Always An Adventure!

So it seems like about every 6 weeks or so we get a bug to travel. Last month it was Yellowstone.. this month Washington! This past Thursday we went up to visit my sister Tracy and her wonderful family in the little town of Ridgefield, Washington (north of Vancouver). I swear, Tyson has traveled more in his short 16 months than I did in my first 20 years! He did surprisingly well on the plane.

Side note/irritating story: We get on the plane and of course as we all know with Southwest, there is no assigned seating. We start looking around the cabin for a place with two seats together, preferably a window seat (I'm thinking what an AWESOME distraction for Tyson.. the window!). Of course we have an armload of items - diaper bag, camera bag, coats, etc. - and I spot two near the front. Unfortunately, there's this ornery-looking woman sitting in the aisle seat. I think to myself screw it, she sat on the end, she'll just have to move. Then I see she has a walking cast on her right leg. Great. I chose the one flippin' aisle on the plane with the gimp sitting in it. Oh well, I'm invested now and she's already moving. So we just get settled in the seats and she mutters "I'm going to give you more room for the baby." Pssshh. Whatever! She just didn't want to sit with us because of the old stereotype that all babies cry on planes. Visions of Bill Cosby's Himself come to mind and the whole "Jeffrey" story (If you haven't seen this, you MUST!!). Anyway, fortunately for us there was a very nice woman who came along right after her who said, "I love babies! I'm a Mom and I don't mind sitting here." So in the end, we had a great row-buddy and when we landed I seriously debated on turning around to the original Bitty and sticking out my tongue at her.

Beautiful Mt. Hood (I think) from the airplane

This is what we woke up to Friday morning. A beautiful fog rolled through the hills.

Friday we drove up to Chehalis to meet up with Catrina, a friend of mine through work. We had never met in person so it was good to get to meet her and her adorable kids, Gaven and McKayla. She's originally from Utah and a VERY cool person!

Gaven and Kailee were fast friends!

We spent some time with two of her horses Bijou and her foal Onyx. Tyson LOVES horses and after getting to see Bijou up close even got to ride her!


While we were out playing with the horses, Kailee decided she wanted to come out and ride also. She ignored my sister's advice to avoid the super muddy area of the pasture, however and got herself squarely stuck in the mud. She was very upset about this.

This is the result of being stuck in the mud. She cried SO hard about her sock, wailing how dirty her foot was. It was hilarious.

This is her very sad face at being stuck in the mud. Hilarious, I tell you!!

The great thing about being nearly four is that life's problems dissipate quickly. Two minutes later she was up on the horse and happy as a clam. Tyson loved riding Bijou, pointing to everything and talking up a storm.

Tyson and Kailee - Blackmail photos!

There was even some time for wrestling with Uncle Doug. The kids all ganged up on him and tried to take him down.

Tyson and Kacee - so sweet and worn out from attacking Doug.

Oh and I forgot to mention that during our visit we were forced encouraged to help decorate for my sister's Halloween party. We spent the entire day cleaning and decorating the house and deck for the big bash. She has this awesome deck that runs the length of the house that we turned into a miniature haunted house for the evening. Complete with a fog machine, strobe light and scary props. We did have a blast carving pumpkins with the kids though. Surprisingly, Kacee was grossed out the most by "gutting" the pumpkin, while Princess Kai dug right in and pulled the guts out by the handful! Who'd have thought??

My little Vampire and Minnie - Are we sure they're not siblings??

Tracy dressed up like this ghoulish character from the dead and scared the wits (among other things) out of all the kids as they came through the haunted deck one by one.

Side note: During an attempt to take pictures/video tape during this, apparently Tyson got forgotten left alone and managed to find the cupcake tray. When I popped into the room he was in, I discovered him with gobs of chocolate frosting/evidence all over his face and hand and a guilty/fiendish look on his face. CLASSIC! I captured it on my video camera so eventually I'll have to post it.

With my awesome sister!

Beautiful fall colors on the property

Sadly, Monday we had to come home. It was a great visit.. I just wish we had more time to spend with them. It's so hard having family live out of state. I feel like every time I see them they've changed by leaps and bounds. Such is life I guess.. we just carry on and do the best we can.

Oh, and for the record: Tyson didn't cry on the way home either. He slept the entire flight, clear through the landing. Hope that Bitty reads this!!

Husband Tag!

1. Where did you meet your husband? He was my Bonnet Ball coach. I asked him to call me sometime at the end of the season.. and he did!

2. How long did you date before you got married? 1 year to the day!

3. How long have you been married? It was 7 years on June 8

4. What does he do that surprises you? He randomly brings me home the most beautiful flowers. And he often does stuff around the house that I haven't asked him to do.

5. What is your favorite feature of his? I love his blue eyes.

6. What is his best quality? He is extraordinarily patient.. both with me and Tyson!

7. Does he have a nickname for you? Usually just honey

8. What is his favorite food? He'll eat anything usually, but he loves German Chocolate cake

9. What is his favorite sport? Hard to say.. He loves watching all sports but if I had to pick I'd say baseball is his fave.

10. When and where did you first kiss? At a park up in Sandy and I think it was after we'd been dating a couple of weeks.

11. What is your favorite thing to do as a couple? Travel for sure; stay at home watching movies and just hanging out

12. Do you have any children? Tyson and he's 16 months old

13. Does he have any hidden talents? Many... few that I can discuss. ;) He is VERY handy around the house (think plumber/electrician/carpenter) and is especially good at getting Tyson to laugh.

14. How old is he? 31

15. Who said 'I love you' first? I think he did.

16. What is his favorite music? Van Halen of course. But he also loves R&B and has taken to my very own favorite, Alanis. It must be true love!

17. What do you admire most about him? How he always wants to just make me happy and how hard a worker he is to provide for his family. He has the best work ethic of anyone I know.

18. What is his favorite color? green

19. Will he read this? Definitely

20. Who do you tag? Anyone who would like to be tagged!

Happy Birthday Old Man!

Today's post is devoted to one of the best men I know. Who, you ask? My Dad of course! You see, today is his birthday. You wouldn't know by looking at him that he is a whopping distinguished 62 years old! He is definitely aging well, that's for sure. So I thought I would show everyone some very OLD photographs, as well as a couple new ones of my very handsome (and SINGLE) Dad!

I remember when I was a little girl my Dad would take me a couple of times a month on a special Daddy-Daughter date that usually consisted of a trip to the mall for dinner and shopping. I absolutely loved those dates and looked forward to them each time. My Dad has always been there for me, no matter what the circumstance. When I went through a rough patch as a teenager, he let me move in with him for a few years while I got through high school and even let Doug and I live with him for a few months when we got married. I hope you know how much we love you and are so glad that you are a part of our lives!

With my Grandma in 1947"You talkin' to me?"
Such a handsome sailor.. It must have been in the stars because here's one of him as a real life sailor! My Dad bravely served in Vietnam for the Navy.



With my Grandma

Disco fever! I'm SO glad the '70s are over!!

Me and my Dad shortly before Tyson was born

Grandpa and his little buddy Tyson (aka ToTyTy)! My Dad is the BEST Grandpa ever to Tyson. He even bought him his own little motorcycle rocker seen here:

Oh and the vest he's wearing? Grandpa got him that too. Tyson also has his own helmet (of course it'll be a few years before that one fits him!) and motorcycle jacket. And just tonight he was pondering getting the little man his own motorized motorcycle to drive around. I think he's a little young for that yet..

So Happy Birthday Dad! We look forward to celebrating many more with you!

Lunch with JLW

On Saturday, my friend JLW (aka Jodi aka J-Lo aka seagull stalkee) met Tyson and me for lunch at Red Robin. We used to work together at Vista until she decided that the drive from Narnia (South Mountain) was TOO far. So she quit and now she's working at a competitor company but it's all good. It was great to see her and have Tyson spend some time with his Auntie Jodi. She did, after all, endure nearly the entire gruesome 9 months of my pregnancy. Hmm.. maybe that's why she really left!

Fall Leaves

It's my second favorite time of the year (spring of course is first!) where the air is crisp and cool and the leaves start changing to vivid reds, oranges and yellows. We of course had to celebrate this with a trip up Millcreek Canyon to capture the colors! To be honest, we probably should have waited a weekend because the leaves in the lower parts of the canyons hadn't started changing yet but we just kept driving until we found the colors!

I love this photo.

We went again on Monday and the leaves were even more bright and colorful. Sadly I didn't have my camera. Sniff.

Hey... It's Halloween season! I'm on the lookout for spooky spiderwebs. As long as the occupant isn't home, that is...