My years of patience were rewarded this week when my husband brought me home a tiny baby kitten =o)  My husband, as many of you know, has an unabashed  loathing of cats.  I am a cat lover.  I never thought the day would come that he, not me, would break down and get a kitten.  But Wes couldn’t leave him (or her, not sure yet) and knew how much I would love one.  What a sweetie!

You can see it has a split face, so we named it Harvey.  (Harvey Dent…Batman…Two Face…you got it)

Today is absolutely beautiful.  The sun is shining, the leaves are changing, the wind is mercifully not blowing, and the rain has let up for awhile.  Its the kind of day that makes you want to get outside and enjoy the sun before its gone!

Below was our view earlier today standing on the pier.

Now we are back home enjoying a lazy Saturday.  Potato soup is on the stove, and I’m contemplating making a pot of tea to enjoy while I clean up the living room!  Hopefully we will have many Fall days just like today.

We went on the annual Sandpiper trip this year and had a great time as usual.  The weather was nice, except for one rainy evening, but that didn’t stop the guys from building a huge bonfire.  A sandcastle was built, a sea lion was spotted, and the baby had his first ever ocean experience.  I wish we could have stayed longer, its always a relaxing time, and I’m already looking forward to going back next summer.  =o)

The uncles and aunt teach Gabe how to build a sandcastle

The sealion on the beach that we thought was hurt but turned out to be just fine

Here we are enjoying the beautiful sunset from the porch

Now summer is almost over and fall is on its way!  I can’t say I’m not excited, as much as I love the summer, I love the fall and winter even more.

We spent last weekend at the beach, and were able to stay in my cousins beach house!  We were so happy to be able to use it!

The weather was great, only a few sprinkles, but mostly sun.  Kelsey and Aaron went with us, and we had a pretty fun time.

Wes and Aaron played frisbee on the beach

Watching a seal catch fish, we named him Charlie

Aaron, our fearless leader

Can’t wait to go back to the ocean in just two weeks!

I’d like to pass on some friendly advice, just somthing I’ve come to learn over the last day or so.

DON’T EVER COOK FISH INSIDE YOUR HOUSE

The smell will never ever leave and you’ll spend the next two days spraying Febreeze on everything in hopes of quelling the awful lingering odor.  Also, if you used a broiler pan, putting it through the dishwasher will not clean it, and will consequently make all your other dishes smell like fish as well.

That is all, please heed my warning lest this horrible calamity befall you!

If you live near me, you can comiserate over the heat wave we had this last week.  Today was finally a bit cooler, but it actually broke the record for hottest day ever last week!  I am so grateful for our little AC unit, I wouldn’t be able to sleep at night otherwise.

Here we are, braving the heat at Amanda’s wedding

And here’s how Wes beats the heat

We’re hoping for some nice weather this weekend as we head for the beach!

Happy St Patty’s Day to everyone!  We celebrated this year with a completely homemade Irish meal…not to brag or anything.  Wes and Bud had home brewed Stout, Sasha made soda bread which was amazing, we all helped with the beef stew, and I made Guiness Chocolate cupcakes with Bailey’s frosting.  It was a delicious meal and a tradition we will keep from now on I hope =o)

I love days off.  Days to catch up on cleaning, laundry, book reading, tea drinking, lounging, or whatever you want basically.  Well today is my day off and I decided to brave the cold and venture outdoors for a walk…by myself.  I avoided the crazy cat man and even a close encounter with Paul the marine, and made it safely to the park where I enjoyed a nice sunny meander.  I didn’t last too long, but am glad I actually made it out of the apartment today!  My photographic proof is attached:

Another Christmas celebrated, or as Wes would say ‘Survived’ =o)

We were able to spend Christmas Eve with my husbands extended family, which is always a lot of fun!  And although we did get stuck in the snow trying to leave, the weather hasn’t proved too much of a hindrance.  I was afraid we wouldn’t be able to make it anywhere for Christmas morning.  We almost didn’t actually.  I was driving Christmas morning out to Enumclaw, and on the highway we hit some black ice, swerved all over the road, and eventually crashed head on into the barrier between the lanes.  Thankfully neither of us was hurt, aside from a sore head and neck that day.  And our car even managed to survive the crash, which is why I refuse to sell it!  Tell me what other car besides a 1989 solid steel Volvo could have survived that without a scratch!  It may be old, but its tough!  We are so grateful for the Lord’s protection, we could have easily hit another car or been going faster and been injured, or totaled the car…any number of things that we were spared by God’s grace.  Of course I wish it hadn’t happened at all, but it was a timely reminder for me in particular of God’s presence in my life, of his love for me and his plan for my future.

Aside from our little accident, we were able to make it to Enumclaw safely and spend Christmas morning with my in-laws!  We enjoyed a wonderful breakfast, courtesy of Rachel, and then opened our stockings and gifts from the family.  Gabriel was of course the center of attention as it was his first Christmas!  (See him stuffed into a stocking below)  We had a great time and wished we could have stayed longer, but eventually had to leave and head back to Tacoma to see my family!

We ate a delicious dinner with my parents and opened gifts, which always consist of a DVD for each of us from my Dad.  Then afterwards we pick which one we want to watch, and this years choice was ‘The Dark Knight’ that Peter had gotten.  Peter’s girlfriend Kelsey (girlfriend??  I know, its hard to remember that he isn’t a little baby anymore, he’s in college and therefore old enough to have a girlfriend I suppose) came and watched the movie with us, and it was nice to be able to see her again.  She gave my Dad one of his favorite gifts this year, a picture she had drawn/painted that she had seen him admire.  She framed it for him and everything, it was so nice!  It is now proudly displayed in my parents living room…I just hope they don’t break up because I don’t think my Dad will want to have to take it down ever!

I’m so thankful to have enjoyed such a wonderful Christmas.  I enjoyed my gifts of course, but more than that I was constantly reminded of how blessed I am and how God provides for us, most imporantly through the gift of His Son.  It can be difficult to remain focused on that gift above all others during Christmas, with all the media hype and consumerism and importance placed on buying gifts.  But it is the time we have set aside to especially remember Christ’s birth and so I’m thankful for this time of year and for having the opportunity to freely celebrate God’s gift of salvation to us.

I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas!  And I wish you a Happy New Year!

We finally moved into our new place last weekend.  We are so glad to be done with the apartment!  It was nice, but we were ready for more room and a less ‘apartment complex’ feel.  We moved into a duplex close to downtown, really close to my work which is perfect.  It is a house that has been converted into upstairs and downstairs rental units.  I have some pictures here, but keep in mind that we haven’t put everything together yet =o) it is very much still in the works.

Our neighborhood is great, there is a small park across the street that the community worked to get grants to build and all our neighbors have been friendly and welcoming.

We are so happy to be in our new place!