Life with the Conleys

Some friends invited us to go to Leavenworth with them. We have heard that Leavenworth is a fun town to visit, so we were excited to go. It is called a "Bavarian Village" and all the shops on the main streets are themed accordingly.There are art galleries, and candy shops, and all of your typical tourist town shops. It was RIDICULOUSLY busy. I really couldn't believe how many people were there. There were even lines to get into some of the shops.  After visiting some of the shops there was a tree lighting.It seemed to last a very long time (not sure if it actually did, but I was hungry and everything seems to take forever when I am hungry).  After they light the tree the whole town lights up.  After the tree lighting we went to dinner at Andreas Keller . It had pretzels, brats, schnitzel, kraut, and other German fare. It was a cool restaurant with a delicious house mustard and a resident accordion player. Thanks Dan and Wendy for the invit...

That's right, no pictures. We were too busy having fun to document it with photos. We flew to Boise late Wednesday night, just in time to go to bed. On Thanksgiving day we went to my Grandparent's house for an early dinner. Not sure why but they always do a Thanksgiving lunch instead of a dinner. There was lots of food and family. It was really nice to see so much of my mom's family. I saw some cousins that I haven't seen in years. Love them. On Friday we played volleyball for 4 hours in the morning, ate at Roe Ann's (a must when visiting Emmett), saw my Grandpa Mendenhall and listened to some of his memories from his service in WWII. Saturday started the same way Friday had, with volleyball. That is one thing I love about my family. Enough of us play volleyball that when we go to Emmett, it is a guaranteed activity. After volleyball we rode the four-wheelers up into the foothills and went shooting. We shot a .22, an M1-.30, a 357 magnum, and a 30-6. I a...

Bad news part 1: Well, the past month has been an interesting one. We found out a few months ago that my grandfather (Mom's Dad) had cancer, but just a few weeks ago we heard that the cancer had spread and that he has only a few month left. When we got the news my brother, sister-in-law, sister, and I all headed to Idaho for a visit. Despite the pain that I am certain he is feeling he was in good spirits and positive. He is an extraordinary man and grandfather. I am so grateful for his example and love. Josh and I will be going to visit again for Thanksgiving and I am excited to have the opportunity to spend more time with him. One fun fact about my grandparents: They have 10 children and 50 (yes five-zero) grandchildren. And what is even more incredible, and what speaks the most to their merit, is that for the everyone gets along. When 60 people are involved it is pretty impressive that there aren't any family feuds or fallings out. I love my family! Grandpa and Grandma Walker...

Last Saturday our friends Dan and Wendy invited us to the Space Needle and the Experience Music Project or EMP. I hadn't been to either of them before and was really excited. We went to the Space Needle first. View from the bottom. Us. View from the top. After the Space Needle we went to the Experience Music Project. I had heard some less than stellar reviews of the EMP, but I really liked it. I doubt I would pay to go back but for free it was awesome. Part of the sculpture at EMP. It played music.

Ok, I know all the posts about hikes are probably getting boring. And I contemplated not posting about this one but I HAVE to because it is the conclusion to a previous post. Earlier we tried to hike into Rainy lake with some friends and we failed. Not only did we fail but I ended up falling into the river. Well, not this time! We found the lake but we found the fish too. It has been quite a while since we have had decent fishing and it was great. On the way in Josh spotted some interesting vegetation. We couldn't decide if it was a fungus or a flower. Turns out it is a flower called either Ghost Plant or Indian Pipe. Rainy Lake We should have taken a picture of the fish at the lake as they got a little discolored on the trip home. Even though they were discolored they sure did taste delicious : )

Josh was out of town this weekend so my friend Becca and I decided to have a girls day. We went on a hike to Rachel Lake in the morning/afternoon and then watched the Relief Society broadcast in the evening. The hike was about 9.5 miles round trip, much of it was rather flat however the last mile or so into the lake was a pretty serious climb. The lake was brilliant blue and clear. It doesn't matter how many of these alpine lakes I hike into, I can't get enough. Just after we had started hiking. First view of the lake. So clear... If you are thinking to yourself, "Hmm, her pose is really awkward." All I can say is that you should have seen the other ones, they were far worse. Becca. This one is my favorite. Views like this never get old. Sorry all the posts recently have been about hiking. I feel like this summer is quickly coming to a close and I can't bear to have any sunny days go to waste.

It would seem from our blog posts that all we do is hike. This post won't do anything to dispel that assumption. Hike 1: We went with some friends, Tyler and Becca, and our intent was to hike into Rainy Lake. We didn't actually make it to the lake but it was still a pretty fun day. We started hiking up the wrong ridge and by the time we figured it out it was too late to do anything about it. So we hiked back down and the boys went fishing in the river. As they were fishing Becca and I decided to hike around and explore. After a series of perhaps less than stellar choices I ended up falling into the river. Not in the shallow part where I would have gotten wet to my knees, oh no, I fell in up to my neck. Really, up to my neck. And what did Becca do? Offer assistance? Ask if I was ok? No, she laughed, and not just a little. It was pretty hilarious though and I was laughing too. It was a pretty fun day. The lovely river I fell in. Hike 2: This was not too much of a hike. Josh and I...

Our new niece, Naomi Anne, was born July 12th. Josh's family came to town for little Naomi's blessing the last week of August. It was really nice to have everyone together. That doesn't happen very often and it was really fun! While they were here we went to a water park, went fishing, and just enjoyed being together. With all the fun we had the big event was Naomi's blessing. Ashley (Josh's sister) and Naomi. All the women at the blessing. Josh and his siblings. The whole clan! It was a great week and we hope to see everyone again soon!

Last weekend Josh and I went backpacking at Navajo Pass. We left work early and arrived at the trailhead at 7:30PM. We hiked about 3 miles until it was dark enough that we had to set up camp. The next morning we hiked the rest of the way up to the pass and the view was awesome. When we moved Seattle I couldn't get enough of the ultra-green, moss covered, fern infested forest, but it was kind of nice to see dirt and rocks that weren't covered in green. I still love the green but I miss the more 'Idaho-style' forest too. This picture was pre-hike. We looked a lot more tired/dirty on the way out. It was really fun to spend a few days away from regular life. Sometimes I forget how much I love camping and hiking. But I remember now and we are certainly hoping to go on some more trips before the rains begin once again. There were lots of things about our trip that I thoroughly enjoyed but spending that time with Josh made it even better. I sure do love that guy. On our way do...

In June we went to Albuquerque for a family reunion. My family stayed with my sister and brother in law in their 2 bedroom 1 bathroom house. (In case you were wondering, that is a total of 8 adults and 3 kids) It was a very full house but it was fun to see everyone and spend some time with family. Hike in Tent Rocks National Monument. Lynn and Angie's kids did really well on the hike. I love this picture of my Dad and Andrew. We also went on a tram to the top of the Sandia Mountains. It is just over 2.5 miles to the top and beside the towers at the base and summit, there is only one support tower. This picture is at the upper tower. There was a lot of smoke from a wildfire Arizona but the view from the top was still awesome. It was a great trip and very nice to get a break from the daily grind. Thanks Scott and Anita for letting us crash your house.

About a month ago Josh and I went on a hike to Otter Falls. We thought it would be about 9 miles round trip but we ended up doing 13.5 miles. It pretty flat so it wasn't really difficult but it was still pretty far. Hopefully we will be doing much more hiking and camping as the summer goes on. FTI, the place I work, has season tickets to the Mariners and they give away 2 pairs for every home game. We have been able to go to two games. Here are some pictures of the first game and my first professional baseball game ever.

Josh and I have been married for 5 years, but since the blog has just begun I thought we would start from the beginning. We met August 29th, 2005 playing volleyball at BYU-Idaho. It was the first day of the semester and we were both dating other people. One month later we were both single and going on our first date. After that we saw each other every day until Thanksgiving break. On January 26th he asked me to marry him and I said, 'Yes!' 7 months and 5 days after our first date we were married for time and all eternity in the Boise, Idaho temple. It has been five years and a lot has happened. We have lived in 3 different states and 6 different cities. We have had a total of 8 jobs. We have lost 3 grandparents and 1 brother and we have gained 1 nephew, 4 nieces, and one sister-in-law. There has been lots of life and lots of love. There you have it. Five years in one blog post. Let's hope it isn't five more years before there is another. :)