Seattle Part 2/Spokane

Day 3: Museum of Flight, Underground Tour, Arboretum, REI

The museum of flight had lots of cool airplanes, a space/astronaut section, WWI and WWII areas, etc.  I think my favorite part was the history of flight attendants with lots of pictures showing the change in uniforms over the years (I know I'm lame).  Here is us about to get on Air Force 1.  Karl took lots of pictures of the planes but as I do not have a discerning airplane eye, I'm not sure which to post...so Karl told me to post this stealth bomber.

Then we dropped Kim and HL off at the Underground Tour (we did it 2 years ago and didn't feel it necessary to do again).  Then we drove up to the Arboretum and Karl, Carson, and I took naps in the car.

Day 4: We headed out of town.  Stopped by Snoqualmie Falls and Leavenworth and then made it to Spokane.

Snoqualmie Falls was gorgeous...see for yourself

Leavenworth is a Bavarian town.  I would love to go camping on the outskirts of this town because it is really pretty, but we always just drop by for some lunch and touristy attractions.  I got some really delicious gingerbread and  some molasses cookies.

Then we hit up Spokane for a few days.  Unfortunately, they have had a really wet, cold start to Spring.  The bike trails we had planned on doing were closed due to remaining snow and the rivers we planned on canoeing were closed due to high waters.  And it was rainy the whole time we were there...so there was lots of hanging out and reading going on.

Here is a boat launch area...that dock still looks usable to me.

Here we are at the Spokane River.  It was raging.  We all got soaked on this bridge.  There was a man walking by with an umbrella (not for the rain) that had a good laugh when the river spray came up and got us.

Carson liked the big red wagon and the garbage goat...trademarks of Spokane.  (The goat is a statue that will suck up your garbage if you put it to its mouth.  Totally awesome).

I think that is about it.  Then we headed home to Phoenix.  I would say my feet were swollen about 35 minutes after deboarding the plane.  Awesome.

Seattle Part I

First - this post was getting so long I decided to split it in two.

I had training in Seattle so we decided to turn it into a vacation again.  This time we invited along Karl's little sister Kim and her husband HL.  Boy was I grateful they were potty trained for this trip (see post here if you're totally confused Potty Training).  We crammed a ton of Seattle into just a few days.

Day 1:  Space Needle, Seattle Center, Monorail (Carson's favorite), Pike's Market, Olympic Sculpture Park, Ivar's, Ye Olde Curiosity Shop, Chittenden Locks (Karl's favorite), and Discovery Park.

Below are pics of the beach at Discovery Park.  It was really cold and windy, but still gorgeous.  The park was huge with a ton of green trees and paths...and then this beach.

Day 2: Deception Pass, Whidbey Island, Fort Casey, Ferry ride, Fremont Troll, and Gas Works Park.

Deception Pass is beautiful and well worth the drive a few hours north of Seattle.  We hiked down to the water and enjoyed the beach.

Fort Casey is an military fort abandoned in 1951 after having never fired a shot on the enemy.  The US was concerned with the safety of the Puget Sound.  Washington Parks Dept adopted it in 1954.  So you can see the cannons, run around the artillery stations, etc.  It doesn't have electricity so when you get into the cement fort - it's a little scary.  It's also right on the water and beautiful.

Even though I've been to Seattle a lot, I'd never seen the Fremont troll.  We had drama finding it (GPS/Phones/Maps were all called into use).  Then Karl was annoyed by the time we got there so we just did a drive by...no picture.  Honestly, it's not that amazing, but it was still a dramatic afternoon.

Then we bought some kites and headed to Gas Works.  The park contains the remnants of the last coal gasification plant in the US.  It was abandoned in 1956 and adopted by the City of Seattle in 1962 and turned into a park.  It's right on Lake Union and really pretty as well.  (As I'm writing this blog, I just keep thinking "Why don't a live there?"...maybe someday).  Carson did great with his Star Wars kite.

Kim and HL got along fabulously with their "trick" kite (this comment is sarcastic).

My crazy kid with the space needle in the background.

See the rest of the trip continued in Part 2.

Baby Update

My baby doctor does an ultrasound in the third trimester - so I got an ultrasound this week.  While everything looks healthy, he said the baby is already well over 6 pounds.  I still have 5 weeks left!  I asked if this meant I might go early.  He replied "No, I think you're going to have a 10 pound baby."  Perfect.  The ultrasound pictures show she already has chunky chipmunk cheeks, a fat little chin, and a huge belly.  He also advised me to take back all the newborn sized clothing I have as she'll never fit in them.  Carson was 8 lbs 11 oz, I was 9 lbs, and Karl was 8 lbs, so I knew she would be big, but let's hope she's closer to nine pounds and not ten.

Pregnancy Thoughts of the Week

Just thought I'd share some of the joyous moments of my last trimester...in Arizona...with a high yesterday of 110 degrees (barf).  I can now actually feel my swollen feet jiggle as a walk on our tile.  I'm pretty sure feet should never jiggle.  I have to pee so much I find myself wishing I could just have a catheter bag.  It would be so much more convenient.  My heart burn is so bad I don't think I'll have an esophagus when this is over.  It has to have been destroyed by acid by now.  No maternity clothes are cool enough.  My belly has gotten so big I can't even fit my big t-shirts over it anymore.  Time to break out my huge shirts from the end of my last pregnancy, Men's Hanes XL.  Perfect.  It was at this point last time that I switched to permanent Crocs (totally stylish...especially with a church dress) because those were the only shoes in which I could get my fat feet.  Problem is that this time around, I have a professional job - I think they would frown on me wearing Crocs to the office.  So I squeeze my marshmallow feet/hot dog toes into low heels or fancy flats every day.  I take them off the minute I get to work and only put them back on for my 12 billion trips to the bathroom.  As you can tell, I absolutely love the third trimester in AZ.

(PS - my doctor told me to try and drink more water to reduce swelling.  Well, I'm drinking water like crazy and it only seems to add to my bathroom problem.  There is no win here).

Since I'm feeling guilty about complaining about pregnancy, here are some positive thoughts.  The baby moves a ton and it is fun to see my belly move and shift.  I am also that much closer to having this baby girl in my arms.

Promotion!

I am slowly picking away at the things about which I need to blog. (or in American-ese “I am slowly picking away at the things I need to blog about.”)

Side note: As a teenager, my mother drilled into me the “never end a sentence with a preposition” rule – both when speaking and writing. There are several of these rules that I’ll never forget because of the constant reminders from mom. I know I sometimes get it wrong…(and sometimes I just don’t care), but the thought always crosses my mind.

I thought I would do a real quick blog to announce that I just got promoted at work. As of July, I will now be a Senior Accountant at Moss Adams instead of a Staff Accountant. For non-accounting people, a public accounting firm is made up of five levels (staff, senior, manager, senior manager, and partner). It feels good to be promoted and I look forward to taking on new challenges (that’s for the people from work who read this). On a more personal note…I also look forward to seeing what the raise will be.

PS – I just Googled “preposition” to see if I had any other slip ups in this post. I think there are a LOT more prepositions than I realized. For example, “Beyond”. Way to go Buzz Light Year…you have every little boy in America ending their sentences with prepositions. The shame of it.

Happy Anniversary

Note: I have posts concerning our recent vacation to Seattle...but that will have to be a different day...it's 1 am.

Karl and I celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary this week. Well..."celebrated" is an overstatement. We didn't really do much. We are going out tomorrow though so that should make up for it. I can't believe it's been 8 years. I was looking through some old pictures and came across our engagement photos. Behold the glory below.

I think a picture like this deserves a moment of silence......... .......... . First of all, look how skinny we were. Karl looks like a baby to me. I always think he looks the same now as the day we got married but then you look at a picture and its like "oh, wait, we have gotten older." I was rocking a killer hairdo back then. I hadn't quite learned the meaning of "no midriff" yet. I mean, I was there in spirit, but I would all too soon learn that it had to be 100%. Also, I still have those shoes in my closet...perhaps I should get rid of those now. Thank goodness Karl doesn't still have those shoes in his closet. Leather man sandals are never a good idea. Anyway, that's when we got engaged.

Here is our wedding day...

Here is us now...(well, a few months ago before I got huge pregnant...I didn't want to burn your eyes out).

I feel very lucky to be married to such a wonderful man. He is an awesome husband and father. At this time in our life, I am especially grateful for all the home tasks he's willing to do (cleaning, cooking, meal planning, child rearing). That may sound menial, but most moms know what work it is and I can't express how grateful I am for all the little things he does. He treats our marriage as an equal partnership and we counsel together is almost everything. We both have different strengths and thus are able to help each other become better people. We got engaged after three months of dating and then got married four months later...yes, we were one of those BYU couples. I look back to the day we got married and think "there is soooo much I didn't know about you on that day." But I knew I was doing the right thing and had no doubts going into the temple with him. I feel so blessed for personal revelation. So here's to eight years. I'm sure in another 8 years I'll have learned a whole lot more about him (and probably myself as well).

First of Several

So I am doing an all night blog session...that's what I get for procrastinating. Now I have so many things to blog about I am going to be at this for hours. I will also be doing a few posts to break it up.

First off...I was able to get together with my college roomies. See pic from Freshman year at BYU below. We have cuter ones of us...but right now it's midnight and I can't find them. So, sorry gals, this is going to have to do. Oh - and we were really into 3 waving our hair back then. I'd guess at least one of us has our hair that way in the majority of our pictures.

Last time we were together was when the last of us got married, 3 years ago. So a few weeks ago, we all flew to the exciting travel destination of Los Alamos, NM. It actually wasn't bad, but we decided to go there since the one who is 8 months pregnant with twins lives there. There were lots of parks and since it's a little town, we got to hang out and do a lot of talking rather than feel pressure to see the sights. We all brought our kids so it was a little crazy, but still fun. Here is a pic of the clan (Me, Carson, Kaylee (2), Julia, Wyatt (1), Erica, Marguerite, Andrew (1)). Marguerite has another little boy that is 3 but he stayed home for this trip. Also, Julia has another daughter but she was at preschool.

Carson was a little frustrated at first because the kids his age were girls and the boys there were 1 year olds. But after a day or two, he realized that playing house can be fun too (although he would still ask me to play Star Wars with him every once in awhile). He also realized he could help with the babies. It was probably good practice for him. They kept grabbing his toys and it took him a little time to understand that they don't know how to share yet.

It was impossible to get all the kids in one picture. We tried several times. There was one time we had all the kids lined up and then Carson decided to be the stinker. He refused to get into the picture and then once it was over, he threw a fit that he didn't get his picture taken. Hence, a picture of the other children...and then Carson by himself.

We ate a bunch of good food (check out my friend's blog www.neighborjulia.blogspot.com, try the easy tamale griddle cakes...so delicious). We spent a night looking at freshman year pictures and reminiscing. Stayed up late talking and laughing. The kids had a dance party to a mix CD we made freshman year. Watched some Arrested Development. Etc. Etc.

There was one afternoon that we decided to let the kids play in the basement and we would try to play a card game. After a few rounds I decided to go check on the kids. As I was walking downstairs we could hear them outside. We all thought "How did they get out there?" I kept going downstairs and found the three oldest children (Carson (3), Emmy (4), and Kaylee (2)) having the time of their lives. I could hear the giggles all the way down the hall. They had pushed out the screen of a ground level window and were jumping on the bed and then jumping out the window, climbing back in, and doing it all over again. Carson didn't even realize they might be in trouble when I came around the corner. He saw me and exclaimed "Mom...I

pushed out the screen so we can do this!" While I was worried about the damage he had done to their screen, they were so happy it was almost hard to tell them it wasn't ok. Plus, we had never gone over the rule "no pushing out screens" so I didn't feel right doling out a punishment. Luckily, the screen went back in (after a little bending). I'll never forget the pure joy on their faces.

Carson also developed a bit of a crush on this trip. He took a liking to my friend Erica. It became clear he preferred her over boring old mom. He wanted Erica to read him books, he wanted to sit by Erica, and he gave her excessive amounts of hugs. I think this was his first little crush. Here is just a pic of Carson doing some awesome posing. He wanted his picture taken really bad.

Oh - and one friend took a pregnancy test while in NM and it was positive! I won't say who in case they haven't announced to all, but it was fun to share that moment. Two of us are already pregnant...so maybe it was one of us...but then that wouldn't really be exciting news.

And the life lesson from this trip...it is just sooo nice to have those friends that when you get together 3 years later, you just pick up where you left off. Those friends that know your personality so well (pros and cons) there is nothing to hide and you can just relax and have fun. I am so grateful to have made friends like these three special ladies. What a blessing to have three life long friends. Thanks for being my friends. Love you guys!