It doesn't always rain in Seattle.

My family made the trip across the mountains to visit during their spring break. It was much needed. I miss them so much and things have been stressful at home and work, so it was a nice little escape. I didn't have to work Monday, so we drove to Marysville to go to the Seattle Premium Outlets and then made a stop in downtown Seattle before heading home. The weather was beautiful so it worked out well. We visited Rachel's Ginger Beer that we read about in the Seattle magazine back in November and we have wanted to go ever since. It was well worth the wait. The ginger beer was delicious and My brother and I both got a cocktail. They were very tasty! As we sat enjoying our drinks, I thought to myself how lucky I am to be in this city. I truly believe it is one of the most unique and beautiful cities in the US. I am proud to call it home. Here are some photos from the trip.

Rachel's Ginger Beer

View from Ivar's

The Market:

Love this quick and easy fave!

I have had the WORST cold the last couple days. I had to call in to work this morning because it was really that bad. So obviously I was not really feelin' the idea of making dinner, which only meant one thing. BBQ'd pizzas! I buy the "Naan" Indian bread and use it for the crust which makes it super easy. You can also freeze them so you have them on hand for times like these. It's so easy and you can make so many different varieties! We do simple and classic: red sauce,mozzarella cheese, pepperoni, and black olives. Lynaya helped me make them and Matt barbecued them for us on foil so the bottoms wouldn't burn! They turn out great every time and are so tasty!

School is not cool.

Time seriously just flies by. For some reason I had decided it was a good idea to take 3 online classes at Green River. I have no clue what I was thinking, and naturally it backfired. I was so overwhelmed with homework for three months that it seemed I had no time to enjoy life. So that settled that. No school for me. Period. 

Work has been absolutely fantastic and the kids are enjoying the weather now that it is beginning to warm up. 

Here are some photos to help catch up on our lives. 

We made stockings up at the cabin. They turned out fantastic, and I love that we have personal handmade stockings each year now:

We helped the Seahawks to victory playing the Seahawks drinking game:

We had fun at Kaitlin's 13th birthday at the Four Seasons:

Thanksgiving cuties!:

We went "midnight" bowling in Yakima with my family:

We started a new christmas tradition:

We visited Santa on Christmas Eve (I'll never make that mistake again):

Tons of presents:

Laughing for no reason:

Represented on Blue Friday:

Made super cute Valentines:

The sun came out in March, so we are soaking up every second:

Khyler started basketball and is a champ!:

What a steal!

One thing I look forward to way more than I should is emails from Gap Outlet. Every now and again they send me a rare gem of an email informing me that by presenting the email at checkout for that weekend only I will receive 40% off my entire purchase. This is on top of the already reduced outlet prices that are already 40-50% off. 

So last weekend I got an email and sure enough I jetted over and struck gold! A week or two prior I had purchased two pair of jeans for Khyler because his old ones got holes in them as they usually do. (Grr. The joy of having a boy.) At that time they were both 40% off the ticketed price. Pretty good deal. Well I bought him a size 8 and of course they were WAY too big for my skin-and-bones 7 1/2 year old so I had brought them with me to exchange for a size 7. Come to find out they were now both 50% off and I had my super cool 40% off on top of that. I also realized that I had $60 remaining on a gift card I had forgotten about. So I left the store with all this and only had to pay $60!

For Lynaya:

Denim skirt

Two super cute short sleeved graphic Ts

A denim button-up shirt

Super cute polka dot ruffled bikini

For Khyler:

A pack of underwear

Solid heathered off-white Tee

Striped pirate graphic tee

Plaid button-up shirt

Solid button-up shirt

Two pair of skinny jeans

Blue khaki pants

Super awesome denim camo shorts

A whole new world.

It's like a whole different world here. A much better, far more beautiful world. Now all the beauty and warmth of summer has come to an end, what was green when we moved here in July has turned to various hues of red, orange and yellow. Autumn is the most beautiful season, but still falls second to summer in my book.

The kids have officially started back to school. Their new school is amazing! And they seem to really enjoy it as well. We have finally begun to settle in and fall into what seems to be a routine. It warms my heart to see them so happy and content. I have discovered that the challenge is going to be Lynaya. Keeping her focused and on task. She is 100% me in do many ways that I almost feel badly for her. I was so distracted in school and it became a challenge the older I got. I guess I have to be grateful that I am aware of it at least, so I can help her in ways that my parents were not able to.

I spent one Friday off working on my new found project, the office. I have realized I want to thrift shop but don't have the time for it. So one day at work it dawned on me that I could look on craigslist through the garage sales and for sale items and have some pretty good luck. Our first purchase was a shop vac, works great and was only $10! Then I had come across an add selling a bunch of IKEA furniture. So I responded, and wound up with a 4x4 IKEA bookshelf (originally $220) for $80 and an IKEA dresser (originally $200) for $110. It was quite the steal for like new furniture. So I am very happy at how that worked out.

Smithsonian Magazine had a Free Museum Day and we took advantage of that to go check out the Museum of Flight. We had a blast there and got to see so many cool planes. It was good to go out and do something together as an entire family. That was something we never did on our own once when we were in California. The kids and I also went to the Washington State Fair and ate some delicious food! The weather stayed sunny the entire time we were there so it was a perfect day!

Zach and his girlfriend, Sarah moved to Tacoma on Saturday. It is so nice to have them close. One of the biggest challenges over the last year was being away from all of our friends. So Zach being so close now is a blessing. They came and stayed the night on Saturday and we spent Sunday watching football together like the good ol days.

Overall, things are going exceptionally well. It's lovely.

Welcome Back! What's new?

I used to have a journal as a "tween" that you could create an electronic pass code for and it would unlock and say, "welcome back! What's new" in a voice that sounded like it was Clarissa explains it all. I also ended up ripping out every page of said journal little by little on a biweekly basis as my tween life would drastically change in an instant. Those were the days. 

Nowadays we blog. No handwritten journals to tear up. Just a online, fully public account of our daily occurrences for the world to enjoy. Of frown upon. Either way. 

Well, we finally made it back to Washington. I am beyond happy, of course.  Matt always tries to look at the bright side of things but I have a much harder time doing this. So I choose not to, and instead tell anyone who asks how much I hated my time in California. Yeah, I liked the sun...who wouldn't? Know what I didn't like? The $5000 it cost just to get home and back for the holidays. Everyone's going to have things they value that differ from one person to the next. I value family. That includes friends I'd consider family, maybe even friends I wouldn't. After being in California for about 3 days I started realizing how much separation there really was. And as time went on it would just continue to grow. My mom was easy to keep in touch with which was good. But two of my best friends got pregnant once I moved and my heart stopped. I was beyond happy for them. Up to this point I had been the only "mother" and to know what great experiences were in store for them, both good and bad, warmed my heart. Being so far away though, made me completely...frazzled. I wanted nothing more than to be with the people I love and share this with them. But I had made the decision to be in California. I had began questioning this decision from that point forward. And it ate away at me from August til the day we left. I struggle with depression on a normal basis, and this situation was not the best for me. But I knew I chose to be there because of my love in my heart for Matt, so I had to tough it out. By the grace of god I made it. It was by no means pleasant. It was lonely and colder than you expect when you hear California. I missed my family and my friends every single second of every day. It was like prison. One word to describe California is "busy". Because the people there are SO busy! I finally began to become good friends with my coworkers, one girl in particular. She was my savior. Along with the rest of them. But her and I just connected, maybe over beers at Applebee's on our lunch breaks, or maybe not. 

We moved back at the very end of June. With our almost six month old puppy, Dexter. He was an angel the entire 20 hour drive. He was truly the best thing we got out of that so called adventure. We live in maple valley now. It's been 3 weeks, and I must say its like our lives have made a complete turn around. We are SO much happier on a daily basis. It's so refreshing. It makes me happy seeing Matt happy and feeling happy myself. McKenzie hasn't had her baby yet, I'm convinced he was waiting for me.Jen  had a beautiful baby girl, Jessy. I cannot wait to snuggle her. Jen's journey has got off to a rough start, bless her heart. But she is the most amazing woman I know, so I don't doubt that she is totally rocking it. My babies are spending the summer at my parents. I miss them so so much, but they are so very happy and that warms my heart. They have been taking swimming lessons. Lynaya is a natural fish and can swim like a champ, and she is 4! (Well for two more weeks she is!) Khyler is doing very well also, trying to keep up with his crazy daredevil little sister. He's such an angel lover boy. 

And for now, life is good. We all have our health. And we are all within driving distance. For that, I am beyond thankful. 

Until next time...