Throwback Thursday: October Memories

October is a memory filled transition month of sorts for us - it's the start of fall when the leaves begin to change colors, rainy days become normal and warm winter clothes are unpacked. Boots, sweaters, crunchy leaves, warm socks, everything pumpkin, apple cider and the excitement of the coming holiday season are joyful recurring memories of October. In October we seem to face more challenges and uncertainties, which brings up this "throwback Thursday" post. 

Until I was a sophomore at PLU, October wasn't a memorable month. The never ending rain in Tacoma, lack of sunshine and midterms made me want to skip right to Thanksgiving break and the holiday season (although seeing kids in Halloween costumes was always fun). This October in particular has reminded me of where we've been in previous Octobers and the events which led us to today... 

On Oct 24, 2010, Matt and I started dating (again) with a renewed commitment to keep God as the center of our relationship. Taking that leap from best friends to romance blessed me immensely, much more than I realized at the time. The few weeks preceding the fateful night, Matt and I had gone back and forth about being just friends and how wonderful our friendship was, to the point where I even composed a three page letter of "lifelong friendship" (and nothing more...) at 2am!
Matt still has the letter and we laugh about it often. :)

PLU Homecoming 2010
(aka, the night of our worst fight ever) 

On Oct 20, 2012, Matt proposed over mid-semester break at my house, and I agreed to support and love him through everything life threw at us (aka medical school and loans out the wazoo!) I remember our conversations as we prayed about the future. Would Matt get into medical school, and where would that take us? How could I pursue my dream of becoming a PA? What does a medical marriage look like, and how can we make it an enjoyable experience when everyone says "it will be too difficult," "I'm so sorry for you," and (my favorite) "most marriages end in divorce." Ahh! To say the least, I was freaking out, but also knew that our faith in God and love each other would get us through.   

Engagement photos 2012

In October 2013, we were in our fourth month of marriage and struggling to figure out who we were as a married couple. Matt did the majority of the cooking and constantly studied, while I worked almost full time and finished my pre-reqs for PA programs. Add in my limited social life and BFF Netflix, and soon we were in couples counseling (best decision of the month, btw). I realized I was so focused on being closer to friends and family once we moved to Seattle that I had a hard time being present where God had placed us. It was a rough time, but also strengthened our marriage. We were challenged to openly communicate in the moment and utilize each others' love languages. 

Hiking Moscow Mt 2013
(we had a healthy disagreement that day)

And those October memories bring us to now, October 2014. For me, life is more relaxed. I'm a part-time nanny for three amazing families, which gives me the flexibility to tackle household needs (I'm the chef now!), and be available for hugs/encouraging words when Matt faces the new challenges of medical school year two. Overall, this October is a hundred times better than last year. :) But some things remain the same, with a slight twist. Currently, I'm in the midst of applying for PA programs and having flashbacks to 2012 when Matt applied to medical school. There's an anxiety of self-worth (will I get in? where will we live?) and what our marriage will look like when Matt is gone on clinical rotations for six weeks at a time. We're also working making time to see friends, get plugged in at church, and enjoy Seattle.

Kayaking in Poulsbo 2014

For some reason, October is a transition time for us. It's the time of the year when we dream about the future and plan on what's to come. With dreaming, we also challenge our fears about the future and struggle to focus on making the most of the time we have now. Looking back on past Octobers, I realize now how far we've come and changed along the way. Just like previous Octobers, we continue to encourage one another and put our faith in God that everything will turn out as He wills. I'm excited to see where we'll be in October 2015! 

  

Big Sky Country

In the midst of packing, Matt and I drove to Columbia Falls, Montana, for a couple days of relaxation and friends before our move to Seattle. Once we turned our two-bedroom apartment into a studio, we were ready to explore Montana! 

Our first stop was visiting Joanna and Brian in Whitefish at Two Bear Farms. Jojo and Brian showed us the organic farm they're working on and it looks awesome! Jojo was the one who got Matt and I interested in CSAs (community supported agriculture) but I'll get there later. If you want to learn more about organic farming you should check out her blog Suburbs to Soil. After dinner, Jojo took Matt and I to an amazing ice cream place in downtown Whitefish called Sweet Peaks. If you are ever in the area I highly recommend it! Over the course of 5 days I think we had ice cream there 3 times... :) 

Our next stop was Kalispell and Bigfork Montana to see my twin Becca! You can always tell you're best fiends with someone when you see each other twice a year and it seems like you were together yesterday. :) Becca took us on our first hike near Hungry Horse Dam. Unfortunately, the trail had not been used in a LONG time so we ended up bushwhacking most of it until we lost the trail completely. But we still had a great time exploring the outdoors and picking huckleberries!      

After some quality twin time, Matt and I did more hiking in Bigfork and in Glacier National Park. Montana is beautiful! The entire trip Matt kept telling me, "isn't this beautiful? Don't you want to live here? I think we should live here." 

At Glacier National Park we drove the Going to the Sun Road and did two hikes, Logan Pass and Avalanche Lake. We love Glacier - what a beautiful place to hike and admire God's creation. The weather was perfect for hiking and we enjoyed every second! 

At the beginning of Logan Pass

"We're hiking in the snow?!" 

Mountain goat families were everywhere - so cute!

Unfortunately, we had to stop at the overlook instead of hiking down to the lake due to bear danger. I was really hoping to see a wild grizzly bear... from a distance of course... but that didn't happen. Guess we'll have to go again! 

Avalanche Lake Hike 

It's a tree in a tree! Get it? :) 

The night before we left we squeezed in one last visit with Anthony, which was a great way to end the trip. :) We had a wonderful time exploring Montana's beauty and catching up with good friends. I'm by no means a rustic lady, but I think this trip may have put Montana on the possible list of places to live. 

Goodbye Moscow, Hello Seattle!

Oh Moscow. You've been home for a year and we've had a rough relationship. At first I tried to ignore you, but slowly you unveiled all the wonderful things the Palouse could offer. Now, I find myself sad to leave with a long list of things I wish we had done while living there. Oh well. However, Matt and I do have lots of fond memories of Moscow. It will always be a special place for us because in addition to the friends we made, in many ways, Moscow was home of "the first."

As in, the first...apartment we lived in as a married couple... real job I had post-graduation...place I learned how to drive in the snow (and actually enjoyed the snow!)...year of medical school for Matt...camping experience (read more here)...time we participated in a church plant...etc. 

Until we meet again, thanks for the great memories!

Now on to Seattle... hello Pacific northwest :)

The drive over from Moscow was painful. Brown fields were all you could see for miles (and hours of driving). But when we first caught site of Mt Rainier coming out of Ellensburg, it felt like home. It didn't take much time driving in Seattle to encounter the traffic, terrible drivers and remind myself that without Google maps I would be permanently lost.

Overall, Matt and I are very excited to be closer to my family and our friends from PLU! Not to mention how easy it is to recycle and compost here :) We are happy to be settling into our apartment and slowing exploring the Seattle area. It's nice to be back in the northwest.

1st camping trip!

In the midst of a packing frenzy, Matt and I decided to go for an overnight camping trip to get away from all the moving stress. We loaded the car, packed some food and off we went to Elk River, ID! As we've recently discovered, adventures are much more memorable when things don't go according to plan. For example, we misread the cost of the camping site and ended up having to drive back to town to get cash for the night. Of course, the uber small town closed early on Sundays so we scrambled to find a place that was open to get cash. But then we found out that the campground we were at was actually more of an RV camping park, so soft dirt for legitimate camping was non-existent. Thankfully, we brought sleeping pads so it wasn't too bad. We realized the next morning as we drove to hike around some waterfalls in Elk Creek Reservoir that the actual camping site we looked up was two minutes down the road. Whoops! 

Despite the set-backs and the unnecessary long-bumpy-dirt-forest-road we drove to the waterfall, the trip was a perfect break from packing. :) We even had the opportunity to use our awesome REI picnic backpack we received as a wedding gift to have a classy picnic dinner. Hopefully, we'll go camping again before Matt starts school. 

Silly pictures before bed

low falls

middle falls

high fall

Myrtle Beach: Part II

Vacations always seem to fly by! It’s hard to believe we are already back home in Moscow. The last week of vacation had a few hiccups but was overall another great family vacation. J  Despite Hurricane Arthur’s attempts, Kyle landed safely in Myrtle Beach and our family was complete!

We enjoyed quality time swimming in the pool, playing oodles of card games (Hearts and Up & Down the River), putt-putt golf, bowling, walks on the beach, and some time with my mom’s family. Mom’s oldest brother Bill, and his family flew into Myrtle Beach as well so we had a mini Raymond reunion (minus cousin Katie, Kate, and Grandma). The Raymond family is a little crazy; things got pretty wild for a bit as mom tried to help Sophie fight uncle Bill. Luckily, Charlie’s pirates came to the rescue!

It was great to see my aunts, uncles and cousins! Having relatives all over the country stinks because we rarely get to see everyone with our different schedules. I was blessed to see everyone this week and that Matt could get to know my family some more.

One of the highlights of the trip was Myrtle Beach is quite the tourist town and it claims to be the Miniature Golf Capital of the World. Consequently, there are tons of themed mini golf places. My family takes putt-putt golf very seriously and this year we decided to have a 36-hole tournament to declare the champion – complete with photo. Unbelievably, mom was the winner! Usually Dad wins the games so we were all confused! Food for thought: mom kept score for the games… hmm.

[Matt: Let it be known that although this one was a loss for everyone except momma, our final 36 goals of Myrtle Beach were won by none other than myself!]

I think we may have a new Dougherty family tradition! Can’t wait for the next vacation.

Now that I’m officially out of the house, family vacations mean much more to me. Over the past year, I’ve definitely had a difficult time not seeing my family as often as I’d like, so this was the first time we’d all been together for a good chunk of time since Christmas. Myrtle beach is a special place for my family – it holds many memories of family vacations over the year. I think we’ve been going to SC every-other-year since I was 4, and I love it! It was fun to share my memories with Matt and to immerse him in my crazy family.

1 Year Anniversary

I cannot believe how fast the time has gone by. One year ago I was walking down the aisle to say "I do" to the man I'll spend forever with. I remember being optimistic about our future and feeling grateful for how many friends and family came to Salem to celebrate with us. We new our first year would be difficult, but there were never any doubts that we'd make it through together. :)   

I couldn't resist reposting some of my favorite photos! 

Now here we are, 1 year, 5 days later and we've made it through our first year of challenges: medical school, living away from family and friends, new jobs, and small town living, to name a few. I think our first anniversary is particularly special because through some unexpected events, I was reminded where our focus should be - on each other. 

I mean, of course we should focus on each other, we're celebrating our marriage! But I like to plan special events and let's just say our first anniversary did not go according to plan...

1. Matt went to urgent care on July 5th, tested positive for strep throat and had a mild swimmer's ear infection. Even on antibiotics, we could not kiss on our anniversary (which is really hard!)  
2. Given our close relationship.. I might have strep throat. (Thankfully, I did not!)
3. I forgot Matt's anniversary card - wife fail. 
4. Wedding cake was a wee bit more expensive then I imagined to ship, so no cake. (Matt was happy about this one, but I was bummed) 

Despite the few hiccups we made the most of our anniversary. :) I can't complain too much since we were with family on the beach... We even started a new tradition of replicating one of our favorite wedding photos every year. 

And thanks to grandma, we substituted our wedding cake with delicious handmade chocolate eclairs from a local bakery!