Hey batter, batter!

We got our Cinco de Mayo on at Safeco Field watching the M's dominate barely win the Rangers.

It was the emptiest game we'd ever seen, but that just meant that we didn't have to sit in parking garage traffic once the game was over.



Apparently we haven't quite mastered the art of smiling for the camera. Contrary to how it looks, we really did enjoy ourselves. Really.

Visiting ALL the way from Utah!

The last week in October we had some fun house guests, who we've been waiting to come and visit us for a LONG time! And as if they weren't fun enough, Chase came up with them as a surprise. Good surprise!

We had lots of things planned to do but it being Seattle and all, the rain kept us from doing a few of them. We actually lucked out and got a couple days of really good weather.

First things first, we hit Pike's Market to get some hot mini donuts and see some flying fish. And a visit isn't a visit without your picture atop Rachel the pig.

We headed down to the waterfront for lunch at The Crab Pot...more food than we could handle!

The next day we went to the Seattle Aquarium. Chase posed with giant carved pumpkins, the girls got their faces painted and we all got to touch on slimy sea things.

From there we made our way down to the Family Fun Center for nothing but fun. How can a family not have fun there? It's in the name.

We went on ride after ride and played games galore. There were quite a bit of tickets racked up that were cashed in for loads of silly little trinkets. Yep, we had fun.

The next day we all went to the Zoo, costumes and all. Now, aren't they the cutest fairy and cheerleader you've ever seen!? Thought so.

Erika, the little navigator, checking out the map.

All they really had their hearts sent on seeing was the bears and we nearly struck out. All the bears were hiding or their exhibit was closed, except for the sloth bear, and that wasn't really that exciting.

A couple hours and a few feet of cotton candy later (seriously, a lot of cotton candy!!) and we were ready to head home to get ready for some good ol' fashioned trick-or-treating.

Yes, Jackson had a costume this year, and he only hated part of it...the hat. He did sport his bat wings without any complaint. We brought him along with us as we all took the girls out trick or treating and I was 100% surprised that he didn't tackle any little kids and scarf down their candy.

After the girls scored some treats they packed up and headed back to Utah.

We did lots of things in between, but since I don't have pictures, I can't remember what they were {yep, I'm getting old, my memory is going}.

One night the guys took over kid duty so Melanie and I could keep up our tradtion of seeing all the Twilight Saga together and we saw a late showing of Eclipse. They made fun of us for doing it, but I don't care!

Their stay seemed to go by way too fast. Can't wait until they come back again!

Labor Day the Canadian Way

Rob surprised me with a long weekend in Vancouver, BC over the Labor Day weekend. We stayed at a great place on Robson {where all the shops/restaurants/clubs are} so we didn't have to go far for anything!

We did do our fair share of walking though...there was a lot going on that weekend! We watched some street performers. Our favorite was a guy who juggled fire, then was chained up in a straight jacket and escaped. As if that wasn't good enough...he was quite the comedian as well. There was some sidewalk art too...this MJ one was probably the best.

We went to TaiwanFest, which had the absolute scariest food I have ever seen! People were lining up to get fried octopus and grilled squid on a stick and pickled pork belly, fish ball {?!?} soup, blood pudding on a stick and of course, bubble tea. Needless to say, we passed on every single bit of it!

We spent one day at the Vancouver Aquarium, which was mostly like any other aquarium we've been to, except they had beluga whales, dolphins and a 4-D movie.

It was SO crowded there. We got there fairly early and the line was snaking all away around the building. It was raining so they were passing out umbrellas to people who didn't have them {ahem, Rob}. Here he is with his cute froggie umbrella. I kinda wanted to keep it. ☺

I took a million pictures, but none of them showed up well because I just haven't learned how to master the flash/glass combo on my camera. Oh well!

We also did a bit of shopping, got in some good eats and saw a terrible movie {The American, don't waste your money}. It all went by way too fast. Good times.

Ears and all

Happy Easter, from us to you.

I won't try to pass the blame of this onto Rob. These bunny ears were all my doing.

I am awesome. ☺

We'll be spending our Easter brunching at Barking Frog, doing the dog park thing and wandering Alki Beach. Hope you all have a wonderful Easter.

Green Goodness

I think we all know that I am no Martha in the kitchen, but I thought since I didn't have school tonight, I'd try to make an effort to celebrate St. Patty's Day a little.

Yep, spinach tortellini with green alfredo sauce, green buttered garlic bread, asparagus with green balsamic garlic sauce and green Gatorade.

Corny? Yep. But it was quite tasty if I do say so myself. I think Rob could have taken it or left it. The green sauce threw him off a bit. So there...don't say I can't be festive. ☺

Day of Love

Our Valentine's Day started out with a heart themed breakfast, courtesy of yours truly. It got rave reviews. Naturally.

Jackson even got in on it a little...dogs can eat turkey bacon and heart shaped eggs, right?

Following breakfast we lounged around and watched episode after episode of Millionaire Matchmaker...does anything say 'true love' more?!? We then felt way too casual to follow through with our initial romantic date plans, so we threw on jeans and sweatshirts then headed to trusty ol' Burgermaster for a delightful Valentine's meal, shakes included.

Next up we visited a favorite area pet store to snag some goodies for the furry little loves in our lives. We wrapped the glorious day up with a viewing of Valentine's Day at our local theater. It was better than expected..full of laughs.

So there ya have it...V-Day 2010. Until next year...

From '09 to '10, Utah style

OK, so I have finally gotten around to posting about our little jaunt down to Utah to celebrate the new year. I flew down to Utah the day after we returned from Canada while Rob responsibly returned to work before joining us at 'Party Central' down in Utah a few days later.

The morning after the big snow (Tuesday AM maybe??) we ventured out into the white mess to have breakfast at Beez Cafe. I was nervous about driving in the snow, so Jordan carefully chauffeured me around.

Originally Rob and I planned to ring in the new year in Park City, but we got frightened off by the idea of driving in all the snow that had fallen up there, so we cancelled that reservation and re-booked at a hotel down in Salt Lake, a land of less snow. But alas, more snow fell all around and we wussed out of our Salt Lake plans as well.

Lucky us, we ended up spending New Year's Eve at the party house with my family making homemade pizzas, playing games and bangin' pot n' pans outside at midnight. It was fantastic...although I had to get my NYE smooch inside, because Rob was too cold to come out and celebrate with us in the snow. I don't know that he'll ever get used to the snow. ☺

After sleeping in, we all celebrated Mom's New Year Day Birthday with a yummy lunch and then an evening of Galactic Bowling...oooooh! It was lots of fun and I almost broke 100. Almost. I think that there was more goofing around and picture taking than actual bowling taking place.

Erika thought our goober car was super cool and wanted to ride along with Rob and I wherever we went, so she also got roped into a grocery stop. It actually turned out to be pretty fun because they had mini shopping carts and she was all business about loading it up. She found a juice that had Hannah Montana on the front of it and just had to get a picture with it!

We spent a lot of time just hanging out at Ryan & Melanie's. It was really nice to just relax with everyone! We sure did miss Jason & Courtney's family though!!

A few noteworthy but picture free highlights include:

• A double date with Ry & Mel. Dinner at Tepanyaki and saw It's Complicated. SO funny!!
• Discovering the deliciousness that is Cafe Rio with Tyler. Yum-my. I wish we had them in WA!
• Playing The Game of Things...thanks for introducing us to it Anne!
• Melanie and I had a girlie night...dinner and New Moon. Yes, I saw it again. And will probably see it another time or two. ☺
• Going through some boxes of stuff I left at Mom & Dad's when I moved out. Great finds, I tell ya...old clothes (Oshman's and Dilly Dally shirts), dance pictures (eek!) and a Leonardo DiCaprio poster.

  Good times, good times.