Saturday, August 23, 2008

Our Happy Place!!!!!!!!

We moved into the our new pad in the Booth's house. Isn't it BEAUTIFUL? We are so happy and feel like we can breath again. It has a sweet spirit here too. We feel joy and peace--and an urge to read our scriptures more. Anyway, I'm sure you'd like to see some more pictures. (Above is the open kitchen, dinning, and living room space. The French glass doors are our front door. There's another door past the refrigerator that connects us into the Booth's living space.)




Please inspect the picture of our new bedroom...


And large closet....



And the bathroom with it's big shower (no tub)....
Our office...turned sideways...(don't ask me why---it's too frustrating to fix.)

So, we love it here and look forward to the time we get to live here.

Best of all, we have the Booths to hang out with and tell all of our stories to!

Come visit!


Monday, August 18, 2008

The Booth's Happy Place

Friday, August 15, at about 9pm, Shaun and I hitched a ride with Maren Booth (daughter of Teri and Steve Booth--who's house we are moving into). Of course, Maren had to fill-up the car with gas. Shaun and I sat in the car with Cody (the dog) and enjoyed the ride. (Maren is a great driver!)














We took the ferry and enjoyed a 20 minute ride on the 11:30pm ferry. Unfortunately, Ivars was closed and we couldn't get any fish and chips while we were waiting in the ferry line.

Then...magically, we arrived at the Booth's happy place (aka the Booth's Whidbey Island Cabin).

We parked in a dark sandy parking lot--on the water's edge. We walked over to a cabin and were escorted to the 2nd floor bedroom. In the morning, we awoke to the most beautiful sight! Ocean and sunshine a few steps away.

Then we went went to catch some crabs. I learned the trade. Fill up small baskets, which are inside a big cage, with meat (like hot dogs and freezer burned chicken and ham) then throw the whole thing into the water with a rope attached and boo-e at the end so you can find it. Check on it later, take out the legal male crabs to keep--throw back the females and undersized males. Take home to your happy place, and prepare for eating.


We also went on a walk, a boat ride (and saw seals), and I lounged around. It was a nice mini- vacation. The Booths were wonderful hosts and it was nice getting to know them more.

Shaun got burned. Ouch!

We came home Saturday night on the 9:30pm ferry. I saw a funny sign in the bathroom stall.


Everyone got home safely--and was tired the next day at church. Shaun and I can't wait to move in with the Booths. We really like them!


Saturday, August 9, 2008

Camping with Our Ward (aka Church Folks--ya'll)

Friday we left Bellingham and headed over to Cascade Park in Arlington for the "Summer's Quarters" Ward Camp out. It was our first time camping together and even though we only spent one night--we left with many memories!

We showed up at 3:30pm--and not many people were there...so, we entertained ourselves down by the river throwing(me) and skipping (Shaun) rocks. Then we found a sweet rope/plastic barrel seat swing. I tried it out first to test if it was safe.

Afterwards, Shaun tried it too and I nearly lost my balance and fell on my face trying to push him. (His ride was a little short---not as much "Weee" as mine.)

We also made pita bread pizzas for dinner. We brought Canadian bacon, onions, green bell peppers, pizza sauce, cheese, mushrooms, olives...and stuffed them into the pocket of the pita. Then we wrapped them in foil and put them in the fire. We lost one in our first try. We found out the foil wasn't as strong as we expected and as the foil burned up on one side--it effectively saved us the trouble of burning those pizza calories. For desert we continued to wrap things in foil...a banana stuffed with mini chocolate chips and marshmallows. Success! They turned out so good...um...we made a third.

While we were finishing dinner, our camp neighbors (and real life neighbors) arrived, the Mumfords (minus wife Julia). Nigel, the youngest, showed off his "guns" (I mean strong arms)--as he received 5 immunization shots that day in preparation for starting Kindergarten in the fall Tom and Tim are seen posing for the camera by the fire-bowl, later to be the site for a rousing song circle under Tom's command!

After all the songs, Shaun and I went back to out tent and laid down on the picnic table outside and looked at the stars (very romantic). After the clouds moved in, we moved into our tent. At about 1am...we were awakened--by who we guessed was Tim. He un-zipped the tent and without speaking stood at the bottom of our sleeping bag and seemed to be staring at us. We said, "I think you're in the wrong tent......Is that Tim?" No answer. After a moment, the slender figure started to leave the tent. We said, I think your over one tent." He left. We think we heard him getting into another tent (not his--but at least the next tent was empty). We both fell to sleep again. At about 5:45am it started to rain....and then it stopped after 5 minutes. And then, it started again...but did not stop.

We had breakfast with the ward and went home. It was a fun trip. Both of us were exhausted after we got home. (We really didn't sleep to well.) So, we chilled for the rest of the day.

Fun Fun!