Joe & Rachelle's Weddding Day!

On Saturday, September 15th, Rachelle (Brandon's little sister) and Joe were married. It was a beautiful day! Ellie was a flower girl so it was big day for her! It was a big responsibility for her but she did such a good job. I was so worried that she wasn't going to walk down the aisle but she did it!

Our little girl!
Family photo

GO HUSKYS!

This weekend we were determined that we were going to paint our kitchen. We have been planning on it for some time but have put it off... so this was the weekend. Brandon was even going to sacrifice watching the BYU vs. UCLA football game so that we could accomplish this goal. Well... Saturday morning started off great and we did our first coat of yellow.... it is actually the third coat.... the first two attempts of yellow failed miserably (as in neon yellow looking) so we finally went with Hawthorne Yellow... part of the new Benjamin Moore line in association with Pottery Barn. Anyway, we see our neighbor from across the street walking over to our house... and temptation was standing at our door..... two tickets to the University of Washington Huskies vs. Boise State football game. We caved in and went to the game. It was worth it! We had a great time. And we even finished painting the kitchen on Saturday night (while listening to the BYU game of course!

Labor Day

On Labor Day we joined our friends, the Karrens, on a hike. We had planned on hiking Mt. Si. It is about 4,000 ft and a four mile hike. With three kiddos and four adults we hiked Mt. Si... we just didn't make it to the top. But we had fun along the way :)

Ballard Locks

After our trip to the chocolate factory we headed over to the Ballard Locks. In this area there are 2 navigational locks, a fish ladder, and a botanical garden. The locks allow vessels to pass from fresh water Lake Washington, into the salt water of Puget Sound. Ellie had such a fun time watching the boats rise in the water and then as they passed through to the other body of water.


The highlight for Ellie was watching the fish ladder. We came at the perfect time of year... the ladder was FULL of salmon swimming up it on their way to lay their eggs.

I Won the Golden Ticket

Brandon discovered, through the recommendation of a coworker, that you can take tours of our local Theo Chocolate factory. He made reservations and we headed with our friends, the Karrens, on a trip to the chocolate factory. Before going on this tour I thought that I knew chocolate pretty welll.. considering the obsession that I have with it.... but I soon discovered that I really knew very little and had very poor taste in the quality of chocolate that I had previously adored.

Theo Chocolates, which has only been around for a couple of years, just recently won the top prize at the Fancy Food Awards in Manhattan. They say this award is like "the oscars of the the food world." But talk is cheap... I have tasted it and I am now totally a brand loyal costumer of Theo Chocolates.
I have never tried so many different types of chocolate.... especially so much DIVINE chocolate in one hour of my entire life. It was truly unbelievable. I am hooked. They make their chocolate bars with cocoa beans strictly from specific regions.... for example they have the Ghana bar, the Madagascar bar, the Venezualan bar. Did I mention that they are the first chocolate factory to only use fair trade cocoa beans. I was truly impressed. And I am now addicted to not only chocolate but more specifically Theo chocolate.

Ellie and Jack anticipating all the chocolate they would recieve along the tour. They were not disappointed. I know Ellie has never had so much chocolate in her little life. There were approximately 20 people on the tour. As Nicole, our tour guide, stopped to teach us things along the way... Ellie would see the bowls of samples that Nicole had on the table behind her. She would louder proclaim... ooooooo bite! Which is her waying of asking for a bite of that yummy chocolate.
This is the nib. We learned all about how they make chocolate from the cocoa beans. The nib is the final raw form of the inner core of the bean before they begin the process of turning it into the good stuff.
Ellie enjoying her treats along the way.

The Oregon Coast

We took a trip to Cannon Beach on the Oregon coast last weekend. We had a great time playing around in the water. Ellie was the most adventurous and wasn't afraid of the cold ocean at all! She loved running after and away from the waves! We had a great time watching her excitment with ocean!

Lovin' it!

A little game of catch me if you can!
All smiles Splashin' in the waves
The three of us in front of haystack rock Ellie getting burried in the sand

There were some beautiful state parks nearby and we had fun going on little hikes.

Last Weekend...

Last weekend, while we were still in vacation mode, we decided to try out a few things here in Seattle that we have been wanting to do. Brandon has been wanting to take Ellie and I canoeing out on Lake Washington ever since the weather has gotten nice... so last Friday we decided to rent a canoe and go out on the lake. It was beautiful! We all had a great time... even though it really was rather exhausting! We chose the perfect day to go out.

Brandon and Ellie on the water
We tried out a new Indian restaurant with our friends the Bagleys. Ellie was so excited to see her friend Hazel again.

After dinner we decided to go to the drive-in. We hadn't really planned this ahead of time so we didn't have a sitter for Ellie... so we decided to just bring her along. The show didn't start until 9:30 pm so we were worried about whether or not she would fall asleep. Well.. it turned out perfectly! She fell asleep on the drive down to the drive-in and slept for the whole show ....until about 15 minutes before the end. She woke up and was so excited! She got out of her carseat and was a little bit amazed at the big screen before her. We decided not to stay for the double feature seeing as she was never going to fall back to sleep while watching a show. But it was a great time!

July- A Month Long Vacation

Well... it has been a month and we are finally back! Ellie and I headed on our trip a week earlier than expected to squeeze in a couple more adventures than we had originally planned. I changed our ticket two hours before the flight was leaving and packed a month worth of clothes for Ellie and myself in an hours time and rushed to the airport in 12 minutes to arrive within forty five minutes of the flights departure. We wanted to make it to Utah in time for the caravan that was heading up to Idaho be hang out on Jeanette (my oldest sisters) farm for a week.

Ellie loved it. The first night we were there we were barbequeing in the backyard. Ellie kept coming up to me saying something like goose (I thought we was saying shoes) and trying to pull me over to show me something. I couldn't figure out what she was saying until I finally relented and followed her so she could show me whatever it was that she had found. Well.. it turns out that she didn't know the difference between chickens and geese.... because she wanted to show the chickens! She loved seeing animals and playing with all of her cousins at my sisters house.

For the fourth of July we headed to Jackson Hole Wyoming.

Watching the Shoot Out

Ellie and her cousin, Lydia, Dancing before the fireworks began

Ellie resting before the fireworks show.

I was so worried about keeping Ellie up so late to watch the fireworks. It turns out I didn't need to worry afterall. She was laying down next to me during the fireworks. When the show started for the first couple of fireworks she would say.. I scared... then say, more. For the first three rounds of fireworks this was her routine. Then I didn't hear anything... she fell right to sleep and slept through the remainder of the fireworks show! I couldn't believe it!

The next adventure for the family was Yellowstone Park. Ellie loved seeing all the animals... bison, geese, elk, and deer. The highlight of the day was swimming the river!

Watching Old Faithful!
A day at the Hot Springs!
After a week in Idaho we headed back for Utah for two weeks at my parents house in Park City.
There were two things that Ellie just LOVED at my parents house in Park City.

The first was their trampoline.

Playtime with grandpa and the grandkids!

The second was Nate and Carla's dog, Tofu. She couldn't get enough of him! The poor little guy was scared to death of her... but I think they eventually learned how to get along.

The last of the four weeks was a family reuion at Lake Tahoe in California. It was beautiful! We spent the week on the beach, at the pool, bicycling around the lake, hiking and playing games.