Where did the time go?

All of my time seems to end up spent on homework these days. Although the start of the semester is sometimes hectic, I think I am doing alright. That is not to say the list of things to do ever ends. Since that is always the case, I have made a new years resolution to go hiking every Saturday this year. Mostly so I don't end up doing what I did last semester, which was sitting on my big ol' booty all day everyday doing home work! It can be really nice to feel in control of my homework and not stressed out, but there is also a need to have what my teacher calls soul food. I like to think being out in nature gets me away from all the people from school and the stress of homework. I'm able to let it go and not worry about what I still have to do. This weekend I literally sat at Starbucks from nine in the morning til' 5 pm! Pretty proud of myself for that crazy diligence! I got a lot of things off my list of to do things. Tomorrow I get to go to practicum, which just means I am putting in my volunteer hours to become a teacher. I am excited to be around little kiddos. They can say the darnest things. Even though the day seems so long its great. The last time I was in the kindergartners were using tiny magnifying glasses to look in each others mouths. Oh ya and I had to laugh to myself as I noticed them all sitting criss-cross on the floor all of them showing off their lil booty cracks! Well, I better stop procrastinating and get to my math homework. Prompt: what it means to do mathematics! Which, by the way I really love the focus they are putting on not the right or wrong answer, but instead the thinking and reasoning behind their answer!

UP and DOWN the coast

1st Beach Trip of 2014

We got a little wild 

once we found out it

was pirate week at the beach! 

BUT, I suppose 

it wouldn't have been complete without 

a sword tournament!

                                            

Hoh Rainforest

Life lately has been straight to the grind stone with me in school and Sam remodeling the house. So when my Geography teacher offered extra credit to go on a  field trip, it seemed as good as any excuse to get out for a bit. It was a 4 hr drive to the Olympic National Park and sweet Sam drove the whole way! So we made a pit stop at a rocky beach along HWY 101. It had a small forest before the beach, which silenced the loud crashing waves along the shore. The forest had trees with burls it was so interesting.

The Olympic National Park Hoh Rain Forest turned out to be one wet adventure this weekend. By the time we got there it was dumping rain like the raindrops were little bouncy balls. My "I can do it" hiking girl attitude vanished, as I told Sam "lets just do a small trail and sleep in the truck tonight." Sam's eyes beamed with relief because he knew what it is like to hike the Hoh in the rain. Last time he came back with some gnarly blisters. Sad to say most of the pictures we shot the first day didn't turn out because it was raining so hard and was so dark in the forest the flash kept picking up the ginormous raindrops. Although, I did get a shot of this old phone booth covered in moss!  Once it got too dark to see we left the Hoh to do some more spelunking.  
We ended up spending the night parked outside a beach entrance and thought we would check it out in the morning. We were both awaken by a torrential down-pour. Later we discovered it was hail! Thank goodness we slept in the truck!

Mayfield Lake

When a couple of my friends suggested for Sam and I to go camping at Mayfield Lake last weekend, I was a little shocked. When you grow up in Toledo, WA it feels as if Mayfield Lake is in your back yard. Although I have been there a million times I have never camped there (I think). Anywhosen, we decided to get our fishing license and take our kayaks. Sam and I spent hours out on our kayaks and still didn't catch anything! Although we did find a little inlet that had a small waterfall in it and moss all around. Another great kayak find!

Hike at Mt. Rainier

Last weekend Sam and I decided to take my little sister for a hike at Mt. Rainier. Sam had a hike all planned out for us to go on, but once we got all the way up there, we quickly realized that the snow wasn't melted all the way. So we went back down the Mt. and found another trail that we could go on. We decided that we were going to hike to the reflection lakes. We hiked 5 miles to the reflection lakes to find that you could have just drove to them. Allie and I just giggled. But it was a nice day for a hike at the mountain and we got some great pictures!

summer vacation 2013

The beginning of summer started with an AWESOME trip to visit Samuel's sister Jane and brother in-law Jared. Once we landed in Indiana we hopped in their truck for a road trip. 

1st stop: Cedar Point theme park 

 IT WAS 
AMAZING!

2nd stop was a pit stop at the beach! Jared came up with this little video, which maded us laugh til' we cried!

3rd stop Palmyra, New York  

 We got to see the printing press that printed the first Book of Mormon and walked through the sacred grove.

4th stop NIAGARA FALLS on the Canadian side :)

 That's Sam with his sweet poncho!

We did a little miniature golf with the dinosaurs! We let Jared win :) 

And Then our final CAMPING SPOT

It was a great trip! (Thanks Jane and Jared!)

Baby ducks!

We’re on our way to having a little farm apparently with our new addition of baby ducks! But Sam has wanted ducks for so long he must have not been able to resist when he went to do a job, replacing a windshield for one of the members of our church and saw all the little ducks! The man was so sweet to tell the boys that if they could catch them they can have them. Apparently, these little guys were super wild and were swimming like mad men in the muckiest pond! Of course the boys hopped right in that dirty pond and were chasing the ducks all over in it! Sam said the man got such a kick out of it! (I could only imagine)