Gatlinburg

We had a family reunion last weekend in the Smoky Mountains. We stayed in a 12 bedroom cabin with a gorgeous view of the hills. It was wonderful being able to see and meet a lot of Forrest's family, especially our adorable niece!

I didn't realize how few pictures I actually took of the weekend until I sat down to edit them, but here they are anyway!

I fell in love again with our little Savannah. She's the sweetest little girl with the bounciest reddish-blonde curls. When I hold my arms out to her, she squeals and runs to me and it makes my heart full to bursting. I hate that we live so far away from her and from all of Forrest's siblings. 

I never really knew why they were called the Smokies until I spent a few days there. They really do look like they're smoking.

We (Forrest and I and his sister, her husband, and Savannah) went down into Gatlinburg on Saturday to go on the new Smoky Mountain Alpine Coaster and the Wonderworks in Pigeon Forge which is kind of a science-y museum with over a hundred hands-on exhibits. It was really fun and really exhausting. But I guess most things are pretty exhausting after a  four day long cross-country road trip.

After we left the cabin, we decided to go swimming. Forrest had already told me about this particular swimming hole and how many snakes he had seen there. I would just like to say how terrified I am of snakes. I've never lived in a location where there are poisonous snakes or really any snakes at all (hello, Washington and England which are basically the same), so it took some convincing and a lot of begging and/or taunting to get me into the water. I even used the rope swing!

Savannah loves water and her Uncle Forrest.

I may have been scared for my life, but I have to admit that it was a beautiful place to swim.

Three!

Today is our third anniversary!

I feel like I have been telling people we've been married for three years for a really long time, but I guess that's just because I've been meeting a lot of new people lately.

Three years feels like such a short amount of time now that we've reached it. It felt like a pretty long amount of time when our marriage was only months old, but I guess that's how it goes?

Three years feels like a respectable amount of time where people don't consider us newlyweds anymore, but we are still that nice, young couple. I don't know, It feels like some sort of milestone. And I guess it is! Three is definitely more impressive than two.



I love being married to you, Forrest. You are the kindest and most considerate man I have ever met. People are always surprised to hear that I'm married (because I look so young, ha) and when they ask if I like it (which is sort of a silly question) I obviously don't have to think for even a second. Being married to you is the best. Thank you for being so supportive and loving always, no matter what. Being your wife is an honor and I love being able to look at your sweet, dimpled smile every single day. You're always ready for any silly adventure I can think up and you pull some pretty silly ones out of your sleeve yourself. You were made for me and I for you. Thanks for always driving more than I do on long trips and for letting me take naps in the car even though I don't let you because I talk to you so much (also I feel like maybe you think you might die if you fall asleep while I'm driving?). Thanks for always being sillier than I am in public so that I don't feel too silly by myself. Thank you for not yelling at me when I do something really clumsy and feel bad enough and then you make me feel better instead. Thank you for always getting the drink I want when we're sharing. Thanks for always posing for pictures when I ask you to. Thanks for all the tiny little things you do that add up and make me feel like a million bucks.

I love you, Fofo, I can't wait to see how our life turns out together. I'm sure it will be better than I ever expected my life to be; it sure has been so far.



photo by the talented Vlad Tricka of Voir Photgraphy

Crow Babies

It has been a long couple of weeks with no days off, but finals are over and I'm done with work for a while! I have done basically nothing since I last blogged about our kitten except work and study and I am ready for a break. We're heading out in the morning on a road trip for six weeks for Forrest's family reunion as well as to see other family members and camp at Yellowstone and etc. I know that sounds like a long trip, but that's only because it is. We are excited! I've been waiting expectantly for this trip for months and I can't believe it's finally here. I also can't believe how quickly this year has flashed by. We've been in Washington for SIX MONTHS.

It's making my mind spin.

Soon we'll be living in Seattle (and should probably find a place to live) and a whole new part of life will begin. I've never lived in the city before and I'm really looking forward to it--if only to see what it's like. I have a feeling that I'm really a country person at heart, but we'll see!

Also I finally ordered myself a new laptop because this one I'm typing on right now is over four years old and waaay past its prime. I'm maybe a little more excited about this than I should be (but really, who has time for a slow computer?), but I can't even contain myself. I tell Forrest how happy I am to get a new computer at least twice a day. Probably more. It's up there with the excitement I felt when I ordered my first DSLR.

Since it has been a few really busy weeks, we have a lot to catch up on. One of these things that I meant to post much earlier was my crow babies! It is kind of a sad story, so be warned.

We found a baby crow in the middle of our yard when Jasper wouldn't leave it alone. He would sit by it and watch it and occasionally paw at it gently. The crow thought Jasper was his mommy and kept begging for food. We looked it up, and all the websites said to leave the crow babies alone; the parents are most likely around and watching. Except that they weren't. We watched all day and not once did the parents appear to feed the poor fledgling. We took pity and I moved the crow baby under a bush to protect him from cats while Megan fed him some mushed up dog food and egg.

This went on for another couple of days until my mother informed me that she had seen the crow under a different bush on the other side of the yard. But, wait, no, the crow was still under the original bush and this was a new crow! So we ended up with two crow children to care for and feed every two hours or so. They ate from a spoon and were very vocal about letting us know they were hungry. It was actually kind of adorable.

Fast forward a week or two later. The crows were beginning to venture from their nest and hop around the yard. We found them inside flower pots a few times and they started learning new things like roosting. They were at least twice as big as when we first found them and their feathers were coming in nicely. Jasper was still intensely interested in the crow babies and watched them. Then one day, we found that one of the crows was missing all of his tail feathers! That brute of a dog had pulled them all out.

The crows were moved to a birdcage on the porch. We left the door open for a few hours during the day so that they could venture or retreat as they liked. We discussed calling a bird rescue center and agreed it was for the best.

Then, tragedy struck. Jasper found one of the crows in the middle of the yard and decided to play. I was interrupted from studying by my dad calling into the house that Jasper had killed one of the crows. Megan and I ran from the house to discover that, no, the crow was not dead, just injured. The pup had pulled all of his back feathers out and left him in the middle of the yard. We patched him up as best as we could and Megan drove him to the bird rescue center with the other crow baby for company.

We still haven't heard back from the bird rescue, but we're all hoping for a happy ending. The other baby crow was healthy (minus some tail feathers) so when he gets older, the bird rescue will call us so that we can release him in the same area. We're hoping that we'll be able to release two healthy crows.

Happy Birthday to Megan!

Happy 21st birthday to my curly-haired other half! Congratulations on being legally able to do everything except rent a car (right?).

I'll keep this short and sweet because we're about to leave on a fun adventure today in honor of YOU and we're all really excited to go.

This is the first birthday of yours that we have been able to celebrate together in THREE YEARS! That is a long time. You are such a hardworking and strong person and I am so proud of you and what you have overcome and accomplished over the past year and beyond. You are a spectacular lady who I am overjoyed to call my sister. Plenty of other people wish they had a sister as great as you (obviously). You are what I want to be when I grow up (except I don't want to be an accountant).

I love you so much and I'll be sure to give Mom and Dad an extra hug today for providing me with the cutest baby sister in the world.