Too Hot!!

Well, we hope that everyone isn't completely melting in this heat. I don't know about everyone else but I am NOT made for these temperatures. There is a reason I live on the west side of the state or "the wetside" as Nate's dad calls it! No AC for us, even though our thermostat teases us with the option!!

I knew it was going to be hot today so I planned ahead and found a Kabob recipe. We recently bought a BBQ and have been putting it to good use. Nate is a wonderful barbequer! I thought I would share the recipe with you all. I marinated the chicken all day so it was extra tasty. Enjoy!

I even took a picture for you all!! This kabob cooked a bit too long but you still get the idea.

Weekend Update

Well, we are still busy. We looked at the calender for July and we have something going every weekend. All of it will be fun but we do like having no plans and deciding what to do on a whim!!



We went to wedding number 2 of 3 for the summer. My friend Jessica, who was my roommate at EWU my last year there, got married this weekend. Jessica and Dan had their wedding at the Catholic church in Arlington. It was a beautiful ceremony. Neither Nate nor I had been to a Catholic wedding, so we weren't sure what to expect. They chose not to have a mass during their wedding. Both Jessica and Dan looked amazing. Here a few pictures from the wedding.

Mr. and Mrs. Ely

Jessica and I at the reception

Next weekend we are off to a baby BBQ. No, were are not BBQing babies. It is a combination Baby Shower and BBQ/Send-off for the father who is being deployed overseas soon. Look for updates soon!

July 3rd and 4th

On the 3rd we went up to Big Lake to watch fireworks at the Svendsen's house. I have known them since I was born and my grandparents lived next door to them many years ago. Jana teaches at Lincoln Elementary. It was really nice to see a lot of the folks that I taught with at Lincoln a few years ago. The fireworks were put on by the Fire Department. The display was gorgeous as usual. They did have to stop it half way through. We heard that someone shot a firecracker near the barge that the fireworks were coming from. The fire fighters had to do some quick investigating. Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures there.

On the morning of the 4th we washed Nate's car and did a bit of detailing on the inside. It was in desparate need of some TLC! I think the car is thanking us now!!

That afternoon we went over to my Aunt Davida's and Uncle Rick's house in Oak Harbor. My mom and Lance had arrived there earlier. We got there just in time to play a round of Bocce ball. My family gets pretty competitive. We always end up making fun of the people who are supposed to be judging but aren't paying attention. One of my cousins broke the official Bocce measuring stick so now we use the unofficial measuring stick (aka Tape Measure). Ask Nate who won our round of Bocce ball.

We decided to go to the beach just down the road from Rick and Davida's. It was so nice to walk and enjoy the beach. It wasn't crowded at all. Here are a few pictures from the beach.

Wow! What a nice pedicure! It's comforting to think that this time next year we will have returned from a nice vacation in Hawaii. Hello sandy beaches!!!

After our quick jaunt to the beach we went to our friends, EJ and Dave's, house in Oak Harbor for a BBQ and to watch the fireworks. Their house over looks the harbor. We were the only non Navy people there. Dave is a Lieutentant in the Navy. EJ was my matron of honor in our wedding. They also have two of the cutest girls in the world.

Here are some pictures from the BBQ.
This was our view. The fireworks were shot off from the left island. It was a really nice display. We hope you all had a great 4th of July and are enjoying your summer so far.

Weekend Update

Wheew! We actually stayed home this weekend. Well, we didn't stay at home but we didn't travel anywhere that we had to stay over night. We have been very busy lately. I've been going to bridal showers and baby showers. We also had a birthday party for my friend EJ's little girl Rory.

A few weekends ago we went to the Tri -Cities for a wedding for a friend of mine from EWU. We got to stay with two of Nate's friends from WSU. I even got to surprise my friend Becca's parents in Kennewick. During my first year at EWU I went down to Kennewick a lot to see Becca. It was kind of my second home that year. You still couldn't pay me enough to live there though! Too brown and dry!!

Last weekend we went to a family reunion in Boise. We got to see where Nate's grandfather and his family grew up. Nate's great uncle Richard, who is 95, came along for the whole adventure. Uncle Richard hiked a half mile with us up to the old homestead. Did I mention that the trail was narrow, on an incline, and had sagebrush, rocks and thistles along the way? Oh did I also mention that Uncle Richard has two canes? He is amazing. We got to tour a newspaper that Nate's Great Grandfather was the editor of many years ago. It was very impressive. We were the only youngin's there. We aren't sure where all of Nate's cousins were.

We feel that we were rewarded for being the only ones from our generation at the reunion. When we arrived at the Boise airport to check in, we noticed that our flight was over-booked. We asked the attendant about that and she said that they were looking for 3 volunteers to get bumped to the next flight. In return we would get free tickets to anywhere Alaska Airlines flies. Of course we said yes. Did you know that Alaska is flying to Hawaii starting in October? Oh, we do!! We are planning on going back to Hawaii next June. Ever since our Honeymoon we couldn't wait to get back! Thanks Alaska!! We'll let you know when we book our tickets. We won't wait long.

This weekend we decided to go canoeing again. We had a few errands to take care of first. We went to the Redmond Farmer's Market. I was looking for rhubarb, but no luck. Anyone have any they want to share?? While browsing a booth with photographs taken in Italy (ahh, we want to go!!), a woman came up and started talking to the photographer. As it turned out she was the mayor of Redmond. The photographer introduced us. She was a very nice woman and very down to earth. From what we gathered, she is in her last term.

And now, canoeing pictures. It is amazing how much the flora and fauna changes in a month.

Last time we saw goslings, but this time there were ducklings. Here are a few cute pictures of them. They weren't as friendly as the goslings where last time.

Here are some of the ducklings running and swimming around on the lily pads.

I couldn't resist a picture of some of the water lily's. I made Nate take this one for me.
While we were paddling along we saw this bird on a nest in the water. We thought it might be a turtle but once we got closer we saw that it was not. Does anyone know what the bird is called? I saw a woman with bird book paddle past us in a canoe. Where is she??

Here are some ducks just hanging out.

Remember these goslings from last time?

Check them out now! They weren't nearly as friendly. They also weren't looking for food like they were last time.

We had a little picnic lunch again. Here is our view. There was also a man near us with a dog and later he started playing frisbee with the dog. Unfortunately we didn't get any pictures of that but it definitley made us want a dog. We thought the dog might have been a professional frisbee player just because he was so poised and patient when he was waiting for his owner to throw the frisbee.
We got a kick out of this guy. He was in a blow-up kayak and had his dog riding on the front. He pulled into where we were eating lunch. We had to take a picture of him. He is under one of the trees. Look carefully.

Here is a heron we saw along the shore. There were some people near us feeding the ducks and this guy came wondering out of the grasses.

We will leave you with this view of Mt. Rainier from 520. We couldn't resist taking the picture.

One last bit of news. School is out for the summer. Our last day was on Monday, June 25th. Thank goodness. Cross your fingers for less snow and power outages next school year. This is my first summer that I'm not teaching summer school. I applied but I didn't hear anything back. I'm hoping that I will be able to work a few days a week this summer at Nate's shop.

Have a safe 4th of July! Talk to you all soon!

Total Newness

So I've achieved my most recent grand dream: the purchase of a Wacom tablet. For those who don't know, a Wacom is a little USB peripheral for your computer consisting of a flat tablet and a stylus. When you draw on the tablet, the motion translates directly to your computer screen. So what does this mean for me?

Infinite possibilities! It's interesting to get used to, but once I have the hang of it, I can essentially create paintings on my computer. It's going to be grand. I hope everyone knows that's what they're getting for birthdays this year. Yup! Digital paintings!

The downside is that I now have another thing competing for my time. I already have a wife and a full-time job, and now I have this little item waiting for me at home. Always waiting. Waiting for me. I can hear its call at work, a siren's song wafting across the distance between us.

Could you imagine if Becky and I had a child at this point? The poor guy wouldn't know he (or she) even had a father until he was 3.

In all seriousness, I'm loving the virtual canvas. Hopefully, I'll get some more time in the near future to post again. Until that time, back to the Batcave!

Memorial Day Weekend

I had been wanting to get out and doing something outdoors that wasn't going to take a lot of driving or a lot of money. Every time we drive over the 520 bridge we see all the people in canoes and kayaks. I decided to do some research and found out that we could rent a canoe from the UW aquatic center for $7.50 an hour. Sign us up!! We decided Memorial Day weekend would be perfect. We saw so many great animals. We are definitely going again. I think my mom is going to join us with her kayak soon.

Here is our canoe. I won't tell you who fell getting into it! No, not in the water, thank goodness!!

Here are some of the geese that came begging for food. Did I mention that I really don't like it when birds get close too me? I was turned around when Nate was talking to me and then he told me I had a friend. One of the geese had come right up to my end of the canoe and was starting to peck at the canoe.

Mama and her goslings. The dad was around too, just not in this picture.

There were other birds out there too. The geese did not like the ducks getting too close to them at all. The white stuff in the water is cotton wood. Here we are! Notice that someone is not wearing their life vest properly! A lot of good that will do you!!

Here are some more pictures of the wildlife we saw.

A nice postcard picture. When we ate lunch right across from this area there was something swimming and splashing around in the area with the iris's . Nate thought the music from Lost might start or a plume of black smoke might rise out of the trees. Thankfully, that didn't happen.

Here is an ever classic Nate and Becky shot! I'm sure you have some just like it!! We had just finished lunch. Hey! Does anyone know what stadium is behind me?? Note the WSU shirt!! Te he!! Go Cougs!!

We rounded out the weekend with a trip to the movie theater to go see Pirates of the Caribbean along with the rest of the masses. Check out Nate's website for his review of it.

Greetings!

Hi Everyone! Nate and I decided to start a blog (actually it was my idea and he actually got it set up for me) to let you all know what is going on in our busy lives. We hope you all enjoy it!

You probably read Nate's post below. So I guess it is my turn to introduce myself or maybe even bring you up to speed about me. Nate and I met in April of 2004 in Spokane when I was finishing up school at Eastern. He moved over here to the west side of the state in May of 2005 and then we got engaged in December of 2005. We got married on July 29th, 2006. I moved down here to Redmond after we got married.

I started off the school year substituting in the Lake Washington School District which consists of schools in Kirkland, Redmond and Sammamish. Subbing kept me pretty busy. In February I just happened to be subbing for the right lady at the right time. She was expecting her second child and was taking her maternity leave 3 weeks early. She asked me if I was available for the next three weeks and I of course said "Yes." That opportunity actually turned in to me taking over for her for the rest of the school year. So I have had a full time position since March. I teach a wonderful group of 2nd graders. They are nothing like my 3rd graders from my first teaching position out of EWU. The ladies that I team with are wonderful and so are the staff. Cross you fingers that there will be a position at this school for me next year. Anywhere in the district would be great too!! I may be teaching this summer for the district's summer school program. I would love to do Best SELF again but the program closed and an hour commute is just a bit too much!!