Lake Valhalla

Jared and Indy wanted to take advantage of a nice day by finding a new mountain lake.  So after some research, they settled on Lake Valhalla near Stevens Pass.

After turning off of Highway 2, they drove on a gravel road  for a little ways to the trailhead.  The road was a little rougher than expected, but that was due to a road crew putting down new gravel.

There were already a few cars in the parking lot, but they hoped to not see too many people on the way.

The trail started out traversing up switchbacks almost right away.  Indy recharged by finding a cool place.

This is a wilderness area, so there were some extremely old and large trees along the trail... always amazing.

The switchbacks ended pretty quickly, and before long we were on a ridge following near the Pacific Rim Trail.

It didn't seem like anytime at all and we were looking down on Lake Valhalla!

There were a couple of people at the lake, but they managed to find their our own beach to have some lunch and for Indy to take a dip.

They hiked around the lake to see if there were any other beaches or better fishing opportunities.  The trail was decent for a ways, but quickly faded away and it required some bush wacking to get to the other end of the lake.

Although pretty, there wasn't a fish in sight, so Jared never did break out his fly rod.  Maybe next time!

Another Bear Sighting

So, Kristina is outside about around 1:00pm and she is feeding the squirrels (i.e., filling up their peanut box) and filling up the Stellar Jay bird feeder with peanuts as well when all of a sudden she hears all of this noise coming from the thicket that is between our neighbors' yards. Kristina was at the back of the yard near her hammock when she heard all of this commotion. Anyway, whatever that was coming through sounded BIG, so she begins making my way towards the house when finally she sees something black -- and out popped the bear. He looked at her, and she looked at him -- and they both didn't want anything to do with each other. He headed for the thicket at the back of the yard and Kristina headed for the house. Meanwhile as soon as he starting making commotion but hadn't popped out, Indy was barking. As soon as he popped out of the brush, she went bananas! She IS a guard dog!

He quickly disappeared in the thicket, but Indy continued barking her head off. Kristina gave it a minute and so and then went to put the bird feeder back and clean up her stuff. Indy went bonkers again and didn't stop until Kristina made my way towards the house again. Indy sat out on the deck for a good 15 minutes waiting for the bear to re-appear. He never did.

Kristina isn't sure where the bear ended up. He might still be hunkered down in the thicket. The trail was very busy today since it was a nice day and a Saturday, so Kristina would have expected to hear someone scream or something if he had crossed the trail.

Anyway...another crazy day!

Happy 5 Years at Monolith

June 1st is Jared's 5th anniversary at Monolith!  We can't believe that we have lived here 5 years now -- WOW!  Time does fly!  Jared is doing great at Monolith and is still happy he made the move.  We are both happy we made the move to Western Washington because we couldn't be happier.

To celebrate, Kristina took Jared out for a very nice dinner on Sunday (05/31).  Kristina made reservations at Tilth based on the recommendations of a co-worker, and we both had a fantastic time. This isn't a restaurant for everyone, but if you are looking for a unique place that prepares super fresh ingredients in very dynamic and out of the box ways...this is your place.  They have a tasting menu, but we decided to create our own because they had a small plate option as well.  So we ordered 6 small plates and two desserts and several drinks and had a marvelous evening.  We would highly recommend it the restaurant to anyone!

Happy 5th Jared!

May Rain

For the first time, since we moved here FIVE years ago, we didn't hit our average rain total for the month.  We only capture 1.53" of rain here in Woodinville which is way below normal.  They keep telling us it is going to be a dry summer and apparently this is the first step.  Jared actually thought he would have to get the sprinklers out to water the lawn because it is starting to get brown in spots! We'll see what lies ahead for us...at least we are enjoying some sunny weather!

Indy

Indy is so ornery!  She was sitting on her ottoman looking very cute and Kristina had the camera out, so she went to take a picture of Indy.  What does Indy do...turn away and stop smiling!  She is as bad as a little kid!  Crazy little dog!

Then Kristina told her that she doesn't give up that easy and zoomed in on her and made her smile. Isn't that a cute little face?!  She is as difficult as her father!  ha!

New Master Bathroom Door

If re-doing a garage isn't enough work for a weekend, Jared used Monday to install our new Master Bathroom Door. Earlier this year we remodeled the bathroom, but we hadn't found the exact door we wanted.  So, we had to find the wood that we wanted and then stain it the color we wanted.  Then we used barn door hardware so we don't lose any space to a swinging door.  It turned out great -- and as usual Jared did a great job.  There are a few things that still need to be finished, but the door looks great and works well.

A MUCH Needed Garage Update

Well, we had a busy weekend in Woodinville.  When we moved into our house almost 5 years ago, we had no time to work on the garage.  It was literally move stuff in as quick as you can and we'll deal with the garage later.  Later arrived and we decided this was the weekend that we were going to "deal" with the garage.

We didn't get a picture taken "before" with all of our stuff in the garage...but trust us, it was FULL! First of all, it is only a two car garage (we had a three car garage in Gilbert) and we now have a riding lawnmower that needs to be stored.  That being said, organization was needed.  And who is better at organization than KRISTINA!

First things first, we emptied out the entire garage on Saturday.  Then Jared wiped down all of the walls and ceilings with a damp cloth.  The garage had probably never seen a damp cloth in its existence.  Next, Jared swept and mopped all of the floors.  All of that just so we could "start".  So here was the "clean slate".

Note in this picture that the Ikea cabinet in the back didn't make it.  It was flimsy to begin with and since it had already been moved a few times, it collapsed when we tried to do it again.

After it was all cleaned up, we painted the walls and the ceilings with two coats of white paint.  It wasn't the best paint job in the world, but it is a garage.  We were amazed at how much better it looked after two coats of paint.  By the time the paint was semi-dry, the day was coming to close.  So we opted for moving stuff to the middle of the garage and organizing on Sunday.  Just doing what we did on Saturday, we didn't get to bed until 1am Sunday morning.  Kristina logged over 28000 steps on her FitBit and we didn't even take Indy for a walk!

As you can see, we have a lot of "STUFF"!

Sunday morning we got up and the first thing that needed to be done was the addition of the pegboards.  Jared bought these pegboards months, maybe even years ago and they were just sitting there.  Now it was time to put them up.  

After the pegboards were installed, we realized we needed more organization stuff...so we made a trip to the Home Depot.  As we were checking out with all of our stuff, the clerk asked, "What are you doing...a garage?".  We said "yup", and paid our $300 in supplies and headed out. And this is what we ended up with...look at that organization!  It will be an ongoing process for a while...for example, the bikes are now on the wall with a rack.  But just look at the space for walking...you can actual move now.

From this shot, you can see our clever hanging job on Jared's pontoon boat.  We inflated it just enough to hang it up and get it out of the way.  The truck will be parked under it, so this turned out to be a perfect solution.

And this is Kristina's wall...she totally organized it.  The paint has never been so neat and orderly, and all of the painting supplies (brushes, tape, etc...) stored with the paint.  What a plan!  And then the double duty rack that holds our tackle boxes, camping stuff etc... on top, and then has a bottom shelf for 2x4's and other lumber.  It is excellent!

From here you can see that we have adequately blocked the back service door of the garage too!  That was our plan.  We never use that door, nor do we want anyone else to use the door.  So we figured if we blocked it, that would keep everyone out.  :)  The wide open space will be where the truck is parked, but for now we had to put the sawhorses back up because we are staining more closet doors!

Our work is never done...