Spring Trip to Seattle 5

We had a miny family reunion in Seattle. My uncle was up there for work and my cousin and his wife and daughter had just moved from Arizona to Seattle within the last three months. So we all gathered together for Sunday dinner right before SM and I headed home. It was AWESOME to see my uncle and cousin since it has been years since I saw them last.

Spring Trip to Seattle 4

Saturday started with the sun shining. This was a wonderful sign and so we decided to go for a hike and hike down to the beach.This is a view overlooking the beach.

The weather was still kind of cold but it didn't stop us from enjoying the view nor the hike.

Look at the giant remnants of a tree trunk. It is so large. We took a photo without me in it...but you really need me in the picture to have a comparison point.

This is a bridge that crosses over some railroad tracks. While we were there, we saw a very large train on those very tracks and my nephew kept calling "Thomas! Thomas!" for Thomas the Tank Engine.
And the beach...apparently it was high tide because there was no sand to play with...it was all under water. So, the kids did the next best thing...they threw rocks into the water.
I absolutely love this photo. It is moss growing on a decomposing tree trunk. SM took the photo after I showed him how cool the moss was...and he did an excellent job with the photo.
After the hike, we returned to the park where we had started the hike to let the kids play on the play toys. I really liked this photo but I think it needs to be cropped differently (but I haven't yet figured out Photo Shop).

Spring Trip to Seattle 3

Friday morning we ran some errands. My brother went to work. I'm not sure when I caught him pulling his grass up but it was either Friday or Saturday. He cleared an area for a garden at him home. He also put more dirt in the garden area. He doesn't have a wheel barrow so he was transporting dirt in a plastic container that he'd stick part of his on his daughters' tricycle and "wheel" it across the yard. I have a "genius" for a brother!!

My nephew really wanted to join his dad outside for all the "fun" but it was still too cold and too wet for him to be playing outside.

I did get to go outside since I'm the adult. I love my brother and SIL's backyard. It is really pretty.

Below is a picture of my brother being weird. It happens all the time!!
We decided to go out to dinner Friday night to The Claim Jumper. When we visited my brother and SIL two years ago, we also went to this same restaurant and had a great time and so we decided to try it again.
As a weird coincidence, we were put in the same booth as we had two years ago. And the air conditioning was still too cool in that area.
Two years ago, we only took one kid to the restaurant and my SIL was expecting her second child. This time we took two kids with us AND my SIL is expecting her third child. It's all kind of deja vu-ish.
And last but not least, another picture I took through the tinted back seat window of the van...but a very pretty sunset through all the trees.

Spring Trip to Seattle 2

On Thursday, my brother stayed home from work because he was sick. Luckily, he didn't have to stay home in bed and was able to take us on a trip to Snohomish. But before we left, we were visited by a superhero...my niece. She was running up and down the hallway and I had to get a picture of her in her cape.

Snohomish is a town with lots of antique stores on main street. My SIL (sister-in-law) likes to travel there to take photos. She is a photographer who takes photos of people. Below is a picture of me with a cool frog.Below is a picture of my niece in some awesome glasses that we found in a store full of antiques and nick-knacks. Note: she is still wearing her superhero cape. It did come in handy later after a leaky diaper left her younger brother without any pants.

I had a good time walking through this incredibly packed store...but I do consider most of the "stuff" in the store, JUNK!
Here's my brother pushing the double stroller. Unfortunately you couldn't push it further back into the store and so he circled the stroller around and around and kept the kids occupied while we meandered through all the "stuff."
We promised the kids a piece of pie if they would stay in the stroller the whole time. So this is a photo of my niece finishing off her piece of pie. We actually bought a whole pie and took it home for the rest of us to eat...and we did eat it all weekend.
My brother took his hat off for the picture...that's why his hair looks so funny. Don't I have great lookin' family? I think so, plus they are genuine people.

I had to finish this post with this picture of my nephew. We had so much fun hearing him talk and talk. He's at the point where he is combining two or three words into small sentences and it was great to hear what came out.
By the end of our trip I found myself quoting my nephew with one of his frequently used phrases...."okay, okay, okay"...with emphasis placed at all different areas depending on the situation.

Spring Trip to Seattle 1

This last week SM and I traveled to Seattle to visit my brother and his family.
Our first day we down to the docks and Pike's Market Place. SM and I had some really yummy fish and chips (a must when you are in Seattle) and a great time walking around. We've now been to Seattle two times and both times we've had cold weather, which means that there aren't a lot of people at Pike's Market Place and we've had a great time without the crowds.

Here's a photo of the opposite side of Pike Place Market.My niece wanted to look across the harbor. We had a great adventure in downtown Seattle.

SM took over pushing the stroller towards the end of the adventure. It's a great ride if you are three and almost two!
What happens when you take a picture with this huge bronze pig? I really don't know but everyone else was taking a picture with the pig and so we thought we should.

And we held hands with this wooden gorilla...the crazy things to do in Seattle!!

On the way home from Pike Place Market, we drove past the Space Needle and I took a photo through the tinted car windows. It actually looks really good PLUS I got a photo of the Space Needle.This is one of my favorite photos. I think it shows our personality!!

Another Painting

I finished this painting yesterday...or I guess I should say I finally painted this picture. I did the sketch for this painting last summer before we moved...but at the time I felt like my creative side had jumped in the background. And I guess it really did since I packed and organized instead of painting...which was very important. Okay, enough musing. Here is another fairy painting.

More Scarves

So, I found more yarn at BigLots...and since it was only $1.50 a sceen, I bought some colors and did some more decorative scarves. The above scarf as hot pink, purple, blue, copper, and orange in it. It's hard to see all those colors against the orange shirt that I'm wearing but it is sure cute.

This black scarf will go great with everything...except not an orange shirt, I look like a pumpkin.

I wore this scarf to church on Sunday and gave a talk in Sacrament Meeting. The shirt I wore under the scarf was the same color green as the scarf. "It is bold...I like it." (movie quote)

"Ta-da." A little bit of what I've been doing in the evening while watching TV.

Brother's new house

My youngest brother just bought his first house. His wife is expecting their second child next week. So, when do you move in? After the painting is done, of course. Last Friday my mom, myself and my brother spent the afternoon/evening painting at his new house.

I got the lucky job of climbing on top of the cupboards to paint the tall walls of the kitchen. I've always had a small fear of heights but for some reason I wasn't scared at all. Though, I did end up with paint all along the back of my shirt since I kept leaning on the wall until I figured out a better way of painting that didn't take the paint off the wall.

My poor brother is in an exhausted state of being, right now, as he tries to get the whole upstairs painted, pack up a house, unpack a house and all before baby day on Monday.

My brother has had some help from different family members, and I'm glad because this is a brother that will always come and help when you ask it from him.
This is his little girl. She kept asking if she could paint but "luckily" she didn't wear her paint clothes and so she couldn't help. But she is awfully cute and did give us a laugh or two.

New kind of painting

This painting is watercolor, so that's not new. The new part is that I painted this from a photo rather than another persons' artwork. I have been thinking of this painting since August and finally took the time to pull out my paints and try it. This is a picture of the Bodie Island Lighthouse in North Carolina. I took the photo and really liked how it looked, plus I really like lighthouses and so I was a little intimidated to start...but it turned out great.