Memorial Day 2011

Remember last year's post about our Memorial Day Weekend festivities?

Well this year's plans seemed to have a very common theme. I think I see a tradition in the making . . .

Once again, we spent an awesome weekend at the cabin. And once again visited the fabulous Packwood Flea Market.

We had fun playing games . . .

Spending time on the iPad . . .

Enjoying the scenery . . .

And adventuring on a hike.

All in all, a great weekend!

White Water Rafting . . . Part II

The pictures have arrived.

I think it's cool that these companies do this . . . sure it's just another way to get money, but there is no way we could have gotten these kinds of pictures any other way. Somebody was definately thinking . . .

Anyway, I put them in the order they were taken. There's kind of a lot, but this way you can pretty much see us going over one of the waves second by second. . .

And we made it!

My Turn!

My 24th birthday fell last Friday, the 20th.

This year I celebrated my actual birthday by going to work. It may not sound like much fun, but thanks to my awesome co-workers and them bringing me awesome cakes, I had a great time.

Monday night we were able to celebrate with our families. A dinner at Red Robin was delicious, and I was spoiled, once again, with some wonderful gifts.

One Tired Puppy

While we were out of town, Westin was able to stay at Joel's parent's house. He really enjoys going there, because he gets to hang out with his good friends Madison and Suzie. But when we brought him home, this is all we got from him . . .

For two days straight.

Literally, he hardly moved, never ate, and slept in bed pretty much the entire time.
I'm thinking it was safe to say he got his fair share of exercise . . .

White Water Rafting . . . Part I

So I have to say that white water rafting was tons of fun.

I will admit that I was absolutely terrified pretty much the entire time. I'm obviously a pretty cautious person, to put it mildly. Afterall, when I was a kid, they had to come pre-warn me when they were going to do a fire drill at school.

Embarassing, yes. But . . . those are the facts.

Because of how embarassing that is, I decided a couple years ago that I was going to make a conscious effort to 'step out of the box' more. I decided that I would try almost anything once (aside from sky diving and bungee jumping) because most of the time, I ended up enjoying it in the end. I realized that I was missing out on things just because I was scared to try them, when most of the time there was no reason to wimp out in the beginning.

Sometimes this motto works for me. Other times not so much . . . roller coasters normally being one of those times. But that's a whole other story for another time.

But in the end, I have to say that I'm really glad I tried white water rafting. For some this probably isn't a big deal, but like I say, it was pretty big time for me. And in the end, I was able to give myself a pat on the back and say 'I did it.'

Plus, I had a blast. Even better. And in the end I was even saying 'lets do this again!'

The other plus side to this whole thing is that we were able to do it with family, and even make an entire weekend out of it. It was tons of fun to have a full boat of people I know and like to spend time with, and that encouraged me that it was going to be ok. And now we can all refer to 'that time we went white water rafting together.'

So for now you are left with these few pictures, again courtesy of Krista. There will be pictures to come in the future though . . . the CD is on it's way.

Changes

I've obviously decided to become a little adventurous with my blog and change things up a bit. I keep finding all of these blogs that are so cute and have so much detail to them, while finding mine kind of boring.

Soooo . . . I've decided to venture out a bit. Give me some time . . . I have a hard time figuring these things out. I suppose having a computer-savy husband has its downfalls, as I'm always leaving the computer things up to him.

So when that computer-savy husband has some time to help me out, I'll be able to finish this thing up. But meanwhile, stick with me as I keep 'trying things out.'

And if you have any editing suggestions, please feel free to share . . . like I say, this is definately one of those learning processes.

The Hat Store

A fun little store that Kelsey, Krista and I visited . . .

(Some photos courtesy of Krista)

Leavenworth

Over the weekend, we were lucky enough to go on a mini road-trip with Joel's sister and husband, brother and girlfriend, other brother, and my sister.

Joel's sister, Krista, was gracious enough to plan a white water rafting trip for all of us. The whole weekend was tons of fun, as was the white water rafting (although I was terrified the entire time). But there will be more on that later, once we get more pictures back.

But on Friday afternoon, we traveled to a cabin that Krista was able to arrange and 'borrow.' It was a few miles outside of Leavenworth, and was beautiful!

That night, we ventured into Leavenworth.

Now I know that most people that live around here (or in the state of Washington really) have been to Leavenworth. Most of the time when I mention that I've never been, I seem to get the "are you kidding?!" response. Especially with our large German background, I felt like it was a place that I should have probably been sooner.

And after going, that's probably the case. I loved it! It was a cute little town, with tons of the little shops that I love. All full of random trinkets.

We also went out for a German dinner, in what I would imagine is a 'typical' German restaurant. There was even an accordian player taking requests.

Like I say, tons of fun. It was a really nice way to get away for a bit, really relax and have fun.

**Also, a very special birthday goes out today to my friend Jen!**