new post

I really have nothing new to say or report. It's been a not warm, barely there summer and I've been busy with the basics of life. I'm hoping for continued sunshine as I am only working half of my days this month! Praying for better days...

Ruth Mountain

Matt and I on the Kingston ferry. We went out in June to cheer on our friend in a marathon in Sequim.

Here she is! Surprise!!

Whiskey was just hanging out on the lounge chair when I saw there was a rabbit right above his head on the hillside. I thought it was funny how long it took him to realize the little guy was there.

I climbed this mountain!

setting up camp

me on a mountain.

Pretty huh?! We climbed up to the top, just to the right of that rock.

Summit with my honey!!

Looking out across the summit of Ruth Mountain. Beautiful.

I will trust in You

Heard this song this morning and now it's on repeat in my head. And I'm loving it. This version I heard is by Jeremy Camp:

When I can't see You I know You're there
When I can't feel You I will not fear
I will trust in You and I will not be afraid.
When the battle is close at hand
Though You're with me and help me stand
I will trust in You and I will not be afraid.

I will not be afraid
I will not be afraid
I will trust in you
I will trust in you
I will trust in you

When the darkness is close at hand
And I'm running against the wind
I will trust in you and I will not be afraid.
When I'm standing upon that shore
All the battles I've gone before
I will trust in you, and I will not be afraid.

'Cuz I will not be afraid
I will not be afraid
I will trust in you
I will trust in you
I will trust in you
I will trust in you
I will trust in you
I will trust in you
I will trust in you

'Cuz I will not be afraid
I will not be afraid
'Cuz I will not be afraid
I will not (whoaho) be afraid
I will trust in you
I will trust in you
I will trust in you
I willl trust in you
I will trust in you
I will trust in you.

try this

try this blog for Brian's Everest experience instead: Everest

Nothing super awesome to add to the blog for myself, so I live vicariously through others :) I'll try to update something soon!

Blog to follow

Friend Brian's blog. Follow his Everest experience!

http://sponsor7summits.com/blog.php

bullets

We've been:

working usual full-time work for both of us

studying for my critical care certification exam

skiing and snowboarding, getting better

running matt has a 1/2 marathon this weekend. i have been running & wheezing.

reading several books & bible studies

planning a work trip to chicago, canceling cable

cooking just simple delicious food

cleaning attempting to stay on top of it

loving better, stronger, deeper, more intentional

listening for God when He speaks to us

hanging out with friends, old and new

thankful for all that we've been given

Bullets

Here's a bullet list of what we've been up to:

• Matt opened his new office just up the street from where we live!

        -3 minute drive to work
        -17 minute walk
        -dogs allowed
        -click here for the website

• Work, work, work. We both have been pretty busy. 
• Skiing (me). Snowboarding (Matt) a few times this year. 

        -I'm still learning, but I bought some new skis yesterday! I'm going to tear it up. :)
        -Matt goes each week with some buddies up to the Pass early in the morning (5am). They snowshoe up to the top of various places, then snowboard down, all in the dark. Head lamps are their friend. This gives them all a very nice morning workout before work.

• Allergic reactions. Matt went running last week and mid-run had an allergic reaction to something. Hives, facial swelling, etc. We self-diagnosed him with Exercise-Induced Anaphylaxis. Yep, real thing. 

        -we assumed he was allergic to some food we ate, but apparently doesn't have to show symptoms until "vigorous exercise." They tested him for all of the things we ate that night (and another, because it happened again!). Turns out he's allergic to salmon and the legume family, among others.
        -He's always been allergic to trees, grasses, pollens, dust, etc. You name it, he was allergic to it. So, apparently because he's allergic to trees, he has a sensitivity to salad. Yep, salad. He should be absolutely fine as long as he doesn't run within four hours of eating these things. Scary.
        -I'm allergic to something. I have constant sinus congestion. Even Claritin-D doesn't totally clear me up. Gross.

• Reading

        -Still have a few on my list to read: 2&3 of The Hunger Games Trilogy, The Help, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society, and a few devotional books.
        -Started Love and Respect with our new bible study group. Love it.
        -Studying for my CCRN. I told Matt today that "it's always in the back of my head." He told me to "move it to the front."  HA. Kidding. I told him that I was slowly pushing it forward, starting to make it more of a priority. After all, if I pass, I will get an extra $1/hour for it. Yippee! :)

• Dinner Parties

        -We're trying to eat dinner with more people each week. You know, fellowship.
        -Let me know if you're interested in coming over for dinner. I LOVE to cook for people! Plus, it keeps my house a little more clean. Oh and we like children. A lot.

• Making Plans

        -We are working on cleaning out our garage and organizing it.
        -Thinking about possibly selling our Foosball Table.
        -Matt is climbing Rainier this year.
        -Spending more quality time together (& Whiskey!)

I'm sure there's more, but I think that will do for now.

YUM

I made these the other day:  sea salt caramels



DELIGHT! They were SO quick and easy! Mine didn't look anything like the pictures, but it was still unbelievably delicious!

busy

Life has been so busy the last couple of months. A bit stressful if you ask me. Matt's Mom Nancy was in the hospital for pneumonia, but is thankfully out now...only to find out she has a DVT in her leg. Ugh. She is starting to feel a little better, but we'll see how she is after her follow-up appointments. Please pray as she is fragile right now. On another note, work has been hard on both Matt and I but we are working through it. I'm tired of death and trying to comfort families through it. It's been emotionally, physically and very mentally hard for me....usually it doesn't take too much of a toll, so I've struggled a little. Needless to say, I was eagerly anticipating my days off (which is helping). Matt has simply been working through the busy and not-so-busy times but is still hiking/skiing/snowshoeing a ton and loving it. 

Two more family friends made their way to the hospital this December. My Mom's accountant and longtime family friend, Charlie, is in the burn unit at Harborview. He is stable but very very sick and in multiple organ failure. I am thankful that I can be a source of knowledge for their family, but as I said before, I'm kind of emotionally worn out. Jessie also has a friend that is at Harborview, but in the Neuro ICU. Again, he is stable but everything(and everyone) is really fragile right now. 

I can't tell you how thankful and blessed Matt and I are. We have each other, health, love, support, a (warm) home, jobs, and fabulous friends and family.  I thank God daily for these blessings. 

Life hasn't been overly hard, just trying....New Years' weekend was great and was definitely a testament to how blessed we are because of all of our awesome friends!  

Menu Tuesday

I thought I should join Nicole this week for posting my menu for the week. Although, like Danica  things change throughout the week and I really can't plan ahead as much as I would like.

I am starting from this past Sunday, because we're still eating the leftovers for lunches  :)

Sunday
    White Bean Turkey Chili in the crockpot
         chicken broth
         leftover turkey meat
         several cans of different beans-great northern, pinquitos, etc, drained
         can of corn, drained
         can of diced tomatoes
         flour or cornstarch for thickening
         cumin , coriander, tiny bit of salt, pepper, cayenne
         whatever else floats your boat!

Monday
      leftover Chili

Tuesday
      Crockpot lasagna
           ground turkey
           ground sausage
           mushrooms
           spinach
           cottage cheese
           parm
           mozzarella
           Italian seasoning, or just oregano, thyme
           2 eggs
           lasagna noodles, dry
           spaghetti sauce
           onions and garlic

      cook up the sausage, turkey, onions and garlic. In another bowl, mix together cottage cheese, parm, italian seasonings, and eggs. Put some of the meat mixture on the bottom of the crockpot. Cover with a layer of sauce, then spinach and mushrooms, then mozz., then cottage mixture. Sometimes I add cream cheese to this mixture...just because. Then a layer of noodles. I broke mine in order for it to fit better in the round crockpot. Then layer again until all ingredients are gone. Today is my first time doing this in a crockpot, so I'm sure I will have to check on it periodically to see if it needs some broth or something for moisture.

Wednesday
       leftovers
    
Thursday
       Chicken Yakisoba
              noodles from Costco
              chicken from a rotisserie chicken I bought the other day
              array of veggies, mostly broccoli
              Yoshidas
              sometimes a little soy
              garlic
              fresh ginger (I keep mine in the freezer and grate it directly from there into the dish. This way, my ginger stays fresh and it's so easy to store and use!)


Friday
      leftovers or whatever Matt decides to cook since I work through Sunday
     

Hiking

Today we hiked up Mt. Si via the old trail. It's steeper than the new trail but a little bit shorter. It was nice to have much less people out there than we've typically seen on a Saturday morning. There was quite a bit of snow at the top and I was thankful to have my "yak-trak" like covers on for the icy spots!

It was definitely a cold one with all of the wind, but I did ok with my fleece, downcoat and rain coat. My hands froze despite having hand warmers in my gloves the entire time. And in this picture, my face is frozen as well. I felt like I had been to the dentist and was numb from forehead to chin, cheek to cheek. I had no idea what this smile would be like :)

I love hiking this time of year because of all of the snow-capped mountains around us! Gorgeous! And of course, Whiskey had a blast running up and down the trail with his new friend Oscar (golden retriever).

I'm sure we'll be hiking again soon if the weather permits!

we love snow

I just can't stop..

I cannot stop eating pumpkin....it's ridiculous! My newest kick is putting pumpkin puree in my oatmeal with some nutmeg, cinnamon, and cloves. I can't handle how delicious this is!

My next recipe will be a squash/pumpkin pasta dish...

Stains

I finally found a carpet stain cleaner I really like! It actually works well! Now, if only I could find something that would actually get rid of the calcium deposits on my shower head...CLR is not doing it.

The Enchantments

We did it! We left around 5:30am after a Starbucks stop, and headed out onto the trail around 8:30 ish I think. From the trailhead, we hiked to Colchuck Lake, and then went around the lake and up Aasgard pass. We did a lot of boulder hopping and climbing. Needless to say, I am very sore! From the lake up the pass is about 2300 feet of elevation in ONE MILE. It was straight up. Near the top it started hailing, and proceeded to rain the entire way back to the trailhead. Once we got back to the trailhead (around 5:30pm), it took me FOREVER to change into new clothes. It was sooo nice to be headed into Leavenworth to eat dinner at the end of a very long day. (My body had already been hurting at that point :) )

 Colchuck Lake

 looking down onto Colchuck Lake

 Extreme Adventures

 one of the lakes at the top of Aasgard Pass

 looking down onto Colchuck Lake from the summit of Aasgard Pass

Ingall's Lake

A big group of people go out to a friend's cabin each year off of Teanaway River and camp. They always hike out to Ingall's Lake on Saturday for a good workout. This was the first year for Matt and I, but we decided to backpack out and camp overnight. The trail is about 3.5 miles to the campsites and another mile or so to Ingall's Lake. It is part of the Alpine Lakes Wilderness, close to the Enchantments. This was only my second time actually backpacking and I had a great time!

Our campsite was out on this rockledge looking out right at Mt. Stuart. Gorgeous!! There were just a few trees around, and most of the trees had branches on only one side. We figured it got pretty windy up there. Little did we know that we were going to experience firsthand the crazy winds.

 We went to bed early and were woken up several times an hour because of the raging winds. I wasn't sure that the tent was even going to hold up! Around 3am or so, the rains came...hard. We couldn't help but laugh, since the day before was in the 70s and clear blue sky. We packed up in the rain and wind and left around 7am. I was so thankful for the gear we had that kept us warm and dry!

[By the way, we have this stove called the Jetboil and it is AWESOME! It boils about 2 cups of water within 2 minutes and it is very compact. Get this if you plan on camping anytime soon.]

 Mt. Stuart

 A view to the right of our campsite

 Below our campsite

 Another view of Mt. Stuart (can you believe people climb that?!)

 campsite

 Matt and his Dad, Jim, trying to figure out where the trail is to the lake

 drying my clothes on my trekking pole :)

 Ingall's Lake-about a mile from our campsite. Jim is napping on the big rock in the middle

 Lake

 Mt. Stuart behind the lake

 The huge group that went up to the lake with us

 Matt filtering water

 A nudy-butt jumping into the freezing cold lake

 Us at the lake

 Amanda, Bry, Jim, me, Matt

 Me posing at our campsite looking out at Mt. Stuart

 Looking up behind our campsite

 Gorgeous colors of the larch (sp?) trees

 The sun went down on our campsite, but was still on Stuart

Me in my new down jacket!