Seattle

Awhile back, Adrienne (Darren's wife:sister-in-law) invited me to go with her to Seattle. They had lived there for a couple of years, and she still has some good friends there. So, we made arrangements, and the two of us took off for a girls weekend. It was SOOO FUN! Her friend, Shalene, was a perfect hostess, and she showed us around the area. The weather was absolutely perfect! We went to the Puget Sound, got manicures and pedicures, spent some time shopping in the city, at Pike's Place, and, of course, Target. I LOVE Seattle! The water, the mountains, the trees. It's absolutely gorgeous.

I wished that I lived closer so that I could've taken home a $5.00 boquet of flowers!

LOVED THEM

Seattle, What's with the Pigs?

Mt. Rainier: Next time (yes, we are going back) we're going to do some hiking here.

We had a wonderful time, even though I had to leave Amelia, who had thrown up the night before I left, and, as Nate found out when he took her to the Dr. on Friday, had strep. Then Emma got the runs, and the boys had soccer games in the middle of it all. And, since I wasn't here to tell him not to, Nate thought he would see if he could move our bed (It's huge). Well, he couldn't, and he threw his hip out of place, and he's still not quite right yet. Since the girls were sick, Kathy, our neighbor and friend, took the boys to church on Sunday. They told her that "Our mom is never going to Seattle again."

Well, everyone survived, and perhaps the sweetest part of being gone is coming home because when I got home there was a cake made just for me with the message "Welcome Home, MOM" and a heart and a flower.

(picture coming soon)

And then, the next morning, Clay said"I have something for you." He went downstairs, retrieved his bell, and sang me a song that he had made up for me. It went something like this,"I really missed you mom, I'm so glad that you're home, I really missed you mom, We're so happy to have you back" All to the ringing of the bell. It was soo sweet.

And Sam, in his grown up way, gave me a hug and told me how happy he was to have me home, and then proceeded to tell me about the very exciting football game they had watched, giving me a precise play by play:)

The first thing that Amelia noticed that morning were my painted fingernails. She said, "You have color on your fingers? It's pretty." She was just tickled about it. So, that day we painted her little toes and fingers, and then painted Emma's toes too. It was fun..Amelia sat there so grown up like, and so thrilled to have "color on her fingers" too.

Maybe next time I'll take the family!