here it comes...

It's that time again! SNOW! We are into our ninth month her at Hume (can't believe it!) and the winter is upon us once more. We are sad to leave the crazy warm days of summer and the beautiful colors of fall behind us, but couldn't be more excited for the upcoming winter fun. The holidays and family trips, cozy game and movie nights, and most of all snowboard season!

Our pockets are definitely a bit lighter after outfitting both of us with brand new gear and season passes to Northstar and Heavenly at Lake Tahoe, but we couldn't be more pumped about it!

Hume is also gearing up for winter. Battening down the hatches and getting the snow activities ready. Aaron is having fun helping with the improvements they are making to the snowboard run. The only thing he's not too stoked about is plowing snow for the next 5 or 6 months...

Looking out the kitchen window after the first snow!

Since the last time I updated...we moved! To a much bigger house...well, trailer. ha.

It's double the size of our last one. 2 bedrooms, big kitchen, yard! We are loving the space and being able to actually have people come stay with us comfortably.

Here's a couple pics of the inside....

God just continues to to bless us here at Hume. He is so good. We are so thankful for all the adventures and new friends He's placed in our life and can't wait to experience what else He has in store for us...

Love to you all!

Katie and Aaron

it's officially the heat of summer and I officially...

...fail at blogging. Sorry, but what can I say, I did warn you.

So far summer has been one big whirlwind of kids, sunshine, screaming, laughter, friends, hard work, and fun. I'm having a difficult time trying to soak it all in. We are cranking through week 7 out of 10 weeks of camp and I can't fathom how we've reaching this point so quickly. It feels like we just finished orientation. It's been enlightening, exhausting, and downright incredible seeing 2000 kids a week experience the time of their lives! It is quite evident that this place and the amazing staff that work here have this summer camp thing down. I have been so blessed with an incredible group of 5 summer staff girls that are kicking butt in the pantry. As a team we crank out enough fruit, salads, sandwiches, grated cheese and ranch dressing to feed up to 1500 people 3 times a day. One of my favorite quotes has got be from one of my girls, Shannon, "Katie! I calculated today that I've grated 150 lbs. of cheese this week! That's more than I weigh!"

I'm so proud of them and have been so impressed by their willingness to work hard without complaint and their commitment to being a light for Christ, even though most of our work is done behind the scenes and it can often feel like we aren't making a direct impact in kid's lives. We all remind each other that this staff and this camp functions as one body and we all need each other to run and be able accommodate and minister to the thousands of youth and adults that visit Hume every week.

Aaron's job is going well, and with the passing time he keeps getting better accustomed to the grounds, learning what his role is, assuming more and more responsibilities and gaining the respect of his coworkers and managers. He has also begun training with our Hume Lake fire department. Within a couple years he will have enough experience and training to become a full fledged California firefighter as well as an EMT. All financed by Hume, as long as he volunteers his time! Which is definitely not a problem because he absolutely loves it!

Our house in continuing to improve, it has a fresh coat of paint (cream with a grayish taupe trim) and our deck is stained in a rich red/brown and looks fantastic. We've gotten a barbecue to enjoy summer grilling outside and dinners on the deck. But our most exciting acquisition has to be our mini-motorcycles we picked up a month back. Aaron had been searching on craigslist since a couple of our friends up here had bought some and put the idea in his head. He found a pair in great condition in LA county and called up the guy to tell him we'd be there with the money in the morning! We bolted down the mountain after getting off work on a Friday and picked them up the next morning. They are the greatest thing since sliced bread and perfect for putting around camp. We ride them to work just about every morning! They're Honda Mini-Trail 70's named Chuck and Cindy and they are our babies. (=

We got to visit San Diego this past weekend to attend a wedding and see our greatly missed family and friends. It was a great time...but we are homesick for you all already! Please hurry and plan your next visit to Hume!

Here's a little picture sampling from our summer so far! Enjoy!

Love, Katie & Aaron

Our family portrait.

Gonna miss Nikki when she moves to Colorado, but so excited for her to start this new chapter as a teacher! We love you lots!

Love and miss my Allers!

My new baby cousin, Emma Jane! 1st Born to my cousin Lisa and her hubby Garrett!

Josh came to stay with us right after arriving home from China!

CHUCK!

Cindy on the left and Chuck on the right!

We have seen some incredible things and can't wait to explore and find even more...

The Thursby's visit!

it's curtains for you pal...

I made them. All by myself!!!!

(=

Hike with friends!

Yesterday was an eyeopening day for Aaron and I. We realized we have yet to scratch the surface of exploring the beauty, wonder, and downright SPECTACULARNESS of this place we call home. Some friends of ours suggested we plan a day to go on a hike to Mist Falls. It's a about an hour drive from Hume and a 9 mile hike. The weather forecast was looking kind of bleak for the weekend but when we woke up yesterday and it was only a 30% chance of rain/snow we decided we'd take our chances.

First of all, the drive is just incredible! You drive into the deepest canyon in North America, yes deeper than the Grand Canyon! It stretches 8000 feet from bottom to top in some places. The Sequoia National Forest is also home to the tallest mountain in the contiguous 48 states, Mt.Whitney, standing at 14,494 feet. Within the King's Canyon National Park the canyon is wide and flat on the bottom and covered with forests, meadows, and cut through by the King's River. Which is rushing with full force right now because of the heavy winter and all the snow melt. The sides of the canyon are absolutely stunning. Sheer, granite cliffs, towering over you. This is where we began our hike! It was just beautiful!

It started out not too cold and partly cloudy, but as we neared the falls it began to snow and the clouds rolled in! By the time we reached Mist Falls we were all pretty cold and the freezing mist spraying off the raging falls was not very pleasant on an already frozen face. It was an amazing sight though! Luckily our friend Nathan came prepared with a portable stove and hot chocolate! It may have been the best cup of hot chocolate I've ever tasted. So we found a dry spot and ate our PB&J's and enjoyed something hot to drink before booking it back to the car.

It was a great hike and incredible to see the roaring river and waterfall! And the snow surely made it memorable! We're thinking the next time we will go towards the end of summer when it's warm and you can jump in the water!

When we got home we had our hiking buddies over for a some chill time. Cranked up the fireplace, heated up some lasagna, threw on our sweats and watched a couple episodes of Fringe...some well deserved relax time! Great day guys!

our productive mini weekend getaway

I had the early shift this past Saturday, 4am snack for the fisherman's conference! so I was able to get off by 1pm and didn't have to work Sunday, so we decided to borrow a Hume longbed pickup truck and head out on a furniture hunt/mini date weekend. And NO MATTER WHAT, we were going to return home with a couch in tow! I decided on one I liked, but unfortunately the nearest Ikea to us is either Burbank or Palo Alto. They are about the same distance apart, like 4 hours, so we weighed the two options and decided it would be a lot more fun to visit the beautiful bay area than ugly LA. My sweet husband booked a 4 star hotel in San Jose for the night so we checked in and freshened up, then headed over to Ikealand. We tried out the couch, did a once around the store, made a shopping list for the next day, then went out for a nice dinner. There were also a couple of the exact sofa I wanted listed on craigslist in SF, but unfortunately didn't get to them in time. =(

Sunday morning we got up early and drove into downtown San Francisco. It was an absolutely lovely day for exploring. Clear, sunny, warm. We knew we only had a short time to enjoy sightseeing, so we took care of the musts. Clam chowder in a bread bowl on Fisherman's Warf. MMMmm. Drove over the Golden Gate. (which costs more than the bread bowl by the way, 6 bucks!) We also by chance happened to be there on the day Escape from alcatraz triathlon was ending. Super exciting. We got to watch the some of the athletes cruising in at the finish.

It was fun getting to explore a little bit and see some sights, but then we had to get back to business! The next few hours were spent navigating ikea for everything we needed. Man, that place is nuts on the weekends...the sound of screaming children and the smell of Swedish meatballs just make the experience complete. But we got pretty much everything we were looking for, success! The couch, a bedframe (which I just realized we missed a piece of, so it's sitting half assembled in our bedroom. sucky. we slept in the living room last night...), a storage unit for the laundry room, shelving for above the washer and dryer, a floor lamp, throw pillows, candles, closet storage for Aaron, and a coat rack! Whew!

There was a game that afternoon, wish we could've had time to go...

Bay Bridge

The famous Pier 39

YUM. Even at 10 in the morning.

I have no idea what this place is, but it's huge and looks like it belongs in Europe.

It really is quite a sight...

don't laugh at my lack of photo editing skills. i'm just trying to make these more interesting...

We did navigate Lombard Street, which was slightly precarious in our big truck...

CHINATOWN

My only thought is, why come to America if you're just going to build China over again and only live and hang out with Chinese? besides escaping communist oppression that is...

NOW FOR HOUSE PICTURES!!! It really looks like a home now! We love it!

We moved the table to where the tv was, fits so well! Now we can have dinner guests!

New lamp!

And here she is! Yes yes, I know what you're thinking. White?? Are they crazy? But I've got two words for you. WASHABLE COVERS! oh, and another word...BLEACH! I just love the look of a white sofa. It's so fresh and plushy looking. (= Don't you want to come and visit so you can sleep on this!!

OH! and I'd like to mention how amazing and thoughtful my husband is. He surprised me the other day with something I've had my eye on, but only casually mentioned to him once. A sewing machine! He's the best...

Stay tuned for my adventures in trying to learn how to sew...should be interesting...I'm going to start out with something easy, like curtains. (= And I'm also gonna try and sew some pillowcases for all those throw pillows we got for the sofa!

Another example of how nice my honey is...making me chocolate chip pancakes one morning. (=

Well that was alot of pictures. That should hold for awhile...until next time! Love you guys and miss you!