Our New Truck!

After searching for months, I finally convinced Rob to spend a Saturday test driving different trucks and make a decision what kind/style he actually wanted.  So last Saturday we went out, in the pouring rain, visiting lot after lot and driving truck after truck.  We found one we loved, but of course the price was a little too steep.  Finding the style he loved was all the motivation Rob needed.  By the middle of the next week, he had found one similar to the one we test drove for thousands less. 

On the day after Thanksgiving we drove down to Battle Ground, WA to buy the truck.  Rob spent this Saturday cleaning it up and making it shine.  We both love the way it drives and look forward to being able to now tow the snowmobiles in style!

 

Storage Space

Our garage is constantly changing as Rob come homes with new Craigslist finds, and with constant and ongoing projects. We are always looking for new ways to increase the storage space in our tiny little home. Our garage ceiling is really high, and there is a lot of wasted space above the garage door. Rob came up with the idea of creating a storage system that would go directly above the garage doors. After much searching, we finally came up with a system that was easy to use, easy to create, and best of all, cheap! Using I-beams and uniform storage containers, this is what we ended up with.

 

Good Job Rob!

Café Racer

For years now, Rob has had a dream of rebuilding an old  Honda CB and making it into a café racer. He was thrilled when he found a CB 360 on Craigslist for FREE!  We went and picked up the free bike and his planning and researching began.

The project is intimidating because you completely tear apart a motorcycle and rebuild it from the frame up.  After creating his  workspace and deciding how he wanted to do it, Rob began his project. 

This is the beginning of many months of work. 

Good luck Rob!

Our Bountiful Harvest

For my first year of growing my own vegetables, I was very impressed with how well everything grew.  We were doubly blessed when we had an Indian Summer and sun for days on end.  I realized the main advantage of growing a garden is the fact that you don’t have to go to the grocery store to keep replacing perishables, which means you don’t buy a bunch of other stuff you don’t need.  It was fun finding new recipes to use the veggies as they grew.  I’ve never used tomatoes in so many meals in my life!  We are ready for next year and already have plans on what we will be and will not be planting.

A few pics of what we picked.  We are still enjoying the carrots and jalapenos.

This potato was HUGE!

On the Road Again

This last winter, Rob and I found a new favorite snowmobiling location near Greenwater, WA.  Ever since discovering it, Rob has been wanting to go and explore it on motorcycles.  This is an area with great logging roads, and trails galore.  Even though I’m not the greatest off road biker, and I don’t really enjoy it, Rob convinced me to go along for the ride and take my KLR.  He promised roads, not trails.  Our goal was to go over the mountain, via the logging roads, and make it to Whistlin’ Jack Lodge, eat, and then make our way back home. 

Rob got a little over zealous and took me on some pretty gnarly jeep trails.  I kept up pretty well for the most part.  There were some areas that I just stopped and made him hike bike down to ride my bike back up.  I was becoming more and more confident when I misjudged where to take the tires of my bike, and ended up getting caught between a rock and a tree root. I tumbled pretty hard and the bike took a pretty good hit.  Luckily my scratches were minor and I really only had deep bruises to complain about.  The KLR on the other hand suffered a little radiator damage.

I also bent the frame around the cooling fan.  By the time we got the bike back upright, and going down the road, the temperature gauge was showing full heat.  Luckily we rant into some huckleberry pickers who happened to have a full tool set in their jeep.  Rob was able to remove the radiator guard, and bend the frame around the fan back so that it was functioning again.  We were then able to make our way down to Whistlin’ Jack’s (on the dirt roads), and went back via the highway. 

Even with the crash, I have to admit it was a fun trip.  My biking skills are definitely improving, even with the crash. Rob blames the crash on me. I blame it on him for taking me on trails that were way to difficult for my heavy bike.  Of course, I’m right.  There were many other fun areas to explore up there.  I’ll be content exploring on the snowmobiles when the crash landing isn’t quite as hard.

Rob’s KLX 400 and my KLR 650.

Proof that we made it to the top alive. Smiling even…

Whistler with friends

We love Whistler and even more  we love sharing Whistler with friends.  This year, we convinced two other families to join us for Crankworx festival.  We shared a condo with the Cottam family and we biked with the Hoerman’s.  Everyone had a great time enjoying the sights, getting to know each other, and watching the events that were taking place in the village.  We even went to church in Squamish where 9 of us doubled the size of their congregation.  Rob decided it would be a great place to live after learning that they only have to go to church for two hours! 

The kids finding a way to entertain themselves in the condo.  With a beam like that, you have to climb it, right?!

Rob and Jake with Kimball and Collin.

McKenna, Macy, and McCall at the village playground

Our favorite cheese tasting before the annual cheese rolling contest.

The Cottam family.

Kimball and I racing for the Drink more Milk prize

Revel came along and he loved all the hiking. Didn’t like the crowds so much though.

Ready to watch the Joyride competition.

Of course there was a lot of downhill riding as well.  Thanks Kimball and Hoerman family for making our weekend more fun.

BBQ with old friends

In August, a few of my old friends from the Bellevue 3rd ward were in town visiting their families.  We we able to get together and enjoy dinner and conversation.  It was fun to see each other and catch up a little.  It was even more fun to get to know their little babies.  Love you girls.  Wish we all lived closer!

Laura, Mary, Heather, and Me plus two cute babies! The other kids were down playing by Phantom lake.

Thanks Heather for putting this together!

Rafting

We went River Rafting in July with our friend Jared. He has the raft, Rob knew the river, and we invited a couple of other friends along to join us.  We had a blast and ran the river twice.  We even ran into some other friends of ours on the river and met up again for dinner in Leavenworth.  It was a great day.

 

Ready to go

On the Wenatchee River

North Cascades Highway

Rob convinced me to go on a motorcycle trip with him and his friend Sota.  Rob has always wanted take a motorcycle on the on the North Cascades Highway.  Now that I am more comfortable  on a motorcycle, and Rob recently bought a bike that is perfect for the trip we decided to go for it. 

I started  the trip on my own.  I rode  up to the Ensign Ranch to spend stake night at Girl’s camp with the girls from our ward.  Rob and Sota met me up at the ranch a few hours later.  We then drove on to Wenatchee that night and stayed in a hotel. I was not the happiest about going over the highway 97 in the dark, but I survived and we made it without injury. 

The next morning we drove through Chelan and onto the North Cascades Highway. It was the perfect day for it.  The sun was shining bright and it was perfectly warm.  We made several stops to enjoy the view.  It was my first time on that highway and I can’t believe it was.  Every time we stopped I said,  “Rob, why have we never been up here before?!”  the views were breath-taking.

Lake  Chelan

Rob and Sota with their matching Honda VFRs. 

Looking down onto the North Cascades Highway

The view from the top of Washington Pass with Liberty Bell Mountain in the background.

Mine and Rob’s bikes  at the top of the pass. 

It was a great trip. We traveled about 500 miles.  I was able to keep up just fine, even on the winding roads.  Rob is even more encouraged now that one day we could actually take a motorcycle trip up to Alaska.  We’ll see…

Parents of 5

Rob and I had a house full when my sister Julie and her husband Rod left their 5 kids in our care as they went to Hawaii to celebrate their 20th wedding anniversary.  Having 7 people crammed in our three bedroom house for 9 days made us feel like we were bursting at the seams, but thanks to daily activities, a dog, and 2 Xbox 360s, we were able to make it through and actually enjoy ourselves. 

Everyone stuck a piece of gum on the gum wall when we visited Pike Place Market

We braved the zoo on a rainy day. 

We had a beautifully sunny day where we enjoyed the sand at Golden Gardens.

We went  to Greenlake and rented a canoe, paddle boards, and a kayak.

We hiked Rattlesnake Ridge

We discovered some talent for Mountain biking at Duthie Hill Bike Park. 

It was a great visit and I think everyone had a great time. Thanks to the Rivers’ family for making the long journey up to hang out with us. 

Revel’s new house

Almost immediately after we got a dog, Rob decided he wanted to build a dog house.  A design for a simple dog house to keep our puppy dry quickly turned into the Dog-mahal, complete with trim, carpet, lighting, a deck, and painted to match our house.  It turned out great.  Good Job Rob!

Rock N Roll 1/2 Marathon

This year I made the goal to run a 1/2 Marathon.  I had a few girl friends running the Rock N Roll 1/2 in Seattle so I decided to join them.  I was able to convince my Bro-in-law Rod to come down and race with me as well.  This was the first organized race I had ever run in.  It was a blast.  The running part, not so fun, but the atmosphere and people made it worth it. 

The night before the race there was a Expo in Seattle.  We spent several hours, walking around, sampling all the free snacks, and getting as many free things as we could.  We had a blast. 

Halle, Parker and Braden show off some of the freebies we accumulated including t-shirt, sun glasses, headband, medal.  It was never ending.  My nephew Wes was the most successful winning the coveted Tuna t-shirt. 

The next morning, Rod and I got up at 4 am to meet with a group of friends and head down to Seattle for the race.  Traveling with a van full of runners helped us get even more excited and pumped up for what lay ahead.

Here is Rod and I waiting to get up to the starting line so we could begin the race.  With over 26,000 racers it was quite the process to get parked and make our way to the starting line. 

 

Here I am about mile 4. Still smiling… Rob and Wesley cheered me on from the sidelines.  This picture was the start of the steepest hill of the race.  I made them run with me a little bit.  I was glad they were at this point to cheer me on because that hill was STEEP!.

Being my first race, my only goal was a finish.  I did!  My family was at the end to cheer on over the finish line. 

If you want to come and join me next year let me know! 

Revelstoke

We adopted a PUPPY! 

Since we got married Rob has wanted a dog.  He finally convinced me and after our yard was finished I made it my mission to find us the perfect dog.  We decided that the perfect breed for our current house and yard would be a Miniature Australian Shepherd and the search began.  We quickly found that buying one of the dogs from a breeder was a little more than we wanted to spend.  One day, after months of search, I heard on the radio that a Puppy Mill had been busted in Bellingham.  They took 48 Mini Aussies from horrible conditions and they were all being housed at the humane society.  We knew one of these dogs should be ours. 

Several applications, emails, faxes, and phone interviews later we were the proud parents of this little guy. We named him Revelstoke (Revel for short).

He was 5 months old when we got him.  They think he was born in December 2011.  He was one of the most shy of all of the puppies.  Having never interacted with humans he is very scared and shy of all people.  We are doing our best to introduce him to as many new people and experiences as possible.  He is doing well at home with Rob and I.  Now that it is summer time and I have more time at home, he has quickly become my shadow as he follows me around everywhere and helps me with all the chores. 

Revel loves the dog park and loves water.  Whether it is chasing the stream from the hose, splashing in a creek, or swimming in Lake Washington, he always wants to be in water.  He is a great jogging partner.  Within the first month with us he was already up to running 6+ miles with me.  His favorite treat is frozen Cantaloupe.  He loves to chew on EVERYTHING, especially our flip flops.

If you’re in the area come on over and meet our sweet shy little guy.