the mother load

vacuum, that is.

I got a brand new, fancy pants vacuum! It vacuums WAY more than my other Dirt Devil did! It also comes with a shampooer attachment and I LOVE IT!!!

Here is a picture of the massive mosquito bites all over my back and arms. It's hard to tell, but they're there. Also, on the back of my left shoulder is a bruise that Whiskey made trying to swim with me in the lake.

Mt. Rainier

Mt. Rainier was gorgeous for us yesterday! We hiked up Sourdough Ridge off of Sunrise. The mosquitoes were swarming constantly, and we even had bug spray! Matt got away with only 2 bites, but the rest of us got eaten alive! I have over 40 for sure and usually don't get eaten by them too much. These ones were tiny, but packed a punch!

Matt and I at the top of our hike


Megan, Me, Matt, Katherine



Amanda, Jim, Megan, Katherine


Same

We left around 1:30 pm to head home and got stopped right away by a van pulling a trailer that jack-knifed on the two lane curvy road. Their brakes went out at the top and just had to keep going until they slowed. God was sure looking out for them because no one got hurt! We were stuck there for about 2 hours, and then still had to drive all the way back down through Enumclaw then home! I swear it took forever!!

All in all, a great day!!

tourism

Matt's cousin, Katherine and her friend, Megan, are in town from Alabama. We showed them EVERYTHING there is to see!!

Saturday in Seattle:

Riding the monorail (Bryan, Amanda, Katherine, Megan)


Ready to ride the Light Rail on the first day!


Ready for the Sounders game! (In line for a hot dog)

Sounders vs Chelsea

girls

Matt and I at Kerry Park on Queen Anne

The girls at the Troll in Fremont

Sunday we went Canoeing (instead of kayaking) at the Arboretum near UW. It was awesome!! Plus, it was only $10 per boat per hour!

Today includes a lake trip, and tomorrow includes a Mt Rainier trip. Anyone interested??

The Latest

Here are some pics of what has been happening at the house lately.

The beginnings of a real fire pit



some of the retaining wall and the steps that will go up the hill in the middle of it


We had to dig out a portion of the hill so we could bring the wall back a little



My Mom's boyfriend Sam was able to bring these rocks into the yard for us!! They are MASSIVE!


Our driveway is filled to the brim!


A close-up of the stone


One of my new dahlias compared to Matt's hand



One of the hanging baskets out front...at least some of my plants are thriving!


We are also painting our living room FINALLY!! We just started today, so these are mid paint



You can see the previous tan paint to the left


Sexy husband taping

We had the pleasure of hosting the Joner family for the weekend and they are adopting this itty-bitty!! She was adorable, and loved Whiskey-me, not so much! With the fam, we had 9 people staying at our home for the weekend!

Wary of me holding her

Matt has been working hard not only at work, but also getting the supplies for all of our improvements! It has been a challenge having the right materials at the right times. And something always comes up extra that we will need, which means $$$! We cannot wait until this project is over! We will invite everyone over soon for a BBQ and campfire!

We are painting the family room a lovely shade of green. It only took 4 samples to get the right one! Thanks to Awesome Amanda, we found the green we were looking for.

I have been trying to swim a couple days a week and I feel like I am getting better, but I still need a lot of work. Maybe I should just backstroke the whole way??? :)

Matt and I went to church this morning and really enjoyed ourselves! We always feel better when we do. I had taken this weekend off, so we should actually be able to go next Sunday also, which would be a full two weeks in a row! Since I can only go to church every other week and we have been so busy, we have had a hard time getting motivated to get up and find a new church. We liked the service we went to today! Yippee!

On Friday, we have Matt's cousin Kathryn coming over from Alabama for a few days. It'll be busy, but we'll have a great time touring the area!

weekend

On Friday we spent the day in Cle Elum wakeboarding, tubing, and wading in the water with Bry and Amanda. It was perfect and I am sooooo sore!

Yesterday, we went to Ocean Shores to spend the 4th with Matt's family. Delicious food, fun games, campfires, smores, fireworks on the beach, kiddos, a fun skateboard thing, and a dog who didn't seem to mind the fireworks. Besides the loooong trip out there, it was way too much fun!

I think today will be spent at Rattlesnake Lake with the hubby attempting to teach myself how to swim further than 20 feet...