Skiing Mt Baker

We went up to Mt. Baker today to go skiing. It snowed through the entire day which made for some great powder. Except for some fogged goggles, we had a wonderful day enjoying the beautiful surroundings and getting out for our first time skiing of the season.

Getting ready for Christmas

I was so excited to start decorating for Christmas this weekend. I made a wreath this year!

Final product.

Washing the jars for Christmas jam

Slaving over 15 cups of raspberries.

You'll have to wait for Christmas...yummm!

Alaska

Johnny woke up early one morning and got a picture of the sun rising (at 7:45 am ! )

Snow has covered the mountain peeks but didn't stick at the base while we were there

We went out to the glacier to get some ice for thanksgiving drinks :)

Eskimo kisses in front of the glacier

Even though I'm a born Alaskan...I was still very cold!

Alaska continued...

brrr...

dad going out to try and get some ice from the lake

the boys

It was neat to see the glacier after being gone for so long. It has receded drastically.

We had an early thanksgiving dinner on Saturday since we wont be able to celebrate with any family on the real thanksgiving. This is a picture of Johnny eating mom's famous apple pie for breakfast the next morning :)

We had a fabulous time with the family. It was great seeing the changes mom and dad had made with the house as well as how big and mature John and Alex have become. We hope to visit again much sooner than another two year stretch.

We made it safely home and went grocery shopping right away and are getting settled in for another week :)

date night

Johnny came home with flowers :)

We went to this amazing restaurant on the 14th floor of a building downtown. The view was spectacular, on one side of the restaurant you could see the bay, and the other three quarters had huge window views of the town. Very romantic and the food was exquisite.

I don't think I've had food this good eating out in a long time. It was delicious...and very fun to date my husband :)

Fall in Bellingham

We apologize for not posting in a while. We kind of felt like there was nothing really new going on in our lives. I almost put a pillow in my stomach and took a picture of myself just to have something interesting to post...but then I realized...that would be too weird. If everyone stocks the blogs sites just as much as I do...looking for new posts from the family everyday...Im sure everyone is wondering why we've ignored our own site. So I decided to just post what we have been up to.

We've really been enjoying the beautiful trails here in Bellingham... fall is such a beautiful season. Actually, Johnny always hated the season of fall-he would comment that it's the season of death...but during one of our walks this fall, he came to realize the beauty in life's circle :)

We've taken advantage of the bikes mom and dad Harvey gave us after the wedding. We've used them recreationally as well as a second car coming home from work. Thank you again mom and dad :)

I made homemade stew in my Crockpot (from Grandma Harvey) it was delicious...if the jam business doesn't work, I might try a stew business :) I also made two batches of cookies, one chocolate chip for Johnny and one butterscotch for me. I realized after, that I could have just split the batter, rather than two mounds of cookies on my counter. If you see a picture later on in the month and my belly is larger...its not because I resorted to pillow entertainment...but because we are eating too much :)

Johnny's been working really hard at work and then working hard on his internship when he comes home. He will be working with the city in the next couple of weeks on putting together a CD-ROM for the general public on low impact development tools that the average person can apply to their own home.

Even though I work every other weekend, it has been nice working evenings because we can still catch a hike in the day before I head off to work.

That's all for now. We are just enjoying life and each other. Johnny asked me out on a fancy date tonight...and we are going to Juneau in a couple of weeks...so there's more excitement and new posts to come before long I promise :)

Full-Time

Excellent news! I had my first day of school yesterday-and today Bellingham Tech called and said that they have a full-time spot available in the nursing program and asked if I wanted to accept. I asked if I could talk to my husband about it and call them back tomorrow, she said no, that I would be switching to the morning class and that it starts at 8am tomorrow and I need to decide right now other wise she will be calling someone else. Nothing would change in my schedule this quarter, I will still be taking only one class (because I have the other general education classes out of the way). Classes wouldn't start picking up at a faster pace for me until winter quarter. The latest I would ever be in class would be 3 so it still works with my work schedule now that I've switched to evenings. My scholarship still covers everything. PLUS I will graduate not this April but next!!! (April of 09). So I will shave off a good year of when I thought I would be done! Johnny and I are still getting used to all this. There has been so much change, but we are both very excited about the idea of me getting my nursing done with sooner than expected. We're off to celebrate with dinner and a walk!!

Baby nephew Kale--cute as can be

Holding Baby Kale for the first time :)

My mom and I would wake up about 9am and take over for Naomi while she took a nap after being up several times for feeding throughout the night. This was great for Naomi to rest and it was even more wonderful for mom and I because this was Kale's most alert time (between 9-10). He loves to look around and explore the world with his eyes and whatever limb he discovers that day :)

He LOVES to be held

My mom, Sarah. and I attempting an Anne Geddes like photo

We actaully tried to get him in the Pumpkin but he was to big! He is growing so fast and is so strong--and of course adorable! It was sad to leave, but I also missed my husband :) It's good to be home and get back into the swing of things. I start nursing school on Tuesday!

Dan and JK's visit to the Northwest

We had a delicious northwest crab and oyster feast while Dan and JK were here. The table was filled with great food. Em, Johnny, and JK were finished eating and ready to clear the table when we looked over and saw that Dan hadn't even gotten to the legs of his crab because he was taking the entire dinner poking through every crevice to get meat out of the middle. We cleared the table anyway and let Dan take as much time as he needed :)

We took them up to Heliotrope Ridge (now our second time hiking this summer). I think its our favorite hike around here so far.

Johnny and our friend Andrew invented this game back in July (on a sunny day) called "Tarzan-pianship" The goal of the game is to swing on the rope-swing from shore and try and get a limb or your entire body into the tube when you land. The other player throws the tube out into the water to make it difficult for their opponent. Johnny was really excited to share this game with Dan when he came to visit. Even though it was only 60 degrees outside the guys decided to play.

Dan's famous pose

Johnny making it in!

Whidby Island

For our first anniversary, we decided to stay at a bed and breakfast on Whidby Island (about an hour driving time to the south of us). We stayed at a quaint little guest cottage , enjoyed the views of the water and even saw some sea lions playing around just offshore from us.

Heliotrope Ridge

On Saturday, we went on a hike called the Heliotrope. It is on the north side of Mount Baker, and was an incredibly beautiful hike. It was about a 4 hour hike up and back with several stream crossings, colorful wildflowers and a magnificent view of the glacier at the top.

Heliotrope Ridge continued

More Pictures of our hike up Heliotrope Ridge

summer reflections

As the summer is beginning to wind down we are anticipating the next year. We have also been reflecting on the last couple of months here in Bellingham. We were truly blessed to have all three of our families visit us this summer. Emily's mom came to visit in June, Johnny's parents came to visit in July, and Emily's Dad, step-mom and Ariana came to visit in August. It was a lot of fun having everyone here and showing them around Bellingham. Thank your for coming to visit!!!!!

We are both still loving Bellingham and continuing to explore and find new trails. We will be celebrating our 1st year anniversary this next Saturday (Aug. 18th). We are planning on going on a long hike around Mt. Baker which is just a short drive east of Bellingham. Then on Sunday we will overnight at a Bed and Breakfast on Whidby Island. We are really looking forward to spending a long three day weekend together. It is crazy to us that a year has passed already. But then when we think about it we've lived in Colorado, Portland, and Bellingham all in one year.

This next year brings exciting adventures as well. Emily will be starting nursing school in September at Bellingham Technical College (only a mile and half from our house) while continuing working at the Hospital on the Cardiovascular Unit as a CNA. And Johnny is getting energized as he dives into his internship with Sustainable Connections ( sconnect.org ). He has had several city meetings and has met some influential city planners in the area. He is doing lots of research and self education on the side as well. Johnny will continue working maintenance until he develops more connections. But for now we're paying the bills and enjoying life.

We'll post more recent pictures after our adventures next weekend!

My time has come!

I received a phone message from Bellingham Technical College about a week ago telling me that If I didn't enroll in classes for the fall they would take me off the nursing program last. I was confused by the message because they told me that I wouldn't be starting the nursing program for another year. When I called them back they said that they had sent me an acceptance letter (which must have gotten lost in the mail because I never got it.) They offered me a spot in the part-time practical nursing program starting this fall. I was quite shocked because Johnny and I had planned for me to start next fall. The way my schedule will work this school year though I will be able to keep my hours at the hospital and study at the same time. I am aware of two scholarship programs (one through the hospital and another from a local organization) that I will be applying for so I think it will work out financially (which was another worry starting so soon). After talking with Johnny about the offer we decided that it was my time-and to take it. For those of you who know me well-you know that I have been wanting to start nursing school for so long! I now have a set start date and a goal for being done-it feels good-and it feels right-God it good!

Davis Lake

We went camping at a beautiful lake in Canada with our friends Tanner, Julie, Ben and Danielle. We did a little fishing and swimming- it was pretty awesome.