Green Lakes Camping and
South Sister Summit!    

               We had a great backpacking trip to the Green Lakes area inbetween Broken Top and the South Sister.  Our hike to the campsite took us next to alpine meadows, glacier streams, and through short forests of pine - the brave ones that were left at the edge of the tree line.  Our hike up the South Sister was long - 17 miles and 11 hours of trekking around lava beds, across streams, and up the side of one very high mountain.  It was a great trip - we are so glad we made it out before the cold weather hit!  Now we get to look forward to snowshoeing and snow shelters this winter!

Graham is married! He and Aavery had a beautiful wedding on her grandparents' property outside of Cottage Grove on Saturday, September 12. We are so excited for them and were very blessed to be a part of their celebration!

Ethan's Great Grandma Ethel Haug celebrated her 95th birthday!  We went over to Florence for her birthday party, then took Reya out on the beach.  It was a fun afternoon of cake, sand and salt water!

We just got back from an amazing, restful, wonderful trip to Arizona. We stayed at a friend's house in Scottsdale and spent most of the time relaxing by their pool, soaking in the sun, eating gelato and making Richmond Gimlets. However, we did make it up to the Grand Canyon for three days and it was incredible! A hard shift to go from the 95 degree Scottsdale weather to the 65 degree, rainy edge of the Canyon, but the view was well worth it. We camped for two nights at a campground on the sound rim. The coyotes kept us up most of the night, and I had only packed one blanket (not realizing the cold weather), so we huddled under the blanket and 2 towels for warmth. The sun did break through on the third day and we hiked down below the rim on the South Kalibab trail. We saw California Condors gliding in and out of the canyon, and were in awe at the layers of rock that stretched out in every dimension. It was incredible - I'm already planning our next trip down the canyon! Many more camping trips and outdoor adventures to come!

Spring is here! Well, spring has finally come to Eugene, which means beautiful sun and lots of green mixed with rain, clouds, and lots of mud. With the warmer weather all of the flowers in our back yard have come up, and Carol-Ann has been working on identifying everything that we have growing in our yard. Since the back yard is like a mini forest, that's no small task. We have been spending our time playing ultimate frisbee, visiting the Eugene Saturday market, taking Reya on runs, and trying to fill our yard bin as many times as we can. It's been a good Spring and we're looking forward to an awesome summer here in the valley!

A few fun activities recently - we were invited to attend a Western themed auction dinner. The food was amazing, the auctioneer was incredibly entertaining, and with the help of some friends we found fun outfits to wear for the evening! Last weekend we drove up to Seattle to a friends' wedding and managed to make a mini-vacations out of the trip. In the evening after the wedding we found a small italian restaurant in downtown Seattle that hosted a jazz trio until midnight. The next day we watched Star Trek at the giant Imax theater and stayed as long as we could before driving home late Sunday night. This summer we're looking forward to many camping trips with friends, and lots of days in the sunshine!

CHRISTMAS PARTY 2008!

We hosted a Christmas party at our new house - it was so fun to have the house full of so many of our favorite people! I've posted several pictures on Facebook, so this is just a teaser.

This winter season has already been full of fun activities and great adventures! We're heading out for our second snowshoeing adventure this weekend. The plan is to take a 3-4 day trip where we'll stay in a shelter or cabin for a few nights. Reya loves the snow - she runs after snowballs and will actually bring back a big chunk of snow like it's a tennis ball!

Ethan is still loving his job. It is very challenging but rewarding for him. Worship at the church is going really well and it's so much fun to be adding new people to our band! We are stretching ourselves in new directions every week!


I head back to classes at the UofO in January - anatomy, physiology, physics...prerequisites for a physical therapy graduate program. The classes are a lot of work, but I'm enjoying them!

In March we were so blessed to be able to take a trip to visit Israel. Shannon (our pastor) led a tour group to Israel for 10 days and we packed in everything we could! We visited Ceasaria, the Sea of Galilee, the Dead Sea, the Jordan River, Masada, and spent several days in the heart of Jerusalem. It was an amazing trip - we saw incredible, ancient structures and learned about the many different nations that have affected this small country. During our time in Jerusalem we got to visit the old city, which is a walled-in area in the center of Jerusalem. Inside are markets, holy sites, restaurants, and the Western Wall.

One morning Meredith, Caitlin and I (Carol-Ann) went wandering through the old city's markets, and I bought a Bedouin instrument called a Rababa. It's the size of a banjo, but with only one string that you bow to create different notes. We kept walking through the market, and suddenly I realized there was a guy running after me yelling "Wait! Wait! Let me see that!" I turned around and he said "I am a Bedouin and my father and grandfather make those instruments". He played my Rababa for us and invited us into his carpet shop where he immediately made us fresh mint tea. We spent an hour sitting with him, hearing stories about the life of a Bedouin and how his grandfather traveled to the United States. Above his shop, he had a huge sign that said "Don't Mess With Texas" and throughout our conversation he kept saying phrases like "Shalom, Y'all" and "Y'all come back now ya hear?" We had so much fun talking with him - you just never know what will happen when you carry a Bedouin instrument through the middle of a foreign city.

What a fun winter we've had! With the new snowshoes Carol-Ann got for Christmas and our fun puppy dog, it's been a great month of snowshoeing, hiking, running, playing ball in the backyard, going to Christmas parties...we've really enjoyed this Christmas season!

Carol-Ann got to visit with some very close friends over Christmas break. Lori came through Eugene while visiting home (Roseburg) on break from PT school in Georgia. Amber came up from Med School in California and joined Carol-Ann, Elena and Reya for a fun snowshoeing trip in Willamette Pass (pictures included). And the best part was having Carol-Ann's brothers home for Christmas break! We had several nights playing games and hanging out together, and even talked Kenny into going snowshoeing with us!

Next week Carol-Ann heads back to school to take a few courses (biology and chemistry) as prerequisites for application to several Physician Assistant programs. She is also volunteering at a local clinic once a week, and is looking for more opportunities to use her EMT skills. Ethan is still loving his job with Lane Transit District as a software developer. He is working with a great, motivated group of guys and is accomplishing some big stuff over there. We're looking forward to more snowshoeing trips this January and are excited for what the New Year will bring!

We've had a great fall so far, and are excited for Christmas to be here. Over Thanksgiving week we moved into a house (only a few blocks from our old duplex). Now we have storage space, a laundry room, and a big yard. The day after Thanksgiving, we went out to Greenhill Animal Shelter and picked up our new puppy! Now, the term puppy might be a little misleading, because she is 10 months old and is already 90lbs! She is a half black lab, half great dane, and is all black with light brown eyes. We decided to name her Reya, which means "friend" in ancient Hebrew. We've been having fun introducing her to the house and taking her on runs through the neighborhood. She still needs some training, but Reya has a happy, friendly personality and we're very excited to have her as part of our family!

I'm (Carol-Ann) eager for January because I am taking a few classes during winter term. I've decided to start working on my pre-requisites to apply for a Physician Assistant program in a year or so. I'm so excited to get back on campus! I have also started volunteering at a low-cost medical clinic in Eugene. I go in once a week and help room patients before they see the doctor. I get to take their vitals, find out what they're coming in for, and help the doctor with any tests or procedures they will be doing. It's an exciting season for us!

Well, it's been a summer filled with hiking, camping, singing, preaching, mint s'mores and broccoli cheese soup. I wanted to share some of our fun camping & hiking pictures and stories.


July - Ethan finally got his birthday present in the mail - I had ordered him a new GPS unit and he loves his gadgets! That night we went tromping around the foothills in Eugene, trying to find Geo cache spots that other people had marked as good views.















August - We reserved a campsite on Orcas Island and my brothers came & camped with us for a fun weekend on the islands! There were some bikers camping next to us and they recommended that we go to the Saturday farmers market on Lopez island. So we drove down to the ferry dock, walked onto the ferry, and disembarked at Lopez. We started walking up the ramp onto the island, turned the corner, looked at what we thought would be the downtown/market area, and all we saw was a long paved road stretched out ahead of us. As it turned out, the market was not near the ferry dock - it was on the other side of the island! We walked for about a mile with our thumbs out until a nice woman in a truck picked us up and drove us down to the market. Once there we ate wonderful vegetables grown by a horse-drawn farm, and had gorgonzola & raspberry crepes for lunch. It was a fun time with my brothers!















One Saturday morning at the end of August, Ethan and I decided to be spontaneous. We called his brother Graham, told him we were headed out to summit Diamond Peak, and that if he wanted to come along we'd pick him up in 30 minutes.

So I packed as many sandwiches as we could carry and we drove out to the trail. After hiking along the trail for a few miles, we decided it would be a lot quicker to head straight up to the peak. Ethan got out his GPS and we blazed a trail over rocks, through woods, across scree and past a mini-glacier to the top of the peak.

It was grueling and very steep, but we made it past two false summits and to the top! What a fun adventure!

September - The first day of September was a lot of fun for us! We traveled up to Seattle to pick up our friend Lori and the three of us drove to Sequim, WA to attend our WU friend Sara Reichner's (now Schafer) wedding. We camped the night before at Sequim Bay State Park, and got all sorts of strange looks as we put on dresses and makeup in the camp bathroom! Their wedding was on a lavender farm and it was beautiful! It was so fun to see many of our Willamette friends there and the ceremony was wonderful.














That same night, crazy people that we are, Lori, Ethan & I changed into hiking gear, donned our backpacks and hiked out in the dark into the middle of the Olympic Mountain wilderness. We camped at the second of three mountain lakes, with ridges and forest surrounding us on all sides. Sunday was spent exploring, cooking, and teaching Lori how to play Texas Hold'Em. It was so fun to spend time with Lori, and the area was incredible - we'll definitely be back!