Day trip to Mount Rainier

August 31st this year fell on a Monday. Nothing special about August 31st other than Tim had the day off work and since I hadn't seen him much lately, August 31st became a Monday in which I decided to take off work to spend time with Tim (it helped also that the forecast was awesome for that day and I was pretty convinced that we did not have too many more nice days ahead). We got up fairly early that morning around 6am and at around 8, we were sipping tea and trying to plan our day. We talked about doing one of the hikes we love in the mountains right by us, or perhaps going to the beach. And then, out of the blue, it occurred to us that we should make the trip down to Rainier. I have never been to Rainier and Tim hasn't been since he was a kid. We tried to go last September, but some of the passes down there were already closed due to snow. A day that is supposed to be clear and warm and we are free? Let's go!

The west side of Mt. Rainier is about an hour drive south of us. However, we opted to go to the EAST side of Rainier on the day we went for a couple of reasons: a) Sunrise (a point where you go in the park) is the highest elevation you can get on the mountain at 6500 feet. This point is usually closed except for a couple months out of the year b) we wanted to hike and obviously can't hike to the 14,000 ft + summit of Rainier without extensive training and a myriad of passes to do it and we also wanting to take Bella hiking with us. The ONLY hike within Mt. Rainier national park that dogs can go on happens to be on the east side of the park. Of course, we could have done a hike in the national forests surrounding the park, but that wouldn't have been as fun.

So we started off our 2hour drive around 9am. It was rainy and foggy leaving Seattle so we were a bit worried that we were going to drive for two hours and not be able to see the mountain. After about an hour in, it began to burn off and a perfectly clear day opened up. Awesome.

Below are the pictures- we were a little bit camera happy which doesn't happen very often, so enjoy:

The GPS marking our trek up through the mountains. In the middle of nowhere. We went through several small towns before getting to this point. I could have sworn that someone transported me right back to Iowa when we were going through these towns. The similarities were uncanny.

Tim driving away (he drove the whole time!) We had made chocolate chip cookies over the weekend so we had those in the car with us...yum!

Bella enjoying the ride... she was transfixed by the rain outside at this point.

And finally- we see blue skies and the mountain range. Beautiful!

A view of how the roads looked for about the last hour of the drive. Dense forest- so pretty.

And we made it!

A view of the mountains shortly after getting into the park.

On our way up to Sunrise, our first view of Rainier down here was behind us. This is going to sound pretty stupid, but I was amazed by how much bigger it looked down here as compared to how it looks from Seattle (see pretty obvious statement, huh?) But seriously, that mountain/volcano is HUGE.

A view of a little alpine lake on top of Sunrise. We saw a lot of alpine lakes that day.

Gorgeous mountain. Our next feat: hike it! Why not?

Bella mesmerized by the mountain (ok, probably not- she probably just had to pee and was excited at all of the people around us). She was going nuts once we were up there.

My not so little puppy and I.

Bell Bells and I with a backdrop of Rainier.

Another shot of the gorgeous Rainier. We had the perfect day to be there.

Self portrait of Timmy and I.

Tim and Bella with a backdrop of Rainier at Sunrise.

Our attempt at a family photo. Bella did not love the idea.

Sexy husband sitting on a wall in front of the cascade range. Love it.

And more of the mountain range (and yet another alpine lake- in the left of the photo).

Shot that captures the meadows that surround Rainier. At this time of year there are tons of berries and wildflowers in these meadows. It's pretty awesome.

Pretty cool picture of the vast mountain range.

By this point, we had begun our hike (and the above is a picture from it). We did about 5-6 miles of the Pacific Rim trail which is the trail that goes all the way from Canada-California (yep, we'd like to hike that whole thing one of these days too). It intersects with Rainier national park and coincidentally is the only trail in the park that allows dogs so we hopped on it and went north for several miles. It was gorgeous (but wow, we were surprised by the altitude)! We found out after the fact that we were still hiking at about 5500 feet... and we were moving fast too. We couldn't figure out why we felt so tired afterwards when we usually hike much longer than that (and at greater inclines). The altitude would explain it- it's pretty significant for us Seattle-ites that live at sea level.

The halfway point in our hike- we came to yet another alpine lake. It was gorgeous! Bella LOVED jumping in. It was so clear and cool and there were lots of fish swimming around. There was also a great place to camp right by it... so you'd just hike in, camp, and have a lake right next to your campsite. We are seriously considering this spot for camping next summer once the snow melts from this spot. It's so peaceful and serene.

A shot of the lake with the mountains surrounding it.

The view of the road intersecting the mountains. To begin the hike, you basically hike along the road (but not right next to it- obviously, we are well above it). At this point we are about a mile in... the parking lot is in the very right hand corner of the picture (kind of down from the peak up there).

Looking down from the point where we were hiking.

Hugs for awesome dogs who hiked around in Rainier national park with us! She was a little trooper (and boy, was she tired afterwards....)

It was such a fabulous day! I love our little day trip adventures. We live in the most beautiful and diverse state and each time we do something like this and explore something new, I am even more in awe of the beauty in this state that we call home. It sounds sappy but it's so true.

Nostalgia.

8 years ago.

Wow, has it really been 8 years already?

8 years ago I woke up in Lamoni, Iowa to a gorgeous fall day. It was my second year at Graceland and I was still living in the dorms with my roommate, Wish. I hopped out of bed, probably fairly tired, because I had an 8am class and who in college ever goes to bed before 1am? I certainly did not.

After getting out of bed, I started my morning routine which began with logging in to my computer. On my home page, all I saw were the headlines "Plane hits World Trade Center" and the pictures that told the story that words couldn't.

My first thought was, "Who would be so stupid to fly into a building?" Thinking- it must be an accident. It HAS to be an accident.

I walked to class across campus- a personal finance class- and the TVs in the building there showed nothing but the second plane hitting the second tower. Professors were everywhere telling us that classes were cancelled for the day.

I remember the school that day came together. We all were bound together as we tried to make sense of what was happening, as some of us tried to get into contact with loved ones in New York City. We had a prayer circle in the middle of campus multiple times that day as well as events that night to pray and send as much good as possible to everyone in New York- and the entire country- who were all grappling with the heartache, the confusion, the grief, the contemplation of the question we were all trying to figure out and understand: "What happened and WHY?"

We know a whole lot more now than 8 years ago about that day and while the pain of that day is much bigger for people in this country who lost someone personal that day, 9/11 is still a day that holds many memories, many feelings of pain, and many feelings of sadness each and every year it rolls around. It will never be forgotten.

Lately in the political news, I have tried to keep an open mind and try to determine how I feel about where this country is headed on several major issues. To me, it seems like the country is divided severely on some of these issues and not just because people truly believe one way or another but because they have their labels, "republican", "democrat", that they have to adhere to, regardless of how they may really think or feel. And it seem to me from people that I have talked to, sometimes people just believe what they believe because it is a "republican" ideal or a "democratic" ideal instead of just thinking for themselves in more of a bipartisan way and saying, "Hey, this isn't my 'party's' view (or maybe it is) but here is why I feel and how I think it is RIGHT for our country." I'm not saying this applies to everyone and that no one thinks for themselves, I'm just saying that I see this more often than not and I wish that we could get to a place where it isn't about party lines or attacks on people because they are liberal or conservative- it's just about differences of opinion but trying to still reach common goals for the good of everyone.

Thinking back on 9/11, I remember initially how the Graceland community came together that day. As the days went on, we saw how New York City bonded together and then the entire country bonded together...regardless of social class, political party, race, or age. It is unfortunate that as a result of such a tragic event, we all became one and were operating solely as one but it does make me hopeful that as we have many big decisions to be made in the coming year that will affect the future of our country, we can all come together as one once again in an effort to achieve one common goal- to do what is truly right for this great nation and the extraordinary people living in it.

09.09.09

I'm sure yesterday was a really popular wedding day... kinda like how 08.08.08 and 07.07.07 and 06.06.06 were...and the preceding few years where all of the numbers were the same. I don't really get the numbers thing. I mean, sure, it's all the SAME.NUMBER. Woah. I mean, I feel like I should be impressed or do something special or something but honestly? I really don't care. Anyway, I digress.

So, yesterday was really nothing special, even though we WERE ON ALL 9's. It was a day in which I got to see Tim as he got off shift yesterday morning and those days are always great. But, that being said, it was just a normal day in the Jones house.

And this is how these normal days go (ahem, because I have the best husband in the world)...

While I am hard at work, Tim is running errands for us or cleaning the house or both. Sometimes (usually) he doesn't get much sleep on shift (meaning no sleep for about 30 hours) so he takes a nap in the morning and then does whatever needs to be done when he wakes up. Yesterday he did all the laundry, cleaning, etc. and THEN went out and ran errands for us (grocery store, etc- you know all the crap that has to be done but just gets to be a pain because it ALWAYS seems like there is something? Yeah.) And then not only that, but he took Bella to run and play with her boxer friend Sadie (who is 5 years old but only as big as Bella at 9 months- too cute) so that Bella would be tired and we could relax for the night. And THEN he makes us dinner, has a glass of wine ready for me, and lots of times has fresh flowers waiting for me when I get home(who can ever complain about getting flowers?!) So normal for us=I have the best husband EVER (oh did, I say that already? Sorry, I just want to make everyone throw up multiple times in one post).

When I come home, this is what I am greeted by:

Fresh flowers waiting for me on the table- beautiful!

And an up close shot of the pretty summer flowers. Love them!

Tim prepping stuff to make for dinner. Usually our dinners are pretty low key and simple and we make them together, which we like doing because it's more fun to do things together (and it goes faster!) But yesterday, he decided to make a more fancy dinner and he had everything prepped when I got home. The menu was: teriyaki marinated wild Alaskan salmon, garlic red mashed potatoes, and red-chile pepper steamed asparagus...all complimented by a glass of chilled white wine which was waiting for me when I walked in the door (Riesling, if you were curious). Who doesn't love that surprise? Mmmm.

Yes! And bonus!! T ran the dog! The puppy is ZONKED. I love tired puppies more than anything in this world. She could barely get up to say hi to me. Here I was saying her name and she was looking at me but not moving.

A close up of the dinner...so yummy.

And the table set and ready to eat.

I have to admit, I am pretty spoiled because even though this 9's day was probably pretty special to people out there, to me it was really just another day where I am reminded of how awesome Tim is. It's enough that he runs errands and cleans on his days off but so many times, he'll do stuff like this- make a nice dinner, buy flowers, run the puppy... all just because he wants to take care of me and to show me that he loves me. I really feel so blessed! I'm so glad that our relationship works like this, that we love each other that much- we both do these things for each other anytime and everytime it's possible just because we can and we care and to us, it's normal.

Stranger things have happened....

but this labor day weekend was still, well, strange.

Why, you ask?

Well, the whole weekend we were dealing with a sick, spastic puppy who we had to try to keep calm which is always a fun game. Everyone should try it. She had other ideas about this calm thing. She wanted to run and run and run and just gocrazybecauseit'stheonlythingIknowhowtodowithmyselfandifican'tIwillmakeyourlivesmiserable! Seriously, I asked her about this. And she responded by ripping out the squeaky part of her "indestructible" toy. Through its ear. Uh huh.

It was also slightly strange because (aside from the insane puppy) it was really a quiet weekend. A weekend in which Tim had the whole thing off. Crazy because if he hasn't been working every other holiday this year, he's at least been working around it and his lack of sleep usually tends to make the respective holiday sub-par for him. But not this one. He was off and we had the whole weekend together and we had nothing to do.

We had thought about camping but then learned that after 3 months, Seattle was just going to jump right into fall. In 2.5 seconds. And not only jump into fall but absolutely plow into summer so that everyone here makes no mistake about it: summer is over, bitches, and you better not complain about the last 3 sunny months! And just to make sure we were clear on that, this weekend was complete with thunderstorms, torrential downpours, hail and (gasp!!) tornadoes! I kid you not. We didn't know the weather would be that bad but just the freezing cold days (25 degrees lower than we've been used to) coupled with rain coupled with already sick puppy canceled camping out of our plans. We also thought about driving to Montana because we've been wanting to get over there to explore. It looks gorgeous and the drive is not bad from Seattle. But when the puppy got sick at the end of last week, we couldn't board her SO, we ended up stuck in Seattle.

It was the best thing EVER.

We had several date nights (um, by the way, one of which Christmas music, repeat, CHRISTMAS MUSIC was playing at the restaurant we were at and no, it was not a 99 cent taco stand. It was a quaint little Thai cafe in downtown Kirkland. Another post entirely on how seriously retarded it is that Halloween not to mention CHRISTMAS stuff is popping up at the end of August/beginning of September. For now, done ranting.), we cuddled during the massive rainstorms and in the mornings (when it was undoubtedly raining every morning), we ran errands, we got lots of workouts in and managed to take the puppy on long walks, we walked down to Caffe Ladro to get tea and sit by the water to enjoy the tea during sun breaks, we made dinners and lunches and cookies, we read, we watched episodes of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia to prepare for the new season coming up (LOVE that show... again, another post entirely) and on and on. It was the most relaxing few days I think either of us has had in a really long time. It was awesome.

We also got a call from Tim's dad and had a few hours on Saturday where we went to visit with him to catch up and Bella got to play with his dogs so she was in heaven because we (ohmygod!) actually let her play. Since we haven't seen him in, oh, I don't know, forever, it was nice to catch up. We were not expecting to hear from him at all so this, too, was a little out of the ordinary...in a good way. And to compound it even more, Tim's sister called wanting to see if we could come out to see the nieces later on this week. Um, yes please!! The whole story with Tim's family is a little convoluted at best and a little too silly to get into here but needless to say, this weekend great strides were made and I feel like (hopefully) people are finally starting to move forward and gain a little perspective on the important things in life. Let's hope so anyway.

So, all in all, the weekend was strange in that it was completely unexpected and absolutely perfect. I hope that everyone out there had a wonderful holiday weekend as well.

Because I don't already post enough about the puppy...

The puppy has had a bit of a rough patch. Wait, I've started a post like this before? No way. Not our pup, she's never been sick.

Anyway, yes, rough patch... She's had TONS of energy (shocker) but has still also been fighting her tummy battle, which is getting better. Almost 100%. However, because she's been fighting that, her immune system is NOT 100%. We took her to the dog park last weekend and she broke out in a major rash from running through tall grass (despite giving her a medicated bath after the fact) and from fighting that her immune system apparently didn't have the capacity to fight anymore so now she has a sinus infection which she probably also picked up at the dog park (gross, by the way-the infection, not the dog park. Although I have to wear "dog clothes" to the dog park because somehow, without fail, I always get slobbery, which I guess is kinda gross).

It was quite a bummer that she got the sinus infection when she did because I went to a new trainer to check out the place with my friend Lindsay and her dog Burton yesterday. We were going to a dog play date at the place so Bella could play while I met the trainer and checked out the facility (for boarding when we go to Hawaii). But instead Bella was sick and had to stay in the car (I know, ANIMAL ABUSER! It was 65 degrees out and cloudy and I left her in the car for 10 minutes. Someone, please, call animal services!!)

In my haste (and being the animal abuser that I am...ok, ok enough comments on that) I took her with me thinking she could stay in the car while I toured the facility, met the trainer and then would meet the trainer herself. Then I was planning on taking her to the vet afterwards. This was not a great idea. Note to self: a dog that is releasing 1 million pounds of snot per hour+brand new car? Does not make mom a very happy camper. I feel bad for the dog, I really do but SERIOUSLY? I have 200 miles on the car... and there was snot encrusted in every crevice after TEN minutes. Ugh. I was also sad for her that she didn't get to play because the field was awesome and she would have loved it. Oh well, she's back on antibiotics now so I'm sure she'll be feeling 100% in no time (assuming they don't screw up her near perfect tummy...) Sigh. And the car is fine too after I cleaned the shit out of it (almost literally) when I got home.

In the meantime, here are some happier pictures of our poor sick pup that I've never posted. She's really not doing too bad for everything she has going on... She thinks she feels great! I really can't wait until we are out of this puppy stage though... no more sickness!

When we went to my cousins graduation in June, she stayed with our friends and their boxer (her buddy), Dallas. She loves him...obviously.

And again... yep, she loves him.

With Mr. Monkey during that same trip... still her favorite toy and her only one still intact that she's had since Day 1.

About a month ago, right before we went to Kansas City, looking cute. She now has a new pink collar which she loves. And it totally fits her for the princess she is.

While we were in Kansas City, she got more time with our friends and Dallas. Here they are snoozing, exhausted after playing hard. She is eating up this time she gets to sleep on the couch (and the bed, above). She doesn't get those privileges at our house. It really was a vacation for her, too!

On the way to go play... Lola (the dog on the left) is a little dog. It took a while for her and Bella to get along since they are both dominant (aka: bossy) females.

Dallas and Bella sniffing along in the car. Too cute.

My husband, king of directness.

So one night earlier this week we're just hanging around on a rare night that Tim is actually home. The doorbell rings at around 8 pm and we both look at each other like, "huh?"

He goes to the door and it's some 13 year old kid, who (poor thing) is losing a terrible battle with acne and puberty. His poor face tells the whole story and his voice is cracking to go along with it. I have never been a guy but I can say that if I was, I would not want this sort of a puberty experience. Mortifying.

So he is trying to sell something and the conversation goes something like this between he and Tim (also note that Tim does not open the screen door the whole time):

Kid: So, I'm uh, uh, a worker of (???) organization and I'm trying to (???)....mumble, mumble, mumble.

Tim (interrupts): Do you just want money?

Kid: Uh, yeah, basically.

Tim: Well I don't have any. Sorry.

I totally dig the way Tim handled this. I get so annoyed with all of the solicitors. And you might as well ask upfront if what they really want is money and get to the bottom of it. I mean, why are people even doing door to door sales anymore? It just seems like that's probably fallen by the wayside with the internet prominence now. Not to mention, we already are involved in various charities and organizations that we do pick to donate money and time to. So why would we just be like, "oh the organization for blah, blah, blah." Oh yes. Perfect. Here's $100 in exchange for a 100 year old caramel bar.

While I love our new place, it seems as if it is a prime target for solicitors (which, by the way, is weird considering our old place was on a major road). It just irritates me. Like I said, we carefully pick what charities we choose to give money to and I'm sure once we have kids we'll give enough money to schools to last forever. Until then, I wish these people (ie: kids) would stop ringing the doorbell at 8pm. And by the way, as just a sidenote: when I was that age, I was on my way to bed at 8pm. Um, maybe I was just weird or had parents who were weird and made me go to bed but I know I was certainly not going door to door at that time of night...

I might have to practice Tim's way of handling this next time I'm by myself. I usually try to listen to the speech and then 10 minutes later, I'm just annoyed because the whole time I know they just want money, I know I'm not going to give it to them, and I know that I'm just getting my time wasted. So lesson learned... I was absolutely amazed that his encounter only lasted about 30 seconds.

Bye bye 2005 old Winston Sam, Hello 2009 new spicy Alfred Winston!

Well, a few days ago my new little mini cooper came in. I set up an appointment to go down there today to pick it up with Tim. I was super sad all weekend to have to get rid of old Winston. He's been such a good car.

Here's a picture of me giving old Winston a kiss before leaving to drive down to the dealer.

And another picture of me standing beside Winston. Isn't he so cute? I love that car!

And the inside of old Winston (relative as there is a picture later of the inside of new Winston).

And getting inside to drive Winston one last time...

Just that very morning, I hit 70,000 miles in Winston! Crazy. When we left for the dealer I was at 70,005.

Tim and I made a stop at our new obsession, Caffe Ladro. Mmm...it's so good. It's probably another post entirely but we go there as often as we can. So amazing and anyone who lives in Seattle can probably testify to that fact.

We made it down to the mini dealer! Yes! Crazy enough, all of the financing, etc. took less than an hour. I kid you not, the financing took all of 10 minutes. It was INSANE. But I loved it! It helped that we had already gotten Old Winston appraised by the dealer a few weeks prior (and they were giving me $2K more dollars than I expected for him which was awesome especially considering that he has a huge crack in the windshield that will have to be replaced and a couple of wheels that need to be replaced).

Inside of new Alfred Winston. I don't care if I'm weird if I name my cars, by the way. This picture is important because look! The cup holders actually work in the new minis. In the old mini model, there was only one functional cup holder- kind of a pain. Also, the speedometer (huge circle in the middle) is much larger and holds all of the bluetooth/ipod/music operations which the old mini didn't have. I'm still trying to figure out everything on this car. I didn't realize how much they had done to the interiors of the new models but I'm pretty excited for everything it has the capability of doing!

Aww...both little cars together with us.

And me standing between the two minis. You can tell here that the newer model is slightly larger than the older model. I don't really get who thought it made sense to make a MINI cooper bigger, but whatever. You can't really tell unless they are side by side like this.

And back at home, the new little Alfred next to the eco-Duncan prius, all safe and sound in the garage. I'm really excited for the new car. It has the panoramic sunroof all across the top which I love. It also has a sport mode (which makes it drive like the old Winston did all of the time- but now you can just elect that mode instead of having to ride rough all day). It's also a lot more zippy than the old model. I was shocked! I think the biggest change is the interior though. I couldn't believe how much mini had changed on their new models. They did a great job!

State of the art security

Tim and I were on the way to the beach today and saw a honda from 1990. We were stopped next to it at a stoplight and I started laughing because there was a sticker on the window that said, "Do not attempt to break in. Protected by state of the art Radio Shack security system."

It became even more hilarious when the car drove off and we saw that the window doesn't even seal between the car and the door and there is a couple centimeter crack between the car/window.

Awesome.

An interesting trip to the vet...

We decided we haven't seen the vet enough lately or spent enough money on the vet. We thought it might be fun to take different animals other than Bella who goes about once a month (an improvement from 3 times a week). So I scheduled the boys' (cats) annual exam/shots. We get in there and after a 30 minute conversation about Bella, we move on to the boys.

Sidenote about Miss Thang (aka Bella): her bad tummy issues are back due to the fact that the surgery screwed up the balance/bacteria in her tummy. It has not been a pleasant few days with her in that regard. And now she is back to not eating, being lethargic...again. So we got a couple more medications for her to try to straighten her out...again.

Onto the boys...

The vet told us that our little guys are overweight. I just cracked up and could not stop laughing. Tim and I were both trying to avoid eye contact because it was just too funny. We both knew it because I gave them a bath the other day and they were definitely chunky. Anyway who has seen them would never think, wow, chunkard cats! Stop reading now and go here. This is a fairly current picture of both cats. They are not large...at all.

I have thought for a while that they eat a lot and it has become quite the pain in my ass to chase them away from their food (because we've always free fed them). But we've always free fed them because at first we pretty much had to because there was other cat food around and they were sort of sick so we wanted to make sure they ate. I've never free fed my cats before (they were always on meal plans) mostly because Berkeley my first cat lives for eating and she would be 30 pounds if we had let her eat whenever and whatever she wanted.

So I've always wanted these guys on a meal plan but they just never have been. It's been a little bit of a point of contention between Tim and I but because they are such small adult cats, I figured they were ok.

That is, until I saw them when they were wet in the bath. WOW. Buddha belly kitties.

And then the trip to the vet two days later.

We were told that the cats were obese...bordering on morbidly obese. As funny as I think this is for how small they are, I can kind of see her point as I have recognized it. And I felt slightly vindicated that Tim finally understood that we should have the cats on a meal plan.

Tyson (the gray cat) has gained a pound in a year. That is a TON in kitty pounds. He now weighs 11 pounds and should weigh about 10. Calvin (the black cat) weighs 9.5 pounds and should weigh 8 pounds. So Tyson has to lose a pound and Calvin has to lose a pound in a half. That's a lot for kitties. So they are going on a little diet consisting of twice a day feedings of only 1/2 to 1/3 cup each and they are switching to light food.

So far, so good. I actually think they seem happier and more relaxed now that the food is not always around. It's like it was a competition before. They also seem to have more energy. So, all in all, it was a great change. Not sure that I've seen a change in the weight yet, but we'll get there. It still cracks me up that we have obese kitties. I don't know why.

Also an update on Bella: I scratched all of the vet's medicines after a day (great waste of money-yes!) I wanted to see if I could make her better more naturally. So I bought a huge thing of puppy milk to give her as a supplement (it is used for baby puppies who are don't get the colostrum from their mom but can still be used for older puppies to help strengthen their immune systems) and I switched her to a 0% grain food (still) but this one is an all fish protein source. My thought was that after the surgery her body was weak so it developed a sensitivity to the protein sources in the other food (chicken). Well, guess who was right? Bella is doing great and is back to perfect after a week of this. I'm so happy. And I think I was right on the money about the other food- we ran out of the fish food and I thought I'd try the chicken food. Note to self: get rid of that food. It did not go well.

All right, enough about animals.

And... pictures from the walk.

Told you I actually had them!

Here's is a picture of the big blow up Dalmatian for all of the kids to play on. Real firefighters were also there too (not Tim, these guys were in uniform with the big truck). The kids were fascinated.

The beginning of the race (the balloon arch at the right of the picture). I don't really know what I was taking a picture of. Maybe it was the inflatable wolf (from the radio station there). Who knows.

And me! In my festive walk for wishes shirt. It was so fun!

And Tim in his walk for wishes shirt. We probably should have gotten a picture together but pictures were kind of an after thought. We had such a great time (and you can tell by all of the sun that it was a perfect day for it!)

Walk for wishes

This morning the make a wish foundation of Seattle had their first 5K walk for wishes in the Seattle area and it was the perfect morning for it! I'm a volunteer (fairly new but still a volunteer, regardless) at the make a wish foundation as a wish granter. I actually really love the organization and everything it stands for and the kids just melt my heart.

Tim got off work at 8am this morning and hadn't slept at all on shift the night before so I wasn't totally sure we were going to do the walk. However, he was a trooper and we made it out for all of the festivities. It was so much fun and such a beautiful and great way to spend the morning. Ooh, and I actually have pictures, too that we took on Tim's phone. I'll have to get those from him and post them.

We met a little girl named Cassidy who told everyone about her wish to meet Rascal Flatts in person (a country band for all you folks who didn't originate in the midwest and have some stigma against country music). Anyway, she did meet Rascal Flatts in person and not only that but she got to eat dinner with them and got to sing with them in concert in front of 20,000. She was such a cute little girl and it's so touching to see these kids just light up talking about how their wishes came true. They totally deserve everything they get, more than I can even remotely express in words.

As a sidenote: We just got tickets for a group of us to go to Rascal Flatts when they come to town in October (4 days after we get back from Hawaii). I saw them in 2001 in California when they were barely known to anyone. It was in a small joint with hardly any people and I think it was maybe $10-$30 to get in. Hardly anything. I've been a fan of them ever since. It's nice to hear that as they've grown in popularity they still take time for kids like Cassidy. Makes me respect them even more, aside from just liking their music (and yes, that is the midwest girl in me).

Anyway, the walk was a huge success and I can't wait to see what this next year holds for me as part of the make a wish foundation!

Hawaii two years in a row??

Yes, please!

Today Tim and I decided that we are going to celebrate our anniversary by going back to the Hawaiian island where we got married: Maui. Tickets are booked, hotel is booked. We are ready to go.

To us this means more to have a fun, somewhat sentimental trip than gifts or just doing something small to commemorate our wedding day. That day was so special to us and our anniversary means so much to us, that this seems the only appropriate way to really honor the day (you can see my post about our wedding day here). It truly was the best day ever and I can't wait to be there again with my husband, reminiscing about us, our journey, our wedding, our future.

We are staying at the same place we did last year on Maui- the Fairmont. I can't wait! We LOVED that place. Great beach, great location, right by the beach we got married, awesome service, all organic/natural food...it's just perfect for us. Last year we had a week on Maui where we got married and then we flew to Kauai for a week for a honeymoon of sorts, I guess.

This year we will just be in Hawaii for a week and staying on Maui the whole time. We have a few things on the list to do that we did last year and loved and also a few things that we didn't get to last year that we want to do. On our anniversary, I think we will follow a similar day to what we did last year- massages, relax at the beach, dinner from the same chef who prepared our oceanside dinner last year. And of course I'm sure we will enjoy another sunset on the beach we got married on, similar to the one we saw on our wedding day.

The one thing we are doing this year that I'm super excited for is we are going to fly to the big island for a day trip. I haven't been there since my trip to Hawaii in 2004 and I loved the big island. The volcanoes, in particular, were just astounding and unlike anything I have ever seen. Of course then we were able to get about 10 feet from the flowing lava. I'm hoping that Tim and I will be able to hike in and see some lava. Regardless, it will be a fun little adventure and a new island to explore for a day.

Now the hardest part is the waiting.... only about two months until we leave.... I can't wait!

Poor, poor puppy

We picked Bella up when we got home from Kansas City from our friends Brad and Gina (who have the boxer named Dallas). Bella also got a week vacation by being able to spend the week with Dallas. She LOVED it. And we loved that she got to be in a place where she was so happy. We have such great friends!

Above is a picture about an hour after we picked her up. She did not move for the entire night. We literally had to drag her to pee and eat.

Yesterday, she had an appointment scheduled with Dr. Debbie, our vet, to get spayed. She is 8 months old on August 19th and she finally has her tummy issues resolved (which is why we haven't gotten her spayed yet). So we had to do it asap before she goes into heat (usually 8-9 months for boxers) because boxers are prone to certain cancers so getting them spayed before they go into heat can prevent certain cancers.

I was so sad to drop her off. I just felt horrible for the poor girl! But she apparently did great and everything went just fine. I picked her up today and it was hilarious because I could tell she was a little bit off but she was trying to act like she was just fine. It was cute.

Here's a picture of her right after we got home today. She's looking at me like, "What the hell just happened to me?!" Too funny.

And a picture of the war wound... it looks pretty good. Just kinda yellow-ish from the soap stuff they use to clean the area but the actually incision looks really good. I think she will heal just fine and be herself in no time!