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Our Olympic Adventure

February 5, 2010 by Katie

With my job, it’s not very often that I get a Saturday off work. Sad, I know.

So immediately when I found out I would have this past Saturday off, we decided to spend that day doing one of our favorite weekend pasttimes–driving around the Pacific Northwest. It’s been months since we’ve had the free time to do it, so we fueled up Baby Blue (yes it’s a car, but she has a personality all her own and we consider her a member of our family) and booked the day for a drive west to the Olympic Peninsula, come rain or shine.

I was really hoping for shine, since the Olympic mountains are gorgeous snowcapped wonders this time of year. But instead, the fog hovered over the Sound and rain was in the forecast all day. No less excited, we headed towards the Seattle waterfront to board the ferry bound for Bainbridge Island.

We’ve ridden the ferry many many times—mostly thanks to my dad’s love of ferries and requests to ride whenever they come to visit—but this was the first time I had driven on been a passenger riding in a car on the ferry (it’s rare that Todd ever lets me drive). Quite exciting. Afterall, that’s not something you can do in most parts of this world.

We unloaded on Bainbridge Island and headed north to the Olympic Peninsula. Not really having a set itinerary, we just drove along and eventually ended up in Port Angeles for lunch a couple hours later. We always aim to dine at local eateries where we can savor some good ol’ homecooked meals.

(this pic is for any Twilight fans out there. Port Angeles had several other shops capitalizing on the Twilight craze…and no, I did not suggest we go here for that reason.)

Apparently you can see Canada from here on a clear day. No luck for us…which just means we’ll have to do the drive again when the sun is out.

After walking around for awhile, we left Port Angeles and drove Baby Blue back to the ferry to Seattle. There’s just something calming and relaxing about driving around the Pacific Northwest. Or maybe it’s more of a mysterious and eerie feeling. Either way, it’s exciting to purr along the winding roads together, not really knowing what lies ahead.

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Mixed Emotions

February 1, 2010 by Katie

Whenever I go home, I deal with feelings of both joy and sadness every day.

Joy, obviously, because we get to spend time with friends and family. Times which uplifts one’s heart immensely. And sadness, because I know that this short time together is all we get for the next ‘who knows how many’ months until we meet again.

Though none of us knows how long we have left on this earth, so we should enjoy every single day to its fullest, right? (but that’s a whole separate blogpost series right there that I won’t start into today )

We’re so thankful for Ben & Kim, who organized and invited a bunch of our friends over for lunch on our last full day in KC (okay, mostly my friends, since everyone except for Todd & Scott were from my hometown). I’d been looking forward to this for quite some time, especially because it was the first time I’d seen my cousin, Little Miss Lily, since she was just a wee little newborn.

I’m pretty sure she had no recollection of us from back then, but we were fast friends right away and I was seriously tempted to snuggle her back with us to Seattle.

And Crystal’s little boy, Gavin, so grown up and curious (and walking!) since the last time we saw him back in June.

Look deep into their blue eyes…..don’t those two cuties just melt your heart?

Crystal, Kim, little G, me, Ali & Lindsay. I’m blessed to have known these lovely ladies practically all my life.

While us girls chatted away, the men were left to entertain themselves and the kids. I got a good chuckle upon seeing the living room scene.

Cousin Ryan, Lindsay & Lily. Such a good looking family. Oh, how I wish I still lived just blocks away and could come over on a moments notice to babysit. It’s nice to see she seems to have inherited her father’s goofiness.

Or perhaps it just runs in the entire family…..

. . . . . . . .

On our way to the airport Monday morning, I was happy to squeeze in one last coffee date with my college friends Kaddie & Erin. These two girls make me laugh like no one else can and an hour with them really isn’t sufficient enough time, but I’ll gladly take whatever I can get. And at least now Todd & Erin are once again settled up on their cheeseburger bets.

So hard to say goodbye to everyone, but we had great fun and lasting memories during those 4 whirlwind days back home. Until next time….

Posted in: Fun, General, Pictures – 1 Comment

I know a spot

January 30, 2010 by Katie

I know a spot that I love full well,

’tis not in forest nor yet in dell,

ever it holds me with magic spell,

I think of thee, Alma Mater.

K-S-U! we’ll carry the banner high,

K-S-U! long long may the colors fly,

Loyal to thee, thy children will swell the cry,

Hail, Hail, Hail…Alma Mater!

-H.W. Jones

Big game tonight. We’re cheering on our wildcats from afar. And wearing matching shirts.

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Moose & Apples

January 26, 2010 by Katie

There’s this cozy place in Prairie Village that I love and put on my ‘must eat at’ list .

The Blue Moose.

They have the absolute best hummus ever. I drool just thinking about it and the spinach salad with strawberry poppyseed dressing.

This is also where Todd & I had our very first date, so of course we like to come back here whenever we can and have a little anniversary. I also like to remind him that he wouldn’t stop talking long enough for me to get a meaningful sentence in on that date (which is probably why I denied that it was our first date for quite some time), but apparently we still thought each other was pretty cool.

Some other people who are pretty cool….we met up at the Blue Moose with Drew & Sallee Gaelle again and our friends Shawn & Mindy drove up from Wichita to hang out with us.

After dinner, we headed to Drew & SG’s plaza apartment for a game of Apples to Apples. These two guys were Todd’s roommates in college and Shawn was my co-worker for several years so I actually knew he & Mindy before even meeting Todd. We’re all like one big happy family.

One big happy growing family, that is. Mindy & SG are both about 5 1/2 months pregnant and oh, so cute. I’m glad everyone’s plans coincided and we got to see them at this stage together.

It’s interesting how our conversations have changed throughout the years—from parties and college life, to houses and babies and work—but it’s so effortless to pick up right where we last left off. It’s always hard to say goodbye.

I’m already anxious to start planning our next reunion….hopefully in Seattle.

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Family Fun Time

January 23, 2010 by Katie

Making the most of our treasured brief time back home in KC, Dad & Mom drove down to spend a couple nights with us kids and celebrate a belated family Christmas.

We were all anticipating their arrival…

We spent the afternoon with Aunt Janice and had lunch at First Watch, followed by some last minute shopping and oohing and aaahing over her shiny new kitchen.

It feels so good to be together as a family and relax, eat, talk and play games. Unfortunately it’s an occurrence that only happens once or twice a year, so I have to sit back and remind myself to cherish every fleeting minute….even if I’m getting dealt too many consecutive bad hands at Phase 10.

(Ben would probably like me to admit that I lost to him in chess….and it wasn’t even close. What happened to the good ol’ days when he didn’t even stand a chance against me?!?!)

What a wonderful way to end our ‘Christmas Eve’.

. . . . . . . .

All the kids were up early and excited for Christmas Morning

We decided to only gift them toys this year (afterall, they’re just two big kids at heart).

these are snowslings for scooping up snowballs without getting your hands cold and wet. brilliant!

While it wasn’t quite the same as being together on December 25th, we still kept the family Christmas tradition of reading about Christ’s birth and having oranges in our stockings. No matter when or where we gather, it’ll always feel like home by having those two things constant in our celebrations for the past 27+ years.