Week Away

For my Christmas and birthday presents, Steve surprised me with a trip home to Washington. I got to go home for a week with only Donny while Steve stayed home with Thomas and Hewitt. I must admit that I was a little confused at first. Why would Steve take one of his weeks vacation and then send me away? But then after hearing his reasoning, I agreed that it would be good for him to spend some quality time with his boys. He really hasn't seen them a whole lot these past eight months and it would be good for him. So off I went, a little guiltily, but very excited to Washington for a week. I must say right now that I absolutely love the water. And most importantly, I love being with family and I love the way they treat my children. So here are some highlights:

I got to play a ton of games. My favorite were Hyperdash, Canasta, and Blokus. For those of you who have never played Blokus and Hyperdash, I recommend them both. We played Hyperdash at the church gym for FHE. It didn't take me long to realize how out of shape I was. I had to talk to Steve extra long on the phone to catch my breath. Another highlight was staying up watching movies with my Mom. If only we lived closer, we could enjoy so many more chick flicks together. Thanks Mom for buying me all of birthday presents. I felt so spoiled!

Like other members of my immediate family, my Dad is amazing with children. Even as a kid, I knew that my Dad was special. He would challenge us to pickleball games every Sunday, beat us in Horse and Bump (still does even at 50. In fact, I think he was a little put off by my basketball shots. Apparently, I need to practice), and come up with the craziest challenges and games that would entertain all afternoon. Even though he was in the middle of tax season, my Dad did manage to win over Donny. He's pictured here sucking on a candy cane. As soon as Donny would see it, he would lunge for it. So cute.

Another highlight was visiting with my Grandpa and Grandma who have been on a mission. I haven't seen my Grandpa for four years so I was so excited to visit Grandpa and Grandma's house. There really is nothing better.

Probably the biggest surprise and highlight of the trip was visiting Seattle with my two sister-in-laws who spoiled me to no end. We stayed at the five star Fairmount Hotel in Seattle for a night and spent two days in Seattle. Thanks Mom and Daniel for taking care of Donny for me. I was especially grateful when I heard that Donny woke up at 3:30 am. Sorry about that. The trip was amazing. I love Steve's sisters. They are so much fun. Thanks to Heather, I was able to get a free haircut at a salon next to Nordstroms. I have never done the salon thing and it was awesome. The 20 minute head massage was absolutely amazing. So we shopped, ate room service for breakfast, visited Pike Place Market, and ate lunch with friends. It was great!

Thanks Steve for such a great trip. The picture on the right is of me trying to rock climb in my garage. Its actually much harder than it looks. The picture just below was on a three mile walk with my Grandpa and Mom. I included the famous Linx (sorry about the spelling) golf course that will host the US Open in 2012. What a beautiful view.