Pictures from the Eberth's Visit!

Just got a sweet package in the mail from my wonderful mother-in-law (although she doesn't like the "in-law" part....so let's just call her mom) with a CD of pictures from their trip to Washington in August.

The whole family having dinner at my parents house in Bellevue

The whole gang by the fish ladders

Tom and Jenny at Pike Place Market

Gross crawfish at Pike Place....I am the brave one in our marriage so I picked it up...ewwww!!

Look! The Ivar's kids menu is a mask too!! I love my silly daddy! But not sure what he is doing with his hand....

Belated Anniversary Weekend

Kyle and I finally celebrated our 1 year anniversary almost exactly one month late. We were working (well...Kyle was working, I was laying by the pool...) at Young Life's Washington Family Ranch (formally Wildhorse) in Oregon on our actual anniversary so we decided to postpone our celebration.

The weekend was perfect...perfect...PERFECT...but not without flaw. While "perfect" and "flawed" are antonymous, it was a weekend of rest, reflection, realization, and reality and I cannot find a better word.

Rest--not only did we get to sleep in, but waking up to a small hotel room with no dishes in the sink and no dirty clothes needing to be washed was surprisingly "restful". We spent a rainy Saturday afternoon at the Sounders game. I am typically not a fan of sporting events but this was a BLAST!! Soccer fans are so much fun!! The rain was the icing on the cake as I LOVE rainy weekend afternoons. They make everything feel very cozy! Nothing like a soy latte, a warm sweatshirt, a snugly husband and a crazy soccer game to make my weekend :-) Sunday morning we woke up and went on a beautiful run! It was 5 mile day for my training so we ran down by the piers, around the dock, through the sculpture park...all on a beautiful sunny morning. It was the best!!! After our run we went to this adorable cafe in Belltown called Macrina. I highly recommend it! We had the best quiche I have ever had in my life as we sat, people watched, read, and rested...

Reflection--Over a yummy sushi dinner Kyle and I spend a lot of time reflecting on our first year. Our favorite part of being married (learning new things about ourselves, always having someone around), the hardest thing about being married (learning new things about ourselves, always having someone around...), what we want to work on, what makes us tick, what makes us smile, what we are most surprised about in marriage and more. It was a beautiful conversation filled with butterflies in my tummy like it was our first date.

Realization-- I had an epiphical moment and "realization" about how much my love for my husband has grown. Many a Halmark greeting card or stitched pillow will tell you that "I love you more now then the day I married you", but this weekend I fell into the masses of the cliche and really understood that. He makes me laugh, encourages me, frustrates me, trusts me, has patience with me, annoys me, and reminds me that I mean to world to him. And for that I am grateful.

Reality--Yes, there was a touch of reality to our beautiful weekend. We fought about stopping to ask for directions (after 40 minutes, why wouldn't you call and ask?!?!?), stayed in a dumpy hotel (hairball in my towel...pretty sure neither of us have red hair) where only one lady spoke English (what room are we in....no ROOOOOM....ROOOOOOOOOOOOM), the elevator reminded me of the Tower of Terror at Disneyland, we had to straddle the door to sit on the toilet, and we had a beautiful view of a brick wonderland known as the building next door. Funny how God humbles us in a way that leads to appreciation.
Another reality...having to wear glasses in order to read the big screen...AND they're crooked in this picture. "...and so it goes" --Kurt Vonnegut

Finally!

For someone who was so excited to start a blog I sure haven't posted much! I think I am beginning to realize how uninteresting our life really is...oh well...here goes nothin'!

For those of you who don't know we have been blessed beyond measures by a house that we are renting! Kyle has a two year internship here in Wenatchee and after that, we don't know where we will be (stay here? Prague? God only know!) so we have decided to wait on purchasing a house. Needing to get out of our apartment for numerous reasons (well actually just one...our landlord), we had been stressin' out about finding a place to live. Our good friend and Kyle's boss, Bill Dooley, received a facebook message from a Young Life "kid" from the 90's asking if he had any interns needing a place to live. A month later, we are living in a beautiful 4-story, 4-bedroom home. It is old and quirky (which we love...except when we open a door and the knob comes off) and has a big backyard. We are so excited to finally be able to have friends and family over for meals, overnights, parties, Young Life events, and so much more! Our dear friends, Brad and Sarah, came over for dinner last week and were our first guests....we are excited for many more! It has been incredible and we are so thankful for this place.

Kyle's parents came to visit at the end of August and were an incredible help painting a few rooms, making curtains, fixing things, cleaning, packing, unpacking, and getting us all settled...we could not have done it without them and we are SO thankful!! I will post pictures as soon as Jenny (Kyle's mom) gets them to me :-)

The big thing in my life right now is training for a half marathon. I have never been a runner but fell in love with it while we were at Washington Family Ranch in August. Being the overzealous and impulsive person that I am, I signed up for a 5K that is in October and a 1/2 marathon that is in November. This is turning out to be more difficult than I thought...what the heck was I thinking??!! I just ran my longest distance of 5 miles this evening and I am wondering how I am going to do 13.1 in November...I think I can I think I can I think I can...stay tuned to see if I actually CAN!

I guess the even bigger event is the start of school. I have 2 sophomore classes and 3 freshmen classes. Sigh. I miss my upperclassmen so much! They come and visit me on a daily basis which I love but is hard when they leave to go to their classes and I am left with a pack of crazy middle schoolers pretending to be high schoolers. Oh freshmen! Bless your little obnoxious hearts. They do, however, make for great stories...which make for good blog posts! Hopefully we will get a few laughs out of my exhausting schedule.

Kyle has spent the last few days picking up garbage at the Chelan County Fair. What a glamorous fundraiser!! He has asked me to come along and help...keep him company at least...and being the good wife that I am I graciously said...NO WAY! Apparently I still have a lot to learn about being selfless. Maybe I will start tomorrow....or whenever garbage pick up is over :-)

Ok...finished for now! No one likes a blog with no pictures so if you have read this far with no pics I am very impressed. I promise these posts will get a little more exciting....

xoxo

WARNING: While I am an English teacher, these posts are my journal....littered with typos and grammatical errors like dog poop on a manicured lawn. Just don't want you to gasp in horror when I comma splice, fragment, missspel words, etc.

Welcome to Our Blog!

In regards to marriage, one of my favorite professors and a dear friend, Margo Long, told me once to find someone with whome you want to "do life". To my anxious and worrisome self, this was a breath of fresh air! Months later I was married to the most amazing man whom I love "doing life with".

While I was teaching abroad in Prague, I blogged daily and absolutely LOVED it! It was such a wonderful way to get my feelings, memories, and experiences out of my easily-crowded head. I felt free as I typed my last period, closed the laptop, and went to sleep...dreaming about what words that would flow from my day tomorrow. I miss that. While I am sure that there are few people really that interested in our day to day life, blogging is such a rejuvenating experience for me. And so I begin.

Welcome to our blog! Kyle may chime in here and there but I will probably be the creator of most of these posts. Check back frequently as I hope to update as often as I can. Add comments as I love to share life with others. Laugh with us, cry with us, and shake your head at us as we attempt, by the grace of God, to do life together :-)