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Fall is just around the corner

Spokane is feeling more and more like home these days since moving in to our new house in April, and most of that is due to Megan adding her own little touches that make it our own. We don't know how long we will be here, but for now it's home sweet home. When we first started blogging, the idea was to be able to share what was going on with family and friends after moving to Spokane. While that is still true, the blog also acts as a journal of sorts that we can use to look back on for ourselves... while blogging isn't our top priority, it is still a fun way to keep track of all that we do.

Megan recently took a full-time position at the hospital that matches up great with my work schedule. We are both working nights right now and we get two days off together every week. (When Megan was supplemental were lucky if we had one night off together a week!) We are excited to get back in to the regular rhythms of Life that come after summer, but first here are some highlights from the past couple months.

6.28.09

I'm excited for my buddy Ryan who is getting married in less than month. I'm also excited that his future bride Emily grew up just not too far away from our house, which brings them to town once and a while. At the end of June, we got to hang out at a BBQ celebrating Emily's graduation. Afterwards we had some fun with the bocce balls.

7.6.09
For as long as I can remember Megan has had a heart for Africa. Since I started working with Horizon Air we decided to make the most of the flying benefits I get, taking at least one oversees trip a year. We try planning out trips where we know people, and our good friends the Allen's are currently in Lusaka, Zambia. So we flew south for the summer on a 10,000 mile journey that we will always remember. 1 hour from Spokane to Seattle. 5 hours from Seattle to Atlanta. 15 hours from Atlanta to Johannesburg. We spent two nights in Joburg checking out the downtown, Soweto and Nelson Mandela's house before the one hour flight to Lusaka.

Joburg

Soweto

We spent a week in lusaka with the Allen's. It was great to see Steve, Steph, Cam, Brady, Julia, Jojo and meet Rhoda for the first time! We had some quality time hanging out and seeing all that they are involved with. We visited an orphanage, school, hospital, retreat center, compounds, houses, attended a church service, I sat in on the class that Steve teaches, me met a lot of people and saw first hand some of the ways God is working in Zambia. One week was way too short... It was neat to be able to but names with face and places, to meet many of the pastors that Steve works with and hear their stories. Those are some amazing men of God.

Arriving in Lusaka

At the Allen's house after getting picked up from the airport

Lots of vendors on the side of the road. Selling everything from rocks and steel to produce and cell phone minutes


Pastor Jerry's Church

Megan with a bunch of the kids after church

Cute little girl that was fascinated with the big mzungu (white person). She sat in front of me at church and starred at me the whole time, and then followed me around everywhere after church... she was cute

Dinner the last night at the Allen's house. I'm so glad we made it down to see you guys. We had a blast. You were great hosts!

Safari
We also went on a Safari at Chaminuka while in Zambia. It was a combination of Safari, Feast, Fishing and Fun.




Not sure what Simba was snacking on


We BBQed up a couple of these Impala's for lunch...





Vic Falls
Zambia is home to one of the seven natural wonders of the world, Victoria Falls. If you combine the the height, 360 feet, and the width, 5,600 feet, Vic falls is argued to be the largest waterfall in the world. It was an amazing sight to see, it is so massive. We took the 5 hour bus ride from Lusaka to Livingstone. Our friend Owen, who was also in Zambia at the time, went with us. We took a greyhound type bus, but where there are normally 2 seats on each side of the aisle, this one squeezed in 1 extra seat just for fun, so there were 2 on one side and three on the other. So the three of us crammed in and lived to tell about it. (mind you there was no a/c and a good hour or so was spent on a dirt road) We had a great time hanging out at the falls (where we got drenched), Meg and I had a date night on a sunset cruise that went down the Zambezi River where we saw lots of wildlife like Elephants, Giraffe, Hippos and crocs. We also decided to all jump off a bridge with a rubber-band attached to our feet... this was my second jump and I loved it! This was Megan's first and probably last time. She had fun, but it took a lot of coaxing to get her to actually jump... :)






What an awesome trip! One we will always remember. We hurried home for Oma's 85th birthday celebration. Of course flying stand-bye we didn't make our direct flight back to the states to Atlanta, so we decided to go through London and then on to Seattle. Total time door to door to get home i think was over 40 hours between sitting in airports and on the plane. We got to sit by each other on each leg there and back, and oh, I forgot, we got first class going down there from Atlanta to Joburg! Thats the way to fly, but now every time we get coach Megan complains :)

7.30.09
When we got back from Africa it was back to work, so we celebrated our 2nd wedding anniversary a week and a half late. We decided to go camping again and headed out to Lake Pend Oreille in northern Idaho, the fifth deepest lake in the U.S. It was kinda last minute so when we got there there were no campsites left, so they put us out in a group site all by ourselves... It is great getting away and "roughing" it for a couple days. We love camping.





I think I won like 8 out of the 10 games we played of yatzee and sequence... Megan might dispute that claim.

8.7.09
Spann family reunion in Nampa, Idaho. That was fun. (time for work, need to hurry)




8.30.09
Josh and Mandy get married! I was a groomsman. That was a lot of fun. Congrats you two!

Rehearsal Dinner


Alright, the mother of all blogs is done. I'm late for work. Peace.

Busy Summer

This next weekend will cap the end to a busy summer with Josh And Mandy's Wedding. After that life will slow down a little as we settle back into our normal schedules. Looking forward to back-blogging about all that we have been up to!

gardens and golf...

the past week we have had very cold and rainy weather with thunder storms at night. it has finally warmed up a little more these past two days so i was able to get outside to take some good pictures of my veggie garden and the exterior of our house.



we want to purchase a little table and chairs for under the awning, but for now, our little card table and camping chairs will do :) a big thank you to carol for the hanging flower baskets...they add a lot of color.

my veggie garden...i have tomatoes, basil, cilantro, cucumbers, peppers, and squash planted.

this picture was taken when they were first planted. they have grown a ton and are now starting to blossom...i'm hoping to be able to eat some tomatoes from my garden really soon!

aaron and i finally had a day off together yesterday. i had worked a 6 day stretch, so i was ready to have the day off! aaron had planned a date night which consisted of mini golf at a little family fun center in spokane. then dinner at our new Red Lobster, and a movie. the winner of mini golf got to pick the movie. i really wanted to see the new movie "The Proposal," and aaron's pick was "Star Trek." aaron apparently was a "trekky" when he was younger. i on the the other hand have never seen an episode of "Star Trek", so i was not too excited about that. well...aaron pulled out the victory in mini golf (i was leading the entire game, but got behind when aaron had a hole-in-one, and it took me 5 strokes!)

so i reluctantly went to "Star Trek." i have to say, it wasn't that bad, but i would have much rather seen a romantic comedy :)

catching up...

wow...we have not blogged in a while! sorry to all of our loyal blog-followers...we will try to be more on top of it!

so i thought i should post some pictures of the house...as promised :)

the house was built in 1946


signing...signing...signing...

the living room


to the left of the picture where the archway is is our front door and entry. we love the arches in the house that give it so much character.

the hallway...leads to our bedroom, office, bathroom and kitchen. sorry no pictures of our room, office, or bathroom.


our retro kitchen

the hutch was built with the house. we also got a new dining room table which, i am proud to say, we eat at (sometimes) :)



family room in the downstairs finished basement. we have been enjoying our new 7 foot couch...aaron loves that he can lay out on it without his feet hanging off!

guest room...so come visit! we also have one more small room in the basement that will serve as my office/craft/yoga room. i'm still working on unpacking it though :) also not pictured downstairs is a bathroom, huge laundry room, and many closets for storage.

aaron has been diligently working in the yard and garden (with my help), so we will post more pictures of the yard soon. i (megan) planted a small veggie garden in the back, with cucumbers, peppers, butternut squash, basil, tomatoes, and cilantro. i discovered there are chives that the previous owners had already planted so we will enjoy those as well. so far the garden has not produced anything, but i'm being patient and hoping and praying that some veggies pop up soon!

aaron interviewed a couple of weeks ago for a "team captain" leadership position at work...and got the job! he has more responsibilities, is the "go-to" person if a problem comes up, etc. as for me, i have been staying very busy at work with a lot of open positions and shifts to be filled...thanks to many my fellow co-workers who are on maternity leave!
one of my good friend's at work was blessed with her 5th child!

date night :)

beautiful spokane river...with downtown spokane in the background

amongst the craziness of being a homeowner, work, and life in general...aaron and i are planning a 2 week trip to zambia in july. we will be visiting our good friends, the allen's, who have been there for almost two years now. we are so excited! we will try to post some pictures of the yard and garden next week :)