Our first "hike"

Ben and I are slowly learning new ways and new things to keep just the two of us active!! For example we decided that for our weekend, I would plan our Friday night and Ben would plan Saturday, interesting right??!
We have actually had a wonderful weekend! It started off great because Ben got home early from a ride along and I had many forms of entertainment planned for our evening. I had a few different activities on cards and Ben chose the cards throughout the night...goofy, I know, but we have to keep ourselves busy somehow! :) The first card he picked said "Trick?!" What that meant was a card trick! I had spent about 10 minutes on you tube teaching myself a card trick to be able to entertain...and of course, impress Benny. And boy did it work!!! I was so proud of myself! He thought I was a little weird, but I DID trick him and he had no clue how I did it! So, maybe I should be looking for magician jobs...kidding! His next job for the night was to take a gander over my homemade menu and choose what he wanted for supper. So the rest of the night was spent eating many yummy things like french toast, apple crisp with ice cream and popcorn. We also played a little Yahtzee :) and watched a movie. (Sorry if this seems like a little too much information, but it is good for Ben and I when we read back and can remember all the details!)

Ben had Saturday all planned, which made me extremely impressed. We started the morning by getting some amazingly good donuts from Haagens, which is the grocery store by us. Then we headed to REI to look around and we saw a million and one things we could have bought but left with nothing! :) Then we drove to Chuckanut Drive which is a historical coastal drive along the Larabee State Park. There are many miles of trails, some of which are for walking and running, others are for hiking and biking. So we found a place to park and headed out! We really had no clue where we were going or what we were doing, we just wanted to explore!
Here are a couple of pictures of us just making our way into the trails.


We started off on an Interurban trail that is used for walking and running. The first thing we loved about the trail was how you felt completely surrounded by beautiful, tall, GREEN tress.

Some of the trees here have this amazing green moss all over them. Ben and I just love those trees. It looks like green frost...since that is what you are all used to! You just feel surrounded by the beauty of the Lord!

Of course Ben just HAD to find a walking stick to help us along the trails.

We started to find our way off the Interurban trail and start hiking toward the water. It is crazy to us that we are so close to the ocean.




Once we got to the water, it was beautiful. The foothills of the Casacade mountains were covered with clouds, so we can't wait to go on a clear sunny day!


Ben, of course, wanted to get closer to the water.

This was me...a little concerned about him (for good reason as you will see in the next pictures!)

It had been raining all day so on his way down there he took a little tumble! Oops! :)


He also wanted to "double check" that it was salt water...NERD!

Then we headed back to our car because we were getting hungry.

Ben had even packed a bag lunch for us!! How great! We had wanted to find somewhere on our hike to eat but everything was muddy and wet so we ate at a park on our way home!


This morning we went back to Cornwall Church and loved the pastor again! We are planning on starting our small group on Wednesday, so we are excited to start meeting some people!

Thanks again for checking in us! We love you and miss you all tremendously! :)

"So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law." Galatians 5:16-18