New Dining Room Table

Some of you have been clamoring for pictures of our dining room table. They are finally available!

Some background: Back in April, Katie and I decided to take a weekend trip to Salt Lake City (about a 4.5 hour drive from Boise). The purpose of this trip was threefold: get out of the house, do some sightseeing and shop at the Ikea for furniture. Specifically, we were interested in finding a dining room table since our current one is a "hand-me-down" that can seat no more than 4 people. We found a nice table and purchased it (assembly required of course - this is Ikea we're talking about!). However the assembly project progressed slowly due to my time commitments with school, general procrastination, and some demoralizing mishaps encountered during the assembly of one of the chairs.

Alas, we finally finished the "dining room table assembly project" this past Tuesday. Below are pictures of the table (yes, we went for bold colors!):


Also, here are some other pictures from our trip:

Salt Lake City Trip Pictures!

Weekend Summary

It seems Fall has officially arrived here in Boise. The weather has cooled significantly and we got some rain for the first time in two months. Alas, no hiking this weekend!

On Saturday, Katie and I indulged and got the 'all you can eat' chicken fingers at Applebee's. That was pretty much our only food of the day! We also saw the movie 'Burn After Reading'. It is a dark comedy and Katie and I both enjoyed it.

Today we met Gary for lunch at Cracker Barrel. Bonnie was out of town visiting her Mom in Colorado so it was just the three of us. After that we did our weekly grocery shopping and I watched some football and mowed the lawn.

One final note: we made more progress assembling our mythical dining room table, so we will probably be ready to announce its completion soon!

Blue Mountains Hike

Last weekend I set out on a solo hike to the Blue Mountains of Oregon. It was a long hike, approximately 8.5 hours, 4500', and 14 miles. However the scenery was tremendous and I saw nine mountain goats on the trip!

Blue Mountains Pictures!

Strawberry Mountain Hike

A couple of weeks ago, Dan (ex co-worker and friend) and I went hiking in the mountains of eastern Oregon. It was a good day hike and a good chance to catch up on things. Below are the pictures:

Strawberry Mountain Pictures!
Dan's Trip Report

Summer Vacation Pictures

It's been over a month but we've finally gotten the pictures from our summer vacation online. To recap, our itinerary was:

• Camping one night at Heyburn State Park near Plummer, ID (no pictures from here)
• Camping three nights at McDonald Creek Provincial Park near Nakusp, BC (all pictures are from this time)
• Spending the remaining time at the Shepherd household in Vancouver (no pictures)

The majority of the pictures are from when I took a hike up Saddle Back Mountain. This peak is very near to the campground and has a nice trail to the top. The peak features an abandoned fire lookout and postcard views. Enjoy!

Summer Vacation 2008 Pictures!

Hi everyone!

Since Katie and I are known to be poor at keeping everyone up-to-date, we are starting this blog to more regularly share our many exciting life experiences with our families and friends. Vacations, trips, daily happenings will all be presented in their glorious detail. Watch for lots of pictures too!

Welcome to our blog, and rest assured, there will be much more content in the immediate future!