I know, I know. I'm a horrible updater, but here i am..... I get here eventually. Hello! How is everyone? Things are going well here in the Pacific Northwest. The mountain has been busy lately with visitors during our peak season. I stay busy mostly with work almost 10 hours a day.... with the rest of my time being spent mostly hanging out and sleeping. The non-work highlights include a trip up to Camp Muir (pictures on the webshots site) at 10,000 feet with my friend Jamie. Its a 4 mile hike with a 4,000 foot increase, most of which happens on Muir snowfield, a 2 mile long hike up nothing but snow snow snow at about a 30 degree angle. Wonderful view though and a whole lot of fun to slide down. We would get a running start and try to slide down the slope on our feet as long as we could. Most of the time this meant Annie falls face first into the snow and somehow ends with me on my back sliding down backwards. I took a camping trip to Mt. St. Helens two weeks ago but wasn't feeling up to par and had to pack up the tent early to head back home. Unfortunatly, I've been spending the past week with stuffed sinuses and a constant headache. But, each day I feel a little bit better. Especially now that I have a visitor! My mom flew into SeaTac airport on Tuesday and I got to spend the day with her and my wonderful family in Seattle. We ate lunch at P.F. Changs and spent the day shopping with my cousin Lauren and then signed myself up for a membership at REI and bought some essentials with Uncle John before heading back to the mountain just mom and I. We played the tourist role on wednesday and checked out the visitor center and some waterfalls off Paradise road before eating dinner at my restaurant in the Inn. She will join me again tomorrow and we will spend the next 3 days traveling to Sunrise on the Northwest side of the park and then doing the Van Trump trail and Skyline back here. I wish we had the entire week together but we will be making the most out of the time we do have.

My parents also celebrated their 25th Anniversary a couple weeks ago in Chicago. Congratulations to them and heres to 25 more!

Well, Work time and the audit is looming. It's getting to be the time when some people are getting ready to leave. The first being this week. Time for the kiddies to go back to school. I however still have 2.5 months left and am figuring out what my next move is. The plan so far is a road trip down the west coast into SanDiego and Tiajuana, then into Arizona, and back to Michigan to spend a few weeks with the family and friends for Christmas. Starting the first of the year, I will hopefully have a place in Seattle and a "real"?? job? But who knows.... I still have some time to figure stuff out.

Hope everything is going well with everyone as September quickly approaches. Sigh. Time does fly. Keep in touch and take care! Much love to everyone.
-Annie