Tuesday, November 17, 2015

Dear Wormwood,

While I'm posting on here can I just shout out to this song, Dear Wormwood by The Oh Hellos.

The Oh Hellos are currently my favorite band, and they just released a new album where the main song is nod to C.S. Lewis!? What!?!?! My two favorite things coming together.
I love this song so much and no one gets its and I can't discuss it because no one else has read the Screwtape Letters!!
Please, just listen to the lyrics and fall in love. If you don't fall in love go read The Screwtape Letters, then listen to the song, and then fall in love!

The Screwtape letters are about a demon, Screwtape, writing letters to his nephew, Wormwood, who is a junior demon, instruscting him on how to corrupt the soul of this man. This song is from the perspective of the man he is influencing and this song is the man realizing the influence of evil in his life. I LOVE songs with Christian undertones.
This is about realizing your divine nature and rejecting the influences of evil within you.

" And in my hour of weakness, you were there to see my courage fail...Planning without acting, steadily becoming what I hate"

I don't want to spoil the whole thing,
just
Listen. 

Many of my favorite quotes are from The Screwtape Letters, like the one above by my pictures. This is one of my other favorites:

“When He [God] talks of their losing their selves, He means only abandoning the clamour of self-will; once they have done that, He really gives them back all their personality, and boasts (I am afraid, sincerely) that when they are wholly His they will be more themselves than ever.”  

I know it's a harder book for some people to get through because you are seeing the world through the eyes of demons but I feel like it is mocking the devil and his punitive ways to manipulate men. 
Just go read it. It is enlightening. 
I think I'm going to go look for my copy right now.

Nevermind our cruise, we went to the mountains!

I just realized I didn't write anything about the trips we took this summer! We went on a cruise! I can't remember where I saved our pictures from it though so I will write about that later!



We went to Washington Lake in the Uinta's and it was the most amazing place ever. I plan on going back there this summer and possibly for every year for the rest of my life. I haven't spent a lot of time in the Uinta's but I see why people love them now.

We went with my cousin, Addison, and his wife, Kylee, we are really good friends with them. We also went on our cruise with them. We left Salt Lake so early that when we reached the camp site people hadn't left yet so it was pretty slim picking. We tried to get a spot by the water but eventually got too impatient and picked one in the middle of the campground.  It worked out really well though and ended up being a good camping spot.

 We rented a canoe from the U to use on the lake. The guys were able to get some really good fishing in while out in the canoe. It was so fun! I think the it was the best part. It rained a lot for one of the days we were there so we didn't get to spend a whole lot of time on the lake plus with the wind. However, in the evenings it was amazing!







A lot of time was spent sitting on the shore fishing too. I don't have a fishing license but I like just sitting outside :) 

Fishing on the dam


yay, fish!
 
ew, maybe not.

When we weren't fishing we were hiking to a different fishing spot! There were so many lakes and easy beautiful hikes all around. 







I took a lot of pictures of flowers but this is my favorite! It's one of my backgrounds at work!

 Cooking while camping is always... interesting.
Addison cooked up some of the trout he caught and it was actually really good eating it so fresh!


 
 I wish I would have written about it closer to when we actually went so I could have remembered more details. Oh well. It was still a wonderful trip to a beautiful place and I fully plan on going again next year!




Saturday, September 26, 2015

Blogs are so 2013

Looking at the few blogs i follow I realized people stopped writing in blogs in 2013.
So, yeah, if I don't share this on facebook chances are no one even sees it!!

The thing I am most excited for is that my tv shows will be coming back soon.
WHO DOESN'T LOVE THE FALL JUST FOR THIS REASON?
Flash, Arrow, Agents of SHIELD, Izombie, once upon a time, blacklist, The 100... and any new shows we may pick up along the way!
Yay, I love television, it is my favorite.

I still work at the Law Firm. My position now is more complicated to explain. I work in client criteria/change management/IT group type stuff.
Don't go thinking I do anything fancy.
We recently switched to a new case management system and it's very intricate. I work on that. Getting the kinks worked out then adding stuff that people want. blah blah blah. I really like the people I work with and I am happy with my job.

I read a whole book the last two days. The School for Good and Evil, very original and a very addicting easy read. Universal bought the movie rights so just wait a couple years and you can see the movie. It's fairy tale based and mixes in some Harry Potter and has some Hunger Game type moments. I'm way excited to read the next two books and very excited to see how they transform into a movie!

I'm gearing up for Christmas! Working on a big present now then onto scarves and whatnot for other people. I haven't been crocheting as much because of all the minecraft I've been playing.

Yep.

Saturday, January 31, 2015

Crochet!

Alright...
I started crocheting in like... June...? It was super super hard for me and I honestly didn't think I could keep with it. Learning off of youtube is not as easy as people seem to think it will be. I still have yet to sit down with an experienced crocheter and have them critique my self-learned faults, and get some pointers on things I still don't quite get (like crocheting in the round). To be honest, I am very proud of myself..
Everything just clicked one day when I was making the cherry pie hot pad and you have to have two circles. Circles are very hard for me because you have to keep track of your stitches exactly (you don't have to do this if just going back and forth to make something square!) After watching about a million youtube videos of how to make something round I just gave up and decided to actually just try and interpret the pattern. It was weird. Before this looking at patterns was like looking at a foreign language (sc,ch1,sk1,dc,dc2tog, [ch1,picot,slst] x5)... okay. I just made that up. But it looks crazy, yeah? But when I looked at the pattern it made sense. Just like that. And now I no longer do youtube videos and much prefer patterns (with pictures). So there is my origin story. (Though crocheting would be the lamest super power ever.) I still can only do moderate/easy patterns and usually am too lazy undo small mess-ups, so nothing turns out perfect.  
The best part has really been remember how amazing it feels to learn a new skill. People always say to keep learning and blah blah blah. But really, it felt soo good.
I have a few more gifts to finish up, then I'm going to make a blanket, then I'm going to give lace type stuff a try (blessing dresses, doilies...), maybe make me a shawl when I learn how/what blocking is. Then it's on to knitting!



Here is a screen shot of my projects on ravely. You might not be able to see my profile unless you're a member. But this is the general overview. I'm just too lazy to go in and put individuals pictures on here. :)

Sunday, August 10, 2014

Moved.

Bye Bye Broadway Street
We moved!
Our lease came up at the end of July and we decided it was time to move somewhere a little bigger and in a different area. After A LOT of looking we finally found a two bedroom fourplux in sugarhouse! We went from 650 sq. ft. to 850!

We have really liked being in sugarhouse where we are close to the dollar theater and fun shopping (including michaels!). The commute to work hasn't been any longer for Dallon and we brought the lancer back up so I could drive to work in the morning as well. It is super easy to get anywhere from our apartment because we're close to a main freeway junction. I also found a new job around 33rd south so we are way close to where I will be working (probably more information on that after I start).

It's so quiet here and after 3 years in downtown it is taking some getting used to the lack of sirens and homeless people... though there are wild children everywhere in this neighborhood.

Not a lot to say so I'll just post pictures!
First of our old apartment @ 335 E. Broadway!
 Mostly so I have this pictures saved publicly. I don't want to forget what our first apartment looked like!







 Dallon Packing up some boxes! He LOVES moving!

so empty

All done cleaning!

Now, the NEW APARTMENT! 

We bought new couches! 

boxes everywhere!

all our broke down boxes

resting on the new couches!

cute new bathroom!
 We bought a refurbished washer and drier for very cheap! They work... that's all that matter, right?

 TV room!

much bigger kitchen

back door!


 I'll probably post more about other stuff later!

Thursday, June 19, 2014

Yay, vacation!

Dallon and I spontaneously decided to go on a vacation a couple months back. After very little planning we went and it was SO MUCH FUN and so nice to get out and have an adventure.

Before we left I cut my hair
and I bought a groupon to the place where I get my eyebrows threaded, but this time it was for a full face thread! Now, I didn't think I had that much hair on my face but she found it! Wow, it hurt! ha. It was really neat though and I would suggest it. Your face feels sooo weird afterward. 

On to our trip!!


I have about a million pictures that I’m going to put on here. We went a little camera crazy because everything was so beautiful.

(Just count on this being very long. You don’t have to commit. I won’t be offended.)



We left after work on friday (like 6pm) and drove to Boise where we stayed in the Howard Johnson Boise Airport motel. It was cheap and scared Dallon. I think he's used to Marriotts and never had to stay in a cheap motel. Though the room was a little stinky (or so Dallon said) I thought it was fine and we survived the night!
eating lunch at a rest stop on the way

In the morning we headed to the columbia river gorge highway to hike beacon rock and see some waterfalls! It was so beautiful and I can't believe how green it all is!

After seeing some barges and trees and whatnot we crossed the bridge of the gods over to the Washington side. We hiked beacon rock and it was a lot of fun! Beacon rock is a core from an old volcano and a whole, like, 800 ft above sea level! It’s a pretty easy and busy hike that provided some beautiful views! 

Bridge of the Gods

Beacon Rock 









 at the top:



Then we went looking for some waterfalls!
This was probably my favorite part of the whole trip!!
I’m a little bit lazy, so when I stumbled across this video titled “Accessible Adventures.” It was exactly what we were looking for. Accompanied with the website we were able to get an easy list of waterfalls that required little or no hiking. Though I wouldn’t consider most of them ADA friendly, it was easy for us to get there.

We were able to see six waterfalls along the Historic Highway. 

1. Bridal Veil Falls
Upper fall: 60-100 ft, lower falls 40-60 feet.
This one was our favorite. There was something so beautiful about it. Maybe because it was the first one we saw or because it was just spectacular!? The hike was a quick, but steep switchback down to see the waterfall. Everything around it was so green and alive. It was amazing! You could also get right down to it or onto a big boulder right by it.



so much green growing on everything!

2. Latourell Falls
249 Feet
This one was pretty big but you couldn’t get up close to it. There was a short walkway up to a viewpoint and a hike that went up higher and closer to it. We didn’t want to hike though so we just called it good enough to stop and look!


3. Sheppards Dell Falls
Upper: 35-50 feet, Lower: 40-60 feet
This was literally right off the road! It went down so you could see a cool old bridge the old highway was built on and you could get right up to the part between the two falls.

Cool old bridge that's part of the historic highway.


4. Wahkeena Falls
242 Feet
This one didn’t seem that impressive until we hiked up to it. The trail put you right by it! It was cool to have it roaring and spraying you in the face. It was a nice cool off after the steep hike too!



5. Multnomah Falls
620 Feet
Of course! This is what everyone’s been waiting for, right!? Multnomah is huge and beautiful! We actually saw it before all the other ones when we got lost trying to find how to get to the historic highway. Even from the road it is impressive! Because of Memorial Day it was super busy! We drove slowly along the road wishing we’d parked miles back and just walked. We went to turn around in front of the lodge just as someone was leaving! We got front row parking! That’s amazing in itself! We were feeling pretty lucky, especially after some of our previous parking “spots” when seeing the other waterfalls. Multnomah was beautiful! I have to keep reminding myself it’s not MultInomah. It’s just Mult-nomah. Try saying that. It’s hard!
It’s something better to see in person but the pictures turned out beautiful too!



Dallon stopped and took a picture of a hole in a tree, which we thought was super cool, but as we moved on other people behind us were stopping and looking in the tree. haha. 



6. Horsetail Falls
176 feet
Last of all was Horsetail falls! It was also right off the highway and we made a quick trip to see it before we headed to a camp spot. There was a cute Labrador swimming in the water at the bottom of the falls chasing sticks and he was shivering so bad the water was so cold! It’s crazy how many dogs we saw on all the trails!  I think since most of the canyons by Salt Lake are watersheds no dogs are allowed so I’m just not used to seeing them! They were all so cute and happy though! Who wouldn’t be!




On to a campsite!
The park I originally wanted to stay in was nonreservable and by the time we were done with everything there were no more sports left. So we went and stayed in a KOA!
Have you ever stayed in a KOA? It was our first experience and it was a good experience! The people there were so friendly. Like, way way overly talkative probably never mind their own business friendly. Which I liked! We soaked our feet in the hot tub after cooking dinner. There were a lot of friendly people in the hot tub! If you ever are going to stay and explore an area I would highly suggest staying at a KOA, even if it’s just to meet the local people staying there. Everyone had really good suggestions of things to do, places to eat, and hotels/koa’s to stay in!


green on everything!
After showering and chatting with our super friendly neighbor (who was never able to have children so she raises puppies but she can’t do shows because she’s too busy with the horses even though her friend really wanted to train her to train show dogs so she could take her over since her friend was getting older……) we packed up the tent and got out of there pretty early in the morning.

We went to the Bonneville Dam and the fish hatchery right next to it.
I think the dam was created as part of The New Deal just to make jobs for people in the area but when WWII started they needed the electricity to help aid in war efforts.  It’s crazy how powerful hydroelectricity can be! If the dam was running at full capacity it could power 900,000 houses (I think… but it’s A LOT). That’s like WAY more than a windmill can do, but they only run when needed and very rarely at full power. I don’t know much about power or the politics behind it but it seems kind of sad that one dam can generate a ton of power but it’s not being used while everyone is fighting about windmills. But maybe I’m missing something??

A dam picture of us. (ha. ha. ha) 
They also had a fish ladder to help salmon get through the dam. It was cool to sit and watch the fish try and swim up stream! 


Lampreys! 
ew


Then we went to the fish hatchery to see Herman the Sturgeon. There was trout in a bunch of ponds and food you could buy to feed them.  


This is Herman. He is 10' long, 425 pounds and over 60 years old.

big flower!
Then we headed into portland to see Kate, each lunch and then head to the coast. 
We got lost and took the wrong exit so we saw a little bit of portland, but not much. 
We ate at Lardos where Dallon had the best burger of his life! (They were pretty good!) It's the only place I've eaten at in Portland but I would suggest eating there if you're passing by!



Then we headed out to Tillamook. The drive was really pretty but the 55 mph speed limit is a little ridiculous. Especially when you get stuck behind someone doing 45! Hello Oregon drivers, you’re speed limit is already ridiculously slow you don’t need to drive ten under!

We got to the Tillamook cheese factory but the factory was not running :(.  So we looked around a little bit and got some yummy ice cream. Jenifer was very helpful in telling the people behind us in line that the line was actually closed so I think we all got an extra scoop! 

moo

Then we headed to Cape Lookout state park, right along the coast! A storm was blowing in while we were in tillamook and when we got to the beach it was slightly raining. Despite the cold it was SO much fun to run and play in the ocean. 
THE BEACH!




the water was very cold









It started raining harder 

and got even more cold and windy






Cooking was very cold too and we ate spaghetti with half raw noodles for dinner!

The wind got worse

We slept in our car instead! Kate's little tent held up really well though! 
When we first got to Cape Lookout it was packed! As the storm got worse people were dropping like flies and tents were threatening to blow away.  When we woke up in the morning the park was mostly empty! 



The weather was beautiful in the morning! 
Cape lookout is a vey nice park! 



Dallon found this along with a TON of sand dollars. He found like 15 and I only found one!






Since everything we had was wet and sandy we decided not to camp the next night but to just head up the coast then into Bremerton. 

A random train in a random tiny town!


Haystack Rock through the binoculars

cannon beach


Then we headed up the coast to Astoria! 






Astoria Column. 164 steps up!

our car looks so little from up here!

The column, built 1926


After the Astoria column we stopped and ate at Rogue Ales Public House. It was right out on a pier and pretty fun. Dallon got a burger and I got a chicken wrap that had feta cheese on it and it was the first time I've enjoyed feta cheese!


The goonies house is also right there in astoria. 

clip from the movie. Click HERE to see all the places in Astoria where the goonies was filmed!

Then we took the scenic drive up to Bremerton to stay with Sarah and Tylor. 

Bremerton has a Naval base.

Me, Sarah, and Bear (he was such a sweetie)!
After eating some pancakes with Sarah in the morning we headed out for the ferry! Well, first we were going to tour one of the ships but we got lost and confused about parking and just ended up in line for the ferry.


The Bremerton-Seattle Ferry was only about an hour. I wish it was longer, it was a lot of fun! Dallon and I hadn't planed what were were going to do in Seattle yet other than reservations at the space needle.


I love this picture Dallon got!
that ferry looked exactly like the one we were on!
When we got off we realized were were pretty close to Pikes Place so we headed there to see the shops.
We bought a little space needle made from the ash from Mount saint helens!
I even ate salmon while there!



After a short visit at pikes place, because we didn’t want to pay for parking over an hour, haha. We headed a little bit out of town to the Future of Flight aviation center. It was a place we saw on the brochure from the ferry. It is a Boeing factory! There are tons of Boeing 747s as well as their other planes. It was pretty cool (though a little over priced). You couldn’t take cameras on the tour but they took you into the factories where they assembled the different airplanes. The 747s are HUGE! They take up four stories! Everything about this place is huge! It is the world’s largest building by volume (472,000,000 cubic feet or 13,385,378 cubic meters)!  






I just found this picture online, but this is what it looks like inside the factories. 
After the tour we realized we were running late for our 5:40 dinner reservation. We drove back to Seattle, got very lost and frustrated on the one-way roads then eventually found the place where we were staying!
After talking to a girl at work she convinced me to try airbnb.com. We found a guy who rents out his spare room with private bathroom for $120 a night (that’s about the same cost as the cheaper hotels in that same area). Wow, his place was nice! We were on the 20th floor with the space needle literally right out our window. It was the tallest condo building in the area and had amazing views all around. We were even able to park in his private parking spot in the garage underneath and walk everywhere. 


Then we rushed off to the space needle!

We rode that fun elevator to the top and were seated at our table by the window. we spun around a couple times and took our time eating and enjoying the view.
Our formal picture at the Sky City Restaurant 




Wild King Salmon

sunchoke, stinging nettle puree, morels, asparagus


Jidori Chicken

smoked mozzarella, basil, speck, spinach trenette, morels
Sadly, my chicken was better than Dallon's salmon. The chicken was really good! 



Dallon got cheesecake for dessert (of course!) 

I don't remember what mine was called but it was SOO GOOD. It had a cookie like crust, then caramel then LAVENDER chocolate!



Even though it is definitely overpriced I would recommend it! It was a fun experience that we'll never forget!
After the amazing dinner we headed back to our room and just relaxed!


The view from our window


In the morning we ran to a gas station for the cheapest breakfast we could find! then headed down a couple blocks and walked on this walkway. I forgot what it's called but it has a bunch of modern art on it! haha. 

A typewriter eraser, Dallon had never seen one before! 


on a pier 

Then we went to the pacific science center. It was a lot of fun but definitely a place for children! There were kids everywhere!

Dallon trying to reach his toes. 


The butterfly house was awesome! 





one landed on dallon's leg!


Dallon loves bugs (NOT, only fake ones) 



really tall building! It was really pretty and tall!

is this where the superbowl was? 

leaving seattle. 
We left seattle after eating at a yummy cafe right at the bottom of the condo building and headed to my Aunt an Uncle's house. We stayed the night with them then drove 12 hours home! It really wasn't that bad! We left early and didn't get in until about 9pm. Now the regular drives we do seem really short! 

It was a great trip and probably not another one we'll do for a long time! I have to admit I loved the waterfalls and the coast the most! It was so great just to get out and have an adventure too!