Mariners Game

Yesterday we spent Memorial Day in Seattle for Hansen Elementary day at the Mariners game. Andrew is such a good big brother! He made sure to hold Logan's hand whenever we were in a crowd. I didn't even have to ask him to.
Cool baseball bat sculpture!
We had to climb quite a few flights of stairs to find our seats. But, hey, they were cheap!
What a gorgeous day in Seattle! I love this view of the skyline. Can you see the Space Needle?
I was going to say that this was our first Mariners game, but actually, our first Mariners game was almost two years ago in Cleveland. Only that time, we were cheering for the Indians!
Claire, enjoying her very first Major League Baseball game on her three-week birthday. She only woke up once to eat, then she went back to sleep.
The food was a big hit with the kids! We enjoyed yummy chocolate covered strawberries and this rainbow snow cone.
Logan really got into the dancing!


And, oh yeah, there was some baseball too. Go Mariners!


After the game, we headed to the Seattle Center to see the Folklife Festival. My camera battery was dead by then, but all I can say is, WOW, Seattle is diverse! :) There was lots of food, crafts, performers, and CRAZINESS! We also stopped in at the Pacific Science Center to play until they closed.

Yesterday was also our anniversary, so we went out for dinner with the whole gang to Macaroni Grill. It may not have been super romantic, but it seemed like a fitting way to celebrate 11 wild and crazy years!

Happy Anniversary, Babe! Thanks for our four beautiful children and all the love and support you give to me! Thanks for being a fun dad and for all your long hours and hard work to provide for us. There's no one else I'd rather share my life with! I love you so much!

Snow Day!

When we moved out here to Washington, I thought we'd be leaving all the white stuff behind! We were pretty convinced because we left our snow-blower and even our snow shovels in Ohio. But apparently we were misinformed, because it started snowing yesterday and it hasn't stopped since.Naturally, school was closed for the day. All the kids in the neighborhood headed to the Neilsen's house to sled down their steep driveway.

Logan loves the snow!

The boys stayed out several hours, sledding, throwing snowballs, and building snowmen (and a snow dog, Logan tells me), sometimes without a coat. Yes, that's Logan in a short-sleeved shirt. He kept assuring me that he wasn't cold!

As much as I would rather be busting out my flip-flops and watching daffodils and tulips pop out of the ground, I have to admit that the snow is very beautiful on all the evergreen trees. I guess I can live with it...for a few days.

New House!!!

Well, I didn't want to jinx us by blogging about it before everything was official, but WE BOUGHT A HOUSE! We made the offer clear back in October, but we didn't close until just last Friday. We've been slowly moving stuff in over the last few days and finally spent our first night in the house last night.

The Front

(I took this picture today when it stopped raining for 5 minutes. LOVE the green grass in the middle of December! :)

The Entryway
The Dining Room

The KitchenThe Living Room

Master Bathtub

Go fly a kite!

A couple of weeks ago, when Davie and Chris were visiting us, we took a trip to Long Beach, WA for the International Kite Festival. This was really worth the trip. Not only did we get to see tons of amazing kites and performers, we also got to see the town with shops and attractions, ride in a horse-drawn wagon, walk the board walk, play on the beach, and fly our own kites. I really hope we can do this again next year!

Bryan and Andrew getting ready to launch their own kite.

Run Andrew, Run!

It was way too cold to get in the water, but the kids had a blast playing in the sand.

I really wanted a picute of thie kids playing in the sand with the kites in the background, so I took about a million pictures like this.

"Okay, enough pictures, Mom!"

The LoveBirds, Davie and Chris

I don't know what these giant ring kites are called, but they were awesome!

Davie, Chris, and Bryan, riding through Long Beach in a horse-drawn wagon.

This was the best we could do for an end-of-the-day shot. The kids (and grown-ups) were pretty pooped!

Ocean Shores, WA

Saturday was warm and sunny, the perfect day for the beach! The REAL beach, as in, THE PACIFIC OCEAN! It's only about 90 minutes away! So cool!
Silly kids! Logan and Hannah were a little scared of the water and ran away whenever a wave came in...
...but they sure loved digging in the sand!

It may have been a warm day, but the water was COLD! Bryan took the plunge anyway!

We made it!

We left Ohio exactly one month ago. That sure flew by! Logan, Hannah, and I flew to Utah as planned, but Bryan and Andrew ended up driving instead because we didn't sell the Escort in time. Once we all arrived, we bought a pretty new minivan (well, new to us) from our friends, the Hamps. Hopefully we will have better luck with this one (heehee). We had a wonderful time with family in Utah, so I have a bunch of pics to blog of parades, swimming, boating, and all sorts of fun that I will hopefully get to soon.

About two weeks ago, we left Utah and headed North! We broke up the 14-hour drive by staying with our BFFs, the Shupes, who live in Tri-Cities, WA. They were gracious enough to let us stay and play with them for a couple nights. We love those guys! After that, there were only four hours left to Olympia.

So here we are! We rented this cute little house on a quiet street full of trees! It's like we have our own little forest bordering the property. Olympia is so beautiful and everyone has been so friendly and welcoming. The family across the street has little boys the same ages as Logan and Hannah, so they play together almost every day. The ward has been very welcoming and we feel like we already have some friends. I think we are really going to like it here!

Bryan has been busy studying for his boards which are coming up in a couple of weeks, after which he will begin his new job at Providence St. Peter's Hospital. We feel so grateful for so many friends who helped us pack in Ohio, and grateful for new friends here who helped us move in. Again, I am reminded how wonderful the organization of the Church is. No matter where you go, there are always people there to help take care of you!

IT'S OFFICIAL...

We're going to be WASHINGTONIANS!!! Olympians, to be exact. Yesterday Bryan signed the papers with a great anesthesia group in Olympia, Washington to start in Aug 2010. It was a very difficult decision, choosing between Olympia and Puyallup; the people we met in the Puyallup group were so great, like instant friends. It was so hard to turn them down. However, we feel really good about Olympia and are glad to finally know where we will be going.

Since I didn't take any pictures while I was there, I thought I share some pics of Olympia that I "borrowed" from the Internet.

When Logan heard the news, he said (with a concerned look on his face), "What do they have in Olympia? Do they have any playgrounds?" I showed him some pics of playgrounds in the area, so now he is satisfied. Glad he's so easy to please.

Decisions...

I haven't been in the mood to blog much lately. Seems like all I think about these days is, WHERE ARE WE GOING TO MOVE? I'm driving myself crazy looking through city info pages, maps, photos, school websites, home listings, and way too many online city forums.

Bryan and I went out to Washington state a couple weeks ago to interview for jobs. "REAL JOBS," as Bryan calls them. We had a great time exploring new places and spending some alone time together (THANKS to Kjirsti, Tom, and Deb!). There were a couple cities we felt especially good about and even have a couple of offers already to choose from (yay Babe!). It's very exciting and emotional, trying to imagine our lives in a brand new place. When I get nervous, I try to remember how scary it was to move to Cleveland four years ago, and how comfortable and happy we are here now. Overall, we feel peace about the direction we are headed, so I feel confident that the Lord will take care of us.