Another year, another long list of stories to tell. Fortunately for you we are only going to bore you with four of them. We feel like those four are pretty much the highlights of the year, so hopefully you will find them entertaining.
Story number one involves our anniversary trip this year. We previously had spent our anniversaries somewhere in Oregon and decided it was time to see new territory. What better direction to travel than Yellowstone country? That meant we got to stop along the way to Traci's parents house and convince them to joining us for some tent camping. They were a bit reluctant, but after some persistent begging they agreed to join us on our second night in the park. As always the park was full of sightseeing opportunities. We stopped at Isa Lake, from which water flows to both the Pacific and the Atlantic. Two bull elk in the heat of the rut decided to duke it out right through our campsite. We drove on the old wagon road that was the original north entrance to the park. We spared no expense at the Yellowstone park store when it came to buying Wilcoxson's huckleberry ice cream sandwiches. We made an attempt to visit the Tetons, but the smoke from nearby wildfires pretty much obliterated the view. On our way home from the adventure Traci got to spend time at the Phillipsburg Candy Palace and had to be dragged kicking and screaming back to the car when it was time to go.
OK, enough of that. Our second story involves homeownership. In 1947 Traci's great grandparents and great aunt and uncle moved into a house in College Place. Sixty-five years later, we moved into that same house. It's a good little home with a big backyard just waiting for a puppy to run around in it. We decided to make a few updates before moving in along the lines of refinishing the hardwood floors upstairs, painting some of the rooms, and installing some new windows. Being unskilled laborers at best, this took longer than we imagined, but we decided that we had to be in by Christmas so we could put up some lights. If you are ever in the neighborhood you should stop by and we'll give you the tour... we are serious.
Since the day we got married, we have been told on random occasions by other couples that we should have a kid. Josue's immediate response has been to ask the certain individual if they plan on helping raise the child. This has generally brought an awkward silence to the conversation . . . Speaking of children, a wise man once said, "Parents are SUPPOSE to be lame so their kids have something to rebel against by becoming cool just long enough to get married and have kids, for whom THEY are lame. It's nature way." We believe his name was Homer Simpson. So apparently it's our turn to be lame. The doctor gave us an exact date but whom are we kidding? It's not our choice. We will just say to expect a bundle of hilarious good times around the end of June (give or take).
We don't know if you have noticed that this year none of ours cars made it into our Holiday photo. But we did make sure to include some wheels. This year with the help of Traci's uncle Jeff, we finished rebuilding the engine on our 1948 Plymouth and with the help of Traci's folks we installed the engine. Now we just need someone to check the points on the distributor before firing it up the engine; if you know what we are talking about, we will pay you top dollar for your assistance. Our 1979 Cherokee Chief got a new of set of tires, rebuilt carburetor and water pump. In conclusion we love working on cars.
This year has been a great year that has literally flown by. Some dreams came true others, were forgotten as soon as we woke up the following morning. If you are ever curious to see what we are up to, visit www.jgalan.com
Ok, don't forget to keep in touch!
(Thanks Damaris for taking the picture.)
