I'm Finally Back!

We had such a wonderful vacation in Seattle. We drove and stopped in Boise overnight. The next morning, we stopped to visit my good friend Sara who I grew up with and have known since I was about 5 years old. She and her husband Eric have a gorgeous home in Meridian Idaho. She is a fabulous decorator and graduated with a degree in Horticulture from BYU, so needless to say, her yard is amazing. This is just a little taste of what her yard looks like, it's by her front porch. On the left is her son Tyler, who I have to say is one of the cutest little kids, I have ever seen. Tomorrow I will be posting the long awaited slide show and there is a darling picture of him, so look for it.

This next picture is of another one of my best friends. We have also known each other since we were in Sunbeams, I still remember the teasing that went on. Tyler and his wife Tanya had their 3rd child the morning after I arrived in Seattle and I was lucky enough to go visit them in the hospital. This is Austin Lane Staples. He has two older brothers, twins, Braden and Bryce who are 15 months old. Needless to say, Tanya has her hands very, very, very, full. From what I hear, Tyler is a great dad, and the minute he walks in the door is on duty. I also got to visit Tanya later in the week and meant to take a picture of the twins, but I forgot. I'll have to get one from tyler and post it later.

This is a picture of my sister Lisa and me, right before I left for my 10 year high school reunion. Both Lisa and Caitlin were home for the weekend while I was there. It was so much fun and I'm glad they were there.

These are my girls. From left to right, Amanda, Emily, Rachel, Me, Cindy, and Melanie. (missing from this picture is Sara, who I spoke about before) This was also taken before heading off to our high school reunion. These are the girls who know me best. They are the ones who I grew up with, camped with each summer, laughed with, cried with, fought over boys with, tee peed with, danced with, and still party with every year. These are the girls I will still gather with when I'm 80. I hope they all know how important each one of them is to me and how much I love them all. (I know Emily will be ticked at me if I do not let everyone know how very pregnant, not fat, she is in this photo)Maddison and Dottie. My brother Jared and his wife Jen came to my parents ward on Sunday, and we had no Idea that Maddi and Dottie had the same dress. I guess Jen just has really great taste! We had to take these pictures after church. Aren't they so cute. Every time we go to Seattle, It has become tradition that we go visit my dad at his office and then go to lunch. He is fortunate to have worked in one of the most beautiful locations on this planet for several years now. Right accross the street from the downtown Seattle waterfront. We walked over to Ivars Fish Bar, had a great lunch, and fed the seagulls afterwards. This is at the Seattle Aquarium though you can't really tell. I thought these 2 pictures of Maddi turned out cute so I had to put them on here. Now this wasn't the highlight of the trip, but definately the most interesting thing that happened. If you count just the fire trucks you can see in this photo, there are 5, what you don't see are the 3 ambulances and countless police cars. And you cant really tell, but my car is the first car trapped behind the fire truck. We went to one of my favorite place to go see when I go home, Snoqualmie Falls. It's a waterfall nowhere near as wide as Niagara Falls, but twice as high. If any of you have ever watched the show Twin Peaks, It was filmed in the town where these falls are, North Bend, and the falls are in the opening credits of the show. On this particular day right before we arrived, apparently a woman had climbed the fence and "jumped" over the cliff side of the falls, (yes intentionally). Fortunately (or maybe unfortunately for her) she hit a rock 15 feet down which stopped her from falling hundreds of feet to her death, and clung to a tree until rescuers came and brought her back up. Hopefully the fall knocked some sense into her and made her realize, things are never that bad. These are the falls, the cliff side to the left is where she jumped from. You can see the Lodge in this photo. It is really neat. It's a popular honeymoon destination. If you ever go to Seattle this is a great place to stay for a night. Super romantice, a bit pricey, but from what I've heard, worth it. And yes, they have an excellent Spa. These are taken back at home in Utah, but my mom gave Wyatt these jammies while we were in Seattle and he looked so darn cute in them with his little cowboy hat on, I had to show you all. Maddi had to get in on the cowboy hat action too.