WE'RE PREGNANT!

Mark and I are expecting a baby this April. Easter Sunday April 8th to be exact. We are very excited. I am just starting my 15th week so we have a ways to go but time seems to be going by faster and faster. I am really glad the "all day sickness" (morning sickness HA!) is finally over. That was tough!

We are going to keep updating you on the growth of my belly and other fun stuff here on the blog. Soon it will be time for an ultra sound and finding out if it is a little boy or girl.

Well keep you posted.

Weekend Outside

This past weekend was packed with fun in the outdoors. It started out on Friday when my boss told me to take off at noon. I didn't pass that up. I headed home and picked up Karen and we went to Audubon park to play trackball and frisbee. Then out to Karen's parents house where I met up with her dad and brother to go shooting. We went up into Dishman Mica hills and found this sketchy private shooting range. They guy running it looked like a pirate from Pirates of the Carribean. He even carried a pistol on his hip. Anyways we shot .22s at targets and shot the shotgun at clay skeet. My shoulder was a little sore after that. Then that night I headed out with a couple friends to go ice blocking at the golf course. We didnt start until 10:30 and it was DARK! Steep hill, dark, and a crazy fast ice block made for a ton of fun, plus no one got hurt so that was even better.

Then on Saturday I headed to Stevens Lake to go backpacking with a couple other friends. The hike was only a moderate in rating but it almost killed me. The whole thing was up up up! We made it the 2.5 miles to the first lake and found only a few camp spots with one of them with a couple guys so we headed further up to the upper lake. What an adventure. We never really found the trail so we climbed along the creek/waterfalls coming from the upper lake. Once we managed to get up there it was worth it. All of the foilage was turning so there were tons of reds/oranges/and yellow. That night we had a fire and made smores. Then we were all out like a light. Morning came and so did the wind and cold, but what do you expect when it is October. Once the sun broke everything started warming up and we hiked up to Stevens Peak (elev. 6826) from the lake (elev. 5563). It only took us an hour and 15 min. The veiw was amazing looking down onto both Stevens Lakes and also over the ridge to Lone Lake. We headed down to camp to grab our packs and then hiked back out to the car. Leaving the upper lake we were bound to find the real trail between the lakes but we weren't that lucky. So I bushwhacked us through the woods until we came along a dear trail and followed that down to the lower lake and caught the hiking trail the rest of the way to the car. It was a short trip but a lot of fun. Only would have been better if Karen could have come too.

Outdated Update

After we returned from Mexico we had one week to rush around and get everything unpacked washed and repacked for our trip to Hawaii. We spent 7 nights 8 days in Kauai with Mark's parents. It was wonderful. Lots of snorkeling, beaches, hiking, waterfalls, great food and even a helicopter tour of the island. The resort we stayed at was beautiful. The trip was very relaxing and well worth it.


After Hawaii we slowed down a bit... weekends were filled with helping Karen's parents tear down a giant cherry tree, friends (Ryan and Lauren) coming to visit, camping a couple times once with the whole family, huckle berry picking, helping friends move, attending a wedding, going to Indians baseball games, staining the fence, washing and working on cars, going to the Spokane County fair and Labor day was spent in tri cities. It is always so much fun to go see family and friends.

That brings us up to mid September where we are trying to make time for the to-do list and get ready for fall and winter.

Blog from the Past

We are such terrible bloggers. It has been way too long. It might just be due to the fact that we have been so busy... anyone who was reading this blog before has probably given up by now... but hey if there is anyone still out there here you go. I will start with the end of April and bring you up to speed or almost.

After Easter weekend - which was so much fun - the following weekend was Women of Faith here in Spokane. I went with my dear friend Jane and had a great time. The speakers were wonderful and the musical artists were fantastic. It was a really good time to reflect and remind me why I sacrifice and try to live the life God would want. Our friends from Tri-Cities were also up for the Conference and afterwards came over and had a good time.

The next week April 24-26 we had our hard wood floors refinished. Lots of sanding and dust and did I mention the STINK! WOW that stuff is smelly. We thought we could handle it by staying downstairs for a couple of days but we quickly discovered that it was necessary to evacuate. Thankfully we have wonderful friends and we retreated to their guest room for a couple of nights. Thanks Rusty and Jordan.
When it was all dry and we were let back in the floors looked wonderful! We love them.

April 28-30 brought us outside for our motorcycle training class. It was a ton of fun learning to maneuver the bike and feel safe on it. By the end of that really long weekend we were both legal motorcycle drivers. We got our licenses updated that next week and we are now enjoying the bike in the warm weather.

We had a bit of fun with the teens on Cinco de Mayo with Game show night. All the teens and their families were invited - the youth staff set up 4 or 5 different game show games and we pulled the contestants out of the audience. It was great fun.
After that we ended the night at a Cinco de Drinko party with some friends and had a good time there as well.

The following weekend May 11-13 was filled with picking out, deciding on, buying, cutting, laying and grouting new tile for our fireplace. It was a totally new adventure and thankfully it turned out really great. We still can't wait to get it finished with the rest of the wood pillars and mantle. But that will come soon enough.

Starting on May 15th we began the adventure of installing a sprinkler system. There was lots of figuring, drawing, charting, mapping, discussing and then came the removal of the sod the digging the digging and more digging! Both of our parents joined us for a long weekend... after it was all in it was wonderful to know that our grass would be green and that Mark would not be moving around a hose and sprinkler all summer again.

Saturday morning the 27th of May we loaded up the Subaru, picked up our friends, made sure we had birth certificates along and took off for the northern border. We went to a fun little town in Canada. While in Nelson B.C., we stayed in a historic hotel, visited the Ainsworth hot springs. On our way home we took a ferry ride across Kootenay Lake, stopped at a couple casinos and had a nice drive home. It was an action packed trip full of good memories.

The first weekend in June was great! We finally emptied the garage onto the driveway and had a "garage sale" with some friends. We sold just about everything on the first day and thank goodness because the next couple days were super rainy.

The first part of June went by so fast with us finishing up small jobs around the house, celebrating Karen’s 25th birthday, painting a carousel pony for a charity auction and just trying to stay ahead at work.

Soon we were leaving for Mexico (June 16). We packed the church bus full of 45 people (teens and adults) and headed this time for the south border. It was a long ride but we made it with little trouble. Once in Mexico we set out to build 3 houses in 3 days, finishing with time to spare. There was lots of playing with the Mexican children and giving away lots of toys. Those teens work so hard and gain some real perspective on how others live in our world. Mark and I feel really blessed to have been apart of such a great trip again this year.

More to come soon to bring you all the way up to date...hopefully

Easter Weekend

Friday and Sunday night our Church put on a Musical / Drama Presentation for Easter titled Eyes of Faith. Karen had a part as Mary Magdalene and did a great job. The whole presentation was amazing, better than anything else I've seen at Church in a long time. I am very proud of Karen for using the talents that God has given her.