Moving craziness!

Well, we are in the thick of it!! I just posted some fun things we have done over the last month or so - - but truly most of our time has been spent PACKING, ORGANIZING, and trying to find a place to live in Michigan! Craig's list was our friend . . . My sister ended up going up to the area from Ohio to look at places for us- we we did find a few that we liked. We have applied for one about 1/2 mile from Lake St. Clair, in a charming neighborhood within 10 minutes of the Hospital and Clinic Jon will be working at. It is an older home (1930') but has a lot of charm and will be great for our family! I am hoping everything goes OK with our application and we are able to rent that house. I will post pictures when I get them!

I feel bad for our kids- this is going to be a hard change. Already I feel like we have lost the summer to the craziness. The things I usually do with my kids in the summer on a daily basis went out the window- - and they have been fairly bored. Thanks so all the friends who helped give them a better summer by taking them to the park, swimming, and just having them over to play!

We are going to be renting out our house here in Yakima. We feel really good about doing this, but I also pray that everything goes well with that- because it is a bit of a risk! We have managed apartments in the past, so know what do to- - and we have several contacts here in Yakima that can help us if needed while we are in Michigan.

We are packing up our moving truck this Saturday- - CRAZY!! Then we are on the road for a week (we are stopping along the way several times). Jon will be driving our moving truck, and I will be driving our van - - wish us luck on a safe journey and that we will have the strength to each drive about 2500 miles! I can hardly believe in a week we will be on the road. I will blog our trek east . . .

I will miss this . . .

Cool summer evenings with the mountains silhouetted on the horizon.

Mount Adams (view from the front of our house):


And Mount Rainier (view from the back of our house - - though we can only see the tip of it!)


The kids having fun on the trampoline:


BUT- I am excited for the lush green of Michigan - - just comparing the satelite images- we are moving to a MUCH greener place. I really WON'T miss the bare brown hill behind our house . . .

Pies . . .

Happy Pioneer Day! We had a fun ward picnic - - and I even won 3rd place in the Berry category of the pie contest for my Red White an Blueberry Pie! Knowing the many wonderful cooks in our ward, I feel privileged to have placed!



On August 1st we took a little trip down to see our friends the Whittles who live in Lyle, WA (on the Columbia gorge). We figured a Sunday drive would be a fun thing to do and a good break from packing. Our Whittle friends here in Yakima also came down so we had a fun little reunion!! I am going to miss these friends so dearly. Marcus will also miss his best friends Devon and Cameron - - even though we have already lived apart for the last two years, he still says they are his best friends. I am glad we have been able to see them often!

Brooke and Beverly- two wonderful friends that I will miss terribly.


We went out and picked a huge bowl full of wild blackberries! This is also where it ties into the pies - - when we came home I made a delicious blackberry pie!

Farewell to the mountains . . .

One thing I am really going to miss about Washington is the mountains - - most especially Mount Rainier. Several weeks ago, we decided we needed to take a couple of days to say farewell to our beloved peaks and took a night to go camping. We camped in the lush evergreen forest at the base of Mount Rainier- at Ohanepecosh campground at Mount Rainier National Park. Glorious doesn't even describe the scenery. Even though I didn't get much sleep, camping was really fun!


Mmmmm- Dirt! This was Tyler's favorite thing to do- put handfulls of WHATEVER he could get his hands on in his mouth!




We hiked a trail through a river gorge that had been flooded a few years back (the trail comes off of the campground at White River). Although it was a bit of crazy hiking because the trail had been wiped out- there was an alternate trail that the kids had so much fun following- climbing over boulders and through the stream bed - - after awhile I turned back with Lillian because it was getting a little to difficult for her. It was still such beautiful scenery!

Old Ranger cabin at the White River campground:


New river crossing after the flooding:







Part of the new trail they are building. The couldn't go very far on it because it is still being built!



We then went up to Sunrise to see that side of the mountain- - gorgeous as always!



The campfire program was fun, that night . . .



Breakfast- hot breakfast tastes the BEST when you are camping!


After packing up, we went on another hike for about 3 miles through the beautiful forest to Silver Falls.





Since we won't be back to this part of the country for a long time, we took a little detour to go see Mount Saint Helens. It was amazing to see the volcano up close again and realize the power of nature- and that it actually erupted in my lifetime!


Spirit Lake: It is amazing how much it changed after the eruption, you can also still see the dead trees that were blown off the mountain lining it's shores:


It is facinating to see the landscape at Mt. Saint Helens. It is surrounded by lush age old forest, but then when you enter the blast zone you still see the dead trees that were blown over by the blast- and the completely destroyed forest. Within that destroyed forest, you can also see pockets of new forest starting to grow- the cycle of life is amazing!

Destroyed forest:


New forest:


Me and Windy Ridge with the volcano in the background!