Catching up...

It's been awhile since my last post...I've been thinking about blogging but it seems things have gotten busy here. Work has been busy and I find that there is enough paperwork to put in a full 8 hour day (what happened to the part -time stuff I signed up for???) which will be great when the paycheck comes but exhausting right now. Adam is still working on the bathrooms and they are looking good! I can't wait to post pictures.

Sooooo, what's this little Alaskan family been up to lately???....Well..... We've been dreaming of our travel adventures (This picture was taken in Oregon and I love love love it!).

Having fires with silly friends!

Babysitting for our Carriker friends. I love these two little monkeys!

A little impromptu berry picking...

and of course, a little beach combing.

XOXO

In the midst of it all.

I just love this little family picture. Our trip was such a nice way to relax and reconnect and I'm missing it already. Sometimes I wish we lived somewhere with sandy beaches and sunshine but then the clouds split and the sun peaks out to show Juneau in all of its glory and it makes up for every single rainy day. Plus, we have such wonderful friends here that aren't worth trading for all the beaches in the world!

Adam and I have both jumped right in to busy schedules and are looking forward to the weekend. I've been splitting my time this week between summer school and the mental health center and Adam has started remodeling our bathrooms. We'll be looking at selling our condo within the next year (hopefully!!!) so if you're looking to buy a condo in Juneau ALASKA let me know =)

Even with the busy schedules we've still found time to hang out and enjoy each other. We've fallen back into our simple little routine of having dinner together, watching our favorite t.v. episodes (right now it's John from Cincinnatti), walking Rosco and going for short little drives (yes, we still enjoy our evening drives together even after our 6,000 mile road trip!).

as promised

I've just started downloading...uploading...and posting all the pictures from our wonderful road trip. I love the pre and post trip excitement almost as much as the trip itself! It's so fun planning where you'll go, what you'll do and who you'll see...then you get to live it again with the pictures and memories.
I'll leave you with a few pictures of the wedding rehearsal in Estes Park, Colorado. Adam and I fell in love with Estes Park. It's such a beautiful little town and is definitely on our list of places to visit next time we're in Colorado!

Josh and Erin practicing their kiss =)
Adam & Josh

Me and the hubby

Family portrait before the rehearsal

Dad and Mom (who celebrated their THIRTIETH anniversary a week before Josh & Erin's wedding!)

More pictures to come throughout the week. I've started working again and it's been busy but I promise to get more pictures up soon =)

Back to it...

Vacation has been wonderful. There's nothing better than sleeping in,
sun bathing and hanging out under the stars.
However, I'm ready to get back to my ol' schedule. I start working
tomorrow. I'm subbing for a friend who's teaching summer school and am
also doing a few assessments at JAMHI (the mental health center).
Since i've been eating fast food, camp food and wedding cake for the
last month I decided that it was time to get back to the gym.
Hopefully I can get back in gear and be in semi-decent shape before
the start of the school year.

Happy birthday,love.

Happy birthday to my hubby.
I love hanging out with this guy! It's been awesome having the last
few weeks to drive, thrift, explore and laugh together.

Three worn out pups..

That's what we are. We made it through Canada in about 18 hours. We
both drove and only stopped a couple times (we did have to stop for
dinner at Bostons Pizza so Adam could have his favorite pizza of all
time).
It made for a long drive but we had zero problems along the way (even
crossing the border was a quick and painless procedure).
Now it's time for the looooong ferry ride. We both plan on catching up
on our sleep and reading. Back home tomorrow and I will work on
posting some pictures from my rebel rather than just my iPhone.

Waiting on the bride

I love this picture of Adam and dad. It has nothing to do with my blog
post but it's a great picture.
Yesterday we went to Bellingham for some shopping. We had lunch at a
little Mexican restaurant then were ready to hit the stores.
We found lots of little goodies that we couldn't live without. We went
to a few great antique and thrift stores. Adam found an amazing cane
with a pool ball on the end for his dad. I finally found the perfect
tea kettle (only 5 bucks!!!!!). Our car is filled to the brim so we're
going to spend our last day back on Guemes Island looking for agates.
It's been nice catching up with my friends on the phone. Can't wait to
see you all- home in 3 days!! XOXO

It's Grampy's turn

Thought this was a sweet picture and I had to share.
We're back in Washington and have a few fun things planned for our
last couple days.
Yesterday we visited the local antique mall and went nuts! There were
so many great teasures that we just had to have! We also found a few
good thrift stores and came home happy with all of our purchases.
Today we're headed to Bellingham for the day. It's sunny and beautiful
here so it should make for a fun adventure.
I can't believe that we'll be home in 4 days! It's been fun but we're
ready to get back to our simple little daily routine.

Driving, driving, driving

That's all we've been doing lately so I figured I'd share this sweet
picture of Grammy & Chance. XOXO

This one's for you Molly

The drive back to Washington has been pretty uneventful until we were
passed by two motorcyclists in Oregon. Seeing the giant Teddy bear on
the back of this guys bike was just the kind if excitement we needed.
***for those of you wondering why this post was for Molly it's because
she never goes anywhere without her bear. He hiked the Chilkoot
strapped to her pack. ;-)

Congrats!

It's official! Congratulations to Josh & Erin! I took a ton of
pictures and will post some when I get home.

Rehearsal dinner

After our fun few hours of exploring Estes it was time to get down to
business! We drove out to the Y and had the wedding rehearsal. After a
few quick run throughs we had it down and headed back to town for the
rehearsal dinner.
The dinner was at a place called Twin Owls and the food was awesome.
Some if our out of town guests were able to join us and it was lots of
fun to see everyone.
Saturday is the wedding and the forcast calls for hot, hot, hot!!

Estes Park, Co

We woke up early and started our drive up to Estes Park. It was a
beautiful drive and this town couldn't be more adorable.
After finding a campsite we showered and headed out to explore the
town. We took pictures if the haunted hotel where Steven King was
inspired to write The Shining, did a little shopping downtown and had
a great lunch outside in the sun.
Our camp ground is full of prairy-dogs and it's driving Rosco crazy!!!
He wants to catch one so bad!!!

Happy anniversary!!

So technically their anniversary was on the 4th but tonight was the
first night that we were all together to celebrate.
Tana picked up party decorations, I picked up the cake and Adam and I
got them out of the house for a bit so everyone could decorate.
I think they knew a suprise was in the works but they thought it was
for the soon-to-be newlyweds....not them!!!

4th of July weekend!!

The 4th of July celebrations started as soon as we arrived. My sister
took us to the Rockies game. There were 50,000 people at the game but
we had great seats. After the game there was a big firework display
over the baseball field that was pretty amazing.
The next day Josh, Erin and Chance joined us for a BBQ. It was great
spending time with the siblings. The neighbors put on their own
firework display so we enjoyed them from the comfort of our living room.
Colorado has had some crazy weather lately. Our BBQ was moved inside
when the marble sized hail storm began. The hail was followed by
thunder and lighting but looked awesome with the fireworks.
Today it's back to beautiful weather and sunny skies. Hopefully the
rain (and hail!!!) will hold off until after the wedding!!

A whole lot of nothing...

Is exactly what's in Wyoming. We had planned on driving until about 10
after leaving Utah last night but couldn't find a town with a motel!
We ended up driving until midnight before we finally found a Best
Western. The beds were so comfy and the down pillows and comforter
made me sleep like a baby.
As promised, heres a picture of our crappy motel in Boise. Loved the
droopy beds and rock hard pillows :-/

Great friends and good food in Utah

Today our roadtrip adventure took us through Utah and we were lucky
enough to meet up with the Daltons for the evening.
It was great to see the family and catch up with the kiddos (can't
believe how much they've all grown in the few months since they moved).
We had a nice dinner at Olive Garden (everybody loves olive garden!!!)
before it was time to hit the road again.
Thanks Wendy & JP for letting us join you and the kids on your
aniversary! We love your little family and can't wait to see you again!
Now we're headed towards Colorado for the wedding and more family fun!

A good day to leave Oregon.

We woke up to cloudy skies and sprinkles and knew we'd picked a good
day to leave.
After a quick stop to the coffee stand we headed East towards Utah. We
made it to Boise today. It was a lot of driving and neither of us were
in the mood to set up camp.
I had visions of us spoiling ourselves in a nice little hotel and
trying out their complimentary shampoos. We used the pet lodging app
on my phone and headed to a nearby motel 6.
I promise to post pictures soon but there was a mirror that covered
the entire wall, beds that drooped, a tv from the late 80's and NO
free shampoo!!!! Definetly not my idea of treating ourselves.

Lincoln City & Newport

We drove all day but made it from Fresno to Lincoln City 15 minutes
before the KOA closed! It made for a long day but it was great to have
time to play on the Oregon coast.
We took Rosco to the beach so he could run around after being cooped
up for so long. He loved playing on the beach! We did some thrifting
and antiquing and found a few great treasures. We did some shopping in
Newport and had to visit the sea lions for some pictures.
We spent a little more time on the beach and did some gambling at the
casino before heading back to our campsite for the evening.
We've discovered that we love the friendly service and great coffee
from Dutch Bros, are so curious about all the Pig N Pancake
restaurants and can't get used to having other people pump our gas!

California love

Our time in Cali has been great. I spent time relaxing by the pool and
trying to get a little sun before the wedding.
I found the best thrift store and managed to walk out with two big
bags for 30 bucks.
I loved all the drive through Starbucks in California but now we're
headed for cooler weather!