Bon Voyage, Hartanovs!

My sister and her husband, Travis, left the country on Tuesday morning for Uganda. They will be living there for six months. Ugh. Of course I am really excited for them:). It'll be an sweet adventure and they'll be making an awesome impact on lives there. I am just really really sad. I have been spoiled this summer by living so close and seeing her nearly every day.

If you want to follow their adventures, their blog is: travisandleah.blogspot.com. They don't have much up right now. In fact, we haven't heard if they are alive & well on the continent of Africa yet. Hopefully they'll update soon:).

Here are a few pics of Leah I took before they left. She decided to go for a new short haircut since she's not sure about the shampoo/shower situation. I love it!

Triathletes

Er...not entirely, but kind of:).

My sister and I competed in our first ever mini triathlon this weekend! What started as a random Rockwood Bakery idea while reading the Inlander's list of races this summer turned into a full-fledged weekend of real sweat, tears (only of joy, thankfully) and great memories.

No world records were broken, but my sister did win third place in her age group, thus winning this sentimental gift of recognition: a specially engraved wine glass. She plans on bringing it with her to Uganda since she leaves next week. I, sadly, did not receive any special awards for my effort, although Leah and I did finish together. Her age bracket wasn't quite as competitive as mine. Grrrr.I am now a huge fan of mini triathlons. I'm seriously considering making this a yearly event - whether the Wenatchee Apple Triathlon or any other in the Northwest. Anyone that wants to join in the future, just let me know! It was so much fun to train all summer towards a goal and then do something so entirely different than I've ever done before.

Here are a couple pics of our day...
We were pretty much the only ones without wet suits, but the water wasn't too bad. We also got to wear some nice yellow swim caps. I felt like a real racer chick. This was my sad attempt to capture both of us with our bikes (using the self-timer on the top of the Forester). It gives you a glimpse of the scenery surrounding the event. Again, all those of you on the edge should now consider doing a sprint triathlon. Just think about it:)...

At Last!

At last...I am posting again. Yes, it has been a long time coming. No, I don't really have a good excuse regarding my long hiatus. Mostly I've just been lazy, but we can call it an "adjustment period".

At last...my husband is an employed man making a pay check! I am no longer the sole bread-winner in our family. Yes, it's true. He got paid for the first time a few weeks ago. We thought briefly about framing it instead of cashing it, but of course we need it too much:). Instead I decided to take a few pics of Jonathan posing with his first official paycheck. I guess it is the normal progression: go to school forever, get a job, get paid. It just seemed SO FAR away at many points during this journey. I can't believe he's actually "arrived". AND, he likes his job. That's the best part. He loves the variety of patients he sees & all the great people he works with. Yeah for job satisfaction + paychecks:)!
At last...I have a teaching job! Yahoo!!! I will be teaching 6th grade at an elementary school in a really cute part of town, adjacent to one of our favorite parks. I am very excited, even though the thought of teaching 6th graders is slightly terrifying at the present moment:). It'll be a good challenge, though. There's definitely potential for madness, but also potential to make a big impact on lives with the older kids. I am practicing my mean face and mentally preparing myself for the challenge:).

Here are a few things we've been up to lately...
*Spending time w/ family at Priest Lake (a week w/ the Vaughn nine & a long weekend camping with the Hooks, a weekend up there with Carly & Neal and the boys + numerous other misc. time at my favorite place on earth)
*Running, biking and swimming about every day with my sister as we train for our mini-triathlon (http://www.triwenatchee.net/) I will definitely post after our race. It's next weekend and we are so excited! I've never been to Wenatchee & neither of us have done anything like it, so we'll see how it goes...(this picture documents a first: all four Vaughn children going on a run together!)
*Reading lots of books, including many at the sixth grade level in preparation for this coming school year.
*Catching up with friends in the area w/ lots of dinner dates & time hanging out.
*Enjoying a visit from my good friend, Andrea. I have to document this one because it was so entirely random. On a rainy day after coming back from the lake, we decided to do what any normal twenty-five year olds would do. We decided to make skirts. Wow. Eight hours after our start time, we came out with these original masterpieces. (sidenote: Andrea paid $8/yard and I paid $1/yard - not sure I'll go for the shimmery look next time around)
All in all it has been a great few months. It hasn't been an entirely easy transition. We are so blessed to be living with Jonathan's parents, although we are dying to be in a house soon. We are saving like crazy to meet our down-payment goal and hopefully we'll be able to make an offer on a home by early this fall. We are just so ready to settle into life here, and we're currently extending our "out of boxes" stage to almost a year. Whew! We know the Lord's timing is perfect, so we're very much resting in his arms. Love to you from the Hooks!