Left overs of 2009

Again as my previous post has noted...everything now is out of order. I need to be more organized with my picture labeling so I don't miss anything. Well, in addition to that, I need to post as I do things! Forgive me ahead of time that most of these are out of date!!

We celebrated Kenny's 28th birthday at Rodizio's. It was super yummy! But I think we still stick to our opinion that Rodizio's and Tucano's are better on Friday and Saturday evenings! But we had a great time anyways :)















We also took Mom and Dad to Sub-Zero on their way back to Washington after Thanksgiving. We had them exchange birthday presents there as they are only a day apart!














We had the most difficult time hanging lights on the new house! Once everything was up, there were issues with getting all the lights on. Dad helped out a lot and by the end of it they looked like this:














Only not as blurry in real life! Also that white dot on the right is the full moon! Pretty cool!
Mom helped me decorate the inside of the house with lots of boughs and decorations. Then we put the tree up and put lights on it!














One morning not long after that we woke up to this!!!
















It was a Sunday and I was sooo glad I wasn't working. I'm not sure how I would have been able to get to my patients houses!
















The snow was wet that morning too...so it was too heavy to shovel like normal. We had to resort to shoveling in the wheelbarrow! Thanks to Grandpa in Heaven who bought us the wheelbarrow! We made it to church that morning...but we were definitely late!

A different day I just had to take a pic of this:














And Kenny made his first banana bread!! Way to go Kenny. He learned from the master and even put chocolate chips in it!!



















Thanks 2009 for being a great year!! Hope 2010 is as good or even better :)

5 year Anniversary!

Oh gosh! It's so hard to try to play catch up...everything is out of order and date!! Oh well. Our 5th year anniversary was just before Christmas '09.


Kenny was a little hesitant in making reservations in Park City...as it was pretty expensive. I talked him into it saying 5 years is a landmark!!

We made reservations at Hotel Park City...it is so beautiful! We had complimentary upgrades to their cottage suite!














It was so awesome. It was disconnected from the rest of the resort and just beautiful!















There were 3 fireplaces in it, 2 lcd tv's, a king bed, great views of the ski area (with night skiing), a small lake, and forest.















The bathroom was amazing...and our own private hot tub!!




























Anyways, along with the package came a voucher to use at Ruth's Chris. Soooo yummy! We ordered so much and it was all excellent! We exchanged presents at dinner. Kenny gave me a diamond necklace!! It's beautiful and so sweet of him. It was really hard for him to try to keep it a secret...but he did!




















We had a wonderful night and then had a "skier's buffet" the next morning that was included. It was amazing as well!
This is the view from our deck/hot tub:














I would do this again in a heartbeat...

Happy Anniversary Honey!! Thanks for making these last 5 years amazing. I LOVE you!!!

You Can't Replace Best Friends!!

My two best friends came out to visit me!! We have usually done visits in the late Summer/Fall. But they decided it would be fun to come during the cold weather!

It was so much fun! We did a ton of shopping...we hit all of the stores that I could think of that would have fun things in them. I know I have more to learn of...but I think we exhausted ourselves in the full day of shopping we had.

We made lots of yummy dinners and exchanged recipes as always!!


Then we went snowshoeing near Solitude. It was a cool day with specks of snow falling here and there. It was really fun!



















As always, it ended too soon!! I can't wait until we have another girls' weekend!!!

Thanks Erin and Nicole for coming down and visiting!! Love you girls!

Uncle Arne's Funeral :(

I have decided the best thing about a funeral is that everyone gets to be together! My dad said the last time I visited that funerals were for the living...as it's a time to be together and have the support of loved ones. I totally agree!

We couldn't believe it, the Air Force gave Beau a week off of his deployment to Guam to come back for the funeral! We are all together! It was such a wonderful blessing...especially since we are scattered all over and hardly get to see each other at the same time! In fact, we took family pictures. Unfortunately we didn't have our spouses, but at least we had just the family. Bekah was able to make it up to WA to see all of us and Beau...they had a great time together! I was so happy for them as it had been months since they'd seen each other.


We all got into Seattle around the same time and headed for...our favorite store, REI! It's so huge in Seattle! They had an awesome playground for lil Zoie to play on. It was this huge tree-house with slides, etc.


Then we ate at the 'world wraps' there in REI. It is delicious! After hanging out at REI and finding all sorts of stuff we wanted to buy, we headed up to Aunt Dori's in Queen Anne.

We had dinner up there with Erika, Steve, and Dori.

Then we spent the rest of the evening looking at old pictures of Uncle Arne and his life with mom as they grew up. It was really cool to be able to see them and learn more about both of their lives.

Mom and Aunt Dori had some great stories to tell about his life and the things he has done in them. It is interesting as you become an adult and your perspective changes on people you have grown up around.

I never knew that he was such a great business man among other things. It was really a wonderful night and I am so glad we were able to get together for it!















Then we headed back home to MV.

Bekah came in the next day and Beau went to Seattle to pick her up and hang out with her. Noelle, Ariel and I headed up to Bellingham to hang out at her house. We had a great time just hanging out and getting Thai food :)



















Zoie with Auntie Ariel and Uncle Brandon. She had a great time with all of us! And likewise :)

We took a walk down to the beach and Zoie enjoyed throwing rocks in the water.































Ariel and Brandon had a headlight they let me use. Zoie found it and just loved it! We put it around her waist and she refused to take it off!




We headed back to MV and took our family pictures. The next day we got ready for the funeral and went to it.
It was more of a memorial service as he had decided to be cremated. It was a beautiful service! There were wonderful stories written about him and many friends and family shared in it.

Here is a picture of lil Zoie with a whistle her mommy had bought for her.

She was able to use it very well.

That pretty much sums up the trip. On my way to the Airport we stopped by the waterfront and ate some well known clam chowder. We had a nice morning and then I left. It's always hard to leave!














Thanks for being such a wonderful person in my life Arne!! You will always be in my heart. I love you!

Also, thanks to my family for being so wonderful! I love you guys soo much! I have the best family in the world!!!


A fun picture at the end...someone threw a 'no parking' sign in the water off of the pier. Haha!

Back to Washington

Since I was only able to see my uncle one time on my last visit. I quickly rescheduled another flight and headed back home!

It was a really great visit! Mom and I took a long walk on the dike and had a neighbor dog follow us. He was really friendly and reminded us of Zion, Ariel's old dog.






Here is another picture of our walk. It was so gorgeous! The fog really made the picture!











After the walk we went a great little bakery in Edison. It was so yummy! We were there late in the day and got a lot of discounts on the baked goods.

The very best part of coming home was that I did get to see my uncle quite a few times! It was so nice to be able to visit him and just be there. He was able to be at home the whole time.

The morning I left we went out to breakfast with Erika. We went to an old firehouse in Seattle that is now a fun restaurant.














I left after that and the flight was completely booked. I opted to get bumped so I could have money towards a ticket because I knew I'd be coming back again soon as we didn't expect my uncle to live much longer. They gave me a voucher as well as meal vouchers. Unfortunately on my way in I had already bought a hot chocolate from Dillitante! It was too rich to get another one unfortunately :(
I made it home safely and was sooo happy that I had made that second trip...as I found out the next afternoon my uncle passed peacefully in his home with most of his loved ones around him. I have absolutely no regrets to getting that second ticket....I am so grateful I did.
I love you uncle Arne! Thank you for being such a wonderful person in my life. You've been so special to me a

New Years

New Years was a sad one. We flew up to Seattle to be with my parents. My uncle was diagnosed over the summer with esophageal cancer. It was diagnosed at a stage IV.

We wanted to be able to see Arne because it seemed with his prognosis and his current condition that this may be a last opportunity.

So we headed to Seattle and I made sure to gather up my fill on Delitante chocolate! Sooo yummy!


We headed to the Ballard Locks to show Kenny them. He'd never seen them before and it was pretty cool. There was a huge boat that came through



















Then we headed over to see my uncle as he was at a cancer facility. Here is Kenny and I waiting for my mom as she went up to see him.

Ironically he was discharged a few minutes before we got there!

We just missed him!!







Unfortunately we didn't see him that night!

It was New Years and we went out to dinner. Dad fell asleep part way through it...although that isn't surprising, hee hee!














Then we headed up to Queen Anne to watch the fireworks. It was pretty fun.

We hadn't been able to catch up with Erika and Steve yet...and found out later that they were standing in the Park somewhere near us that night!


It was really fun...although everyone was really pushy to get a good view!

One of the nights while we were there we stopped by the local market and grabbed a Haggen Daz for dessert!












We were able to meet up with Ariel and Brandon for dinner at sushi in Bellingham. I have never been a fan of sushi...but I actually really enjoyed it! Mom had an avacado dish and at one point during dinner she dished up a piece of avocado but realized it was wasabi when it was in her mouth! HOT!

Lastly we celebrated a small part of Christmas with Mom and Dad while we were home.














We were able to see uncle Arne the last night we were in Seattle. It was really great to see him!! Family is so wonderful!



We were also able to catch a dinner with Erika, Steve, and Aunt Dori. It was really good to see them! Thank you Mom and Dad and Kenny for making this trip possible!