Weekend with the Rothlisbergers

Shawn and Celeste came to pick us up from Chris's parents around 4 pm that Saturday. They still had the girls with them so Chris's mom and dad got to see them. They have twins, Ana and Alyssa who are 2 1/2 and SO cute. We took the girls over to Shawn's parents house so we could have some kid free time. We did some shopping before we headed to Billy McHale's for supper. Chris, Shawn and Celeste all you used to work there together and so we always have to go there. I am really not all that crazy about it but they do have really good ribs so I hear. I am not much of a rib person. After Billy's we went over to Jimmy Mac's Roadhouse (where Chris also used to work) to get some of their famous and SO yummy rolls. Then it was off to Safeway for some beer and some breakfast stuff. There were cactus leafs in the produce section and I picked one up and jabbed my finger. That sucked. And the next morning my finger was throbbing and we got some cactus needle out. lol Ouch! Serves me right.

Sunday Celeste made a yummy breakfast....bacon, eggs and biscuits and gravy. Chris and Shawn got ready not long after and were off to the Seahawks/Cardinals game. It was the first home game of the season and Celeste was gracious enough to let Chris have her ticket. They have season tickets but still it was the first home game. So thanks Celeste!! While the boys were at the game we stayed home and watched the game on TV. It was a fun day and the Seahawks won which is even more important.

After the game we headed to Red Robin for supper. We have Red Robin out here but the closest one to us is an hour. Celeste and the girls left in one car to head home while Shawn drove us back to Chris's parents house in his car. We had a great time with them and wish it had been longer, we really miss them.

After Shawn left we headed over to Jen and Ryan's for one last visit before we headed home. We had a nice visit. And of course like any visit with Ryan there was beer. hehe! Fun times. We are really happy for them and definitly look forward to them coming to visit in the near future. We sure miss them come Saturday nights and hockey season.

Seahawks game! Go Hawks

So I know I am behind on my trip recap but in my defense blogger has been super lame this week. So bear with me as I try and get the rest blogged and pictures posted so I can once again go back to boring you with my daily ramblings:)

So to pick up where I left off I need to move on to Thursday the 14th. This was another day of traveling and visiting. We left a little later than we had hoped but we finally got on the road around 2pm. We headed south to Portland making only one quick stop for a latte from Starbucks. We arrived at David and Kellie's in Portland around 5:30 pm. David and Kellie are our friends from Boston who recently moved to Portland. It was nice to see them and see their beautiful new house. We had a wonderful dinner with them. David BBQed some New York steaks and veggies. It was YUMMY!

We left their house a little later than planned and didn't arrive at Tammy and Jeremy's in McMinnville till around 8:30pm or so. Tammy is an old friend of mine who I have not seen about 3 or so years and we had never met her husband Jeremy so it was nice to catch up and spend some time together. Speaking of T and J they are both in my thoughts and prayers today as Tammy was scheduled to be induced this morning. I am so excited to hear the good news and see pictures of their precious little one.

After our lovely visit with T and J we headed back to Seattle. It was another late night but worth it as we enjoyed good times with good friends.

The next day was a little more relaxed. In the afternoon we went to see our old friend Trish out in Tacoma. It was nice to see her and her family and catch up. Friday evening Andrea and the boys came over for supper before Andrea headed home and left the boys for a sleepover at Grandma and Grandpas. Fun times!

The boys (Chris, Bryan and dad) were supposed to go golfing Saturday morning but the rain had other plans. They were disappointed but what can you do. And of course because they didn't go golfing meant lots of time for Uncle Chris to entertain Gavin and Trevor:)

Football, Baseball and Anniversaries

Before I continue on with our trip recap I need to take a second to say GO SEAHAWKS! We played the New York Giants yesterday. By the time halftime rolled around we had a 35-3 lead. In the 3rd quarter we had another touchdown making the score 42-3. Once we hit the 4th quarter our defense seemed to let go a little and the Giants scored 27 points. It made me a little nervous but we held on and won the game 42-30. All that matters is that we are now 3-0 on the season. GO HAWKS!!

Back to our trip....Sept 12 was our 2 year wedding anniversary. We didn't plan anything special since we are going to New York City in October as kind of a late anniversary thing. When I went upstairs to get my coffee in the morning my mother in law Linda arrived home with a beautiful bouquet of flowers for me. How sweet!

This was definitely another relax at home day. We did have plans that evening for dinner at Chris' other aunt and Uncle's, Aileen and Bill. Linda and I went to the grocery store to find some desert for dinner and we scored with a yummy cheescake and fresh strawberries. YUM! We headed to Bill and Aileens around 6 pm and had a wonderful dinner and visit. We also got to see the new house they are building down the street from where they currently live. I can't wait to see when it is all finished.

Wednesday morning we went to Shari's for breakfast with Andrea which was followed by some shopping. Wednesday afternoon Chris and I were excited to be able to the Mariner's game. Yes I know we sucked this year but it was still exciting for Chris and I to be able to go to Safeco Field and see our own team play even though we lost 10-0 to the Blue Jays! We had a fun time though walking around the stadium, taking lots of pictures and eating garlic fries.

After the game we went over to Bryan and Andrea's. We ordered pizza and hung out and of course played with Smudge the cat. Uncle Chris had a great time out in the backyard with the boys.

As usual blogger won't post my pics so I will post them through Hello below this post. I highly suggest for those of you having the same problems to check out Hello, it is a great little program.

My beautiful flowers from Linda

Inside one of the main entrances to the ball park is this statue of glass bats hanging from the ceiling. Hopefully you can click on the picture to get a better look at it.

Smudge the dancing cat

The day after the wedding we got up kinda early and headed off to our friends Shawn and Celeste's house to watch the Seahawks game, which was quite crappy, but we pulled out a victory with a field goal on the final play of the game. After that we ran some errands around town. Bryan and Andrea and the boys came over around 5 or so for supper. So the rest of the evening we all just hung out playing games and watching TV. It was a good day. Monday we decided to drive out to Eastern Washington to see Chris' aunt and uncle, Kathy and Kevin. They live in Prosser which is about a 3 hour drive from Seattle. The drive is really pretty especially when you are driving through the Cascade Mountains. We left around 1 pm and got out there around 4. We had a lovely visit and a great dinner.

The last time we were out there they had started work on a wine cellar and of course it was all done for us to see this time. I didn't take pictures and I don't know why, I really should have. Anyways.....In their office is a book shelf and on the top shelf is a book that you pull the opens the bookshelf like a door which is the door to the cellar. It was so cool, a real secret door. LOL. Anyways the cellar was so nice, they worked really hard on it.

Kevin is also building a plane. They built a big shop out front on their property so he would have somewhere to build it. He showed us the shop and what he had done on the plane so far. It was pretty cool and will be fun to see the finished product.

They have a dog named Gunner who is a gorgeous yellow lab. When Chris and I showed up at their house and Gunner came running to greet us I noticed he was missing his front right leg. At first I felt sad for him but then when I saw him playing fetch and running around like it was nothing I realized how adjusted he was. Kevin said "dogs are 3 legged animals with a spare." Anyways turned out Gunner had bone cancer in that leg and had it amputated in June. But he is all healthy now and ready to go hunting with Kevin.

We left their place around 12:30 am and got back home to Chris' parents house around 3:30 am. Another late night! But it was worth it, we had a good time.

Such a handsome boy!

The Wedding

The whole reason we went to Seattle in the first place was to attend Jen and Ryan's wedding. Chris met Jen almost 5 years ago when he started working at the Starbucks call center in Seattle. They both worked the 4 am shift and sat next to each other for almost 2 years. Naturally they became friends as did her and I. About 3 or so years ago Ryan came into the picture, he is Canadian (well he was born in the US but grew up in British Columbia) but lives in Seattle and works for Microsoft. How is that for a couple from Seattle for ya , Starbucks+Microsoft, it was a match made in heaven. Over the next year or so after Jen and Ryan bought their new house we spent many a Saturday night at their place BBQing and watching Hockey Night in Canada. Even though Ryan is a Canucks fan I thought he was a pretty cool guy. We were so happy for them when Jen called us last year to let us know that Ryan had "asked her to join team Ryan!"

The wedding and reception took place on The Skansonia which is docked on Lake Union in Seattle with a beautiful view of the city. The ceremony was held at the front of the boat, it was a very intimate setting with a few rows of chairs and the rest of the people gathered around. It was short and sweet and in true Jen and Ryan fashion it was time to party:) We had a great night, at one point I escaped upstairs where I found John and Kristen and their 2 little ones, Lauren and her baby sister Emily who was about 7 weeks. I ended up grabbing baby Emily up in my arms and kept her there for quite some time, I finally decided perhaps I should give her back to mom and dad.

After a night of dancing and visiting and the coolest wedding cake we headed off to help unload stuff at Jen and Ryans. By the time we made it back to Chris' parents house it was almost 4 am and we were beat.

Ok so as usual the pics are not posting well through here so I am going to go ahead and post them through hello below. Enjoy, any questions feel free to ask!

The coolest cake ever. Jen and Ryan and huge travelers. This cake is obviously luggage and all the "edible" stickers are all the places they have been together.

Carly and Aaron 

John, Kristen and baby Emily

One of our amazing views!

I'm Leaving On a Jet Plane.........Again!!

I know I didn't keep you all posted this past week but I promise that once I get home there will be plenty to blog about and many pictures to post. Chris and I had a wonderful time here in Seattle and we were sure to see a lot of people in the short time we were here. We are sad to leave, however I am SO SO SO excited to to see my puppy tomorrow morning! Our flight leaves Seattle tonight at 10:45 PM and we will arrive in Boston around 7 am. Fun times.

Happy Anniversary

Happy Anniversary Honey!!!

Evey--I love you SO much, and I am very happy that God brought you into my life. There are many things that you are to me and you mean to me and you do for me that I will always love and appreciate...

You are my calming force.
You are my daily planner.
You make me strive towards becoming better.
You do my laundry.
You tell me where a clean pair of my underwear is when I need it.
You are the banker.
You are a great cook, and I am spoiled by the way you feed me.
You are a great friend and I feel that I can tell you anything.
You are very funny.
You love your puppy very much.
You don't always agree with my opinion, but you respect it.
You forgive me when I am retarded.
You love hockey.
You love the Oilers.
You take care of me when I am sick.
You have a great personality that others are drawn to.
You have a wonderful laugh.
You are confident enough with yourself not to care what others think of you.
You tolerate me watching golf or soccer on TV.
You are a great kisser.
You are very beautiful.
You know when I am not at my best and you help me.
You are full of great ideas.
You are very accepting of others.
You love God with all of your heart.
You love me.
I love you.

I could go on with this list forever, but I need something to blog next anniversary too ;)

2 years and counting

Today is mine and Chris' 2 year wedding anniversary:) YAY! Happy anniversary baby!!! I love you!!!!

Happy Monday

Hope everyone had a great weekend. Chris and I are still recovering from ours.

We have been having a great time since we have been here. Friday night was the rehearsal dinner for the wedding we came out here for. We were invited to the dinner because we were "out of town guests." Dinner was at a Thai restaurant in Seattle called the Thai Pearl. I had never had Thai food before so it was fun to try new things. After dinner a bunch of us headed back to Jen and Ryan's (bride and groom) to hang out. It turned out to be a very late night but a very fun time. We got home at 3am and were up at 8. Saturday we got up and drove out to our friends Shawn and Celeste's place so Celeste could cut my hair for me. When we moved to Boston their twins were just babies so it was so fun to see them now at 2 1/2 and SO cute.After we left there we headed over to Remlinger Farms where Andrea's mom was having her company picnic. Andrea and I sat and ate food while the boys played catch with the football.

I have a gazillion more things to blog about, the wedding being the main attraction. But that will have to wait till later. I will however post some pics

Before we took off in Boston, do I look happy or what!?!?!?

Flying over Lake Michigan

Bryan and Andrea's kitty Smudge

I'm Leaving On a Jet Plane

Actually I already did, and I survived to tell the tale.....

We dropped Belle off at her new digs for the next week or so. I am sure she doesn't even know we are gone.

When we got to the airport yesterday in Boston we were pleasantly surprised that we didn't have a huge line to wait in and that security went way quicker and smoother than we thought. Everyone talks about it like it is the worst thing ever and it really wasn't. By the time we arrived at the airport it was just after 1 pm and we had yet to eat. So once we went through security we decided to track some food down. Unfortunately, unless you want to spend a gazillion dollars at the airport for something halfway decent, you need to settle for crappiness. So we had Burger King, I only had a Whopper Jr. and I barely could finish it as my stomach was in knots thinking about flying.

Before we knew it was time to board the plane. We were in row 15 which wasn't too bad, our seats were in front of the wing on the left side of the plane. The cool thing was that on our side of the plane there are only 2 seats as opposed to 3. So we had our little row all to ourselves. Before long the plane was taxiing down the runway and not too long after we were speeding down the runway and off we went. I did much better than I thought I would and much better than I have in the past. Once we were in the air I calmed down, settled into my seat with my book and my music. At one point we hit a crazy patch of turbulence for about 20 seconds, and it scared the BEJESUS out of me. The plane was all over the place it was like a scary ass rollercoaster ride and for a few seconds and I was convinced I was about to meet my maker. It even scared Chris a little, but that was probably mostly due to the fact he had just dozed off and I grabbed his leg in my moment of sheer terror. LOL. The pilot came on a few minutes later and apologized, he was like, "sorry about that jolt folks, that was a little unexpected." GEE ya think!?!?! Before I knew it we were starting our descent into Chicago O'Hare airport. The landing was amazing, softest and smoothest landing I have ever experienced on a plane.

Once we got off the plane we learned our flight from Chicago to Seattle had been delayed by an hour. So to kill time we just walked and wandered all over O'Hare. We had some McNasty's cause we were hungry. We did find this cool huge interactive TV touch-screen by Accenture--you can just walk up to it, and touch on any of the topics on the screen (weather, news, sports, etc) and off you go. It was actually pretty cool.

Alright--Evey had to go take a quick shower, so I will be guiding you on the second leg of our journey. The flight to Seattle out of O'Hare was pretty unexciting and uneventful. We did hit a couple of semi-bumpy patches of turbulence, but nothing like the first flight. Evey did however get to sit next to a nice girl--probably about our age, who was also talking A LOT because she was scared. I was on the window seat and I mentioned to Evey, "you found your Bosom Buddy, didn't ya?" Luckily, once the plane took off, she decided to go sleep in the unoccupied row behind us. I seriously don't think I would have been able to take her babbling all flight long.

So other than the fact that it took our luggage forever to get to the baggage claim carousel and we didn't leave the airport until about an hour had passed since we landed....everything went seamlessly. So here we are in Seattle, going to Jen and Ryan's wedding, visiting family and friends and rooting the Hawks on!

I had my head full of things today I wanted to blog about, but now that I sit here at the computer I can't seem to remember all of them.

I want to say congrats to our good friends Jeff and Carolynne Brown on the birth of their healthy baby boy. What a little blessing he is, I can't wait to meet him.

GRANT FIELDON BROWN

August 31, 2006

7 pounds

20 inches

Yesterday Chris and I helped our friends Chris and Kellie pack up their apartment and load up their rental truck. They are from Alabama and were only here for a year while Kellie did a psychology program here in Boston. Now that she is done they are headed back home to Alabama. We will miss them and their dog Maggie who I walked.

We were at KFC today and there was this horrible man with his wife/girlfriend and he was MEAN MEAN MEAN! If he wasn't so scary looking I may have told him to shut it. He made her wait in the long line and get their food while he sat down and bitched the whole time about everything and anything. He had no problem yelling at her in front of everyone. He didn't like what she ordered because it was "a waste of money" and "looked like crap" and told her she was dumb. Then he corrected himself and told her she was dumb before. It was so horrible. I don't get why women stay with men like that, it makes me sick to my stomach.

6 more sleeps till we go to Seattle! YAY! I am however sad about leaving my puppy for the first time ever. All of you without dogs make fun of me if you will. Those of you with dogs will understand I am sure.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!