Burnt Lake Hike

Back in May we did a hike on Mt. Hood and ran into snow. We never found the Lake because of all the snow on the trail. On the way back we saw some llamas enjoying a ride through town which just struck me as funny....really I find anything having to do with llamas funny. We went back in July with our neighbor dog Cooper and did the hike again. The snow was gone and the lake was found! Beautiful. (clearly, it has been a long time since I've blogged and I cant recall how to rotate the pictures.)

Grandma Lang...

In March I flew back to Rockford to say goodbye to my Grandma Lang. She wasn't doing well and I was glad I made it back in time to see her. She passed away the day after I arrived. My cousins and I agreed she had a way of making every grandkid feel like secretly they were her favorite. Grandma was a believer and I'm sure she enjoying heaven now. It is a great comfort to know I'll get to see her again some day.

Despite the sad circumstances, it was fun to get to see family and friends. I thought I'd share some of the funny/good things that happened:
1) Hearing stories from my uncles about their “wild and crazy” years growing up.
2) Getting to meet Jackson, my cousin Erin and her husband Matt’s little boy, for the first time. What a charmer. He is 2 and speaks in sentences with multi-sylable words.
3) Hanging out with family. My nieces gave me a manicure and Timmy helped Natalie put my hair up with the use of paintbrushes.

4) Getting to seem my good friends Laura and Aaron. We go way back. I’m so excited for them. They are pregnant with their first.

A new car...

Silver (my car) had seen better days so we’ve been praying about a new car. It seems odd that we got rid of our 9 year old car and kept the nearly 20 year old vehicle but they just don’t make ‘em like they used to (say that in your best old man voice). I bought Silver 2 weeks after I graduated from college. I had my degree, my job offer and now all I needed was years of car payments, right? Soo silly:-) I think a little bit differently theses days thanks to our friend Dave Ramsey.


After several hours spent at a dealership one rainy Saturday here’s what we came up with:

What do you think? Is it me? What should we name it? oh, it's a nissan versa by the way.
P.S. Don't get any ideas. The mini van next to the new car is a rental Matt had for work.