Mount Rainier National Park

One of the things on my Washington Bucket List has been to go to Mount Rainier. So, in July I booked one of Jesse's good friends who is an Eagle Scout and avid hiker/camper to be our guide for a weekend adventure on September 11-12. John brought along his gal, Kiara, and voila! We had a double camp date!

Wilkeson, WA is the last town before entering the park so we took a cute picture at this caboose.

We're in the park!

See?

The boys made it to the park too.

Probably my new favorite picture of Jesse and me (with Carbon River behind us).

While John was our group expert, he still got some advice from Ranger Joe at the station.

Packs on--we're ready to hike! We hiked 5 miles (only 600 feet gain in elevation) to our campsite.

And the rear view...

Pretty Mount Rainier National Park

Our lunch spot (bagel sandwiches with salami & muenster cheese--yum!)

The boys started blabbing about video games, so Kiara and I took off ahead.

We made it to camp!

After setting up camp, we took off for an 8 mile (round trip) hike to Carbon Glacier. This was NOT for the faint of heart. Here I am with the river we had to cross on these teeny little bridges.

Clouds in the mountains

At one point, we were afraid we might run out of water on the hike. John pondered what to do...

Jesse found the perfect solution! We could fill our bottles at the falls!

Jesse & me at Ipsut Falls

Can you find me in the picture?

John is the photo bomb champion. I had NO idea he did this until I looked back at our pictures later in the evening.

But apparently, one photo bomb wasn't enough.

Crossing one of the teeny bridges.

Suspension bridge! So scary!

Jesse and I made it to Carbon Glacier! So dirty it doesn't look like a glacier!

This mossy stuff was both cool and creepy.

After 13 miles of hiking, we were tiiiiiired. So we settled in with hot cocoa. Wait, who's that guy without a headlamp?

Look at my beef cake pumping us some filtered water from the river...so dreamy.

Group shot at Chenuis Falls on the 5 mile hike back in the next day. These falls were much more beautiful!

Jesse and I at Chenuis Falls

I was a little sad to not see the actual Mount Rainier from our spot in the park (blocked by mountains, oh the irony). John, Kiara, Jesse, and I are already planning to go back next year and hit up another part of the park closer to Mount Rainier, like Sunrise.

Did I mention?

I got my first full-time, permanent position in Seattle EVER! (Unless you count The Crazy Place, otherwise known as The Art Institute, which I don't.)

I am the newest academic advisor (technically, Student Success Specialist--ooh fancy) at North Seattle Community College, where I filled in for an advisor on maternity leave for 5 months before going back to Texas. I love the staff I worked with and the students are awesome! I'm also looking forward to things such as a steady paycheck and health insurance (now that I get the pins yanked out of my finger at what I believe is my last appointment with the hand surgeon this Friday).

My first day is tomorrow!

PS Jesse and I went hiking/camping at Mt. Rainier National Park this weekend with some friends...it was awesome and we got lots of great pictures that will be posted soon so stay tuned!

Texas Vacay 2010

Cousins--Witt, Lacey & Annie

Vacation in Texas last month was awesome! I spent a week in South Texas at the condo with the fam. They've been mentioned on the blog lots, but because it can get confusing here is a cast of characters:
Royce & Cynthia (uncle & aunt)
Royce (aka Big Un), Lauren, Lacey, & Annie (cousin, his wife, and their 2 girls)
Witt (cousin Beau & wife Ann's precious baby)
Kate (awesome cuz)
Gayle & Lynn (great aunt & uncle)

Witt loves his bouncy chair--he stayed happily in it once for 45 minutes!

Lovely South Texas coast

Chillin' with Lacey

Big Un, Lauren, Lacey & Annie

Lauren & Annie in the pool

Two of my favorites! Cynthia & Gayle

Baby Witt--he's so beautiful!

Gayle & Lacey

Lauren & Witt

Red fish...dinner was usually the catch of the day

Auntie Pegs & Baby Witt

Gayle & the kiddos

Lacey helps feed Witt

Royce (aka Pops) and Witt)

Kate, Gayle, Cynthia, & Pegs

Ladies' Pedicures--Lacey & Annie got butterfly chairs!

Silly Lacey

Cynthia & Annie

Pops & Witt

Annie prepared herself for a nap

Auntie Pegs & Annie

The Second Half--At the Byrd House in Round Rock

While I did see Josh, Amy, Mels, and Summer, you'll notice my only pics were of Emma! Here she is with the Seattle Space Needle cup I brought her.

Chillin' at the pool

Loving the water!

So I did get one with Josh & Amy...and Emma of course!

Auntie Pegs & Emma

I had A LOT of Chick-Fil-A while in Texas...it was everything I remembered it to be. Sweet, sweet chicken bliss...especially when paired with a cookies 'n' cream milkshake!

Stick this in your pipe and smoke it.

I had to go commando after working out at the U yesterday. I forgot to pack skivvies. That meant I had to endure the bus ride home feeling like everyone could see bootie dimples and uber-jiggles. Ugh.

I sat next to The Most Annoying Person Ever on the flight back to Seattle from Austin. 4 solid hours. Considering how much I fly, this says a lot. First, he busted out the sandwich he brought on the plane with him and proceeded to be absolutely disgusting. Lettuce everywhere. Smacking away. Ramming me with his left arm. But that was only the beginning of the nightmare to come. After eating, he chewed gum...loudly. And used his index finger to move it all around and stretch it out. At first I thought the gum was just getting stuck, then I realized The Awful Truth. This is how this guy chews gum. And he plans to do it for the rest.of.the.flight. This was way worse than the time I flew to Africa next to an African woman with her 2 year old son who swiped my mashed potatoes right off my tray. That was amateur hour compared to this guy. I turned on my iPod and put my hand up to my face trying to block it out. Except the damage was done. It was like when you were little and you played Tetris for too.damn.long. So when you went to bed that night, you closed your eyes and could only see Tetris pieces falling. Even with my hand over my face, I could still see him twirling that gum with his finger.

What kind of world do we live in? Spell check isn't recognizing "Tetris."

On my Texas vacation (pictures to come), my cousin changed my life forever by introducing me to Vitamin Water Zero, specifically Acai-Blueberry-Pomegranate.

Is it awful that I watched Bachelor Pad the other night and didn't think it was awful?

I sent my advisor a draft of 2/3 of my big fat General Exam. It's 45 pages. Jesse calculated that I basically wrote 5/9 of it with a broken finger requiring a cast on my left (dominant) hand, 3/9 of it with a badly sprained ankle, and maybe 1/9 with no injuries. They should just give me the friggin' degree now.

Mama Shirley's New Life

Big day tomorrow for Mama Shirley

Go here

If you are the kind of person who prays...

When I was in West Africa my first year, I was part of a team that included 9 journeymen (singles in their 20s usually just out of college committed to serving for 2 years), a missionary couple, and another couple who were in their 60s also committed for 2 years to running our guesthouse for volunteers. Bill & Shirley, the older couple, were fondly regarded...we called Shirley "Mama Shirley."

Today, I heard that Bill & Shirley were in a car accident on June 20th. Bill is fine, but Mama Shirley sustained serious injuries, the most serious being a spinal cord injury with a prediction from doctors that she likely won't walk again. However, an infection has now occurred and Mama Shirley isn't doing too well.

There is a blog you can visit if you are the sort of person who likes to read blogs of people you may not actually know, and if you are the sort of person who might pray for someone who coud really use it even if you don't know them well. Here's the blog: http://shirleynolte.wordpress.com/