Sunday, September 30, 2012

September 2012 iPhone Pictures

Labor Day weekend is always a big hot air balloon festival in Colorado Springs.  We decided to try it out this year and check it out!  It meant getting up and out the door by 6:30 a.m. on a Saturday but it was worth it.  So much fun to see all the balloons on a beautiful blue sky morning.  And we followed up the adventure by picking up donuts - so couldn't go wrong on that end! I can't wait to go again next year now that I know how beautiful it is to see.










 We enjoyed some time at parks and walking on the trail in September when the weather was still fairly warm.


And of course a lot of time was spent loving on Asher, playing with him and taking pictures of him!




Eliza had her first field trip to Garden of the Gods:


I started Singers Company in September: 

Rob learned how to keep Chloe out of cupboards and survived a weekend by himself with the girls:


And Asher started thinking about crawling (perfected it in October though) but really just liked smiling at us a lot: 


Saturday, September 22, 2012

Rob's Birthday

Rob is not that big on celebrating birthdays but the kids love to celebrate!  We made a homemade German chocolate cake for his birthday (September 22nd) and the girls helped blow out the candles and helped him open up the presents.  He wasn't feeling very well that day so we didn't do much but did enjoy a visit the following day from his cousin's family who was looking into relocating to Colorado.









Monday, September 17, 2012

Washington Trip 2012

On a weekend in the middle of September, I took a quick trip up to Washington with Asher in tow.  I left the girls at home for the weekend with Rob.  My dad and Debbie decided to sell the house that I grew up in and I wanted to say "goodbye" to the house that held many memories for me.  And it was a chance to relive a few of my favorite places from Washington at the same time.  It was a little emotional to be back there in the home that my mother passed away in and to visit her grave and to think about all the happy and sad times in the house, but I'm so glad that my Dad and Debbie gave me this opportunity. I know I will make it back up to Washington some day to show my kids and to visit my mom's grave, but it won't ever involve staying in the same house again so it's a little sad.


When I flew in, we headed straight to the Puyallup Fair.  If you didn't grow up in Washington, the allure of the Puyallup Fair probably doesn't make a bit of sense.  But it was one of the highlights of the fall every year!  They would give us free tickets in school to go to the fair, we would get a half day from school and it involved fun times with friends, lots of fair food, rides, and the all that good stuff.  Pure nostalgia!  And fun to run into an old high school teacher and some friends while were were there.

The next morning my dad and I headed over to Lakewood Donuts for some yummy fried donut goodness.  There is nothing like Lakewood Donuts and reminds me of my mom who would always go and pick these up and have them ready when I came home to visit from college.  (Apparently this weekend involved a lot of eating!).   


Then my dad and I headed over to the cemetery (behind our house) to clean off the headstone on my mom's grave.  We were able to get it nice and shiny in a short amount of time and the sun can out right when we were done.


That afternoon we headed up to Seattle.  Unfortunately there were no sporting events going on this weekend up in Seattle so I couldn't relive some of those memories!  We did hit up Pikes Place Market and a fantastic gyro spot and watch the fish being thrown and see the amazing seafood, walk along the waterfront and visit favorites like Ye Olde Curiosity Shoppe, and of course Ivar's on the pier to eat and feed the seagulls.  It was fun to see the giant ferris wheel on the waterfront but I wasn't about to pay a small fortune just to ride it!  It was a beautiful and sunny day in Seattle which made it even harder to say goodbye to one of my favorite cities in the world.  
















The next day, my dad and Debbie were speaking in Sunset Ward and my uncle Dale and aunt Kelley drove up from Vancouver to see us and hear them talk.  It was hard to keep my emotions in check during my dad's talk about the many wonderful years that my family was a part of that ward in University Place and the friendships that will continue on and the service that was done on behalf of my family during my mom's fight with cancer and afterwards.

After church, we had a quick lunch and then went to the cemetery to see my mom's grave again and put flowers on it.  Then we went for a walk at Chambers Bay.  I still can't believe that this place was built AFTER I graduated from high school!  It was another beautiful sunny day and we were able to take some pictures (some in the exact same spot that I took with Chloe when she was close tot he same age as Asher) and pick some wild blackberries to enjoy.












I totally forgot to take pictures but that afternoon my dear friends Laura and Jessie came by with their kids for a quick visit!  Love those girls and wouldn't have survived my high school years without them.  So fun to see us as PARENTS now!

That night was my last one in Washington and we were able to see an amazing sunset (the picture doesn't do it justice!) and drive around to many of the places that I loved growing up - Ruston Way, Narrows Bridge, etc.   I took a few pictures of the outside of the home as I remember it! It's amazing how small it looks from the outside - so deceptive.  I had no clue until I became a homeowner how lucky we were to live in such a large house with so much space.  My bedroom growing up in that house is as big as my current master bedroom!  Debbie did a wonderful job remodeling the inside of the house so it doesn't look the same as it was when I was living there (and looks fantastic!).  And the beautiful oak tree rotted this last year and was taken down out of the cemetery so that doesn't look the same either.









Goodbye to 6106 Woodlake Drive!  Never thought it would be so hard to say goodbye to a house but it was many years of happy memories with and of my mom stored up in that house.  I know I'll be back to the area to visit again someday but never again in that house.