. It even snowed a bit more to make it a truly white Christmas.

We cruised back down the freeway on the 26th and had one final round of Christmas with my mom's side of things. This is our smallest Christmas, with Mom, Uncle Robin, Grandma Jean, and the two of us, but it's a great way to end the mad rush that we choose to put ourselves through and enjoy. Mom made cream puffs for dessert, so I was delighted! For Christmas Mom gave me our usual shopping trip on the 27th. We headed up to Woodburn and that shopping trip was probably the most productive and satisfying shopping trip of my life. 50% off at Banana Republic. Does it get any better than that?

We had a low key New Years with good friends which was just what we needed. New year's day was our day to take down Christmas and tidy parts of the house that had been neglected in our vacation lack of routine. Since then we've been sleeping between 9 and 11 hours per night (Yes!) and spending a lot of time relaxing. I must say that our version of relaxation is a bit more active than most, but that is simply because I cannot sleep unless I've expended some energy. On Friday and again today we went for a run. It had been awhile, but it felt great to get back out there. Thursday was a gorgeous day with puffy clouds, crisp temperatures and lots of sunshine. We walked downtown to the post office and to return some books at the library.

Then today...we painted the kitchen ceiling. We'd been kind of grossed out by our ceilings for awhile now, but we've been saving carefully since my job may end in June and the economy is in the crapper. It may be better, but who knows? Anyway, our dear friends Kyle and Abbey sent us a gift card to Loews for Christmas and (can you guess?) we ran right out and got ourselves a massive amount of ceiling paint! Last Christmas our friends Meg and Neil came when our house was about 10 days old (to us) and Joe and Neil took down our hideous neon lighting in the kitchen. They replaced it with great recessed lighting, but the shadows left by the neon light spent an entire year on the ceiling. We extinguished them today. Here are a few pictures of kitchen painting.



















Joe's also been working to fix our shower drain and today he declared victory. Here are some pictures from that!