Seattle Parks

Saturday and Sunday were relaxing but Monday was a day to get things done! Brent decided that he wanted to be tourist in Seattle! It was a great idea and I was totally excited, until I looked out the window and saw a steady downpour of rain. that is when I became less excited about the prospect of walking around outside all day. When we were in London is rained, but since we were in London it was exciting, not daunting. Despite the rain we took off for Seattle!

Our first few stop were Parks, which is exactly what I wanted to do in the rain ;) 

Carkeek Park was the first place we went. Brent said this park had a great view of the Olympic Mountain range.   

 I am sure he is right but because of the overcast sky we couldn't really see anything.

At the Park there were  some funky statues.  I really liked tis one.

The park was right next the the oceans.  I was tempted to jump on in, but decided against it.

I loved the funky algae covered rocks on the ocean side.

Another statue in the park.

The second park we went to was the Golden Gardens park.  Half the park was beach and the other half was harbor. We saw a class of scuba divers swimming back and forth between the two.

Perhaps our flash was a little to bright?

The parks were really fun. It was hard to do anything but get out of the car and look around and then go to the next place. We plan to do the parks again in the future when it is nicer so we can actual hike and enjoy the surroundings!

Seattle Trip!

Once a year we try to make it up to Seattle with Brent's family and watch some Mariners Baseball! This year we were pretty lucky to have the same chance! We arrived late Friday night and were so tired we decided to go straight to bed! It was a good decision.

Saturday and Sunday were comprised of relaxing!  It was really nice.  We went to Bucks for lunch on Saturday.  Sean said that Buck's is a pretty famous spot for good seafood.  I got a cup of clam chowder and it was sure tasty!

Later that day we went to Zach, Mel's son, soccer game.  It was nice to watch a soccer game.  I am not a really big soccer fan, but it was nice just to see all these boys working so hard!

After church on Sunday we went to a farmers market, down on the Harbor.  Brent did a wonderful job taking some artistic photo's.

Here we are at the harbor.

Brent with his mom at the Farmer's market!  

Sean had Brent and I sneak Mel some wonderful flowers. Flowers are SO inexpensive at the farmers market.  I told Brent that is we lived there he would have to buy me some every week they were so beautiful!

Another wonderful artsy photo.  I like how the buoys kind of look like Chinese lanterns.

The Gateway to the water.  I really liked the framing of the walkway.

Saturday and Sunday were a really nice relaxing time.  We spent a lot of time with the family, just catching up. We also watched the movie Hanna, and I wasn't to impressed.  The weather was a great Northwest windy, drizzly, gorgeous green!

Johnny Rocket and The Silverton

After driving the car all the way back from Portland (by myself) it was nice to have a day to recoup. On Friday evening we went out with Erin and James, who had just moved here to work at the same firm as Brent.

We went to the Silverton Casino and ate at Johnny Rocket's.  It is this 60's style diner.  James order a sampler plate with mini hamburgers and hot dog.  Jadie, Erin and James 14 months old daughter, really enjoyed the hot dog.  James also got a yummy dark chocolate strawberry milkshake.  Jadie, took that milkshake down!  James looked away for about a minute until he realized Jadie had drank about half of it!

Here is the Ketchup they gave me!  Isn't it just the cutest little face?

Since the Casino is mermaid themed, you get cool features like this!  Those tanks are full of Jelly Fish!  The tank changes colors too.

The Silverton also has a really amazing Bass Pro Shop.  I am thinking it is bigger than Cabella's. Here is James and Jadie looking at a fish pond.

Brent just fitting in with the wild life.

Isn't this a really cute little cub!  He was really kind to let me pet him!

Erin and James playing Wii hunting.  It is pretty much the only form hunting I endorse.

Overall it was a really fun time.  We saw the mermaid again, but Jadie pretty much started crying at the site of her!  Going out with James and Erin is always a good time and I think we plan to do it again very soon!

Labor Day in Portland

I have been travelling a lot lately.  It started out with Utah, then San Diego and my third trip was to Portland over Labor day!

I have three major reasons to want to see my family all the time... 

Those reasons are Austin...

 Brody...

And Braden (apparently I didn't have a photo of him from Portland.)

 One of the favorite past times of all three boys was this... getting food out of every possible source.  I believe Brody had a fudge-cicle for breakfast one morning. Austin didn't like the cold so he would get any other type of food he could.  

 Austin set his sights on basically every animal in his sight. He was even daring enough to hug Itty Bitty.  The old cat put up with it decently, but you could tell he was close to showing Austin who was boss.

Over the weekend we did a lot of fun, relaxed things.  I bought a car, and Maren and Blake bought a van. We watch the first BYU game (which was torture since they almost lost), and we celebrated Toren's 30th birthday!

 Since we didn't want to share the cake with the kids, we waited until they were all in bed!  After singing Happy Birthday, Braden came down.  He told Maren "Mom, can I stay down here?  It is just soooo boring up there (in bed)."  Braden is such a little negotiator, but with something so cute it is no wonder Maren let him stay.

He sat on Blake's lap and just chattered to himself for a good hour!  He was adorable!

Toren requested that my mom make the famous chocolate cake, with no additions... and that is what he got. 

Portland was a great relaxing trip, and since we purchased a new car I was able to drive it home.  It was a turbulent ride where I way overdosed on 5 hour energy to stay awake. Although I had a hard time sleeping, I was able to drive safety home!

Thank you to my Aunt Patty who let me take a day of rest in Utah.  I got a great chance to catch up with them and see some friends!

Overall this was a great great trip.  I love having such a wonderful family!

India Parade

So it is pretty pointless to remind everyone that I am attempting to find where I fit in Vegas.  To help in this endeavor Brent has found so community activities that we thought it would be fun to participate in.  Our first activity was for the India Independence Day Parade.

We arrived only a few minutes before the parade was suppose to start.  The streets were practically empty so I was a little concerned that we had either missed it or it wasn't actually going to happen.  

For some reason the Porta-Potties were very funny to me 

It says "PORTA JANE: BECAUSE JOHN CAN'T AIM!"

Since the Parade was running late we ran across the street to grab a slurpee.  Did we need to sugar or calories?  Nope, but it was delicious anyway!

The parade start with a woman who had the most annoying voice.  She seemed to like her own voice more than anything else.  Despite the annoying announcer we were able to see some beautiful native dress.  The multiple colored outfit in the middle was all sparkles!  It was gorgeous!

The parade turned out to be less than lack luster.  Here is suppose to be a famous Indian Warrior...

These four girls were cute.  They would dance with the four pieces then them combine them to make the shape of India.  They did a nice job.

Here is what a typical "float" looked like.  It seemed that ever region of India was suppose to have a float but no one want to actually make one, so it ended up being people from that area just walking down the street.

These girls were a great source of culture.  They were actual Indian dancers.  Not as impressive as more professional Indian dances I have seen but it was fun to watch either way.

Out of the whole parade there was one float and here it is.... Yes, I was unaware that Elmo, Sponge Bob, Yurtle the Turtle, and other characters were actually native Indians... crazy.

In short, the parade was a bust, but it was fun getting out there to try something new and different, and I think we will be trying these type of social experiments more frequently!