Massage

I just got my first ever professional massage today and it was WONDERFUL. My friend Emily (that I also work with and take all my classes with) gave each other massages for Christmas. A little more than I normally spend on a present for a friend, but we figured it would be a present to ourselves too. And it wasn't as expensive as I always imagined a massage would be. It was amazingly relaxing and now I feel wonderful. I highly recommend the experience!

Update

We have started school! And we are busy already. Here are a few highlights from the past couple of weeks.

I presented at the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction's Annual Conference. Two of my fellow graduate students and I presented a ninety-minute session twice on Thursday. It went well, we had a room that held about 45 people and it was so packed that they had to turn away people both times. It was very nerve wracking and not very fun, but it went well and I am glad that we did it. And very glad that it is over.

Andrew's Polaroids have been on display up in the Viking Union Art Gallery and they came down last week. I know a lot of people wanted to see the display but were not able to because of the poor hours of the Art Gallery. He got a few pictures of the display before they took it down. They aren't the best but if you click on the pictures they will get bigger and you can see most of the individual Polaroids.

I started my final quarter of classes. This is supposedly the hardest quarter of my program and so far, I'm not arguing! I have a ton of homework already...no fun for me this quarter!

Andrew has started playing in a band started by one of his friends. She writes all of her own music. They have their first gig on Monday at 9pm at the Acoustic Tavern.

We got our eyes examined and picked out new glasses (we have both had the same glasses since Junior year of High School). When we get them back we will post some pretty pictures of our new looks. I know being able to see is kind of an essential thing, but eye exams and glasses are REALLY expensive! I am so jealous of all of you people with perfect eyesight!

Abbey has turned into a thief and likes to steal things. Especially Andrew's beanies and anything interesting out of the garbage. Any suggestions on fixing that?

Other than that we are both just back and work and doing lots of reading, writing, and math! I will try and be better about keeping you all posted throughout the quarter!

Flooding

It seems like we have been having crazy weather around here for the past month or so. Andrew and I are fine up here in Bellingham (our route doesn't consist of moving very far away from campus!), but I thought I would share a few pictures of what has been going on around my parents house.This first picture is right by their house. There is no river right here, just low lying farmland that flooded.
This is a picture of the Woodinville-Duvall Road. The water is gone but the roads are obviously damaged and are closed.
This is the sports field in the middle of their town. It's called McDonald Park and it is right by the Snoqualmie River.
These are a few pictures taken in the town of Carnation. The road flooded right in front of the middle school, which has never happened before. The middle school evacuated and sent the kids home at 10 am when the road started to flood. There is some minor road damage there.
This is a picture of the 124th bridge (the bridge that we cross to go to their house) and shows the road covered the day after, the water is going down still. It’s not a picture of the river (that is under the bridge) it’s a picture of the overflow in a pasture with the road. They still don't know what the road will look like!

I am reading to get back to the typical Northwest weather, no more extremes please!

Crazy Snow

These are a few pictures from the crazy snow we had back in the middle of December. We were getting a little stir crazy and decided to try and make our eye appointment at Costco instead of sitting in the house for another 24 hours. I took these with Andrew's phone.That is a semi truck. Upside down. And facing the wrong direction. We were one of the last people to get by. They had to close the freeway for a few hours for a crane to get the semi out.
Here is a little bit closer shot. Pretty good for a camera phone while driving.
This is the Costco parking lot when we got there. It was so crazy on the way out that we didn't take a picture. Fun snow adventures.

Skiing with Wards

We went skiing at Stevens with my family on the 29th for one last activity before Taylor and Rachelle had to leave to go back to Utah. My mom got a few pictures before we got too busy to pose.

My dad
Rachelle
Alec and Emma

We had a great day skiing, there was lots of snow and it wasn't too crowded. It did get a little crazy in the evening when the wind picked up and we felt like we were in a tornado, but it was still a fun time! That night Taylor started not feeling very well and after being miserable all night my dad and Rachelle took him to the hospital. Turns out he had appendicitis and had surgery that evening. What a trooper for skiing all day without complaining!

Bybee Family Christmas

I failed at getting many pictures taken at the Bybee's. I am blaming it on the fact that I misplaced my camera on the first day and never saw it again until Lynne returned it to me this weekend. Sorry guys! I did manage to get one picture of Andrew and Lynne playing Christmas carols together.
And one picture of the Bybee's pretty tree.
Even though I didn't get many pictures to prove it, we had a great Christmas at the Bybee's! All around it was a wonderful holiday season that was over way too quickly!

Ward Family Christmas Vol. 3

My family was kind enough to have "fake Christmas" so that Rachelle, Taylor, Andrew, and I could be there too. We had Christmas Eve on the 23rd and then Christmas morning on the 24th. Here are the few pictures that I have from opening presents.
Emma just after she got her ipod. She was a very happy girl.
Josh with his new hat that we gave him.
Andrew and I with our Santa lifesavers.

We had a very white Christmas morning. This is what we woke up too. And then it started snowing really hard again.
It soon became so white that after opening presents and having breakfast Andrew and I hurried off to the Bybee's and Rachelle and Taylor hurried off to the Kimball's before the next snow came in. It was a great Christmas with my family, it was fun to be with everyone.

Ward Family Christmas Vol. 2

One day we decided to get out in the snow.
Andrew decided bike riding was fun.
Andrew, Rachelle, Alec, and Taylor
Emma and Josh making snow angels
And then we decided to go on a long walk
Rachelle, Emma, and I
Andrew posing on a folding chair that was in the woods

Andrew and Orion

Ward Family Christmas Vol. 1

We arrived at my parent's house on the 20th and stayed until the 24th. Everyone was stuck in the house together the entire time. Random picture taking was one way to occupy ourselves. Here are a few.
Here is Alec trying out his modeling poses.

This is Andrew's version.
Somebody snuck outside and took a picture of Andrew playing the trumpet.
And one of the car for some reason.
Poor dog had to sleep outside in the snow.
Can you find the deer?
It had antlers. And it came right up to my parents' house. I didn't even have to go outside to get a picture.

Games

This made me happy so I thought it was worth mentioning. Andrew doesn't usually like to play games. I like to play games. I would play games all of the time. Yesterday Andrew agreed to play games without any convincing on my part. We played Monopoly and two games of Scrabble.

2008 Recap

Andrew and I sent out a fun Christmas card this year. I hope that many of you received one and enjoyed a few laughs at our expense. If you did not get one and would like one, leave me a comment and I can still send you one. Please don't be offended if you didn't get one, it has been a crazy little period in our life! Although we, and many others, got a good laugh out of our cards, they weren't very newsy. So here is a little update on what we have been doing for the past year.

The picture on our Christmas card
Andrew and I with John, Abbey, and Paul

Andrew and Lauriel are both students at Western Washington University and live in Bellingham, Washington. They have three cats John, Paul, and Abbey. Most of the time, their life is very boring with lots of school and lots of work.

Andrew is getting his B.A. in both Music Education and Music Performance with a minor in Math Education. He keeps busy playing in Jazz Bands, the Wind Symphony, the Symphony Orchestra, and a brass quintet. In addition to playing his trumpet, he plays with fish tanks, skis, snowboards, skates, hikes, camps, juggles, wears wolf shirts, and works in the instrumental library on campus. Andrew has two more years until he graduates.

Lauriel is getting her Master's in Education with a dual endorsement in Special Education and Elementary Education. She works as a graduate assistant in the Special Education department. When she gets to leave campus, she enjoys reading, cooking, gardening, camping, hiking, and snowboarding. Lauriel will be finished with student teaching this June and will hopefully find a job teaching in the Fall.

(for more details on any of these activities click on the month)

January-Lauriel started working as a graduate assistant for the Special Education department at Western Washington University.

February-Andrew went to a Music Educators Conference in Yakima.

March-Lauriel turned 25. Lauriel took her WEST-E (a teacher certification competency test). Andrew went to Reno with the Wind Symphony. Andrew and Lauriel's landlords sold the condo they were renting and they had to move with only a month's notice.

April-Andrew and Lauriel moved into their current apartment here in Bellingham.

May-Andrew was in the pit orchestra for The Human Comedy up on campus. Andrew took Rachelle and Taylor's engagement photos.

June-Andrew and Lauriel went to Carina's graduation from dental hygiene school. Lauriel's deck garden really started to take off. Andrew and Lauriel tried Heather's challenge of eating more local food. Andrew went to the instrumentalist versus the vocalists softball game.

July-Lauriel went to Rachelle's bridal shower. Lauriel got a bicycle. Lauriel and Andrew made lots of jam. Andrew and Lauriel went to the Ward family reunion at Lake Roosevelt.

August-Andrew and Lauriel went rafting with the Bybees. Lauriel and Andrew went to Rachelle and Taylor Kimball's wedding. Andrew and Lauriel visited the Doty's in Portland.

September-Andrew and Lauriel celebrated their 4 year anniversary with a hike to Peggy's Pond in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness. Lauriel and Andrew accidentally adopted another cat, her name is Abbey. Andrew got a C trumpet. Andrew started working in the instrumental library on campus.

October-Andrew got a flugelhorn. Andrew and Lauriel went to two Halloween parties. At one party Andrew was a bum of some kind and Lauriel was NOTHING and at the other party they went together as kid superheroes.

November-Lauriel went hiking with friends while Andrew spent all day at a workshop. Andrew took the WEST-B (the entrance test to start a teacher education program).

December-Andrew and Lauriel got a Christmas tree, decorated for Christmas, got snowed in, saw lots of family, and were sad when their break ended way too fast!

Annual Run and Polar Bear Dip

Happy New Year! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season, Andrew and I sure did! Sorry about the lack of pictures, my camera was left at the Bybee's so Christmas posts may be slow coming. The following pictures are courtesy of Emily.

Last year Andrew and I did the Lake Padden Resolution Run and Polar Bear Dip as part of my attempt at doing one new thing everyday for year. An attempt that failed miserably by the way. All of my friends thought that running 2.5 miles on New Year's Day and then jumping in the lake sounded so fun that they wanted to do it with us this year.
Maggie, Andrew, and I arriving at Lake Padden. We were so excited that we couldn't help but run to the starting line.
Andrew and I before the Resolution Run.
Andrew, me, Maggie, and Emily before the run.
An action shot of Jen, me, and Andrew running. It was raining.
An action shot of Andrew running. There was lots of snow and ice and mud and water left over from the lovely weather that we have been having.
After the race. We are very wet.
Trying to stay warm while we wait for the Polar Bear Dip.
Getting nervous!
After the dip! Nice and refreshed and ready to start the new year!

P.S. There is a small chance that video of this event may be coming!