Mom & Dad!

We were fortunate enough to have mom and dad come and visit us this weekend. They drove up all day Wednesday and stayed until this morning (Monday) before heading back home. It’s been about 8 months since we’ve had visitors so we were really excited to have them come. We kept them pretty busy while they were here. We’d made a huge list of things to do and places to go and see and we got through almost the entire list! Some highlights were the White Pine Scenic Byway up to Coeur d’Alene where we took a beautiful hike overlooking the lake, we also went to lots of thrift stores (of course) and visited Spokane where the river was so full and fast that it was crashing around and sending spray that soaked us pretty good. It is very green and pretty here right now and all of our drives were so beautiful! Dad and I hit up the driving range, played tennis and took a 20-mile bike ride and Angie and Mom enjoyed the farmer’s market, buying and preparing lots of raw foods dishes and doing lots of chatting. It was a great weekend and it was sad to say good-bye, but they’ve got lots of kids and grandkids to see this summer and are on their way this week to southern Utah to spend time with the Ures. Thanks mom and dad for the visit, we love you!

To My Bro-ha, 'Shwa

Here’s to one of the most awesome guys I know. It’s my brother Josh’s birthday tomorrow and I wanted to take the opportunity to share with the world some of his finer qualities that I admire most.

Josh is a super hard worker. He bit the bullet and started his own company last year in what was probably the riskiest time for new businesses in 20 years, but Josh is the kind of person who was going to make it work no matter what and he worked his tail off last summer doing everything he could to making sure Great Basin Asphalt would be around the next year. He put me to work last summer when things were really shaky at my job and for that Angie and I are extremely grateful. I got to spend a lot of time with Josh last year and we created a lot of great memories and experiences that I’m sure we’ll be laughing about for years. For example, finding out what one spends most of one’s time doing while in the state of Minnesota. He really became one of my best friends.

Josh is also an awesome father and family man. He and Deena have the coolest kids I know and they’re a good example to me of how to raise a family.

Josh likes really good music. And I don’t say that about a lot of people. I’m really picky about the music I listen to and my brothers are the only 2 people in the world whose musical opinions I value even a little bit. Josh, thanks for Charlie Daniels, Clutch, Def Leppard and so many others.

Josh is one of those people who is automatically your friend the moment you meet him. He has such a good report with people and that is something I wish I had more of an aptitude for. Josh is the kind of person you want at your party or social gathering because things are just more fun when he’s around.

Some other quick things: He's good at nintendo and the guitar, he's got a sweet truck, he can grow a beard that would put Brigham Young to shame, he tells good stories and make's good sound effects, he knows lots about computers, he's read everything, he's always surprising me with his knowledge of history, and he swallows his toothpaste after brushing (that's hardcore!)

So Happy Birthday, Josh!! Thanks for being who you are and for being a rad yon-brother-ah!

-Chubba-lubba

Eugene

Angie and I took advantage of a long weekend to visit Henry and Charlotte in Eugene, OR. Jake and Annie were there too, so it worked out just great! We drove 8+ hours across Washington and along the Columbia River to Portland then down a quick couple hours to Eugene. It was a nice drive with lots of scenery and we even saw a wolf! Neither Angie or I have ever seen one in the wild and it was quite the experience. Unfortunately we didn't get a picture, so you'll just have to believe us.

It was great to finally meet our new nephew and niece! They were on their best behavior and aside from some flatulence problems, they were a complete gentleman and lady. We had lots of fun just lounging around and hanging out with Jake and Annie, we missed them the last time they came to visit family in Salt Lake, since we had just barely moved to Idaho. We went to some thrift stores (a first for the kids) and Jacob led us on an expedition to find the Further Bus (Ken Kesey's psychedelic painted school bus), which had been sitting on a farm in a field visible from the road, until probably just before we got there. It was a very pleasant drive though.

On the drive home we stopped at Multnomah Falls. It was pretty impressive (see pics below).




And Moby too!

DJ Daniel James

So I finally get to fulfill one of my life-long dreams, that of being a radio DJ! The opportunity arose last November as I was speaking with a friend’s wife who had her own radio show on the Washington State University radio station. She said she just applied and was given a time slot and that she’s sure the University of Idaho has something similar. I looked into it and they do, KUOI is the University’s radio station and they just happened to be accepting applications for volunteers to host radio shows throughout the day. I applied, and they gave me a show!

Now, I had always wanted to be a DJ and thought that would be the best job in the world, but I hated the thought of having to play music I didn’t like. The great thing about KUOI is it’s public radio and apart from a few public service announcements and the weather, it’s 100% Dan’s music. It’s totally up to me and I can play whatever I want (so long as it’s appropriate). It’s like I’ve died and gone to heaven.

My show is from Noon to 2:30 every Wednesday and I call it “Long Strange Trip”, the show is dedicated to underappreciated folk/rock of the 60s and 70s. My first full show was yesterday and it went pretty darn well. Anyone interested can follow this link to stream KUOI live

http://kuoi.org:8000/kuoi.m3u

Tune in next week!

Spokane

Last week Angie and I decided to spend the weekend in Spokane. So we did! There was a lot we’ve heard about to do there and we wanted to go to the temple anyways, so off we went. Spokane is the second largest city in Washington and is known as the Inland Empire, home to about 500,000 residents and a pleasant 90-minute drive away. Our area’s temple is on the south end of town in a really pretty pine-forested area. We got to see it, but were bummed to find out it was closed for cleaning (also, we later found out that you have to schedule appointments if you want to do temple work. Now we know). We spent the morning downtown at this great riverfront park where they had some really cool things like a giant red wagon that was a slide. The park itself was right downtown and really pretty. I guess they’d had the World’s Fair there in the 70’s so they had all this cool stuff then. Within walking distance, the Spokane River runs over some falls that were really cool to watch. We drove north of town to this cat zoo were they take care of all kinds of big cats that people owned privately or found locally and gave to the facility to care for. They had Tigers from circus shows and private owners (Washington’s pet laws are pretty loose), a male lion, some jaguars, a couple cougars that were causing problems in local neighborhoods, and even a black bear. It was really cool, plus they had this tiger statue that you could climb on, so I got to fulfill every kids fantasy of riding a fierce battle cat like heman. From there we drove to Green Bluff, which is an agricultural area consisting of about 30 farms and every weekend is like this huge fair where each of the farms have all these events and vendors and fruit picking, amazing cider, shooting pumpkins from cannons, corn/hedge mazes, live music and just all kinds of stuff. There were thousands of cars all along the little country road that cuts through to all of the farms. It was really cool. On our way back we stopped in town to eat at a little burger place that was shaped like a milk can. Angie loved it. It was a fun weekend and we feel like we know Spokane a little better now.

Dangie and Granet

We had the honor of hosting Angie's parents this last weekend. Gregg and Janet were excellent company and we were thrilled that they would take the time to travel up and visit us. We took them to see all the sites we knew about (or could find out about from friends) and managed to make it a memorable and enjoyable weekend. We visited Elk Creek to look at the falls there and I loved walking through the forest, it was my favorite part of the weekend, the falls were cool too. We drove through the scablands of Washington to the Palouse falls and it was really impressive. The falls run down into a gorge that was really amazing. The falls themselves are 180ft! wow! Thanks, Granet for the visit, we loved having you guys!




On Labor Day Angie and I took the White Pine Scenic byway up to Coeur D'Alene and it was sooooo amazing! I've never seen more pine trees and the lake was incredible, it's so pretty and HUGE! we followed the lake for 20 miles weaving in and out of hidden little bays and just pine trees everywhere. We stopped in a fun little resort town right on the lake called Harrison and ate lunch and were obliged to dessert at one of the several ice-cream parlors. Coeur D'Alene itself is a beautiful city and we enjoyed driving around and getting acquainted with it. We had previously researched thrift stores in CD'A and mapped them out, we found that there are seriously 6 or 7 thrift stores literally within 3 or 4 blocks of each other! They were almost all closed because of the holiday, but we know right where to go next time! It was a pleasant 90 min drive home on the highway.

Moscow!

Wheeew! Well, we’re all moved in and it’s time to update the ol’ blog…
Angie and I sure appreciated mom and dad’s help moving up here and also the Nygards for the use of their trailer. It was 13 hours of driving with a full trailer through the mountain passes of eastern Idaho and western Montana, but we made it to our new home in Moscow, ID. Mom and Dad stayed for the weekend and we had lots of fun exploring our new city and spending time with them. We had fun one night playing with the wii and creating characters for everybody. Dad's was the best by far, we all got a really good kick out of his. When the time came It was hard to let them go. Now we're looking forward to Angie's parents who will be visiting us this next weekend!

Angie and I have really enjoyed it here so far. Moscow is a really cool city. Everything is really close and we love our neighborhood. There are so many little roads to explore and really great unique houses. Oh, and Moscow is the best city ever for yard sales! We've only been here for 2 Saturdays, but they've been the best 2 Saturdays of yard sales ever. There are great bike trails and campus is easy to bike to. Last week we went to the Lentil festival at the Washington State University campus in Pullman and today we drove to Troy for the Augustofest, also there was Hogfest here in Moscow today. Between the two universities there is always something fun going on, that’s cool.

I am slowly getting my bearing returning to school. For those of you who may not know, I am pursuing a Masters in Bioregional Planning from the University of Idaho. I like graduate school so far. The same people are in all of my classes and I work with them too in the lab. I have an assistantship with a professor of landscape architecture who is really nice and it keeps me busy reading articles and things. Between school and work I’ve read more this last week than any week in my life for sure and I’m still behind in my readings. Kind of stressful, but at least I stay busy.

Angie has been looking for work and has an interview Tuesday to teach at a preschool in Pullman. Wish her luck! We met most of our married student ward last night at a social. They’re almost all law students, but they seem nice.