Sunday, September 28, 2008

Matching PJs, IRRESISTABLE!

I knew it would end in tears, but it was funny while it lasted!







Friday, September 26, 2008

4 Neil Diamondhearts

Oh Ladies!  You will never know what it is to love Neil Diamond unless you experience him LIVE in full effect.  I thought I loved Neil.  Lots of fond memories of drunken dancing to his best songs.  Erika inspired us to make a ladies night out of his return to Seattle.  We tried to dress up in as much sequined or leather hot lady rocker gear as we could get our hands on.  We got loose, we were a little late, and I thought I might have to exit for some fresh air the second I had finally climbed over a million pissed off old people to get to my seat, but I rode the wave and Neil was the tide.  He sang so great he made himself cry.  I could not stop grinning, dancing when appropriate, and screaming WHHHEEEWWW!!!.   It was awesome.  After all was said and done, we decided that next time we would make every effort possible to be in the front row and given the chance we would probably make out with him on stage.    



Sunday, September 21, 2008

Welcome September!

Labor Day and The Fair
They make the arrival of September something extra special.

We rushed over to Puyallup on thursday after work.  I was a bit grouchy about it at first, feeling really anal about not wanting fair food for dinner.  But who am I kidding, I totally loved eating icecream and scones for dinner while the babies had hot dogs.  We really went hog wild this year, it was a three hour spending bonanza but oh so much fun.  We splurged on gate-side paid parking, some really fun rides like the big slide and the swings (Finn's laughter attracted crowds as he rode the sparkley four-wheeler, his blond baby mullet blowing in the wind behind him), I got two strips from the B&W photo booths, ice cream cones, krusty pups, 13 scones, and to top it all... TWO gigantic inflatable swords.    

Saturday, September 20, 2008

Summer season, in a nutshell.

Oh how the lovely days of summer linger on buzzing and warm, so that you almost forget it will be cold and dark for the next 9 months of the year.  What did I do with the sunny days?  We turned 32, followed by the fireworks of the 4th.  We weeded, sowed, and watered to enjoy a sweet garden that I am now ready to tear apart and rearrange.  We escaped to the beach for weekends of sunshine and sand in between our toes.  Some weekends we worked hard on projects like finishing the fence and stacking a tree's worth of wood.  Hanna was born!  We have been spending Tuesday afternoons strolling the farmer's market down the street and cooking up amazingly fresh and healthful meals with our own vegetable farm share.  We picked a fraction of the blueberries at the farm, but have pilfered many other fruits from the trees in our neighborhood.  We picked a new school for Leo and made a new schedule for our work routines that still manages to keep 3 out of 4 of us at home most days.  Finn has learned to talk, wrestle, and belly swim, but still runs with his arms tucked up like a football star.  Oh yes, we had a lovely wedding weekend that was every bit of fun that it should have been after a very long engagement and intense 4 years of child raising.  And finally, to cap it all off, my favorite, a trip to the old Puyallup Fair.    

Friday, September 19, 2008

More summer recap, with pics!



First, there was the 4th of July!  Look at these two little yankee-doodles!
And after that the birthdays are plentiful, so we have as many picnics, BBQ's, and cakes as possible!  Just in July and August we celebrate for Josiah, many friends, Henry, myself, Joe, and Buffy.  Here are the Howards at Owen's Beach.  A little fox joined our picnic that night but got chased back into the woods.

Sweet Family.


I finally get to share some wedding love

I have been wanting to share some of the pictures that Jon and Heather took for some time now, so here are some of my faves.  Starting with Thursday, the evening that the judge came to the house. Originally, having rented the house for the weekend, we thought it would be fun to have friends over to hang out and decorate and arrange flowers and pre-funk on Thursday.  You know, maximize the fun. But when I could not picture how to do vows at the garden without feeling showy, and as it turned out there was not a convenient moment to squeeze in the judge on Friday, we just decided to do it on Thursday at the house.  I think we pulled in about 20 minutes before the judge, so it was a bit scattered and improvised, but who cares, we had our sweet ceremony and a ton of fun afterward.  There aren't enough pictures of Jon and Heather, they were the witnesses, the background music, the photographers, decorators, and the fun. Erika and family catered, baked, arranged flowers and provided endless fun with a fabulous mixed CD.  And sweet Trista with Chris and new baby Hannah completed the circle of essential friends.  It was spontaneous perfection at it's best!




Wedding Day





More Wedding Day





Day Two: Evening Garden Walk

Part two of the wedding weekend.
After spending the day doing this and that around the island, all of our family joined up at Bloedel Reserve for an evening walk in the garden.  Ben, boys, and I visited the reserve for my birthday and fell in love with the place.  It is so tranquil and overwhelmingly beautiful.  We felt that just walking through it with all of our family at once would be a memorable treat that we could consider our own informal yet sacred wedding moment.  

We started out in the meadow

Which led to a path through the forest

Finn blends with the forest elves

I think we look like we are in a fairy-tale here

This native clover is called oxalis, it is so green and cheerful, it makes the forest floor look magical.

Day Two: Evening Garden Walk

Here is a glimpse of Heather, the girl behind the lens.
After the forest comes the reflecting pool




Day Two: Evening Garden Walk

The gate to the Japanese Garden, one of my favorite spots
The 1950's Japanese House
The house is surrounded by the zen garden and formal Japanese garden
Best man Leo

Day Two: Evening Garden Walk

After the Japanese garden we walked to the vista that overlooks the Puget Sound
The view is incredible, green, and salty.  There is a huge eagles nest middleground in the tree tops.

Ben and Roy