We have snow!!!

That's right! We have snow! If you live in pretty much any part of Washington I'm assuming that you have snow! We aren't sure when it started but when we came out of August Rush (fantastic movie) there were a couple inches on the ground! Guess who didn't have a coat or gloves, scarf or hat!! Me, the girl who is always responsible! Hmm!! I had to claim ignorance!! As we drove into our apartment complex tonight we saw people out taking pictures and getting their picture taken. We laughed at first and then we had to remember that a lot of the folks taking pictures probably haven't seen snow in their home country.

We had a great last week Thanksgiving. We went to Nate's parents house in Deer Park. There were about 30 people there for dinner. I had to break the news to Nate's dad that we would not be adding 4 more children to the crowd like 2 of Nate's siblings have done. He seemed to be okay with that! No, there aren't any on the way either!

We even decided to brave the crowds on Black Friday and go hit up some of the sales. We weren't among the crazies out for the door buster sales though! We managed to snag some pretty good deals and some of them might even show up at your house!

We're off to go play in the snow! Enjoy the pictures.

Pumpkins

A few weekends ago Nate and I braved the rain and wind to find some pumpkins at a local farm. We decided to go early this year because we learned our lesson last year. We went the weekend before Halloween and the pickin's were pretty slim! Here are the fruits of our labor. We also got a few gourds and some sugar pumpkins. I've already roasted and pureed them and now they are awaiting their fate! Anybody have a good pumpkin recipe (besides pie, I'll leave that to my mom!)?

Enjoy the pictures!

Us!

The goofy one of the bunch!

Time off and The Seattle Aquarium

Nate had some time off at work that he had to use up before October or he would lose it so he took off 4 days a few weeks ago. I worked a half day on Tuesday (more on the work situation later) and then that afternoon we went to the Seattle Aquarium. Nate's bosses are members of the aquarium so they get 5 guest passes a year. They knew that Nate wanted to go so they gave two tickets to us! Sweet! We lounged around the next day and then on Thursday Nate went to Pullman to hang out with his buddy Pat aka King Sheep, for the weekend.
Here are some pictures from the Seattle Aquarium and surrounding areas.

We had lunch at Ivar's. I found it pretty ironic that we had fish and chips (yummy) for lunch and then went and looked at real live fish! Te he!!

Mr. Ivar feeding the seagulls. Good thing they aren't really this big!

Petting a sea star. Anytime we go to the beach, Nate makes fun of me for touching and poking all the creatures in the tide pools.

Jellyfish under an iridescent light.

This octopus was amazing. He had free rein between two tanks connected by a narrow tube. He put on quite the show for us.

Is this seahorse a boy or a girl or both?? Hmmm?

I think these are salmon. They were swimming a tank right over our heads.

The underwater dome. This place was huge.

I love the expression of the kid in the reflection!

King of the Mountain! A Northern Fur Seal.

Another seal.

Some River Otters. These guys were so playful and put on a great show for us!!

We'll leave you with some flowers from Pike Place Market.

Go Cougs!

Well, this post is about a month late coming but better late than never, right? On September 8th we ventured over to Seattle with the other masses of people. Who would have thought that two Pac 10 teams playing on the same day in the same city, would cause such a traffic jam? Oops!! Slight oversight on our part! We ended up riding the ferry to Bainbridge Island 4 times that weekend. Once right before the game to park our car over there and then to walk on back to Seattle and then to walk on after the game to go get the car and go to our friend's Pete and Emily's house in Silverdale for an after party and then the next morning to go back to the Eastside (of the lake that is).
We had a lot of fun at the game. The Cougars of course did wonderful. Don't ask for the score because I have forgotten it! Sorry to all you diehard fans! I know they won and that is all that counts right? It was great to see a lot of Nate's college buddies that we don't get to see very often because they are spread all over the state. One of Nate's friends, Carissa, is a teacher down in Oregon so we had great fun talking teacher talk!! Scottie got us all great seats on the 35 yard line on the Cougar side of course. Thanks Scottie!
Enjoy the pictures!

Is that Superman or Nate?

Rainier off in the distance.

Ahh! Seattle from a distance. You can see the stadium too.

Us on the ferry to Seattle

Some action from the game. Look at all that crimson in the stands!

Da Band.

Hmm! Who is that?

There is the score! Click on the picture to enlarge it.

On our way to the ferry that night. Sunset over the San Juans.

Labor Day Weekend

We have returned rested and ready to go back to work. My friend Brooke invited Nate and I to spend the weekend with she and her boyfriend Kyle at her parent's cabin on Lopez Island in the San Juan Islands. Their house over looks a harbor on Lopez. We went over on Friday night with all the other masses of tourists and returned on Monday with the mass exodus from the island.

Saturday morning Brooke and I went to the Saturday Market that the artists and farmers on the island participate in. There were a lot of really nice things but nothing I couldn't live without. While Brooke and I looked around town the boys went kayaking. Unfortunately Nate didn't bring the camera. They saw two seals, one swam very close to the kayak and the other one was unfortunately dead on the shore. Brooke and I also took a turn through "the mall" aka "the dump" or "take it or leave it". Yet again, nothing that we couldn't live without. We ended our trip to town with a stop at Vita's Wine and Deli Shop. We each bought a bottle of wine and some yummy treats for lunch and a few dessert items. Upon returning home we found a note from the guys. They might need us to come and pick them up! Hmmm!! Sure enough we got a call to come get them. Apparently they had gone a bit too far and wanted a taxi back to the cabin! Silly guys! We lounged the rest of the afternoon and played a round of Cranium. Go Team Taylor! Brooke and Kyle prepared us a wonderful steak dinner. Yummy!! After dinner we played several rounds of Catch Phrase. Brooke and I are proud to announce that the girls won!!

Sunday was a bit lazy and low key. We went all over the island for the Studio Tour that the island artists were putting on for the weekend. We saw a lot of beautiful pieces of artwork. On our adventure we took a short hike down to Watmough Point (I think that is the name of it!). It was a little inlet of water. While we stood and admired the scenery and attempted to skip rocks with the other children a river otter decided to join us. He was swimming back and forth in the water. At one point he came up with something in his mouth and was eating it. A lot of people said it was a fish but we heard him crunching on it. At one point he got out of the water and hid among the rocks and drift wood. He was nestling down in some of the rocks. After a bit of time he got back in the water and then shocked us all and got out and went through and area thick with people and went back into some brush near a river and a marshy area. Nate was pretty excited to see the otter as it is one of his favorite animals. We spent the rest of Sunday reading books, napping and watching a movie. After dinner we made a campfire and roasted marshmallows.

Monday morning we tidied up the house and left to sit in the ferry line for 2 hours. We wanted to make sure we got on the ferry because it only takes 60 cars from Lopez Island on it's way back to Anacortes. Thankfully we made it on the ferry.

We'll leave you with some pictures from our weekend. Enjoy!

The view from the back porch of the cabin.

Us!

Look closely! There we are again!

Watmough Point. This is where we saw the river otter.

There's the river otter.

Click on the picture to enlarge it. The otter is by the log closest to the water.

Campfire time! Brooke and Kyle.

Nate being artistic. A few shots of things around the cabin.

Wild turkey's. We saw a few different groups of them around the island. One group had several babies (I don't know what baby turkey's are called. Anybody?). Kyle says he is going to see these guys on his plate in November.

You can look forward to pictures from the WSU game this coming weekend. Go Cougs!

Guitar Heroes??

Saturday night Nate and I went to see his friend Chris, who lives in Seattle in a new apartment. Chris used to be the graphic designer where Nate works. Chris is quite the video game afficionado and prides himself on the amount of games that he has beaten. Chris has a game called Guitar Hero where you play a guitar with buttons instead of strings and follow along with the song on the game. You get points for how well you do. You can even get booed off the stage if you do really bad. Nate and I got booed off a few times in the beginning of the game. After about an hour we did pretty well. Here is a picture of the expert and the beginner. You figure out who is who!!

Rock On! You Rock!!

Lunch with the Anderberg's

On Saturday Nate and I went to lunch with Dana and Reagan and their new little daughter. She is only 3 weeks old and absolutely precious. We had a great lunch at The Cheese Cake Factory in Bellevue. You might remember seeing pictures of Dana and Reagan in the blog earlier. Reagan was scheduled to go to Iraq to fly Blackhawks but unfortunately one recently crashed. Reagan was chosen to be an assistant to one of the widows from the crash. It is an unfortunate reason that is keeping Reagan here in the states but he gets to spend a few more months with his wife and newborn daughter. Congratulations on your new bundle of joy, Aryonna. Here are a few pictures from lunch.

The happy little family.

Yeah! Yeah! Don't get your hopes up yet!!

Mariner's Game

Last weekend Nate's parents came over for an M's game. Saturday morning we walked down to Marymoor Park to look around at the Art's and Crafts Festival. We saw a lot of nice things but nothing we couldn't live without. Later that afternoon we got ready for the game and boarded the bus. We highly recommend taking King County Metro to get to the game. It was only $3 per person both ways. The best reason to take the bus is: You don't have to pay for parking!! The Mariner's played the Chicago White Sox and they won 7-5. It was an awesome game. Of course a huge chunk of the action happened when Nate and I were in line for hot dogs and garlic fries (yummy!!). We even got there a little early to watch batting practice. We are hoping to make this a yearly event with Nate's parents. Here are some pictures from the game. Enjoy! Go M's!

Waiting for the bus.

Welcome to Safeco Field!

Ahh! The cute couple!

Ahh! Another cute couple, Nate's parents! Can't wait for next year's game!

Cannon Beach

Well as Nate mentioned below we have returned from Cannon Beach. We had a great time. It was wonderfully relaxing. We gorged ourselves and did eat way too much but it was all good food. We are thinking about getting a group together next time and renting a house near the beach. I personally would love to live there year round, right near the beach. Ahhh dreams! We spent much of our time relaxing on the beach or eating and a little time shopping. On our trip back home we made a side trip to the outlying Portland area to see Nate's sister Tami and her 4 children. Unfortunately we don't have any pictures from that part of the trip. We also keep hearing high praise for a bookstore in Portland called Powell's Books. Since we are both bookstore nerds we had to take a turn through it! It was huge! They have maps of the store for you to put in your pocket. Trust me! You need them! I would have been lost for sure. I left with a copy of Bon Apetit for $12.95 (yes the book is usually triple that!), it was used and you can't even tell. I also bought a copy of Evening. I haven't started it yet but it is in my To Be Read (TBR) pile. Now for the pictures.

This is the bottle of Sparkling Cider the hotel left for us. Nate let them know it was our anniversary.

Some pictures of our room.

Our room was on the top floor in the back. You can see one of the windows.

The reason we come to the beach. Ahhh!! Heaven!

I'm not too sure either!

Breakfast! Yummy!

We came for the Blackberry Beauty Ale. They were all out! We still managed to gorge ourselves on burgers and onion rings!

We can't claim responsibility for this masterpiece.

Or this one! We will leave with one of the two beautiful sunsets we witnessed.