Just the latest In our little world :)

Well here we are, roughly 75 days or so away from when we expect to depart the lower 48 and it still feels like there are a million and one things to do! Slowly making lists and sorting things out. Lots of trips to the drop-off center at Goodwill and posting and selling odds and ends on good ol' Craigslist. Ryan has been through this before, having the military pack him up and move him so he knows a bit more of what to expect but over all, it's such a feeling of limbo being unsure of what to do or where to start when you look around and see a house full of stuff. But as we draw closer and things start to get settled a little at a time, it all will surely start to feel a bit more under control.. within reason anyway, such a huge move to such a new place is just generally a bit unsettling to say the least and probably will continue to feel that way until well after we even arrive there!

We have so many exiting plans though, that include such a big adventure, and we are very much looking forward to being in the position of having nothing hold us back from experiencing them, but us. Being in Washington hasn't been the most fun for us, there are so many things to see and it is within a few hours of family, which is priceless, but it's so busy and crowded here that we find ourselves dreading going out and about. Admittedly, we enjoy being homebodies, making dinner at home and watching movies is a favorite pass time for us, but we also love getting out and feel that we've lost the drive to do that very much since being in such a big city. Being forced to move somewhere new like this will give us the chance to start fresh and relearn how much we love getting out and doing things that we miss like doing  much camping, hiking, fishing, and pretty much just being outside. Our new goal is to make up our own sort of "bucket list" for our time in Alaska, we're going to come up with those things we want to see or do while we are there and we'll even laminate it and frame it and hang it up where we will always be able to see it. That way if we start to get into a slump and can't think of much to do, we know there is always that list to check something off of. If any family or friends have ideas for us to put on our list comment or write us and let us know. We know we're blessed enough to get to see some things that some people reading this may not get the chance to see, so add to our list and we'll do it for you, that way you can live it vicariously through us! :)

So on to life in the present, I suppose! It feels like we're so busy thinking and planning for the coming months that it's hard to maintain focus on the here and now. There aren't many exiting things going on for the most part currently, but we are doing our best to see people we care about and actually that includes getting to have RJ and his girlfriend Auna come up to visit us over this last weekend. It was so nice to get to see them and show them around here a bit. We took them down to Cabela's so that RJ could look at all the fishing "stuff" his heart could desire and we just browsed around all the misc things they have there. It's such a neat store and a lot of fun things to see, though very touristy. Beyond that we all went to find the Fremont Troll in Seattle and then off to the Space Needle. Both of us had been there before but they hadn't so we wanted them to get to see it, too. Unfortunately it's the prettiest to see when it's a bit darker out and the lights of the city are all on but we were all a bit tired and we didn't want to wait around that long. So we hopped back in the car and drove around Seattle a bit longer looking for one last good view point then headed back south to get dinner. And for dinner? We had Famous Dave's BBQ, which by the way, RJ and Auna decided they figured out why Dave was so famous.. because it is SO good!! Barbecue lovers at heart can't say no to that goodness, we were all "fat and happy" when we left there. We headed home exhausted and satisfied and all pretty much hit the hay when we got back to the house. So all in all, great weekend and we so appreciated them taking the time to visit and spend a couple of days with us.

Well it's looking like a good day today, the sun in shining as it will be the rest of the week and have some good things coming up that we are looking forward to. We're planning on catching a movie with some friends this weekend before one of them heads off to Texas where he's going to be getting cross trained into a new career field. We don't know how much more we'll see them after that and are really sad about that so are looking forward to. Beyond that we are thinking we'll go back into Seattle to see the Pike Place Market this weekend since we haven't seen it yet. Next up we hope to visit with family a few more times in the next couple of months but the big visit is still being planned for May. After looking at a few things, Ryan is thinking he may be able to swing coming down for 3 whole weeks! So people better have some time open to see us because we have the better part of a month to spend and very exited about that! So as we've mentioned before, we want to have a big family get together at least once so please stay tuned and hopefully everyone would be able to come. Any ideas on where and when to do that would also be appreciated so be sure and let us know.

Lots of love and we'll most definitely be in touch soon! Happy Wednesday to everyone, hope it's a sunny day where ever you may be when your reading this.