Nate and Becky

For Those Who Love Food

2008-07-01T20:34:00.000-07:00

There has been a recent addition to Ye Olde Intarweb that is sure to elevate everything in a ten IP radius from uncouth to serene. I'm talking about a food blog, one of the best out there, which is quickly becoming one of the most searched independent resources for chefs everywhere.

The place I'm talking about is No Slivers Here, and it's being run by none other than my lovely and talented wife. She's cracking culinary codes, she's the countess of the cucina, and she's got a recipe (with pictures) for every occasion.

So do yourself a favor and head over there. Your taste buds will thank you for it.

Naten

Weekend Update

2008-05-25T11:35:00.000-07:00

It's been awhile since we updated you on our lives. I guess we'll start with the weekend of the 23 of May. Here in Seattle it was blazing hot, a nice change from rain and snow! We had a busy weekend. We started the weekend off by going canoing at the Arboretum at UW's campus. It is always fun. We love all the animals that are out swimming and flying around. Unfortunately a lot of the other UW students had the same idea as us so we had to wait for a canoe. It was worth it though. Now, on to the pictures.

Our view while we waited for a canoe.

There is a heron in there! Click on the picture to make it bigger.

Turtles! There were so many of these guys around.

Our view at lunch.

Anyone care for a yacht? They had to raise the Montlake Bridge for this monster!

Here is a closer view of the yacht. Ahh to be rich!!

Who are these people?

After canoing we went down to Renton to see our friend Dana and her little girl. She has gotten so big! Dana and her daughter were staying with some relatives who have a pool, so why not go on over for a BBQ? Thanks guys! Here are a few pictures of Ary. Nate even got to feed her, but I wasn't fast enough to get a picture of that!

Happy Birthday Nate

2008-05-11T14:40:00.000-07:00

It's Nate's birthday today! He is the big 32! I think I can start calling him an old man! Te he! We started the day with an early breakfast with his parent's at The Brown Bear Cafe here in town and then saw his parents off to the airport. They were here to celebrate Nate's birthday but also to celebrate Mother's Day. Right now he is at the EmeraldCity Comicon. Nope, I didn't go! I thought I would let him revel in his nerdiness and try and hob nob with some celebrities. I'm sure he will let you all know how it went. We hope you have a great day with your mother or with your children if you have some!

It's time!

2008-04-27T11:10:00.000-07:00

Time to move! Those of you living in apartments or who lived in one years ago can probably relate! I'm done listening to the upstairs neighbors T.V. Are you deaf? What are you watching anyway? I'm done listening to you snore! I'm done listening to you walk around up there. We make mooing sounds at you. We know you probably can't hear us. While laying in bed one night we heard you go to the bathroom and then the toilet flushing. Now today, we heard you sneeze. I yelled, "bless you," just in case no one else did. So it's time to move out. So who is going to loan us $25,000 for a down payment?

Long Time No Blog!

2008-03-30T20:05:00.000-07:00

Well, we're back! We found some free time following some very full weekends. Our next 3 weekends are booked too! Here is a small smattering of what we have been up to lately.

Easter weekend we bucked the trend and didn't spend the holiday with either of our relatives. We were invited to spend the weekend with our friends, Brooke and Kyle, at Brooke's parents condo in Lake Chelan. We had a great time but we wish that it wasn't so cold. Needless to say, it snowed in the pass going to Lake Chelan and coming back home. We spent Saturday going to local wineries and tasting their fabulous wine. There are several wineries in the area but we only made it to 6. Kyle was a fabulous driver/chauffeur and Brooke was a wonderful navigatress! On Easter morning we went to a local winery that has has a restaurant. They had an Easter Egg Hunt for kids and then after that was done there was a Cork Hunt for the adults. How awesome is that? It gets better though! Each cork that was hidden in the vineyard (3 rows of vines) had a color on it which corresponded to a prize. My cork got me a bottle of wine, Nate's got him a logo wine glass, Brooke got a bottle of wine and Kyle got a sweatshirt. Some members of our party were sneaky and found more than one cork. So Nate and I left with 2 logo glasses (Thanks Brooke!). Our favorite wineries were KarMa, Tsillan Cellars, and Nefarious Cellars. And now, on to the pictures.

There is champagne in that bottle. Karma is opening it Memorial Day weekend.

Look at all that champagne!! The stands holding the bottles came from Italy.

Brooke and Kyle, our gracious hosts, outside of Karma winery.

Us! Doesn't it look cold!!??

This is Lucy. She nicely greeted us outside of Nefarious Winery. We just about took her home.

Inside Tsillan Cellars (think Chelan). Look at all that wine!

Such a poser! How's the wine honey?

Outside of Tsillan Cellars. It felt like we were in Tuscany. They hold weddings here too.

The view of Lake Chelan from the condo balcony. Check out the snow!

Remember the Cork Hunt? They were hidden in those vines in the background.

Dessert for the weekend made by yours truly!

Our loot from the weekend. The wine in the middle is the one that I won.

And one of Nate's wine glasses. Cheers!

Valentimes

2008-02-13T21:11:00.000-08:00

No, it's not a typo. These are indeed the times of Valen. Who's Valen? Unimportant! In that respect, he shares a lot with St. Valentine. Not many know who he really was, what he did, or what that has to do with love, but boy do we celebrate it.

Of course, not everyone celebrates Valentine's Day. It's a holiday that puts a bright shining spotlight on your relationship. If you're not in one, then the spotlight hits the bare space where your relationship is not. Oddly enough, there are folks who don't want to be reminded that they don't have someone in their life to cuddle with them and tell them they smell funny. Ignorance is bliss, as it were. I was never one of those folks.

Even after my girlfriend broke up with me and married another man, I still celebrated V-Day and gave out mini Kit-Kat bars to friends. Even when I spent the evening watching a friend's kids so he could have a night with his wife, I didn't be-moan the situation. You see, when God was handing out hearts, he gave me a jumbo popcorn bucket of Hope instead. Then he made me obstinate and pig-headed. This allowed me to always enjoy the idea of love, even if I wasn't in love.

My first Valentine's Day with Becky was only the second time in my life I'd been able to celebrate it with someone. This year, marks our third together. While we're not made of money, we do know how to show ourselves a good time, so Becky's whipped up a grand cake for the occasion. We'll pop a bottle of cab-sav with our steaks and deftly avoid the mad rush that always descends upon restaurants on this day.

So, in a nutshell, your kernels of wisdom are: love means more than money, and don't glare at lovers just because you're not getting any.

Holy Wow!

2008-01-30T11:01:00.000-08:00

I know! You should be shocked to see an update from us! We apologize for being MIA in the blog world. We will try better to update it a bit more frequently than we have in th past.

This past weekend we went bowling with some of my friends from high school. There were 12 of us there bowling. I think the best part of the night was the money! I won $2.75 and Nate won .25. They set the pins up with colored ones randomly (I thought it was random) placed among the ten pins. If you got a strike or left one of the colored ones you go money. Some people around us were winning $50.00. We would love some of that money! A great time was had by all. Nate and I might have to stick to bowling on the Wii. Who is buying us one?? The next outing is planned for the end of February for a night of watching hockey. I've never been to a game but I'm pretty excited!
On a side note, Nate and I celebrated 18 months of wedded bliss last night. We made ravioli that tasted great but presentation was much to be desired. Maybe you'll see pictures if we try it again.
We'll leave you with pictures from bowling.

Are those not the sexiest shoes you've ever seen? I love how mine look well used!!

We have snow!!!

2007-12-01T17:24:00.000-08:00

That's right! We have snow! If you live in pretty much any part of Washington I'm assuming that you have snow! We aren't sure when it started but when we came out of August Rush (fantastic movie) there were a couple inches on the ground! Guess who didn't have a coat or gloves, scarf or hat!! Me, the girl who is always responsible! Hmm!! I had to claim ignorance!! As we drove into our apartment complex tonight we saw people out taking pictures and getting their picture taken. We laughed at first and then we had to remember that a lot of the folks taking pictures probably haven't seen snow in their home country.

We had a great last week Thanksgiving. We went to Nate's parents house in Deer Park. There were about 30 people there for dinner. I had to break the news to Nate's dad that we would not be adding 4 more children to the crowd like 2 of Nate's siblings have done. He seemed to be okay with that! No, there aren't any on the way either!

We even decided to brave the crowds on Black Friday and go hit up some of the sales. We weren't among the crazies out for the door buster sales though! We managed to snag some pretty good deals and some of them might even show up at your house!

We're off to go play in the snow! Enjoy the pictures.

Pumpkins

2007-10-19T13:23:00.000-07:00

A few weekends ago Nate and I braved the rain and wind to find some pumpkins at a local farm. We decided to go early this year because we learned our lesson last year. We went the weekend before Halloween and the pickin's were pretty slim! Here are the fruits of our labor. We also got a few gourds and some sugar pumpkins. I've already roasted and pureed them and now they are awaiting their fate! Anybody have a good pumpkin recipe (besides pie, I'll leave that to my mom!)?

Enjoy the pictures!

Us!

The goofy one of the bunch!

Time off and The Seattle Aquarium

2007-10-02T12:16:00.001-07:00

Nate had some time off at work that he had to use up before October or he would lose it so he took off 4 days a few weeks ago. I worked a half day on Tuesday (more on the work situation later) and then that afternoon we went to the Seattle Aquarium. Nate's bosses are members of the aquarium so they get 5 guest passes a year. They knew that Nate wanted to go so they gave two tickets to us! Sweet! We lounged around the next day and then on Thursday Nate went to Pullman to hang out with his buddy Pat aka King Sheep, for the weekend.
Here are some pictures from the Seattle Aquarium and surrounding areas.

We had lunch at Ivar's. I found it pretty ironic that we had fish and chips (yummy) for lunch and then went and looked at real live fish! Te he!!

Mr. Ivar feeding the seagulls. Good thing they aren't really this big!

Petting a sea star. Anytime we go to the beach, Nate makes fun of me for touching and poking all the creatures in the tide pools.

Jellyfish under an iridescent light.

This octopus was amazing. He had free rein between two tanks connected by a narrow tube. He put on quite the show for us.

Is this seahorse a boy or a girl or both?? Hmmm?

I think these are salmon. They were swimming a tank right over our heads.

The underwater dome. This place was huge.

I love the expression of the kid in the reflection!

King of the Mountain! A Northern Fur Seal.

Another seal.

Some River Otters. These guys were so playful and put on a great show for us!!

We'll leave you with some flowers from Pike Place Market.

Go Cougs!

2007-10-02T11:39:00.001-07:00

Well, this post is about a month late coming but better late than never, right? On September 8th we ventured over to Seattle with the other masses of people. Who would have thought that two Pac 10 teams playing on the same day in the same city, would cause such a traffic jam? Oops!! Slight oversight on our part! We ended up riding the ferry to Bainbridge Island 4 times that weekend. Once right before the game to park our car over there and then to walk on back to Seattle and then to walk on after the game to go get the car and go to our friend's Pete and Emily's house in Silverdale for an after party and then the next morning to go back to the Eastside (of the lake that is).
We had a lot of fun at the game. The Cougars of course did wonderful. Don't ask for the score because I have forgotten it! Sorry to all you diehard fans! I know they won and that is all that counts right? It was great to see a lot of Nate's college buddies that we don't get to see very often because they are spread all over the state. One of Nate's friends, Carissa, is a teacher down in Oregon so we had great fun talking teacher talk!! Scottie got us all great seats on the 35 yard line on the Cougar side of course. Thanks Scottie!
Enjoy the pictures!

Is that Superman or Nate?

Rainier off in the distance.

Ahh! Seattle from a distance. You can see the stadium too.

Us on the ferry to Seattle

Some action from the game. Look at all that crimson in the stands!

Da Band.

Hmm! Who is that?

There is the score! Click on the picture to enlarge it.

On our way to the ferry that night. Sunset over the San Juans.

Labor Day Weekend

2007-09-05T11:40:00.000-07:00

We have returned rested and ready to go back to work. My friend Brooke invited Nate and I to spend the weekend with she and her boyfriend Kyle at her parent's cabin on Lopez Island in the San Juan Islands. Their house over looks a harbor on Lopez. We went over on Friday night with all the other masses of tourists and returned on Monday with the mass exodus from the island.

Saturday morning Brooke and I went to the Saturday Market that the artists and farmers on the island participate in. There were a lot of really nice things but nothing I couldn't live without. While Brooke and I looked around town the boys went kayaking. Unfortunately Nate didn't bring the camera. They saw two seals, one swam very close to the kayak and the other one was unfortunately dead on the shore. Brooke and I also took a turn through "the mall" aka "the dump" or "take it or leave it". Yet again, nothing that we couldn't live without. We ended our trip to town with a stop at Vita's Wine and Deli Shop. We each bought a bottle of wine and some yummy treats for lunch and a few dessert items. Upon returning home we found a note from the guys. They might need us to come and pick them up! Hmmm!! Sure enough we got a call to come get them. Apparently they had gone a bit too far and wanted a taxi back to the cabin! Silly guys! We lounged the rest of the afternoon and played a round of Cranium. Go Team Taylor! Brooke and Kyle prepared us a wonderful steak dinner. Yummy!! After dinner we played several rounds of Catch Phrase. Brooke and I are proud to announce that the girls won!!

Sunday was a bit lazy and low key. We went all over the island for the Studio Tour that the island artists were putting on for the weekend. We saw a lot of beautiful pieces of artwork. On our adventure we took a short hike down to Watmough Point (I think that is the name of it!). It was a little inlet of water. While we stood and admired the scenery and attempted to skip rocks with the other children a river otter decided to join us. He was swimming back and forth in the water. At one point he came up with something in his mouth and was eating it. A lot of people said it was a fish but we heard him crunching on it. At one point he got out of the water and hid among the rocks and drift wood. He was nestling down in some of the rocks. After a bit of time he got back in the water and then shocked us all and got out and went through and area thick with people and went back into some brush near a river and a marshy area. Nate was pretty excited to see the otter as it is one of his favorite animals. We spent the rest of Sunday reading books, napping and watching a movie. After dinner we made a campfire and roasted marshmallows.

Monday morning we tidied up the house and left to sit in the ferry line for 2 hours. We wanted to make sure we got on the ferry because it only takes 60 cars from Lopez Island on it's way back to Anacortes. Thankfully we made it on the ferry.

We'll leave you with some pictures from our weekend. Enjoy!

The view from the back porch of the cabin.

Us!

Look closely! There we are again!

Watmough Point. This is where we saw the river otter.

There's the river otter.

Click on the picture to enlarge it. The otter is by the log closest to the water.

Campfire time! Brooke and Kyle.

Nate being artistic. A few shots of things around the cabin.

Wild turkey's. We saw a few different groups of them around the island. One group had several babies (I don't know what baby turkey's are called. Anybody?). Kyle says he is going to see these guys on his plate in November.

You can look forward to pictures from the WSU game this coming weekend. Go Cougs!

Guitar Heroes??

2007-08-26T21:37:00.000-07:00

Saturday night Nate and I went to see his friend Chris, who lives in Seattle in a new apartment. Chris used to be the graphic designer where Nate works. Chris is quite the video game afficionado and prides himself on the amount of games that he has beaten. Chris has a game called Guitar Hero where you play a guitar with buttons instead of strings and follow along with the song on the game. You get points for how well you do. You can even get booed off the stage if you do really bad. Nate and I got booed off a few times in the beginning of the game. After about an hour we did pretty well. Here is a picture of the expert and the beginner. You figure out who is who!!

Rock On! You Rock!!

Lunch with the Anderberg's

2007-08-26T21:21:00.000-07:00

On Saturday Nate and I went to lunch with Dana and Reagan and their new little daughter. She is only 3 weeks old and absolutely precious. We had a great lunch at The Cheese Cake Factory in Bellevue. You might remember seeing pictures of Dana and Reagan in the blog earlier. Reagan was scheduled to go to Iraq to fly Blackhawks but unfortunately one recently crashed. Reagan was chosen to be an assistant to one of the widows from the crash. It is an unfortunate reason that is keeping Reagan here in the states but he gets to spend a few more months with his wife and newborn daughter. Congratulations on your new bundle of joy, Aryonna. Here are a few pictures from lunch.

The happy little family.

Yeah! Yeah! Don't get your hopes up yet!!

Mariner's Game

2007-08-26T20:40:00.000-07:00

Last weekend Nate's parents came over for an M's game. Saturday morning we walked down to Marymoor Park to look around at the Art's and Crafts Festival. We saw a lot of nice things but nothing we couldn't live without. Later that afternoon we got ready for the game and boarded the bus. We highly recommend taking King County Metro to get to the game. It was only $3 per person both ways. The best reason to take the bus is: You don't have to pay for parking!! The Mariner's played the Chicago White Sox and they won 7-5. It was an awesome game. Of course a huge chunk of the action happened when Nate and I were in line for hot dogs and garlic fries (yummy!!). We even got there a little early to watch batting practice. We are hoping to make this a yearly event with Nate's parents. Here are some pictures from the game. Enjoy! Go M's!

Waiting for the bus.

Welcome to Safeco Field!

Ahh! The cute couple!

Ahh! Another cute couple, Nate's parents! Can't wait for next year's game!

Cannon Beach

2007-08-22T17:22:00.001-07:00

Well as Nate mentioned below we have returned from Cannon Beach. We had a great time. It was wonderfully relaxing. We gorged ourselves and did eat way too much but it was all good food. We are thinking about getting a group together next time and renting a house near the beach. I personally would love to live there year round, right near the beach. Ahhh dreams! We spent much of our time relaxing on the beach or eating and a little time shopping. On our trip back home we made a side trip to the outlying Portland area to see Nate's sister Tami and her 4 children. Unfortunately we don't have any pictures from that part of the trip. We also keep hearing high praise for a bookstore in Portland called Powell's Books. Since we are both bookstore nerds we had to take a turn through it! It was huge! They have maps of the store for you to put in your pocket. Trust me! You need them! I would have been lost for sure. I left with a copy of Bon Apetit for $12.95 (yes the book is usually triple that!), it was used and you can't even tell. I also bought a copy of Evening. I haven't started it yet but it is in my To Be Read (TBR) pile. Now for the pictures.

This is the bottle of Sparkling Cider the hotel left for us. Nate let them know it was our anniversary.

Some pictures of our room.

Our room was on the top floor in the back. You can see one of the windows.

The reason we come to the beach. Ahhh!! Heaven!

I'm not too sure either!

Breakfast! Yummy!

We came for the Blackberry Beauty Ale. They were all out! We still managed to gorge ourselves on burgers and onion rings!

We can't claim responsibility for this masterpiece.

Or this one! We will leave with one of the two beautiful sunsets we witnessed.

Have No Fear, Great Scott and Happyness

2007-08-22T17:09:00.000-07:00

Nate and I have recently found the joy of attending outdoor movies. A park near our apartment, Marymoor Park, puts on outdoor movies every Wednesday night. They do the movies on a huge 50 foot blow up screen. They just ask for a donation per family. Unfortunately we found out about this a little late and have only gone to two movies and will be attending the final movie tonight. The first time we went we saw Back to the Future with Underdog cartoons before the movie. They even had BINGO before the cartoons. Nate won an Underdog towel with a hood. We gave the towel to Tami's kids in Portland. Enjoy! Last Wednesday we saw The Pursuit of Happyness. It was really good. I cried! Tonight we are going to see Monster House. Bring on the Kettle Corn.

Nate with his prize. That is the screen behind him. Ahhh! The classic Nate and Becky pose!

The Land of Plenty

2007-08-16T12:11:00.002-07:00

Well, Becky has pretty much been taking over this blog, so I thought I'd finally post again to make my presence known!

This last weekend, Becky and I went to Cannon Beach to celebrate a belated anniversary, and the weather was pretty much perfect. Arriving on Friday, it was sunny and clear enough to enjoy a sunset from the beach. Becky had her camera, I had my sketchbook.

In addition to eating far too much food (roughly enough to nourish a medium-sized refugee camp) we also bought some art and other souvenirs. My favorite was an earthenware coffee mug for work.

Note: the proportions shown here are accurate.

The downside? The stupid state of Oregon declared the tidal pools on the beachside of Haystack Rock a "Marine Garden" which means that landlubbing tourists are forthwith prohibited from laying their feet anywhere except "sand or bare rock." Why? To protect the sea life in those tide pools, of course! Barnacles and anemones are endangered, donchaknow? It's not like it was an exposed wave-breaking coral reef.

It's bad enough that we have to put things in cages so we can look at them whenever we want, but now we're fencing off the world to prevent folks from interacting the natural habitat as well. Did I mention they were also asking for donations to help fund this project?

I donated my lack of respect and general loathing.

So that was my little bit of random activism/renegaderie against the Man, but the remainder of the weekend was terrific, and I'm sure Becky will be adding sunset pictures and other great photos sometime today.

Ta!

Paperback Swap

2007-08-08T18:54:00.000-07:00

I just found a great website that I had to share. I know all you bookworms will love this site. I mentioned that we are starting to acquire a lot of books. This site lets you post your books that you want to give to someone else. Other people look at your "bookshelf" and choose what they want. The site sends you a message and then if you still want to give your books away it gives you the person's information to mail them the book. I posted 5 books last night and already 2 people nabbed two of them. So off to the post office I went with the books. You get points for the amount of books you post and the ones that you sell. It is kind of like eBay's rating system. You can even start Wish Lists. Please click on the icon to the right or on the link here. When you sign up you can say that I referred you (it will ask you if someone referred you). You can use my hotmail address or my username on the site is bettylou. I can't wait to start swapping books. Happy swapping.

Oh! I joined another site too! Who has too much time on their hands?? It is called Bakespace. I've had a lot of fun looking around at all the great websites. You should join. You can send me a brownie point when you get there. My name is bettylou79. Thanks! Enjoy! You can click on the icon to the left.

Blueberries and Farmers Market

2007-08-05T20:09:00.000-07:00

This weekend we were free to do what we wanted! Yahoo!! On Saturday we went to the Farmer's Market in Redmond at Redmond Town Center. I love the Farmer's Market! There is so much yummy produce at great prices. It sure beats the grocery store! We got 3 tomatoes, 3 large cucumbers, and 3 HUGE zucchinis. Grand total for all those yummy's? Four bucks!! Love it!! So far one tomato has been sacrificed for the topping on some pasta with pesto, and one monster zucchini has been sacrificed for Chocolate Zucchini Bread. Yummo!! I think we may try some zucchini pancakes or we might grill one. I know they are going to be part of a kabob later this week. Please share any recipes you enjoy!

Later on Saturday we went to a blueberry farm in Bellevue. Yes, the yuppies have farms! Pretty shocking, we know! We picked for about 2 hours. We heard that they closed at 6:00 so we were worried about how they would let us know that we had to get out. We left the field around 6:15 and they were still letting people in so maybe they don't close when we thought! Here are some pictures of us picking berries and having a great time. Enjoy!

Some of the fruits of our labors!

An artistic shot taken by Nate.

The happy pickers! The total weight of our berries? Four pounds and 58 ounces. Yummy! I turned some of them into blueberry muffins. The rest are patiently waiting in the freezer.

Next time we blog we will be getting back from Cannon Beach! Please cross your fingers for sunny weather! We can't wait!

Talent?

2007-08-02T12:07:00.000-07:00

Well, some of you may know, I have taken up knitting. My sister-in-law, Wendy, taught me around Christmas time. Seven scarves later I decided it was time to move on to new and exciting projects. My talented knitter friend, Jen, decided it was time too! She gave me this pattern. Honestly, it is pretty easy. Here is the pattern. You don't have to buy the exact brand of yarn they suggest. I went to Micheal's and bought Lion Brand Wool Felting. My purse took 2 skeins but you may need 3. I think that I may do a few more and then Jen will make me move on to more complicated ones!! Thanks for all your help!

Happy Anniversary to Us

2007-08-02T11:42:00.000-07:00

On Sunday, Nate and I celebrated our 1 year anniversary. We really can't believe that it has already been a year. Nate and I came home to our apartment on Sunday and he had a surprise waiting for me. I had dropped some hints about what I might like for our anniversary. He spent Friday night and Saturday morning putting together a new desk for me a new bookshelf for our living room. It is starting to look like a library in there!! He is soo sneaky! I love my new desk. Nate rearranged the office/guest room. His old desk, aka card table, is in the closet and he has comandeered my old desk. Thanks Nate!

Here is a picture of the new desk. Don't mind the old hunk of junk computer. That thing has been more trouble than it is worth when I got it in 2000. I really would like it to go out Office Space style, you know up in smoke in a parking lot. In college I always joked that if there was ever a fire in my aprartment I would toss that thing out of my window then jump! Never happened!! Shoot. Thank goodness for my new laptop!! On to the picture!

We went to dinner at a cute Mexican restaurant in Kirkland called Cactus. I call it gourmet Mexican food! Yummy! The last time we went to dinner there was around when Nate just moved over here in 2005. Last time we had the most delicious Chocolate Lava Cake dessert but sadly they don't have it anymore. We had a banana dessert instead. Tasty! After stuffing ourselves at Cactus we decided to go see a movie. We went and saw "No Reservations". It was pretty good. It wasn't nearly as much about food as I thought it would be but it was still good.

We are planning on going to Cannon Beach, OR the weekend of the 11th. I'm pretty excited. That is one my favorite vacation spots, after Hawaii of course. We haven't been to Cannon Beach since 2005. On our way home from that trip I drove Nate to his job interview at his current job.

I'll leave you with a picture of the flowers that Nate got me. We actually had mini purple Calla Lily's in our wedding. Perfect!

The Wedding

2007-08-01T14:58:00.000-07:00

I don't really have any pictures from the ceremony but I have a few candid ones and some from the reception. Enjoy!

Kjersti and her bridesmaids just arrived.

Yummy cake!

My mom and I at the reception at the Skagit Hotel. Some how Nate didn't make it into any of these pictures. Sorry honey!!

Congrats Mr. and Mrs. Lopez!

Rehearsal and Dinner

2007-08-01T13:58:00.000-07:00

As I previously mentioned my friend Kjersti got married. She and her husband actually got married the same place as Nate and I, LaConner Flats, and a day before Nate and I got married. Since I had experience with the venue and had done an extensive amount of planning just a year ago she asked me for help and guidance. Several months ago when Kjersti and I met for coffee she told me where the wedding would be and when. She so politely asked me if that was all okay with me. Of course I said yes. I told her it would be weird to be there and not have to do anything. Well she actually remembered that comment. Her mom asked if my mom and I would be their wedding planners/hostesses. We had to say yes. Kjersti didn't think that I wanted to help because of my comment. My mom and I were honored to help them out. We have figured out that we could be wedding planners but just not for people we know. It is too hard to be bossy to people you know!

Here is a picture of Kjersti and her dad at the rehearsal.

Kjersti's Bachelorette Party

2007-08-01T13:46:00.000-07:00

Last Wednesday I went into Seattle with my friend Kjersti and 6 other girls. Kjersti was getting married on Saturday (more on that later). Kjersti was introducing me as "the friend who she has had the longest" or "her first friend". Both of which are true. She is about a year younger than me. Our mothers went to high school together and then ended up in child birth classes together when they were pregnant with their first children. My grandparents also lived next door to Kjersti's family, so I spent many a summer hanging out with Kjersti and her brother.

We started the night by going to a yummy Mexican restaurant in Belltown called Mama's Mexican Kitchen. Then it was back to the hotel for a few games and some oh so fun cake! Finally it was out to Belltown Billiards. We learned that Wednesday was not the most hopping night for downtown Seattle, but we still had a good time.

Here is a picture of the girls. Both of Kjersti's sisters-in-law are in the picture.

Bored at work??

2007-07-23T16:15:00.000-07:00

You might have heard of this site but I had to share it. Nate told me about it a few months ago but we couldn't find the exact site. I actually found this site on Ross, the intern's blog. I went to high school with him. Go Bulldogs!! This is a watering hole in Africa. I went to the site today and within a few minutes some rhino's came walking up for a drink. You can easily sit and stare at the screen for hours! Have fun!

Children's Art Festival

2007-07-22T16:40:00.000-07:00

On Saturday Nate and I helped my mom at the Children's Art Festival, which is put on by Mount Vernon Parks and Recreation. The whole festival is free and has several art booths for kids and families. I worked for Parks and Rec. in high school and then my first to years of college.

Foster Care Resources (where my mom works) volunteered to run a booth at the festival. The booth was called Fish Prints but my mom and I affectionately call it Dead Fish. I have been helping my mom for years and this year we roped Nate into helping!! Te he!! We were pretty thankful that it didn't rain during the festival and that it also wasn't blazing hot.

Some of our favorite questions that we heard from both parents and kids:

"Are those fish real?"
"Are those real fish or dead fish?"
This last question was asked while I was washing a fish off, "When you put the fish in the water, will it come alive?"

Our legs and feet were so sore by the time we were done. We didn't smell too pretty either!

Enjoy the pictures!

My mom and Nate in the booth. Nate tried to get my mom to pose but it didn't work so well!!

One of the finished products. Beautiful.

Painting the fish. When the child was done we took the paper and put it on top to make the print.

Wash that fish!!

Nate's fish looks well painted. I think I'm holding a rock cod. They made good prints.

Feel free to leave comments! If the pictures are too small just click on them to enlarge. We hope you all had a relaxing weekend.

BBQ and Baby Shower

2007-07-15T19:28:00.000-07:00

This weekend we went to a Baby Shower for our friends Dana and Reagan. The happy couple is expecting their first child in August. They got married a year before Nate and I. Ironically, their wedding was where I caught the bouquet and Nate caught the garter. Neither of us have caught anything at weddings. We weren't even engaged at that time and we had several ladies giving us advice about how to plan a wedding and giving out marriage advice.

Dana and Reagan are living back in Spokane again, thank goodness. They were in Alabama and are so happy to be back in Washington. Reagan has gotten word that he will be going to Iraq soon to fly Blackhawks. We wish him good luck and a safe return.

Here are a few pictures from the BBQ and Baby Shower

Enjoying some pool time.

Measure the pregnant lady! Nate and I didn't do too well. Sorry Dana!!

The Taylor's and The Anderberg's. See you soon, guys!

Too Hot!!

2007-07-11T20:22:00.000-07:00

Well, we hope that everyone isn't completely melting in this heat. I don't know about everyone else but I am NOT made for these temperatures. There is a reason I live on the west side of the state or "the wetside" as Nate's dad calls it! No AC for us, even though our thermostat teases us with the option!!

I knew it was going to be hot today so I planned ahead and found a Kabob recipe. We recently bought a BBQ and have been putting it to good use. Nate is a wonderful barbequer! I thought I would share the recipe with you all. I marinated the chicken all day so it was extra tasty. Enjoy!

I even took a picture for you all!! This kabob cooked a bit too long but you still get the idea.

Weekend Update

2007-07-09T19:44:00.000-07:00

Well, we are still busy. We looked at the calender for July and we have something going every weekend. All of it will be fun but we do like having no plans and deciding what to do on a whim!!

We went to wedding number 2 of 3 for the summer. My friend Jessica, who was my roommate at EWU my last year there, got married this weekend. Jessica and Dan had their wedding at the Catholic church in Arlington. It was a beautiful ceremony. Neither Nate nor I had been to a Catholic wedding, so we weren't sure what to expect. They chose not to have a mass during their wedding. Both Jessica and Dan looked amazing. Here a few pictures from the wedding.

Mr. and Mrs. Ely

Jessica and I at the reception

Next weekend we are off to a baby BBQ. No, were are not BBQing babies. It is a combination Baby Shower and BBQ/Send-off for the father who is being deployed overseas soon. Look for updates soon!

July 3rd and 4th

2007-07-05T18:53:00.000-07:00

On the 3rd we went up to Big Lake to watch fireworks at the Svendsen's house. I have known them since I was born and my grandparents lived next door to them many years ago. Jana teaches at Lincoln Elementary. It was really nice to see a lot of the folks that I taught with at Lincoln a few years ago. The fireworks were put on by the Fire Department. The display was gorgeous as usual. They did have to stop it half way through. We heard that someone shot a firecracker near the barge that the fireworks were coming from. The fire fighters had to do some quick investigating. Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures there.

On the morning of the 4th we washed Nate's car and did a bit of detailing on the inside. It was in desparate need of some TLC! I think the car is thanking us now!!

That afternoon we went over to my Aunt Davida's and Uncle Rick's house in Oak Harbor. My mom and Lance had arrived there earlier. We got there just in time to play a round of Bocce ball. My family gets pretty competitive. We always end up making fun of the people who are supposed to be judging but aren't paying attention. One of my cousins broke the official Bocce measuring stick so now we use the unofficial measuring stick (aka Tape Measure). Ask Nate who won our round of Bocce ball.

We decided to go to the beach just down the road from Rick and Davida's. It was so nice to walk and enjoy the beach. It wasn't crowded at all. Here are a few pictures from the beach.

Wow! What a nice pedicure! It's comforting to think that this time next year we will have returned from a nice vacation in Hawaii. Hello sandy beaches!!!

After our quick jaunt to the beach we went to our friends, EJ and Dave's, house in Oak Harbor for a BBQ and to watch the fireworks. Their house over looks the harbor. We were the only non Navy people there. Dave is a Lieutentant in the Navy. EJ was my matron of honor in our wedding. They also have two of the cutest girls in the world.

Here are some pictures from the BBQ.
This was our view. The fireworks were shot off from the left island. It was a really nice display. We hope you all had a great 4th of July and are enjoying your summer so far.

Weekend Update

2007-07-01T15:55:00.000-07:00

Wheew! We actually stayed home this weekend. Well, we didn't stay at home but we didn't travel anywhere that we had to stay over night. We have been very busy lately. I've been going to bridal showers and baby showers. We also had a birthday party for my friend EJ's little girl Rory.

A few weekends ago we went to the Tri -Cities for a wedding for a friend of mine from EWU. We got to stay with two of Nate's friends from WSU. I even got to surprise my friend Becca's parents in Kennewick. During my first year at EWU I went down to Kennewick a lot to see Becca. It was kind of my second home that year. You still couldn't pay me enough to live there though! Too brown and dry!!

Last weekend we went to a family reunion in Boise. We got to see where Nate's grandfather and his family grew up. Nate's great uncle Richard, who is 95, came along for the whole adventure. Uncle Richard hiked a half mile with us up to the old homestead. Did I mention that the trail was narrow, on an incline, and had sagebrush, rocks and thistles along the way? Oh did I also mention that Uncle Richard has two canes? He is amazing. We got to tour a newspaper that Nate's Great Grandfather was the editor of many years ago. It was very impressive. We were the only youngin's there. We aren't sure where all of Nate's cousins were.

We feel that we were rewarded for being the only ones from our generation at the reunion. When we arrived at the Boise airport to check in, we noticed that our flight was over-booked. We asked the attendant about that and she said that they were looking for 3 volunteers to get bumped to the next flight. In return we would get free tickets to anywhere Alaska Airlines flies. Of course we said yes. Did you know that Alaska is flying to Hawaii starting in October? Oh, we do!! We are planning on going back to Hawaii next June. Ever since our Honeymoon we couldn't wait to get back! Thanks Alaska!! We'll let you know when we book our tickets. We won't wait long.

This weekend we decided to go canoeing again. We had a few errands to take care of first. We went to the Redmond Farmer's Market. I was looking for rhubarb, but no luck. Anyone have any they want to share?? While browsing a booth with photographs taken in Italy (ahh, we want to go!!), a woman came up and started talking to the photographer. As it turned out she was the mayor of Redmond. The photographer introduced us. She was a very nice woman and very down to earth. From what we gathered, she is in her last term.

And now, canoeing pictures. It is amazing how much the flora and fauna changes in a month.

Last time we saw goslings, but this time there were ducklings. Here are a few cute pictures of them. They weren't as friendly as the goslings where last time.

Here are some of the ducklings running and swimming around on the lily pads.

I couldn't resist a picture of some of the water lily's. I made Nate take this one for me.
While we were paddling along we saw this bird on a nest in the water. We thought it might be a turtle but once we got closer we saw that it was not. Does anyone know what the bird is called? I saw a woman with bird book paddle past us in a canoe. Where is she??

Here are some ducks just hanging out.

Remember these goslings from last time?

Check them out now! They weren't nearly as friendly. They also weren't looking for food like they were last time.

We had a little picnic lunch again. Here is our view. There was also a man near us with a dog and later he started playing frisbee with the dog. Unfortunately we didn't get any pictures of that but it definitley made us want a dog. We thought the dog might have been a professional frisbee player just because he was so poised and patient when he was waiting for his owner to throw the frisbee.
We got a kick out of this guy. He was in a blow-up kayak and had his dog riding on the front. He pulled into where we were eating lunch. We had to take a picture of him. He is under one of the trees. Look carefully.

Here is a heron we saw along the shore. There were some people near us feeding the ducks and this guy came wondering out of the grasses.

We will leave you with this view of Mt. Rainier from 520. We couldn't resist taking the picture.

One last bit of news. School is out for the summer. Our last day was on Monday, June 25th. Thank goodness. Cross your fingers for less snow and power outages next school year. This is my first summer that I'm not teaching summer school. I applied but I didn't hear anything back. I'm hoping that I will be able to work a few days a week this summer at Nate's shop.

Have a safe 4th of July! Talk to you all soon!

Total Newness

2007-06-05T08:25:00.000-07:00

So I've achieved my most recent grand dream: the purchase of a Wacom tablet. For those who don't know, a Wacom is a little USB peripheral for your computer consisting of a flat tablet and a stylus. When you draw on the tablet, the motion translates directly to your computer screen. So what does this mean for me?

Infinite possibilities! It's interesting to get used to, but once I have the hang of it, I can essentially create paintings on my computer. It's going to be grand. I hope everyone knows that's what they're getting for birthdays this year. Yup! Digital paintings!

The downside is that I now have another thing competing for my time. I already have a wife and a full-time job, and now I have this little item waiting for me at home. Always waiting. Waiting for me. I can hear its call at work, a siren's song wafting across the distance between us.

Could you imagine if Becky and I had a child at this point? The poor guy wouldn't know he (or she) even had a father until he was 3.

In all seriousness, I'm loving the virtual canvas. Hopefully, I'll get some more time in the near future to post again. Until that time, back to the Batcave!

Memorial Day Weekend

2007-05-28T11:41:00.000-07:00

I had been wanting to get out and doing something outdoors that wasn't going to take a lot of driving or a lot of money. Every time we drive over the 520 bridge we see all the people in canoes and kayaks. I decided to do some research and found out that we could rent a canoe from the UW aquatic center for $7.50 an hour. Sign us up!! We decided Memorial Day weekend would be perfect. We saw so many great animals. We are definitely going again. I think my mom is going to join us with her kayak soon.

Here is our canoe. I won't tell you who fell getting into it! No, not in the water, thank goodness!!

Here are some of the geese that came begging for food. Did I mention that I really don't like it when birds get close too me? I was turned around when Nate was talking to me and then he told me I had a friend. One of the geese had come right up to my end of the canoe and was starting to peck at the canoe.

Mama and her goslings. The dad was around too, just not in this picture.

There were other birds out there too. The geese did not like the ducks getting too close to them at all. The white stuff in the water is cotton wood. Here we are! Notice that someone is not wearing their life vest properly! A lot of good that will do you!!

Here are some more pictures of the wildlife we saw.

A nice postcard picture. When we ate lunch right across from this area there was something swimming and splashing around in the area with the iris's . Nate thought the music from Lost might start or a plume of black smoke might rise out of the trees. Thankfully, that didn't happen.

Here is an ever classic Nate and Becky shot! I'm sure you have some just like it!! We had just finished lunch. Hey! Does anyone know what stadium is behind me?? Note the WSU shirt!! Te he!! Go Cougs!!

We rounded out the weekend with a trip to the movie theater to go see Pirates of the Caribbean along with the rest of the masses. Check out Nate's website for his review of it.

Greetings!

2007-05-28T11:27:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone! Nate and I decided to start a blog (actually it was my idea and he actually got it set up for me) to let you all know what is going on in our busy lives. We hope you all enjoy it!

You probably read Nate's post below. So I guess it is my turn to introduce myself or maybe even bring you up to speed about me. Nate and I met in April of 2004 in Spokane when I was finishing up school at Eastern. He moved over here to the west side of the state in May of 2005 and then we got engaged in December of 2005. We got married on July 29th, 2006. I moved down here to Redmond after we got married.

I started off the school year substituting in the Lake Washington School District which consists of schools in Kirkland, Redmond and Sammamish. Subbing kept me pretty busy. In February I just happened to be subbing for the right lady at the right time. She was expecting her second child and was taking her maternity leave 3 weeks early. She asked me if I was available for the next three weeks and I of course said "Yes." That opportunity actually turned in to me taking over for her for the rest of the school year. So I have had a full time position since March. I teach a wonderful group of 2nd graders. They are nothing like my 3rd graders from my first teaching position out of EWU. The ladies that I team with are wonderful and so are the staff. Cross you fingers that there will be a position at this school for me next year. Anywhere in the district would be great too!! I may be teaching this summer for the district's summer school program. I would love to do Best SELF again but the program closed and an hour commute is just a bit too much!!

Who am I?

2007-04-22T22:02:00.000-07:00

Since I'm a goof, I'm saying "Hi" to my wife on this blog I just set up. Later, after I show her how to login and post her own stuff here, she'll tell you herself just how big of a goof I am.

Can't wait.

Now, who am I? I'm Nate, an artist, philosopher, and witic. I hold down a 9-to-5 as the office manager of a printing press shop and live in Redmond, Washington. I've recently been able to make some headway with my artistic abilities by winning the "Illustrators of the Future" achievement award and being published in "L. Ron Hubbard presents the Writer's of the Future Anthology, Vol. 22."

Yes, I said "L. Ron Hubbard." I'm not a Scientologist, and if you keep reading what I write, you'll find that I'm not much of an -ist in any respect.

Except maybe a Hedonist.

At any rate, I was recently published for a second time in the novel "The Name of the Wind" by Patrick Rothfuss. I did the map. These two advances in my previously nonexistent career have given me great insight regarding the publishing world where it has never been truer said "It's not what you know, it's who you know." Or perhaps, who knows you.

Being overtly and even outrageously social has never paid off better than in the presence of writers, editors, and publishers. Also, I find that they are absolutely the best kind of people to be in conversations with.

Apart from "artist," the next best classification for me would be "geek" because I love all things Star Wars, Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica, Babylon 5, X-Men, Superman, Spider-man, the Tick, Lord of the Rings, elves, fairies (or faeries or however you want to spell the word), dragons, wizards, robots, warp drive, teleporters, artificial intelligence, runes, chess, long board games and whatever else gets freshmen duct-taped to walls these days.

I'm here, and I'm weird.

Thanks for comin' out and I'll see ya next time.