Wednesday, March 23, 2011

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 :)

14 comments:

Rach said...

this made me homesick! love all the pictures...and burgerville...and my favorite seattle pier, and the aquarium, and the hike...all so great. Glad you guys had so much fun! I was wondering why you were "missing" in the blogsphere:)

Kris and Cath said...

Oh how I love Vancouver:) So glad you had such a great trip!

kylee said...

what a fun trip! being the ice cream fan that i am that selection looks heavenly. just yesterdy i tried that marionberry pie ice cream for the very first time. soooo good. that hike looks gorgeous. i sure hope utah gives us some green sometime soon. tim tam slams! gosh i love those. so glad you made your flight! i would have been in an absolut panic. i haate being late to anything.

A little Birdie... said...

You are so sweet. And I seriously just LOVE your blog! You are making me homesick for the hometown, thats for sure! Looks like you lived it up...as you should!

Ashley {hudson's happenings} said...

AWWWW! What an awesome and action packed trip! I love all of y'all's fun activities and adventures. I love family game nights...I'll have to check out that BLURT game, sounds so fun!

Sweet little Brooks looks like he had a blast, and the bathtub pics are ADORABLE!

One thing is for sure, your family is beautiful. All of them. :)

Kandice Breinholt said...

what an adorable post and recap of your trip! that sounds like so much, i'm aching to go on a trip myself and, i've gotta say, this post didn't help that ache much ;) haha

your little boy is the cutest thing! especially with the soap in his hair in the tub and in his little-man suit! soooo cute, seriously!

you're a doll and you and your husband are such a cute couple.

love the photos! the hike looks gorgeous, i wish i was out there with ya! or... anywhere with greenery.

thanks for sharing your trip

<3, kandice

Nicole Dianne said...

all your pictures are so cute! looks like you guys had a really great time :) you are adorable!!

Liz said...

Wow that's the stuff great blog posts are made of! What a sweet sweet family you have :)

Unknown said...

Aww. Looks like you guys had a great trip! I love the ones of Brooks and the other kiddies in the bathtub! Those are priceless!

A. Mae said...

Hales!! So glad to see you had such a wonderful time with your family! Everyone looks amazing! and sooooo excited for Corrie :)Love you and glad you got home safe & sound!!!

elisabeth said...

hi haley!
I think you're super adorable & I really love your blog!
I've given you a blog award :)
check out the details at my blog, thimblesandthings.blogspot.com

♥Elisabeth

p.s. this post is so cute! you always have such cute pictures

Unknown said...

It was so fun to spend time with you and sweet Brooks! The pictures are great! Amber started groaning like Brooks today and Ryan said, "She sounds like Brooks!" Good memories! Love you!
Nat

Shay said...

How precious- so much I love about this post. I miss Washington SOOOOOOOOOOOOO much!

Love all the pictures, especially the ones on the pier, so cute! And Burgerville? AHHHHHH, I nnnneeeeeedddddd it!

Congrats to Corrie on going to the temple, that is so neat!

Marsha said...

This was a GREAT trip! Your pictures capture it beautifully. I will be able to replay it over and over and over and over and over. Thank you thank you thank you for coming and bringing all your light and love....and bringing beloved Grandma and bubbly Brooks. He gets bigger and better every second! Can't wait til I can get my arms around him next time!!!!! Love you to the moon and back and forever more! xoxox Mom

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