Week in Review

Well, this has been a crazy week. Today, my cohort of school counseling interns took our comprehensive exams, which lasted 4 hours. They gave us 3 essay questions, but one of the questions had like 20 parts in it. Ugh. We're hoping we all passed because if not, we have to take it again in April (just those who didn't pass). A bunch of us went drinking afterward, which was a great way to celebrate another milestone. I decided that I had to get away from home last night, so I packed up and spent the night at the Crowne Plaza in downtown Seattle. I went to PF Changs for dinner and had a wonderful bath last night with newly purchased bubble bath. I even painted my fingernails and toenails. Granted this was just another way to put off studying, but it was great nevertheless.

A few people had birthdays this week. Happy birthday to Tracy Brooks and to Sally Cassidy! I love you both! Tracy is Steve's oldest brother's wife. She's been a great sister-in-law. Sally is my supervising school counselor at Explorer. She's taught me everything I know...especially how to make kids cry. It's not as bad as it sounds...

Steve and Lucy remain as cute as ever. I feel luckier everyday to have them in my life. How borning it would be without them. It would be a little cleaner too, but I'll talk about that on another day.

Let the games begin- I don't have to study anymore!

Happy 31 Andrew Eugster!

SpokaVegas

After spending a very merry Christmas with the Brookses in Redmond, Steve, Lucy, and I packed up and headed to Spokane to stay for a bit. We were greeted with loads of snow, which it turns out, is great fun for Lucy. Lucy has been trained to ring bells in order to go outside to go "potty", but she rang her bells every chance she could just to go and play in the snow. Just about every day, we took her to the tennis courts at Comstock Park, which is the half-way mark between our parents' houses. For those of you who are unaware, the Brookses and Walther parents live less than a mile from each other. Steve and I used to ride the school bus together in high school. Yes, it's quite a cute story.

We started off playing fetch with balls, but those were lost in the snow quite quickly. Lucy would take off running with one in her mouth, dropping it along the way, not to be recovered until the big thaw. We switched to a rubber frisbee and Lucy became quite a fan. She even learned to catch it on the fly. We're hoping to take her snowshoeing this winter in the Cascades. We are constantly scheming of ways to wear her out. It allows us to get some exercise along the way as well.

While in Spokane, we had the great opportunity of celebrating New Year's Eve. We signed up for First Night, which is a big organized even where dozens of performers put on shows around downtown Spokane and you can walk between them and catch as many as possible- all for $15. We saw some great Irish musicians and dancers at Lewis and Clark High School (our alma mater) and also saw some great comedians, Brothers from Different Mothers (http://www.differentmothers.com/)in in the Central Methodist Church sanctuary. Strange place for a comedy show, but check them out...they were pretty intertaining. We wrapped up the evening with hot butter rums while watching "Home of the Brave", which was just filmed in Spokane- 2 houses away from my parents. Not the greatest movie, but it was fun to see some familiar places- including Steve's elementary school. 50 Cent was in the movie... I'm still wondering what happened to his metal teeth.

We also got to relax a lot with our parents and Steve and has dad had some quality time down in the shop making cabinet doors for our bathroom. All in all, our visit was great. It was hard to leave!

Thanks for a great visit in Spokane M & D Brooks and Walther! We'll be back soon.

Oh Christmas Tree!

Steve and I (mostly me) were kind of scrooges this year. Since we're just starting out and both of us (namely me) are a bit frugal with purchases, we have yet to procure many Christmas or "holiday" decorations. As a last-minute attempt to be festive, Steve and I bought a Merry Christmas sign for our TV cabinet as well as our first Christmas tree as a married couple. I hope a few of you will get a chuckle out of it. I'm also assuming it will leave a few of you perplexed. We'll try harder next year.

Urban Hiking

We discovered a great spot right near us that makes us feel like we are hiking in the Cascades (a little).

Shoreview Park along Boeing Creek has some great trails and spots to explore. The heavy rains last month washed out spots in the trail, but it's still easy to get around.

Lucy loved walking in the creek, and with her new vest it was a little easier to keep an eye on here. She ventured a bit farther out of sight than we liked once, so we need to do a refresher course on listening. I think that might be an ongoing class for years to come.

It's nice to have a little sanctuary of nature in town. Makes it feel like there still is a little dirt left unpaved.

Lucy doesn't mind the fun smells and muddy trails either. In fact I think she kinda likes it.

I know there's food in here...