It has been a long time

Since I have failed to post much in the past few months, here is a quick update on what Luke and I have been up to.
In the fall I started my 4th year of teaching. And as if teaching wasn't enough of a commitment, I took on an assistant coach position for the girl's soccer team at Seattle Christian. Even though the time commitment was a little more than I had anticipated, I truly enjoyed getting to know the girls on the team and building relationships with them outside of the classroom setting. In the end we placed 3rd in state.

Luke has also been quite busy. He is currently pursuing a his masters in Systems Engineering, and on December 14th he finished his first course, engineering economics. As a result he has been able to apply some of the concepts he learned to our investment portfolio and long term financial planning. It is rather interesting and just slightly over my head : ). In addition to class, he has been rather busy at work.

As our busy schedules started to come to a close, we found ourselves heading into the holiday season. This year we spent Thanksgiving in Yakima and found it quite relaxing. Christmas was spent with the Walker's. We were so anxious for the break and we thoroughly enjoyed our four days over in Bremerton. After getting together with Luke's extended family for some holiday parties, the five of us spent Christmas morning together. That evening my family joined us for dinner and had a great Walker/Maissen family feast.

Luke and I are now thoroughly enjoying our last few days of break before we have to head back to work on Wednesday. Below our a few pictures from Thanksgiving and Christmas.

White Christmas

Luke and I (someday we will send out Christmas cards!)
Family picture with the Walkers
Cousins and significant others
Christmas dinner
Puzzles have become quite the holiday tradition

Thanksgiving with the Maissen's

What's in a Name

1. You have to post these rules before you give the facts.2. Players, you must list one fact that is somehow relevant to your life for each letter of your middle name. If you don’t have a middle name, use the middle name you would have liked to have had.3. When you are tagged you need to write your own blog-post containing your own middle name game facts.4. At the end of your blog-post, you need to choose one person for each letter of your middle name to tag. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

My middle name is Rache'e with the long A sound like Renae.

R- Random - I think this mostly takes place at night when I start to become tired. This could also be described as loopy, since it seems I say and do rather peculiar things around this time.
A - Athletic - Well, at least I used to be. Now I just try to work out. However, since I started coaching soccer it seems that my workout schedule has plummeted. I am hoping to get back into the routine soon.
C - Coffee fanatic - After working at Starbucks for a year or two, I became addicted to coffee. Since then, I have been unable to break the habit, and 1st period is just not going to get the best of me unless I have my morning cup of Joe.
H - Huge Office Fan! Luke and I became addicted to this show during the second season. Since we had missed part of Season 2 and all of Season 1, we borrowed the DVD's and had a Office marathon to catch up. Essentially we spent an entire weekend laughing hysterically. It is now my new favorite show, and the season premier is September 27th! Yippee!
E - Eventually I will learn to cook! I have been practicing more, and after three years of marriage I have decided it is time to learn. I have mastered a few meals and am looking for great recipes. If you have any suggestions, let me know.
E - English Teacher - I know this is boring, but I needed a second E and I was having a hard enough time thinking of the first. Therefore, I am sticking with the basics. I am in my 4th year of teaching and for the most part really enjoying it. I have a great group of kids and the year has started off really well. I guess we will see how I feel next June. Until then, I am having fun. : )

I tag Amy : )

Road Trip: Lennox, South Dakota

The purpose of this road trip was to go and meet Luke's relatives out in South Dakota. After being together for 8 years, I finally had the chance to meet Luke's Grandma Ruth, Uncle Steve, Aunt LouAnn, and cousins Kyle and Justin. We had a great time on the farm visiting and making trips into the small town of Lennox. I even had the chance to drive a tractor while I was there. Here are some pictures from the trip.

Welcome to the farm!

The farm house was built in 1918, and Luke's grandma has lived there for 60 years. The house was originally built by Luke's great-grandpa.

Family picture with the Walker's and Luke's Grandma

Picture with Luke's Uncle Steve, Aunt LouAnn, Kyle, and Justin
A little painting farm style
LouAnn's weekly concert in the park

Here I am learning to drive the tractor
This was taken just after Luke's Uncle Steve abandoned me!
Here is Uncle Steve proudly walking away
Luke finally jumped in and taught me how to park.
I was a little calmer when this was taken.

I was glad to be back on safe ground.
Luke's Uncle Steve farms both soy beans and corn.
Here is a shot of the soy beans at dusk.

Bekah walking towards the farm after the boys threw a water balloon at her

Luke in front of the old barn.

Kyle with his dog sparky driving around in his Ranger.

Justin hanging out at Grandma's house.Bekah, Luke, and I in front of the Sioux Falls

This is my first tag, so we will see how I do.

The Rules:1. I have to post these rules before I give you the facts.2. Each player starts with 8 random facts/habits about themselves.3. People who are tagged need to write their own blog (about their 8 things) and post these rules.4. At the end of your blog, you need to choose people to get tagged and list their names.5. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

1. I have a habit of dancing/singing to TV commercials. Typically my only audience is my husband, and he thinks the whole thing is pretty hilarious. He keeps threatening to buy a video camera and submit my antics to AFA.

2. I just recently overcame my nail biting habit. I am rather proud and have since treated myself to a couple of manicures. If you haven't had a manicure, it is kind of fun. However, I went to one place that took a full hour. I was a little tired of sitting by the end.

3. My mom says I have to include this next random fact. When I was just 15 years old I crashed a pick-up truck into a 5 wheel trailer. Since this truck was parked close to the house, when the truck pushed the trailer it scraped the side of the house. I guess you could say it was not the best time to learn how to drive a stick shift. The sad part is that I still don't know how to drive a stick shift.

4. Even though I teach English, I am a terrible speller. I also struggle with grammar. I am sure you have noticed that in a few of my posts. I typically triple check my writing and often ask someone else to read when I am finished. And even after all that checking, it seems the mistakes still slip through the cracks.

5. I like to read novels/stories that don't have a pretty or neatly wrapped ending. One of my recent favorites is "Metamorphosis" by Franz Kafka. It is about a man who wakes up one morning and he is a giant beetle. Interesting and somewhat sad themes run throughout the short story. It is a fast and rather intriguing read.

6. Just like Amy, I am not a huge fan of this whole technology business. I bought my first cell phone just 2 1/2 years ago, and I just learned how to text message last spring when Braxton was born. I still don't have an ipod, and I also can't seem to figure out how to download music. Most of my skills on the computer are limited to the Internet and Microsoft word. The sad part of all this is that Luke is a computer software engineer. I guess since he is my husband, I can have him fix all my technology problems.

7. I am still trying to learn how to grocery shop and plan meals. For some reason it did not come naturally to me after I got married, and my repertoire is limited to about three dishes that I know will turn out when I fix them. If you have any great suggestions about planning meals, cooking, and grocery shopping, PLEASE send them.

8. I like to think of home improvement projects for Luke and I. As you saw in a previous post, we designed built-ins and my dad installed them. We are one room and hallway shy of painting the entire place, and within the year I hope to tear up the floors and put down hardwood or the fake laminate (depending on price). Seems like I inherited the project bug from my mom, and fortunately have a dad who is brilliant with construction.

I am tagging Jen Green and Keriann.

Road Trip: Mount Rushmore

After our one day stop at Yellowstone, Luke and I made our way to Mt. Rushmore. It is said to be quite the patriotic experience. I was actually rather surprised at how elaborate the attraction was. When you enter the site, you walk down an aisle of State flags. Just beyond these flags are the Presidents. Down below the viewing platform is the orchestra stage. I believe this is where musical events are performed during the evening lighting ceremony. Luke and I decided to head to dinner rather than stay around until 9:00 p.m. for the ceremony. We did however, take a little walk around the President's trail. It was quite peaceful and offered a great view of the Presidents. Here are a few pics from the one-hour stop over.

Yellowstone Part 4: Wildlife

As Luke and I arrived in Yellowstone, we were stunned to see mule deer just wandering around the Mammoth Springs area. They were so close and seemed quite comfortable with people snapping hundreds of pictures of them as they causally grazed on the green grass in the small town-like setting. After this initial sighting of wildlife, Luke and I set our sights on seeing bison. All day we peered out the car windows as we traveled through the park in hopes of spotting a bison in the wild. As we left Old Faithful at the end of the day we were both slightly disappointed as our hopes of seeing a bison had diminished. However, as we were coming around the enormous Yellowstone Lake on our way to the East exit we finally saw what we had been waiting for, a large herd just soaking up the sun right off the road. There had to be close to 50 bison and even a few of their young in the group. We swiftly pulled off to the side of the road to snap a few pictures. It was the perfect way to end a great day at Yellowstone.

This is the lake we were driving around.

Yellowstone Part 3: Upper Geyser Basin / Old Faithful

To finish off our day in Yellowstone we stopped by the Upper Geyser Basin and Old Faithful. We choose to walk around the Upper Geyser Basin so we could see the paint pots. The paint pots are holes that have bubbling, in some case bursting, mud coming out. In addition to the paint pots, we also saw a couple of pools that are filled with this pristine blue water. When we finally made it down to Old Faithful, we had to wait an hour to watch her blow. Since it had started to rain during our wait, we decided Old Faithful we would be our last stop of the day.

Old Faithful before it goes off

Old Faithful during the show.

Pictures from the Upper Geyser Basin

These are some of the paint pots.

This is one of the pools we saw.

Yellowstone Part Two: Grand Canyon of Yellowstone / Lower and Upper Falls

It was amazing to see how drastically the landscape of Yellostone changed within the 40 miles between Mammoth Hot Springs and the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. Although I have never been to the real Grand Canyon, the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone was still fascinating and incredibly beautiful. As part our adventure, Luke and I took and 3/4 mile hike down to peer over the lower falls that runs through the Grand Canyon. It was amazing to stand right above the falls and watch tons of water gushing just over 300 feet into the canyon below. I even enjoyed the hike straight up after the view. Here are some of the pictures from our stop at the canyon and the things we saw on the way there.

As Luke and I were driving along we passed Roaring Mountain. The steam was just billowing right out of the hillside. We found it so interesting we stopped to take a few pictures.

We also saw several of these signs throughout the park. We both felt it was wise to follow the park's advice and stay off of the thermal areas!

We were told there was an Osprey's nest perched on the top of this rock.

This is a view looking down into the Canyon.

These are some pictures of the lower falls. The water falls just over 300 feet. The first picture was Luke's favorite the second was mine.

This is a picture from over the top of the falls looking back at the canyon.

This is the view looking down from the top of the falls.

This is the only view we had of the upper falls. I think it falls just over 100 feet.