happy birthday, pops!

yes, my father was born 3 days after my mother (although she will be quick to tell you that he is 5 years older).  so, happy birthday, dad! and so goes the embarrassing list of reasons why my pops is so great:

1. he is the most sincere person i have ever met in my life. for reals.  i did not pick up my sarcastic nature from him. 
2. i procured my love of genealogy from him. to his delight, from a very young age, i would always ask stories of his family and his parents family. what it was like for him to grow up. so we have him to thank for my ability to bore people to tears with genealogy.
3. loyalty. it's big with him. if my dad was ever your friend, or if you were ever kind to him, you will be forever spoken highly of. my dad knows way more "real good guys" than i thought was possible. he will also not hesitate to tell you to look these people up and go and visit them if you are in the near vicinity. no, it doesn't matter if you yourself haven't met them.
4. thirsty? not an alcoholic? my dad is your man. he has been brewing his own beer for over 30 years. and he is really good at it. this isn't me just bragging about my dad. it has been taste tested by many beer lovers and all agree.
5. like meat? (who doesn't, right?) my pops has converted an old 1950's refrigerator into a smoker. he has been smoking meats, eggs, cheese, and probably more for quite some time. this combined with his mad gardening skills, and brewing talents would make him set in case there was some sort of disaster that kills walmart.
6. my dad most patiently taught me how to ride a bike, drive a car, and to drive a manual truck. not an easy task (any of them). although my dad is quiet short in patience regarding any sort of line, traffic situation, or venue that has more than 6 people; he never once yelled at me while i grind-ed gears shifting on dirt roads.
7. along with my mother, my dad is one of the hardest working people i know. he was always up at the crack of dawn heading out to work, and would return in the evening covered in grease and dirt (oilfield mechanic). he worked outside no matter the temperature or weather doing physical work. all for his family.

thanks, dad. happy birthday!

happy birthday, mama!

in an attempt to wish my mama a happy birthday, i wanted to share with you some of the reasons my mama is so special:

1. she is not shy about expressing herself. seriously. if my mom is mad at you, you will know about it. she is not passive aggressive. I've seen her throw salads, tell off the cable man, slam doors, not to mention the stories she tells about herself in her "younger days". on the same note, she also tells me how much she loves me, how proud she is of me, and how perfect I am (yes, she really thinks this) oh, about six or seven times before we get off of Skype. and hugs, she is not scared of hugging you to death.

2. growing up, she was always fond of games. my momma and me played many games all the time together. cribbage. scrabble. gin rummy. she was the only one who liked games as much as me.

3. the woman can cook. we might not have been the richest family in bogue, but you would never have guessed it by the quality and flavor of the foods we ate. she is the reason I shrivel my nose when I hear what other people grew up eating.

4. she is a tough lady. monday - friday my mom was always up before dawn. getting ready for work, getting us ready for school. sometimes she worked on the weekends. most of the time she held at least 2 jobs at any given time. she is what my dad would call a "tough broad".

5. clean freak. the house was vacuumed every day. dusted once a week. a load of laundry was ran every day. everyone showered once a day (it didn't matter if you "didn't do anything" that day). to this day, i can't relax after dinner until the dishes are done. she might have given me a complex.

6. one time when a boy broke up with me, she bought me a magazine/book totally devoted to prince william.

7. when i moved in with aaron after 5 years of dating, she asked me how i would keep my virginity. bless her heart.

happy birthday, mom!

caitlin rosemary wech

my beautiful new niece is the best update yet. as she is brand new, pictures will be forthcoming.

caitlin rosemary wech
3 September 2011 at 3:00pm
7lbs 8 oz.


it's amazing how this sweet little girl has tamed the wech men (at least while she is in their presence).

i'm very happy for the whole family, and for us to. i never get tired of being an aunt. so far, it's the best job i've ever had.

aunt barbie's first month at the library

being a working girl means less time for blogging. at least, that is what i will blame it on.

so far, i've been at my new job for about a month. probably my favorite part is the variety.  on any given day i'll be able to sort, shelve, work the circulation desk, search for lost books, and email patrons. even my hours are slightly different each day, which means i get to enjoy a few lazy mornings, and and a few late afternoons, etc . one thing that is different is the atmosphere. the uwb library was fairly quiet (at least in comparison). i was probably the loudest part of the office that i shared at uwb. of course, this library is much bigger, so one would expect more people and therefore more noise. but also in the office, where i spend the majority of my time, it is much louder. which isn't necessarily bad or good...just different. i really enjoy the people i work with too, and i've already found at least 2 new knitting buddies.

on the family front, i am finally allowed to announce that i'm going to become an aunt (again)! this time i'm proud to say that my brother (aaron's technically, but i love to claim him as mine too), justin and my soul sister, angie, are expecting a sweet little girl in september. i couldn't be more excited about this. being an aunt is the greatest job in the world. they will be terrific parents and i'm thrilled for them.

on the aunt front, i've been lucky lately to see my nephew, kainen, on skype when i talk to my parents. this morning, he made my day when i saw him run up to the computer when he heard my voice and say "bah bie! bah bie!" we talk, make silly faces, he shows me his cars, etc. today i showed him my pumpkin (he likes it as much as i do). the day i finally go home to visit i think he is going to be so confused, and wonder how i got out of the computer.

kainen (age 1), my brother, larry, and me [october 2009]

family visit!

march 18th, justin & angie, traveled half way around the world to visit us. we camped, we sang, we visited the south island, we talked, we played, we cooked. we drank. for the highlight reel, including pictures, visit wech & barbs go south. i had every intention of reposting the entire, 3 part blog series here. but it was too much work. go visit the site and come back here.

you back?

can you believe i get to be an aunt again? I'm so excited about sprout's september arrival. i can hardly stand it.

in other aunt news, a few weeks ago, i began talking with my nephew via skype. i had gotten into the habit of calling home a bit more frequently than usual (due to unemployment, and skype makes it more fun to see each other). i have been rewarded with getting to see my nephew, kainen, when my mom watches him. he is so hysterical. and cute. not to mention, watching my parents being terrific grandparents is also a highlight.

aaron wech, phd

i am happy and proud to announce that on monday, july 19th aaron successfully defended and earned his phd in earth and space science (seismology, specifically). he gave a 45 minute talk followed by a short q & a by the audience, then he was grilled by his selection committee for another hour. he is mighty humble about it, but i am not. i'm pretty close to stopping strangers in the streets just to tell them about my awesomely smart boyfriend. i know he gives the impression that he plays a lot harder than he works, but this is proof that he puts in a lot of hours "doing science" as well. its a side of him that is sometimes hidden.  to celebrate his adviser held a nice bbq at his house. it was nice to be able to finally meet some of the faculty that i hear so much about and to see a few much loved, but rarely seen faces. 

congratulations, aaron. i love you and i am awfully proud.

kansas and new zealand update

oh where to start...last weekend aaron and i went back kansas. our mission was two fold.

1. 10 year high school reunion

2. see my family one last time before we head off for new zealand

going back to kansas brings up a weird combination of emotions in me (happy/sad/reminiscent/longing).  but, all in all, it was a great trip. seeing faces from high school (14 out of 36) was wonderful. i don't have much in common with many of my classmates anymore, but it was great to catch up and see where they are in life. everyone seems to be happy, which is terrific. my family is also doing well. nothing too new on the family front. my nephew is already 1 1/2 years already...so big. so cute. i have to say saying goodbye for me this time was a bit harder. bonus, we got to experience an awesome thunderstorm (i miss them so).

new zealand folks are pretty picky about who they let into their great country , i applaud them on having such high standards. in order to obtain a work visa, yesterday we had to be fingerprinted at the police station. we have to send our prints to the fbi to obtain our police record. no one wants to let in common criminals. also, there is a 20 page medical report we need to fill out...we will need to obtain blood and urine tests, chest x-rays, and a full physical. nz does not want people in poor health either. on a cheery note...i have a phone interview next week for an office administration job. i am so very excited at the possibility. it sounds like a perfect match for my interests and skill set, so i am keeping my fingers crossed. wish me luck!

yesterday was also my first visit to a dermatologist. i have always had bad skin (since i was a teen, anyway). it has been so frustrating to buy all of the over-the-counter products to no avail. i have never been to a dermatologist, because it always seemed kinda vain...but it became apparent that i am now 28 and i am clearly not outgrowing this. i decided i was worth it. she prescribed me retin-a and a benzoyl peroxide wash. i'm looking forward to possibly having clearer skin soon, even though i know the retin-a will make my skin a nightmare for the first few weeks.

seattle with teens

we had kids last weekend. or, rather, we had kids come to visit us.

meet micah. meet rebekah. cute, right? micah is aaron's brother. rebekah is his sweet girlfriend. it was a bit akward at first, neither of us have spent much time with micah since he was about 10, but it was fun getting to know him again.

things to do in seattle with people under 21:

mingle among the tulips at skagit valley

drive to deception pass on whidbey island

here cute couples exist in the wild

you can take a nap

or pretend to be a bear cub

 (the possibilities are quiet endless, really)

other fun things we did include some hiking in the de leo wall park (cougar mountain). i love this park because it is so close to seattle, and there are so many miles of trails. plus it is all low altitude, so you can hike even in the winter, without running into snow. perfect!

it was also fun to expand their culinary palate. we took them out for thai and ethiopian food; and might have started bekah on a serious thai tea addiction. also, are you aware of how much teenage boys eat? crazy.

3 unique social situations in 1 amazing day.

after a mid-afternoon visit to nintendo, aaron and i paid my boss/good friend, mary and her boyfriend, kevin a visit. we called a 5-10 minutes before we arrived, just to make sure they would be there. of course, in those 10 minutes i'm sure they were scrambling, because when we arrived the house was spotless, wine was getting ready to be poured, and there was a fire crackling in the fire place. mary has a "special drink" that she has been dying for me to try. her special concoction involves wine, concentrated pomegranate crystal light, and a dash of diet 7-up. it was delicious, and i thought it tasted surprisingly like sangria. there was lots of funny dialect and even a few rounds of poker before we had to bid them farewell for our next hot date.

hot date number 2 involved jeanne and ron. they were representing kansas in the american farm bureau 91st annual national meeting. on our way back from mary and kevins, we swung by their downtown hotel (the sheraton, how fancy!) and whisked them off to ivars salmon house. they both wanted to try some food that they couldn't get in kansas, but we wanted it to be friend for picky eaters (a.k.a. ron). seafood was a great choice. it was nice to see them, but before too long we had to hug it out, and join some friends for the last venture of the evening.

our friend, adam, turned 29 so to celebrate we hit the zoo. no, not that zoo, this zoo (if you were true followers of this blog, you would expect that). there was a few beers, and a lot of merriment. also, have you heard of snooker? yet, another fascinating game that i am horrible at (fun, nonetheless).

so there you have it, 3 very very different social situations, with 3 groups of very very different people, and lots and lots of fun.

congratulations, larry

october 3, 2009 my little brother, larry, got married. lorenz basil herbst who:

when we were children stuck the wheels to his remote car into my hair and pressed go

played hamsters with me in the dryer

when he was 3 tried to break down the door on an amusement park ride (the hellevator) because it was scaring me

would sit for hours at the table with a mouth full of food that he wouldn't swallow

wouldn't play house with me, but would play "kevin and mom"

threw a baseball clear across the field yelling like crazy for me to move - and it hit me in the temple anyway.

told mom when i had caught the living room rug on fire, then promptly found me hiding under the bed and sang "you are in soooooo much trouble"

would only play barbies with me if he could be the car that talked and flew

threatened to blackmail me when he saw i had wrote in my diary that i thought bill clinton would be a good president

drew me a large snoopy as a birthday card (i still have it)

after i "bumped" another car in the parking lot, held my hand when i told my mom and also told her not to yell at me because i was really scared

i always admired for being only himself and never compromising (even when it would have been easier)

thank you, larry, for being a terrific brother. i loved every single second (almost) growing up with you. congratulations on your wedding; thanks for giving me a new sister. i'm really happy for you both.

september visitors

sorry about the lack of blogging lately. i've been really busy at work, and then when i come home the last thing i want to do is be on the computer. i'm sure you understand how it goes...

a few weeks ago we were lucky enough to have the new mr. & mrs. wech (justin and angie) stay at our humble abode for a long weekend. we didn't really do too much. but that was part of the fun of it, just lounging, talking, and being together. there was wine tasting (girls only), beer tasting (all), basketball (boys), a walk around Greenlake (girls), a visit to alkai beach (all), and a lot of talking.

one of my favorite parts of our visit was that angie and i traded skill sets. she taught me crochet (i'm amazed at her paticence), while i taught her knitting. how fun! how little-house-on-the-prairie of us!

i really wish we could live in the same city at some point (or state). but maybe the fact that we live so far apart, is part of what makes it so much fun to see each other. it's a rare, fun, celebratory event.

i miss them already. *sigh

pass me my nephew, please

my little brother, larry, is getting married october 3rd. this makes me happy. i also really like his future wife, tawny. this makes me even happier. the fact that i will get to see them both - not to mention the most-adorable-nephew-in-the-world, kainen, makes me positively joyous!

today we bought two round-trip plane tickets from seattle to denver for the low price of $278! isn't that ridiculously cheap? i nearly fell off my chair when aaron showed me the deal he found. we will still need to rent a car to drive from denver to bogue, but i'm not too worried about that. what i am worried about? how much nephew spoiling i can fit into 5 days?

gary and mary come to town

my apologies in advance for the super long post, but this trip needs documentation. last weekend my parents paid me a visit. this is no small feat. they drove 1700 miles in a truck for three days with two dogs. they must love me.

weekend recap
friday
i got off work a bit early and drove straight to their motel room. hugs ensued and we spent most of the evening talking and cooking. is it normal for people to tailgate at motels? growing up this was quiet common, and it's almost hard to remember a time when we were at a motel and didn't tailgate. this night in particular was my dad's hot chicken, which i hadn't had for years. amazing.

saturday
we got up nice and early (for me) and decided to take a bus downtown. this plan was almost foiled, as we quickly learned that most buses downtown had been re-routed due to the rock n' roll marathon. fortunately, my parents were amazingly patient throughout the bus ordeal. our first stop was the space needle. i was surprised when my mom mentioned that she really wanted to go up in it because she is afraid of heights. i was equally surprised that my dad didn't want to go. he was a good sport and waited outside while my mom and i took in the views up top. our next stop was the world spice merchants, where my dad bought a few foreign spices and chatted up the clerk. we followed that up with a quick run through pike place market, where morel mushrooms and scallops were purchased. exhausted, we boarded a bus back to my house. there we met some "characters"- identical twins (men) with snakeskin jackets, pointy shoes, long blond curly hair, and both very talkative. my dad couldn't turn his gaze away, and joined their conversation. the evening ended with tailgating at the motel...this time steaks from america's best steak.

sunday
sunday was unoffically "beer day". we began the day with a delicious breakfast at the blue star cafe and then walked to bottleworks (an imported beer store). many questions were asked and, amazingly, no beer was bought. our next stop was bob's homebrew supply...where my dad was in homebrew heaven and my mom and i were in the yarn store across the street. the grand finale came with the tour of redhook. if you are a local to the area and haven't been there...shame on you! for only $1 you get your own 5 oz redhook glass and 4-5 refills. oh, and you get to learn about beer. neat. we rounded out the day with scallops with morel cream sauce and some feisty games of cribbage.

we were, of course, all sad to say good-bye but it won't be long until i see them again. my brother is getting married in early october...hello, bogue!

a visit from rachael

rachael graced us with her presence this weekend! it's hard to believe we have lived out here for 4 years and rachael had never visited us until now. out of all of aaron's siblings, rachael is the one i know the least, so it was fun to finally have some one-on-one time to hang out with her.

we started off right, but grabbing some happy hour appetizers and drinks at nijo's sushi bar & grill downtown on thursday. that sustained us until we made our way back home. we popped open some champagne and had a toast rachael. then went straight to work making mushroom bisque with focaccia.

i had to work on friday, so i didn't get much rachael time during the day. after work, aaron and i showed her the rose garden that close to our house. it's really amazingly beautiful. we don't go there as often as we should (it's practically in our back yard, we don't have an excuse). each time i do go i always vow to come back more often. the rest of the night was spent with a lot of laughter. we started game night with monopoly and taboo, which quickly morphed into charades.

saturday we celebrated the solstice by attending the fremont solstice parade (see prior post). both rachael and aaron had never seen this parade before so it was fun watching two newbies. aaron knew what to expect, but rachael was definately in for a shock. this isn't your typical "welcome summer" parade. i loved watching all the little kids get so excited by all of the wacky costumes and excitement. children's enthusiasm is contagious. afterwards, we went back home for a quick lunch and a nap. then went outside to a nearby park to play frisbee.

sunday we did the whole downtown-seattle experience. we toured the public library (which sounds lame, but seattle has the coolest public library ever, which rachael can now atest to). we window shopped. we went to pike place market. this, while it might sound fun, is actually obligatory, because if greg finds out any of his children are coming to seattle to visit us he insists on them transporting a huge box of crab back to wisconsin for him. it is delightful for aaron and i to watch our guest(s) lug around a 40lb box of crab, but surprisingly, they aren't that into it. good thing everyone loves greg.

we drove rachael back to the airport on sunday night. hopefully it won't take her 4 more years to visit us again!

justin & angie wech

may 30, 2009 two of my favorite people got married.