Yes, it is cloudy in Seattle! But I love it! :)
Can you tell from my post title that I am super excited to introduce our summer trip to SEATTLE, WA??? If you only knew, if you only knew...so we decided to head up to Seattle for our summer trip! The last time we were there was when our oldest was just a year old, so it was LONG overdue. We just happened to make the trip up there right as our youngest baby was a year old, too~ freaky, you ask? Planned this way? You decide.
We were planning this trip with our family friend Ryan Reverman who both Jason and I have known since HS, and he would be taking his little guy with him to visit his dad and step-mom who live up there. So we figured let's take the whole fam dam and do it together!! Although Ryan inevitably cheated as they took an airplane and made it there in about 5 hours or so...we, on the other hand decided to make a road trip out of it and took 2 days to get there...I can't say who was luckier as we had all those many hours of family bonding time amidst the fighting and crying and whining to go with everything else~ can't beat that!!
His dad Jim and mom Danielle were kind enough to have all of us over to their place for dinner the first day we got in, and then 3 other times on top of that! They were brave I must say to be willing to have all of those boys (including Kolton!) in their house at one time, and they have a really nice house with nice things, so let's just say I was a little on edge, lol...there was an incident where this life-sized frog statue pretty much attacked Payton and took him down to the ground...well, not REALLY, but it sure looked that way, it was the funniest thing! I can say that now because Payton didn't get hurt, but you had to be there to see the way this frog just seemed to tackle him to the ground!
Danielle is french and made wonderfully delish food~ it was nice that we didn't have to go out every night and spend money on food ;) Jim and Ryan played a duo on their guitars, and Jim attempted at his singing voice, haha. We had a great time and it sure made the difference not having to spend our whole time in a hotel, the boys would have gone absolutely stir-crazy!
The only thing I didn't post pictures on is the last full day we were there, we headed up to watch the Seahawks at training camp! It was awesome...I can't believe I didn't snap any pics~ Jason did on his iPhone that he has YET to download, so once he does I will upload them to this post. Anyway, we had to meet up in Renton and wait for buses to shuttle us up to the camp, so the boys thought that was just the best thing ever! We got there and were able to sit on the lawn right behind where they were practicing, and we were facing the beautiful Lake Washington, it was so beautiful, I can see why they practice there. We also got a surprise visit from a bald eagle! There was a wooden post out behind the field, right in front of the lake, and sitting there perched was this big, beautiful bald eagle...as if the view couldn't get any better and it did! It was awesome. Then we moved later on down closer to the actual 'sideline' where they were practicing and we were able to see the players and coaches right there in front of us. I know Jason and Jaeden couldn't get enough, I'm so glad we were able to do something like that!
Here is a picture off of the internet of their training camp with Lake Washington behind it:
When we first arrived at the training camp, they had a wheel the kids could spin and win prizes and one of them was a pass to be able to go and get some of the players autographs and talk with them for a few minutes! You can guess which one of our boys wanted to win this!! Out of all of them BRAXTON was the one who landed on that pass! So he was kind enough to pass it onto Jaeden so he could go and meet some of the players...he didn't get to meet Hasselbeck, unfortunately, but he did get to meet John Carlson and get his autograph, so he thought that was pretty cool! I took a picture of the Seahawks Yearbook with the autographs on it :)
So how much do I love Seattle? Enough to drop everything and move their in a heartbeat if the situation allowed?? You BETCHA. We drove through there practically every summer when I was a kid when my mom made the THREE-day road trip with me and my 3 siblings, by herself, to head up to British Columbia, Canada so we could visit her family up there. She moved to Utah when she was around 21 after she joined the LDS church...so I know she wanted to make sure she could keep that connection with her family regardless. She grew up in Manitoba, Canada, but her mom and brother ended up in BC, along with his kids and THEIR kids, so BC is where we'd usually end up as it was closer than traveling all the way over to Manitoba....ok, there. Now you have a little glimpse into my family history :)
So back to where I started about traveling through Seattle as a kid...I don't know if the 'perceived' notion of going through there as a kid and how I remember it and felt, is what I am trying to catch by moving up there fo REALZ...I don't know, but I've always had this desire to move up to the good old NW...and when I met Jason, he was in the process of looking into going up there for school, the U of Washington, and I thought, wow how perfect! I've always wanted to go there, as I was definitely planning on stalking my bf if he did decide to move up there for school :) But alas it ended up costing too much to go up there to school for him, so the price ended up not being worth the hassle.
A few years later our buddy Ryan moved back up there with his new wife Alisha. That was when we took a trip through there when Jaeden was a year old, and Jason and I started looking around at different neighborhoods trying to see where we could possibly live if we decided to make the move. Well, I guess we weren't brave enough to leave our family and comfortable life in Utah and move onto the unknown, especially since we had another little bundle of joy to consider in all of this now :) I suppose it worked out the best way at the time because our friends ended up moving back and actually divorced not long after that. So the IDEA of moving up there and already having friends living there, seemed to be that nice little picture-perfect plan that ended up fizzling out in the end like a flat soda.
So fast forward 9 years, and here were are again, heading up to where I feel I'm supposed to be, but given our current situation, it just doesn't seem like it could logically work out for us to be able to make the move...so much would depend on Jason finding the right job up there, and so far, not so good. I definitely believe that prayer and patience and relying on my Father in Heaven will help us to end up where we are supposed to be ultimately, in the end. I'm not the most patient person and of course, wanted to move there immediately after we got back home here to Utah!
But in learning to relax a bit about the whole situation and sit back and look at this from a neutral perspective, I have finally put all my faith and trust into God that if that is where we are supposed to be, He will help make it happen no matter how impossible it might seem right now. And I'll leave it at that! There is no need to be angry or frustrated because I know we will end up where we are supposed to be, whether it's here in Utah or up in Washington, and that is the wonderful power of a prayer :)
So for now here are the highlights of our fun little trip and hopefully you won't get bored looking at all the pictures, cuz there will be a lot of them, but enjoy!
This giant beetle was on the gas station brick wall in Oregon!
At the final rest stop before Seattle city limits!
Showing us his pine cones he found!
BLUE ANGELS!
WHOA!! Those are some loud jets!!
Cameron Teagan and Kolton enjoying the show~ even if it was raining the whole time!
Wouldn't be a proper Seattle vacation without a visit to the Pike Place Market!
Teagan checking out the fresh fish!
Giant piggy bank!
Payton eating ice cream at Alki beach :)
Mommy and Payton, Alki beach
Onward to Safeco Field!
Taking it all in...at least a couple of them are :)
ICHIRO!
Having fun at the ballgame! Just not watching it!
This here drain is more entertaining than the baseball game! :p
Daddy cut out one of his boys' precious faces :(
Mommy takes better pics if only her boys would all be smiling in synchronized perfection! lol
The kids and dad got to run around the bases after the game! Cameron fell down 2 times, it was so hilarious! You can hopefully catch a glimpse of the comedy of it all :)
Too cute not to post! If I only kept my eyes open ;)
Sweet boys walking back from the game
Down to the Seattle Space Needle! They had a lot of cool activities to do but we kept it simple and took the kids to go on some rides and play some arcade games at the little carnival area they had, then we took some cool pictures around the garden areas...that was enough fun for us and then it was time to leave :)
Down on the pier where there are so many good places to eat and shop!
So sad to be leaving Seattle...here's our last view, Mt Rainier :)
Poor little guy, daddy opened the car door at a gas station break on the way home and didn't realize mommy had let him out of his carseat so I could change his bum, and out he went! Good thing he's a little toughie ;)
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