Life as a Queen

13 July 2010

Bavarian 4th of July

So for the fourth of July we all headed to Leavenworth, WA, a Bavarian village with an interesting history in itself. Here is a smidget of their history!

The town was originally called Icicle. It is located in the beautiful Cascade mountains. In the 1890s, The Great Northern Railway Company ran through Icicle, bringing with it business and prosperity. The railroad company eventually pulled out and rerouted its tracks, leaving the town near extinction for the next thirty years. In the early 1960s, the city decided to do something about it and decided to turn their town into a Bavarian Village. They completely renovated all of the downtown buildings to look like what you see today. Now many Germans that move from Germany to America live here because of its likeness to their previous home. Leavenworth now even has a German newspaper that is delivered everyday and most of the restaurants sell Bratwursts and other German foods! Very interesting...

Yodeling!

We set up camp about 20 miles up into the mountains at a campsite that filled up fast. It was near Johnny Creek which was icicle cold.

The campsite!

My roommate Courtney from North Dakota

Connor and Erica

Roasting S'mores!

Pictures of Johnny Creek:

A bunny rabbit that let us get SO close to him!

We embarked on a 6-mile hike on the 4th of July... notice our patriotic attire

The water that ran through Icicle Gorge. This was on our hike.

The last day of our trip, Joseph and I went white water rafting on the Wenatchee river...which was AWESOME! We chose to do the level 3 rapids. Next time, we are going for the 4s!

Donning my nice, hot pink wetsuit

Flattering, I know...

Our raft guide and his girlfriend.. they were awesome! After the raft trip, they cooked hamburgers and s'mores for us!

It was a wonderful way to celebrate Independence Day!

08 July 2010

Hoopfest and Ironman

Two weekends ago, we went to Hoopfest with my supervisor and her children. For those of you who don't know, Hoopfest is the largest 3 on 3 tourney in the WORLD. This year there were 6,990 teams...just TEAMS not counting spectators. There were estimated to be 200,000 people at hoopfest this year! They block off all of the streets downtown and set up courts EVERYWHERE.

Erica, Courtney, Connie and I

The Shootoff that Joseph made it to the semi finals for! He would have one me a brand new Rav4!

Setting up basketball goals in parking lots

My supervisor and her family!

Playing bball in tutus!

The fountain had children EVERYWHERE

The second half of our weekend was spent in Coeur d'alene with friends from MS! We watched Michael Hancock cross the finish line for his first Ironman! It was so fun to catch up!

Andrea, Joseph, and I waiting for Michael to cross the finish line! Team Hancock!

Waiting patiently!

Moose ears crossing the finish line!

Michael crossing the finish line! You are an IRONMAN!

Team Hancock...After the race!

It was a full weekend, but great nonetheless!

07 July 2010

stupid virus

I haven't gotten to post anything because my computer has been out of commission with a wonderful home-invading virus! But... when I finally do get to make a real post, I will have alot to talk about...!

20 June 2010

Camping in the Mountains

This weekend we took off for our first adventure camping. We drove about 45 minutes to the BEAUTIFUL town of Coeur d'alene. We put up our tent at a small campsite between two mountains near Lake Coeur d'alene. We arrived around 5 and snagged one of the last few campsites available. We pitched our tent and headed back into town for the grocery store. We roasted weenies for hotdogs and made the best s'mores ever! The weather was beautiful. At night it was a LITTLE chilly! It was about 75 degrees in the daytime. I forgot my camera so I don't have too many pictures, sadly!

Joseph pitching the tent

The valley where we camped.. We attempted to climb this mountain..

but it was going to take about 2 hours.. and we got hungry!

My mountain man

The sunset over Lake Coeur d'alene

This weekend just happened to be the 25th annual Car d'alene. They only think there are rednecks in MS. Just saying, we saw some pretty interesting people. The car show is very cool though. There are people that come from all over with their antique cars to display at the festival. They have car auctions too!

We saw lots of this...

ALOT of this...

and even more of this!

We had a wonderful weekend. Joseph even went swimming in the freezing cold water at the city beach!

Wish we had some of that Mississippi heat! Next weekend: Hoopfest

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to my wonderful daddy who i miss so much! He is the strong, silent type... as anyone who knows him would agree. He is a strong man of God with a kind heart. He serves as a policeman and chooses to protect our family and community at the chance that he might lose his life in the process. He is brave. He is a man of character, not only in our family but in his job. He is the sargeant of K-9 officers and he holds his position with integrity and character. This makes me so proud to be his daughter. He helped my mom raise my sister and I both, and now he is helping raise my little brother. He is a sucker when it comes to my little brother. He met my mom when he was 17 and married her when he was only 19. They have been through a lot together and still love each other dearly. He did not graduate from highschool because "school wasn't his thing". He worked hard when I was a baby doing any job that he could find. He began working as a policeman when I was just a little girl. He has worked his way up the ladder to provide for his family. He has now been given the opportunity to be certified in training police dogs. He is spending the summer in Hattiesburg, only home on the weekends to receive this special training. I am so proud of him! I am 24 years old, and have never seen my mom or my dad drink once. They have instilled great values in my life that I can't wait to share with my own children.

Here's to you daddy. I love you!

14 June 2010

Sunny and Seventy in Seattle

We roadtripped the five hours to Seattle this weekend... and it was AMAZING! We decided to drive to Tacoma on Thursday night after work and stay with Katy Ann and Ashley. We woke up early and left at 7:30AM to make the 45 minute drive to Seattle.

The Cascades

Near the Gorge

Since it was cloudy, the first thing we did was the Experience Music Project in Seattle Center

Me with all of the Supreme's costumes!

Look who we found! Mary Wilson from the Supremes!

Testing out our vocals in the recording studio!

The sun came out later and we walked on the board walk downtown! Beautiful!

Famous Ivar's Fish and chips! Yes, I ate fried fish with the seagulls!

Joseph and Dwight!

More of the boardwalk!

We were riding around Bellevue and Lake Washington, where Bill Gates and Martha Stewart's bf lives! We happened to run into this family who lives on this lake...mega money! They offered to give us an up close and personal tour of Seattle by the water... How lucky is that? But we turned them down...