Picture Fail

Sorry if you cannot see my pictures. I am in the process of fixing it. This is what I get for changing my settings on flickr. It was an emotional afternoon of pregnancy hormones. Andrew helped me figure out the problem. Let's just say Andrew enjoyed one of his favorite activities--taking advantage of my hormonal craziness by doing nice things to make me cry.

Flowers

I have been working on the scrapbook of our summer trip to Victoria, BC, with my family. Andrew took some beautiful pictures of flowers when we went to Butchart Gardens in June. He has been working on photography and I think he is getting better and better.

A Place To Sleep

My parents gave us the cradle that me and all my siblings slept in. My grandpa made it. It was getting old the finish was kind of nasty. So we decided to re-finish it for our little girl.


Andrew sanding the bed.


Me sanding and my beautiful garden behind me.


Andrew sanding with his graduation present (from my parents).

Don't we have a lovely patio?

After a lot of indecision between staining the cradle and painting it, we finally decided to paint it off white.


Andrew priming the cradle.


Andrew priming and needing a haircut quite desperately. Also, check out my beans--they did so well.


Me being Michaelangelo painting my Sistine Chapel. This was seriously the best way to paint the rungs.


Andrew Michaelangelo-ing.


Painting the bottom--almost done!


Yay! We are painting in our kitchen and there is horrible lighting!


Me putting the finishing touches on the cradle base.

It's done!




I love it.

Baby Girl gets to share a room with a desk, telescope, cello, and all sorts of storage. She is lucky. People put pictures of their cute nurseries up. This one isn't cute. I think you don't need a cute nursery when your baby is so darn cute. Her cuteness would overpower the cuteness of the nursery, making it obsolete.

And that was our big craft for the baby!

Exhausted at Seven

I climbed the stairs to our apartment seven times yesterday. That may not sound like a big deal, but it is. We live on the third floor. I am 33 weeks pregnant. I'm pretty active and walk 3 to 5 miles each day, but not up steep hills. I do climb the stairs two to four times each day. But after seven, I was pooped. My thighs hurt. My butt hurt. I got slower and slower each time.

First, I had to climb up the stairs after my morning walk.

Second, I had to climb up the stairs after taking out the stench of a trash can cuz I couldn't stand it for one more second. Usually Andrew takes out the trash.

Third, I climbed the stairs after walking to the grocery store. I carried a cabbage and a large can of tomato sauce.

Fourth, I climbed the stairs after watching Downton Abbey with my friend Shannon.

Fifth, I climbed the stairs after taking dinner to someone in the ward.

Sixth, I climbed the stairs after going on a walk and getting the mail with Andrew.

And the seventh time I climbed the stairs was after we had pie with friends.

I said to Andrew, "I should climb the stairs just one more time and make it an even eight."

Andrew told me not to. "In Hebrew culture," he said, "seven is perfection and complete."

On that note, I hope that my thighs and butt are perfect now. Since we are culturally Hebrew (not), that makes total sense. So far today, I have only climbed the stairs once and started off my day with a bubble bath.

A Season of Hiking

I have not done well documenting all of our outdoor adventures. That may surprise you, since every-other post is about an outdoor adventure.

Arches National Park

We went to Arches for our Spring Break in March. We had a good time and Wesley even joined us for an overnight campout.


Dark Angel


Delicate Arch

Greider Lakes

Our next hike was in a much different climate. It was May and still rainy and cold and there was snow. We went to Greider Lakes in Washington and it was tough. The road washed out so you had to hike 2 miles before getting to the trailhead (missed that in the trail description) and then we climbed incredibly high up 40 switch backs. I'm not sure if we'll do this one again. But, it was very beautiful up there.


The lower lake

Cherry Creek Falls

This was a pretty easy hike, but it was a good one. We went in June to Cherry Creek Falls. This place is beautiful. We went with Andrew's coworker and friend, Ben.


At the waterfall

Heather Lake

We are slowly discovering that everywhere worth hiking to here in Washington involves getting up on top of the glacial plain to the alpine lakes. At the end of July, we hiked to Heather Lake and it was beautiful. We will go again.


Heather Lake behind the trees


It seriously is that color--so clear and beautiful

Mt. Pilchuck

We hiked Mt. Pilchuck at the end of August and it was HOT and full of people (which we never like). But, we went with Ben and some of his friends and had a good time. You had an amazing view of EVERYTHING! The day was clear so we could see Mt. Baker and Mt. Rainier (both are volcanoes), the rugged and beautiful Cascades, downtown Seattle in the distance, all of Snohomish county, the Puget Sound, and the Olympic Mountains in the west. Amazing. I also felt like a power woman cuz I made it to the top at 30 weeks pregnant! Don't tell my OB/GYN, I'm not sure she or other doctors would be too happy about that.


Great granite features on the way


On top of Pilchuck with the Three Fingers behind us (future exploration??)


I'm pregnant and I know it

Tonga Ridge

Just on Friday we hiked on Tonga Ridge. Like I mentioned before, everywhere worth going to is at about 5000 feet elevation (with us hiking up from 1000 or hopefully 3000 feet). Lucky for us, we got to drive to that elevation before starting the hike, so the hike was relatively flat. We saw some great mountain views, but missed the turn off to go to Sawyer Peak. Oh well. We were distracted by HUCKLEBERRIES! They were delicious. We picked a ton.


The view of mountains across from us


Me picking huckleberries


Andrew picking huckleberries


Wildflowers

Conclusion? The season ain't over yet!

We've had a great hiking season. I think that we will probably go on another hike or two before Baby Girl Platypus comes. And after she comes, we will have a few months and then we'll probably go snowshoeing.

So come visit us and we'll hike!