My Little Nonney Nonney

I love this girl! Took this picture on Tapps Island. I can't believe how grown up she's getting. She'll be taller than me in a few years (granted, that's not hard to do).

Niece's Track Meet

Ever since my niece was about 3 years old, she'd go running with me. And I don't use the term running loosely like some might... I mean RUNNING. In fact, we'd run 1.5 miles to the library and 1.5 back home. We'd get back home and I'd want to call it a day. 3 miles isn't bad at all! However, she'd still have energy and want to keep running. What small child has not only the aptitude, but the inclination to run? Well, Maria sure did!

That running spirit and energy has never left her! She has a natural ability for any type of athletics, not that I'm a proud aunt or anything (of course I am proud, but it is true). This year, she made it to the state track meet and placed in the top 8. Here are a few pictures from her qualifying meet:

Niece Off to State

My niece is going to state track (as a freshman!) today. I'm so proud of her! She is such a good athlete. She is the only student in the whole school to have qualified for TWO individual track events at state! When she was 3 when she and I started running miles together and she hasn't stopped. This is the back of her shirt for state. I thought it was hilarious!

Orzo Delight

I was feeling like orzo tonight and didn't want meat, but still wanted something flavorful. This turned out so tasty! 1.5 cups uncooked orzo (cooked before mixed with other ingredients), 1 large diced, onion sautéd in olive oil, 2 minced cloves garlic sautéd in olive oil, 1 head of broccoli chopped up, some chicken boullion, a couple handfuls of spinach, 1/4 cup parmesian cheese, spices to taste. Cook orzo, saute vegetables, add orzo, water and boullion, spices. Simmer covered to steam broccoli. Add in spinach and parmesian. Stir until spinach is cooked. So delicious!

21.5 hiking up, 14 running down

As I was going up today, I was sure my time was going to be slower than yesterday because I felt so tired. But I bettered my time! Yesterday, I listened to an audio book the whole way up instead of music. Who knew it would be easier to hike with an audio book instead of music? Not me! Day 2 exercise complete even though I still feel like running.

Sleepy sleeperson

I left the house to give Evan time to study bio-chem without me to distract only to come home an hour or so later to this snoring on the floor. The guy can sleep anywhere!

Another 22.5 Day

Another day up Mt. Peak! Still working on achieving my goal of exercising at least four days a week. Day one over with.

On Mother's Day (Belated)

Mother's Day is hard for a few reasons, most of which have to do with the fact that my mother died in May and it is a reminder that she is no longer here to lavish with flowers and thank her for what she's done. It is also hard because I'm at an age where I should have a child and don't when it seems everyone is on their umpteenth kid. (I'll address that in an upcoming post, but for now I'll say the flowers and cards some of my students gave me for mother's day were very sweet. They said that I'm like a mother to them. They don't know how much that meant to me.)

Thankfully, I have a few wonderful mothers in my life that have made my life better! That gave me cause to celebrate their lives and what they've done to teach me.

The first person is my sister. Over 19 years ago, my father died leaving all 4 of us kids as orphans. My older sister was the only one of us married and above the age of 18. She willingly CHOSE as a newlywed at the tender age of 20 to raise her 3 siblings. The fight to get custody of us wasn't easy, but she did it nonetheless. She has cared about us and loved us like her own children. She has been there for me through everything in my life, even if I didn't deserve or appreciate it at the time. I cannot describe to you how different my life would be if my sister didn't have the selfless love for me that she does. She is now a mother to 5 children of her own, making her a mother of 8 children in total. I'm so grateful for her example of motherly love.

My grandma is another important mother in my life. We have had some really fun times together over the years and I'm grateful that even though she's turning 92 this year, that she's still around to love me unconditionally. She has taught me so much through her strength of character, her unwavering compassion, and her fortitude to make it through whatever life throws at her. She has stayed faithful through trial after trial. She has remained positive in spite of the blows that life has thrown at her (including living through Nazi Germany in World War II). She is a pillar of strength, of kindness, of laughter, of knowledge. She is the most talented and intelligent person I've ever met and I know that she helped shape my mom into the mother she was to me. I'm so glad that I've been able to travel to Germany with Oma to see her home turf and to share in the experiences of her life. I love her with all my heart.

Last, but certainly not least, is the mother of my husband. Erin Rose has welcomed me into her family without question and has treated me just as if I were her actual daughter. I love the commonalities we share of writing, reading, the gospel, cooking (the list could go on and on) and the kindness she has showed to me. I'm so grateful for the way she raised Evan, because those positive attributes of kindness and selfless service have benefited my life and marriage and will bless our children's lives as well. She has been a wonderful mother to her children and to me. I'm blessed to call her mother and I know that my own mom is proud of her and grateful to her for taking care of me.

Hiking Etiquette

It is a known fact that I love hiking. I love being out in nature and feeling a sense of accomplishment when I reach a summit and have a beautiful outlook at the top. It's awesome. There are a few things that I despise about hiking. If people followed these 3 simple rules, they could help everyone enjoy the trail a little bit better.

1. YIELD TO UPHILL HIKERS! It's the cardinal rule in the hiking etiquette manual. Man, sometimes climbing uphill is tough. And it doesn't make it any easier when the people going downhill don't know how to share a trail. Don't shove the uphillers off the trail. It's not that hard. Be kind to the people going up and maybe they'll be nicer to you on your next uphill climb.
2. DON'T LITTER! I saw this beaut (pictured above) on my hike yesterday just cast aside on someone's uphill climb. Pack it in, pack it out people. No one should be cleaning up after you period, let alone on a hiking trail. Help others enjoy nature by picking up your own garbage.
3. CLEAN UP YOUR DOG POOP! While we all know that a dog is a man's best friend, we know that poop on a trail is not (particularly when you step in it)! If you bring an animal, expect to clean up after it. If you don't, expect consequences. As J-Timberlake always says, "What goes around, comes around."

Saturday Adventures Continue...

It seems like for weeks that Evan and I have been so busy that we haven't had a second to go out and have ourselves our normal Saturday adventures. (Sure, I've been TRYing to hike during the weekdays, but they haven't been like our normal outdoor adventures!)

Now that the Germans in America side of the exchange is over (ended April 29th) and I finished my 9-month-long professional certification paper (ended May 3rd), I have a little more time on my hands to have adventures.

Last Saturday, Evan and I headed to Tacoma so he could belay at the rock climbing gym. I promptly dropped him off and drove to Point Defiance Park to run/walk in nature. Here is a view of where I was running. You can't tell me this isn't gorgeous on a sunny day! (Saturday there were no clouds.)

Afterwards, I picked up my friend Christina who supported me in getting new running shoes. It's hard to lay down the kind of cash it requires to purchase something good for my feet. After 7 years of cheap shoes, I decided I would be more motivated to work out if I bought well-crafted shoes. Now if I could only get myself to wear them without thinking about the $100+ price tag.

After lunch, Evan and I headed up to North Bend to do a little rock climbing. The irony of the story is that it literally started raining as we pulled up. (Hard to climb in the rain.) We still trekked in and belayed Evan in spite of the rain and my grumpy attitude about it.

We ended our day playing Settlers of Catan with my sisters' kids. Here's to more Saturday adventures!

P.S. Only 4.5 weeks until I leave with my students to Germany. YIKES! So much to do before then.

Peak again...

Did Peak today in 22.5. Not as good as yesterday, but still better than the more than 30 minutes it was taking me a few months ago! Yay for warmer weather and for exercising.

P.S. I saw this 50-year-old lady yesterday with the strongest legs. That was good incentive to keep exercising in the hopes of getting legs like that! :)

Peak in 21.5

Made it up Mt. Peak in less than 22! I'm trying to be better about working out and I think it's helping. Now for my jaunt down...

Point Defiance Run

Here's the view from my run... Water and mountains. Can't get any better. Back to running!

Hiking with the Girls, Part II

Last week, I went hiking with the kiddos again. I pretty much had to carry the little one 7/8 of the way up to the top (including trying to distract her the whole way from crying because her siblings had gone ahead of her!), but the view of Mt. Rainier was worth it. And in the end, she LOVED running down the mountain. Go figure. All in all, we had a good time and I got a good work out from carrying a 30 lb. child to the top. :) Good times.

Happy Birthday, Angela!

Three years ago, after I moved back from Hawaii, I met Angela in the single's ward. I ended up being her visiting teacher, which led to us being great friends! I know we were meant to be friends.

Fast forward a few years. Angela and I have both moved and now live in the same stake. It's fun having her so close! Tonight we celebrated her birthday at the Tacoma water front. The weather couldn't have been better! I love when good friends, food, location, and weather combine.

Mother's Day Festivities

On Mother's day, we had two dinners. First, we went to my brother-in-law's sister's in-law's. Confused yet?  We have known them so long, we just call them family! Everyone on my brother-in-law's side of the family gathered for a delicious BBQ'ed dinner. The kids enjoyed the rope swing, playing together, practicing gymnastics, and climbing in the trees.

After we left the Stratton's house, we headed over to Evan's parent's house for another delicious dinner! Unfortunately, we only have pictures from our first dinner. Mostly because it was good lighting and we wanted another excuse to use our fancy, new (to us) camera!

Family Time on Lake Tapps

Because Evan and I got a new, fancy camera, we decided to use it! What better time than on a family walk after dinner at Oma's on Lake Tapps?! Here are some samples...

German Exchange 1999-2011

I met Beate (right) in 1999 when she stayed with Christina (left) as a part of our German-American Partnership Program (GAPP) exchange. Beate was the "cool" German partner to have. We became fast friends and have seen each other in both America and Germany 7 times in the past 12 years.

Well, this year our meeting up was something bigger than just she and I! This year, we became the exchange coordinators who were in charge of the GAPP exchange. Ever since we met in 1999, Beate and I said that we wanted to be teachers. Our goal was to lead the GAPP exchange in order to foster international relations. Little did we know that we would both end up teaching at our former high schools and leading the exchange as partners! 12 years later, we accomplished our goals. Even though it has been 8+ months of hard work, the American side of the exchange has been wonderful. Only a few more weeks until Germany...