Seattle Center Fountain

This morning we ventured out to the Seattle Center with some ladies in the ward. It was a beautiful day to be outside! The big fountain was a bit intimidating to the kids. It would do little squirts, but then the music would start and the big water show would start. We had a few close calls to being drenched. Brandon got wet in the big fountain, but Lindsey had no intention of getting close to it when the big jets were on. I barely got her to get close enough to touch the dome when the jets were turned off.

After a little while we found a very nice little wading pool nearby that was much better for the little ones. Lindsey jumped right in and splashed away.


I helped Katelyn walk around in the water and we even tucked in her skirt to avoid her getting soaked, but the water was just too tempting.

I eventually gave up and she got completely wet and loved every minute of it!

Library afternoon

I just love it when we get back from the library. These kids love to read, and they especially love new books. This is the welcome sight that met my eyes after an afternoon library trip:

They will read new books for a long time.

And then there's Katelyn. One of her favorite things to do is to get into the kids' closet and pull out some of her favorite toys, one of which happens to be Lindsey's tea set. She loves dumping everything out and then putting things back in, even if they don't belong.


Afternoons like this are the best!

No rolling pin

This last Sunday we had to cancel our plans to go out and do our ward missionary calling and found ourselves with some free time! So we decided to invite the other two single BYU MBA's here over for dinner. We had been meaning to do it, but our Sundays have been very full. We had a nice, relaxing afternoon of working on dinner together. We worked on making pork chops, homemade mashed potatoes and yummy gravy from the pork chop sauce, fresh asparagus from Pike's Place market, homemade bread sticks and brownies to eat with our vanilla ice cream for dessert. Justin and Brandon helped me in kitchen while the girls had a nice nap. When it came time to roll out the dough for our bread sticks, I realized that our furnished apartment didn't come with a rolling pin. We brainstormed a few ideas of what we could use as a substitute. Here's what we came up with:

It is an unopened V8 can from the refrigerator. I took off the label and washed it. It ended up working great! Brandon and Lindsey helped to push it around and flatten the dough. Then Brandon cut the slices, Lindsey picked them up, then Justin dipped them in butter and arranged them on the pan. They made a great bread stick team!

Our dinner turned out to be a great success. We had a lovely evening with Ryan and Michael and enjoyed a nice Sunday dinner once again.

Katelyn is standing by herself!

This last week Katelyn has picked up a great skill. She has been able to pull herself up to a stand for a little while now, but she's figured how to stand up all by herself, not holding on to anyone. As you can see in the little video, she's very proud of herself! Please excuse her attire. This was taken the morning after the 4th of July. We had just put Katelyn to bed in her watermelon-covered clothes the night before because she was just so tired from a busy day. I think we were in the middle of a wardrobe change when she started standing up and I had to grab the camera!

She starts clapping every time she stands up by herself and starts laughing. Brandon and Lindsey usually join in with a rousing applause. It's so cute! She has attempted a few steps on her own, so I am anticipating that she will catch on to walking very soon. Hopefully we'll be able to catch a bit of that on camera.

I can't believe my baby is growing up!

4th of July Weekend

This weekend was very fun. I woke up early in the morning with Katelyn and we enjoyed a beautiful view. People were out on the water enjoying the cool breeze.

Katelyn and I enjoyed some time playing together before the rest of the family woke up.

Yes, that is a sword I made for Brandon out of the Crispix box. Sweet baby!

We eventually got moving and got everyone dressed in patriotic attire for the day.

And then we headed off to Justin's cousin's house (Collins and Cameron) and met his other cousins there (Keith and Lisa).

We had a fun day there doing a BBQ, having a very patriotic dessert,


swimming, making paper airplanes and letting the kids play. I do have to say, this is the coolest 4th of July I've ever experienced. It was downright cool at the pool, despite the heated water!


After wards we headed home to watch fireworks from our place. This sunset picture is just for Justin's mom. She didn't see any pretty sunsets when she was here. They are different than Arizona sunsets, but very pretty still!


Seattle does 2 big fireworks shows, one from the lake on the east side of Seattle, on one from the bay on the west side. We were hoping that we'd have the perfect view of the bay show from our apartment, but Justin ran over to another building to see where the barge was and it was just out of sight behind a neighboring building. But we did get to see them. We just went to another building and viewed them from the floor-to-ceiling windows in their elevator area. It was a nice place to be. Brandon and Lindsey thought they were so pretty. Lindsey's favorites were the pink and purple ones, and the heart shaped ones. I always think of my sister Erin on the 4th, because it's her birthday. She always gets fireworks to celebrate! (Love you Erin!)

On Saturday we decided to go to the Pacific Science Center. It was really neat.


They've got lots of fun things there. The dinosaurs made them a bit nervous. They were moving and making noises.


Pretty big footprint!


The kids really liked the play area where they could play with water and just climb in and out of things. That was Katelyn's favorite part!



Big praying mantis!


Our favorite thing was going into the butterfly room. Very neat! There were probably hundreds of butterflies flying around in there. They even landed on us, which the kids weren't too excited about, but it really was amazing.

All in all, another busy, fun weekend!

The Pirates are Coming!

This last week we had a special ship come into Elliott Bay (where we live) for a boat show. We heard that it was supposed to make its appearance at about 3:30, so Brandon and I kept our eyes peeled all afternoon. At about 4:00, we noticed some helicopters circling close to the water, so I got the kids' shoes on and we walked out to the waterfront.

The procession was neat to watch. The big ship was led by a whole line of US Coast Guard ships, of course the first one being the "fire boats" that we see out on the water periodically here. It belongs to the fire station on Pier 54. They have the normal fire trucks, ambulances, but they also have a couple of fire boats that they can use to spray water for a very long distance. They really put on a show!

Then came the ship that we went out there to see. It didn't have the big sails up, which I was kind of hoping for, but it was neat to see the men standing on the masts. Isn't that crazy? I think I would be terrified! (Enlarge the picture to look at them.)

The funny part is that when Brandon saw the ship he said, "The pirates are coming!" And I couldn't convince him otherwise. So just so you all know, we have pirates here in Seattle. But I think they're probably very nice!

Brandon's Creativity

Every afternoon we have the same routine. We eat lunch, then Katelyn goes down for her afternoon nap, and Lindsey reads 3 books in bed and usually falls asleep as well. Brandon gets to do his quiet time. Sometimes we will do activities or baking together, but he usually has a lot of time to be nice and quiet!

He often starts his quiet time by reading some books (here he is trying to do a good reading pose for me).

Then he often gets out coloring books or work books or draws on various papers or his Doodle thingy.

He is getting very good at his drawing.

But that will only last for so long. Then he really starts getting creative! Why not make a belt holder for the dart shooter with 3 rubber bands? (Which, coincidentally also doubles for some nice sling shot action!)

Or why not just tape an empty water bottle to the end of the dart shooter?
Looks pretty cool buddy!

How much fun can we have with the tape? He labeled the TV three times.

Of course that was just today. Sometimes we end up with forts or ramps for his cars or animals to ride down using the couch cushions. It's amazing what you can find to do, especially when you are living in an apartment that doesn't have all of your stuff!

I'm always amazed with what you come up with every day Brandon!

Sunny Seattle

This last weekend was very sunny and warm here. Finally! And when the sun comes out, the people really do too. This was the sight that met my eyes at lunch time as I got off of our elevator after a grocery shopping trip with the kids. Who knew that people resorted to sunbathing on the rooftop in downtown? I guess you do what you have to do! Can you see her?

We decided that it would be the perfect day to take Justin on the ferry over to Bainbridge Island for dinner at a local Mexican Restaurant. I think Justin has been craving some good Mexican food. Seattle is heavier on the Chineese, Teryaki, Thai, and American food. So off we went!

We enjoyed some yummy food, got a couple of things at a local market and then got back on the ferry to come home.

Here's another ferry passing by....they're a lot bigger than they look. They can fit dozens of vehicles underneath.

This would be a good family picture if Brandon weren't making that face. It looks like he just got a bug in his eye! It was quite windy up at the front.

What a nice night for a ferry ride. Justin's work building is right above his head. It's always easy to spot.

On Saturday we went to an Amazon MBA Intern function that the families were invited to. We met at the Olympic Sculpture Park to mingle, enjoy outdoor art and eat some lunch. It was a nice time.

Who knew a big orange cone could be art?

The best part was all of the nice green grass there was for the kids to run around on. They loved that part. Grass is hard to find downtown.


And I was so thrilled that Lindsey's hair stayed in the whole time, even with all of the running around and playing. She looked very cute for the meeting of Justin's co-workers and fellow interns. (Whew!)


As a final note, I now understand what it is like to live in a place that gets hot for a few weeks and not have air conditioning! On Sunday it warmed up to 90 degrees. We were very warm all through church that morning and they finally pulled out a big industrial fan to circulate the air in the chapel. When we got home our apartment was roasting! We have a couple of little fans, but they didn't help very much. We have the sun full blast in the afternoon and evening, so the temperature just kept climbing. We left at 4:00 to do our ward missionary calling for a couple of hours, and I turned the A/C on full blast in the van between our visits. When we got back, it was as hot as ever in our apartment, but we tried to stay close to the fans and wait it out. Whew! I definitely appreciate A/C!