The Waterfront

After the park we took a drive through our old city (Kirkland, WA). It was CRAZY to see everything again. Here's the house that fit 10 of us at once! It still looks almost exactly like it did back then. I think they've put in new windows, but it's even still the same color. (oh yeah, and they have a new front door)Here is Nicole's crossing signal. When my sister Nicole was in Jr High School she got hit by a car while walking to school one morning. Luckily she was eventually alright (lots of jaw surgery and rehab, but okay) and they put up this sign just because of her. It's her claim to fame. :)We drove around for a bit and found my Grandpa's house purely from Nicole's memory. I never drove in Seattle (I was too young) so I was pretty impressed by her finding it that way. It brought back sooooo many memories. We even drove around back and tried to get a look at the yard. My grandpa was an avid gardener and we all have such fond memories of his beautiful gardens. I don't think the new owners kept it the same, but what can ya do? We stopped by my Grandparent's graves and left some flowers. I know they both would appreciate that. (I'm convinced they are where I got my love of flowers)

Our next stop was the Kirkland Waterfront. This was also where we went for Family Home Evening sometimes to feed the ducks and clime around on the rocks. It is SO much busier now and they even charge for parking! It's all getting kind of yuppie.
Daniel and Zoe had a blast throwing rocks into the water. Which I only just found out is a lake, not part of the sound!!! Duh. Growing up I always just assumed it must be the ocean. Now that I really think about it, it totally makes sense that it's a lake.... wonder what else from childhood I have wrong?!? I have no clue what brought on this expression, I'm just so glad I caught it! Too too funny.

The scenery was just perfect, we were there just as the sun was setting and I couldn't help but grab some shots of the kids. Zoe is a great little model.

Here's Daniel signing off....

Farrel-McWhirter

Nicole and I both hadn't been to the Seattle area for a while, so we thought we'd make a quick trip up. Our first stop was lunch with our Cousin Thayne. The generations in my family are kind of messed up, she's my cousin, but her oldest children are my age. So growing up, it felt more like she was my aunt, but now that I'm a bit older, she feels more like my cousin. We always have fun with her and taking after our Grandmother, she gave us some delicious home-made cookies on our way out. (Seriously, they were so good, thanks Thayne!) Our next stop was Farrel-McWhirter Park in Redmond. This was our family's favorite park growing up. We went there all the time for Family Home Evening and would have a picnic, then spend the rest of the time running and playing. Nicole and I thought it was pretty funny that when we got to where the trees were thicker, both kids got a bit scared, and we both felt happy and at home.

We found some uprooted trees that Daniel thought were awesome. He couldn't believe that these were just the roots!

The kids stopped to pick buttercups on the path. I picked some too, and looking down at them in my hand was immediately transported to my childhood. Funny what'll do that to you. Just a couple step farther on the trail the kids found horses.

Zoe thought she'd show her flower to the horse.

And freaked out when he ate it! This next picture was taken 1 second after the other one, that's how fast she got out of there!

And she kept her distance the whole time after that! (I don't blame you Zoe!) Luckily the horses here are very sweet.


Climbing the stairs to what was one of my favorite activities, running around in the silo.

This is just for my siblings. It all still looks the same doesn't it? When we got back to the car these two little munchkins decided to gang up on us. They felt we didn't give them enough time to play. It was hilarious. You can't really see it in the photo, but trust me, very mature, concerned faces, lol. Too too funny!

Tyler the Great

While we were in Pasco we got to go to one of Tyler's playoff baseball games. Daniel, Nicklaus and Zoe got to run around and play while Tyler sweat it out in the dugout and on the field.

Every once in a while the kids would run up to the fence and soak it all in.


We were so excited when they called on Tyler to pitch. He did such a great job.

In between watching the game and running around the little boys played catch with the kids' (Tyler, Nick and Zoe's) Great Uncle Rod.

We apparently need to work on the whole "eye on the ball" thing....

The weather was so crazy. We'd be frying one minute and freezing the next.... we wore fleece blankets and shorts!

These two play together so well. Such cuties.Tyler's team won the game by a LOT of runs and got to continue in the play offs. Great job TY!

Going to Washington and Walla Walla

While we were in Utah this summer Bryan went back to Ohio for 2 weeks to take his boards and attend a short class that was required for his next year of schooling. Daniel and I decided to get out of my in-laws' hair (we stayed with them for about 2 months this summer, it was awesome, and they are the BEST hosts, but I'm sure they didn't mind a little break ;) ) And I've been dying to get back to Washington somehow, I hadn't been then since I was pregnant with Daniel and it was the worst trip ever! (I was pregnant, we got KILLER food poisoning our second day there, and as soon as we were almost feeling well enough to do anything we got the call that my grandmother had passed away in Utah, we drove home the next day... for a while there we were positive that our vacations were cursed) So Daniel and I made the drive to Washington alone. I was a bit concerned because I was dealing with this: But he was actually AMAZINGLY good for the whole trip! Bless his little heart. I had bought him a Yoda pez dispenser thinking that if he got horrible, it might help distract him to have something new. A few hours into the drive I decided to give it to him to reward his great behavior and he played with it for the rest of the drive! He didn't watch any videos the whole time! Just Yoda and some books, it was incredible. As we got into Oregon we hit an incredible storm, my pictures do not do it any justice, but it was gorgeous.
Our first day there we went and helped my sister Nicole with some errands and then headed to Walla Walla for the afternoon. (it feels kind of crazy even writing it!) I hadn't been back to Walla Walla in maybe 10 years. When we moved to Walla Walla it took a long time for it to feel like home to me, I was amazed at how much it still did feel like home on this trip. (and yet SO much has changed!) We didn't have a long time, so for the most part we did a drive by, so all of my pictures were taken from a moving car with the windows up. (windows down ='s bothered children, thus they were up!)

This church is were I had my first paying gig. I remember my choir director asked me to come and perform on a Sunday at this church, which I was happy to do. It went well, even though it was kind of weird to be a part of a different religion's worship service, it was still nice. Totally unexpectedly a few weeks later my Choir director handed me a check for my performance. It totally took me off guard, as I had never even considered that people get paid to perform in other churches! I thanked him and took the check. I never was comfortable enough with it to cash the check. It was a real eye opener for me.

This is the court house. Now, most teens don't spend a lot of time at their local court houses, at least not the teens I hung out with. lol. But I got to know the building quite well through Mock Trial. I was a witness my Freshman Year and a Lawyer my Sophomore and Junior years. We had a really successful team ( I think we took second in State one year?), I learned a lot and had a lot of fun. If nothing else, it helped keep me out of trouble. ;) (we also took our band photos here once, I stood forever on the top step adjusting and readjusting my sousaphone... ah the memories)


Who could ever forget everyone's favorite record store? I couldn't believe it was still there, and with the same name! Gross.


One of the main parks there "Pioneer Park," was designed by the same man who designed Central Park in NYC. This one is MUCH smaller, lol, but well used and loved. I sang in summer concerts accompanied by a band in front of and inside this stage. I also performed scenes from the shows I was in here. Every 4th of July this place would be packed with people and vendors all around. The fireworks were spectacular. Not quite the same show as you get in Provo, but it was closer and you could feel it. So much fun.


We drove by my old High School campus. It still looks pretty much the same, lots of buildings spread over acres of grass and streams. I was so lucky to go here. I still think what they call it sounds funny though. Wa-Hi. Makes me think of a bad martial arts movie.


Then we drove by our old house. Makes me home sick just looking at it. I guess this was the last home of my parents that I really lived in, maybe that's why. Life here was calm and beautiful. It was such a blessing to live here. (something we all never would have thought!)


It's on a corner, so we are able to see into our old yard. All of Dad's hard work still shows. They still have all of the trees he planted, and the address sign he chiseled out of stone. They even still use the garden I helped him put in. (you don't ever forget how hard it is to pull up sod!) We drove around for a bit and saw so many things that brought up memories. Walla Walla is full of old houses that I just LOVE. (It's the oldest city west of the Mississippi) I took so many photos and we had such a great time. Walla Walla is gorgeous. On our way back to the tri-cities (where Nicole and her family live) we hit a huge dust storm.

I had forgotten just how crazy Walla Walla's dust storms can be. For a while we were pretty scared, it felt like it was going to rip off the hood of the car. I thought we were handling it pretty well, but Daniel started yelling "Hold on for your lives!!!" I think he thought he was being funny, and it was after the fact, but not so much right then.

This was when it was starting to lift up a bit, can you see how the road just disappears? Scary stuff. (We obviously got home safely!)

Yay for my honey!

Yay! We're half way there! Or half way to the half way-ish mark, or I guess we'll be done someday...... okay I guess we're half way to Bryan being a Doctor! Yay! (even if that doesn't mean a real salary yet, we're VERY excited for the day he's done with med school. Bryan studied his brains out for a month this summer and we found out a few weeks ago that he passed his boards!!! What that means for us is that he's done with two years of school! (Even though he started 3rd year a month ago ;) )