Wow!!! This is a nice looking fiance isn't it?? The beginnings of our future wedding have started!

How fun it is to be proposed to! It sure was the talk in the hospital. Probably a good thing it happened there, because I might have been slower at telling my co-workers. Hope everyone has had fun watching the video. It is easy to find on YouTube now, just search "Brian's proposal to Wendy" and it comes right up. I'm glad everyone gets to see it!

I think we are aiming at getting married in Oregon during the first week or so in May. More details to come!!

Operation Proposal

Here is the link to the website for an awesome video of what happened on December 6, 2008.
http://gallery.me.com/davidgnash
Once you get to the web page, go to the video named Brian's Proposal.
Or check out YouTube and search for this exactly: Brian's Proposal-Large.m4v
and you will find what you need to watch!!

My surprise for the YEAR!

I am engaged to be married today!!! And I know many of you will want to hear the story! I was in a miserable mood this am while at work; I've got a cold, was sleepy and just plain irritable. Then at about noon, the unit secretary told that the UPS man had delivered a letter for me downstairs. Confused, I wandered down there to find my name hand written on a plain envelop. Not exactly UPS material. Opening it, I found a letter from the "Morrocan Nursing Travel Association" saying they had accepted my application to work in their country and would pay for all the moving costs and such for me to move to Morocco to live and work. Hmmm, curious I said to myself as I climbed the stairs back to my floor. I questioned the secretary and asked her to call downstairs to see who had delivered the envelope because it must be a joke. Then I continued working and gave one of my patients the coffee she had requested prior to the trip downstairs. I walked out of the room and saw three huge, almost waist height boxes wrapped in red wrapping paper with a note on one. I immediately recognized Brian's handwriting, "Hi Wendy you have a surprise under one of these boxes. Pick them up, choose which one."
I laughed at myself and at Brian, thinking he must have left a little note or something under one for me. Picked up the one in the middle, nothing, the one on the left, nothing. Then the last one and there was Brian!!! All a whirlwind, he was on a knee, asking me to marry him. I can't even remember what was said too much, because my brain forgets things. But I was very happy and had a hard time accepting that it was really happening! So, a good day, a lot of people were involved and I really had no clue what was going on. And for once I think my bad mood was a good thing, because I didn't pick up on anything that was said or even these huge boxes in the hallway...it was a complete surprise. I'll post pictures as soon as I get them. About 6 of our good friends came with Brian today and were taking pictures and recording the whole thing. For those of you in Oregon, see you in a few weeks and I'll have a few things to show off to you all!

Happy Halloween!!

This Halloween, Rachel and I were able to find real pumpkins to carve. Last year was a squash year because we couldn't find any pumpkins. Stores were actually giving them away after Halloween this year because they had too many!

For our Halloween, a bunch of us got together for a medieval mystery dinner. It was a ton of fun. We had a full meal, someone was murdered and then revealed later. I was a simple Maid, and Brian was a serf that worked on my lands. A mystery dinner is where everyone has a role assigned to them and each person must follow their script as best they can.

Here is our group. We really had some great costumes!!! Below is Karla and her knight, Dave.


And here is our king for the evening, Larry and a faithful subject in his kingdom, Tim.

Ahh, snow so early!!!

A nght for a wedding and the first snow of the season. Two inches last night!! Wow, it seems so early. And as it was snowing I was quite happy because snow is less wet than rain and much prettier. And I even took a picture of my car with the snow on it to put on my blog...Not knowing that minutes later I would have a squished front end...


Ahh, this is what happens when sliding into a guard rail. :) God took care of me, no one was hurt, wounded, no other cars involved and the guard rail kept us from going into some water. :) Ha, and I was able to drive my car home. Actually, I didn't drive after smashing into the rail, I made Brian drive. Another blessing today, just started dog-sitting and they graciously are letting me drive their cars for the next two weeks until they get back or mine is fixed. And getting things fixed in Juneau could take a long time...

Cabin camping...

Hiking in the rain isn't quite as bad when you get to camp in a dry cabin with a wood stove or propane heat as a back-up!! The Eagle Glacier Cabin is a great cabin with a nice view. Six of us all met at the cabin, due to work schedules Brian and I were the only ones to get to hike the five miles in the daylight. Everyone else came out in the dark. UGH.

Eagle Glacier up close, took extra effort to get there...and a story for later if anyone wants to hear it.

Here is the view from our porch! Really nice! And below, Morgan, Paul and Karla, just before breakfast.


Eagle Glacier Cabin

Finally, a sunny day...

Such a nice day, probably the first blue skies Juneau has seen this whole month. And of course, guess what I did. I spent it hiking with a great group of people.

Brian and I took off up Mt. Roberts with the Ewing family, Brian, Lisa and Nathaniel. Such a nice day!!

Spaghetti Feed

Here are some pics from a week or so ago of some Juneau friends. We had a good meal and great hang out time!

Biking instead of hiking...

Saturday was a "nice" day here in Juneau. It didn't rain the whole day and I even saw some blue skies and sunshine!! Hiking Mt Juneau had been the plan for the day, but things changed, I went to garage sales (and bought a practically new Kitchen Aid for only $75) and then Paul, Brian and I went biking.

If you look really hard you can see the Herbert Glacier in the background. The white in the middle of the picture. We biked out to Boyscout Beach and then did a good five mile or so to Herbert Glacier.

Yes, I took this while riding. :) Good balance practice.

Here is the glacier up close, although we are unable to get much closer due to a raging river in the way!

Can you all see the fall colors in Alaska?? Not much, but it does make me happy to see some yellow leaves. Makes me remember my fall in Vermont only two years ago.

Victoria, British Columbia

While in the Pacific Northwest, I was also lucky to see my good friend Allison. I met her while in Vermont working as a travel nurse. I hadn't seen her for two years, so it was a really fun visit. We hung out in Seattle a bit and then took a ferry to Victoria.

Here is a bit of Victoria. A beautiful city and a beautiful day!!


The Craigdorroch Castle, built in 1889 by Robert Dunsmuir. He was the wealthiest man in British Columbia during that time period.


Allie and I in one of the many parks, surrounded by some great flowers.

Scenes from Oregon

Home sweet home for the month of August. It was awesome!! I was able to see a lot of friends, some of whom I haven't seen for a few years even. First up was a visit with my friend, Michelle. My roommate from nursing school. She's on her way to being a wonderful doctor.


My mom and I were able to go hiking around Mt. Hood. It was awesome. Good weather, good hike and good company. Here was a spot we climbed right above the lake we camped at.



A beach day with the family! It was a nice hot day at the beach and we all enjoyed some hotdogs and smores. My nephews are so cute!! I even saw an eagle at the beach in OREGON. Amazing! I see them all the time in Alaska, what fun to see one in Oregon.

Hiking in the Pacific NW

My best bud Sarah and I have always had a desire to hike the Pacific Crest Trail. Not all at once, but a little at a time over a good amount of years. We attempted our first section four years ago and it down poured on us, so we didn't make it very far. This year, Sarah picked our location to backpack for three days and it was right near Mt. Adams in Washington State.


We got off to a late start and had to change our plans in the middle of the day, but hiked for a few hours to get to this great meadow right under the mountain. It was a great night.

Here is Sarah cooking one of her great dehydrated meals.

We decided to day hike for most of the day on our second day. We started in the morning and started hiking around Mt. Adams for a few hours. It was a beautiful day, a little hazy off in the distance, but really nice!

Here is Sarah and I and Monty.

Our last day it did rain on us a bit. But we hiked the last six miles out and treated ourselves with a huckleberry milkshake.

Finally...Mt McGinnis

Finally took the opportunity of a "nice" day in Juneau to hike a mountain that has been in my mind for a long time. And what better hiking companions than my two roomies, Rachel and Janelle.The view was pretty nice most of the hike. Here is a good view of Mendenhall Glacier.

Unfortunately when we got to the top, it was cloudy and we couldn't see a thing from the top. I was a little perterbed. It was a pretty steep hike and really wanted a view from the top. We came down from the top the easy way on this snow bank. So cloudy you can't even see the top of the mountain!

Here is my roomies and I!

Flowers do bloom here.

If you can see the little tiny tent and people, this is what some of the cruise ships offer for a few hundred dollars. A trip to walk on the glacier!