Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Happy Anniversary


Well, today marks the 3rd year of our marriage. So far, so good. No major drama, not gigantic hurdles that we've jumped over. Some would says - oh, 3 years. That's still practically newlyweds. Remember, though, that we've been together since for just about 11 years now.

What's changed since we took that trip down the aisle 3 years ago? Well, the biggest change of course is that we moved states. We left our home in Enumclaw last July and set course for Boise. We landed a little west of Boise, in Meridian. Nick's also enrolled in school. He's in his 4th quarter of school and has 2 more years to go.

Not much else has changed! We're so boring! I know many of you are anxious for babies....not yet! Maybe soon - who knows? We have no set plan on that, so when it happens, it happens but rest assured that I'll be singing it from the hilltops when it does happen! :-)

So, that's my anniversary blog. Not so exciting - in fact, we're not even doing anything today for our anniversary. Nick has school tonight and I'll probably go to the gym. HA!

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Summer Foods

So, everyone has a favorite summer dish. I want them. :-) I'm getting tired of my old summer favorites and I had hoped that you would be willing to share some of your favorites with me.

So, what do you eat? What is your favorite summer time dish that you just can't wait to make once the weather gets hot?

Monday, June 23, 2008

Camping!!!!



Well, we stole away this weekend and went camping. We headed out towards Idaho City and then a fun 24 mile ride through Forest Service roads to our spot. We camped right on the North Fork of the Boise river from Friday evening until Sunday afternoon. Mom and dad came up Saturday afternoon to join us.



We landed a KILLER spot. It was perfect - flat & level, right on the river, with plenty of space for our embarrassingly large tent and mom & dad's tent trailer. The first night we were there, some other people camped basically on top of us but left the next morning. There weren't a lot of spots to choose from, so I imagine they decided to just pull in some where for the night (it was getting fairly dark by the time they pulled in) and then headed out in the morning to find some place better.



We had gorgeous weather - deep blue skies, bright white clouds. It didn't get too cold at night and not too hot during the day. Saturday evening we had quite the little wind storm in the middle of our pinochle game. Mom's cards went flying - nearly into the river - as she went to help disburse the fire that we flinging hot sparks all over the place. We secured the rainfly to our tent more firmly to the ground and continued our game. As soon as we got the fire going again (once the wind died down), the wind picked up again. So, we started hauling rocks over to build up the fire pit as a buffer against the rain. That same storm must have rocked through the Treasure Valley because the tree in our front yard broke in half and was laying in the middle of the cul-de-sac when we got home.

Poor Nick hurt his back somehow along the way. There was lots of chopping with the ax, hauling big rocks for the fire pit, moving stumps around the site. Late last night and into this morning his back is giving him quite a bit of pain. We're waiting for the Urgent Care @ St. Al's to open at 8:00 and we're off to go visit them. Hopefully they'll find that it's nothing too serious and recommend some lovely pain killer and we'll be good to go.

Other than that, we had a great trip. I'm glad we went and I can't wait to go again!

Thursday, June 19, 2008

Busy Beesley's

Well, I thought I'd post a little update on what's new in our life. Not a whole lot, but a few things I could comment on.

Nick started his new quarter of school on the 10th. His class days this quarter are Tuesdays, Wednesdays & Thursdays. Of the different schedules he's had, I think I like this one the best. I HATED when he had Friday class - it felt like part of the weekend was ruined. This quarter he's got a Linux class, a comp (English) class and an C++ class.

I'm going through some changes at my work - we've restructured the flow of the office workload and for now all the work comes to my desk first and then I divvy it up between myself and the other girl here. I have to admit that she makes my job challenging. I know it must be hard to take direction from some one 19 years younger than you, but she kinda did it to herself.

Let's see - Nick & I are both starting to shed some poundage. Nick's been riding his bike to work a couple times a week and I've got a little program of my own going. It's nice to start to see some results!

We might go camping this weekend - the first time since last summer. Originally just Nick & I had planned on going and then we found out my parents were planning to go this weekend, too, so now we're going to go with them...apparently there are some other plans that are kind of up in the air, so I don't really know what's going on. If we end up going, I'll absolutely write a blog about that.

Well, that's it for now, I suppose. I know it's not riviting stuff, but really...my life just isn't THAT exciting! :-)

Thursday, June 12, 2008

Time In A Bottle

Wouldn't that be nice? I feel like I'm a hampster, spinning on a wheel. The more I spin, the less I get done and the faster time seems to be rushing past me at full speed.

Where is all my time going? I work, yes, but I have the evenings and weekends to do other things. There are SO many things I'd like to do - begin scrapbooking, finally get around to making our wedding albums (you know, 3 years later), learn how to sew (again) so I can make curtains, pillows, other decorative accessories for my house, plant flowers in my yard, start a vegetable garden, go hiking, explore Idaho and find some redeeming quailites (outside of family) for being here, go camping, write more letters, invite the girls over for a tea party.

I want to learn and do new, fun and exciting things. I just feel like I don't have any time. I can't believe it's already June. Nearing the end of the 2nd week of June. It's almost time for my yearly review at my job.

That's another thing that's just bogging my time. My job. We've done some restructering at my work and basically now all the work is on my desk and the other girl here is...well, I don't know what she's doing. She appears to be working, but I'm not quite sure on WHAT. So I feel stressed out every time I get to work and all day long, looking at the piles of paper on my desk that I just don't seem to have time to get to.

This has been a very negative post. :-( I just wish I could find some of the time in a bottle. I could use a little extra, here.

Friday, June 6, 2008

I just don't understand

I watched the news this morning as I was getting ready for work. I can't watch the local news here - it feels like I'm watching a high school production and at any moment the newscaster is going to read the lunch menu for the day and annouce that Prom is just around the corner...so I watched MSNBC today (I've tried watching Fox News but the lady they have on in the morning annoys me).

I heard the most disturbing story and it really made me angry. Then it made me sad, because I just don't understand our society. Last Friday an elderly man (he's 78) was attemping to cross the street when he was struck by a car. The awful thing is that the car kept going. The really awful thing is that the car right behind the first one, hit him as well. The terrible thing is that car also kept going. The awful, terrible, disgusting thing is that SEVERAL more cars swerved to go around him and people on the street - witnesses to the hit and run - did NOTHING. Absolutely NOTHING.

The only evidence the police have is a survellience video that captured the whole event. For over 40 seconds this man lay injured and bleeding in the middle of the road before some one on the sidewalk stepped off the street for a closer look. No one checked to see if he was still alive. No one attempted to divert traffic around him. None of the cars passing him by stopped to see if they could help.

What is WRONG with this country? An old man can be struck by a vehicle, his body thrown up into the air and be hit by another vehicle and NO ONE STOPS TO DO A THING. That's an atrocity. It's disgusting and obsene.

That's all. That's my rant for today. I saw that story first thing this morning and watched the horrifying video and it's been with me all day. I simply don't understand.

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=5013503

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

HIP, HIP, HOORAY!

I'm so proud and happy and excited I could just BURST!

Nick FINALLY got his grades for this last quarter - STRAIGHT A'S BABY! Busy, busy Beesley gets the job done.

HOORAY FOR NICK AND ALL HIS HARD WORK!

I'm insiting he go out to a celebratory dinner tonight. Pictures to follow...

p.s.
Update: Hannah (our neice) says she's glad Uncle Nick got "straight" A's and not "curvy" ones. :-)

Monday, June 2, 2008

Seattle Bound: Day 3



On day three, we ventured downtown. We walked around Pike Place Market, there was some sort of festival going on. Sarah finally went into the first Starbucks (although she didn't want to wait in line to get a coffee). After Pike Place, we walked down to Ivar's, the main restaurant was only serving Brunch until 3:00 pm, so we decided to eat at Ivar's Fish Bar instead.



I enjoyed it!



The seagulls enjoyed it!



Sarah, not so much. She was terrified that the seagulls would eat her hair...



After lunch we took the Argosy Harbor Tour. A young Captain Stubing pictured here, guided the vessel round Elliott Bay, it really was a nice tour. I learned many things on tour thanks to the narrator. Like the piers are at 45 degree angles because when they loaded the trains, its a lot easier for a train to turn 45 degrees, rather than 90 degrees. I also learned that Mississippi was a city, it's also rains more there than in Seattle. All this time I thought Mississippi was a state... silly me.



Ferries Abound!



We enjoyed the tour!



Downtown Seattle... on a beautiful overcast day.



Sarah being silly.



This was an artsy fartsy picture I took of Sarah and Sodo. You can see Safeco and Qwest in the background.

Sunday, June 1, 2008

Seattle Bound: Day 2

So, I sit here on my rock hard bed at our lovely Motel 6. Nick's getting ready for the day in. Today we're off to Seattle to do Pike Place and have some fish & chips at Ivar's on the pier. We MIGHT ride the ferry, but I heard it's gotten very expensive, so we might not.

Yesterday morning started fairly early. We got up, grabbed some Starbucks and met George & Ashley @ Costco to fuel up. We paid under $4.00/gallon (I can't remember, but I think it was about $3.90 or something), which is so much better than what the gas station at the hotel offers us. Bummer is that we can't buy gas at Costco unless George & Ashley are there with us since my membership expired in March. Well, so far it feels like I've been measuring our trip in terms of Starbucks and gas prices. ha ha.


After we fueled up, we headed out towards the mountain. we did a quick detour past our old house - it's exactly the same. Weeds in the driveway, same dull gray, and even the recycle bin is parked in the same place. we would have gawked longer, but the new owner was peering out the widow, so we drove on.

Of course, it was overcast and the mountain was hiding. We all piled in George & Ashley's car (as is typical of when we would go camping w/ them) and explored the forest service roads & the conditions of some of our old camping sites. Some of the roads are in terrible condition - the forest got hit pretty hard with wind and snow storms again this winter.



After the day adventure was over we went out to dinner at a new (to me) restaurant in Federal Way called McGrath's Fish House. It was pretty good - fairly reasonable prices. Then we hit the EQC for some gambling (we all agreed that we liked Muckleshoot better, but the EQC is closer to where all of us live/stay). I lost all but 2 cents of my $20 to play in the slots and Nick won $115 off of his $20 on the blackjack tables.

Well, more to follow. I'm excited to get into the city and play tourist!