Holiday Wishes

Our Christmas was relaxed, calm, and quite lovely!  We continue our weekend with

being home as a family, enjoying time away from work, just loving each other up!

We hope the holidays treated you well!!

Short rambling thoughts at 4:30am

Some days I look at my life and wonder how I landed where I am. 

How did I suddenly become an adult, a wife, a mother, a professional...?

I feel like I blinked and my daughters grew up.

I'm facing my 10th year of marriage, 16 years total with my man.

And although it startles me, when I pause to think about it, 

I have to say... I'm pretty damn lucky.  My life is not even close

to how I imagined it

It's better. 

Full and chaotic and crazy, lots of ups and some downs as well,

but overall, it's a good life.  One I'm proud of. 

And I'm proud of the people I share it with.

Someday, perhaps I'll get back into the groove of keeping this current.

maybe.

What I am Thankful for

It's been a good month.  Not too crazy busy, but we kept moving.
The weather has been pretty nice and our life has been fairly stable.
Ive done a lot of reflecting and thinking this past month.
What our life looks like, how our girls are growing up so fast, our
10 year anniversary is just around the corner...  our jobs, our home, family...
Lots to feel grateful for.

As I missed the actual Thanksgiving day post... I'll put one up a few days late
about the things I'm thankful for.  There are many things, but I'm just picking the
highlights!

1)  This man.  Oh, how lucky I am to have him in my life!
The reasons I'm thankful for him are too numerous to list.. you'll just have to take my word for it.  He's pretty awesome!

2) Miss Lila Kate.  She is such a strong, beautiful little girl... growing up before our eyes.  It seems like each day she changes in front of me.  She is full of creativity and questions, loves to sing, and being snuggled at the end of the day.  Lila is emotionally driven, which can be challenging at times, but I see how as she matures, this will be a benefit to her and all those around her! What a special gift she is!

3) Elaina Grace.  This one... She is one of the most unique personality combinations I have ever met! Fiery and strong-willed, yet one of the most tender-hearted and emotionally in tune sweetheart you'll ever meet.  We have a daily battle of wills and she challenges me constantly, but when something isn't right, she is right there to make sure you know she loves you and gives the best hugs around! Sassy and silly, she is a light in our lives!

4) My family... all of them.  The nuts included. I'm thankful to have such a widely varied

and extended family.  From Ryan and the girls to parents, grandparents, siblings, cousins, near and far!  I'm thankful for all of them!

5) My career.  My job is a true passion of mine.  Something I'm proud of and believe I'm good at. 

I have the opportunity to care for families in some of the most precious and intimate moments

of their lives and work hard to make it the best experience for them.  Although my hours and schedule are unusual and often taxing, I'm still very happy to be able to do what I do

6) My health and fitness.  I'm not perfect, I have illnesses and setbacks, but when I think about

all the things I could be dealing with, it's pretty great to realize how lucky I am. 

7) Coffee. Because it's a good thing

8) Bacon.  Because this is almost a perfect food.  Don't argue.  It's a fact.

9) My camera.  I used it a lot this fall and am so grateful for the ability to pick it up,

and make something special out of what I see.  Both for myself and for other families!

10) The beautiful fall we had!

11) The snow that is falling softly outside the window right now as I write this

12) Some very dear special friends.  You know who you are.  Those that fulfill

me and know all the little pieces of me (and love me anyways!)  I love you

and am forever appreciative of your roles in my life!

13) My laptop.  Because I love it.  It's awesome

14) My pretty Christmas tree, all lit up, full of color and memories!

15) Did I mention coffee?

16) Christmas cards!  The first ones of the season are slowly trickling in, and 

oh, how I love them!  I can't wait to fill our wall with them!

17) Sleep.  I'm thankful for it when I get it, and long for it when I don't 

(which is more often than not)

18) Our rowing machine.  Because it stares at me from our front room and reminds

me NOT to eat the Christmas cookies sitting in the bag on the kitchen counter!

The list goes on and on... but it's time for me to attempt that Sleep thing I mentioned!

Have a happy snowy Monday!

Wrapping up October (better late than never)

The last part of October was really busy in our little household.

Lots of stuff to do and plenty going on in our lives.  

Here are a few things that brought our October to a close this year...

We have enjoyed the wonderful weather as much as we can!  It's been a beautiful Fall

and we wanted to soak it all up!  

Met this guy in the woods at our friends cabin

The girls did a Fun Run for their school and it was a great time watching them! They were so proud of themselves, and I was proud at how well they did!  

Stop for a quick water break

I love the flushed cheeks... she was running so hard!

"MOM!!!  I did 56 laps!!"

This little girl lost her very first tooth!!!  The night of our Halloween party, it was 

barely hanging on, so Daddy gave it a little help and Ellie earned a visit from the Tooth Fairy!!

And speaking of... We had a little Halloween fun!

I had to work on Halloween, but the night before we had some friends over.  

Ryan was a good sport and let me dress him up too, what a guy!!

And on Halloween, I got the girls all ready for Trick or Treating before heading out to welcome

some new little goblins at work!  The girls looked pretty spooky, if I do say so myself!  

November has been off to a good start as well... hopefully, I'll get another post up soon!

Seattle

Ryan and I took a vacation!  A real, vacation... our 4th in 15 years together!  

We flew out to Washington, along with 2 of our friends and spent 5 days in Seattle!

Neither of us have ever been there before and we had a great time exploring the city!

I have so many photos and really really tried to narrow down which I wanted to share.

Then, I realized, that I don't really care.  I love to share my photos, and if someone wants to 

see them... great, if not... skim on, or just feel free to skip right over this whole post!
Here we go!

We decided to try a VRBO and stayed in this lovely, charming home!  It was so cute and

full of character!  Some small oddities here and there, but it all just added to the vibe!  It had

a great kitchen with a coffee bar, two lovely patios, and was in the absolute PERFECT location!

Capital hill was awesome, and we were able to walk to most of the places we wanted to see!

 This was the view from the rooftop patio!  Awesome, right?!

Capital Hill was pretty awesome!  So much to do and see and so close to everything we wanted!

If you ever go and stay there, stop and eat HERE.  You. Are. Welcome!!! Seriously... I don't even

like Mexican, and we ate there 3 out of 4 days!  

We had a delighfully, unexpected, and fun night at this joint!  Lets just say we dove right into 

the culture of Seattle!!  So much fun!! Haha

I made a new friend!

We, of course, hit up the Market!  I don't think we saw half of it, but it was so fun!  

I was amazed over and over at the Gorgeous bouquets of flowers... all for so cheap!  My camera 

was highly utilized, just capturing the beauty of them all!!!

I spent a large amount of my time, just soaking up the city!  So different from home, and so

fun and full of new sights!  I was like a kid in a candy store with my camera... just wandering a little

each day, taking it all in!  

We took the ferry to Bainbridge island and the trip over was one of the Highlights for me!

I love the water and couldn't get enough of the beautiful views!

We visited the Starbucks Reserve Roastery and Tasting Room! Wow... that place was impressive!

Plus... coolest bathroom in history.  Truth! Check it out if you're there!

We visited Discovery Park and again, I couldn't get enough of the Beautiful views!  

We were lucky to have some great weather that day too... so I was happy as a clam!

I really did enjoy checking out a lot of little local places and tried to not be uber "touristy"...

however, I found a list (on Pintrest, no less) that I really wanted to try.  

I'm so glad I did, and if you are ever there, please give them a whirl.  

http://www.saveur.com/article/Travels/Things-You-Can-Only-Get-in-Seattle?cmpid=pin

 1) Monorail Espresso: Burnt Cream Latte.   I can't say enough about the yumminess of this beverage!

So decadent, rich, not overly sweet goodness

Perefction!

 2) Frans Chocolates: Smoked salt chocolate carmels.

They too were delicious, and surprisingly I liked the milk chocolate better than the dark!

3) Skillet: Bacon Jam

The whole experience at Skillet was fun... although due to slight hangovers, too much caffeine, and rich food none of us are used to eating,
there were moments of various distress... I think I can safely say all of us thoroughly
enjoyed our trip there! The donut holes were maddeningly good, breakfast was fantastic, and our server... he was just icing on the cake!
Steven... you and your pinup boy tattoos will live forever in our hearts!! ;) 

4) Rachels Ginger Beer: Moscow/Montana mule

I came to realize that none of the places on this list were overly publicized and this one

was a little difficult to find.  Most are non-descript, little places, but they all packed a fun punch

and this was no different.  Best Moscow mule I've ever had (Ryan tried the Montana, since I'm

not a whiskey fan) and we both loved them!

5) Taylor Shellfish Farms : Geoduck (pronouced gooey-duck)

Well, in it's original form, it's far from tasty looking, but it was surprisingly good! 

Briney, but not fishy, texture similar to a scallop, and I'm oh so happy I gave it a try!

Ridiculously phallic looking, but quite tasty!

It was a vacation full of experience, culture, great food, and fun! 

I'd call that a success!