GEESE!!

I was headed to stake choir practice
and noticed a blackness covering the soccer fields.

As I got closer I realized it was hundreds of  geese!!
I have never seen so many geese!

 I think they had stopped for breakfast!

I also noticed that they had all landed in the soccer field (surrounded by a fence),
but there were no birds outside the fence in the surrounding park.
I would have loved to see them all take off, but unfortunately I was late to choir!

11/11/11 11:11

I just have to say 

I LOVE 11:11!!

Through out college, I would text friends at 

11:11 to make a wish, and they would remind me too.

Or let me yell out the score at volleyball if it was 11 vs 11

you get the drift. 

So it only makes sense that my favorite day is 11/11

and I've been waiting for 11/11/11 forever!!!

On 11/11/11 I was babysitting for a friend,

 it was perfect because her kids were really into my crazy ideas too!

 We started the morning off with 11/11/11 pancakes!

 Please don't judge that I may still be in my PJs,

it was very early for me.

Spencer didn't want to miss out on pancakes,

which meant they were cooked EXTREMELY early....

Lunch included 11/11 hot dogs!

Because I only had 2 kids, we didn't have enough 

hot dogs to do the full date...sigh...

We ended with lasagna and 11/11/11 breadsticks!!!

It makes me very sad that I will probably not be alive for the next 11/11/11

(I guess I could live to 124 years old!)

But I'm so glad that I was alive for this 11/11/11 

and that we celebrated to its fullest!!!!

Mickey & Minnie

Still catching up!!

I have mixed feelings about Halloween.

I love to dress up, but really detest figuring out what to be

and how to be it and spending money on costumes.

So when I was hitting up garage sales this summer
I found the perfect shirt for Halloween!

And then at Goodwill I found

ears that matched!!!

 And since Spencer isn't too picky
(although he did convince me he didn't need to wear black tights)

I made his ears and stuck them on a headband.

It worked out perfectly because I was 

volunteering that day and then had to rush 

to Vancouver for a job interview

and then go home and grab Spencer and go 

back to Monticello Park Assisted Living 

to help with their carnival.

So I just switched shirts and BAM!

Ready for the interview!!

Hanging out with the old people was really fun.

We even sung the Mickey Mouse song lol!

Until we have kids to take around Trick-or-Treating,

I think it's what we'll do. 

Seattle Underground

Introducing Kenzie Drolette, best sister-in-law ever!
We have had some fun adventures recently.
This includes getting lost in Seattle and ending up at Dick's.
Coincidental? I think it was fate!

We also decided that while the Drolette boys went and watched a Cougar football game at
Century Link Field,
we would go tour the underground Seattle.  

I am not a history buff, but I do love good history stories!
I told Spencer the whole history spill on the way home,
don't worry, I won't do that now.

This is underground.
Those holes? They are cool purple glass squares that allowed 

sunlight down to the underground Seattle tunnels.
They are embedded in the sidewalk above.

An original La Mode.  It was built higher than the

ground to prevent stuff coming back up.

 While we were underground, there was a protest going on 

above us.  

The irony of it was they were protesting police enforcement

cruelty....and right in front were tons of police officers guiding the way!

 This is part of a hotel that had a floor underground.

The furniture was left there from a movie...not original.

If you've never done the tour it was totally awesome!!!
I now want the history book- it talks about all the 

fun dirty Seattle history.  You know, the stuff 

they can't put in the real history books!!

Fall Colors

One plus to living in Longview-
tons of trees full of fall colors!!

We were bored so went for a walk around the lake so I could capture the season

 Right before this Spencer was trying to scare the ducks 

so they would fly away...they kinda just ran from him

 I love the fountains!!!

 Yes, the water is green.
Perfect for pictures,
bad for swimming, drinking, etc.

My very "stoic" husband who is always

willing to pose for the camera-

provided he gets to pick the pose!

Canning Season

My garden was small

but I am very impressed with my "still acquiring" canning skills

which may require calling mom every 20 minutes.  :)

Look how pretty the colors are!!! I love the colors of canning!

The Bear went over the mountain...

A few weekends ago, Spencer's coworker took us on a hike

to see Mount St. Helens from another point called Coldwater Peak.

We left at O'Dark in the morning.  He said the trail was about 10 miles with

some slight inclines....

What he meant to say was 6 miles up and 6 miles down with some
mild flat areas....
enjoy the view!

 This was the first lake- "coldwater Lake" I think....

the top of that is where we were headed

We made it!!!! And just in time for lunch!

The view of Mount St. Helens - it was smoking and everything!

 
 Along the trail were a few tractors.  They were abandoned
when Mount St. Helens erupted- didn't have enough
time to get all the logging equipment off the mountain.

 Two more lakes and actually pretty sure there was one
even behind these two.  These lakes were created from
the eruption.

hmmm.....sideways.... well that top point

is where we hiked - Spencer took 

this pic on the way back to the car.

Luckily his co-worker pointed it out
AFTER we had done it....

All in all it was really fun and a blast and gorgeous!!!

Although I couldn't walk for a few days lol...

Saturday Afternoon Drive

On a beautiful Saturday afternoon

who wouldn't want to go on a drive

on a very windy out in the middle of nowhere road?

WE DID!!!

We also thought we'd be going farther then we did.
It was suppose to be a loop for a full afternoon

and apparently a logging company had privatized their road

and didn't tell google maps... so we turned around!

But not until we stopped and looked at the river we had been

following

(I'll admit, the windy road was making me sick,

and I wanted out!)

The river was so clear! It was a gorgeous day!!!

Gavin DeGraw Oh My!

For Spencer's Christmas present he requested
tickets to a Gavin DeGraw Concert.  Yay!
I never know what to get him!

The other two bands were good too....
I had no idea who Carolina Liar was
but they have a few good songs

And then came David Cook!!!
And yes, he is as suave as he looks in this picture
and yes, he does think he's all that and a can of worms.
What's the difference between 40 year-old "hip" moms and

their teen daughters?  They can be drunk WHILE swooning

over a man half their age.

But his music was pretty good, I loved the beat!

 And the final and whole reason for the concert...
GAVIN DEGRAW!!!
Such a great performer and stage presence. 

MERRY CHRISTMAS SPENCER!!!

Labor Day Weekend 2

So many pictures....
The beach was pretty gosh darn cold!
It was very fun to hang out...on the sand.
Spencer made Kenz and I go in the water a few times,
but so COLD!!!

Here is Spencer trying out his skim board... it wasn't
that great, so he used it more to body surf

We stayed until the fog came in so thick that you couldn't
see the ocean anymore and the tide was coming up rather
quickly.

We went to check out the Tillamook air museum, but
it cost a little more than what I wanted to spend, so
this is as close as we got!

The ice cream in Tillamook was pretty delicious, but alas,

the pictures refuse to download!  We went to the Tillamook Farmer's  Market
and had some fantastic legit Thai food.  Which then my camp food paled in comparison.

Due to very little camping gear, all our meals had to either be on a stick or

in my dutch oven.  Hence....Spaghettios!  They were great...
until Spencer accidently sat in his!!

The rest of the meals seemed to fair a little better!



Labor Day Weekend

Yes, I realize that the rest of you are talking about Halloween,

and I have yet to update my blog from SEPTEMBER!!!
But, here goes...
For our 2 year anniversary we decided we wanted to go on a bike trip,

which then turned into taking our bikes while camping,

to leaving the bikes at home and going camping with Spencer's
little sister!  Loved it!

We camped in Garibaldi, OR- it's near Tillamook.  We were right

on the bay/ocean.  Super pretty at night!

We were told that these are the tallest falls in Oregon (outside Tillamook). 

It seemed pretty small to me.  The trail was closed,

so we couldn't go much closer.  Good way to start the morning!

Next on the trip was the shortest lighthouse!
Cape  Meares was pretty cool, and way more
touristy than the falls.  

This is the Largest/tallest or something tree in Oregon in 2009.
It was huge!!!!

The ocean was so pretty!! It was starting to get foggy,

but not too bad.

They call this the "Octopus" tree.  I think

it was my favorite part of the whole trip!
lol