Just Life... with Chet and Brianne

Chelan Weekend

2012-02-12T20:51:00.000-08:00

Everyone knows that Lake Chelan is beautiful in the summer with lots of fun water and outdoors oriented activities to experience (oh and there is this thing called the sun that we on the west side of the state don't get). But, we've decided we love it during the winter! Less people, some snow on the ground, a crackling fire in the fire place, curling up with a good book and some wine tasting. What is not to love?

We went last year as well and decided that February is a great time for a get away so we headed back over (used a timeshare week) to Wapato Point in Manson. Though a bit older resort, it works great for us and has a great location. We love the lake views out the window and as we walked around on the point...

Not much sun but still beautiful...

Red wine tasting at Karma Vineyards.

On Saturday, we did a bit of wine tasting. Last year this was super awkward for us!!! But this year we actually enjoyed it quite a bit and could even start to tell the different flavors coming out. It was also the Red Wine and Chocolate weekend in honor of Valentine's Day so some of the places had pairings. I think we forgot to eat lunch after all of the chocolate!

We got the fireplace seats for the wine tasting at Karma...

Outside at Karma. They also have a plaza up on the hill for weddings.

And under this hill/waterfall is actually a cave where they age the wine.

Tunnel Hill Winery... love the stone & their wines!

Nefarious Cellars... yummy wine and...

... a beautiful view. Love the vineyards.

Over to the other side of the lake to Benson Vineyards... very classy!

Self potrait... (by the way, our camera screen wasn't working at this point)

Hard Row to Hoe. Look at their website for the clever origin of the name.

They have very clever graphics... even on their car.

Today we had another fun "first" experience as we went cross country skiing! We hadn't been planning on it but once we got over and saw how much free time we had, we thought it would be fun to get out and do something new. So, we rented equipement and headed up to Echo Ridge for an afternoon of skiing. We both laughed so hard as having our feet in two separate skis instead of together in a snowboard got the better of us! I won't go into it too much, but both of us ended up on the ground just a couple times. :)

The sun even came out for a bit! Lovely!

Thank goodness for grooming and tracks.

We did enjoy it and our muscles feel it tonight.

Overall, it has been a great weekend... some wine, some reading, a little snow and skiing, and lots of relaxing. Do we really have to go back to real life?

Superbowl Treats...

2012-02-12T18:47:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to share what we served at our Superbowl party last weekend. We had a few friends over, my brother and sister-in-law and had a nice mellow superbowl party. Being on the West Coast, we randomly picked a team to cheer for (no one was passionate for either the Patriots or the Giants), critiqued the half time show (not the most engaging), and had some tasty microbrews from various local breweries to keep us entertained.

I have to say that it was a huge help to look at all my favorite food blogs for ideas of what to serve! Each of them put together links of favorite recipes that would be perfect for a party ranging from appetizers to soups/chilis, dips and other treats. I think I cook more off of food blogs than I do out of cook books now days! There is nothing like step by step pictures to make me want to make something new.

I know my food pictures and styling is no where near what they have on their blogs but believe me when I say that all these recipes were very tasty!

Chet's delicious guacamole

Pretzel bites with cheese sauce from Two Peas and Their Pod

Smokey Turkey Chipotle Chili from Cookin' Canuck

Cookie Dough Dip from Two Peas and Their Pod

Roasted Butternut Squash and Bacon Pasta

Unexpected...

2012-02-10T20:08:00.000-08:00

So, the weather last week was lovely here in Seattle... mid to upper 50s and sunny! Seriously! Certainly not your average February weather. In fact, it felt like a beautiful May day a whole 5 days in a row!

What to do on a beautiful sunny day? Well, we took advantage of the weather to do some yard work. While Chet trimmed up our ~~lawn~~ moss, I got to work weeding and discovering what was coming up.

I found the rest of the carrots...

And discovered my garlic is starting to come up!

This is my first time growing garlic so I'm super excited about it.

Oh, and of course the rhubarb... it is starting to sprout as well. I suppose I should get to work on using the rest of what is in the freezer now! Rhubarb pie anyone?

Here's to hoping that we don't get a cold spell and kill off all these cute little plan starts. I also have some daffodils and bulbs that are starting to show. I do love spring... even if we are still technically in winter!

More Snowy Fun

2012-01-30T20:18:00.000-08:00

We definitely enjoyed the snow at our house. It snowed consistently for 2-3 days and we ended up with a total of 8 inches. I got to stay at home since my clinic day was cancelled and just relax. Chet still had to go to work but being a good Montana boy he had no issues driving in the snow.

It was like a winterwonderland though... and quite pleasant. Down south of Seattle there was a ton of freezing rain and power outages, but we just got fluffy white stuff.

For awhile, it was even hard to keep up with shoveling the snow. Doesn't our Subaru look great sitting in the snow? It got around quite well. We heart you Subaru. ;)

While Chet was sleeping, I got a chance to watch folks sled down a huge hill near our house. It was definitely interesting to see who is in our neighborhood. It is very diverse...

I also went for a walk in a small wetland park near our house. It was pretty covered in snow.

And of course, here is our house in the snow. The mossy grass is covered up... I think it looks nicer that way.

The next day, as the rain was washing the snow off the roads, we head up to Stevens Pass to go snowboarding. I have to say that it was a great snow day. Due to the dumping of snow that week, there was lots of beautiful powder which is something of a rare happening. The snow was light and we got some great fresh tracks. Probably not quite as good as the days prior when snow was dumping everywhere, but still awesome.

Chet also started something with his friend, Jason... snow tailgating! Some brats and caramelized onions in the snow, yes please!

Fun snowy adventures this January... we'll have to see what the rest of winter brings!

Snow!!!

2012-01-18T21:46:00.000-08:00

I got a wonderful treat today... a grown up snow day! My clinic decided to do a reduce clinic due to snow so only one provider was there and I got the day off!

This means being lazy and a glorious walk in the snow with Chet, Renee and Luke... oh and hot chocolate... and some book reading with snow drifting down outside.

We all bundled up in our Seattle winter finery (aka waterproof fabrics like soft shell and a lovely Arcteryx shell for Chet) and took a walk from Renee and Luke's house to Carkeek Park.

We also got to dodge lots of sledders and were somewhat jealous that we didn't have a sled. We did consider taking borrowing a garbage can lid from someone but decided against it.

The berries were splendid in their finery. I love how they look with the snow on them!

We hiked the trails at the park... a kind of a beautiful refuge in the city.

I love snowy photos with my honey... even though, because he went for a walk with us, he is going to be really tired for work tonight! Sorry, Chet!

One of the most beautiful things is seeing all of the trees above the Sound dusted with snow and the water was a deep gray green color.

This bird was hopping like mad from branch to branch... didn't want to be photographed!

Snowy coastline anyone? Yep, it was lovely.

Loved getting to enjoy a wintery walk with these wonderful people!

I felt like I was playing hooky today from work (though it wasn't my decision, I was told to stay home), but it was a wonderful relaxing snow day! The funny thing about Western Washington snow is that you get it only once or twice a year and it doesn't last for more than a few days. By this time next week, it will be back to 40s and raining and the snow will only be a memory!

So, thanks for the break from normal life, snow!

Lazy Snowy Sunday

2012-01-15T21:55:00.000-08:00

Today was such a relaxing day. Somedays (or whole weekends) we just need to catch up and putter around the house. I still never get everything done that I plan because I am so easily distracted (i.e. iPad my parents gave us for Christmas!) but that's okay... we still enjoyed our day.

"Important things"...

As it is a rare snowy weekend in Washington, we carefully made our way to church, which happens to be on top of Queen Anne so could be difficult if there is very much snow. Luckily, there was much less snow the closer you got to downtown. Today, our pastor continued our series on "Living a Generous Life" and discussion of making margin in our lives with talk of how we use our time.

I'll just say that it was yet another great, practical sermon that I go away from wanting to implement in my life. It comes down to this... how do we use our time? Do we schedule ourselves to full throughout the day that we don't have the ability to love, serve or be present with people? Are we focusing our time on "getting ahead"? Are we giving God our time and trusting Him in His wisdom with it? Or do we hold tightly to it and try to micromanage/control everything?

And most of all, do we spend our time focusing on making the most important things, the most important things?

No, I didn't just repeat the words accidently.

Pastor Bill was talking about how we have urgent things and important things in our lives. Do we spend time focusing on the urgent things or do we give priority to the important things. I think I focus on the urgent things, the things that need to be dealt with, quite often. The important things are also a priority but when I get busy or stressed at work, the important things of family, friends, etc., get obscured by the flashing neon lights of "you have to or should do this now". (I hate the word should sometimes because I'm really good making myself feel guilty!).

So, I want to start making "important things" my priority. Phone calls with friends/family? Yes, please. Date with the hubby? Absolutely. Self care with prayer and exercise? Definitely. Being open to opportunities to serve? Yep.

Snow in Seattle

This afternoon, we've enjoyed a snowy day at home. There is really very little on the ground and it all melted off the roads, but it felt like a good stay at home day. To bad tomorrow is back to work... likely on icy roads! They are supposed to get amazing snow in the mountains though so snowboarding this week is looking like a definite must!

We had fun making food today... roasted root veggie and black bean enchiladas with chipotle enchilada sauce (pretty tasty for an experiment to use up roasted root veggies in the fridge) and we make roasted brussel sprouts with balsamic. I can't believe I used to dislike brussel sprouts... we were popping these into our mouths off the pan and there are barely any left for my lunch tomorrow!

A current addiction

One thing Chet and I are addicted to right now is Good Earth Tea (the original).

For an herbal tea, it is amazingly addicting and I think we have each been drinking a cup a day for the last 2 weeks. It doesn't need anything added to it either... just hot water and it is so sweet and flavorful just as it is! I'm not trying to advertise but it just seems to be the perfect thing to drink on a cold winter's night.

Well, off to bed I go for another week at work. I do my first solo Saturday clinic this week so that will be a new adventure!

A new year, a new start...

2012-01-13T13:00:00.000-08:00

So, 2011 has been a bit of a year. I went into the year excitedly seeking a new job, wanting to move on from being in graduate school to something new and, hopefully, better. It has been a harder year than I expected in many ways, but I know that God is using this to grow and shape me.

I haven't blogged since June because I felt I didn't have much to say. I felt pretty down at times, with a lack of self confidence and self esteem. I think that for a long time I felt that I was doing fine prior to this job but the stress of a new job where I am learning and I don't know what I am doing brought out my lack of confidence in myself but also my reliance on my own strength and abilities. The pressure of making decisions every day, diagnosing problems (or knowing my limitations) and looking tons of things up (and realizing how I thought I was doing the right thing but wasn't quite right) is uncomfortable for me.

Because I am working with people's children, I want to do the right thing... the first time.
I want to make them feel better... and put their parents at ease.
I want to have them feel cared for and in good hands...

And I certainly know that I set too high of expectations for myself, as none of us know it all.

Maybe a little bit of it is pride in doing things "right" or "perfect" (I know I'm a perfectionist with all of its benefits and stuggles). If people doing this job for 20-30 years still ask questions, how should I know everything after 9 months.

What I am coming back to realize that this all centers on whether I believe Jesus is who He says He is. That He is the One who, with grace and healing, allows our imperfections to be okay.

That I am loved whether I diagnose a cough or a rash right the first time or the second. Or even if a family gets frustrated by me and goes to see some one else instead. Or if I am running behind... again.

That I am a beloved child of God so that is enough. That I don't need to come home at the end of the day and fret about the mistakes I made at work today or the mistakes I will surely make tomorrow.

That I can do my best, still striving to take excellent care of patients but knowing that I will never be perfect. That is reserved only for Jesus and my expectations, or my yard stick of my worth, needs to be His and not mine. Mine is all notched up with things I think I should be doing well at in order to avoid possible inadequacy. His has only one notch... to come to Him and love, trust and obey Him with all my heart. There is where I find my worth and I can rest in Him completely.

Mark 11:28-30: "Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."

I forget this easily, especially when I am stressed. I know it wearies my husband that I have such a short term memory in this regard. But, I can see that, without this job, I may have never been broken to realize my inadequacy in such a way, to realize that I can't do this myself. So, I look forward to 2012 being a time of growth and change... of learning to trust the One who made me and to rest in His presence.

Spring Hikes

2011-06-28T22:09:00.001-07:00

We started this spring off with some easy hikes to warm up (and wait for the snow to melt on higher hikes). Here are a few of our spring adventures!

Hike to Twin Falls (April)

Hike to Wallace Falls (May)

Chet's Motorcycle Ride to Neah Bay (May)

Urban Hike to Meadowdale Beach Park (June)

Mini Hike to Big Four Ice Caves (June)

We are looking forward to doing some bigger hikes this summer and maybe some backpacking! There are so many beautiful places to go explore in the Pacific Northwest. :)

Baby steps...

2011-04-15T09:45:00.000-07:00

I have just completed my second week of work. Primary care is fun, hard and a steep learning curve all at the same time! I am loving my coworkers and enjoying the patients... I'm just continuously realizing all that I have to learn and what I don't know. :) Oh, and I'm learning what it means to go home worrying about a patient and hoping they are feeling better the next day, not ending up in the ER because of something that wasn't apparent yet when I saw them (or something I could have missed!). Oh, the joy of taking on a role with more responsibility... and I'm so thankful for the ability of myself or a triage nurse to call and check in on kids the next day.

One of the things that is now really clear how the emotional up and down of not getting jobs over the last year really was part of God's plan... I'm in a great place, I am enjoying what I'm doing, I am love the people I am working and learning from and I have so much room for growth. Working 3 days a week (which are long days) fits in well with Chet and my lifestyle. And, though the drive is long, so far it is tolerable with books on tape and my bluetooth headset... and I have plenty of time to decompress from the day.

So, overall, things are looking up right now. Still challenging but I'm just going to trust that it will get better and it is normal to go through this, at times, painful growing and learning process.

Oh... and now I have a 3 day weekend with my hubby... certainly can't complain about that!

Changes

2011-04-06T09:10:00.000-07:00

So this week has been a huge change for me... I started my primary care nurse practitioner job! It is such a blessing but also such a challenge. I just kind of started off taking patients and asking questions when I needed to other providers. I knew that jumping right in would be hard but I guess I had forgotten the anxiety that starting something new like this can bring.

Today I woke up, a day off after working my first two days, realizing all the decisions I made and things I discussed with families over the last two days. And then my mind went into hyperdrive... did I do this right? did I forget something? what if I missed something? should I see them back sooner? did I forget to chart something? Basically the anxiety started swirling and I was so fixated on looking up things to reassure myself that I didn't do anything major wrong that I could barely answer Chet's questions.

I think that I am once again learning that change is hard for me, especially I'm not sure what I am doing is absolutely right (or reasonably right). I don't want to make poor decisions, I want to be a smart successful practitioner... and that's okay. But I need to be patient throughout this transition... with myself, my mistakes and my rocky growth. And I need to trust that this opportunity is part of God's plan and He is with me through this change... if I just give my anxiety to Him. I can still be thorough but I can't let the anxiety tear me away from relationship with my husband and doing things I enjoy.

Maybe I'm putting this here just to remind myself later when I fall back into anxiety. Maybe I just needed to put things down so I could move on with my day. Either way, any prayers during this time of changes would be appreciated.

Being green...

2011-03-31T12:20:00.000-07:00

So, I come up with all sorts of ideas that I would love to do around the house and yard... and luckily I am blessed with a loving husband who helps me out with them! I really wanted to put in a raised bed along the fence where we've been growing veggies... to help improve the soil, hopefully have the soil warm up quicker so that things will grow better... and possibly keep out some of the grass from across the fence.

Chet and I both agreed we'd love to do it in a "green" way... recycling lumber to build it rather than spending $50-60 on new wood. So, we've been search craigslist, soliciting our family and friends and rummaging through out own wood pile. As of this week, we had gathered enough good wood (we kept running into pieces that were too rotten to use) and Chet put this together yesterday!

Area ready for the bed to be put in.

Chet getting the back nailed on.

All put together, just waiting to be filled with more dirt & compost!

I'm hopeful that things will grow well in there. And, if nothing else, it will be easier to pick the things we do get since it is raised up a bit! I've already got some quinoa sprouting in my other bed so I'm getting pretty excited that spring is starting to arrive!

This is just a picture of our dogwood stump... you can see the hole in the center of the 3 foot stump. And we suspect that it just gets bigger as you get down lower. Fun, eh?

Yard Changes!

2011-03-29T22:30:00.000-07:00

Though I don't have pictures of everything, we are doing a bit of landscaping in the yard this spring... trying to make things look a little more "put together" and add some plantings. We are now on year 3 of living in this house and I've learned a bit about where things do and do not grow in my yard. Namely, the areas that were beds around the edge of the yard that looked lovely for growing things actually do not get sun! Like, barely at all. Hmm... tried planting veggies there the first spring, sort of tried a second spring and pretty much gave up the third year. So, this year, a shade garden is going to join the edge of the yard... including some more permanent, shrub type plants.

Also, our front yard has been a lovely expanse of mossy grass. I've managed to kill the dandelions so it stays pretty green but it is BORING! And it provides no privacy from the street. I added a few things but, this year, I decided that it needed to be a little more dramatic. So, a few weeks ago, Chet and I started tearing up grass so make front beds. Eventually, it will go across the whole hill in the front but we at least have the part adjacent to the fence all fixed up. I'm so excited for flowers to start growing!

The big, big change of today was our dogwood tree was taken out of its misery. Below was the tree when it looked healthy in May while is was blooming a few years ago.

We took out the other one to build some terraced beds a couple years ago... it was rotten and totally water soaked. We thought this one looked okay. Hmm... till we had it officially looked at by an arborist this spring. Every year, the tree starts to lose its leaves about a month after it blooms and continues to lose them till it looks scrawny and pathetic at the end of the summer. Such a pain! Well, we found out that we could spray the tree multiple times a year for the sum of $150 per year in order to keep it looking sort of okay. And that wouldn't fix the extensive rot in the roots and core of the tree. Hmm... what to do especially as it doesn't appear we'll be moving any time soon. So we decided to say "goodbye" to the dogwood to make room for something more disease resistant and healthy! Maybe a pretty maple that turns bright red in the fall? Any other ideas?

Here is our friend taking down our tree! Strange to have it gone but definitely a good decision to get rid of it... as soon as he cut into it, water started just dripping from each cut! The tree was saturated as well as rotting from the inside out.

Now all we have is a stump for Chet (and maybe a few friends) to muscle out of the ground. Oh, and no privacy from our neighbor's yard! Luckily, they are nice folks... but it will be nice to get a new tree in there soon.

We're excited to see what these changes look like as things start to grow this year... and to get to enjoy a beautiful, relaxing yard all summer long. :)

Happy St. Patty's Day!

2011-03-17T21:35:00.000-07:00

Chet and I decided, despite him having to work tonight, to celebrate St. Patrick's day with a Americanized Irish meal. :) A little soda bread, potatoes, cabbage, carrots and corned beef. Oh, and the not-so-Irish dessert of lemon bars. We ate far too much but it was quite delightful.

Whole wheat soda bread... from one of my favorite food blogs, Finding Joy in My Kitchen.

Slow cooker corned beef and veggies. Yum!

Meyer lemon bars. I kept stumbling upon lemon bar recipes tonight as I was looking at websites and I had a bag of Meyer lemons in the fridge just waiting to be used. I took it as a hint that I should make my sweet hubby a treat! They are delicious!

Catch-up Post!

2011-03-16T09:57:00.000-07:00

Here are a few other things that have been going on recently.

First of all, I have to say that I'm very proud of my husband... I give him a project and he always figures it out! We have had the below hole in our wall since we moved in. I think, though the previous owners had remodeled quite a bit, they must have just run out of time... since there was a large hole with a shelf in it.

So Chet transformed it into this!

Also, Adam and Brenda got us out and about... we went to Benihana for the first time ever! The cooking was very entertaining and the food was delicious. I especially loved the onion volcano they do.

Then, we've also gone snowboarding a few times within in the last few weeks. One of the days we went up, there was about 2 feet of fresh snow! It was awesome (and exhausting because we kept getting stuck in deep powder). We even ran into a friend of ours, Erika, and did a few runs with her.

We'll see what spring brings... I finish my current job in less than 2 weeks and start my new job on April 4th! I think this year is going to bring many changes and we are excited to see where things are going next. ;)

Flower and Garden Show

2011-03-16T08:59:00.000-07:00

I'm a little slow on posting about what has been going on lately... and then discovered that I had a month's worth of pictures still sitting on my camera. I suppose that means that it is time to catch up!

Last month, on a whim, I decided to meet my friend, Renee, down at the Northwest Flower and Garden Show. Neither of us had been there before and I was pretty amazed by the detail work of the exhibits. The hours put into making each exhibit was spectacular and, since the theme this year was fairytales, it was neat to see how they designers imagined them into being!

The desire to go the show is somewhat rooted in my current plan to fix up our yard. The front yard is tidy but has nothing interesting... just grass and a solitary tree. I really want to put in flower beds and have something delightful to look out the window and see each day. Also, it may give the front of our house a little more privacy and curb appeal. In the backyard, I just don't know what to some of the empty shady beds along the back of the yard... that are right under a neighbor's holly tree. A little perplexing to figure out what to do... especially on a budget. So, it was fun to see what is possible (granted, with unlimited money, but possible).

The Rapunzel exhibit... lots of blooming bulbs!

Exhibit using recycled materials... by high school senior. It was definitely one of my favorites.

Part of the above exhibit. She used old heating vents as part of this rock garden.

Spectacular tree brought inside as part of this exhibit. It was huge!

Waterfall as part of the above exhibit. Very woodsy, natural exhibit.

Corkscrew Rush... very appropriately named.

I loved all the textures of this one... and it seemed more like something I could use for my own yard.

Renee looking at a cottage-like exhibit. Loved it!

Isn't this lovely! I would love a patio like this!

This was another one of my favorite exhibits... it was the "Three Little Pigs".

Ranunculus... love this flower! Planting some in my yard for sure this year.

Another view of the three little pigs exhibit. Brick house, wood house and then straw house in the distance. Very creative.

If you ever have a chance to go to the Northwest Flower and Garden Show, definitely go! It is very well done and fun to see all the exhibits and booths!

Winter Getaway to Lake Chelan

2011-02-21T19:54:00.000-08:00

Chet and I were so lucky to get away together last week... just to spend time together, relax and do something a little different. So we headed up to the north side of Lake Chelan to Wapato Point in Manson (and used a timeshare bonus week). It worked out great! And while it was raining on the west side of the state, we had some lovely dry, cold sunny days to enjoy.

Our little condo/apartment had a beautiful view of the lake... and all the firewood we could use! We had lots of fires in the fireplace... thank goodness Chet is great at stoking the fire!

View out the window

One afternoon we headed up to Winthrop for dinner. Chet had never seen the lovely western town of Winthrop so I thought it would be a good day trip. It is such a lovely drive through the Methow Valley... we found ourselves dreaming of a cabin up there. After walking around town, we ate dinner at the Old Schoolhouse Brew Pub... tasty food and a fun atmosphere. It was a lovely day together.

Winthrop

The river running through town

Us, enjoying a walk around town

Old Schoolhouse Brew Pub

Another great restaurant we ate at was Blueberry Hills in Manson. It wasn't too far from where we stayed... but up on a hill with beautiful views of the nearby farms, snowy mountains and vineyards. A kind of eclectic, farm oriented atmosphere with very yummy breakfast. Definitely deserves a visit if we are ever in the area again.

Our table at Blueberry Hills... there were marbles, coins, keys, lights and other random things! I loved how they were organized by color. It kept us entertained while waiting for our food.

The outside of the restaurant

View of the restaurant out toward lake

Pretty mountains! And sunshine!

The last afternoon we were there, it was sunny and pretty warm. So we went for a long walk and played putt-putt golf down by the beach at Wapato Point.

Our condo was the one on the lower left...what a great location!

Chet... um... losing to me a mini golf. :)

Sunny putt-putt golf... :)

Earlier in the week, we went home from our week away... so that I could interview for a PNP position at Skagit Pediatrics and go lead our marriage life group. On Thursday, I received a phone call from Skagit Peds offering me a job... and I accepted! On to a new job adventure which I'll start April 4th. Chet took a couple pictures of me (very seriously, I might add... I did smile too, I swear!). Yay!

Chet and I enjoying a fire in our condo! So relaxing and cozy.

This may have to become a tradition in the future... I kind of like the winter getaway idea! Lots of quite, less fellow vacationers!

Jakin smashing sand!

2011-02-07T09:51:00.000-08:00

This is a video from the night we were playing at the beach with Jakin. He was so adorable cracking up as he was smashing the sand! It is hard not to smile and laugh with him while watching it! Love this little boy!

California

2011-02-07T08:53:00.000-08:00

Last week I got to go enjoy some sunshine and visit a dear friend! Debbie (and family) moved down to Santa Monica last fall and I was eager to go see what their life is like in California! Also, what is better than leaving the rainy Northwest for a little warmth and some beach time.

Since Jakin is only 15 months, our week consisted of lots of play time, nap time (even for me!) and walks. It was wonderful to catch up with Debbie and to relax for a few days.

Playground at Venice Beach

More playtime at a local park

We spent one morning at a farmer's market and wandering down to the Santa Monica Pier. I LOVE farmer's market and there was nothing better than wandering around one overflowing with delicious fresh fruits and veggies in the beginning of February! Not something we usually get to do up in Seattle. My exciting purchases were dates to take home for Chet and some tasty blood oranges.

Then down to the Santa Monica Pier we went. It was fun to see the ferris wheel, shops and restaurants down there. Also, the beach is beautiful and sandy. We had excellent timing too as, when we walked out on the pier, we saw dolphins swimming on either side! It took a bit to capture them actually out of the water but I finally got a decent picture.

That evening, we got a tour of Steve's work and graduate school at Rand. It is interesting to just learn a little about what he learns/does. Then we took a walk down to beach to watch the sunset and let Jakin play in the sand. I swear that Jakin has no fear of the water though... he kept trying to run into the waves without any hesitation!

Jakin loved smashing the sand! He was giggling like crazy.

The cute Isley family!

The next day, Debbie and I took Jakin to the Getty... a beautiful museum up on the hill above LA. We didn't make it into many exhibits due to a busy 15 month old but we did enjoy the gardens and the view.

My last morning there, I really wanted to see a beach with surfers. For some reason, I am fascinated by surfing... maybe it reminds me of snowboarding and I am intrigued by the strength and athleticism behind it. Jakin and I played in the waves as I watched... and got a bit wet and sandy. A lovely morning all around!

So glad for some time away to see a dear friend (and a good distraction from not getting another job). I didn't get a tan, but I came back relaxed and happy from enjoying days of time outside as well as great conversation. Thanks to Debbie for such a great time!

Letting go...

2011-01-25T22:25:00.000-08:00

The last couple days, I've been feeling a bit anxious as I try to contemplate what direction my life is going. I am waiting on a response in regards to a job I interviewed for last week and I feel like it takes FOREVER to hear. Part of this anxiety, I'm sure, is because I am needing to be patient (which I'm not very good at) and part of it is because I want to know "yes" or "no" so I can move on. I don't like "being on hold".

But in some ways, I think God is using this time to remind me (yet again) that He is in control and I just need to let go and trust Him with where my life is going. His plans are certainly better than mine, right?

So, tonight I remembered this song, I'm Letting Go by Francesca Battistelli... it certainly speaks to how I want to give up the life I've planned for what God has in store (and it does it to a catchy tune). This one is definitely going to be on my "frequently repeated" list for awhile... :)

My heart beats, standing on the edge
But my feet have finally left the ledge
Like an acrobat
There’s no turning back

I’m letting go

Of the life I planned for me

And my dreams

I’m losing control

Of my destiny

It feels like I’m falling and that’s what it’s like to believe

So I’m letting go

This is a giant leap of faith

Trusting and trying to embrace

The fear of the unknown

Beyond my comfort zone

Giving in to your gravity

Knowing You are holding me

I'm not afraid

Feels like I'm falling and that's what it's like to believe

Feels like I'm falling and this is the life for me

The Gray of January

2011-01-21T12:16:00.000-08:00

Today I realized that it is now nearing the end of January and I haven't posted more than twice this month! After all the excitement of December, I think January can often be a month of getting back into the normalcy of life and may not seem as "notable" as other times of the year. The house looks boring as the Christmas tree and lights come down. There are fewer exciting events to look forward to. I suppose it can seem similar to our weather here in Seattle... gray with a constant chance of drizzle.

Yet, I have to say that despite the lack of extremes this month (and rather more shades of gray) there have been blessings.

We managed to fix our pickup's clutch without having to take it to a shop (meaning Chet spent weeks fixing it in our driveway... but it is running well again!), which saved us money. I'm pretty proud of him for accomplishing that!
We are prepping for leading our marriage small group... praying for whoever may will be a part of it and excited to see how we are all going to grow from this experience.
I got another job interview... just now waiting for an answer of whether I get it or not. I'm so hopeful and the job sounds interesting with a good work environment... we'll see!
I've had more of a chance to catch up with friends, make yummy food and exercise... which feels so good!

I trying to constantly remember that just because I'm in a "gray" or routine month of life to look for the little blessings and to be thankful for them. Also, to remember that life doesn't always need to be exciting or filled with big events... those will definitely come sooner than we expect. :)

New Year

2011-01-02T20:32:00.000-08:00

For myself (and I would imagine most people), each new year rolls around with hopes, dreams and goals. I don't typically make formal resolutions, but as Chet and I were driving home from Montana, we had lots of time to discuss what we desire for the coming year. Mostly, it involves making ourselves and our relationships stronger and healthier... challenging ourselves and each other to grow. Here are some things we thought about...

1. Growing in our faith walk. For me, I feel that a lot of this is fully give up control over my life daily and give it over to God as well as spending more time in prayer and the Bible. That's the brief blog version. :)

2. Deepening our marriage. We both want to spend more time praying for each other... aloud! Also, prioritizing date nights weekly... :)

3. Eating healthy and taking care of our bodies! I think that this means some more meal planning is in my future (not one of my skills). We are just going to make little healthy changes like well-rounded meals, less sweets and focusing on using fresh, whole foods. Tonight we had Spice Rubbed Chicken with Israeli Couscous and Spinach. Pretty healthy, only took 30 minutes to make, and quite tasty... let's keep this up!

4. Having people over to dinner more often. We have a great home in which to host a meal... we need to get out of our introverted shells and initiate more meals with people we love (especially on weeknights). If you want to be on this list, let me know!

5. Less TV on as background noise when I'm in the house along. Well, this isn't really one that Chet discussed with me but I need to stop filling the quiet evening with Chet at work with TV that I don't really care about. If I get lonely, I need to call a friend, read a book or start a new hobby!

6. Living our lives with abandon... treasuring each day and not just being satisfied with what is safe and routine. We want to experience life fully, try new things, see new places and just enjoy relationships with people in our lives!

Other things that we are hoping for this year is just God's direction for our lives... I'm a bit stumped on the PNP job thing combined with the desire to start a family. If you think of it, we are appreciating any and all prayer.

We'll see what joys and struggles this year brings! It will be exciting to see where God leads us!

Christmas Trip 2010 - Part 2

2011-01-02T20:08:00.000-08:00

After a lovely time with the Kolar side of the family in Great Falls, we headed back over to snowy Missoula for more time with family and friends. Due to the busy time around the holidays, we hadn't gotten to see some of our dear friends in Missoula prior to Christmas! It was such a joy to spend time with them, share a meal or two, go up to the mountain and snuggle their sweet kids.

On Tuesday we got a chance to see an old friend of mine, Kendra, and have lunch with her and her hubby at the Staggering Ox... it was so good to see her and to catch up!

Then, that evening, Chet's mom had people over for "waffle breakfast" dinner... kind of a tradition which keeps adding small people to the group now! The kids were kind of my favorite thing to photograph. :)

Ella and baby Haven

Ella is such a little mommy! She is going to be the best big sister when her little brother arrives. She wouldn't let us take baby Haven away from her... instead she just kept gently holding her and trying to give put her binky in her mouth. It was the sweetest thing ever!

Chet looks pretty cute holding little Haven also... won't he be a cute daddy someday? :)

The group of all of us... love all these friends!

The next day, Chet and I went up to Snowbowl (with about a thousand other folks) to enjoy 15 inches of fresh powder! We snowboarded with a group of friends (well, they all skied) and had a lovely day! There was so much snow that it was FUN to fall down... all the powder just poofed up. We both agreed that was probably our best snowboarding day in a long time!

That evening, we had family dinner with all of Chet's immediate family, including our two cute nephews. We all opened presents (I got distracted and didn't take many pictures) but did manage to capture little Logan snuggling with Grandma Judy and Winnie the Pooh.

I guess finishing out the holidays was New Year's! We aren't the most wild and crazy people so I probably could have gone to bed earlier than midnight (especially since I had to work at 7am the next morning!) but we did go to our pastor's house for a chill party. Great company, lots of tasty snacks and a chilly walk up the rest of Queen Anne hill to see the fireworks from the needle! I enjoyed the fact that getting a good view didn't require crowds and crowds of people!

(Another couple in our group... liked the overall composition of the photo... they were pretty cute!)

Now that the holidays are over, it is time to break into 2011! Looking forward to see what it brings!

Christmas Trip 2010 - Part 1

2010-12-27T07:44:00.000-08:00

Early last week, we headed out to Montana for the holidays. It is always a fun, but busy time whenever we come out due to the plethora of loving family we have in Montana... and we been enjoying every minute. Here are some highlights from the first part of our trip.

The first couple days of the trip were filled with a remodel project at Chet's parents' house! For Christmas, his mom is getting her room redone... complete with removal of 70s wallpaper, fresh light fixtures and hardware on the doors and new paint. Removing wallpaper is not our favorite thing (and very time consuming) but the early finished project is looking good after two days of work!

On Christmas Eve morning, we headed up to Polson to see my grandma and some of my relatives on my dad's side of the family. We spent the day enjoying the snowy, foggy view smelling lovely things baking in the kitchen and lots of visiting. It was such an enjoyable visit!

Out to lunch to Pizza Hut with Grandma, Aunt Debbie, Uncle Mike and the girls.

Cara was baking amazing rolls, cookies and more!

Afternoon nap time...

Danae with her toys and creations...

Me and Danae

Rolls in the oven!

View from Grandma's kitchen window!

Danae and I went outside after lunch to take some pictures of the snow. After the most recent snowstorm, it had not warmed up so everything was just crystallized in snow... and it was apparent that the wind had been blowing during the storm as all the crystals were on the south side of the branches!

Us and Grandma

Aunt Debbie and Cara

We headed back to Missoula for church on Christmas Eve. It was a nice service and we were able to see lots of Chet's family friends there. After a nice dinner and opening presents, we had a special dessert! Chet had mentioned liking "ice cream cake roll" when he was little for his birthday. So his mom made one and pulled it out for dessert! I had never had it before but it was quite tasty.

On Christmas morning, we drove up to Lincoln to have Christmas with Chet's parents and his entire side of his family. There were 32 people in his aunt and uncle's place! Here is some scenery driving up there that morning...

Since we were already in Lincoln on Christmas, that evening we drove another hour and a half over to Great Falls to see my mom's side of the family, staying with my aunt and uncle for a couple nights with other family members visiting. We also had the treat of going skiing/snowboarding with my cousins, Nicole and Nolan, to the Showdown Ski area. We had a great day despite lack of fresh snow!

Today we'll leave Great Falls and head back to Missoula for more fun and visiting! And maybe some more snowboarding... :)

Holiday Happenings

2010-12-20T13:37:00.000-08:00

December has flown by! I realize that it is the "holiday rush" but there have just been so many fun things going on - trips, get-togethers, family time - that I don't know how we are now upon the week of Christmas! Here is a little bit of what has been going on for us during this holiday season!

We went to Leavenworth to celebrate the anniversary of our engagement 5 years ago! We enjoyed the crowds of the tree lighting... and then went to a restaurant to watch the Huskies beat the Cougs in the Apple Cup!

We stayed at the house of some friends of ours... a cozy cabin-like atmosphere with a beautiful view of the mountains. They were at work until Sunday night so we had the place to ourselves. We watched tons of Christmas movies, read books, addressed Christmas cards and just generally relaxed. Both of us definitely want a cabin now and wouldn't mind living in a more scenic, quiet place than Seattle! We didn't want to leave at the end of the weekend!

On the way home from Leavenworth, we went snowboarding for the first time of the season. Not the most amazing snow that day, but it was so quiet that we just did lap after lap on the groomed runs!

We've also gone snowboarding in some amazing powder that made out legs completely exhausted. We can't wait to go up again, work schedules permitting.

We celebrated Chet's birthday on December 18th with a flurry of bday and Christmas activity! That morning, we (both of us) went paintballing with a group of folks for another friend's birthday. I was the only girl out of the 12 of us but had a blast! I definitely kept up to the boys and had some good shots that left some of the guys pretty impressed. Chet was so proud of me for going out there and being competitive... and we had a good time shooting at each other (and then comparing our welts later). We've been enjoying the colors the bruises have been changing to the last few days.

Then my family came over to celebrate Chet's birthday and do Christmas early! We had dinner, opened presents and then went to "A Christmas Story - The Musical."

The tree and presents

My rearranged nativity scene... note the lurking snowmen and animals alternated light and dark like Oreos. Thanks, Dad!

The ladies of the family with the bags I sewed for presents!

The birthday boy with his special red plate.

The 5th Ave for the musical! So much fun!

Adam and Brenda looking cute.

Then, yesterday, we enjoyed some more holiday festivities. I helped with the children's Christmas program at church in the morning wrangling/guiding the toddler angels through their part. The kids were all so cute in their Christmas outfits singing their hearts out (or looking distracted, etc).

Yesterday evening, my friend, Faith, and I had a big party to celebrate our husbands' birthdays! Chet's is the 18th and Kevin's is the 24th so this was a good way to get all sorts of friends together! We just had soup, breads, desserts and yummy holiday beverages... and lots of chatting and catching up. I think we ended up with almost 25 people over the course of the night... and it seemed like the birthday boys were enjoying themselves! I got so busy though that I didn't take pictures!

Next, on to Montana for the holidays! There is more celebrating to be had over the next week or so. Such a fun, but busy time of year!

Five years ago...

2010-12-03T07:25:00.000-08:00

Five years ago, my best friend and love of my life proposed next to a cozy fireplace on a snowy night in Leavenworth. We had gone snowboarding together for the day and he'd nervously kept the diamond ring safe through our outdoor excursion. Then, we enjoyed the lights in Leavenworth, finally ending up at the Enzian Hotel where we sat by the fire, drank hot apple cider, and a family friend of his (who plays the piano there regularly) snuck in our song at the time. As he played "Can't Help Falling in Love (with You)", Chet proposed quietly and sweetly. I don't think that some of the other people in the area even noticed... but that is just the way he is. Kind, thoughtful and able to show love in a quiet way. Then, after we took pictures and relished in the moment, he brought me to the family friend's house where OUR families and some friends had traveled over to have a celebration party. He planned it all and kept it all a surprise in order to make the night special...

... and it was very special! So special that we actually go back to Leavenworth every year in some way, shape or form to celebrate that beginning. We're headed off tomorrow to enjoy a weekend away in Leavenworth, get a new ornament for our tree (we get a new one each year together) and probably do some snowboarding.

Lights in Leavenworth

Us right after getting engaged with Chet's family friend who plays the piano

I am so thankful for my loving husband, the years together and all the years (and memories) to come! Love you, Chet!

The Gessaman Fam at Thanksgiving

2010-11-28T21:52:00.000-08:00

A few pics of our Thanksgiving day with my immediate family...

Yummy food!

Adam and I having fun taking pictures of each other through a pitcher. He was teaching me about Digital SLRs.

Us on Thanksgiving.

Our family on Thanksgiving! Only person missing is Jordan's girlfriend, Kylie!

A little preview...

2010-11-25T22:51:00.000-08:00

I just want to give a little preview of our Christmas card... at least the outside. :) We are quite pleased with them... our first Shutterfly Christmas card and I am in love with their designs! Can't wait to get them and send them out.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

With Love Blue Christmas 5x7 folded card

Shop Shutterfly for elegant custom Christmas photo cards.

View the entire collection of cards.

Thanksgiving Snowball Fight

2010-11-25T10:56:00.001-08:00

A happy (and snowy) Thanksgiving from Chet and Brianne!

November Snow!

2010-11-24T09:03:00.000-08:00

While our new window was getting put in, Chet and I got to enjoy a stay at home day in the snow! Thankfully, neither of us had to work because traffic ended up being a nightmare as ice and snow caused accidents and cars slipping all over the road. We just cleaned our office, took pics of the snow and watched the progress on our window. It was such a lovely day!

We had almost 4 inches of snow by that night! And then temps dipped into the teens so everything has stayed nicely frozen for the last couple days.

Yesterday, we had a beautiful sunny day in the teens and twenties. Perfect for taking pictures and enjoying the snow fall. Roads were icy but fewer people were on the roads so I even headed out for a few errands.

What a treat to get to enjoy a few snowy days at home in a warm, cozy house with my hubby!

New Window!

2010-11-24T08:28:00.000-08:00

On Monday, we got a new window! Chet and I have decided that we are now such grownups when we get really excited over something like a window! We are both thrilled though to get rid of the one last aluminum framed windows in our house.

When we bought our house, every window in the house had been updated except for the one in the second bedroom. Also, the trim had been updated in every room except that one. Why? We have no clue.

This is the window as it was before we replaced it.

So, since eventually this will be where we put our baby/children, we wanted to get a nice new window of good quality to keep out the drafts, the noise and be very safe. So we got one Penguin window... and had them install it in the middle of a snow storm. Good timing, eh?

The window was just begging to be replaced!

Our new window from the outside!

The new window from the inside with beautiful trim done to match the rest of the trim in our house. What a difference! I feel like our house grew up a little bit too with the new window.

Not that I have to, but I'm going to put in a plug for Penguin windows... I swear these are the best designed windows every, very energy efficient and the crew did an amazing job putting them in. They were so respectful as they installed it, keeping everything clean and following our wishes exactly. We'll definitely use them again in the future if we decide to replace more windows.

Getting ready for the holidays!

2010-11-19T22:29:00.000-08:00

As we are heading rapidly toward Thanksgiving and the end of November, I've started thinking about holiday preparations! Christmas lists, travel plans and decorating the house are hot topics between me and Chet right now. We have yet to start listening to Christmas music or start decorating (I prefer to wait till after Thanksgiving!), but some plans have to start in November... like Christmas cards!

Today as I was looking at Christmas cards online, I happened across this amazing offer on the Shutterfly blog. I have always loved all the amazing books, cards and other photo gifts that Shutterfly offers... and really want to use one of their designs this year! Here are just a few of my favorites... which one do you like best?

I love how this one sums up the sentiments of the season... peace, love and joy. And we could use two different photos of us!

This one is a bit different... I like the simplicity of the green and black. I do love the color green! :)

This design is one of the more unique ones that I've seen. I like how the photo is the main part of the card with the design overlaying it.

I think that the only thing that I wish came with the cards are the adorable children on them! Oh well... maybe in a few years we'll have our own to put on our Christmas card!

Check our the other Christmas cards on Shutterfly! Maybe you'll see something you'd like to use this season also. If you don't like Christmas cards, they also have cool calendars that you can personalize with your own photos. We've done this for grandparents in the past and they love looking at all the different photos of their family throughout the year!

Are you ready to start thinking about the holidays too? Want to try these adorable Shutteryfly cards this year? Shutterfly is offering bloggers 50 free holiday cards absolutely free!

El Salvador!

2010-11-15T10:07:00.001-08:00

Last week, we had the great blessing of getting to head down to El Salvador to serve people on a medical mission trip through our church. Ten of us (3 nurses, 1 doctor and rest with a multitude of talents). We did 4 clinics throughout the week at different locations... saw over 500 people... and saw 69 people accept Christ. Though it was only a week long trip, it was an amazing time of caring for people medically in order to bring them in to be encouraged and drawn to Jesus. Each person on the team used their unique gifts to welcome people, care for people, and pray over people. I was impressed by how, though the team is different than the one last year, it was perfectly formed for this year. I also loved the fact that Chet and I finally had the chance to both use our skills as nurses on a trip like this... together!!! I look forward to more opportunities like this as we are both certainly drawn to doing this again in the future. I love how relationships grow when people (or spouses) serve together! Oh... and it would have been pretty hard to come home and be able to adequately explain the experience.

We went down through an Assemblies of God organization called King's Castle... quite the amazing campus where Master's Commission students (post high school age kids with a desire to learn in order to go into missions), mission teams, and other people are passionately serving the people of El Salvador. Of course, being a country with lots of gang involvement, there is a nice secure wall and guards keeping us safe... as is common in many places in El Salvador. We stayed in dormitory style rooms for the week (boys and girls separate) and enjoyed the beautiful grounds. Apparently it was a "cold spell" while we were there... it was in the upper 60s and windy at time despite the sun shining the whole time!

One of the resident monkeys.

Laura, Chet, myself and Mary down by the lake... soon after we got there.

The gate into the King's Castle compound.

View up toward the boy's dorm... and the hills.

Horses roam around... literally roam, eating garbage and chasing folks!

Myself and Leyra, one of our Master's Commission students for the week.

After a weekend of sorting pills, going to church and settling in, we took off on Monday for our first clinic. It was at a small church, up a winding road. Mira Flores seemed to be a caring community and we saw about 125 people that day. Chet quickly became the official giver of the injections (mostly vitamin B12 for the elderly) and I got to learn about seeing patients. First day I did more collaborating with Dr. Ed (since I didn't have an interpreter) and then, the rest of the week, I did get to see some patients each day. I think total Chet gave about 75 shots... all the little old ladies told him "God bless" and what a nice job he did after. I have a talented hubby!

The pharmacy... with Ed and Chet.

One sweet little boy who was sick and wouldn't wake up at first... we were a bit worried and then he started to look fine. Adorable, eh?

The next day, we did a clinic at King's Castle... to see people who live in the area. There is a weekly clinic for those with chronic health issues as well as some more acute issues, but the larger clinics are an opportunity for more people to be seen. Lots medicines we take for granted like Tylenol, Motrin, vitamins and more are in high demand as well as antibiotics and chronic medications. Emily, the 12 year old daughter of the missionaries we were working with (Tim and Pam), interpreted for me... she is a rock star!

After seeing patients, we decided to "swing" down to the lake... and fly off the trapeze into the water! I did it twice and it was great! I thought it would be much more scary than it was... and the water was actually quite warm despite how deep it was! Chet also went off once (though I was a bit paranoid since I didn't want any foreign lake water to go up his broken sinus and cause a weird infection).

The following day, we packed up the bus again and headed to the tent church... after a pit stop for a photo shoot at a view point. :)

Josh, Dr. Boris and Santos looking pretty cool...

At the tent church, a 16 year old boy with a septic hip who couldn't walk and was in intense pain received care and prayer. Pray for Kevin's healing as his family can't afford any other medical care...

I saw patients all day this day! It was great! Maybe I really can be a PNP!

The final day of clinics was in a poorer area called Las Delicias. We saw 151 people that day... including a huge amount of children! What a busy day but I know that some of the kids were very blessed by the care provided by each part of the team.

Ed drew pictures for all the kids...

I saw patients for the morning...

This was the appearance of the village as we walked to the church.

Our last day was actually a free day where we experienced a bit of culture and explored a bit.

We went to some Maya ruins where we discovered that historical site tour guides are similar in any culture or language...

Very old Mayan ruins...

Ate lunch at a little shop with a beautiful back garden... best surprise of the trip! Both our meals together cost $2.23... and it was very tasty!

Everyone decided we found the best place to eat that day...

Chet got his second $0.50 coconut of the day... he loves coconut water!

Lychee and coconut... yum...

Then we drove through the hills and the coffee plants on our way back... did you know that people only get paid $1 for 20-25 pounds of coffee? It is important to know where your coffee comes from!

Beautiful scenery....

That night at the farewell, we posed with both of our Master's Commission students... Leyra and Obed. They are both wonderful and such blessings to our whole team!

We loved our time with Tim and Pam, our missionary hosts; Dr. Boris, the most amazing doctor ever; Leyra and Obed, our Master's Commission students; and our whole team from All Saints. What amazing people of God and I know that we learned something from each and every one of them. We had great depth of conversations, fun and laughter and many memories... the only disappointment was that the trip wasn't longer!

Return of Creativity

2010-10-31T06:01:00.000-07:00

Lately, I've been feeling a desire to create... so I decided to put together more baby blankets for upcoming shower/baby gifts. Even though the blankets are not difficult to make, I enjoy putting love into a cuddly blanket for a sweet new little person... and figuring out which fabrics to put together!

Owls, polka dots and bright, fun colors with a soft, green backing.

Pumpkin Carving with Powertools

2010-10-31T05:47:00.000-07:00

This last week, in honor of fall, we got together with some friends to enjoy pumpkin carving, homemade chili and apple cider. Chet and I didn't choose to carve pumpkins (neither of us is that in to pumpkin carving currently... i prefer to bake with them) but we enjoyed watching and making interesting commentary. Our friends James and Terice brought out the big guns and used powertools to carve their pumpkin, which, needless to say, brought the adventure factor up a big for the night. They used a large drill bit to make tons of holes in a pattern... and there were spirals of pumpkin across the basement! It was such a great idea though (one I may use in the future!).

Blessings right now...

2010-10-28T19:22:00.000-07:00

For some reason, I was just thinking about things I love and am thankful for this week. There are some weeks where I feel so restless in my life and wish for something different, but I'm trying to be content with the life God has given me and see all of His blessings... no matter how big or small! So, here are some of my current blessings!

1. I am thankful for... a warm cozy home to share with my hubby. A recent fall storm brought wind and lots of rain and it just felt so good to be inside baking with candles and fun music playing. Growing up, my mom always made our house a home and some of my fondest memories were in the fall with all the yummy smells coming from the kitchen and that same sense of security and love. I'm so glad to have that now in my own home!

2. I am in love with... food blogs! As I continue to wait for a new job, I have more time to cook and bake. This is especially glorious as I love the flavors of fall. The food blogs I have found usually post season friendly recipes and I've been getting so many ideas (which most have turned out to be really good!). For example, I found pumpkin streusel muffins, pumpkin granola bars and pumpkin chocolate chip cookies... yum! My three favorite food blogs currently are Finding Joy in My Kitchen, Two Peas and Their Pod, and The Cooking Photographer. Check them out!

3. I am glad for... our marriage LifeGroup at church! What a great group of people and amazing discussions. I love the chance to learn how to better love in our marriage and share in the joys/struggles in each couple's life.

4. I am excited for... a chance to serve on our upcoming trip to El Salvador. Eleven of us from our church are headed off for a medical mission trip with King's Castle in El Salvador next week! It is such a blessing that Chet and I are both able to go as, since we met, we had talked about doing some kind of medical mission trip. Though we will be sleeping in different dorms (boys and girls), I am looking forward to serving with him in this way and sharing this experience.

5. I am enjoying... going to the gym! I joined the YMCA back in June when our old gym closed and I couldn't be happier! Both my body and mood feel better when I am exercising and they have so many different activities so I don't get bored! Also, now that my friend Faith is a member, I have a workout buddy so it is doubly fun.

6. And, for a final list here are other things that make me happy right now... homemade pumpkin puree, roasted pumpkin seeds, spice and/or apple candles, fires in our firepit, crock-pot meals, a new window/trim in the back bedroom, weekly walks around Greenlake with friends and their babies, job possibilities, Pandora radio blasting through the house, library books, mulled apple cider, fall leaves and even a bit of rain/fall storms.

Fall walks with cute babies!

2010-10-22T14:39:00.000-07:00

Earlier this week, I met up with a couple of friends and their very cute babies for a walk around Greenlake. Such a classic Seattle activity... get the strollers out and walk/talk on the pleasant loop around the lake. It was a perfect fall day and both the babies were so good the whole time. Oh, and I got my baby fix getting to hold and snuggle both Paige and Tuckerman.

The last picture is definitely my favorite where Tuckerman looks like he is about to lick Paige! And Paige looks a little nervous about that whole idea! What sweet kiddos! Thanks to Nancy and Erin for such a fun day!

Happy 22nd Birthday Jordy!

2010-10-18T14:33:00.000-07:00

Fall is a season of celebrating birthdays for my family... and we recently got to celebrate my younger brother's 22nd birthday! How did he get to be so old?!? We had a great time of hanging out, eating lots of yummy bbq food and cheesecake. He is such an amazing guy and it was a joy to get to celebrate with him. Happy 22nd Jordan! Love you!

Veggies!

2010-10-08T09:09:00.000-07:00

My garden is getting toward the end and I tried to pick the remainder of some of the veggies last night. Then we made a veggie pizza with all the garden stuff for dinner! Yum!

Fishing

2010-10-05T09:17:00.000-07:00

The other morning, Chet and his friend Mark went up fishing near Mount Vernon for salmon. I tagged along since I had nothing else to do and I wanted to be outside with my hubby. It was a beautiful morning! We met up with Chet's Uncle Mark... it was great to see him as it has been awhile.

We ended up with a couple fish to smoke... yay! We love smoked salmon (and my dad is fabulous at smoking salmon). It made me wish I had a fishing permit though... :) I was sad to be stuck without a fishing pole. Maybe on the next fishing trip!

Patio... done! Bedroom... refreshed! Much accomplished around the house... definitely!

2010-09-29T19:31:00.000-07:00

As of yesterday, we officially finished our patio! Our goal had been to finish it by the time October rolled around and we managed (just barely!). Here are the final pictures in the formation of the patio... which I must say we are pretty proud of and quite excited to use!

Laying down the patio stones. We used over a pallet of the rectangular ones and 3/4 of a pallet of the square ones. All in all, that is over 5,000 pounds of paver stones. I don't think it will be going anywhere anytime soon!

Today after putting sweeping in the sand yesterday! Finally complete and looking good! We spend quite a bit of time cutting pavers (I have become a master with a chisel and a hammer) to get everything to fit around the cure of the walkway and the fireplace. With the sand in place, you don't even notice the slight imperfections. Much thanks to my dad for helping with some of the cutting! It was like putting together a bit puzzle!

Anyone want to come over for a fire in the fire pit? We are thinking tomorrow night when it is warm out! I personally can't wait to decorate the patio up with some big pots and plants in the corner and arbors around the outside edge next year.

If you couldn't tell, I have had extra time off from work this week so I've been in project mode. Here is my other project! We ended up finally deciding to get a headboard for our bed. We have lived 4 years as a married couple without a headboard but finally began to notice that the paint on that wall is a little tacky (probably from the condensation of us breathing or the oils on our hands as we touch the wall... who knows but it annoyed me!). Here is our newly refreshed room!

We think it looks a little more grown-up now!

The other side of the room for good measure.

My other creation of the day... a jewelry holder. When I was visiting Renee last week over on Bainbridge, she had a frame with screen in it to hang her earrings on... I loved the idea so took an old frame today and made something similar! Chet put small nails on it to hold necklaces and bracelets also.

Anyway, this is what we've been up to this week. The weather is suppose to be nice so we are hoping to have a fire outside tomorrow, maybe doing some hiking/enjoying of the outdoors, and just enjoy spending some time together. Chet will be savoring some fun in Leavenworth with his male nurse friends so tomorrow is pretty much our day together this week! Who knows, maybe we'll come up with some new projects to start working on... I do love projects! :)

Making progress!

2010-09-20T20:02:00.001-07:00

Back in August, we got the brilliant idea to get rid of our hot tub and half rotten deck... and put in a patio with a fire pit! We have discovered over the last year or so that we don't use the hot tub enough to justify it. So, Craigslist helped us get rid of the hot tub and we've been working on transforming it since!

In order to remember all of our hard work, we've been documenting it with photos.

First, we tore down the gazebo and sold the hot tub. The gazebo was so wobbly that we were able to just push it over! Nice to have that thing gone.

Then Chet, with Josh's help, tore out the deck and cut up the wood. We now have a great pile of wood to burn in our fire pit!

Note the huge pile of wood! They did a great job!

Then, because the ground is uneven, we had to build a bit of a retaining wall around the patio area before filling it with gravel for the patio base. This was after a bit of digging to get the ground level! We now have piles of dirt around the perimeter of our yard.

Next step, paint the wall, build the fire pit and fill the area with gravel base! Lots of hauling and tamping it down to make a solid base. We finished tamping it down today and it looks so good!

A little mulch and a few flowers this evening were just for fun. I probably shouldn't have done it before the patio stones are in but I couldn't resist. The pavers come on Thursday and I'm hoping we'll have time to put them in within the next week. Next year, we hope to add some benches, arbors and other fun things... :) We are certainly looking forward to having some fires and get-togethers in the near future!

Blackberry Picking

2010-09-03T09:48:00.001-07:00

Last night I did some blackberry picking at Saltwater Park in Shoreline and was rewarded with the most beautiful sunset! What a nice summer evening...

This is just of the blackberry bushes that I battled... the view just beyond them is the Puget Sound.

Now to make something very tasty with those blackberries I picked (while getting scratched up by the bushes!). I do love blackberries in the summer!

End of August flowers and veggies...

2010-08-30T22:22:00.000-07:00

As we head rapidly toward fall, I thought it was time to post some pictures of flowers, veggies and other green growing type things! I love having a garden and a yard to "play" in... especially when things burst open in beautiful colors or produce yummy things to eat.

First, the flowers! I love having a bit of color in the yard.

As I type this, my last loaf of zucchini blueberry bread is almost ready to come out of the oven and I have a zucchini pasta salad as well as refrigerator pickles waiting in the fridge to be eaten. As a result of all the fresh stuff (especially an excess of zucchini and cucumbers), I've gotten more in to searching for food blogs... people have the best step by step instructions as well as photos! I think I'm a very visual baker/cook... I like to make things that look pretty. :)

I think fresh fruit and veggies from the garden are one of the best things of summer... they taste so good and it is so satisfying about watching your food go from a tiny seed into something healthy and edible!

Here are some picts of veggies in my yard...

Chilies just forming... these might have to continue to ripen in the house if the weather doesn't cooperate!

Prolific cucumbers on trellises that Chet made earlier this summer. The plants like to climb...

and then the cucumbers hang down under the trellis! It seems to work really well!

Chet's hops... just about ready to pick and be used in a batch of beer!

Side garden... carrots, zucchini, tomatoes and hops...

Today's zucchini and cucumbers.

Chet and I are currently starting our patio project so next year our yard will be even more enticing with a fire pit, arbors and more. I can't wait to lay down the stones and see what it will look like!

Dungeness Spit Camping

2010-08-24T17:56:00.000-07:00

This last weekend, we went camping with some friends of ours over on the Olympic Peninsula. It was such a fun weekend filled with good food, a lack of rain and lots of relaxing. The Olympic Peninsula is such a beautiful place that Chet and I always feel like we are "getting away" when we head over there. Maybe it is the ferry ride or just getting out into a more rural area, but it is just a great place to be.

We took off on Friday night with Kevin and Faith, rode the ferry over and set up camp. We had the most beautiful sunset!

Kevin and Faith... happy 1 year anniversary!

Us on the ferry.

Magnolia trees over the bluff

Sunset through the grass.

Pink clouds... ahh, I love the Northwest!

The next day, Dan, Melissa and Josh came up to join us. We ended up going on an easy hike to Sol Duc Falls along Lover's Lane (I just love the name of the hike though I'm not sure why it is called that!). Then we headed over to Sol Duc Hot Springs for a little relaxing in the pools.

The group hiking along "Lover's Lane"...

Sol Duc Falls... so pretty!

Our whole group at the falls.

Classic "Chet and Brianne self portrait!"

Relaxing at the Sol Duc Hot Springs... nice warm water despite the smell of sulfur. :)

Eating lots of good food the following morning... that is certainly one thing we didn't lack!

On Sunday before heading home, we went down to the spit to check it out. It was nice to walk on the beach a bit before waiting in a long ferry line!

Skipping rocks... of course a competition between the boys to see who could go the furthest.

I like to call this our "SPU Pose"... it looks like something that could be in an Alumni Publication, especially since we all graduated from SPU within the last 6 years!

A nice view of the spit. It is a total of 5.5 miles long and grow about 12 to 14 feet a year. Crazy!

Walking back down the beach... what a beautiful area!

Such a nice weekend to get away with good friends! Here's to hoping this becomes a yearly tradition!

My favorite visitors!

2010-08-24T17:43:00.001-07:00

We recently had the lovely pleasure of having Debbie and Jakin stay with us... for a whole week! What a treat to spend such a good amount of time with a dear friend and her adorable baby. Even though I had to work some of the time they were here, it was so nice to catch up with them, play with Jakin and have friends over! They are working their way down to California for Debbie's husband, Steve, to earn his PhD so it may be awhile before we get to spend this much time again!

Cute baby Jakin in the bath tub...

... he is a big splasher... good thing our tub is deep!

Jakin showing off his latest "skill"... he is excellent at playing "so big!"

Hanging at the park...

Outdoor dinner on a warm evening... it was easy to clean him up after this meal!

Friends over for a fun summer BBQ... such tasty food from Renee's garden and mine!

I have to say that after taking so many pictures of Jakin, who is not even my own child, I have a feeling I'd better get a bigger hard drive for when we have kids! I have a feeling I'll be taking lots of pictures!!!

A surprise in my fuchsia...

2010-07-16T19:28:00.000-07:00

The other day, I went to water my fuchsia and found a beautiful, perfectly formed nest. There was no bird in sight and I was gone for about a week so I assumed that it was abandoned. It is a beautiful nest with a perfect center. It is amazing how birds can do this... and in the midst of my fuchsia!

So here is what I found today...

My fuchsia is going to have baby birds (as long as I don't frighten the mama bird too often with watering!)! How exciting!

Chet's Climb in the Bridgers

2010-07-13T11:56:00.001-07:00

Here are some pictures of Chet's time in Bozeman this last weekend. He went over to do a short climb with his brother, Glenn, and spend time with family. It looked like a spectacular day to be out climbing.

On Sunday, Chet went shooting with Glenn and Logan... doesn't Logan look cute in the ear protection?

We'll be out in Montana visiting family at the end of the month as well... that should be another fun trip. Hopefully, we'll be able to spend good chunks of time with both Chet's family as well as my relatives (and do some fun, outdoor things)!

Random Summer

2010-07-13T11:12:00.003-07:00

Just had to share a couple of fun pictures from the last week. On the Fourth of July, we hung out with friends in the afternoon out at the Redhook Brewery. The plan had been to go out for a tour but we were running a little bit late so we didn't quite make it. But, on the plus side, as we got on the freeway, we happened to be right behind the SeaFair Pirates! They must have been headed down to the celebration on Lake Union. They sure looked excited though (despite the gray weather)!

Later in the week, Chet headed over to Montana to go do a short climb with his brother, Glenn, and I got so work and spend a day with my family. We had to spend some time waiting around for my brother's bed to be delivered to his condo (him and Brenda were still on their honeymoon) but then, in the evening, we headed up to the Mountain Loop Highway. We found a place for a picnic supper, to cool down after a warm day and just relax with the lovely rush of the river. Definitely would have been even better with Chet there, but it was still a great way to spend a Friday night.

Hopefully we'll get a chance to go camping up there soon. It finally feels like summer around here and it is about time!

Just Volunteer!

2010-07-02T18:33:00.000-07:00

I just spent a week volunteer at a camp for kids with medical issues... and it was one of the best weeks of my recent life! What an amazing, inspiring week filled with fun, laughter and pure, uninhibited joy! If you ever get a chance to give a week of your time at a camp like this, do it! It has definitely made it hard to go back to normal life after watching all the kids blossom and just get to be kids instead of a diagnosis or a patient! We slept in a teepee, played a crazy game of kickball, had a giant food fight (and got washed off by a fire truck), ate tons of delicious food, witnessed an amazing talent show, had SuperHero Olympics and much more! Who says that a camp nurse can't have fun right along with the kids?

Due to privacy issues, I can't post pictures of campers or anything but will post pics of the camp grounds and what my dear husband left for me when I got home today. How cute is this?

View of the valley. Farm buildings are part of the camp.

Girl and boy "cabins.

The hippodrome... aka dining hall, stage, hangout area, etc.

Bungalow where the medical staff got to sleep. What a beautiful house!

Chet's creative "welcome home" sign!

Just be warned that I may be singing the praises of volunteering at camp for the next while (and trying to get some of you to join me in the future!).

Adam and Brenda's Wedding!

2010-06-26T18:04:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, we were able to celebrate a joyous occasion! My brother married a wonderful, amazing woman in a beautiful ceremony with lots of family around! It was a great week hanging out with family and preparing for the wedding... and such a fun celebration! I'm so glad that my brother has found the love of his life (and that I get her as a sister-in-law)... they look so happy together. It was the kind of wedding that you feel joy just bubbling up and can't but smile! :) Just thinking about it makes me so happy to be able to be part of such a special moment in my brother's life! Here are a few pics from the week.

Us girls (my mom's sisters, my cousin and Kylie) went and got pedicures... we filled up all of their chairs and kept the place busy for awhile!

Auntie Vickie and mom doing their nails! Aunt Vickie is fantastic at doing french tips!

Second sunny warm night of summer? It called for smores and a campfire with cousins! A wonderful way to start the festivities. Nicole, Heidi and Christopher around the campfire.

All of us hanging out around the fire.

Rehearsal dinner with picnic/BBQ theme. So cute and the food was delicious!

Adam and Brenda's cake... was beautiful! I love the sparkly "G" on the top. It tasted quite good also!

Brenda's bouquet. So simple, beautiful and elegant. All of the bridesmaids carried 3 long stemmed roses.

Me and my handsome daddy!

Dad and Jordan looking quite dapper.

Brenda's sister, Julie, Brenda and myself. I liked our dresses... they were classy and fun!

Me and my big bro. Adam looked so happy all day. This is his happy-because-I-am-getting-married-today-to-an-amazing-woman face!

Family pic taken over the shoulder of the photographer. We had to get something to show around sooner, right?

Me and Chet. We were both in the wedding so it was fun being all dressed up together and walking down the aisle together. As of June 23rd, we've been married 4 years... yay!

Adam and Brenda with the ring bearer and flower girls (her nephew and niece). The ring bearer was the alternative entertainment for the wedding... he was hilarious climbing all over the stage!

Saying vows...

Jordan doing his toast! He did a wonderful job!

Me with Grandma Joyce and Grandpa Don!

Adam with Grandpa Kolar and Grandma Gessaman.

Big family brunch the next day! It was so much fun to just all hang out, even without Adam and Brenda (they left on their honeymoon) and enjoy everyone before people starting driving back to Montana.

There is the brief summary of the wedding! It was a wonderful, busy, family-filled week. Yet again, I feel blessed to be related to such a great group of people and to be able to share special memories together!

Graduation Weekend

2010-06-14T22:02:00.001-07:00

I officially graduated! Went through the University of Washington School of Nursing Graduation Ceremony (not the big UW one) and got to wear my gown, cap and hood. Chet's parents, Skip and Judy, came out to celebrate with us. It was nice to celebrate with family and my classmates! We even got to spend some time going out the the Olympic Peninsula with Skip and Judy the day following the graduation to enjoy some sunshine and scenery.

Also, to better share photos with family, I now have a Shutterfly Share Site. If you want to become a member of my site to see my photos, just let me know. Below is a link to the rest of the photos from our graduation weekend.

25 pictures
Click here to view these pictures larger

The end of our trip...

2010-05-22T07:09:00.001-07:00

On Tuesday morning, we woke up to another beautiful, sunny day in Northern Ireland. Regretfully, we knew we would have to head back toward Dublin and leave our relaxing time at the coast. After another big Irish breakfast, we actually got to chat with the owner of the B&B at the Seaview Tavern. He is actually a dual Irish and American citizen and lived in both paces prior to eventually staying in Ireland to take care of his aging parents. He told us stories about the area and other sights to see. He probably spent about an hour talking with us. The people are certainly one of the things we loved about Northern Ireland.

Here is a better picture of where we stayed... the Seaview Tavern.

And here is a picture the other direction! Ahh... look at this beautiful area. We decided that we could have stayed here longer and just enjoyed the slower pace and beautiful scenery.

We stopped at a beach on our way down the Peninsula.

As we drove 3.5 hours back toward Dublin, we lost our sunshine. But at the same time, it was probably a good transition as we began to feel more and more ready to hop on a plane and go home. We were quite tired and just wanted to get a good night's rest before our lengthy flight home the next day.

In our efforts to avoid Dublin, we booked a night's stay at a small hotel on harbor, about a half an our drive from the Dublin airport. Skerries looks like it is a little harbor town on the Irish Sea (east coast of Ireland) and by the time we got there, most of the shops were closed. So, we just walked on the small beach and collected shells and beach glass.

Here is a view from our window. When the tide goes out, like above, all the boats are left stranded on the sand. In the morning, we saw a guy headed out to his small boat in the harbor in an even smaller boat! It was fun to just watch the happenings in the harbor.

So, finally, the last day of the trip, we remembered to get a picture of the Irish breakfast. At every B&B and hotel, they are proud to serve their guests an Irish breakfast. So, this is basically very big, heavy breakfast. They usually start with cereal, tea/coffee, and juice. Then the above plate comes out with bacon (the ham like stuff), white pudding/black pudding (white and blood sausage), eggs, cooked tomato and sautéed mushrooms and a sausage. Oh and lots of toast. There were many days that we ended up just eating breakfast, a snack and dinner because of how huge the breakfast was!

Here I am at breakfast before we went to the airport. Note the harbor behind me.

So, we made it to the airport to find that our flight was delayed. Apparently, they had to switch out planes due to some mechanical problems. So, instead of leaving at 11am, we left at 1pm. Luckily, our layover in Philadelphia was 4 hours so we had plenty of time to get on that flight as well. The funny thing is that at every security check, Chet got his bag checked! We had gotten a cheap 10 euro bag in Dublin and security must have thought it looked suspicious (or something). It was kind of funny!

We made it home on time and it feels good to be back in our house. The last couple days, we have been dealing with preparing our insurance claims and getting settled back into a normal sleep pattern.

One of the most amazing things was Chet's hair! This is probably the longest it has been since I have known him! He was so ready to cut his hair... it was one of the first things he did in the morning after we got home!

Despite the speed bumps and challenges of the trip, we did enjoy traveling together and seeing so many new things! It was definitely a growing experience to face the challenges together and to share in these memories. We will have stories and memories we will remember forever!

County Donegal... rural, scenic Northwest Ireland

2010-05-17T15:23:00.000-07:00

For the last part of our trip, we had originally planned on seeing the Ring of Kerry or Dingle Peninsula, down in the south west part of Ireland. Both of these were suppose to have scenic drives, pretty coastline and Gaelic speaking Irish. After looking at driving times, experiencing how long it takes to get place to place around here and upon the recommendation of Greg's friend, Motz, we decided to minimize lots of driving and see Donegal, a northwest county. Donegal also has Gaelic speaking areas (so much that some road signs don't include English), beautiful coastlines and quietness. So... our plans changed and it has been a great couple of days exploring this area!

Well, first we went to probably one of the ugliest National Parks I have ever seen. Glenveagh National Park is in the highlands of the northwest area. It has a brown appearance due to the boglands and scrubby brush that covers the hills. It is a remote type of beauty, I suppose, with an apparently glacial made lake. Interesting, huh?

Even more interesting is that there is a castle, built in the 1800s, along the lake with the most beautiful and extensive gardens. We walked out to the castle to take in the view and the gardens and were quite surprised!

The castle. Originally built by a man and his American wife, he ended up kicking out about 244 people who lived in the area in order to have his land. His wife built upon the gardens after he died and was always remembered favorably (as compared to her husband).

There are multiple gardens... a pleasure garden with exotic plants from all over the world, a walled garden for vegetables, tulips, and more. And other smaller gardens scattered around the grounds. I almost could picture being in the book "The Secret Garden" or something like that. It was a lovely place.

We continued west across the highlands and were pleasantly surprised when we reached the coast. The brown boglands and treeless mountains gave way to golden beaches and crashing blue-green waves. Our B&B was right on a cute, tiny harbor with working fishing boats (all very old, wooden style).

Still relishing in the sun, we went to the beach before dinner. There is just an old ship sitting out in the middle of the bay.

Us at the beach. The water was such a pretty blue-green color and the sun was warm off the golden sand. Atlantic beaches are much nicer than Pacific beaches!

A rainbow as we returned to Bunbeg House (our B&B) for the night! We wanted to look for a pot of gold (since we were in Ireland) but the end kept moving as we drove!

This is a view as we were driving up and out of the area where Bunbeg was the following morning. There were old rock walls and cottages amidst all the newer houses. A very rural and somewhat wild appearing area. Yet, from what we understand, this is also a growing vacation area and more people show up in the summer to enjoy the beaches.

As we continued our coastal drive, we stopped at Horn Head, a peninsula that used to be an island. It has a windswept terrain... no trees and only scrubby, low growing plants. Yet, the view of the shoreline was fantastic as well as the cliffs. Above we are at a lookout at the summit of Horn Head.

Here is a view of the cliffs at Horn Head. I kept reminding Chet not to fall (not that he wanted to anyway!). The road up and down was super narrow with old rock walls and sheep on both sides... luckily we didn't meet anyone on the road to figure out how to get past!

So, based on Google maps, we found a B&B in a small town near the most northern point of Ireland, Malin Head. The Seaview Tavern appeared to have nice rooms online... we showed up and the rooms are actually right above the restaurant and bar! That was a bit of a surprise but the rooms were even more of a surprise. Our room was beautiful and modern with views of the mountains from one set of windows and the above view of the sea from the other set. Oh, and very friendly people also!

We went to Malin Head, the official most northern point of Ireland. There we climbed around on the rocks and basked in the sun. We lucked out on yet another rainless day.

For the longest time, we just watched the waves crash against the rocks. So beautiful and powerful, yet, peaceful.

Dinner at the Seaview Tavern, where our room is at near Malin Head. The food was amazing! This was crab mornay... basically a white wine cream sauce with cheese bubbly and baked on top... all in a crab shell. The crab was fresh from the harbor in town that day. :)
After dinner, we went for a walk down the road (in the midst of locals stopping to chat in their cars, everyone doing the hand-on-the-steering-wheel wave, cows mooing and tractors plugging by), to the "Wee House of Malin" and the 15th century church (now ruins). Apparently, a hermit once lived in the Wee House of Malin and the story is that no matter how many people show up, the "house" always has more room.

We climbed up on a rock jutting out into the ocean for the fun of it. Chet was throwing rocks in the water wearing his snazzy new NW 200 fleece!

The last couple days with the small towns, coastal scenery and laid-back pace have been just what we've needed. We've seen some new things but also relaxed... probably a good way to let out trip wind to a close so that we are ready to head home on Wednesday.

Much love, Brianne

The Northwest 200!

2010-05-15T14:29:00.000-07:00

This is what Chet has been waiting for the whole trip (and the reason our trip was scheduled for May)! The Northwest 200 is a motorcycle road race in Northern Ireland where races occur and racers get up to 200 mph on quaint Irish country roads.

Road racing is not very prolific in many parts of the world due to the high liability involved... think about riders going 200 mph on roads with curbs, unexpected conditions and people lining the race course in yards, fields, etc. There have been racers injured or killed in these races before. Sound like fun? It is actually quite a bit of an adrenaline rush watching the crazy riders fly around the roads!

In this area, the Northwest 200 is "the event"!!! There were tons of motorcyclists, families, and more... the roads were packed with vehicles and people were camping in fields. Think concert at the Gorge meets a sport-bike version of Sturgess.

Our friend, Greg, from church has gone to the race for multiple years. His friend Motz lives in Portstewart, only a few blocks from the race course. So we met up with all of them at his house and they showed us the "ropes" of watching the race. Luckily, the weather held out for us and it only sprinkled a little bit... I guess a pretty rare occurrence in the area in May.

Motz had connections so we were able to watch the race from a yard on the course... the racers were just accelerating out of a sharp corner in Portstewart. Only a sidewalk separated us from the racers... but we had plenty of exhaust and dirt flung in our eyes by the bikes!

First lap of one of the races... they start off close and then things begin to spread out. There is a definite roar as they approach around the corner!

Us at the race. Please note Chet's HUGE grin! He was having an absolute blast!

Here is a brief video to help you understand the actual speed of the bikes and the sound. It is hard to envision with only still pictures.

Anyways, if you need a conversation starter with Chet in the next few months, this would be a good one! He is already scheming of how to go back in the future!

To The North! (of Ireland)

2010-05-14T12:12:00.000-07:00

We managed to escape Dublin with our police incident report and our replacement rental car. Unfortunately, the majority of our time in Dublin was spent dealing with stolen baggage and shopping at cheaper department stores to replace necessities to make it through the rest of the trip. So, our impression of Dublin is not too high.

Yet, as we headed north, we began to feel better... and enjoy our trip again! We went for a tour of Newgrange, a dome shaped 5,000 year old structure. In the Stone Age, the farming people in the area, gathered stones and built a tomb/place of worship. There are a number of similar structures in the area, often merely appearing as grass covered mounds, forgotten for thousands of years. Newgrange is the best restored and the only one that visitors can go inside.

Rocks were built up around a center tomb area as well as an external passageway. The most interesting part about this, and the other structures, is that the farming people who built them incorporated timing of the sun. At Newgrange, on Winter Solstice, at sunrise a beam of sunlight streams in and hits the back of the tomb's wall.

This is the front of Newgrange where we went in. On some of the larger stones around the base, there is ancient artwork. It crazy to think that we were in a structure that was built over 5,000 years ago!

We were not allowed to take photos inside. This is a photo of a photo of the inside... you can see the narrow passageway back to the tomb area.

After Newgrange, we headed up to our hotel in Antrim where we spent 3 nights. It was just a comfortable, basic hotel... more similar to hotels in America that others we had been in (but at this point, we didn't care... it was a nice place to stay).

After getting well rested and going to the outlet mall down the road for a last few replacment clothes (I got GAP jeans on sale... it was great!), we took off for the Northern Coast. Oh my goodness was it beautiful! One signs said that it is designated a "place of outstanding beauty" and it spoke the truth! I just posted a few pictures... but we have many more beautiful ones that I would have loved to share!

Dulunce Castle perched on the edge of the sea. It has a very picturesque setting. We hiked around the castle and enjoyed a variety of views. The interesting story behind this Medieval Castle is that the lady of the house was having a dinner party during a storm and a whole chunk of the castle fell into the sea (including the servants in the kitchen). You can still see the area that fell off into the sea.

Steep steps make for a nice view of the coast line. There was even a small cave under the castle that we walked through.

Next, we went down the road to the Giant's Causeway. Here we are on a bluff above the coast line... spectacular scenery! We were blessed by a sunny day with blue skies so it couldn't be more beautiful.

Not the actual well known Giant's causeway, but a nice section of coast line.

Ta-da! The Giant's Causeway! Columns of basalt packed in together in varying heights as they stretch down into the sea. One story behind the causeway is that it used to be a pathway for Giants that stretched from Ireland to Scotland. More likely, geologists suspect is was formed by a lava flow.

Here is a sideways view of some of the columns. These weren't even the tallest ones... :)

So, all in all, we enjoyed our day exploring the coast. It was a relaxing, fun day outside in the sun! I would definitely come to this area again!

Guinness Storehouse... and a very crummy afternoon

2010-05-13T00:39:00.001-07:00

Upon the recommendation of our friend, Tom, we both had read a book earlier on this trip called "The Search for God and Guinness" (fabulous book, by the way!). Dublin is the home to Guinness beer, the brewery, and the Guinness family. The book was fascinating about how not only did the family produce an excellent beer that was healthier than hard alcohol (emphasizing moderation), but they were Christians who made a significant impact on their community. They started Sunday schools, some descendants were pastors and missionaries, they greatly improved working conditions, hired doctors who improved the health of the employees and community. Pretty impressive stuff. So, we were thrilled to tour the Guinness Storehouse.

We went directly there from Dublin Airport, Chet driving on the left side of the road and doing really well! It was a bit stressful getting there because road signs are pretty much hidden in Dublin and the streets are confusing, but we were pleased to make it there and enjoy our time.

The Guinness Storehouse was interesting, with multiple levels of history of the beer and the family. The top culminates in a beautiful view of the city and a complimentary Guinness. Here are some photos from the Storehouse.

The actual 9,000 year lease that Arthur Guinness signed to take over an old brewery at St. James Gate in the 1700s.

One of the old big brewing vats that was on the tour. They had a video inside.

Map of the Guinness Storehouse... the inside area is shaped like a pint glass. Interesting concept, eh?

The pouring of Guinness taks 119.5 seconds... you can see it in different stages after the first pour.

View of the city from the top. It was nearly a 360 view. This looks at the most prominent area of downtown.

Chet with the "God and Guinness" book at one of the gates. Cool building and interesting tour!

Well, this is where our trip went quite bad... after enjoying the tour, we walked back to our newly rented car which was parked on a side street very close by. The complimentary car park was full so we parked there and paid instead. We didn't think much of it because it was close, other cars were parked there and there were people walking up and down the street (this was at 11am, we were back to the car by 2pm).

When we arrived back to our car, the back window had been broken into, and both of our bags were gone. That means both of our nice backpacking backpacks, most of our clothes, our glasses/extra contacts, extra shoes, our power cords, our hiking clothes, a bunch of stuff from REI, our headlamps, etc. The police came and will look for our bags (they think that since there is nothing that easily sold that they'll be dumped somewhere) but we were left with very little for the rest of our trip... and all of our favorite clothes, basic gear and glasses (this is one of the most annoying things) will need to be replaced. Oh, and we have to pay for the window that was broken on the rental car because the damage insurance we have has a deductible. Needless to say, there were some tears yesterday (me) and some complete exhaustion. But, we are working on buying new toiletries, clothes and other necessities for the remaining week and trying to be positive (Chet is better at this than me). So, pray our stuff will turn up.

Two lessons I will share, though... always get travel insurance on a trip (we will get money back for the travel delay with the ash and for our stolen baggage) and always get really good insurance coverage on a car if you will be driving it in Dublin/Ireland. Oh... and maybe don't park around the Guinness Storehouse if you ever go there... apparently though that area is well maintained, it is surrounded by flats with drug addicts... didn't realize that when we parked there.

Here is to hoping the rest of the trip goes well... we are off to smaller towns and the motorcycle race Chet has been so excited about in Northern Ireland.

Much love, Brianne

Visiting family!

2010-05-13T00:12:00.000-07:00

Tuesday was spent visiting my cousin Jason, his wife Starr and their kids in Leeds. We had planned on 2 days with them but gotten shortened down to one after travel delays. It was such a great time staying with them in their 19th century terraced house with steep stairs and lots of character. We were able to walk with the kids to their school and just spend some time getting to see what life is like over there.

With the two older kids in school, Jason, Starr, little 2 year old Rose took us on a drive of Yorkshire. We stopped at an old-time candy shop and got some amazing candy! Lemon sherbets, chocolate honeycombs, and black licorice for Chet. Yummy!

Then we headed out to one of their favorite places in the countryside... Bolton Abbey. Part of the old Abbey is in ruins but half is still a functioning church. It is a beautiful area of trails, sheep in a pastoral setting and the most relaxing feeling you can imagine. Below are pictures from the Abbey... prepare to want to go there yourself!

Jason, Starr and Rose with the Bolton Abbey in the background. They were such wonderful, delightful hosts!

Stepping stones across the river. There was also a bridge but this what existed prior to bridges. Apparently, if you are going to cross a river and attack, it is much slower and harder to do it while balancing on stepping stones than storming across a bridge! These stones are maintained so they were stable... no falling in the river for us!

Chet, Jason and I on the stone path! Thanks to Starr for taking this from the bridge! I love the reflection in the water.

Rock walls are popular in this area... this is a little path wandering away from the Abbey. The gate is to keep sheep in the right areas... they are all over the grounds.

Us in front of a view of the Abbey! Oh, so lovely!

I had to post a picture of sheep. They are just so cute scattered on the green hillsides.

After the kids got picked up from school, we just hung out with their family at the house, visited, played with the kids and relaxed. It was such a wonderful day and we enjoyed our time with them. Our only regret is not having longer! We'll have to go back and visit again someday, if they continue to live in the area! Many thanks to Jason, Starr and family for hosting us and being so wonderful! We were certainly blessed by this visit!

Bumps in the road... or in our travel

2010-05-12T23:38:00.001-07:00

After Munich, the following had been our original plan: 1) Take a bus to the Memmigen Airport 60km outside of Munich to where our RyanAir flight leaves. 2) Fly RyanAir to Dublin on Sunday evening. 3) Spend night in Dublin near airport. 4) Fly to visit my cousin and family in Leeds the next morning.

We had all the flights and hotels lined up. Then we got to the airport and nothing was flying out of Germany that day because there was a cloud of ash over the airport. Though Dublin was fine, Germany said "no flights out" until Monday. So, we were stuck. it was too late to cancel the hotel in Dublin for that night and our flight to Leeds in the morning was sacked since we wouldn't be there to get on it! Then, the ticket counter folks say that we wouldn't be able to fly out till Wednesday because all the flights were full.

Hanging out at the Memmigen train stations figuring out what to do when our plane wouldn't fly with the ash cloud.

So, after much deliberation and a lot of thinking of different options this is what our new plan became (granted this was all on the fly as we continued to figure out prices and details). 1) We took the train to Ulm, spent the night in Ulm next to the train station. 2) Took the train from Ulm to Cologne, Germany. 3) Hung out in Cologne. 4) Took flight from Cologne to London.

The above picture is us at the bigger Cologne train station, just arrived, but with a more concrete plan for the day! It was a sense of relief to have plans.

One nice thing is that we did get to explore Cologne a little bit. They have one of the biggest churches in Germany... and it is right next door to the train station. It was built in about 1200 and is in a Neo-Gothic style with lots of spires and detail work. When we walked from the train station, my jaw almost dropped.

Here is a photo of the inside. It is a huge tourist stop so there were tons of people but you can easily see why! The ceilings are 140 feet tall and there is beautiful stained glass everywhere. The interesting thing is that in WWII, Cologne was bombed heavily. Expecting the bombing, the stained glass was removed and hidden away for safe keeping. The church didn't receive major structural damage though and was able to be nicely restored. Some of the stained glass is fairly old (though I forget the details).

We ate lunch at a place that was quite out of the way... thanks to the Rick Steve's book. We were the only people in there for awhile. The interesting part about this place was that it has sand on the floor. They change it daily and it helps to condition the old wood floors underneath. The food was delicious also.

This is us waiting at the Cologne-Bonn airport. Yay! We were able to fly to London, though with delays, and arrive safely.

My cousin, Jason, went far above any cousinly-duty and drove 4 hours from Leeds to London Gatwick to pick us up. The airport was on the south side of London which made it further. Then he drove us 4 hours back up to his house, finally arriving at a little past midnight! We were so blessed by him and his help through this travel bump.

Munich

2010-05-10T22:55:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, we drove up to Munich from Axams, Austria where we had stayed for the week. After dropping off our car back at the rental place, we took the train downtown and explored a bit! Munich was quite big and busy after spending a week in the Alps!

We went to an open air market for lunch that had fresh fruits and veggies, lots of breads, honey, flowers and more. It was nice to walk around and eventually we settled on a bratwurst and roll for lunch and ate it under the trees. After getting bombarded by people and tour groups while walking through the main square, Marienplatz, we took off walking to the English Garden to see something a little less crazy.

Here is Chet in the open air eating area... lots of people because it was a Saturday and families like to go to the market for tasty fresh foods. We enjoyed people watching for a bit.

On our way to the English Garden, we got sucked into the above shop. Look familiar? Yep, we didn't intend to go to Starbucks, but Chet really needed a bathroom and we were walking by. So we decided to check it our and ended up getting drinks. It was funny to see a smattering of English and German words comprising the menu. Oh, and if you don't say what type of milk you want, you automatically get whole milk. My chai tea latte was certainly very creamy that day!

We made it to the English Garden but on the edge we found surfers and watched them for awhile! When the Rick Steve's book was describing how to get to the center of the garden by going by the surfers, we sort of laughed. But, no... there is a continuous wave and probably about 10 surfers out there surfing across the wave on the river close to the middle of downtown. We probably watched for about 40 minutes because they would try to do tricks and each had a slightly different style.

Here is a view of the Munich skyline from the park. It was such a lovely place with walking trails, lots of greenness and a bit of quiet. In one area, there is a Chinese pagoda that had a German band playing over top of a beer garden. I guess this park has areas that are known for nude sunbathers in the summer so we both agreed that we were glad it was cold, gray day.

That evening, we actually scheduled ourselves a tour. We went on an educational Bavarian Beer and Food tour where we learned about the culture around food and beer in this region and sampled different types of each. It was all English speakers so we had a great time talking to couples from Scotland, England, Sweden, Australia and the US. The guide was also very informative and entertaining. We both agreed it was a fun evening.

The next morning, with limited time before we needed to head out to the airport to head north, we took off to spend time at the Deutches Museum. It is a large museum about anything technical... has 6 huge floors of exhibits and likely it would take days to go through! We both loved it and would love to go back. It has areas about mining where we were in "mining caves" and saw tools and techniques of mining. There were areas about marine navigation, musical instruments, power tools, electricity and more.

Here are pictures of the airplanes. So cool! The one above is a Wright Brother's airplane... one of the model ones when they made about 10 around the turn of the century. The plane to the right is a replica of the "Red Baron" WWI airplane. None of the tri-planes survived from that era so they recreated it for this museum.

One funny thing is that in the Rick Steve's book, it said that all buttons were meant to be pushed! It was true except for... Chet pushed a button just inside the door to the electrical exhibit when we first arrived to the museum... it was red and newer looking... and it closed both the doors automatically! Guess that wasn't one to be pushed! I don't think anyone was watching though... :)

Well... as we took off to fly north, this wonderful section of our trip came to an end. Then, the travel woes and bumps in the road began...

A day of history and lakes...

2010-05-07T02:43:00.000-07:00

We spent our Thursday doing lots of driving but seeing some amazing places! We headed back over to the areas surround Salzburg, about a 2 hour drive away. The goal of the day was to see two areas... Berchtesgaden and Hallstatt. Both are situated up in the mountains with beautiful views and each has unique history.

First we drove through rolling green hills and lovely mountain roads to the Berchtesgaden area. High up above the town is Obersalzberg, an area that is best known as one of Hitler's favorite areas and a site of one of his administration areas as well as the "Eagle's Nest." Later in the year, it is possible to take a shuttle up to the Eagle's Nest (a place that was built on the top of a mountain as a gift for Hitler on his 50th birthday... but only used by him 14 times), but we were just able to go to the Nazi Documentation center. It was a fascinating audio guide tour... lots of information about that period in history. Some of it, both of us had never realized. For example, information about soldiers that had opposed Hitler, the formation of the SS and the gradual transition from multiple available parties in Germany to only one on the voting ballot... the National Socialist Party.

Then, at the end of the tour, we were able to head down into one of the existing bunkers built into the hillside. Many of the buildings existing in Hitler's time were bombed and destroyed at the end of the war (due to us Americans) so few are left to look at, but the bunker system beneath the mountain still exists.

This is a picture of Chet down in the bunker. Though all the rooms now just appear as concrete, there were signs describing what each area was used for. Pretty extensive network below the surface of the mountain.

It was a cloudy day so very hard to get a good view from Obersalzberg. Pretty area though. I could see why Hitler initially chose it as a place of rest and relaxation. One interesting fact from the tour was that the Nazi's bought everyone out in this area... even families who had lived here for many generations. Basically, they just took over this beautiful area and used it as they desired.

Next, we headed down the road to Konigssee. We have heard about this lake repeatedly from our friend, Mark, and wanted to see this pretty, clean glacial lake in the most southeast tip of Germany. This is the trail headed to the lake. We could have also done a boat ride but we chose to hike instead. All the trees are leafed out in a very fresh, new green color.

This is Konigssee. Basically, it looks like a beautiful fjord set amongst the mountains that go straight down into the water. The color, though you can't tell in the photo, is a blue-green and quite clear. In the distance, on the water, are electric boats taking people for tours of the lake. Only electric boats are allowed on the lake to prevent pollution and keep it clean.

After Konigssee, we drove through beautiful mountain roads to get to Hallstatt. Hallstatt is one of the oldest towns in the region, dating back to 800-400 BC. Originally, its economy was based on mining the salt that was so rich in the hills. You can see in the map above the dark area above the town is an area mined for salt, the mountain was about 70% salt and, at that time, salt was worth a lot as it was used in the preservation of food. Original settlers resided up by the salt mines, but, later, moved down to the narrow lake side and built up the town. You can see that that the town is clustered right on the lake side.

This was a picture of the Catholic cemetery and the Protestant church steeple in town. The Catholic church was up on the hill, above the lake. One interesting thing about the cemetery was that it was so small that bodies could only reside there for 12 years before being dug up for new bodies. The skulls then would be placed in the "bone graveyard" in a chapel and each labeled with the person's name.

To get to many of the buildings, there were narrow, steep paths with many stairs. Very fun to go up and down. There were piles of firewood stacked next to the houses, and many of the houses had fabulous views of the lake (being built on a hillside). Apparently, when the town was younger, most houses had entrances through the attic because the lake was lapping at the base of the building.

Us in rainy Hallstatt. We had dinner at a lovely lakeside restaurant with a waiter who had lived in the US for while. It was fun to chat with him... he has had an interesting life of traveling and adventure.

Here is a better view of Hallstatt nestled in against the mountain and the lake. Even on a rainy day, it is a lovely area. We would definitely come here again... for longer and not so late in the day!

This is a photo in the evening as we headed home through the Salzkammergut. The "lake district" is all quaint towns next to the glacial lakes and Alps. It was an area used in the filming of the Sound of Music ("hills are alive" type scenes). I can see why so many people want to visit here... it is such an awe-inspiring area.

Today, Friday, is a laundry, pack-our-bags, get organized and walk around Axams-type of day. Not to much to post about, I think. Tomorrow, we headed back to Munich, drop our car off and explore there for a couple days before we head to Leeds and Ireland.

Oh, the Alps!

2010-05-05T11:18:00.000-07:00

Today was our "rest day" after driving all over and sightseeing for the last 3 days. I think we needed it... we slept in till 9:30am and had a leisurely morning of cooking breakfast and making plans for the day. We finally decided where to go for a hike but it took a ridiculous amount of time! We kept staring our the window at the rain and it didn't motivate us to move very fast!

In a break in the rain, we took off less than 5 miles down the road to the town of Mutters to hike up to Muttereralm. Basically, it is a hut at the top of a cable car which is also one of the many ski areas around here. There was a small amount of residual snow in the shady areas. The cable car, unfortunately does not start running until June so nothing was open up there... it was just us and the fog.

On our way up, we did get some beautiful view of the Inn River Valley. This is a view of Innsbruck... you can see the river running through the town nestled at the very bottom of the valley.

Self-portrait on our hike up the hill! The clouds kept rolling by at about the height we were hiking so, even when it wasn't raining, it was a very damp hike. It was also a fairly challenging hike. After some calculations, we figured it was about a 2100 foot elevation gain (700 meters). The hike took us just under 2 hours.

A picture of our trail winding through the trees. It was nicely marked with yellow sign posts as well as these red and white markers (they are the Austrian flag!). Some of the trail was also on gravel roads but this was the prettiest area. One thing we wondered was... why did we go to an area with similar weather to home? This hike totally could have taken place in the Cascades about this time of year! Chet says it is because it is more of a challenge to order food here... oh and the whole different culture thing!

This was the hut/restaurant up at the top... at Muttereralm. Of course, it wasn't open due to being in between seasons but we enjoyed a snack and a little shelter under the eve of the building. It looks like it would have a spectacular view on a clear day and the restaurant looked very cute inside! Maybe we'll have to come back some day.

This was from the area where we parked our car for the hike. It was just above the town Mutters. Amazingly, despite being rainy and foggy for our entire hike, when we got back down to the bottom of the trail, the sun was shining and we could see across Mutters to Innsbruck in the distance. The small towns like Mutters and the one we are staying in, Axams, are all up on a plateau above the bottom of the valley... so they are actually above the town of Innsbruck. It gives a somewhat layered sense of towns and a great view from higher up of the scattered villages throughout the valley!

Finally we post a picture of our car! It seemed like a good time since we continue to get it dirty with our adventures. Our little Mercedes-Benz with an equally little motor. It has been wonderful getting us from place to place. The only down side is that gas is expensive here... about 1.20 euros per liter (calculated about $6 a gallon). Makes me not want to complain about gas prices back at home!

The building to the right of the picture with the flowering cherry tree out front is our "home" for the week... Hotel Schloesslhof. It has been a great place to have as a base camp. And, as you can see, the mountains are within view. We are on the other side of the building but still a nice view of the hills.

This may have been one of our most exciting surprises of the day! We were searching online for a restaurant near our hotel and came across one that was half way up the hill to Axam Lizum (probably about 3-5 miles away up a windy mountain road). It said Gastof Andelhof was a family-run country inn-type place with typical Tirolean type food. Tirol is the region in which we are currently staying. So, with clearer skies than we have had all week, we took off up the hill to this restaurant and also had some great views. The picture is actually of a chapel next to the restaurant with a view of the mountains of Axam Lizum in the background. Axam Lizum was used for Olympic events when the winter Olympics where in Innsbruck in the 60s and 70s.

Oh... as for the food... we must say that is was amazing! The place was so comfortably decorated, we were nearly the only ones in there, and the flavors were exceptional. We definitely would go there again!

As the sun was setting, we drove the rest of the way up to Axam Lizum to get a better view of the mountains... but the ones behind us from the valley were the most exceptional looking. It was a good end to a good day.

Here are the mountains looking down into the valley. What I love is that you can see the place where we ate dinner... in this picture it is on the green hill on the right of the foreground. Talk about a place with an exceptional view to go with good food.

Now we are just relaxing as we prepare to wake up early for another day of driving tomorrow. I can't believe that it has almost been a week since we left home!

Much love, Brianne

Goin' for Baroque!

2010-05-04T12:25:00.000-07:00

Alright... Chet came up with the clever title for today's entry. This morning we headed to Salzburg, a 2 hour drive away. Salzburg is certainly an old city filled with many baroque style buildings, many interesting sights and tourists from all over the world. We even noticed a bunch of people carrying about "Rick Steve's" guidebooks and chatted with some folks from Minnesota for awhile.

We continued to get some gray weather but only experienced about 30 minutes of rain. Pretty good, huh? Especially because we did spend pretty much the whole day there. We arrived at around 9:30am, just before the tour buses came in force. We parked in the Old City parking area... which just happens to be in the middle of a mountain. They just chiseled the rock away and turned it into a 1,000 stall parking garage. Pretty convenient!

We decided to fore-go a formal tour and just do our own walking tour throughout the city (our guidebook had lots of great info in it). This means that we also, sadly, did not go on the Sound of Music tour. We heard from the couple from Minnesota that it was a very good tour but just couldn't justify spending 40 euro apiece on it. I know Brenda will be very disappointed that we didn't do more Sound of Music stuff while we were there.

I have just included a few pictures... there are many more of buildings, food and us taking self portraits. Here are some that give a sense of the city (and our day).

This is in the middle of Saint Peter's cemetery, a beautiful place right next to the mountain with a view of the fortress up on the mountain. The cemetery is surrounded by 3 churches, some of which date back to 1100. One chapel is actually built into the side of the mountain, which you can see here. The cemetery is interesting because it rents, rather than sells its plots. Every 10 years it sends out a rent notice and if the descendants fail to pay the rent, they dump the remains and put someone new there. We did see a few more recent graves so it appears that really does happen!

This is the inside of the big cathedral in Salzburg. It replaced the original one on this site back in the 1600s. It was quite large and beautiful inside. The stations of the cross were on arches around the wings with detailed paintings. There are also 5 organs in the church... 4 surrounding the dome and 1 very large one in the back. Imagine the music at mass with all of those going!

Then we went down into the crypts below the church. That was even more interesting than the church because there were far fewer tour groups and a much more quiet, reflective atmosphere. Oh, an the rocks Chet is looking at in the above picture were actually from the original cathedral built in 700. Talk about old stones!

After the cathedral, it was snack time. So, one of our favorite foods (that we have actually eaten as a snack daily thus far on the trip) are pretzels! Today, we got special ones... cheese and bacon on the right; and cranberries, chocolate and cream cheese on the left. Oh, such a marvelous treat! I wish we could bring some home with us (without them getting stale and gross).

We saw the Mirabell gardens... such beautiful designs of flowers throughout each section.

The arched walkway which was actually used in the Sound of Music... and is just such a pretty area that we had to take a picture.

In the gardens, it started to rain so we escaped to Mozart's Residence. Salzburg is also the city of Mozart and he is found everywhere... street names, candies, statues and more. We decided to spend a little time learning more about him and his years growing up. I am even more impressed by his music after learning at the young age which he composed it. He composed his first organ piece at age 8... I think I was just learning to play soccer and maybe write cursive at age 8.

View from above the city. Salzburg is certainly a city with a lot of history. We enjoyed our visit and are glad we went. We plan to, later in the week, return to the area to visit the lake region near Salzburg as well as the mountains just to the west. There is so much to see and so little time!

This was just a picture from on our way home... just about back to Innsbruck where we are staying. The sun was coming through as it was setting over the mountains. What a beautiful place to be visiting!

Much love, Brianne