Catching up at last

So now that I've officially gotten married here in Blogsville, I'll finally finish catching up on my past photo postings and be ready to enter into the normal day to day excitement of life in Moscow. Ha ha ha. No, really, that was a VERY funny comment. You see, life in Moscow (Idaho that is) doesn't exactly have a lot of chills and thrills to report. It'll just be more about how exciting it is when someone has explosive, eh hem, issues in the bathroom that I get blessed to help clean up. Here I thought I'd given up on life as a maid after three miserable attempts in the past, but it seems there's always a chance that I'll be called back to the front lines or hygiene duty. But that's definitely enough of that.
After the wedding Mark's parents stayed with us for another week. While this sort of cancelled out the idea of a traditional honeymoon, it really did make the most sense. The week before the wedding was so hectic that about all I did was drive them to shopping malls while I got more work done. So after a night to ourselves we came back and were able to say goodbye to my family and spend some quality time with his.
We bandied about lots of ideas where we could take them, but in the end decided on a trip down the Pacific Coast. Funny that my parents and my sister Julie and her husband both had spent their honeymoons on this same stretch of highway.
I've always loved the Pacific Ocean, and it was great to be able to share it with my new family. We drove all the way from Lincoln City, Or to Crescent City, CA. We were actually there just a week before the Japan earthquake, which sent harbor destroying tsunami waves into the little town.
Everyone enjoyed time spent at the beach. One afternoon we were walking on a beach just south of town and we discovered dozens of complete sand dollars. Sadly, I don't have any pictures of them, but we collected over 30. We also spent a day visiting the Redwoods. Mark's dad is a big nature enthusiast, and really loved these massive trees. He was so cute using the new video camera we got for them, and trying to get quiet shots of the towering giants.


Our drive back up coastal HWY 101 took place on a day of insane weather. We had blue skies, rain, and, believe it or not, snow! I'd never seen snow falling on the ocean. It was fascinating, but made the drive a bit stressful as I was trying to be really good for my in-laws.
We made a stop at the Sea Lion Caves, just as my parents also did on their honeymoon trip back in 1962. After almost 50 years, I don't think the place had changed much. This was apparently a good time of year to visit, because during the winter they spend most of their time inside. There were over 200 stinky barking sea lions in the cave. It was definitely a memorable experience.


It was here that we watched the storm clouds sweep in, dropping a flurry of snowflakes right into the ocean. Just craziness.
After a lovely trip, we returned the Jindrich's to the airport and sent them back to Czech land. I'm so thankful that they were able to come here and experience this place. It helps everything seem more possible, somehow.
Mark and I did end up with a few days of honeymoon, again at the Oregon Coast. Thanks to my parents we got to stay in some really nice timeshare places right near the beach. Then we had a little while in McMinnville before heading back to Idaho to try out married life.
And here we are, pretty much caught up to the present. I just wanted to add one more thing here before I end my catch up posts. I finally had the chance to finish up a wedding blanket for my friend Laura and her husband Dan. Managed to get this one done before their two year anniversary, so that was good. It actually took me about three weeks to complete I think. I found the directions here and just had to adapt it a bit to my own desires. There was no explanation for how to attach the sunflowers together individually, so I just had to figure that bit out for myself, but I think it worked out pretty well in the end. When she opened the package, Laura was able to recognize that it was designed after her wedding. Not too shabby if I do say so myself.


Maybe some day I'll do a post of all my wedding/baby blanket projects. I've been trying to archive my pictures recently, and have found quite a few of my projects there. Could be interesting.
For now, however, it's time to relax a bit after a long day of work. Tomorrow we're off to Spokane, and hopefully we'll head out to Montana for the weekend, so I'm sure I'll be able to post fresh photos soon.