Well, although life has been pretty slow lately we thought we should at least say hello!
Some highlights of the new year so far have been:
*Brandon turned 27 years old!!!
*Carole continues to work on her application to a program to get her teacher certification. So far this has included a lot of work on an application essay, taking Math 99 at the community college, and taking the WEST-B. The WEST-B is a skills assessment for people who want to go into a teaching program. I think mine went pretty well, I feel confident! My math class has actually been fun, and has made me feel a little more confident about going back to school, so that is good! There is still a long haul left on the application process. If I pass the test and they like my application then I face a group and an individual interview. Hopefully the time passes quickly so I know soon whether I am in or not! If I do get in I'll start in June and it is a one-year intensive program that combines my schooling with several days a week in a school in Bellingham.
*Brandon has started the recruiting portion of his year, so far he has visited Concordia in Portland. This will culminate in his visit to Lake Placid, NY the end of February to trade applications with the other camps of the Lutheran association that Lutherwood is a part of. He is getting excited for this trip because he'll also spend a few days visiting his best friend John, who just joined the Secret Service and is now in New York City. Carole, unfortunately won't be able to make it as planned because of class and work commitments. =(
*Smokey's jaw has healed completely, you can't even see where it was broken on the x-rays. He's enjoying chewing things again!
I guess that sums it up for the most part. Don't forget, we are always open to having visitors!!!
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
Friday, January 12, 2007
Whew, a scare!
We had quite the scare last night. We thought Bandit had gone on to fish heaven. Which is easy to think when he has his head shoved under a rock on the bottom of his bowl and his tail is sticking straight up. But when Brandon gave him a nudge he seemed to be just fine. We did move him a little closer to the heater, because we are having weather that is just not supposed to happen around here and our furnace is having a little trouble keeping up!
We have about a foot of snow (which Smokey is loving, at least) and it hasn't gotten above freezing for 3 days. In a place that it rarely gets BELOW freezing we aren't sure what to do with that!!! But, the good news is...it has been sunny!!!! Yeah!!!!
We have about a foot of snow (which Smokey is loving, at least) and it hasn't gotten above freezing for 3 days. In a place that it rarely gets BELOW freezing we aren't sure what to do with that!!! But, the good news is...it has been sunny!!!! Yeah!!!!
Friday, January 05, 2007
=+=I'm a math genius!!+=+
So on Tuesday I started the math class, Math 99, I have to have before I can get into the teaching program I'm applying to and I left class feeling like I was a) old and b) very far behind, since everyone else in there had just finished the Math 98 class last quarter. On Wednesday we got our first homework and as I did it I thought, "hey, I remember most of this" On Thursday our professor asked if anyone had any questions and I realized "I'm a Math Genius!" (I know, I know, there are no stupid questions, but still!)
Wednesday, January 03, 2007
Memories of Vacation
Hi everybody! We just wanted to let you know some of what our Christmas vacation was like. This year we decided along with Carole's parents and brothers to take a trip somewhere fun. We chose Zion National Park because we could then also catch a Phoenix reunion of Dad's parents and brothers, and all their families.
Zion was amazing. Every morning we would walk out of the lodge and just look up and up and up, and go "wow" We spent our days like this: Breakfast (a yummy, yummy buffet in the Zion Lodge), followed by a 2-4 mile hike, then we'd come back to the rooms for a bit, have a snack, then go for another hike, or a drive, or to the visitor's center, then come back, have a glass of wine by the fireplace, go to dinner (delicious every night no matter where we went!) come back, go to sleep, start all over. It was fabulous. We were there from the 23rd through the 27th.
Then we drove the LONG drive to Phoenix. Mom decided to chase some non-existant =( California Condors, but Connor, Kendall, and we instead detoured to some Anasazi ruins. These were really amazing, too, just the fact that they've survived since 1100! We drove past Sunset Volcano, but didn't get out and look around because it was getting late and it was SNOWING! Luckily we soon dropped back down to the warmer part of the desert into Phoenix.
Phoenix was not as warm as we had hoped it would be but it was a load of fun. Carole's Dad has 4 brothers, and when you add up all the aunts, cousins, grandparents, and one new grandson-in-law (Brandon) we came to a whopping 21 people. The most fun was just getting to see our family again, since we hadn't seen any of them since the wedding. Cousins Laura and Matt had to work, so we didn't get to see them all that much, but we did spend a lot of time with Cousins Livvie, Emma, and Noah. Emma and Noah didn't even remember us, so we had a good time making them think we were fun. Of course we are old, so they thought we should be aunts and uncles, not cousins....
Some of what we did in Phoenix: The Heard Museum (a museum of native cultures, mostly Native American tribes in the Arizona area. VERY cool place), PF Changs for lunch (yum!) followed by a trip to the busiest mall I've ever seen, the Phoenix zoo, and a delicious Mexican restraunt that I can't think of the name of (not Brandon's favorite part of the trip), the obligatory photos of every possible combo of people. Other than that we pretty much ate. and ate. and ate. Fudge, cookies, barbeque, smoked pork fajitas, shrimp gumbo, turkey soup, ahhhhh...I do love food =)
Brandon and I departed Phoenix around 11:00 the night of the 30th after dinner out for Mexican with everyone. We were flying of of Las Vegas so we had about a 5 1/2 hour drive. We got to drive over the Hoover Dam, which we both agree we'd like to see in the daylight. We got into Las Vegas about 4:00, dropped off the rental car and got to the airport so early they wouldn't even let us check in our luggage yet! Once we had finally done that we crashed at our gate for a few hours before getting back to Seattle via San Jose.
Seattle was unusually kind to us and allowed the sun to come out long enough to greet us! Our awesome friend Nichol picked us up and the three of us (plus Smokey and Everest) had a very nice New Year's Eve watching "The Devil Wears Prada" (not as good as the book) and "Little Miss Sunshine" (stinking hilarious, sweet, all around great movie) The next morning we tried to go have a nice breakfast but it turns out all good chefs take New Year's off, so we ended up at IHOP. Then we drove home. It is good to be home.
Zion was amazing. Every morning we would walk out of the lodge and just look up and up and up, and go "wow" We spent our days like this: Breakfast (a yummy, yummy buffet in the Zion Lodge), followed by a 2-4 mile hike, then we'd come back to the rooms for a bit, have a snack, then go for another hike, or a drive, or to the visitor's center, then come back, have a glass of wine by the fireplace, go to dinner (delicious every night no matter where we went!) come back, go to sleep, start all over. It was fabulous. We were there from the 23rd through the 27th.
Then we drove the LONG drive to Phoenix. Mom decided to chase some non-existant =( California Condors, but Connor, Kendall, and we instead detoured to some Anasazi ruins. These were really amazing, too, just the fact that they've survived since 1100! We drove past Sunset Volcano, but didn't get out and look around because it was getting late and it was SNOWING! Luckily we soon dropped back down to the warmer part of the desert into Phoenix.
Phoenix was not as warm as we had hoped it would be but it was a load of fun. Carole's Dad has 4 brothers, and when you add up all the aunts, cousins, grandparents, and one new grandson-in-law (Brandon) we came to a whopping 21 people. The most fun was just getting to see our family again, since we hadn't seen any of them since the wedding. Cousins Laura and Matt had to work, so we didn't get to see them all that much, but we did spend a lot of time with Cousins Livvie, Emma, and Noah. Emma and Noah didn't even remember us, so we had a good time making them think we were fun. Of course we are old, so they thought we should be aunts and uncles, not cousins....
Some of what we did in Phoenix: The Heard Museum (a museum of native cultures, mostly Native American tribes in the Arizona area. VERY cool place), PF Changs for lunch (yum!) followed by a trip to the busiest mall I've ever seen, the Phoenix zoo, and a delicious Mexican restraunt that I can't think of the name of (not Brandon's favorite part of the trip), the obligatory photos of every possible combo of people. Other than that we pretty much ate. and ate. and ate. Fudge, cookies, barbeque, smoked pork fajitas, shrimp gumbo, turkey soup, ahhhhh...I do love food =)
Brandon and I departed Phoenix around 11:00 the night of the 30th after dinner out for Mexican with everyone. We were flying of of Las Vegas so we had about a 5 1/2 hour drive. We got to drive over the Hoover Dam, which we both agree we'd like to see in the daylight. We got into Las Vegas about 4:00, dropped off the rental car and got to the airport so early they wouldn't even let us check in our luggage yet! Once we had finally done that we crashed at our gate for a few hours before getting back to Seattle via San Jose.
Seattle was unusually kind to us and allowed the sun to come out long enough to greet us! Our awesome friend Nichol picked us up and the three of us (plus Smokey and Everest) had a very nice New Year's Eve watching "The Devil Wears Prada" (not as good as the book) and "Little Miss Sunshine" (stinking hilarious, sweet, all around great movie) The next morning we tried to go have a nice breakfast but it turns out all good chefs take New Year's off, so we ended up at IHOP. Then we drove home. It is good to be home.
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