Seattle, WA

How do you think I ended up in Seattle, WA?  Jeremy had work to do there and of course, I just had to tag along.  Woo-Hoo!  I have never been to Seattle and I have wanted to go for along time so when opportunity comes we go with it.  Jeremy sometimes gets sick of the travel that he has to do, but I will say that I think this is the best part of his job, besides the being able to support his family that comes out of it.  I mean, that's a given.  Well, I had expectations of Seattle.  Some were met, some not even close, but all in all I had a good time, despite all the rain that I endured.

First day I was there, I ventured out by myself.(Of course I always do this on these kinds of trips.  I love it)  As I asked the front desk lady at the hotel about the city, she was in shock that I would actually go wandering around a strange city all by myself.  Hmm, I guess she doesn't get out much.  Well my first day was a rainy rainy day.  As I walked down the streets of Seattle with my freezing feet, I noticed I was the only one wearing flip flops and carpi's (at least I had sense enough to wear some sort of rain jacket.)  Can you tell I might be from the dessert?  This is also what I mostly packed.  Well, I got soaked from the days events was cold and by the end of the day I  made my way into the Old Navy, found some other clothes to wear and bought a pair of tennis shoes from the Ross down the street. Remember folks:  If you are going to Seattle in mid May, bring the appropriate attire.  It will probably rain and be cloudy and cold and if you're lucky, you might even see a few vampires.

This is a must see, though I have to say, I think it might be over rated.  It was kind of fun to see the fish being thrown from worker to worker and they were funny.  I even liked how there were endless shops through out the building and tons to look at.  But like most things like this in other areas, it is a definite tourist trap and not cheap.  I thought most things were very overpriced.  Fun to look at though, music to listen to, and I found the bestest and biggest maple bar.  Mmmm it was so good, I had to go back another day and buy another one.

This is where I saw most of the fish being thrown around.  I have seen this on the travel channel and other places.  It is fun to see and quite entertaining.  Some of the fish that I saw was huge.  If I lived in Seattle, I would buy fish from there all the time.

I love tulips.  I have always wanted to plant them, but I am not a gardner and from what I can see, they don't last long.  Here at the market they had thousands of tulips you could buy.  They were beautiful.  If I lived here, I think I would come down every day and buy more tulips. 

I just love big buildings.  I truly am a city girl at heart.  I thought I would hear more music around the city though.  You know, a lot of great music and bands come from Seattle.  Perhaps it comes out mostly at night.  I usually made it back to the hotel before 6 pm.  Because Jeremy was working, our hotel was not in the city.  We had to stay more where he could get to the facilities he needed to be at.  Most days were cold and rainy.  We did get a couple of sunny days.  I think Seattle is nice and all, but I am not cut out to live there.  I value the sun to much.  I did love the cafes, old used book stores, and the pioneer square that is a great place to read a book.  (when the sun is out)

Jeremy use to live up near Seattle for a few years when he was a kid.  He lived in Kent which is not too far from Seattle and even closer to where we were staying.  We decided to head out to go see his old stomping grounds.  His family left Seattle when he was about 14.  They moved around a lot, but Jeremy did like this area.  This was the house that he lived in.  He was amazed how close things seemed, 'cause as a kid, everything seemed so far away.  He also couldn't believe that hardly anything looked familiar, but he did find the house, his school (middle and high school), and the church he went to. 

Of course, how can you go to Seattle and not see the Space Needle and look, it is a nice sunny day.  It reminds me of the Stratosphere's little brother (even though the Needle was way before Stratosphere)  Every picture you see of Seattle has the Space Needle and so it is a must see. 

After we were done with the Space Needle we decided to catch a ferry and drive through the Olympic Rain Forest.

I have been on many ferries, but I have to say, that this was the first time I had ever driven the car unto the ferry and parked and then drove it off the ferry.  It was kind of fun.

I have decided that I love the Olympic National Forest.  It is quite the sight to drive through.  I would love to just find a cabin here and stay for a couple of weeks.  That would be wonderful.  The water and trees were beautiful and the waterfalls were right off the side of the road.  I loved it.  Of course though, as we were driving that would bring us right through....OK Twilight Fans, hold on to your seats....Forks, WA.  Ya you read that right.  Forks, WA.  Let me tell ya, It is not much of a town.  One street pretty much is it.  We did eat there though, and I did see the high school, which is under construction, and the people of Forks have truly embraced the Phenomenon.  As we drove into town we saw a hotel sign that said, "Edward Cullen did not Sleep here"  HA, funny right??  I even got to see Bella's truck.  Ooooo, I know your jealous now?

La Push is not too far.  We were going to head there, but we missed our turn.  Oh well, but here is a pic of one of the beaches near it.  Cool, right?

The next day, we just relaxed, did some shopping, and went and saw the Seattle Temple.  Of course, it was raining.  It would have been nice to do a session, but it didn't work out that way.  We went and walked around the grounds anyway and took some great pics.  

I thought this was pretty......We had a nice time.  It was fun to see the sights and spend time with Jeremy.  Stay tuned, coming next up:   Three kids birthdays all in the same week for the last week of May. 

Another day in Lexington, KY

I have usually been pretty good at updating our blog, but the last couple of months have been truly busy and I am still quite busy.  I have some things to post, but we will start with Lexington.  The first of April, I took the kids up to Lexington, KY.  As most of you know, Jeremy travels a lot for work and Lexington is one place he goes often.  We sometimes go with him.  The first year, we took Megan for her birthday.  Of course, Emilee decided she wanted her turn so the next year we took Emilee up for her birthday.  Well, Hunter talked about it all the time and would ask when it was his turn to go up to Lexington to ride and visit the horses.  Jeremy will not be going to Lexington anymore, so on his last trip up there, I packed the kids up, picked them up from school and drove them up so Hunter could have his turn as well.  It was a fun trip and here is what we did.

 In the past, I have always gone on the ride with the kids, but while riding the horses, I have learned that I am pretty allergic to them.  I didn't use to be.  This is something that has occured in my old age, but every time I get on the horse, when I get done, my eyes are swollen and red.  I decided to just watch this time.  Hunter was actually too young to go on the ride, but he was able to go on the pony rides instead.  We let him go on several.  He had a great time.o

 We went to several children/science museums on this trip.  I think I got museumed out for a bit, but the kids had a blast and our family pass got well used with what we had payed for it and that was a huge plus.  By the way, look at Emilee Hula Hoop.  I have several of these pics.  I never knew she could move her hips like that and it was all so effortless.  She could have hula hooped all day long.  I can't even do it for 10 sec.  WOW!!

Who knew that Cincinnati, OH was so close to Lexington.  Only an hour a way.  So we made the trip and went to a huge museum that actually had about 4 museums in it.  It is an old train station that they converted into a place for museums.  They have the coolest kids museum that I have ever seen.  I personally could have spent all day in it.  Now, why didn't they have these things when I was a kid??

We also went to the Natural History Museum in the center.  What was cool about this one is that they had a couple of man made caves inside that were pretty realistic.  One was a smaller trail then the other, but it was really cool.  Usually you can't climb around in a cave when you are on a tour, but in this one you could climb and play away.  So much fun.  Hunter didn't go in.  He was to scared of the bats he might see.  They did have some live bats down in their cave, but they were behind glass and pretty scared.  We couldn't see them.  Trying to explain this to a 6 year old was useless.  His mind was made up.  He stayed outside with Jeremy and then me so Jeremy could go through as well.

Afterward we went for a walk down the Ohio river.  Even though the kids had a good time skipping rocks and all that fun stuff.  I wouldn't get in that river for anything.  Yuck!

After the weekend, We had to get back and put the kids back in school.  Jeremy had to say and work.  On the way back, I stopped in Nashville and let the kids go to the Adventure Science Center.  We had never been there and I had heard good things.  It was quite the place.  It was hard to get the kids to leave.   

Well, that's it.  I know it's a lot and it happened a couple of  months ago, but it is never to late to post.  I have some more stuff to post.  Jeremy and I just got back from Seattle so that is coming next and of course all the kids just had a birthday, so I have tons about that.  Stay tuned.  I'll see ya soon.

Aren't they just some of the cutest kids?  Even with their faces painted all up.  Well, most of you know that I hate grocery shopping.  I can put it off and off and off until it can't be put off anymore and then I will have to

get so much stuff.  Well, that was the case yesterday.  It had to be done.  The girls were at their friends house and Hunter went with me.  After we were done though, he proceeded to tell everyone just how much I spent on groceries.  I mean everyone.  Nothing is kept secret when a six year old is around.  Well, after I was done, I decided that I was too tired to cook and since Jeremy was out-of-town, I decided we were going out to dinner.  Now some of you might know of "Mellow Mushroom".  If you don't, you are missing out.  It is a great pizza place and I know my pizza.  On Monday nights here in Huntsville, AL...Kids eat free, so off we went.  They had free face painting so the kids insisted and I said go to it.  This is what the outcome was.  We have a fairy queen, a black widow, and a tiger.  Like I said at the beginning....aren't they just the cutest kids??

Another Time Out that started with a big "Crash"

I attended yet another "Time Out for Women".  I love to go.  I would really like to go to Women's Conference at BYU, but I am a little far at the moment so instead, when it is available, I have been so blessed to attend "Time Out for Women".  This time it was in Nashville, TN.  Nashville is about 75 miles north of us, so not too far to go.  My friend Marie and I were suppose to go in Atlanta together back in October, but I needed to attend the funeral of my sweet little niece and so I missed going with Marie.  When the opprotunity came to go to Nashville this year, we both got the OK from the husbands and headed off.  Marie had asked another friend to come along as well and the three of us had a great time. 

Most of you know that Jeremy goes out of town a lot.  Because of this, he accumulates a lot of hotel points.  So we were blessed to stay in the Renissance Marriott which was connected to the convention center that Time Out was being held at.  Very convienent.  I parked in the garage, got my bag out of the back seat, shut the hatch down, and "CRASH!!!!"  My back window shattered into a thousand pieces.  Now let me explain something to you.  I have had this SUV for about 2 weeks.  I was not excited to not only hear this loud crash, but to also see my window in thousands of peices on the garage floor.  All three of us were silent for maybe 30 sec, but it seemed more like 5 min.  It sounded like someone shot through my window.  I had no idea what to do.  I called Jeremy, he called Honda, took all my stuff out of the car, and checked into the hotel room.  After we got some dinner, I went back to the car and reparked it in a stall backed up to a wall so hopefully nobody would know I had no back window. 

Now it is a little hard to see that there really is no window, but it is very much opened.  Here is some of the glass inside the car, the rest was on the floor.  Well, hopefully Honda will take full responsibility and fix it.  I think it most definately was a defect on their part.  I will take it in tomorrow and I hope they give me a car to drive, 'cause Jeremy is in Jacksonville and I will be carless during Spring Break. 

Funny Story:  A few weeks ago one evening, I had come down with a bad case of flu.  Achy body, cold chills, it was aweful.  I had been crying, wishing for my mother like a little four year old at which time Jeremy had given me a blessing.  Well I guess all my crying worried Hunter.  The next morning I was all better.  Hunter had said this to me:  "Mommy, I thought you were going to die last night and so I prayed that you would get better and not die and Heavenly Father answered my prayer"  Sweet right?  Well today I was telling Hunter that hopefully I will get a car so we can do some stuff this week so I said, "Pray for a car."  Hunter said, "Like when I prayed that you wouldn't die?"  Kids have so much faith.  We can truly learn from them. 

Well after all the boom and crash, we acturally had a pretty good weekend.  I hardly thought of my car, except when it was brought up from time to time.  Here are some hilights of the weekend.



This is Marie Kilpatrick, Karen Bagley, and me getting ready for the evening talks and performances.  Now I had never really met Karen before, but I enjoyed being around her.  I found her very fun to be around and I hope we can continue to keep in contact.  I had seen her every week and didn't even know what a great person she was.  We are both in the nursery in our wards and as I am leaving, she is coming in.  Small world, right?  

This is Merrilee Boyack with Marie.  She just loves her and I thought these were the cutest pictures.  She looks like a person in heaven meeting someone who has been a great influence. 

This is Mary Ellen Edmunds.  It was fun to hear her.  She is someone I remember my mom talking about all the time. 

This is Mariama Kallon.  I heard her speak at Time Out in Plano, TX.  I wanted to get a picture with her then, but didn't get a chance.  She has an amaizing story and a huge amount of faith and hope.  She grew up in Africa in a place called Sierra Leone, while they were in a war.  Her parents were killed, and she watched her sister get her arms and legs chopped off and came very close in losing her own life.  She had no more family, but somehow she found the gospel.  I love to listen to her speak.  If you ever get a chance, look her up.  She has a heartbreaking, but wonderful story to tell.

After the evening talks finished, we felt like some dessert.  We went to the place called Mortons.  Very classy.  I mean the waiter even had a special tool to sweep the crumbs off the table.  He called it his "zambonie". 

The rest of the weekend was just as great.  I loved Hilary Weeks like always, heard some great talks, and took some great thoughts home with me.  Will I do it again?  Most likely.  We even made it home with no window in the back.  Poor Karen had to endure the wind, but she was exhausted and hardly noticed.  Jeremy and I put some plastic on it because we heard it will probobly rain, but hopefully I can get it to Honda before any rain hits.  Of course, I can't see through the back now so if you are driving near me, you might want to move away. 

(OK, so my spell check is not working, so if I have tons of spelling errors, I am so sorry and please remember that I never claimed to be a genius.  I mean, I was a kindergarten teacher.  How many words do I really need to know how to spell?  Let's just call it inventive spelling and leave it at that.)

Ice, Ice, Baby...

Last week, Jeremy and the kids went to a hockey game.  The girls had gotten free tickets from school for reaching their AR goal ( program at school about how many books you read and comprehension by taking a test on the books that you read)  Jeremy decided it would be fun to take them.  So he bought him and Hunter tickets and they all went.  I have to say that the kids were very excited.  More then I thought they would be.  Some might wonder why I didn't go too.  Well, besides the fact that the only sports I like to watch are tennis and basketball, don't ya think that it is good for the kids to spend some good quality time with their dad?  That's what I thought.

So, I guess it happened to be "kid's night" the night they went.  The first 1000 kids got a jersey.  Fun, right??  Well, they made it.  They each have a hockey Jersey that is way to big, but great to go to bed in them and that is exactly what they do. 

Jeremy tells me that they all really liked the game.  He said though that Emilee loved it the most.  She screamed and yelled and screamed some more, and of course was jumping up and down the whole night. That's my Emilee.  She always has been my screamer.  It would have been a sight to see.  I can imagine it though. 

I guess these are the mascots.  I was told their names, but I couldn't begin to tell you what they are.  What I do know is that the kids couldn't get enough of them.  

So, I guess our team lost.  The score was 2 to 1.  Oh well.  I asked the kids if they wanted to go again and they all said yes.  Jeremy has also been watching a lot of monster truck shows on TV with the kids.  Again, not my thing, but I guess all three kids like it and so he wants to take them to a monster truck show.  Of course Emilee is way excited.  What is my husband doing to my sweet little girls?? 

Hawaii---Last Days

All good things must come to an end.  Though I think Jeremy was glad.  He worked 10 hour days while I played. (Though isn't that how it should be??)  Our airplane wasn't leaving until Saturday evening so we had planned to rent a car and go to the other side of the island and just drive around and see what we could see.  We wanted to see North Shore, look at some falls, see the temple, and just look at the scenery of Oahu.   

 Before we left for Hawaii, we thought on that last day we might attend a session at the temple.  There just wasn't enough time, but we did go visit, walk around the grounds, and check out the visitor center.  We chatted with the sister missionaries for a bit and learned some neat things about this temple. I love this statue of Lehi and Joseph.  I pretty much love all these kinds of statues, but I really liked this one.   A few days before, Jeremy had to do some work on the big island and he was right near the temple there so he walked around it as well, took some pictures of it and some of the water shores.  (He said, because of the still active volcano, the shore is mostly lava rock.  Not suitable beach like, but still pretty.  He took pics of that to.  They are down below.)

 Waimea Falls is more like a park with many different trails to hike.  If we would have had more time, I would have liked to hike more of the trails, but the falls were very nice.  I also would have liked to hike other falls that were farther away, but that will have to be saved for another time.  (I might be putting my hopes up on that one.)  We saw all the people swimming around them and thought that our kids would really have liked to do that.

 So many people, including the lady that Jeremy was working with for the week, had told us to go to the Dole Plantation.  We couldn't figure out what the big deal of that would be.  Well, we had a little time before we had to go to the airport and it was on the way, so we decided to stop.  You can ride the pineapple express and go through the largest maze, but all those things like everything else cost and we just didn't feel like spending the money on it.  You could look around the grounds though and drive by all the pineapples and purchase the most yummiest pineapple ice cream.  It tasted it a little like sherbet, but very creamy. 

I never thought I would be able to go to Hawaii.  I always wanted to.  I remember when I was little, my parents went with my brother and sister-in-law.  I begged to go and when they got back, I begged for us all to go again.  My dad had brought back this coconut bank and said we shall save money for us to go.  Well.  I am 38 and I think if he found that bank it would still be empty.  Funny though, Megan begged just like me and those pineapples that you eat ice cream out of, they are banks as well.  Guess what??  I told her the same thing.  LOL!  I don't know if we will ever be able to go back.  I would really like to see some of the other islands.  I have heard such wonderful things about them.  Maybe someday.  In the meantime, I will be grateful for this trip and glad I enjoyed it like I did.