Texas!

Ron and myself spent halloween weekend in texas this year, visiting family and attending the Notre Dame vs. WSU football game. It was awesome! We stayed in San Antonio, which is beautiful! It was a nice change of scenery from washington. Ron and I pretty much won the lottery with this trip.. especially me!  The main reason we went was the EIGHT FREE tickets we got from family friends of the Pingels, who are Notre Dame alumni, and didn't want to make the trip down just for the game. Ron's cousin Cindy hooked us up with a FREE hotel room at the Fairmont Hotel right in the smack center of downtown San Antonio,  and she also provided us a FREE rental car! We ate 3 or 4 bigger meals out, with relatives that generously took care of the bill. I don't think I spent a cent the entire trip, thanks to Ron and his extended family! So we flew into houston early in the morning, and took another flight into San Antonio (which was hot! :) ) where Cindy, Cindy's mom, Cindy's daughter and nephew, all met us in the rental car and they took us to eat at El Tipico (first experience of great texas food), and then to our hotel room at the Fairmont. We settled into our room for a bit until Ron's cousin Adolf (aka Duffy) came and picked us up to go to a small club to watch his sister Jessica (Ron's cousin) perform flamenco! That was so cool to experience, and authentically to! The next day, (saturday, halloween) we spent sight-seeing. We woke up and headed across the street (literally) into Hemisfair Park, where the Tower of the Americas is located, which we proceeded to ride the elevator up and see San Antonio from above. We went across the street to experience the River Walk! This was probably my favorite part of the trip. The River Walk is a long stretch of man made canals that are bordered by restaurants and shops and a mall on one end. Tour boats travel the waters constantly and you hear the guides schpealing their schpeal. This particular day the river walk was flooded with fans in town for the football game, or people out for halloween, so it was crowded, but made people watching too easy!

We then strolled down into La Villita, which is like a farmer's market, but with art galleries and gift shops. My kind of place according to Ron. It was beautiful and I loved all the little shops and "The Little Church" we found. Then we mosied down the street to see the Alamo which is something you have to do when visiting Texas. Ron had never been even though he'd lived in San Antonio, and of course I've never even been inside the Texas state line, so we went and wandered around (no pictures inside though, or hats apparently). Next was the Wax Museum across the street which was mostly interesting but creepy a lot of the time! Some of the figures looked soooooo realistic, which I guess is the point, but especially the figure of Jay Leno (who was standing sort of in the walkway instead of on a platform off to the side) seemed like he would blink and turn to follow you through the museum and it definitely freaked me out! He was one of the ones that only looked more real the closer you got, as opposed to looking more and more fake as you got closer. There was a special section downstairs that was full of monster and alien type figures, supposed to be scary and creepy. We started to walk down the stairs to see if we could handle it, but the creepy guy from Saw, you know, white face, black hair, red targets on his cheeks, yeah that guy was standing next to the entrance and scaring the group ahead of us. Oh yeah, this was a real person dressed up as the character, not a wax person, so he looked at you and approached you.. Well Ron took one look at that guy and said nope! and ran back upstairs.. I wasn't scared until I caught his eye right as I was turning around and started to chase me up the stairs! Needless to say, we did not experience that section of the museum! As a package deal, we also went into the Ripley's Believe it or Not museum of sorts, which was definitely interesting! Lots of wierd things, and things that made you question the authenticity.. but fun! Visiting this location was cut a bit short to get to the football game. We walked over to the Alamo Dome where the game was and realized that everyone was either sporting fan gear, or costumed up for halloween. The game was not a real close one, as Notre Dame is a good team and WSU is not quite as ... competitive. I was still torn on who to support though, seeing that I wanted to cheer on my state, but we were there because of the Fighting Irish.. as a result I pretty much cheered for everything.. The stadium was definitely biased though, Notre Dame fans took over about 90% of the crowd, whereas Coug fans only filled up on little corner. ND did bring their band though and man they were cool! First of all the band itself is huge! Three times the size of the football team. They put on a great half time show, with space missions and texas tunes. The game was fun, and something to check off on the list of things to do in life. We went back to the hotel that night and definitely fell into our nice fluffy beds. Sunday was the family day as we ran around meeting these people and eating here and there. We met family friends of the Pingel's out at a barbeque joint, then went out to Jessica's house, to hang out with her son Zack for a bit before heading to El Tipico again to eat with them and Duffy, Mikey, and Lupy, all before going out to meet Cindy and her daughter to put flowers at some of Ron's relatives grave's and to see the mission where Ron was babitized. We headed back to Cindy's house for the night before fying out early the next morning. Everyone I met was great and friendly and very genrous, and I was very much appriciative of the southern hospitality that was dished out!  A huge thank you to all of Ron's family that I met, and an even bigger one to my Ron!! Texas was amazing, and I can't wait until the next visit!

A Quickie

My first college midterms are over and I survived!! We'll see how the grades come back, but at this point I really don't care what they are! I finished them is all that matters now and I'm exhausted but I did it, so take that college!
Speaking of exhaustion... Ron and I are waking up at 3 in the morning tomorrow to be at Seatac around 5 so we can fly to TEXAS! I'm really excited and have no idea what to expect but I'm sure we'll come back with some stories! Especially since halloween is saturday and we're going to the Notre Dame game.. it'll be awesome! CAN'T WAIT

Taking Back Halloween Retreat

This past weekend was the annual Taking Back Halloween retreat at Soundview that everyone looks forward to after every summer. A good number of people came this year, with a few youth groups and various stragglers. We spend the weekend hanging out at the camp, usually with a few planned activities to provide a little order, but the weekend is knowingly hosted so that people can catch up. One thing that IS an event to anticipate is the carnival that is organized (by Tink most regularly) where there are lots of carnival type games set up around the activity shelter offering candy as prizes. There's a crazy hair station (with spray on hair color) and this year it was combined with a face paint table that myself and Ck ran quite successfully! One masterpiece I was particularly excited about was the orange pumpkin "sniffapotamos", a beast that was the mascot for a group of kids going around the carnival that was part elephant, part giraffe, and part hippo!
Most years that I have been at the retreat, the costumes are usually lacking.. The kids mostly just put on random things from the camp costume box that we use for skits during the summer and it is always a little disappointing. But this year things were great! Not only were more people wearing costumes they brought from home, but the people that did dress up did good! There was a Madeline, a flamingo, an ancient Roman (?) soldier, Cleopatra, cowboy, mermaid, one of the village people (with a blended chai painted on his face thanks to the face paint station), a carnival queen, a mental institution escapee, a few nerds, and "Tranji"(my favorite), among other things. I was proud! I myself attempted to be Max, from "Where the Wild Things Are" and it seemed to work, most people got it eventually. If nothing else it was run to run around and be wild!
Jason Asher, the staffer that was in charge of the retreat actually used the movie "Where the Wild Things Are" as a theme for the talks he did. He did an awesome job relating all sorts of God stuff to the movie and it made me want to go see the movie again just to remember what he was talking about! He mentioned that his talks were recorded and he'll be getting them up on the Soundview website (www.soundviewcamp.com) if you're interested in listening to them, which you should be. Jason is a great guy with a lot of awesome ideas and wise things to say if you ever get the chance to be around him, you won't be disappointed. He has such a spirit!


After learning guitar by playing songs at camp, I've been made the go-to girl for any camp activity that involves a campfire or gathering with camp music involved, so, as expected, I played quite a bit at the retreat. Allie Jo and I played for "campfire" both nights and morning gatherings as well. Also one of the youth leaders that brought his group to the retreat had changed up the lyrics to the Jason Mraz song "I'm Yours" and made it a christian song, so he showed me that and taught me to play it.

The retreat was awesome and the weather/ scenery was beautiful but cold! Soundview is such a gorgeous location any time of year, but the fall with all the huge maple trees in the array of color is a sight to see! I'd say it was a success and Allie and I even had the chance to duel each other for a powdered doughnut (leftover from one of the booths at the carnival). Everyone went home happy and exhausted from such a "wild rumpus" and the typical "hangover" that comes with spending time at Soundview.. over all a great weekend!

After the retreat was over and all the participants had left, the staff that was able to stayed around and sat up in calvinwood on the couches and shared what we'd been up to and those sorts of things which was good. Nice to get the chance to catch up with everyone and I was due for that much laughter! Its always a good time when Soundview-ers get together.. if you're prepared to handle it! :)

Big anniversary and the pumpkin patch

Well Ron and I celebrated a big day with our one year anniversary on the 17th! We went to the high school football game and to see "Where the Wild Things Are" on Friday night and he brought me a card and a dozen roses (one for every month we've been together and for "every month you've made brighter") in the morning which was so sweet!

Never really thought about it, but when we started dating I don't think I expect to be dating (successfully I might add) for this long! Its been nothing short of amazing though, Ron is such a great guy. Loving, caring, hard-working, romantic, generous, gracious, intelligent, sweet, handsome.. I love him.






\Well after I came home on Saturday (after some amazing biscuits and [bacon] gravy at Ron's house, I went to a pumpkin patch! Myself, the Moore's plus Tink, Ck, Allie Jo, and Rachel all suited up with boots and raincoats and headed out to Spooner Farm?  It was pretty over cast and rainy, as expected but it was a good time trekking around in the ridiculous mud that covered the whole farm. Glad I had rubber boots on!

There were lots of pumpkins everywhere, and some farm animals like turkeys, weird chickens, ponies, goats and bunnies, a pumpkin launcher (with a siren that sounded every time someone used it) a gift shop full of yummy candies, candles, Halloween themed decorations and various gift shop things. And gourds everywhere! All different shapes, sizes, colors, varieties, they were so cool! Outside the gift shop sat a huge cow that had a bench cut out of it, which was wet of course, but Tink and I still found it useful.

After many a pumpkin searching and mud sloshing we made our way to the pony rides and goats in between which is a patch full of little pumpkins for the preschoolers and such that come to the farm. In the middle of the patch was what was fantastic though! It was the wardrobe from The Chronicles of Narnia! It was a huge shed done up to look like a wardrobe and it was full of "fur coats" that led to another door on the other side, where you see ASLAN looking mighty on the left, and the trademark lamp post on the right. It was amazing! There were strange scarecrow like things with pumpkins heads standing by the entrance to the patch and next to the wardrobe that we eventually decided were Lucie, Edmund, Susan and Peter.

After the pumpkin patch we all came back to the Moore's house for pizza and cake and presents for Ck and Allie Jo. Their birthdays were on Thursday and Friday so it was a small celebration. Tink and Allie each made respective cakes for the girls and afterward we watched Elf all cuddled up on the couch. I took Rachel home with me because her sister and parents were busy with Homecoming shenanigans and we stayed up way to late talking while I was working on homework, so this morning getting to church early to set up was pretty rough! :)

It was a long and rainy day but a great one! Thanks Ron for everything, and thank you Cami and Tink for organizing and hosting festivities!

"Instead of shots, give us beer"

So today in my music cultures class, the first half of class was dedicated to the didgeridoo that our teacher brought in. He let people try to play it and demonstrated how, and it was all fun cause no one could, so the sounds that came out were hilarious.

But the second half! We had listened to an old protest song a while back, from around 1910 I think, "Tramp Tramp Tramp keep on Tramping" which is to the tune of "Jesus Loves the Little Children". So we listened to the song again, actually many many more times, and he split us up into groups of 5 or 6 people and told us to make up our own protest song! Using the same tune, people wrote about insurance and the banking system and fastfood/obesity, etc. Guess what our group was!

"Pig, pig, pig, keep on oinking

We don't need to worry 'bout you

Aching throat, cough and sneeze

We have been through all of these

You are simply just another stupid flu

Thanks big brother for the fear 
Instead of shots, give us beer

That would be a better use of government funds."

Yup. Swine flu. I guess people are angry about the vaccinations? There were two girls in my group that pretty much wrote it, I picked out the tune on a piano to help sing it. As we were talking coming up with things, they got the beer line and I said "I can't sing this song, I'm not legal!" But it was definitely fun! The other groups were pretty serious, laughing about singing in front of the class, but the topics were earnest. Our group said well shoot! and decided to be funny.. good times in community college. Night classes are way more interesting than ones during the day.

Another thing. The campus of Highline is on a slope, heading down towards the sound with Vashon on the other side of the water. Because of the hill, there are some pretty great views from around campus. The student union building (which is nice by itself) has a great view from a cozy reading area with floor to ceiling windows (and a heater!) that overlooks a lanscaped part of campus, and the sound/vashon beyond. The building my photography class is in has a great view of beautiful fall colored trees, the track/football field and the sound/vashon also. Now the building my music class is in, is towards the very top of campus, so it overlooks mostly everything. Since the class is later in the day the sun is usually still fairly up in the sky, but by the time we get out of the class its setting and the sky's ablaze with sunset color and reflecting off the water. 

Like this but usually better, with beautiful clouds. (that's a plane flying into Seatac, which is very nearby because probably a hundred or more planes are constantly flying in or out above us everyday, landing gears out)

By the end of the day on tuesdays and thursdays when I have all three classes i'm always pretty worn out and just wanting to go home and eat dinner on the couch, so walking out of the fine arts building and seeing the picture god paints in the sky everynight completely picks up my mood and I am happy to be there.

Well tonight the class ran almost to the time its supposed to end at and by the time we got out it was already dark and there was a nice view to pick me up! It was dissapointing, but alright because apparently the swine flu already had me picked me up! ;)

first blog!

Today marks a historic day! Writing the first blog in my life, quite the event.
Well my sister Allie and I have been renting an apartment in "Cascade Ridge", a complex in Federal Way since the end of august after a summer at Sound View. Living in the city has taken some getting used to, compared to the hum drum suburbs of Lacey(which I didn't think would be to much different until after we moved). Lots more people and businesses and more of everything in general, especially more (and crazier!) drivers. Cities, even smaller ones, are a different atmosphere than little old Lacey, and now everytime I head back home I appreciate it more and more.
Our place is a nice space, affordable, two bedrooms, one bath. Plenty of room for the two of us, and then some. The complex is actually pretty nice, with a gym and various pools and services. We have been lucky enough to have furniture from Tink, and all sorts of kitchen things from the Moore's and Matt, along with my mom helping us get essentials. So we really haven't needed much else!
Things have been good so far, mostly Allie and I don't see each other to often, as she's working at the middle school across the street through Americorps, and I have my own schedule with classes at Highline Community College. I'm taking "Survey of Geography" mondays through thursdays 11am-12pm, "Photography 1" tuesdays and thursdays 1:20-4:15, and "Music Cultures of the World" tuesdays and thursdays 5:15-7:25. Each class has its pros and cons, some more cons than others, but I am generally enjoying things. The most interesting (but often the most pain) is the photography class because its black and white 35mm FILM photography as opposed to digital. Its great to learn how to use my mom's old pentax, and becoming knowledged in the darkroom, something I've always been interested in. Only made a few prints so far, as there isn't much time with 20 other kids in the class, but they've turned out alright! Hopefully there'll be some to be proud of by the time the class is over.
Also been recruited to replace Allie Jo in the youth band at Mission Woods, playing guitar and singing praise songs in the sunday service. Since my class schedule doesn't allow me time to go to youth group in Fircrest, I've missed playing in the band, but I've enjoyed playing with the girls and zach at MW. I was nervous coming into a new church even though Allie and I knew most everyone, especially replacing someone they loved. But it seems I have been well recieved, as I've had a few elderlies come up to me telling me its nice to have me there and playing, so that's reassuring. Still feeling new, but starting to settle in. I went to a workshop conference type deal this weekend with Ck, Rachel and Matt from the band to learn more about worship teams and it was a great experience. I think we all learned quite a bit.
Well I have reading to do for all my classes and a long day ahead of me tomorrow so goodnight!