Heather Lake Snowshoe

Brandt and I travelled up near Mt. Pilchuck Saturday for our first-ever snowshoe hike. We had a lot of fun and look forward to another snow-hike later this winter!

Westport, WA Beach Weekend

We headed back to Westport this summer for our annual Holden family beach weekend.

(thanks for taking the great photo, brother-in-law, Dan)

The weather wasn't the greatest this year but it didn't stop me and Paul from catching some good waves boogie-boarding.

The less-than-stellar weather gave us a chance to play a lot of one of our favorite card games, Bonanza!

We were visited several times outside our back window by "George" the eagle.

(thanks again for the photo, Dan)

We were treated to several tasty meals; Here's Paul preparing their stuffed veal dish.

It turned out very delicious.

We all had a great time and look forward to another beach weekend next year!

Port Angeles & Victoria

Brandt and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary this past weekend by taking a trip to Port Angeles and Victoria B.C.

We spent Friday afternoon up on Hurricane Ridge in the Olympic National Park.

We hiked up Hurricane Hill where the views were really spectacular.


After a delicious breakfast at our B&B on Saturday we hopped on a ferry in Port Angeles and headed across the water to Victoria, B.C.

Beacon Hill Park was very pretty and one of our favorite spots.

The Canadian Parliament building was also sight to behold.

Sunday was a busy day with a drive down to Sumner for an afternoon wedding but all-in-all we had a fun-filled weekend celebrating.

Gulf Shores, AL

Brandt and I met up with my Oak Harbor, Colorado and Ohio relatives in the Gulf Coast for a week of sun and fun.

We toured the National Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola with my parents and snapped a picture of one of the planes (A6 Intruder) my dad flew in the Navy.

Pensacola is home of the Blue Angels as well.

We were fortunate enough to stay in a beautiful beach house in Gulf Shores with the rest of my extended family.

We got to spend some quality time with our niece, Annalise, and our nephew, Jackson.

We had a wonderful time reconnecting with family while enjoying the sand and surf!

Mount Pilchuck

This hike started out innocent enough...

But before we knew it we were in the snow fields!

It cleared up closer to the top.

The view from the lookout cabin was pretty awesome!

There were a few sketchy spots on the way down

but we made it and it was a lot of fun!

Brandt and I went on our first mountain hike of the summer this afternoon near Darrington called Squire Creek Pass.

Brandt found little flecks of gold leaf in the river where we stopped for lunch--we're going to be rich! :)

Three Fingers Mountain

Overall, a great hike: about 8 miles and 2500 ft of elevation with some great views and fun creeks to cross.

Visit from the Holdens

Brandt's parents were in town this weekend so we spent Saturday carving pumpkins, making pizzas and hanging out.






Earl carved a pretty cool witch.

We cooked the pizzas in Tarah and Paul's awesome outdoor cobb oven:

After the pizzas were done we let the oven cool down a bit and then we baked a couple of delicious apple crisps.

We spent Sunday walking around Carkeek park. There's this old, formerly lost apple orchard within the park: