Fun with James

He'll be a great daddy...

Happy Halloween!!

It's hard to believe we've already said goodbye to October and it's time to take on November!

We had a great Halloween packed with all sorts of fall festivities!

Earlier in the week Ben carved a pumpkin for his work's contest. He ended up tied with another coworker at the end of the day and the last customer was forced to make a decision between the two. Of course, they went with the best one :)

Here is Ben and his pumpkin the "out of towner" minus the apple for the nose he added later.


On Saturday we met up with some friends at a pumpkin farm to go through the 12 acre corn maze! The maze was designed after a map of Washington, so it was fun to see little landmarks in the maze like the space needle, the Tacoma narrows bridge, Mt. Rainier, etc. We split up into couples and had a race to the finish. We got excited when we got to the end and no one was there. Much to our surprise, everyone had already finished and were busy exploring the maze some more!

Saturday afternoon we went over to Steve and Lindsey's for some pumpkin carving fun. I thought the ideas I had researched were sure winners, but I was surprised when everyone started busting out some amazing designs! Needless to say, we didn't come close to winning, but it was a blast spending time with our friends.


We left the party for a while to meet up with Mark & Jessie for some chipotle burritos. This was our third year going- it's a great annual tradition! This year, little Saisha joined our burrito gang, but she was a little too tired for a burrito this year!

more birthdays!

Friday night we got together with some friends from our community group and a few other local groups to have a fall party. There was also a pumpkin carving contest that Ben and I failed miserably at. I had an image in my head of an old man pumpkin, but it did not turn out close to what I was picturing.

Saturday was spent at my work's annual auction fundraiser. It's held at the downtown Hyatt in Seattle and Ben and I were in charge of the wine toss. (A ring toss around wine bottles- not throwing wine bottles like some people thought). It was a really fun night and we were successful in raising some money for our organization! It's also a fun excuse to dress up!

We celebrated Mark's birthday this past weekend which was the last birthday of the never ending birthday packed Fall. We ate a dinner filled with Mark favorites including home made onion rings, boneless buffalo bites, and a multi layer mint brownie for dessert. yum! For Mark's birthday, Ben is taking him to the bodies exhibit.. eek!!

James turns 2!

Our favorite nephew turned two last week and we were delighted to attend his train themed birthday party over the weekend. My sister set the bar high for future parties. Their house was decked out in train memorabilia including tracks on the ground, two different train sets, and even a train sweater vest for James to wear.


I have always wanted to get into cake decorating so I made my first cake for his party. I was really happy with how it turned out!


We love these 2!

it's fall!

It is definitely fall around here in Washington! The leaves are turning brilliant colors, we have pulled out the jackets and sweaters, the rain has started, and our Starbucks budget is increasing just a little bit to make way for pumpkin spice chai. I love this time of year. I love the smell after a rain, I love the trees that look like they are in fire, and I love snuggling up on the couch with a blanket.


We are doing all of the wonderful fall festivities required when living in Seattle. Last weekend we went to a pumpkin patch with our friends Steve & Lindsey and their little one Kaci. We had such a fun time picking out pumpkins, checking out the animals, and soaking up the smell of kettle corn.

This weekend was also the celebration of my sister's 30th birthday! We had a surprise party for her and the theme was "things I ate when I was 20" There was an interesting mix of food including ramen, pizza pockets, bean dip, apples + dip (apparently there were some people who ate healthy), skittles & m&ms, and Texas sheet cake for dessert. It was a fun celebration of a wonderful woman! Happy Birthday Sis!


My mom is up visiting until Sunday, helping out with the little ones during the day. We have been blessed to have her up here! We are also still loving being auntie and uncle.

One last anniversary hurrah

We topped our seemingly endless anniversary/birthday celebration by spending a weekend away in Seaside, Oregon. We went the first weekend of "off season" rates, and ended up getting blessed in a HUGE way with fantastic weather! We were reminded constantly how the weather "was not normal" (probably to avoid massive amounts of people moving there). We had an incredible time!

We stayed at the cutest b & b one block away from the beach.


We got there Friday night and ate a great cajun dinner at a local restaurant. We walked down Broadway, the main street and played some skee ball and explored a candy shop. We made it to the beach just in time to catch a beautiful sunset .



Saturday morning we did a coastal drive and stopped at lots of different state parks and look out points. It was absolutely breathtaking!



We spent Sat. afternoon in Seaside playing some more arcade games, drinking a tasty malt from an old fashioned soda shop, finding 3 geocaches, and collecting sand dollars during low tide.


Sunday morning we left Seaside and explored the town just north called Astoria. We loved Astoria! We climbed a 162 stair column to get an amazing view of Astoria, the Columbia River, Mt. Rainier and Mt. St. Helens. We also went on a historic trolley ride that was run by a married couple, how cute!

It was a wonderful weekend!

WICKED

Amazing.. AMAZING show!! I have wanted to see wicked forever, and it was worth the wait. The singing was fantastic, the costumes were beautiful, and the script was funny! One of the best surprises that right before the show my sister & Mark showed up! My husband is becoming one of the trickiest men alive!

We started off the evening with a super tasty dinner at Table 219 in Capital Hill. The meal was tasty, but the dessert was the best- a homemade ding dong!


After dinner we did some shopping downtown, grabbed a hot cocoa (the intended meeting spot for the surprise), and went to the Paramount theater. The theater was so beautiful!


Like I already said, the show was incredible. It's hard to believe that the cast performs almost every night and still makes it feel like a one night show because of the amount of energy they put out.

An excellent anniversary treat for sure! The celebration continues with a weekend in Seaside, Oregon this weekend!