Once again, we are sadly neglecting our blog. The past month has been absolutely crazy! It's been a mess of working, wedding planning, 3-daying, and lazying whenever possible. As I can't even rememeber all that we've done since our last post, I'll highlight what I do remember!

Aug 24 - 27 was the Seattle Breast Cancer 3-Day, which I volunteered for. I have a lot that I could say about it, but will try to keep this short. Thursday was "Crew Day", so just for volunteer crew members, and no the walkers. We spent the day going over all of the things that we'd be responsible for over the weekend and getting to know the people that we'd be working with. I was on the Traffic Control crew. Over the course of the day, I had already come to the conclusion that our crew captain was...not greatest person alive. I won't go into details now....

Friday was the first day of the walk. The crew members had to get there before the walkers started arriving at 6am. We had a wonderfuly early start time of 4am. It was cold, and dark, but once the walkers started to arrive, we kept ourselves busy! We helped out with traffic coming into and leaving the park, along with parking cars who wanted to stay for opening ceremonies, which started at a nice and early 6:30am. Once they started, I got to go to the very start of the walk and cheer on all of the walkers as they started out their 3 long days! After that, I headed to camp and spent the day directing large trucks into and out of the camp, which was a HUGE park, with narrow roads. I worked a nice, long 15 hours that first day.

The rest of the weekend continued on the same. I directed traffic, and had the joy of cheering on the walkers as they returned to camp each day. On Sunday, we headed over to the closing ceremonies pretty early and took care of traffic control there.

What I did wasn't nearly as exciting as the amazing people I met. One of the guys on my crew was from Colorado. He and his wife, along with a few other friends, have been crewing/walking for several years. They go to different cities each year, and make a yearly vacation out of it. Another man walked with his 2nd wife. Together, they walked for his 1st wife who had passed away from breast cancer. Another man, who was dying from lung cancer, somehow managed to walk all 60 miles. Not only did he do that, but he was walking in all of the walks in all of the different cities this year! Another women walked, pushing her mother in a wheel chair the entire way.

Having met all of the amazing people and been a part of such an amazing event was truely a gift. I've already signed up for next year, and have convinced Jim to sign up, too!

Aug 31 - Sept 5 was spent in St. Louis. Jim and I had a fun-filled weekend of wedding planning. The highlights of the weekend included getting our marriage license, happy hour with the Duda's and Yochim's, our wonderful couples shower thrown by my fabulous sisters, and having the opportunity to visit Tom and Sherry before we left. It was a busy weekend, but it was so great to get to see everyone in St. Louis. We miss everyone so much!!

Quick update of the last month

It's been a while since Jim and I have updated. Sadly, I misplaced our camera. I'm sure it's in our apartment some place, but I haven't gotten around to finding it! So without pictures, I'll give you all a quick update of what we've been up to for the past month! Or at least what I can remember of it!

We haven't been doing much camping, but that doesn't mean we've been being lazy either!

July 2: We took a bike ride the first Saturday of July with Mike and Marcie. I had bought a new, comfy saddle and new clip-in pedals since our last bike trip. The new pedals are the kind that attach to your shoes. To get your feet un-attached, you have to do a fancy little foot twist. Because I was just starting out with these new pedals, we decided to take try an easy 10 mile loop through Mackworth Forest...or so we thought. This easy trail was wide, but no other part was easy. There were pot holes and gravel and the trail was straight up for the entire trail....or at least the entire trail that was still a trail! We continued climbing, up and up and up, and were just waiting for the trail to start down again. On one of our many breaks, Mike was trying to get the perfect picture of himself doing a wheely. But in getting this perfect picture, he flipped over and landed on his butt! Luckily, he escaped with just a few scrapes and bruises. And then we continued up some more! So after what seemed like hours of trying to get over the up parts of the trail, we hit a dead end!! It seems that the trail hadn't been maintained all that well, and after mile 8, there was no way we could continue on! We were out of water and food!! We decided to turn around, and headed back to the car the same way that we had come. So much for the loop! Luckily, what had taken us hours to climb, took us under an hour to get back down! It was great....all downhill! And that was a good thing because I was starting to not feel so great and in need of food! On the way home, we stopped by to get some Garlic Jim's Pizza. Yum!!

July 4: Jim and I spent the morning cleaning our apartment because in the evening, we had Mike and Marcie, and Mike's mom, and Matt, his sister, Krista, and mom over for dinner and to watch fireworks! Jim grilled up some burgers, hot dogs and chicken-apple brats. Yummy! And after dinner, everyone,including Rufus, wandered up to roof of our apartment building to watch fireworks! The show was right on Elliot Bay, and we had a perfect view! Overall, it was a great night! And even though it wasn't my family here, it was great to be able to mooch off Matt and Mike and borrow their families for a night :-)

July 8-9: This weekend was spent being a little more lazy. Jim and I bummed around the apartment quite a bit and took Rufus to the dog park, and went to pick up our wedding bands from the jeweler on Saturday. On Sunday, we bummed around on the piers, and met up with Mike, Marcie, and Mike's mom at Pike Place for drinks (yay sangria!) before we went to see the new Superman movie at the imax theater. When we got there, we found out that there were actually parts of the movie in 3D!! We all felt very cool wearing the nifty 3D glasses. Jim and I even got the big ones that fit over our glasses! While the movie was a bit cheesy, we had a blast!

July 15-16: After sleeping in a lot longer than I had planned, Jim and I got up, got ready, and met Mike and Marcie for kayaking on Lake Union! We kayaked for about 2 hours along the lake. Sadly, Jim and I both have very little upper body strength and were pretty slow. Poor Mike and Marcie kept having to wait for us! It was a beautiful day for kayaking, with little wind, not too many boats (at least at first) and not a cloud in the sky. The only problem with such beautiful weather is the inevitable sunburns! Luckily, I think everyone else did alright on that end other than me.... After our 2 hours of kayaking, Jim and I went back to our apartment to take care of Rufus, and Mike and Marcie went home to nap. After wearing out Rufus, Jim and I went to pick raspberries at the South 47 Farm, and then over to Mike and Marcie's for dinner! We ate yummy brats, salad, and ice cream with raspberries for dessert!

On Sunday, Mike and Marcie came with us to take Rufus to the dog park. While Rufus had a blast, I think M&M were a little overwhelmed by all of the dogs, and by how crazy Rufus got! After that, we headed out to Alki beach for smoothies! We didn't realize how crowded Alki would be, so we didn't stay for too long. Instead, we headed back to our apartment. Everyone else went to the park across the street for a rousing game of wiffle ball, where the ball was quickly lost. I stayed inside to pretty myself up for some engagement pictures! We grilled some delicious hot dogs before heading to the top of Queen Anne so that Mike could take some fabulous pictures of us. It's a good thing we have friends who like to take pictures so much or Jim and I would end up with no engagement pictures...or at least not any that we liked..... Stay tuned for a post with those pictures!

Upcoming camping trip

Jim and I are going on our first hike-in camping trip this weekend with Mike and Marcie. Since this is a completely new experience for us, I thought I'd let everyone know what this is going to entail. This way, you can all call me crazy (or if you're my baby brother, ask if we've all contracted herpes!)

Friday night, we'll all be driving to the Olympic National Park. We'll start off at a trailhead with huge backpacks filled with everything we need for 2 nights, including tents, clothes, food, water....everything!! We'll hike about 3 miles (most likely in the dark), and set up camp. Luckily, I don't think there's too much of an elevation gain!

Saturday, we'll leave our tents set up and spend the day hiking and exploring. Our primary desination will be a place called Enchanted Valley. This will be about a 10 mile round trip from and to the campsite.

On Sunday, we'll pack up camp and hike the 3 miles back to the car!

Oh yes, and did I mention that there are bears in this area? We'll have to borrow bear cannisters from the ranger station to store all of our food and anything else smelly.

And, there will be no pottys along the way.... For going #1, I'm planning on buying one of these. And, if any of us have to go #2, we'll be digging a hole (at least 8 inches deep) and burying it!

Pat Visit

Pat was in Seattle this week for a class this past week (6/11-6/15). While Jen wasn't here, it was still a fun time, but would have been so much better with Jen. Sadly, I have no pictures to show for it. He came in Sunday night, but we didn't see him.

On Monday, Pat met Mike and Marcie at their place, and then we met up with them at Bahama Breeze. Good times! We had a night of good drinks (at least for Marcie and I) and good eats and good chats! I was, however, VERY disappointed that Bahama Breeze no longer has their pizzas!! They were so damn good! After dinner, we all went our separate ways.

On Tuesday night, everyone came over to our apartment for my attempt at entertaining. I cooked Miss Sonja's fabulous lasagna, which I think turned out pretty well, and for dessert, this fruit with whipped cream pie type thing. Overall, I think things turned out alright. At least everyone ate and no one got sick! :-)

On Wednesday, since Pat had spent probably 4 hours in traffic driving back and forth both nights, we met up at his hotel before going to dinner at Azteca (chicken in mole = YUMMY!). It was last night when I realized how terrifying it would be to live in the same city as Pat. Jim and Pat spent a good portion of the night spewing out quotes from movies. I had NO idea what they were talking about. Luckily, Marcie was there to chat with, and I had a beer in hand (yummy beer!!).

One last comment - I've had at least one drink every night this week, and I think it's starting to take it's toll. I'm not feeling so hot today!!

Camping at Decpetion Pass State Park

Mike, Marcie, Jim and I (and Rufus) all left on Sunday morning (May 28) for a night of camping at beautiful Deception Pass State Park on Whidbey Island. We packed up the car, and left only slightly later than planned (this time because of Jim and I)! We drove North to Mukilteo and hopped the ferry for a quick trip to Whidbey. The drive from the ferry to Deception Pass is my favorite part of the trip because it's so beautiful! Sadly, it rained just about the entire drive. In no rush to get to camp in the rain, we stopped by K-mart to pick up a few things, including a nice $15 rain coat! That purchase wasn't nearly as good as Mike and Marcie's canopy, though! After that stop, we made our way to the park. As our luck would have it, the rain stopped just as we got to the park. We didn't really see any sunshine, but at least we didn't get wet!

We parked and walked to our site, but there were a few people (and dogs) sitting around our fire pit with a nice, warm fire built. As it turns out, they were our neighbors, whose campsite, at the bottom of a little hill, had flooded from all of the rain the previous night! They were very nice about moving back to their site and taking everything with them, including the burning logs in the firepit! Their dogs weren't quite as nice, though. One of them wouldn't stop barking at us! I was sure he'd get off of his leash and try to eat Rufus!!

After that, we set up camp, including Mike and Marcie's wonderful canopy. Then, we wandered around the park a bit. We walked down to the beach and played around near the water. When we got back to camp, we found that something had gotten into my precious trail mix!! As I have become a trail mix addict lately, I was a little sad. Luckily, I had a little bag of it with me that was saved!! Yummy trail mix!! We bought wood, bummed around, and made a fire. We also chatted with Jen and Patrick for a bit. More will come on that later....

At dinner time, we chowed down!! I brought my wonderful grilled cheese maker. I have to say that there is nothing better than grilled cheese over the camp fire! I definitely have a new favorite camping dinner!! We also ate delicious cheeseburgers, baked beans, pasta salad, and s'mores, of course! For entertainment, Jim and I brought along the cards from our Trivial Pursuit 90s Edition game. So much fun!! Then, after eating so much sugar, I crashed big time! Rufus and I headed to bed early.

In the tent, I crawled in my sleeping bag and tried to put Rufus in the cage that we had brought along for him, but he looked too pathetic. So, I let him out and wandered the tent trying to find a comfy place to sleep. When Jim came to bed, Rufus finally found Jim's feet! We all fell asleep and slept soundly...until the Jim and Rufus snoring started! Between the 2 of them, there was a constant sawing sound!! Rufus would exhale as Jim was snoring, and they would switch. While it kept me up for a bit, it was rather hilarious!!

In the morning, it rained a tiny bit, and I was feeling terribly cold and lazy, so I, along with everyone else, laid in bed for a bit. When we finally got up, we had a fabulous breakfast of eggs, hashbrowns and s'mores! Just the thought of all that food is making me hungry....

Eventually, we got around to taking the trail to the bridge. It was about a mile there and a mile back. Despite his wimpiness and tininess, Rufus made it the whole way!! He was pretty excited about the trails, running them like it's what he was born to do, but his favorite part was any of the steep hills. He's look at them, look back at whoever was behind him, and charge them. It was too cute! By the time we got back to the site, he was pooped!

We packed up the tent and headed home. The wait for the ferry was only about an hour, so we all sat in the car and relaxed/slept. Rufus just about immediately fell asleep by Jim's feet, except every time we'd stop while in line for the ferry and I'd pull the emergency brake, his head would quickly pop up!

After a 3-day weekend full of rain and clouds, just as we were getting back to Seattle, we started to see more and more blue sky.

All in all, another awesome trip!!

Mount Si

On Friday (May 19), Jim and I met up with Mike at REI. Jim needed some new shoes (since we tossed his old tennis shoes after the biking disaster during our trip to Larrabee), and Mike needed to pick up something he had ordered online. While Jim was trying on shoes and I was trying to convince him to actually buy some, Mike was asking the REI pros about a good place to hike the next day. Without knowing what we were getting ourselves into, we took the suggestion of Mount Si, which was just a short 8 mile round trip hike.

So we took the 40 minute drive to the Snoqualmie valley on Saturday. As we got off the highway, we saw the mountain for the first time. I think Jim and I both almost died! We definitely didn't know what we were getting ourselves into!!

We met up with Mike at the trailhead (after spending a bit of time on the phone trying to figure out where we were going), and started our hike up, switchback after switchback, heading up and up and up. The elevation gain was a meere 3,500 feet for the 4 mile hike up the mountain! I don't think the trail flattened out once!! I was ready to turn back more than once, but continued pressing on. This was one hike that made it very clear to me how incredibly out of shape I am!

After hiking (and taking several breaks) for about 3 hours, we finally reached the top (or at least my top)! We ate the food we had packed with us while overlooking the beautiful valley. After eating, Jim and I sat around and tried to catch our breathe while Mike continued up what is called "the haystack", the final 200 foot ascent to the summit. I was too pooped (lazy) to climb the last little bit, but after seeing his amazing pictures of the view, I'm determined to get in better shape and make it back there!! (Please take a look at Mike and Marcie's blog to see the pictures....)

After taking 3 hours to hike up and an hour at the top (for Mike to climb the haystack), it took us less than an hour to make our way back to the car!! It was impossible to walk because it was so steep, so we ran half of the way!

Stay tuned for pictures and my climb to the actual summit! :-)

Shane and Shannon's Visit

May 11-14, Shane and Shannon came to visit us! They had a not so great flight out here Thursday evening, but you'll have to ask them about that. Not very happy story. I'd be angry, too!! So after we left the airport we went to McMenamin's, a cute little bar between the hotel they were staying at and our apartment, to drink (and eat) away their frustrations. McMenamin's serves the BEST tatertots EVER!! After that, we all went our separate ways and got to sleep!

Jim and I both had to work on Friday, so Shane and Shannon bummed around the city, going to the Space Needle, Pike Place Market, the Piers, the International District.... They took the double decker bus around for a bit because of the wet and cold Seattle weather, but walked from the International District to Jim's work to meet him and back to our apartment on Queen Anne Hill, which is a nice, long walk! By the time I got off work, I think everyone was in need of a nap, so we hung out for a bit to relax and played with Rufus.

For dinner, Shane and Shannon ventured out to our favorite restaurant, Bai Tong,the BEST Thai place ever. They had never had thai, so I was a bit nervous taking them there, but they seemed to enjoy it! We had spring rolls, fried rice, curry, and my personal favorite, phad thai! They were also having a wine tasting event, so we, of course, tasted a glass of wine each!

After that, we went back to our apartment and played a game of Trivial Pursuit, the 90's edition: boys vs. girls. Sadly, the boys got too tired and quit before we finished. I call that a win for the girls!!

On Saturday, we drove out to Deception Pass State Park on Whidbey Island. It's a park that Jim and I have been to a few times and absolutely LOVE!! We took the Mukilteo Ferry to the island, and drove out to the park. We packed a lunch, and ate once we got there. And, we brought Rufus with us!! As such a tiny dog, we weren't quite sure how he'd do with the trails. Surprisingly, he loved them! He was trying to lead the way the whole time we were hiking! It was too cute. I think we pooped out the puppy and Shane and Shannon; they slept most of the way back to Seattle!

After showering and resting up a bit, we made our first trip to Buce di Bepo, a family style italian restaurant. They serve huge bowls of pasta, and everyone shares. We were a little worried about over-ordering, so we had the waitress help us with the amount. After ordering what seemed to be the perfect amount, a random waiter came by with a HUGE bowl of seafood pasta and asked if we'd like to try some. Assuming that he'd just give us a little taste and then move on, Jim and I said "sure!" With that, he set the whole bowl down on our table and left. Jim and I dug in, just in time for the food that we ordered to come out. So there we sat with a HUGE bowl of seafood pasta (apparently a "small"), bread, a 1 lb meatball, a side of spaghetti (which could have fed me for 2 meals), a side of fettuccine (again, could have fed me for 2 meals), and Quattro Al Forno, which was 2 manicotti, 2 cannelloni, I think 4 stuffed shells, and several baked ravoli. Now, this was a FEAST! Jim and I left with what felt like a mere 5 lbs of leftovers! We didn't have to cook for several days!!

On Sunday, we woke up and joined them at their hotel for the free breakfast before taking them back to the airport :-(

It was a wonderful weekend, but didn't last long enough....

Larrabee State Park

Over the weekend of May 5-7, Jim and I took a trip up North to Larrabee State Park with our new friends, Mike and Marcie. We stayed at a walk-in site, where you park your car about 400 yards from the campsite. The thought was that it would prepare us for the hike-ins that we plan on attempting this summer. We have since realized that isn't the best idea, but I'll get to that later.

We got to the park on Friday night, which was spent setting up camp. We carried everything from the car the 400 yards to the campsite, not really bothering to think ahead to what we actually needed. We set up the tents, got wood, started a fire, ate, and saw a few raccoons that were getting a little too close for comfort. We had food at the site that we needed to take back to the car to keep it safe. We walked the 400 yards back to the car with a cooler, box of cooking supplies, and more food. This was one of at least half a dozen trips that were made, never once thinking ahead enough to just grab what was needed. We're smart kids, I know!

We woke up Saturday morning and finished breakfast. It, of course, was raining a bit, so we all hoped in the car and drove to a nearby town. I can't remember the name of the town, but it sure was cute! We all got drinks (much needed caffine) at a cafe that was obviously obsessed with cattle. Strange, but still cute. Marcie and I saw a shoe store across the street from the cafe, and ran in. Marcie spent some time looking at running shoes, during which time I was VERY tempted to buy. I forced myself to be good and only left with a $15 hat!!

After wandering around a bit more, we headed back to camp to hop on our bikes and take a ride! We were pretty excited since it was our first time getting out on our new bikes other than just the small park across from our apartment! The ride started off great for us beginners. The trail was wide, fairly flat and covered in gravel, which was good since it had been raining all morning. After a few miles, it got a bit more trecherous. The wide gravel trail turned into a narrow, windy, hilly, muddy, and root covered trail with random rocks jutting out! Despite the change, Jim and I were enjoying it and actually doing fairly well. At first, we walked the bikes during the worst parts, which were often! But we quickly got more and more daring. Being the accident prone one, I was taking a few falls, but nothing too messy. After at least my 6th tumble, this time down a small hill, I was getting a little frustrated. No one else was falling!! Why am I always the one to look like an uncoordinated dork? I got up and laughed it off. " I made some comment like, "I'm making up for everyone else not falling!!"

Here comes the highlight of the trip..... Not a minute later, as we were riding along a narrow, rockky bumpy section of the path, Jim started to wobble. He slowed down, balanced on top of his bike, and in horribly slow motion, he fell. Did I mention that the path ran right next to a pond filled with smelly stagnant water? He fell about 3 feet down a steep, muddy hill into a shallow pond, bringing his new, shiny bike down with him. Trying to be a good future wife, I asked if he was alright, helped him out, grabbed his bike out, and attempted to hold in the laughter for as long as I could. I'm not going to lie, though; that wasn't a long time!! Luckily, Jim took the awful situation in stride.

We were also probably about 6 miles from the camp site, and it was about 50 degrees out. We all road back, Jim covered in mud and everyone sort of laughing as they passed us. The whole time, all I was thinking was how badly I wanted to snap a picture of him laying in the pond, all decked out in his cool mountain bike clothes from REI. Good thing I didn't because I don't think he would have been too happy with me!

Back at camp, Jim took a shower, which actually seemed to be a worse experience than the mud bath! He hopped in for a 6 minute shower (costing a mere $1). The water started off ice cold. When he finally convinced himself to step under the water, it turned scalding hot. All in all, a traumatic day for poor Jimbo!

After all of the drama, we all sat around the campfire, ate hotdogs, potato salad and s'mores, and had a few beers. A good end to a hilarious day!!

The camping trip ended with a quick breakfast, packing up the tents in a slight drizzle, and tossing everything in the car just in time for the rain to pick up!

All in all, a fabulous camping trip! We can't wait for the next one!

More pics!

After being inspired by the fabulous blog that our new friends, Mike and Marcie, have started, Jim and I have decided to start one of our own. I can't think of a better way to keep all of our friends and family up to date on our always exciting lives! On here, we plan on keeping everyone updated on our wedding planning, my 3-day involvement, and all of our adventures in the Northwest! We originally planned to start one on our wedding website, but between a computer crash and summer finally coming around, we haven't found the time to get that started. Eventually, we'll transfer over to there...

Come back and visit often to see what we're up to!