We had a great 2012 full of new adventures, new friends, new experiences, and new challenges. Through it all God has been good and we have had a LOT of fun!
We spent the Christmas holiday with Stead’s parents, sister & brother-in-law in Maple Valley, WA. Our days were filled with geocaching, coffee, tasty food, lots of presents, reconnecting with friends and quality time with family. After Christmas snow and adventures called us east to Yakima to the family cabin on Bumping Lake. With snowshoes & warm gear in the back of the Subaru we made it over the two short passes between Seattle and Yakima and found ourselves on the edge of the reservoir just 30 minutes or so before sundown. Not the best time to start a 2 mile trek through the snow but we decided to go for it.
Night quickly fell on us and after 3 hours of making our way through the 3-4 feet of fresh powder we made it to the cabin only to discover the chimney was completely snowed-in at the top! Stead tried to build a fire out of hopes that the heat would melt the snow but instead we got a lot of smoke in the livingroom. Cold and tired we decided to hunker down under every blanket we could find and try again in the morning. With the help of the emergency space heater and a couple hot cups of tea we made it through the night.
Stead jumped out of bed early in the morning to see if he could somehow get the snow to melt or budge from the chimney. I stayed curled up in bed mentally preparing myself to hike back out (I love the cabin so this would have been a very sad turn of events). After tossing wood at the chimney and shooting some teeny-tiny holes in the snow with his BB gun Stead came into the cabin, took a match, and lit the small pile of kindling in the wood stove. The next thing we knew we had a roaring fire and the cabin heated up quite well. 🙂 To celebrate I made us a big breakfast and we spent the day playing in the snow, reading, napping, and staying cozy.
After the cabin we made our way to Dayton, WA to see my Dad and his wife, Patti. We enjoyed teaching them how to play Ticket to Ride, sampled fancy chocolate downtown, found a couple of new geocaches, and got to see my sister, her husband, and our nephew! It was great.
Now home we are gearing up for the rest of winter and the spring that will follow. I am starting semester #2 of grad school and Stead is completing his MBA – he’ll be all done come May!
Thanks for making our 2012 special and supporting us as we take on some new adventures. Eugene is growing on us more and more and we are grateful for all we have here (good jobs, a chance to learn, a wonderful church community, and new friends to boot). Here’s to all that lies ahead in 2013!
