Five

This year, Josh and I turned five. We have had five very wonderfully eventful years of marriage. I couldn't have pictured it all, but would never have wanted anything different. I love you, Josh.

fishing in the flats

So...this is where we've been and what we've been up to for the past couple weeks. Josh took a quick 3 & 1/2 day trip to Florida to do some fishing in the flats. This is his prize Snook. It was 12 pounds and 33 inches long...I think the longest one he's ever caught. It was a perfect trip for him to take in celebration of finishing his first year of graduate school.

it's called blurb.

Friends, remember how I talked about what it takes to turn your blog into a book? Sorry that it has taken me so long to post about it. I have had a few moments of morning quiet before Huntleigh wakes and I began searching for where I originally made the discovery. First, you ought to check out this website. I steal away here from time to time because I find this woman's creativity so inspiring. She is very Anthropologie-esque. Secondly, here is where you want to go to make your book. I hope it will be a fun project for you, if you are interested. I hear the Hunts.

8 things you may not have known about me.

(in no particular order of importance)

1. In college I drove a blue 1990 Mercury Tracer. My friend, Jeanne, thought that I said I drove a "Gregory Chaser" so we ended up calling my car Greg, and eventually, "the chaser." I totalled that car when I was a senior.

2. I have totalled 3 cars, and I wasn't even driving one of those. I was also driving my husband's 4-Runner when the engine crapped out on me and had to be replaced for no less than $4000.

3. I have lived in 15 different houses/apartments/lofts, 5 different states, and 3 different countries.

4. I am embarrassed to admit it, but I secretly enjoy the music of people like Jean Luc Ponty because I grew up listening to it with my dad. You might catch me tapping my fingers to it inadvertently. Scott, you can back me up here. You remember those car trips!

5. I really hate slugs.

6. I taught high school Latin for two years, having never been trained in the subject area. I really love languages, especially after having studied Latin.

7. Josh fainted on an airplane to Thailand right after we first moved to Hong Kong and I thought he was having some sort of weird seizure. The flight attendant, being very assertive that I was freaking out, threw me across the aisle into the ample bosom of a very kind Australian woman, who stroked my hair and told me everything was going to be okay. The Australian ample bosom is still a very comforting thought to me.

8. I am 10 weeks pregnant with our second kiddo. Oh Huntleigh, you have no idea what's coming.



(wearing the t-shirt I got when Scott was born.)

Hooray for daddies

This was the best I got from my two babes for Father's Day. We love you, Josh. You are an amazing father to Huntleigh and I can see and know the difference you make in her life, even at an age this young.

the mouse who invaded my house

Yes, the movement I saw out of the corner of my eye on Friday night was this little creature. He happened to appear on a night when Josh was up at Raccoon Ranch...and too far away to come and "get him" for me. I did call him, though, and he said: "There are mouse traps in the garage..." and I replied with: "I'm calling Scott." Now, many of you know I do hunt and I am willing to kill ducks and doves (500 in Argentina!), but there is a vast difference to me between standing behind a loaded 20-gauge in my camo out in the middle of a field and facing off with a rodent standing in my stairwell--no camo, no gun...just a laptop. My trusty brother didn't even question me or laugh at me--and we kill those ducks and doves together--he just told me he was coming right over...at 10.45 on a Friday night. This mouse was about one inch long. He was just a baby, but I was a bigger baby, I guess. Scott cornered him and took him outside to "deal with him." I gave him a beer for the ride home. It's the first mouse we've seen since we moved in two years ago.

images at Pike Place

The original Starbucks logo.




This was a wall of chewed gum. We stumbled upon it because Shannon thought she knew where she was taking us, but this is the only interesting thing we discovered on the excursion. Kind of nasty, but really fascinating.

sans kiddos

Shannon and I got to hang out by ourselves onTuesday. It was awesome. It's amazing how productive you can be without your children around. Thanks, Nate, for watching the bambinos.

good friends

These are our friends Jason and Railene who we know from Hong Kong, but never lived there at the same time they did. It's a long story. Thanks for lunch, you guys. I hope you find my blog.

four Elliott generations

Miriam is Huntleigh's great-great aunt, my mom's father's sister. She is nearly 85 and quite an amazing woman. She is the type of person I hope to be when I grow up: she's driven, she's spunky, she's sharp, she has seen a lot of the world, she is not afraid to try new things, and she has walked with Jesus faithfully and fervently for most of those 85 years. She is an inspiration. I'm so thankful Huntleigh was able to meet her, even if she didn't know at that moment how special it was. She'll understand someday.

the kiddos

contemplating doughnuts.

Here we are at Top Pot in Seattle. Huntleigh and I mainly went to visit our friends, the Walkers, while my mom visited her Aunt. Shannon has raved about these doughnuts and we were finally able to taste them for ourselves. They were excellent, I must say. And Nate helped build those bookshelves in the background.

Seattle

Huntleigh, my mom and I just took a trip to this city. If you haven't been, you must go. I think I'll live there someday.