ND Part II: The Farm

Visiting the farm is always a highlight of our ND trips.  Hard to believe we hadn't been there in 3 years!  For those of you who do not already know, this is the farm that my dad and his 8 siblings grew up on.  My uncle Dave and his wife Laurie still live on the property in a new home along with their son Andrew and his wife (more on that later) Heather in the original house.

Meeting Bear was definitely love at first sight.  How could you not love this boy?!

And the baby kitties were pretty darn cute as well :)

 

 

Andrew's wheels:

Day-old piggies!

I think these were a few days old.

 

And the big piggies

Meow!

 

I really should take more people pictures!  :)  I did enjoy visiting the fam as well, don't you worry :)

 

 

North Dakota Part I

After our overnight stop in MT, we headed to ND.  What a drive!  Thankfully, we stayed put for over a week so we had plenty of time to relax.  Kari and Bruce were so kind as to host us in their beautiful new home.  We enjoyed some good quality cousin bonding time.  I do miss the girls: Kari, Raylee and Megan the most (sorry Bruce, lol).  Here are some pics of our fun times with them:

If we were there a few weeks prior we would have seen the sunflower fields in full bloom.  This pic will have to do.

 

Here are some blooms!

 

Gotta love the N Dakota sunsets!  This is from Kari and Bruce's driveway:

We LOVED the backyard, and our bonfire night!  Raylee and I snuggling by the fire.

Meeting the kitties was also a highlight of the trip! 

 

Raylee was very enthusiastic about her kitties.  It was pretty adorable.  Thank goodness the kitties seem to love her just as much as she loves them.

Crazy crazy girl :)

 

PJ play time :)  Sweet Megan was very excited for this!

Many thanks to Kari and Bruce for their hospitality!  We miss you all.  xoxo

Vacation time: beautiful MT

Fisch, Tyler and I packed up the Prius and headed East -- to big sky country.  A long road trip just isn't the same without a life-sized stuff moose in the back seat.  Thank you to Fisch for the good entertainment and Tyler for the dedicated driving while Fisch and I slept, read, and DJ'd.

Tyler took the moose out 'huntin' in the morning :)

So pretty!

 

We enjoyed our visit with Rudi and the good company of the Fischers as always.

Our morning quad ride...

 

It wasn't supposed to end like this... :)  Thankfully, the towing was only temporary.

 

Thanks MT for the good fun!  Until next time...

 

 

Summer Orientation: SU and WWU

In all of my years at SU, I have never been involved in summer orientation programming.  With my not-so-new job (which I started last summer), this all changed.  I was fully immersed in SIS as we call it -- summer in seattle.  Kate, Tonja and I gave the same presentation 20 different times in 2 weeks, whawhoo!  Needless to say, there was one of these at the end of those two weeks:

And we thoroughly enjoyed our work retreat aboard the duck tour. 

 

So summer was both energizing and exhausting at work.

 

In addition to SU orientation, I had the pleasure of accompanying Isaac to orientation.  I tried to both blend in as a student and offer "parental" guidance.  :)  We really enjoyed Bellingham.  What a lovely town.  Here are a few photo highlights of the trip:

Boulevard Park

 

A stroll through campus.  My, we have grown!

 

I met some new friends:

And enjoyed the old-skool lecture halls.

 

Isaac, I miss you!  Glad you are having so much fine in school.  Hugs!

 

We've moved!

I can't believe how far behind on blogging I am.  I never thought I would be one to say that but I hope to little by little catch up in the next week or two.  Stay tuned.

The biggest news of all is that we have moved and ABSOLUTELY LOVE our new home.  It is beautiful, has room to grow, needs a little TLC and attention, and best of all, a lovely location in beautiful Issaquah.

As many of you know, home ownership is a lot of work.  The above picture is courtesy of Windermere.  I am sure the house will look this pristine all year round (haha).  As we have learned, the joys of living in a wooded neighborhood in the fall mean constant leaves, pine needles, etc.  Fun! 

We are settling in slowly but surely.  The guest room is up and running and we have welcomed Abby and Mike and Becca so far.  Who's next?!  :)

I will plan to share before/after pictures along the way.  We haven't had the opportunity to hang many pictures yet, but there are two rooms which have undergone huge transformations.

Living room before (courtesy of Windermere)

Living room after!  I never thought I would be one to advocate for "crisp linen" walls but I absolutely love it.

 

Master bedroom before (courtesy of windermere)

Master bedroom after.  LOVE IT!  Furniture is to come, but I had to show you the progress.  What a difference paint makes.  Many many thanks to Tyler's father for his hard work to allow us to get this far so quickly.

 

That's all for now, folks.  Thank you for reading and thank you for your patience.