Vacation!!!

As some of you know we recently took a little vacation up to the San Juan Islands (North of Seattle - sounds more tropical than it is). This trip was actually our 3rd anniversary trip, we just decided to take it late in hopes that the weather wouldn't be so terrible. And I'm happy to report that it wasn't terrible!! It wasn't great, but it certainly wasn't terrible.

So we drove up to Seattle last on Memorial Day night and stayed the night with Laura Belle and Elizabeth. Then we got us super early, drove an hour and a half to the ferry and headed off!

Our first stop was San Juan Island (the main-ish island of the San Juans). We stayed in a really cool small hotel there and did lots of sight seeing, and nap taking, and eating out. Then after two days on San Juan we drove back on the boat and headed for Orcas Island for two more days. We camped there which was fun, but it wasn't really camping. We went out to eat every day. We showered every day. So "camping". Highlights of the trip were many. Here are the top 8.

1. We saw Willie. Shamoo. Killer whales. And not just from the beach. No. From a boat. And not just a boat. From a kayak! And it wasn't like, "hey, what was that speck on the horizon...I think that was a whale." These guys were probably within 50 yards of us and came up repeatedly exposing almost their whole bodies at times!! We could see the white circles on their face!! Killer whales!! From a kayak!! It was incredible. Needless to say we didn't get pictures. We were too busy saying "OH MY GOSH LOOK AT THAT". Here's some other kayaking pics though.


(seals on the far right side of the picture)


(kirsten holding a starfish)


2. We saw a seal kill and eat a fish! On the same kayaking trip. Raise your hand if you've ever seen a seal kill and eat a fish in the wild from a kayak. (I'm raising my hand).

3. Our campsite on Orcas Island. This thing was out of control. Easily the best campsite I have ever stayed at in my entire life. First of all we were all by ourselves. We had about a 15 or 20 minute walk from the car carrying way too much stuff to make sure we are all by ourselves. And the site was right on the water in this little cove. There was nothing between us and the ocean but a 10 foot cliff. It was literally breathtakingly beautiful. We sat Thursday afternoon on the rocks and read/stared out at the ocean for 4 or 5 hours and it was not only the highlight of the trip for me, but probably the most relaxed I've been in years and years.





4. Our campsite came with it's own seal. Oops, forgot to mention that when I was talking about how awesome our campsite was. We had a seal. We probably saw him at least 6-8 times in the two days we were there. He would poke his head out of the water. Look inquisitively up at us. Bob around for a minute. And then swim under. Then about an hour later we would see him again. It was awesome!

5. Ok, this one is going to be extra awesome if you watched any of the Discovery Channel series Life, which we HIGHLY recommend. It's about animals and how awesome they are, and we saw a bona fide Life moment. So on San Juan we went on a short little hike out to this private beach area and sat and stared out at the water hoping to see some whales (before the kayak encounter). While we were there we saw a seagull kill a crab. Cool huh? But listen to how. He swooped down and picked up the crab by the leg and then flew way up in the air and let him go. The crab comes plummeting down onto the rocks below. The bird flies back down to give the crab a look, but sees that it's still kicking so he picks him up and does it again!!! This time the crab's shell shatters and the seagull is enjoying dinner. Seriously people...this was incredible.

6. We drove to the top of Mount Constitution (the highest point on the San Juan's). The views were incredible! We could see Vancouver BC (40 miles away).





7. We went on another short hike to see some waterfalls, that led us to one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen. No joke. I don't know if these pictures do it justice. It was a serious "Skittles commercial" moment.


8. We watched the sunset our last night on the island.



It was a GREAT trip. We both really needed a vacation and this was perfect!. Here's a few other pictures That didn't make the top 8.

Seattle Mission Trip

Hey blog friends!

Just a quick post to let you know that we are leaving for a mission trip with some folks from Columbia Ridge in about a month! As with any mission trip we are in the process of raising money, but instead of sending traditional support letters we thought we would just let you know through the blog. If you want to know more about what we are doing, or if you want to be involved in supporting us then you can find out more by clicking here.

Thanks friends!

house update

so i finally sent some pictures of our house to my grandmother, who has no access to our blog and asks constantly (as do my parents) for me to send pictures. and since they were taken (and the house cleaned and the pictures uploaded and looked through and adjusted and everything wayy beyond just the taking that makes sending pictures last an entire afternoon), i thought i'd double the benefit and add them here. there are a couple of changes since we moved in, and it just looks more lived in. that being said, there are also plenty of things that are incomplete and require more money and time. as does everything, right?...

why i hate microsoft...

apparently that cool thing that i never would have gotten anyway is canceled. they're just giving mac a chance to do it better anyway...

gagety

so if you know me (kirsten) you probably know i'm fiercely loyal to mac. everything about macs is amazing and i want nothing to do with microsoft. the last time i really spent anytime on a pc was in high school, and then in computer labs in college when i was forced to, and now when i want to get online on daniel's laptop. and i'm so far removed by now and i can barely find the internet on his computer.

and secretly...i think the ipad is really cool. i know it's basically pointless, especially for someone like me, because my main reasons for it would be to be able to read in bed without the traditional annoyances (how...to...hold...the...book...), or watch movies on planes (for the twice a year that i'm on a plane).

but then. have you seen this thing? this thing is cool. amazing. i would use this all. the. time. but i can't. it's microsoft. eek. butlookhowcoolitis...



(good thing both these items are/will be wayyyyyy out of my price range...)

almost summer...

When you live in Oregon you don't have to be in school to get excited about summer. With 8 solid months of pretty dreary weather the approach of summer is making us nearly giddy! There is hiking, camping, golfing (played for the first time in 7 months yesterday!), eating outside, trips to the park and SO much more to look forward to. Last weekend was nice so we decided to get a head start and drove out into the gorge to hike the meadows of Catherine Creek.






We were on the Washington side of the river, pretty high up with an amazing view of the water, and home sweet Oregon across the river.


you can only kind of see it, but that's Mt Hood...

like father like...dog

I was just going through some pictures and came across these. Thought I would share.

I'll set the scene. It's Thursday March 18, otherwise known as the first day of March Madness! The greatest day of the sports year!! It is 8:30 in the morning (the games start early out here). I am camped on the couch preparing myself physically and mentally for what will turn out to be one of the best tournament days ever. And nickel, who is normally oblivious to everything except people she can annoy or anything she can eat walks over, sits down, and just starts watching TV.







She sat there for literally 20 or 25 minutes before she went back upstairs to check on Kirsten. It was pretty hilarious. 3 years of living with me has rubbed off clearly!

Three

Today is our third anniversary...

Crazy. Time seriously flies, and yet it feels like we've been married forever (in a good way...)

We've spent the day walking around downtown, shopping, eating and the like. We're home for a siesta, and have dinner reservations for a nice place we've never been to tonight...

and then the real celebration will be the first week of June—a trip to the San Juan Islands.


We would both say that marriage, and then obviously especially marriage to one another is the single most amazing thing ever. And then also that it is completely unlike anything we could have expected. Which is how it's supposed to be, right? I think so. I don't think we'd have it any other way.

The weather is beautiful today, and we've decided that for our entire lives, every April 15th, we'll judge whether the weather is nicer that day than the day of our wedding...and we're pretty sure it will always be :)

But that's alright—our wedding was perfect nonetheless, and the weather in Belize was wonderful.

well...

my mom emailed me today to let me know that it's been one month since we've posted. hmmmmm.......well, no fear. i have lots of amazing things planned for this blog. mostly, blogging more often. but for now, I'll leave you with this link as a summary of our life: click here for awesomeness.

(i should warn you, all our faithful work-readers, it's loud.)