A moment to reflect...

 

So... I woke up a couple mornings ago to find our entire apartment full of orange light.  I went out on our patio and this is what I saw... Isn't it beautiful?  I guess there is a perk to being an early riser :)... But seriously, waking up and being caught off guard by this beautiful peaceful moment gave me the opportunity to take advantage of the silence and think about life and the many blessing in my own.  This summer away from home has been a learning experience full of all types of adventures.  It has been such a blessing and so much fun for Jason and I to see a new place.  Washington has been busy and great, full of new people and experiences, and now that our stay is almost spent we are very ready to come home.  We love and miss our families so much and can't wait to see everyone again.  We are so blessed to have each other, our fabulous families, the gospel and the opportunities the learn and grow each day.    I just wanted to take a moment to appreciate our life. We are so blessed.  Washington has been great and now we are ready and can't wait to be home! 

A few more pictures...

The furniture they provided for us.... 

Another view... our Fireplace and lovely mantle decorations...

Our Balcony... with our Favorite Chairs and BBQ

Another view of our bathroom... so that I can remember just how spacious it is :)

Our Kitchen Table... Which seems to be more of a computer desk these days... Please note our only piece of home hanging on the wall!  Goodness I'm grateful for that calandar!!! We sure miss everyone like crazy! 

Our Home Away From Home...

Everyone has asked what our apartment here in Seattle looks like and I have been the world's slowest human at posting pictures of our little place, but better late than never right?  Here is our little place.... 

 

Our shower curtain is my favorite part... we will definately be missing this huge bathroom when we go home, it has been so luxurious!  

Our Kitchen

Our Bedroom... Check out our sheet we hang over the blinds so that the sun doesn't wake us up at six am :)

The Ride Home...

After a long day out in the sun on the boat we were pretty hammered and ready to head back home.  The time we had in between our boat returning and the Ferry departure times were a little too close for comfort so the moment the boat was docked Jason was the first one off running to get our car and take it over to the Ferry.  Apparently it was our day because Jason was the last car they let into the overflow of the Ferry... the very last one on!  Holy cow, such a relief!  After waiting for a while to board we rode the Ferry back with the Fords and all of us stopped at a little Mexican restaurant on our way home.  I seriously miss Mexican food!  That is only the second time we've had it all summer!!  It is my favorite!  Anywhoo... It was a fabulous little vacation from reality and we absolutely loved it!! 

Dylan reading while we waited for the Ferry

Jason and Dylan on the Boat

The ORCAS!!!

A continuation of our little adventure... The next morning we checked-out of the Orca Inn and met our friends the Fords down by the ferry to check in for the whale watch.  We went to grab some breakfast at a little local cafe...which I am secretly wishing I had taken pictures of... It had fish painted all over the walls with the faces of the locals painted onto them!  At first I thought it was a little strange, then there was a little family sitting next to us and the dad was pointing out to his old football coach and their cousin and the crazy lady who lived down the street.  It was pretty sweet, real live small town!  After breakfast we headed down to the dock to wait for our boat.  It was sooooo fabulous! We could not have asked for a more beautiful day!  The sun was shining, the sky was clear and the whales decided to make an appearance!  On our way to the whales we were lucky enough to see some harbor seals lying on a beach and even luckier when we could spot an occasional one swimming in the water near our boat! They were so darling!!  We loved it!  We also saw a Bald Eagle, it was so beautiful and peaceful perched up in a pine tree. . . so cool to see these fascinating animals in their element.  Overall it was a beautiful day and truly amazing to see these gaint orca's swimming along.  It was like Planet Earth real live!  Loved it!!! 

Jason and I on the boat

SAN JUAN ISLAND!!

Our last Monday off has officially come and gone and we finally took advantage of it to go on an adventure!  After spending most of our Mondays re-couping from the crazy two weeks in between we decided that we were going to go whale watching!!  We checked out ferry times, made reservations on a boat and by the time we were finished making plans we had decided to extend our day trip into a little adventure and spend sunday night on the island!  In theory our adventure was perfectly planned to go smoothly, in reality we were super lucky everything came together... Overall, we completely enjoyed our escape from work and telephones, it was amazing!  Our first itinerary detour was at the ferry.  We arrived 15 minutes before it was supposed to leave but, unfortunately because we were taking a vehicle with us,  it was full and we had to wait 3 1/2 hours for the next ferry.  In the mean time Jason, Dylan (jason's little bro) and I folded down the back seat of the car and played all kinds of card games and watched planet earth.  It was so nice to just kick it and have no immediate deadlines or responsibilities.  By the time we were finally on the ferry we were super tired, and super hungry by the time we got off!   We drove around for a bit using the GPS to locate restaurants, unfortunately everything was dark and closed except for a smoke filled bar and a fancy chinese place.  We walked into the chinese place only to find that they were only doing take out and we were the very last order they were willing to place! Lucky us, eh?  We ordered our food got back in the car and began looking for our hotel.  After driving around a while we finally found it.   Jason went in to see if they had any rooms available and they said they were completely booked... but since it was so late and their office hours were over they were super nice and let us have a "no show's" room.  Excited that we actually had somewhere to sleep we were super surprised when we opened the door to find the tiniest hotel room I have ever seen!  It was incredible!!  We laughed about it then had a little picnic on the bed since there was no where else to go or sit in the little room.  After finally filling our empty tummies we watched some sweet tv shows on killer ants and great white sharks... overall, it was a fabulous day!! 

Jason and I on the Ferry

Dylan on the Ferry

Our TINY hotel room...notice the door knob on the left and the wall Jason is leaning against...yup... you are officially viewing the entire width of the room! 

Our picnic on the bed

The Finale to my "Catch Up" ...The Fourth of July!

So, after reading Em's blog and seeing the pics I definately feel like we totally got gyped on the Fourth of July! First of all, we were working until about 5 pm... Before work, I was able to go to the Everett Parade with our friends the Fords. They were so nice to invite me along, Jason was already working by that point in the day, total bummer, but it turned out to be a fun little adventure. It definately wasn't the kind of parade we were used to... no floats, no candy...just cars and marching drill teams (that didn't look like any kind of drill teams I have ever seen before..) But it was fun to feel like we were actually doing something out of the norm :). When we did finally get off work we went to dinner at Red Robin (our latest favorite restuarant... I LOVE the bottomless beverages with berries in them!!) Then we went with most of the office to watch fireworks down over the bay! ... Which, would sound like a pretty awesome show right?! Hmmmm, don't worry. We sat and sat and sat and waited... we could see firework shows going off far away across the bay, but nothing near us. We kept waiting and then all of the sudden everyone around us started getting up and packing up their stuff... apparently the show was over!!! Can you believe that?! ...and there were tons of people there! It was amazing to us, we decided they must not know what they are missing to have come out in excitement for a show like that! Hmm, maybe that wasn't very nice, but seriously, if you had been there you'd agree! Well, Happy Fourth anyway, right? Gotta love it!

The Incredible Hike!

Jason and Dylan climbing onto a huge rock in the middle of the river

Jason and Dylan

Everyone crossing over to the boulder in the middle

Jason and I at the falls

Dylan crossing back over

Keira and I under the dripping log

Me showing you the trail in this beautiful forest!

Dylan out on a fallen tree hanging over the river

Jason, Dylan and I on the log bridge

Me, Jason, Steve and Kiera on the log bridge

So we had a fabulous day off... For the second time we actually went somewhere and didn't have to work!!! I seriously love when that happens!! Anyways, one of our techs, who is now cooking at the Space Needle restuarant gave us the directions to this hike so we decided to check it out.... it has become a hit. Once everyone saw our pictures, everyone decided they needed to go as well! We went with Jason's little brother Dylan and our good friends the Fords (Steve and Keira). It was in the middle of no where and we didn't really know what to expect, but when we finally got there we couldn't believe how beautiful it was! So incredible!

A VeRy Happy UN-Birthday to you!!

This is what Jason came home to after a super LONG week of work

The birthday king in in all his glory

Jason and I sporting our SWEET Hats :)

Steve, Keira, me and Jason celebrating in our once again, awesome hats. Thanks Keira!

Dylan making use of our hats a couple days later :)

So... I know this probably seems a little crazy but, I planned this months ahead of time and the day finally arrived. A little background, Jason's birthday is December 21st and last year it happened to fall on the day we flew home from our honeymoon.... Needless to say, we weren't really able to celebrate it like a normal birthday and in the rush of the holidays we weren't really able to ever make it up. So, I decided a half-birthday was the perfect opportunity. So, June 21st this is what Jason came home to! He had no idea and it kept Keira and I busy in the office that day. We had a great time, I wrapped the presents over and over in newspaper coupons because we didn't have wrapping paper, Keira googled how to make party hats, we made a cake and it was fabulous! ...Did I mention that when we went out to dinner that night the restuarant made him wear a giant fish hat when they sang to him?! Ha ha ha pretty sure it was awesome!

When the sun finally came out!

Jason and I standing on the dock

Jason lovin' on me!

I like this pic a lot, finally taking a break

So I think I am going to play "catch-up and post on the few things that we have done that we have pics of... This was one of our first weeks here in Seattle. The sun finally came out so we decided to take a Sunday walk with our good friends the Fords. We went to see the ocean which is about 5 minutes from our apartment (I had no idea) and a little lighthouse that is supposedly a well known landmark... Honestly, we thought it was pretty over-rated and it smelled like urine... definately not a site we need to visit again! But it was a beautiful day and we had a great time with our friends!