news from the cozy yellow house

Bits and Pieces

2009-09-07T21:35:00.000-07:00

Note: This video is in no way related to our life. Brian says "It's funny. Post it."

In our real life, we've been busy busy busy. A few highlights--

We just got back from NW REACH camp, which is always an amazing experience. More on that later.

Our garden is in full swing.

Brian is starting his new job next week.

We'll let you know how it all turns out.

Happy Anniversary to Us!

2009-07-05T22:49:00.000-07:00

In celebration of four years, we decided to go camping. We spent the first night (we got there at 11 pm) on a 5,000 ft peak looking down over a valley to lake Ketchees 3,000 feet below. When the hot sun woke us up at 6:30 we decided to quickly pack up and move before breakfast. There was no shade and the place was just trashed with shotgun shells, broken glass, and other trash. It was really sad because we had camped in that very site with Rudy and Anne about 2 years ago and it had been really nice.

We ended up driving down the forest road to do some exploring. The site we ended up in was off more of a jeep/ATV road, but we straddled some deep ruts and held back some branches and made it in. The only people we saw from early Saturday to mid-Sunday were two fishermen and two ATV'ers while we were hiking and two jeeps that drove by.

All we had were camera phones, so the pictures are bad, but here they are. And here is a link to some wedding pictures!

2 people, 2 dogs, 1 tent, 0 poles???

2009-06-29T10:08:00.001-07:00

+
11 ropes
2 steel cables
6 trees
41 knots
1 tarp
countless rain flurries
2 puddles in our bed
2 nights
1 charcoal cooked cherry pie
=
we had fun anyway.

Thanks a lot, Vern... :)

More pictures from the camping trip HERE.

all done!

2009-06-25T22:16:00.000-07:00

Well, for the most part. We have a few odds and ends to do, but our tenants are moved in and the back place is more or less complete. See the album here.
Thanks to all the friends and family who lent a hand!

Alaska! (Part 1)

2009-06-03T08:02:00.000-07:00

So we took 900-ish pictures. I'll be wading through them for a while but here is the first batch from Glacier Bay. And the second batch from Glacier Bay. I'd say the highlight was finally getting Brian to eat split pea soup.

Glacier Bay was absolutely amazing. We got to see The Margerie glacier calving chunks of ice, which was incredible. Evidence:

Rimrock Camping

2009-05-21T04:21:00.000-07:00

We went camping last weekend with the pup. The video above is from coming back home through Mt. Rainier National Park. The best part is from about 1:00-1:15...Here are some photos.

Holy Smokes, 3 Posts in a Week!

2009-05-06T09:53:00.000-07:00

I figured I'd better update on other things we have done lately. One is that we have season tickets to Seattle's new MLS team, the FC Sounders. They are off to a great start, with at 4-2-1 record.

A new generation falls in love with Whitney Houston

2009-05-06T00:28:00.001-07:00

Utah Trip

2009-05-02T10:50:00.000-07:00

Brian and I took a trip to Utah recently. We spent some time with friends, visited Zion National Park, and went on a coach and driver relocation from Provo, Utah to Seattle. It was the first time to Zion for me and the first time I got to ride any significant distance with Brian driving a coach. Check out our photos here and here.

South Renton Connection

2009-04-09T14:15:00.001-07:00

We've started a neighborhood association in South Renton!! Lots more news from us, but here's the link.

hooray for you!!!!!!

2009-02-08T17:22:00.000-08:00

Look, Mom, you're famous!

2009-01-10T14:52:00.000-08:00

It's a Zen Thing.

If I could do our wedding over again...

2008-12-31T18:09:00.000-08:00

I would definitely do this.

I wish I knew someone getting married soon, I would push for this. Not necessarily the same song, but if we had done it, it would partially fulfill my dream of having my life be a musical.

Oh, to be 13 again

2008-11-20T14:55:00.001-08:00

This video brought up many thoughts/questions for me...

Who gets THAT into American Idol?

Those girls are really obnoxious.

Do they know that they're being filmed?

I'm sure glad I was never like that.

Wait, was I like that?

Hope you enjoy.

mug cake

2008-11-16T17:02:00.000-08:00

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In order to help out the folks on my favorite radio show TBTL, and because I have an obsession compulsion to come up with new and creative ways to best myself in the kitchen, I have put together a little recipe for single serving (although I think it should actually serve 2) chocolate cake in a mug.

1. Spray your mug. Large mugs work best.

2 Add the following:

4 T self-rising flour
4 T sugar
1 T plus a bit of cocoa powder (not hot chocolate mix--I'm sure this is what made us sick, 9 T was a lot of powder)

3. Stir very well with a fork.

4. Add:

1 egg
2 T water
2 T oil

5. Microwave for 3 minutes.

6. Get it out of the mug quick, then get water in the mug, or you'll regret it.

I really suggest sharing this delightful confection with a friend, it's really too much for one.

more summer updates...

2008-10-21T09:07:00.000-07:00

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lots has been going on, click here for some more pictures!

we went camping!!

2008-10-19T22:05:00.000-07:00

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click here for more pictures! we went north of roslyn, wa in at the start of the north cascade mountain range and camped by a river. it was walker's first camping trip and he did great!

shhhhh....brian doesn't know

2008-10-14T09:34:00.000-07:00

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i feel very sneaky posting this, because i'm sure he won't look before wednesday when he comes home and sees me...

little by little, i'm adding photos....

2008-08-02T15:36:00.000-07:00

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here's a few more from our trip.

san francisco

2008-07-13T19:53:00.000-07:00

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we spent the fourth-fifth of july (which happened to be our anniversary) with family in san francisco! it was a great time showing brian around, eating clam chowder in sourdough bowls, the golden gate, the tea garden, and all the other memories of my past. i'm having some difficulty uploading all the pictures, but here are some for you to enjoy.

we are SOOOO the favorites

2008-07-08T16:28:00.000-07:00

more california to come

we're back from mexico!!

2008-06-07T00:02:00.000-07:00

click here and here for more!!

i gotta get me one of these....

2008-05-07T15:24:00.001-07:00

not even their own paid actors can keep a straight face!

does anyone know this plant????

2008-04-30T10:32:00.001-07:00

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it reminds me of tiny palm trees. i like it.

more found honeymoon pictures

2008-04-27T23:44:00.000-07:00

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here is a random assortment of sights from in and around marsailles, france.

oh, walker texas ranger.....

2008-04-24T10:37:00.000-07:00

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kind of a bad picture, but this pup always needs to be on top. kind of a problem, in fact, because he is being agressive to strangers....we love him anyway, but back to dog school we will go.

more WI

2008-04-14T09:39:00.000-07:00

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again, i'll label and maybe write more later, but i just have to share!!!

happy half birthday lucas!!

2008-04-13T13:56:00.000-07:00

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i'll write more later, but here are some pics.

a few more snow camping pics

2008-04-08T23:01:00.000-07:00

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here are a few pictures we had on a disposable camera. they are from our mt. rainier snow camping trip.

crazy like a fox

2008-04-01T15:29:00.001-07:00

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how we love our walker texas ranger. he came up with this new game all on his own!

when adults build snow forts

2008-02-24T22:38:00.000-08:00

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we spent this weekend camping at mount rainier. we got off to a slightly rough start, apparently you need to get to paradise and get your permit for camping by four pm. we didn't know that little fact and slipped through the gate at longmire, about 18 miles from paradise, at 5:20, ten minutes before they closed the gate.

we didn't see anyone at paradise to give us a permit, we knew it was free, so we taped a note to our window saying we would hike up in the morning to get a permit. then we got our gear on, tromped up onto the snow, and were about to go down the hill, and a ranger stopped us and told us we couldn't stay there tonight, we were too late and that the permit cutoff was at four pm, and there was a limit of 18.

so, we debated about staying in the inn down the hill but we didn't want to spend the money. we ended up driving 22 miles down the hill and sleeping in our car off a forest road about 8 miles out of the park.

saturday we finally got there. i'm running out of time to write now, so take a look at the tags in the slide show below!
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tag....

2008-02-16T17:29:00.000-08:00

i've been tagged...how to explain. here are the rules as sent to me by jenny:

1. you must make a post called "tag!" (or some derivative thereof) and you must write a fact about yourself for every letter of your middle name.
2. each fact must start with that letter, like an acrostic poem.
3. then you have to tag one person for each letter of your middle name.
okay? so here goes--brooke

b-
r-
o-observant--i'm pretty detail-oriented
o-
k-
e-

hmmmm.....i'm still thinking. i didn't forget, no need for further protests from sister-in-laws who shall not be named.

fine, i'll put up a stinkin' post.

2008-02-13T20:47:00.001-08:00

as jenny, kerri, and jason requested:

walker loves his bed

2008-01-17T23:05:00.000-08:00

a merry little Christmas

2007-12-29T21:05:00.000-08:00

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We stayed in most of the morning and enjoyed each other's company and then took the pup to Brian's parents' house. We had a nice time.

the long-awaited lucas show

2007-11-10T22:24:00.000-08:00

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pathetic

2007-09-16T00:23:00.000-07:00

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michigan

2007-08-31T18:16:00.000-07:00

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I took an unexpected trip to Michigan for the funeral of my Gramma's husband Ken. It was a lovely service and it has been great to be out here for it. He will be missed.

I have also had a great time with my family. Check out that belly on Jenny! And my cousin's new baby that was born while I was here!

our new addition

2007-08-28T21:45:00.000-07:00

meet:
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walker texas ranger!

he is a half schipperke, half pomeranian mix and all love and energy. we started out just dog sitting, but we just had to keep him.

Vancouver, B.C.

2007-08-18T00:05:00.000-07:00

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We got to spend a weekend there two weeks ago for Brian's job, but most of it was freetime!

nothing to do with anything, but...

2007-08-13T22:19:00.000-07:00

one of my favorite singers singing one of my favorites, by one of the best.

sagrada familia

2007-08-04T14:11:00.000-07:00

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during our honeymoon, we spent six days in a little apartment in barcelona, spain. i'll be posting more on that as i get photos organized, but above is a sample. if you are interested in receiving email links to our full albums and do not yet receive them, leave a comment and i'll try to get you on the list.

the "sagrada familia" is a roman catholic basilica that has been in the works since the late 1800s. the day we went there, the elevators for tourists were out, so we took a long, winding staircase up to the tip top where there were awesome views of barcelona, the surrounding area, and the mediterranean.

criminals are jerks.

2007-07-30T00:04:00.000-07:00

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while we were in vancouver, b.c., someone got into our car and went through the glove compartment and center console. s/he only got about 50 cents from the ashtray since we don't keep anything valuable in the car. what really made me mad was that then the jerk, who was smoking, so now our car smells, extinguished his/her cigarette on our light tan center console!! it cleaned up most of the way, but we will always have a small charred reminder.

by the way, more on our vancouver trip coming soon. it was great!

guess what?!?!?!?!?!

2007-07-22T08:46:00.000-07:00

WE FOUND OUR LOST HONEYMOON PICTURES!!!!!

well, we didn't really lose them, our ipod, where we stored them while we were on the trip, decided not to let us take them off. they have been there for 2 years and we have had no access.

more to come.

goodbye, secret passageway

2007-07-22T00:57:00.000-07:00

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the city of renton is making "progress." brian and i are excited for most of it, except of course, the demise of the dinner train and of our secret passageway. this tunnel has been the main thing that prevents our little neighborhood from having a bustling arterial. it is only wide enough for one car, and you can only go into it from certain directions.

a few weeks ago there was a sign put up saying that it would be closed for construction starting august 1. we learned that it was to be taken out and replaced with a two-lane tunnel. while this shouldn't directly impact the number of cars passing our house, we do expect the streets surrounding us to become much noisier. much to my dismay, they started construction before i got a chance to take proper pictures of our historical, 5 cattle wide tunnel. (its original description).

we'll miss it.

our garden today

2007-07-20T18:25:00.000-07:00

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i came home to a wet, beautiful garden.

lots going on!

2007-07-19T20:42:00.000-07:00

christy arrived!

christy is now out of the army and staing with vern and connie until randy's deployment ends. brian helped her drive up from tx. she writes about their trip under diesel fried chicken.

my birthday!

2007-07-19T20:23:00.000-07:00

we've been very busy between our anniversary, my birthday, christy coming home, and other summer things. i'll try to catch you all up.

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brian took me on the train for my birthday! he started off the evening by giving me a HUGE boquet. then we meandered over to the train ans sat down. we took pictures of our car, yard, and chimmney from our seat on the train, had delicious food and a wonderful time. brian even had given them a smaller arrangement of flowers for our table!

for your listening pleasure

2007-07-07T10:42:00.000-07:00

below are a couple of clips i found on you tube of the actual brandi carlile concert i was at (see previous entry about the surprise my awesome husband gave me. a cover and an original. (click on the hyperlinks).

pleasant surprise

2007-06-28T09:34:00.000-07:00

i have a new artist added to my favorites, brandi carlile. the song above is probably my favorite by herbecause it reminds me of me and brian. he didn't like her at first because he thought she was shrieky, but lately i think she's been growing on him.

yesterday we had a date planned to walk around green lake and have a picnic. he was really funny about wanting to get an early start and get out of work right away, which was unlike him but i didn't mind.

then he wanted to get coffee at some shop he claimed to have run by many times but never stopped at so he drove and drove around this residential neighborhood by the woodland park zoo. then he insisted on taking all our picnic stuff and walking to the coffee shop, which was in the opposite direction of the lake. then he insisted on leaving our bread knife in the car. then he insisted on cutting through the zoo parking lot. then we started walking past this ginormous line with a bunch of people also carrying lawn chairs and coolers. then i called them all suckers for waiting for whatever they were waiting for. then brian handed me two tickets that said "brandi carlile" on them. he took me to a concert!

he's the best. it was a great show.

shower for baby hongburt

2007-06-15T22:04:00.000-07:00

ok, ok that's not really the baby's name (we hope) but my mom and i threw a shower for jenny and baby boy goodman, curently alias "hongburt." below is a slide show with the pictures!
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wisconsin trip update

2007-06-14T16:07:00.000-07:00

i'll try to cach y'all up on the trip brian and i took back to michigan and wisconsin. the above picture was from the sculpture park in chicago.

there is a really cool bean-shaped mirror building there. we used it to take some creative pictures.

we had a lovely time taking in the sights downtown.

we also went to "the billy goat tavern," which is an old diner downtown.

it had a menu, but all they seemed to let you order was a cheesburger. if you attempted to order anything else, they would harass you until you relented.

we had no regrets, though. they were good.

do you fondue??

2007-06-10T11:39:00.002-07:00

brian and i are in wisconsin right now. it's been busy with side trips to michigan for a family reunion, door county, and other adventures. we took out my mom and dad for fondue for a mother's and father's day celebration.

florida is warm.

2007-05-15T16:29:00.000-07:00

i went down to florida to visit kelly and fernando last weekend. it was a really really great time.

we did lots of fun things, but here are a few highlights. asado.

fernando made asado with three types of meat. my brother affectionately calls one of the cuts "angel meat" and i now know why. it was delicious.

we ate it sandwich style with tomatoes, and i must say, i'll be looking for some latin grocery store soon to buy some for myself.

kelly and i tried to go to the beach, but it was way too windy. this picture looks just pretty, but actually the waves were about 7-8 feet!

the sand was stinging our legs. and there was no way we could have used the beach umbrella.

that is a sand cliff i am trying to put my foot over. i don't think i would have been able to get back up!

the next two are for connie: they use the griddle you gave them all the time every saturday!! thought you would like it.

busy busy...

2007-05-11T10:18:00.000-07:00

well, there's been a lot going on here. i went to visit kelly and fernando in west palm beach, and it was a really lovely time. i'll post about that when i get the pictures.

also, there's been a lot going on at home with the garden. brian worked very hard while i was gone. i don't have the pictures of the latest yet, but here are some from the last few weeks.

the first one above is brian dis-assembling some old shelves where we build a great big new set of shelves in the basement. i somehow neglected to get a picture of the final product.

we had some ugly shrubs by the house that we decided to rip out.

the boxes look really nice in the yard.

they were extremely woody and rough and messy, but brian is building a long skinny box where we are going to grow strawberries, raspberries, and basil.

they are much bigger already!

below is an assortment of plants we are putting in, grapes, peppers, raspberries. so much fun!!

we've been discovering walnuts that the squirrels burried all over the yard. they sprouted!

i planted lots of tomatoes along the little house just like last year.

the long-awaited grill

2007-04-18T11:05:00.000-07:00

after nearly 2 years of marriage we have finally purchased the barbecue that our parents have been contributing to as a wedding (and birthday and Christmas since it took so long) gift.

it's a holland grill, which my family tends to believe is the best type in the world, and it had better be since our particular model came with a 20 year warranty.

we made breakfast on it on sunday, which was not the only thing we made, but perhaps the most fun!

thanks moms and dads!!

we like our car

2007-04-01T00:09:00.000-07:00

we went to ocean shores a couple weeks ago for brian's job.

brian was very excited about the tracks showing our new car's turning radius.

she also enjoys watching the waves and long walks on the beach.

for matt

2007-03-31T14:27:00.000-07:00

remember the christmas present you sent us with the hand-decorated paper bag packaging? i believe that the post office responded to your note about proper packaging. weird.

happy birthday, little brother!

2007-03-18T18:03:00.000-07:00

we miss you!!!! i like that you are now 26 and i am 27 because it makes me feel young. :)

Happy Birthday Christy!!

2007-03-11T13:18:00.000-07:00

happy birthday to my little sister-in-law. i know this is a day early but i'm not sure that i will get to the computer on your actual birthday. i'll try hard though, because i was really trying to find a funny and embarrassing picture to post, but for some reason i cannot access them from this computer. hope you have a good one and we can't wait to see you soon.

whole new life...

2007-02-15T14:20:00.000-08:00

it's been hard to post for a while, since our neighbors the grubes moved out and our wireless access has disappeared. the car isn't the only new thing, but it's one and lots of people wanted to see pictures of it. it's been a busy 2 months with trips to florida, eastern washington, and utah for us and also alaska, oregon, and washington dc for brian. more to expect: pictures of our house!! i finally got around to making the downstairs look like a home. i don't have pictures yet since brian's had the camera, but they're coming soon!

we've been busy....

2006-12-28T10:54:00.000-08:00

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i'll try to spend some time over the next few days updating you all on the happenings out here. above are some pictures from our recent trip to florida. brian got the incredibly difficult task of being assigned to the disney hospitality course offered in florida.

it included a stay in the contemporary hotel, long nights and days exploring the parks and going back stage, and of course, lots of sampling of food from epcot's international zones like sushi and bratwurst. it was such a drag that he brought me along for a couple days to cheer him up.

man date

2006-10-27T23:08:00.000-07:00

jason had hoped for a man date night with brian, but the presence of houseguest christopher necessitated the purchase of a third controller. as you can tell, three was not a crowd.

sun mountain lodge

2006-10-15T11:57:00.000-07:00

brian's company is having it's fall meetings at sun mountain lodge in winthrop, wa. it's about 220 miles northeast of where we live. meetings are monday night through thursday, so we packed up and left friday morning to take advantage of the reduced rates they offered for employees who want to get there early.

below are three pictures from the deck of our room. we got a suite in the gardener building.

one thing that struck us as funny was the brochure they passed out saying that they do not condone hunting in any way. they have tons (see slideshow below) of dead animal stuff all over the place. they bought it a few years back from a private hunter, but they do not condone what he did.

we woke up saturday morning and peeked out the curtains and a deer was looking at us right outside our bedroom window. unfortunately, by the time i found the camera, he was just showing me his rear end. i stepped outside to see where he went, and he was munching on the tree at the bottom of the little hill. i looked to my left, and i saw that we had other friends as well.

we spent the rest of the day doing hiking, brian biked, we went to town and went out for food, and coming back to relax. the fall colors are beautiful here, we didn't take the camera on our hike this time because we wanted to just enjoy, but we will next time.

hawaii....

2006-10-10T09:41:00.001-07:00

just a few pictures we didn't download yet from hawaii. brian is super cool.

haircut

2006-10-03T10:46:00.000-07:00

finally! problem solved. my images were too high quality to load last night. more to come.

oh dear....

2006-10-02T20:44:00.000-07:00

i can't put up any pictures, and i don't know why. it's just not working. our latest adventures require pictures. you'll all just have to wait

triathlons, odometers, and carrots

2006-09-18T20:33:00.000-07:00

we've been busy, as you may have noticed from the amount of time elapsed since my last entry. brian has become quite the triathlete! (see his legs above with his bib number from the recent kirkland triathlon).

this was him after his last triathlon, note the ice. he sometimes submerses his entire body in bathtubs full of ice water in order to recover more quickly. he is now in much better shape and didn't have to do that this time. more on the triathlons after this:

my car hit 200,000 miles today!!!!!

on sunday, we got up at four-thirty in the morning and headed to kirkland.

there were about 800 participants.

brian started at 7:01 am. he was a red cap.

after a half-mile swim, he began his transition.

he peeled off his wetsuit,

and took off on a 12-mile bike ride.

then he scurried in with his bike,

and began a 3-mile run.

he finished 135th (as of the time we left the race) out of about 800, which is pretty good for only his second time. 1 hour, 22 minutes, 57 seconds.

here are the official results. click on "kirkland sprint tri." he is in the male 30-34 category.

he felt good at the end.

i was very proud of him. p.s. jenny, don't judge the new haircut by this picture, it is unwashed and icky. i promise i'll take a picture on the next good hair day.

afterward, he changed to comfy clothes and we relaxed all day watching lost and the seahawks game.

oh yeah, the carrots in our garden are really weird.

hawaii from monday and tuesday

2006-08-12T22:59:00.000-07:00

first of all, a disclaimer: i did not take this picture. i stole it from the website for this tour that we went on on tuesday. it was our big splurge, which was nicely reduced by a 2-for-1 promotion we were offered, otherwise we wouldn't have gone, but we're glad we did.

while this is not my photo, we were on this boat at that location, so i consider it legit.

the tour started at 6 am on the opposite side of the island from where we were staying, so we decided to camp at a local park on the beach the night before so that we could wake up, break up camp, and do a five minute drive to the landing rather than a 60 to 90 minute drive from home.

we set out early monday and our major stop along the way was at kauai coffee. we saw beans growing on the vine (above) and learned about the process.

of course, we mainly went there for the free samples,

which made these two seattlites very happy, as did the chocolate covered beans we bought.

that evening, we camped at salt pond beach park, which was very beautiful, but hard to sleep at due to the stray cats, chickens, and bright street lamps. during the summer, native hawaiians pan for salt there.

we hardly slept at all but managed to make it in time for our tour.

the tour started out along the highly inaccessible but beautiful na pali coastline of kauai. the cliffs are very high and treacherous. there are scattered beaches along them which are very small and mostly only accessible by kayak.

this is another of my borrowed photos. we took the boat right under this keyhole, but our picture really didn't turn out.

one of the first things we saw was a group of 20 or so spinner dolphins that were mostly asleep and just floating all around us. one was a baby about the size of a football! they were quick and hard to get with the camera.

we then set out across open water for about 17 miles to this rocky island. that is where, after a briefing on sharks, seals, and other wildlife, we jumped in for an hour of snorkeling in open water from 20 to 220 feet deep. we had been snorkeling every day on our own in shallow reefs with our own gear, but this was pretty different. at one point brian thought i was right behind him and he turned around and a 300 to 400 pound monk seal was right in his face! i was watching from about 15 feet away. pretty cool. we're pretty sure i saw a shark, but it was hanging out at just deep enough for me to not be able to see very clearly. if it was, it was a small one that we had been informed about. they are not aggressive to people.

once again, not my photo, but we did see these fish.

we didn't see these turtles from the water at that location, but we did swim with them in the shallow reefs a few days before, so here they are.

we then got back on the boat for lunch and a spin around the rock. about 20 yards around the bend we saw these 4 monk seals sunning themselves. they are one of the most endangered species in the world, so it is really unusual to see them in a group, especially since they are not naturally social with eachother much and tend to compete over food, so our guide said this was a real treat that he had never seen before.

we then set out for niihau, the forbidden island. only full blooded hawaiians can live there and the living is very simple. they are trying to preserve the native language and culture. tourists are not allowed.

after the tour was a quick stop at glass beach, which i guess is composed primarily of tumbled broken glass because of an old off-shore dump. over time the biodegradables have gone away but the glass is all over the place and quite pretty!!

after all that, we headed home for pizza and a movie, a fun two days. more to come!

hawaii happenings from sunday

2006-08-11T21:06:00.000-07:00

i planned a trip to poipu, a rather luxurious resort town for sunday. the intention was to rent bikes (hence the dew rag) and do a ten mile trail that has plaques with points of interest in the area, as well as go to a rumored-to-be desolate beach. hopefully i'll have some beach pictures up soon, but we didn't want to take brian's mom's camera onto the beach with us most of the time, so we ususally used our disposable. that still needs to be developed.

once there, the rain was coming and going and we found no hourly bike rentals, only daily. as it was already 4 o'clock by the time we got there, we opted to skip the bikes rather than fork out 40 bucks for a few hours. so, no bike pictures, however now is as good a time as any to let everyone know that kauai is over run with chickens. if they scare you, don't go there. i thought they were cute. they weren't very photogenic, though, so this is about the best i got.

spouting horn. it's a lava tube on the beach. when the waves hit the shore, it spouts into the air, sometimes looking like a geyser. for those such as my sister-in-law who crave knowledge, go here to read about it.

as we were headed out of town, we stopped for a snack at genki sushi for a snack. it's a chain with fast, mass-produced sushi, but it seemed great to us. and very inexpensive for hawaii, only 20 bucks for a very substantial snack.

on the way back home, we went to see some falls. i forget their name at the moment, but they were pretty. more to come tomorrow!

greetings from the land where avocados grow on trees

2006-08-06T09:44:00.001-07:00

we may move here to just get one of our own.

we started out the day here with a belgain waffle topped off with papaya, banana, coconut, macadamias, and whipped cream. don't worry jenny, we forgot to take a picture this time but we're going back because brian really wants another one.

we went to a produce market. we had been waiting to get our fruit there, but it wasn't all that cheap as we had hoped. we spent thirteen bucks on one pineapple, one avocado, one papaya, and a medium zip-lock of lychees.

they did have some pretty flowers.

including this chocolate orchid that really smelled like chocolate!

the day was really beautiful. most of our pictures we took with an underwater disposable, so y'all will have to wait, but here are a few more for you! kel, here is your confirmation, brian did shave the rest of his moustache off!

we enjoyed shaved ice, brian more than me because i got sugar free. it was still good.

these things are growing all over the place on massive trees.

we've been having a great time in our sweet ride. :)

guess where we are??!?!?!

2006-08-05T02:06:00.000-07:00

this isn't just any meal outside a wal-mart, no way, this was the first meal we ate yesterday upon arrival to kauai!!!

unfortuneately, we missed what we really wanted, lots of great grilled fish options, by about 5 minutes, but we had a lovely shredded pig, rice, tomato salad, and raw salmon salad, quite interesting.

my husband, brian the man not only got us first class upgrades for the way from seattle to hawaii, but also this lovely convertible!!

this made me quite happy.

we spent most of the day today snorkeling. we saw lots of fish, urchins, sea turtles, sea cucumbers and other stuff.

brian started off the day looking like this.

then his facial hair started getting in the way of his snorkel mask so he shaved.

i didn't like that look, so he tried again, but i didn't really like this one either so now he is clean shaven...

tomorrow i'll try to get some more pics up, but for now it is way past my bedtime. goodnight!!

a busy couple weeks

2006-07-23T19:21:00.000-07:00

so it's been a fun week or so. brian went to alaska for a week and while he was gone the grubes left for a week so i got to take care of pender (the cat) and the garden all on my own for a while.

for my birthday, brian and i went out to the red house, which is my favorite restaurant in our little neighborhood. he gave me two lovely neclaces and three gorgeous flower arrangements for the house. i would put pictures of them up, but it's been really hot here and they're getting all wilty.

our cucumbers are doing quite well, in fact, too well. i've been taking them to work to give them away and we still have about 15 in the fridge.

here's an example of one day's harvest. we get about this many in a week lately.

the tomatoes got a trim from brian when he got home because they were so heavy that they were collapsing their cages and spilling out over the sidewalk.

here's a shot of the whole garden as of yesterday. it's gotten quite lush! we've already harvested all the radishes, lettuce, broccoli, and many herbs.

in other news, the time has come to say good bye to the altima. it needs more repairs than we are prepared to make, so we're looking into other options. we're trying to figure out what we can afford, financing, and other things to make a good choice, but at this point we are looking at possibly a used subaru forester. very seattle, don't you think??

sorry kel, i'm a liar

2006-07-14T22:52:00.000-07:00

i didn't get the pics up as promised, my internet was broken. here's what's been going on in the van houten household.

we've been learning to cook over open fires on our many camping trips. these were particularly delicious. we enjoyed them in a particularly private creekside location a few weeks. it was just the two of us.

we set up the shelter and enjoyed peaceful book time in our side-by-side camp recliners.

except when the posessed dear came into our campsite.

the true seattlites forgot their percolator. note the tube sock. we really don't recommend it, especially if you use fabric softener.

brian is really proud of how we've mastered camp bacon. this fire was at the bumping lake campground when we camped with rudy and anne and their two dogs.

we really need to start taking pictures of us together. here's brian looking cute, but we don't have any together ones.

for our anniversary weekend we stayed at the woodland cabin again, which brought back many great honeymoon memories and reminders of how exciting it was to be finally married. we had a great time hiking and relaxing and enjoying each other's company.

we went on a hike at mt. rainier, which turned out to be much shorter than planned because there was much more snow than we anticipated. brian got in a high altitude run, though. that's him in the white shirt on the patch of non-snow.

he returned from the run invigorated and we slid back down the mountain on our butts with glee. actually, it was really cold and that icy snow is kind of sharp and grainy. it was still fun.

on the ecening of the 4th we went up to the penthouse in brian's old apartment because they were putting on a huge fireworks show for our anniversary.

i'd consider going back to renting for this view.

four days and counting....

2006-06-30T19:45:00.000-07:00

so it's been busy here!! i really need to get up some pictures of our garden, it's like a jungle. just wanted to give y'all an update...

we've camped the last 3 weekends straight. 3 weeks ago we went camping with our friends rudy and anne. i'm stil waiting to get the pictures from her. i'd say the highlight was kayaking for the first time with brian. it was a one-seater so he first towed me in a rubber raft and then i took over the kayak and towed him!!

2 weeks ago we went by ourselves and found a spot by a raging cold creek. it was great.

last week we chaperoned for a teen camp-out with some of the teens from our northwest reach camp. they were great kids and we had fun. i recommend coming to camp!! if you look at the link, there is a picture of a bunch of people on a hayride, my face is in there, in the back, framed by the guy in the turquoise button-up's arm. that's from two years ago.

and now...our anniversary is in 4 days!! we're renting out the cabin that we used on our honeymoon. i'll have to make a great photo blog with the highlights. check out the link and click the picture links near the bottom, it's so cool!!

sorry 'bout that

2006-06-21T20:48:00.000-07:00

due to the multiple requests to get that "sad" "pathetic" or "ugly" dog off the top of our page....

the garden is doing well!!

actually, these pictures are a couple weeks old. i'll get some new ones up soon.

we've been very busy with doing some camping and other adventures, which i'll post up soon.

bye!

poor little guy

2006-06-04T20:10:00.000-07:00

i found this little guy wandering the streets today. i was leaving the house for a walk and saw him wandering down the street. i started to follow him and it became clear right away that he was lost. my neighbor fran had also been following him on her bike and said he had been following him as he went up and down the street.

i decided that i would try to get him on some kind of leash to prevent him from being hit by cars and try to follow him around the neighborhood to see if he would lead me home. fran caught him while i was looking for some string. he seems to be totally indifferent to the world around him. he has cataracts, doesn't respond to sounds, and makes no eye contact. he doesn't seem to notice if you pick him up or to have any desire for affection.

he seemed pretty disoriented on our little walk, just going in one direction and then going back the other way over and over. i kept asking people if they recognize him but no one does. it makes me sad. i'm going to try to turn him over to a no-kill humane society tomorrow because no one is open tonight. i guess he'll stay here for the night.

a really great day

2006-06-01T23:26:00.000-07:00

so regretting the lameness of my post from earlier today and remembering beth's request to tell a bit about how i met the ellusive brian, i went looking through my computer. i realized that i have a lot of good pictures from us dating but none in digital form. so here's a bit about the wedding.

i don't really remember being nervous, but it was quite surreal to be the bride at a wedding. i've played lots of other roles, but i think this one may have been the most fun. :)

brian, much like me, wasn't nervous either. he was very cute though.

the ceremony was quick and with few hitches. the biggest problem was that i couldn't seem to find brian's left hand. i kept reaching for his right to put the ring on, and he kept pulling it back, so i kept more forcibly reaching for it. i finally figured out that he wasn't being a jerk, i was just confused...

the reception was really cute and a lot of fun. we had cupcakes!

it was a perfect day. i wish i could remember more of it! i realize that i have lots of fond memories of that day, but both brian and i agree that if we had it to do again, we would alot MUCH more time so we could experience it.

up next...how we got to that point! (sometime, i really need to scan some pictures!)

the low-down...

2006-06-01T17:55:00.000-07:00

it's been a while since i last posted. not much is really going on but we here in the yellow house have been quite busy. we have been very much enjoying our new neighbors jason and shannon grube. they've been renting the place in our backyard. we don't know how long it's going to last, but we're taking advantage of it while it lasts. they are looking at possible out of town job opportunities in the next few months.

we're also in the process of buying a washer and dryer for the back place because ours are broken. life is exciting!

it's raining today, not much to say, but i just wanted to say hello.

finally...we're home!

2006-05-22T21:50:00.000-07:00

well, for jenny, i'll start this off with a shot of.....the food!! i was shocked at the quality, volume, and selection at all the places along the 497 miles of dalton highway. i guess the reason is that there are only 3 places. pretty much all the residents of the towns eat at the hotels, the residents total of all three locales is about 60 total. no shopping except general stores, no theaters, pretty much you have to have good food.

we saw so many things on the way. the scenery changed from scrappy trees to smaller trees and shrubs to ice and tundra.

brian made sure he looked extra fetching.

one of hte first stops was just 20 minutes past fairbanks at joy. it was the home of a very large family. i don't know much about it, but it's now mostly a pit stop.

it's really quite a ways from the arctic circle but the sign was cute.

the rest rooms were quite luxurious.

here's a ladies' room.

and so was everything else there. :)

below are some other images from the drive.

this is my favorite of when two arctic foxes came out to play. he was leaping!

the caribou were very casual about our presence.

this is a zoom in on a mother and baby moose.

the road was scenic.

there's not much snow, but occasionally we came upon an avalanche zone and weather station.

on the first day of the drive up we got to go over the yukon river.

the bridge is made of wood and it goes downhill 6% as you drive north.

we got out at the yukon to look around.

the ice was very glassy and broke in long skinny needles.

the river was thawed out on the west of the bridge with chunks of ice floating on it.

it was still frozen to the east.

later we crossed the real arctic circle.

the first night on the road we spent in coldfoot. it is a town that basically exists in order to service the dalton highway.

it gets cold.

it's pretty rustic.

the hotel is made from movable travel trailers built together. all the rooms have two twin beds. it was good sleeping.

the second day on the road was another long one. we got to stop at the last tree. note the duct tape. some idiot cut it down last year. it's dead now.

in prudhoe bay, there is pretty much just ice and tundra and gravel roads and equiptment.

once again, the hotels were luxurious.

it's a booming industrial town.

it's in the middle of nowhere.

this is where we ate.

this was our hotel.

look at the time!

it never gets dark this time of year. the sun set the day we were there at 1:30 am and rose at 2:08. we wanted to get up at 1:25 to watch the sun rise and then set but the alarm didn't work. fortunately, we were sharing a twin bed and i was excited so we woke up at 2 and went outside.

we had a great trip. we were 7 miles from the arctic ocean. we were planning to get to go see and touch it on a tour but due to a scheduling oversight we had to leave at 4 am and the tour wasn't until later in the morning. that was very disappointing, but it was ok. we'll just have to go back.

oh, i forgot to mention the pipeline. we followed the pipeline all the way from fairbanks to prudhoe bay. it's quite the feat.

it swerves around bends, above ground, under ground...

sometimes when it's under ground there are fins sticking out. they have something to do with temperature regulation.

it never seemed to end.

well, i'd better sign off and see if this thing even posts!

chena hot springs....alaska day 1

2006-05-14T01:18:00.000-07:00

this is a picture of me in a shady valley. check out the time it is in the image. cool, huh? the next few days will be even more drastic because we're headed 497 miles north!

we took a tour of an ice museum where they had ice hotel rooms you could rent!

they had an ice bar with glasses hand carved from ice!

and the biggest ice sculpture in the world!

don't you all want to come??!!!?!?

i can see denali from here!

2006-05-13T11:22:00.000-07:00

we're on the seventh floor of the fairbanks westmark! the almost imperceptible blur to the right of the square building in the top of the treeline is mt. mckinley.

how could i forget?

2006-05-13T11:07:00.000-07:00

how could i forget to mention any facts about someone this cute?''''

brian wants me to let you know that it took him 32 wheelbarrow-fuls to fill up the garden and three changes of cold wet clothes.

so much to say...

2006-05-08T19:58:00.000-07:00

well, first, last saturday (meaning about 10 days ago), we had a load of dirt delivered. brian shoveled and shoveled until he filled up the vegetable bed he had made.

here it is empty. it took him lots of trips in the rain and it smelled like manure. he was very cold and wet.

here it is all full of dirt.

then my parents came to visit. they had just gotten off a cruise in vancouver. we drove to pick them up.

and then we at at a place called cafe barney. it was really good, but a bit spicy at times.

back at home we had a great visit with my parents and brian's parents. brian couldn't keep out of the yard though.

here is more of his handiwork.

we did get out some.

we visited cafe verite and had some of our wedding cake cupcakes.

so many delicious flavors, including "mo fro" which is new. it's chocolate and espresso.

they were good and reminded us of the wedding.

we also went to the ballard locks where we discovered we had accidentally broken in.

they did have pretty flowers.

and a guy with a parrot.

we went to see boats too.

it was a great time. it was good to have such a nice visit. wow, it jut took me 2 hours to set this all up. i wish i had timem to write more!

it's been a while

2006-04-26T14:32:00.000-07:00

i tell you, it's rough not having the internet at home. i usually have to post from the in-laws' house or coffee shops. i've not had much coffee lately and i forgot my computer at our weekly monday night date with brian's parents.

correction: to my horror, i discovered that the "i just can't help myself post had cut off part of my letter about brian and was missing part of one paragraph and all of one or two more at the end. that unfortunate problem is now fixed.

we've been busily preparing the house and yard for a visit from my parents. that's been about all we've been up to. i've included some pics. we love our yard.

this is a view of our really big red tulips and the baskets of strawberries i was planting. we now have five hanging strawberry baskets in the back yard which should add some quaint color as well as delicious snacks come summer time.

here brian is fixing our hanging flowerbeds. they came with the house but were built so that they would drain down the side of the house and rot out the siding. brian fixed them and soon we'll plant "supertunias" in them. they look like petunias but apparently they are something special. i guess they are disease resistant and low maintenance.

this is the inside of our suprise purple tulips. we didn't know they were there!

these are two of the strawberry baskets i did. they're right outside the kitchen window of our little house out back. happy dishwashing!

these are the walla walla sweet onions brian planted. they're really good, especially on the grill, but we don't know if we killed them or not.

last but not least, this is our carport. no one can drive a car to it because of the way the houses and the garden are, so it is more of a covered patio area. it's messy right now, because of all the gardening and garage sale stuff, but we plan to have it cleaned out by the time my parents come. it's really fun to hang out there on warm summer nights.

now that you've all seen how splendid it is at the van houten residence, you should all come visit!

still waiting...

2006-04-20T19:08:00.000-07:00

this picture really has nothing to do with the post. in an effort to keep people engaged and checking the post i feel compelled to post a picture. i find that when people don't post often and the posts don't have pictures, i have to really be interested to keep on reading.

so here is the ship that brian and i went on our honeymoon in. it was great fun. we'll probably be posting some of the pictures from our trip soon. so consider this picture a preview.

brian is coming home late tomorrow night. yay!

poor megan

2006-04-18T18:37:00.000-07:00

brian had to leave today for a trip to anchorage. it was particularly not fun saying goodbye this morning. :( maybe he'll bring me chocolates.

i just can't help myself

2006-04-17T21:04:00.000-07:00

so, i had intended not to use this blog for the spewing of personal feelings and more reflective entries, but i am a newlywed and that permits me certain lapses in resolve.

the following is a copy of a comment i made on a friend's blog. as i was writing it, it became not only a bit of a love letter to brian, but the kind of stuff i would talk about with friends in those late night conversations that i miss so much. so, here it is. i want to share. i also want to hear what you think.

married folk, engaged folk, here is the chance to gush and rave about how the one you love has changed you. single fold, married folk, everyone, what have your friend/work/family relationships taught you? here's mine:

i don't think that a struggle with just about anything makes a person "unmarriageable." i think that when two people meet and they are really supposed to be together, God opens their hearts and eyes to each other in a beautiful way.

the way i see it, people are flawed in ways that they themselves are aware of and some that they are unaware of. for me, being in this relationship from the start as friends all the way to now as a married couple is causing me to reflect on both of those kinds.

those that we are aware of cause us to feel ashamed and unloveable. the "how could anyone love me while i still do/have/can't do __________?" takes root in our minds and the instinct is to hide them away and hope that no one notices them.

for me with brian, i have found that i can't hide them. some are amazingly transparent. i never knew this until i was becoming more serious with brian and we were having conversations on the heart level. he would mention something about a flaw i had and it would shock me. 'oh my gosh, he's noticed that?' but the expected catastrophic loss of love and respect and relationship as a result of this flaw never came.

as i began to notice this incredible grace he was extending towards me, i wondered why. the answer was simple, i was doing the same for him as regularly. “love covers over a multitude of sins” (1 peter 4:8). i realized that there really is no point in hiding a weakness from brian because he likely knows it already or will soon find out. i trust that God has brought us together in part to illuminate these flaws and to push each other to improve.

those other flaws, the ones I didn’t realize, were a different kind of creature. we’re at the nine month mark in our marriage right now. living together allows for lots and lots of together time. my first instinct as someone who is usually not too aware of my own interpersonal relationship-type flaws is to be defensive, get angry, or think that brian is just being too sensitive. i've had to learn to listen to what he is saying and realize that it is all too often valid. in spite of occasional imperfect presentation by him in these moments of hurt or annoyance that i've caused, i'm growing from these conversations. and i get to give that same gift to him.

so while there were plenty of things about me that i figured would be insurmountable obstacles for any guy of quality, i found someone. right in a place where i wasn’t looking at a time when it was far from my mind, God pushed this equally flawed and gifted man. i like him.

oh boy. we got our x-box back

2006-04-16T13:02:00.000-07:00

after a very long abscence, brian's faulty x-box has been repaired. not only repaired, but modified to be a super x-box capable of storing like
50 trillion gigabytes or something of memory. we can now put games on it and store all our movies and our cds and games. brian is now revelling in the glory of old games such as q-bert. this brings back wonderful memories of his childhood playing games with his sister. there has been a lot of x-boxing going on in the van houten household.

this one is for christy.

perhaps some of you noticed that one of brian's interests in our profile is "pirating." this has been his game of choice lately.

this is his really tough pirate look. i think he is a cute pirate.

2006-04-15T21:12:00.000-07:00

Springtime at the Van Houten's

Here's a view:

We planted grape hyacinths....

Tulips with a few remaining daffodils...

And a few suprises like these purple tulips we didn't know were there.

2006-04-14T16:11:00.000-07:00

gosh, i feel computer illiterate. i'm trying to make a blog and i can't seem to find a way to make a profile photo, but i can put one in the posts themselves. hmm. i guess i need to make a call to someone...

2006-04-14T15:28:00.000-07:00

Well, I think I've determined that you have to have a post before you can find a blog online....am I right?? Don't answer that, this is a self-test.