The Little Barney Summer Adventures: Take One

Hi, everyone!

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We've been having a grand time ever since school let out two weeks ago - they began with some amazing ribeye steak courtesy of Mom and Pop (and the veggies.... Mmmmmm. *wipes drool off the keyboard*), which was a perfect way to start the festivities.

Then Emmett was born, and I would like Daniel and Lindsey to know what a treat they are in for to meet him; he's a special little boy. I'm already in love. :) Bridger was a trooper to spend a week being spoiled and loved by Grandma and Grandpa (and Uncle Josh. I tried, but he doesn't seem to be that interested in his Auntie Morgen unless there was a sprinkler in the vicinity). I made little peach pies. They were a huge success!

They look a lot like this (read: picture has been spirited away from an unknowing website).

And they are delicious - we took one to Kourtney in the hospital, but she may have not gotten any... *cough* Ben *cough*

:)

The rest are sitting in Mom and Pop's freezer - feel free, they just have to be baked at 375 for 40-50 minutes. Don't eat them all :) .

Anyhow.

Then Nathan Clarke got married, and the highlight for me was spending time with some of the Clarke (and Salas) cousins - I have never had cousins my own age, and I finally get what all the hype is about. It's fun! They were great, and I realize again how little I knew when I married into this family. I had zero idea about the blessing

s and joy that would come into my life - and I do mean zero.

Then Saturday (July 30) came around, and Josh and I packed up Bertha

and set off for the great unknown.

Awww. There he is!! :)

Okay, to be completely honest, we weren't really setting out for the great unknown. We knew exactly where we were going. Kirkland, WA (just outside of Seattle), by way of Spokane.

After a grueling eight + hours in the car (yay for amazing gas mileage. It's seriously incredible), we finally arrived in Spokane. We stayed there with Andrea and Adam (Andrea was my Maid of Honor at our wedding, and she was the first one besides Josh to know we were going to get married. She knew before I did.) for the weekend, and had a fabulous time.

Highlights:

~Adam and Joshua hit it off. As my dear husband likes to say, "He speaks nerd."

~Andrea is an amazing cook. We ate really well, and I snagged a few good recipes :)

~Church; for the third block, a specialist from LDS Employment Services came in and told us all about the services they offer. It has grown by leaps and bounds in the past year, and is not even recognizable.

~Picnic. We had a great picnic out in the park in the center of Spokane. What was most interesting about it was that it was a cheese picnic. Now, I am not supposed to eat cheese (slaps wrist) but Andrea had some really nice ones. :) So I did. And we walked around the central area - it's a very nice place.

Points of interest:

1) This bridge was inspired by Roman architecture, and has been standing for 100 years. It is well-used, too.

2) Blogger keeps changing whether the text is centered or to the right. Oh well.

On Monday, we said "So long," and hit the road. This, too, was filled with unexpected adventures.

And we arrived at Aunt Gail's house in time for dinner - we went out for Pho, which is a Vietnamese soup in which they give you the broth, meat and noodles, and a plate of herbs and sauces. The neat thing about Pho (pronouced "Fuh") is you get to customize it, and decide how much of the various additions you would like. I am happy to report that Josh liked it.

We have been spending the week on lots of different adventures. On Tuesday, we went downtown and rode the duck, which is a boat that you can drive on land. They use it for tours around downtown Seattle, and then you go out on Lake Union.

QUACK!!!

Point of Interest: Lake Union is where Tom Hanks's house boat was located in the movie Sleepless in Seattle.

We saw lots of interesting things that day!

We went up the needle - a must-do, according to Gail

And to a local culture museum that featured rock and roll

and Starship Galactica

On Wednesday, we stayed home except for a quick trip to the grocery store: Gail's parking lot was being repaved, and that made things difficult. But on Thursday, we took the ferry and drove over to Port Townsend - So fun.

Here's Josh, thinking he's fly.

We found the house we want to live in someday

and we had the most amazing lunch ever.

We were right on the back porch, about 15 feet from the edge of the water. And the food was incredible (Pop, these pictures are for you!).

Crab Louie Before:

Crab Louie After:

Mmmmm.

We did some shopping, drove through Fort Worden (pretty awesome - it's an army post from WWII that has been preserved, and is no longer commissioned.) and while we were there on the beach, we also collected a genuine Fort Wordien Love Stone for our rock collection. Sorry, no pictures of that :)

And then we took the ferry back! It was cool to just drive up, pay the guy, and then drive on the boat and take it over for half an hour.

Windy though.

Yesterday we took a harbor tour of the Seattle harbor (fascinating), and then we went to the aquarium. Aunt Gail has been known for spoiling my sister and I, and also for taking us on lots of adventures. I think the aquarium might be one of my favorite things we have ever done, because it was exceptionally well put together.

I even got to practice speaking whale!

Whale is not Josh's language.

Then we had fun playing in the gift shop. :)

This one is for Kourtney:

Josh's Favorite T-Shirt:

My favorite T-Shirt:

This afternoon, we went over to Pikes Place Market, which is essentially on the waterfront in a very busy part of downtown Seattle, if not the busiest.

It was incredible! It's the biggest farmer's market I have ever been to (and it's permanent). The closest thing I can compare it to was the market in downtown San Jose in Costa Rica. They had these amazing bouquets of flowers for five dollars each (the flower stands seemed never ending! You couldn't see the end of them), and next time we come to visit Aunt Gail, I'm getting one. :)

This time, we spoiled ourselves by getting two great big wild Alaskan sockeye salmons. They filleted them for us, and we went straight home and packaged them and stuck the fillets in the freezer. I am excited for all the salmon we can have over the winter; it will be like being home again.

Tonight, we are cooking up the crab and mussels Gail got at the market. She is excellent in the kitchen (we made curry earlier this week, and it was so fun to cook with her), and tonight ought to be the cream of the crop.

We've had a great time with Aunt Gail: The adventures are where the pictures are, but our hearts are with all the time we've spent with her, and the great talks. We played cards the other night, and she whipped me royally at Gin Rummy, but I beat both Joshua and Gail at Hearts. We have a few more days of adventures left here in Seattle before we set our sights for Spokane to spend a few more days with Adam and Andrea.

Adventuuurrrrre's Out There!

Love,

Morgen and Joshua

My Newest Discoveries

It's so funny how we never stop learning about ourselves. I have made a few very interesting discoveries recently!

Newest discovery number one

I don't really like history. I thought I did, I thought I would, but the truth is. . . I don't. I'm taking a class called "history of the middle east" and, while I really like the lecture, and even sometimes enjoy the reading, I do not like the writing or the essays. I don't even like thinking about the essay topics. Considering I have spent years lamenting my poor knowledge of history, this is unexpected. I thought I loved history, and Social Studies used to encompass all of my favorite subjects. It turns out. . .

Newest Discovery Number 2:

I really like math. My calculus class is really FUN. My mom always said I was hiding my inner math girl - I think she was right. I'm now looking forward to many more semesters of math classes. Maybe I should go ahead and try to earn a degree in math - and what's really surprising is that I think that sounds like a) a lot of work, and b) really fun!

Newest Discovery Number 3:

Okay, so this isn't a very new discovery, but. . . we have way too much stuff. First donation box is out, and I'm still feeling like we have too much. And what we have, isn't the right stuff. I'm looking forward to being more economical in what we have, and how we use it.

Newest Discovery Number 4:

I'm not very good at staying in touch with people. There are lots of people I love, and want to know and see and play with. But at the end of the day, I'm not good at staying in touch with them. It's something I want to work on.

Newest Discovery Number 5:

I need to focus a little less on things I can't do, and a little more on things I can do. I didn't realize how much I sabatoge my own happiness. Life will hold more opportunity for me (and for us) when I remind myself that it's okay to get creative. It's my life - our life! - and we can do what we like with it. There are no limits, so I should be careful about putting limits on our dreams and on our capabilities.

Newest Discovery Number 6:

I'm surprised at how far I've come on my new years resolutions. We are progressing in keeping our home livable, I'm finding time to exercise, I'm taking classes, I did my first sewing project last week (a bag bag - yay! It's a bag for keeping plastic grocery bags in), and our budgeting is improving. I'm optimistic - which is huge, because six months ago I was not.

Newest Discovery Number 7:

My knees pop when I run. Well, actually only my right one. It also pops when I take stairs. This is another indication that I am turning into my dad.

Newest Discovery Number 8:

Vinegar is the most awesome cleaning solution ever.

Newest Discovery Number 9:

I really like eating homemade mango salsa.

Newest Discovery Number 10:

My body is really finnicky about what it likes to eat. For example: pasta with cream sauce doesn't go down as easily as it used to. However, I am having no problems with Nielsen's Frozen Custard. Seriously, the stuff is a godsend.

What can I say? It works for me. :)

Things I Don't Regret

1) Buying a dishwasher. Best. Investment. Ever.

Welcoming The New Year

Every year, I make resolutions; and even though I post them in places where I can see them often, they are more as a way to mark time than they are goals. This year, however, is different in that I actually have some things about my life that I really want to change - all of them being in the ways I handle everyday situations. This year is also unique in that with the new year, I also have begun a new job (first day was today! And it was great!). It's so much easier to make goals when they are marked by a big change in life.

So with no further ado, here are my 2011 New Years Resolutions aka Life Targets:

1) Find time every day to keep my house livable. The past 6 months have been really terrible housekeeping months for me - the last 3 have had me working two jobs, making my days 14-15 hours long. It's nigh impossible to keep the house tidy when you're only home 9 hours a day! But now that I will have time for a life outside of my employment, I want to develop routines and systems so that, while I doubt the house will ever be perfectly in order, I won't be living in a perpetual state of Can't Have Anyone Over Syndrome (CHAOS). I also am looking forward to being able to cook my own meals again. :)

2) Have a healthier body. While losing weight would be nice, that is not my ultimate goal. I want to be able to do lots of things, and not worry about my body. I want to have that feeling I have when I'm eating right, and sleeping a good amount, and fairly active. This also goes with having more time - now I will be actually have time to exercise and make good food and sleep. So a good ways into 2011, I want my body to reflect a healthier lifestyle; and ultimately, a happier girl.

3) I want to pick up a new hobby. One thing I really admire about my husband is his need to have a hobby. I don't think he realizes this as much as I do, but he is constantly teaching himself something, or working on something. He has a hobby box full of gizmos and gadgets for the next time he wants to build something, or take something apart. I don't know what my hobby will be, but I want to find things to learn and occupy my time and mind.

4) I want to find time to read, ponder and pray. I don't spend enough time pondering the eternal things. I'm not sure when or how I will do this, but nurturing my spirituality is something I have been neglecting.

5) I want to figure out a career path! If I'm going to go with OT, I want to have that figured out, and OT schools applied for by the time the next applications are due. And if I want to do something else for a while, I want to lay out that plan so I can follow it.

6) I want to be better about budgeting. While the new job situation has many, many positive aspects, one of the negative ones is that it cuts our income significantly. I definitely took a pay cut to accept this new position. I want to be wise about our finances, and I want us to be as independent as possible.

7) I want to plan an adventure. I don't know where Josh and I will go next, but I want us to have some ideas for an adventure while we are young and crazy. :) You never know where life will take you, but having some wishes and dreams to bring to the table can't hurt!

I am an extremely lucky girl - and I'm married to a fantastic young man, who works hard and loves me dearly. We are very happy, and I think that these things will not only make my life fuller and more complete, but I think that my pursuit of them will also make my husband a happier man. And in the end, if he's happy, and I'm happy, and we're happy together, that's the most important thing. Right?