The Olympic Peninsula and Victoria, Canada Vacation!

This June we went on our Owen Family Vacation to Discovery Bay, Washington as our home base and ventured out to multiple other places to explore as much of the Olympic Peninsula as possible.  We had a great time and loved spending time with each other and the family!  One of the days we drove out to Port Townsend.  We happened upon this cute little fawn and its mother.  I loved the lighthouse there and the beautiful architecture of the buildings in the area.  

 Another day was spent in Victoria, Canada!  I have dreamed of going there ever since I was a little girl.  We visited the Butterfly Garden and the Butchart Gardens.  It was everything and more than I ever imagined.  It was absolutely breathtaking!  We also got to see the Parliament building and get a picture with a horse and carriage.   On the ferry ride back, Nick thought he spotted a dolphin and as we were watching for it to come back up, it was actually an enormous grey whale!

We also spent a day in Seattle!   We spent time at Pike's Place Market, visited the gum wall, walked through the public library, and went to the top of the tallest building there.  The public library's architecture was extremely fascinating and cool to look at and Nate thought about how crazy it would be to engineer it.  The gum wall is actually quite disgusting but very funny to see.  It is an entire alley way just covered in gum for as high up as people can reach.  The Columbia Center is the second tallest building West of Chicago.  We were able to spend time on the 73rd floor.  It was an awesome view and we had a lot of fun playing "I spy"  while we were up there. 

Of course we had to spend time at the ocean along the Washington coastline.  We hiked along the sand to see a sea arch and some seastacks.  It was our first time seeing seastacks, they are just awe-inspiring. 

 

  We also spent quite a bit of time in Olympic National Park.  We enjoyed crystal clear lakes, gorgeous waterfalls, beautiful green mosses and vegetation, enormous trees, and of course . . . rain!

 We drove through Mt. Ranier National Park!  What an amazing and prominent volcanic mountain.  We even got close enough to play in the snow and get a closer look at the beautiful blue and white glaciers!  There were also many beautiful waterfalls there. 

 Another day was spent driving out to say we had been to the very most northwestern point of the continental US.  It is called Neah Bay and Cape Flattery.  It is on a Native American Reservation of the Makah people.  The Cape was seriously the most picturesque pirate's cove I have ever been to and it was fun to look across the strait and see Canada.

Top 10 Reasons Why I Love Nate

For Valentine's Day I did a count down of the 10 days before Valentine's Day and gave him a note each day that told him my top ten reasons for loving him.  

#10  He is very creative and intelligent.  He is always pondering on something interesting and exciting.
#9 He is very handsome!  When he is cleaned up and in a suit, I still go weak in the knees.
#8  He is willing to show affection and tells me that he loves me several times per day and always makes me smile.

#7 He loves me for who I am.  He is supportive of my ideas and encourages my hobbies.
#6  He is aware of my feelings and willing to listen or talk it out.
#5 He helps me be a better person.  He is forgiving of mistakes and makes me want to improve. 

#4 We have so much in common and agree on the greatest majority of all the most important things in life clear down to smaller insignificant things. 
#3  He is a faithful, active member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and has a strong testimony of Christ and His Gospel. 
#2  He honors his temple covenants and respects me as a woman and as a future mother of his children. 

#1   He is my best friend - the one person that my heart truly and sincerely wants to spend the eternities with. 

Little Cabin in the Big Snowy Field

 Here are a couple views from our little cabin on the clearest day we have had in the last couple of weeks.  The two other views, that I absolutely love from the cabin, are Clarkston Mountain and Cache Valley with the Temple and Old Main at USU. 

Our dogs are SOOOO happy to have space to run and play!  You can see their tromped down area and a couple excursions back to where we plan to build a beautiful home someday. 

For right now, we are living in Logan until we sell our home and we are turning our 400 sq. ft. cabin into a home that will make the best use of the space, so that it will be ready to move in to.  The first 3 pictures are of the cabin when we first got it.  The bathroom was just there in the middle of the bedroom, which Nate and I were not ok with.  :)  The bedroom, with the random wheelbarrow he left for us, and the living room and kitchen with very poor use of space.  But, Nate has great vision and could see what he could do with the place. 

So, the first thing Nate did was knocked out the ceiling in the bedroom and made a vaulted ceiling.  He then built a loft for our bed and made a little storage room underneath the loft that will be able to fit approx. 25  18-gal. totes, along with our filing cabinet and a few other cupboards for other things.  The loft will have a slanted ladder to get up there.  Also, in the loft there will be several cubby areas that are actually above the bathroom. 

 We now actually have an enclosed bathroom.  It's small but will work great!  Nate has been such a handyman and has been able to do the plumbing, electrical, framing, dry-wall, etc.

The kitchen will basically be a hallway kitchen and the funny thing is that we will have the same amount of cabinets or more than our current house.  The idea is to not spend too much on this cabin because it will only be temporary, so ya, the cabinets will be built out of 2 by 4's and plywood.  The living room will be able to have our couch, a nice storage bench, t.v. up on the wall, and of course . . . I know you were worried . . the fish tank!

The reactions to us getting this cabin have been pretty funny.  I know that there are people that think we are crazy, some people are worried about us, others that are upset we are moving, and others that are happy for us.  Ya, it is a little crazy, but that's what is so great about life with Nate because we have huge dreams and crazy ideas to accomplish them and we actually do them.  We will be able to save a huge amount of money living in the little cabin and it will enable us to build our house with much less debt.  We are actually extremely excited to move out there.  I think some people believe that you have to have things and a big house to be happy, granted I will want a bigger house someday, but for now we are and will be happy.  I know many of our ancestors had houses this size or smaller and raised 10 children.  No, we aren't having 10 children.  The theme of this cabin is "sacrifice now for a better future."  I love being married to Nate and the fact that we can support each other's dreams!