Hiking and Houseguests

Last week Jared's mentor teacher, Karen, invited us to go on our first hike of Southwest Washington. The plan was to summit Beacon Rock, the second largest free-standing rock in the world. Unfortunately when we reached the trailhead, we were greeted with a barrier stating that a rock slide had temporarily closed the trail. Beacon rock is situated partway out into the Columbia river and, as you can imagine, has breathtaking views. Disappointed that we wouldn't be able to make it to the top, we still started up the trail in the hopes of seeing the water before our way was blocked. About five minutes later we were stopped not by a rockslide, but by a locked metal gate with no way around. Since we had not yet had our hiking fix, we moved just down the road to another trailhead. This one headed uphill to several waterfalls. The last one had what was called the Pool of Winds. The waterfall had created a sort of cylindrical cave about eight feet in diameter with a pool at the bottom before the water ran out into the next waterfall. Because of the shape of the rock, the wind whipped through the cave in a whirlwind fasion. If you leanded in front of the opening you would get a face full of fast moving mist. It was pretty cool. After the hike Karen and Dave had us over for dinner. Karen made an amazing Sheppard's Pie (another first for me, but not the last).

Another exciting event of the past week was the arrival of a second houseguest. Jared's childhood friend, Josh, just moved to town to go to Culinary school. He is spending a few weeks with us while he job/apartment hunts. Jonathan and Josh have re-connected a bit and it looks like they will share an apartment. While we are excited for them and know it is a blessing for them to have roommates, we are going to miss the extra people. It is sad to think that we may be alone in our house in another week. So this is empty nest syndrome...?

Jared's First Pumpkin Carving

What a month!

Last week at a party by one of Jared's coworkers, I was told by multiple people how amazing Jared is with the kids at school. The other teachers could not give him enough praise. While I already knew he was great, it was fun to hear (and to watch Jared turn red). Jared has also been coaching the girls volleyball C-team. This Thursday will be the last game of the season. While their record isn't so good, the C-team did win more games than the JV or Varsity did. Jared did very well coaching, especially considering he was dealing with freshman girls. Quite often he would come home in awe (or maybe terror?) at the drama of highschool. What I love most about watching Jared coach, or listening to him talk about teaching, is his huge commitment to character development.

I am finally on my own at work and just last week made the true switch to night shift. So far the transition has been pretty good. I definitely like the nightshift staff's attitude towards teamwork. I always feel like someone will have my back should I get into a tight spot. It is very reassuring since I still feel pretty new. On my days off I am still trying to stay partially on a nightshift schedule. That definitely has some drawbacks, so we will see if I stick to it. This week I am taking a class for Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS). It is one of the more intense certifications that I take, so you can definitely be praying that it all goes smoothly. It has been years since I spent any significant amount of time working with kids, so I am pretty nervous.

As for non-work stuff, there hasn't been much of it. Jared has been co-leading the junior-high group on Sundays at the north satelite campus for church. It is a way for us to be involved with the church that we did not forsee, but that has already been rewarding.

This weekend Jared and I had some time off together (FINALLY!) and decided to carve some pumpkins. Only one the way to the store to pick out our pumpkins did I find out that Jared had never carved one before! It was fun to teach him the beginning steps. He is definitely a natural at it.

Well, that's all for now. Hopefully I will post again sooner than a month from now!

Dad and the Dukes in Town

Just last week Jared's dad spent several days with us. It was wonderful to spend time with him and for him to see what our lives are like here in Vancouver. As always, he was a super handy-man, hanging hooks and making storage shelves for the garage. Really it was a multi-dad effort, with the design for the shelves coming from my dad, and the labor from Jared's. They were a great team! I was able to go on a dinner outing with dad to thirty floor high Portland City Grill. It was quite breathtaking.

On Labor Day, Wally and I went with Jared down to school and helped him prepare for the first day of classes the next day. Neither of us had seen where he was going to be working, so it was a great experience for both of us. The work room at the school was an awesome little craft center... I was able to play with all sorts of fun tools while making hall passes and bulletin boards with the guys.

While Wally was here, the Dukes overlapped a few days on their move from Indo to Idaho. It was great to have so many people connected to Indo in the same place. If we had just had Joan here too it would have been perfect. Jared had a couple mega-gatherings in the house, one at which we played an interactive, lights out game of mafia. He can't wait to play again. Hopefully by then we will have some curtains up to block out the street lights.

Thursday Wally flew out to New York to meet up with Cinda and Matt before conferences in Idaho. As always, the goodbyes were hard, but it is reassuring to know we will see him again this spring.

Kat & Caleb

Kat & Caleb are married!!! We had the pleasure of hosting the newlyweds for a day before they were able to move into their new Portland apartment. Jared and I both had the day off, so were able to help with the move. The trusty Hazel Dell moving truck hit the road again and was once again stuffed full. When we arrived at the new apartment, the most exciting part was that it was Kat & Caleb's first time seeing where they would live! They'd had a friend check it out for them while they were preparing for the wedding in Colorado. Thankfully it is a great place and they are not disappointed in the least. We are super excited for them and have already loved getting to see them more than once a year.

The newlyweds amongst a maze of furniture

A Few Days in Seattle

There is a bit of catching up to do here. It has been almost three weeks now since Jared and I made a short trek up to Seattle. The WRX's need for its 60,000 mile maintenance was a great excuse to go back home. We spent most of the time at my mom & dad's place. We had decided to bring Awas & Samba along to see how they liked travelling (and my parents dogs). On the way up we were starting to wonder if we'd made a mistake... there was over an hour of meowing when we first headed out from Vancouver. Thankfully they finally fell asleep and all was well. On the trip back home they rough housed in the little cage for a while, then slept for almost 5 hours (we made quite a few stops on the way home). They can now definitely be considered car cats.

The first morning at my parents we introduced them to Sadie, my parents cat. Our cats didn't mind the meeting, but Sadie threw a "hissy fit". Samba and Awas responded to that attitude in kind. We had never seen cat tails so puffy. Awas and Samba were very scared of the dogs at first, but slowly became more curious. If we had stayed longer we are certain that they would have started to have some fun.

While the guys did most of the work on the car, my mom took me to a few local nurseries and walks around her garden. Becca came with and helped me pick out a few plants to take back home.

On the last day there, we were able to connect up with a couple of friends. Jannelle had just interviewed for a new job and was offered the position in the interview, so we were especially blessed to be able to celebrate that success with her. After that we headed down to Pike's Place to meet up with Robb for a few minutes at the yummy french bakery. Our last stop was at the Meeuwse's place in Kent. We caught the end of Cris & Amy's soccer game and met some of the Meeuwse relatives from Holland. All in all it was a busy few days, but the rushing around was well worth it to spend time with so many people we care about.