Lovey Dovey

My Valentines came a little earlier than mosts this year. I woke up Saturday morning to an annoying hubby pestering me to get out of bed. It turned out he had a bouquet of roses and wanted to take me out to breakfast! That got me up! So we headed off to the classiest place we could think of, McDonalds (a nice one). After eating we began planning what we wanted to do for the day, all I could think of was some shopping. So, we headed out, only we headed in the wrong direction.

Kevin had kidnapped me!!! With no warning, and no preparation for me, we headed to Yakima. At this point Kevin pulled out some hotel information and plans to go see a play! I was really shocked... and kind of concerned since all I had with me was my purse and the clothes on my back. No makeup. No Pajamas. No clean cloths. No real shoes (It was the first day all year I had braved flip-flops). Good thing there is a TJMaxx in Yakima, Kevin stocked me up with some new clothes. Happy Valentines Day to me!

Kevin and I, to kill some time, went antiquing. Did you know that they are open "10-6 usually." To my surprise I found 2 things I wanted, but I still think antique stores are creepy and gross. I got an owl trivet and a silver plated ladle, classy!

After some intense shopping we went to meet Adam and Hayley for Lunch at the Olive Garden. I'm not cheap, I just really LOVE soup, salad, and bread sticks. Then more antiquing.

We went to see the play "Rumors," a comedy, that we were actually 15 min. late for. Due to some bad mapqesting. But we got in and it was fabulous!

My Favorite Valentine's (and Valentine) ever!

XOXOX

Outstanding October Outings

This weekend I had the pleasure of returning to my old stomping grounds, Central Washington University. At this point I could go on about how much I miss the University life, chilling with friends, so much free time, blah, blah, blah, but that would be pathetic, so I move on… What I want to say is I did some self reflection and here is what I decided about myself.

1) First off, I have great friends. I would have given up on me long ago, but two of my friends (Jonny and Ian) have pestered me for months to come up for a visit. I finally did and had a blast! Thai food, Ice Cream, Baseball, games, PRESENTS! How can a girl resist?!!!

2) I love my new family (I already knew that but I wanted to say it)! We stayed with my brother in law Adam and he let us have his bed. I value few things in this world more than being warm, and I slept on some cold, cold couches, so a bed was a gift. I also loved hanging out with Adam's girlfriend Hayley (I consider her family). She is my favorite foosball partner ever, way more fun than Kevin :)

3) Kevin need to fix the jeep. There is a hole on the passenger side that pours in cold air, this is how we traveled:

4)      I have great timing. We decided on a last minute to take a trip to Leavenworth with Adam and Hayley, and it was OCTOBERFEST! Here is a photo montage of the festivities:    

5)      I Rocked the Mini-Golf so hard!!! This is the point where I tell you the whole point of this post is to brag about my HOLE IN ONE! It was even on the last hole, I should have won a free game! I did pretty well, better than ever actually, putting up a 58. I even beat Kevin! A lifelong goal of mine. Did I mention I had a Golden ball?

 And if you thought my hole in one was impressive check out this sign…

Why visit Oregon? That's why....

We are getting pretty good at road trips this summer! This last weekend we went to visit Kevin's sister Kristi and her family, an 8 hour drive away in Grants Pass Oregon. I have to say, our drive there was one of the most eventful this year. It started with being super windy between Richland and The Dalls, then trying to navigate through Portland, Oregon gas stations where thye pump the gas for you, miles of construction and traffic jams in Salem, more construction, and more construction, toped off with windey freeways at 70mph in total blackness (aaahhhhh!).

But we made it!

Kristi gave us a tour of the house (FABULOUS!) and the town (FUN!). One of our favorite things to do during the visit was play tennis. Kevin and Dave (Kristi's husband) got Lucy (daughter) to be the ball girl. She loved it and was great at it! It was a luxury we never have when we play at home :)

This is Lucy sprinting after a stray ball

Bryn (other daughter) handed these to me through the fence

On Saturday we got to spend some quality Aunt/Uncle/Niece time while the parents went to Rock Out at a concert

Bryn entertaining Uncle Kevin

Kevin taught Bryn to "Pound"

It is the cutest and funnest thing EVER

This is when Bryn decided to like me.

I don't know why, I look scary here!

The girls just wanted to help Uncle Kevin put their new chairs together

Sunday we watched football. It was great to see the Seahawks win for once! I give credit to my team spirit, even Bryn joind in the occasion

Goooooooooooo Seahawks!!!

The end here is a photo collage of our trip I made courtesy of Lucy's photography (my favorite is the one of Kevin on the Tennis court doing the "superman")

I love Baseball?

Seattle makes me want to dress better *sigh*…. For some reason I’m always surprised when I end up there even though it’s only 4 hours away. When we first decided to go I made Kevin promise me I could do a little shopping, mostly at H&M (LOVE IT!). So, Saturday, we headed out early and got to Seattle about 2 hours before we were to be at Safeco. When it comes to Seattle I have one policy, park as soon as you can! I HATE parking in Seattle, so we found a spot near the ballpark and walked around.

First stop- Pioneer Square:

I'm not brave enough to be a real Firefighter

This is Kevins DREAM, the kids were on a tarp filled with Legos

I've never played on a regulation Boccee course, and apparently it's not as fun since this kids dad was acusing him of cheating.

I just like all the pidgins on the ledge

This is the Seattle Library! I LOVE Libraries!


Then we get to the whole reason for the trip. Kevin reads a Baseball blog called U.S.S.Mariner and they had a $20 ticket deal where you get in early and get to speak to/hear the General Manager of the Mariners. Kevin loved it! I sat through it. Did I mention we had to be there at 3:20 for a 7:00 game!

The GM is the one with the microphone

I'm so artsy

Did I mention we got free t-shirts and fleece blankets (thats why I came)

I took this and realized later that that guy was sitting right there :)

Then I spent the next 2 hours and 6 innings reading The Hunger Games. I'm the worst fan ever! Only one guy called me out on it. And yes, I typed 6 innings because Kevin decided they were to aweful to watch and then I MISSED BRANYON HIT A HOME RUN!!! Branyon is my #1!

Here is us watching the rest of the game from our hotel room :)

The next day I got to go shopping. This is the only pic (a customary pic), but trust me, shopping was a blast!

My Top 5 (Reasons NOT to visit Jackson, WY)

In an old western town there was once a girl. She was a beautiful girl who was excited to show this magical place of her childhood to the man she had just married. "Oh what fun we will have" she thought. But, after an arduous trek across the country, full of construction delays, RVs, transmission problems, and unscheduled potty stops(*cough* Tahnia) she was begining to have some doubts. What if her new man did not feel the magic, what if he was disappointed in what she was offering, what if~

(1) He hates animals!

This place was known throughout the land for it's abundance of wildlife. It was not uncommon to see an Eagle soaring through the air as you are parked in the road waiting for a lazy heard of bison to decide for themselves to get out of the way. What if a moose was spotted on the side of the road or in a grove of trees you happen to be paddling past? Would her man be excited to have such a close encounter with such a majestic animal, or would he be bored by its giant rack and foaming nostrils? On one of the first days of their great adventure the girl noticed the rump of a moose off the side of the road. It was the strangest looking moose butt she'd ever seen. Now you should not judge the girl, from afar the colors of a moose and a Grizzley Bear are the same! Plus, this was the first bear she had ever seen in the wild outside of a garbage can.

(2) He hates National Parks

In this land there was a special magical place called Yellowstone that she was told you had to wake up at 5:00am to experiance. They all did a little exploring around some colorfuland steamy places before arriving at the main attraction. They were there just in the nick of time. After the amazing experiance of watching boiling water shoot into the air, not to mention listening to all the little kids oooohhhhh and aaahhhhh they did some more exploring. The Hot Pots were an amazing array of colors and smells, but the real adventure started when the girl walked past an innocent looking geyser when it exploded!!! With no warning!! And she screamed and ran away! The adventure then continued down 310 horrible cliff side metal stairs, and then back up (5 breathless stairs at a time), and ended with being chased off the viewing platform of thier last stop by 2 fighting Bison and rangers with industrial sized cans of Bear Mace strapped to thier hips. (3) He hates Adventure

The girl had one thing on her list to try, White Water Rafting! She had watched for years those brave enought to take on "Lunch Counter" or "Big Kahuna." This year was her turn! She was cold and wet with bruses on her legs, but she felt, well... still cold and wet but full of pride. Her man says his mouth was open because he got a bunch of water in his face and NOT because he was shreaking in fear. He was brave, strong, and a great sheild for his lady sitting up there in the front.

(4) He hates Kayaking

Since before she can even remember the girls family have been AVID Kayakers. If he can't hack getting up at 5:00am to get on the river and see some wildlife he will not be able to hack it with her family. They will think him a weenie!

(5) He hates nature

It is the boys own fault that while pretending to fall in the water on his longboard he actually looses it to the great blue. When his beautiful young wife and her whitty Uncle immediatly jump into the freezing lake water to retrieve it the boy can do nothing but laugh, lucky boy.

Or, lets say the boy is standing on a rock on the edge of a canyoun when a 4.8 earthruake rocks his world and he and the rest of the family watch rockslides fall and a dustploom envelops them. Will he hate nature when he sees the fissures in the ground?

The girl worried for a long time what her husband would think or was thinking. But, after all was said and done the boy seemed to like seeing a bear, and he was excited by the earthquake. She no longer worries about pleasing him since she now knows he can live with her family for a week and that in itself is the greatest adventure!

*photo credits to Tod Peterson (the whitty uncle) and Tahnia Jensen (the one who HAD to pee)