seattle, game nights, hikes, FAMILY...oh how I love Washington.

Like I said yesterday, last week my sweet Grandma Smith, Brooks, and I took a trip to Washington to visit my family while Adam was in Philadelphia supporting his brother Ben, who wrestled in the NCAA's.

Today I'm going to share our adventures in Washington...and you may notice that there are quite a few pictures ;) that's because I couldn't help capturing just about every moment with my family that we see just a few times a year. I'll let the pictures do most of the talking...or at least try to ;)

Even with a security breach at the airport that caused us to be on the tiny Delta plane longer than planned, Brooks was amazing on the ride there!...but boy was he excited to run free at PDX Airport before my Mom came to pick us up :)

We started the trip Thursday morning by heading up to Seattle to visit my brother Steve.

Lunch at Cactus hit the spot...if you want DELISH Mexican food in Seattle, that's the place.

We then met up with Natalie (my sister), Duane, and their cute kiddos who drove from Spokane...we all headed over to the Olympic Sculpture Park and saw some fantastic pieces!

This piece (pictured above and below) was my favorite..."Love and loss"...the letters were created around steps, benches, table, chairs, and even a tree. I took pictures of each letter and arranged the photos so you can see the message :)

We took a walk to the pier before saying goodbye to Steve...

Love the picture above of Grandma Smith and Steve.

Next stop, Seattle Aquarium!

We said goodbye to Seattle and came home to Vancouver. After putting the kids to bed, the adults stayed up to visit and play games...we decided on Blurt, a word game that none of us had played before, that made for some gooooooood laughes!

The next day was why we came the the time we did...to go through the Portland Temple with my sister Corrie. Going through the temple is a huge step in our religion, and I'm so happy for Corrie as she enters this sweet part of her life... :)

After the temple we had the friends and family that made it to the temple over for some ice cream...we had quite the selection ;)

Saturday morning we made special breakfast of stuffed french toast. It was fun cooking it with my Dad and adorable niece Amanda...Brooks was our sou chef ;)

I was so glad to get out in the gorgeous NW outdoors and go on a hike at Cougar Creek...Brooks on my back and my family by my side :) Just missing Adam!

Corrie's friend Nate (walking by my Dad) joined us too :) Nate, Dad, and my nephew Ryan were great at tracking the coordinates for some geocaches...the kids always love finding them! The first one they found was a minicache...a film container connected to a big toy spider (good camouflage), with a little roll of paper for signing our names. You can kind of see it says "3/19/11 Stums, Anderson, Kjar, Doty"

I was one happy girl being surrounded by so much GREEN.

My Dad is the most adventurous Grandpa...the pictures don't do justice, but there was this huge metal "ship" just off the trail that we've never noticed, and he couldn't help but explore it with the grandkids :)

Sweet kisses, and skipping rocks :)

I couldn't help texting Adam this message I wrote him on the hike :) I missed him so much!

Back at home, the girls got their craft on and made some button earrings...Amanda was so excited about them it made me so happy! :)

And the boys did some awesome wood carving and wood burning with Grandpa :)

Cousin bath time!!! Brooks and Amber are just 5 months apart...too too cute!

And another game night...this time Taboo (love that game) and some TimTam slams (of course;)

Sunday morning the kiddos played before church...peek-a-boo with Ryan!

And Brooks was a little gentleman in his tiny suite from Grandma and Grandpa Stum as part of his birthday present :)

Monday monring, Corrie, Grandma Smith, and I did some shopping at Salvation Army, love that place!...we all found some awesome finds. And at the check out we found out that Mondays are 50% off!! Yeeesssssss! best.day.ever.

And before heading to the airport we went to my beloved Burgerville...fastfood joint only in the NW :)

My favorite thing on the menu (other than their seasonal chocolate hazel nut milkshakes) is their classic cheese burger. It's small, but the awesome sauce they put on it makes up for it :) Brooks even got a few little bites!

We topped off our burgers and smoked salmon salads with an Oreo mint shake...YUMM-O. Corrie took advantage of their crayons and enjoyed some coloring...oh My Little Pony :)

We didn't want to say goodbye...and that's probably why we lost track of time at Burgerville and got to the airport 35 minutes before the plane took off!!! It was a MIRACLE, but we made our flight!! I laugh to myself now thinking of me and my cute little [strong] grandma running through the airport with our suite cases and a baby on my hip. I'm sure we were quite the site! ;) And again, Brooks was fantastic on the flight, even fell asleep in my arms :)

WE WERE SO HAPPY TO SEE ADAM!!!!!!

Oh how our little B missed his Daddy...he was SO happy to be in his arms :)

It feels SO good being back with my other half :)