Summer 2023 Highlights

Summer 2023 was a bit of a unique summer for us because we actually were home and low key more than usual.  The biggest highlight was we got a new puppy in June named Ollie!  More on that in a future post.  He was unable to be out and about a lot the first few weeks of summer until he got his full shots, so we spent a lot of time at home getting to know him, doing puppy training, taking short walks close to home and getting used to life with a puppy.  Even though we stayed closer to home, we were still able to do a couple fun trips and made some wonderful memories.  

Winthrop

Even though our anniversary isn't technically in summer, I still wanted to document the fun anniversary trip James and I took to Winthrop, WA in May. Winthrop has been on our desired trip list for awhile especially because James has always told he me he wants to retire out in the Methow Valley.  So of course I had to check this area out. How beautiful!  I can't believe it took me so long to get up to the northern Cascades area.  We had a gorgeous drive up along the North Cascades Hwy.  And stayed in a cute little bed and breakfast place that had individual cabins.  We brought out mountain bikes and explored a couple of the numerous amazing trails in the area.  We explored town and even saw a little bit of the annual town rodeo event. It was relaxing and naturally beautiful and it was a really great time--especially because it was kind of our "puppy moon" too to relax and enjoy each other before the busy-ness of getting a puppy.

What a cute cowboy!

James' Golf Trip with the Guys

James traveled to Lake Chelan with Jesse, Brandon and Carter to do a weekend of golfing including at one of his most favorite courses--Gamble Sands. They played 36 holes of golf in one day! :o   Such a great time for him with amazing friends.

5th Grade Graduation

I can't believe it, but Nathan is officially graduated from elementary school! He is off to middle school next year. They did a fun celebration on the last day of school where all the 5th graders walked through the school one last time and all the other kids clapped and cheered for them. Then they came out the main entrance and all us parents were waiting there to cheer them on. It made me cry! Can't believe he's getting so old! 

Camping with Spauldings & Antis' at Lake Kachess

Our annual camping trip looked a bit different this year because we weren't quite ready to bring Ollie with us on such a physically intense trip. Plus we didn't want to expose him to too much not being full vaccinated.  So I decided to stay home with Ollie and James took the boys up on the camping trip. I did bring Ollie up for one day though to visit everyone and he got his first water experience in the Lake Kachess. So fun to watch his reaction. And the boys and family had a great time. Although I think James will be happy for me to be back next year as it's a lot of work for one person!

Seattle Day

We ended up cancelling our annual trip to Chelan because we didn't feel ready to leave Ollie at home with grandparents and the place we planned to stay couldn't take pets. We were so sad to miss out on one of our favorite summer traditions!  To make up for it we did a day in Seattle as a family instead and the Spauldings watched Ollie for us. It was a beautiful day and we explored Pike Place Market, went to Elliott Bay Bookstore, toured the Smith Tower (which we had never done before!) and ate dinner at Madison Park. It was such a great day filled with many of our favorite activities

Annual Idaho Trip with Friends

Luckily we did not miss our annual trip to Priest Lake at Stevenson's property with all our wonderful friends. And we got to bring Ollie with us! He did such a great job for his first trip which involved a lot of driving (6 hours each way) and camping in a tent for 3 nights. He was a little nervous with the other dogs that were there, but otherwise did great and it was fun to expose him to everything. And of course we had an amazing time with our friends as always--going on the boat, cooking food, laying and talking on the dock, kids playing in the water, celebrating birthdays, singing by the fire at night, etc. It's one of  my most favorite weekends of summer and I hope we continue to do it for many more years.

Hysterectomy

The not so fun part of the summer was that I had to get a hysterectomy at the end of August. I had a fast growing fibroid in my uterus that my doctor was nervous about so she suggested I do a partial hysterectomy (only remove my uterus, cervix and fallopian tubes and leave my ovaries) to remove the fibroid and take away the risk of more growing in the future. It was actually a very smooth procedure and not too bad of a recovery. It was kind of nice to have forced rest for a couple weeks. Not the ideal finale to the summer, but at least I didn't miss out on anything major. Thankful for my doctor that it all went as expected.

All in all a great summer and lots of fun stuff to look back on. With the biggest highlight of course being our new puppy!