Happy Birthday Honey!!

This is my favorite picture of Kyle.  Alana took this candid photo of him at our wedding reception in Logan.  I love this guy and today is his birthday.  I don't get to spend the day spoiling him because he is in Moab with my Dad and Tyler.  I figured a trip to Moab was a pretty good way to spend your birthday so I sent him off with them.  They left yesterday morning in the snow storm.  So far they have blown a tire on the trailer and had to buy new ones for it and the wind blew the hood of the jeep up breaking the latches on it, so they are off to a good start to the trip.  Let's hope it gets better and not worse. 

A year ago today Kyle had no idea that in less than a month I was going to pop into his life.  I'm sure if he had known that it would have been a much better birthday don't you think? 

I thank Heavenly Father every day that he led me to Kyle.  I love him so much and he is an amazing man.  I've never been someone who needs to be around people all the time so it has surprised me how much I miss him when he is gone.  Before I married Kyle if I could have the house to myself for a day or two there was nothing better, but he is changing that.  I love to come home and have him waiting there for me.

Kyle has such a tender heart and a sweet spirit.  I fall more in love with him everyday.  I hope you have an amazing birthday today honey.  Hopefully one free of problems so you guys can just enjoy yourselves.  Happy Birthday!!!

Beach @ Gig Harbor

This beach was a mile or two from the house we stayed at.  It was mostly rocks with almost no sand.  We found some great shells.  I found a sand dollar and a small star fish but they met with an accident and are no more.  We learned in Mexico to soak our shells in water and bleach to get rid of the smell.  Well the bleach disolved the star fish and made the sand dollar crumble into pieces.  So a lesson was learned there.

The Space Needle

Grandma, Kyle, Marlee, Marijka and me went up to the top of the Space Needle to check out the view.

Somewhere on this lake is the house from the movie Sleepless in Seattle

Seattle Skyline

The wind was a little cold.

The docks

Marlee

The Ocean

Marijka

More Aquarium Pictures

Here are more pictures from our trip to the Seattle Aquarium.

The otters were my favorite part.  We got to see them eating crab legs.  They could get the meat out of them so fast with their teath and they would hold them with their flippers or arms or whatever you call them on an otter while they opened them.  After he was done eating this one scrubbed his face and chest with his flippers while turning over and over in the water to wash himself off.  It was lots of fun to watch and I got a kick out of it.

Overlooking the ocean.

Lots and lots of salmon.

Peek-a-Boo

The jelly fish just float around and around in this circle

Marijka the Octopus.

Seattle Seafood Feast & Aquarium

We went to the Crab Pot for dinner and then to the Seattle Aquarium.  It takes a lot of work to eat seafood.  If it wasn't so good I'm not sure it would be worth it.  The aquarium was really neat.  There was an octopus that was swimming all over its tank.  Other ones I've seen have just been sitting on the bottom in a ball so that was a neat experience.   It was a great day!

The Crab Pot

Yum!!

This is what I call working for your dinner.

Touching the star fish and anemos

The octopus exhibit

He sat and posed for us for awhile before coming down and swimming around.

Victoria

On Wednesday we got up early and caught the ferry to Victoria.  The website said to be there 30 minutes early which us being us we were only 23 minutes early.  The lady checking us in informed us we were to have been there an hour early and that we had "failed miserably."  Of course this became the saying of the rest of the trip.  Needless to say she didn't have the most pleasant personality.  We didn't have much time but some of us toured Craigdarroch Castle, we had wonderful fish and chips for lunch,  and we went to the Butterfly Gardens.  It was a fun but long day.

Dad, Marijka, and Marlee on the ferry

Craigdarroch Castle in Victoria.  Kyle, Marijka and I took a tour of it.  It was an awesome place.  There was a great view of the city from the tower at the top.  The woodwork inside was amazing.  It was built in the 1800's and at that time cost $500,000 to build.  It use to sit on 28 acres of land but now it is surrounded by homes.

Me and Kyle at the castle

On the ferry

Kyle, Dad and Marijka on the front of the ferry

Gig Harbor

The internet at the place we stayed in Washington went out in the middle of the week so I couldn't do more posts.  So the next few posts will be from our trip. 

Looking across the inlet from our balcony while the tide is out.

The house we rented

The Lisa Marie from The Deadliest Catch reality show

Marlee at the Marina.  I'm loving her new haircut.

Grandma at the Marina

Kyle at the Marina

Tiptoeing Through the Tulips

We are in Gig Harbor, Washington and are having a great time.  The house we rented turned out to be very nice.  Kyle got dizzy and fell Sunday night tearing open one of the incisions on his knee in the process.  Other than that things have been pretty uneventful.  Yesterday we drove up to Mount Vernon and saw the tulip fields.  Then we went into Seattle and walked through Pike's Market.  Today Janalee, Matt, Marlee and Marijka went on a little road trip to see the Twilight tourist areas and the rest of us stayed around here.  We went into Port Orchard for lunch and ate on the pier there.  On the way back Dad and Kyle got some crab and are out on the deck tearing it apart and eating it.  I got a few bites and it is really good.   Tomorrow we take the ferry to Victoria. We are hoping for good weather so the waves aren't too big.  We are having an awesome trip.

Grandma at Snowqualmi Falls

Kyle and Me at Tulip Town

Me and Mom at Tulip Town

Kyle after he kissed the crab

Dad being his wacky self

The Glad Game

Today we are playing the glad game.  The reason I am playing the glad game is that I read Katherine's post at: http://www.katherinewolf.info/ yesterday and it got me thinking that I don't take time to think about the many things I am blessed with nearly as often as I should.  So here is a list of a few things that make me happy.  It could go on forever, but I'm short on time.

Things that make me happy:

Hearing Kyle laugh (not happening near enough lately)

Having amazing parents (couldn't live without them)

Loving siblings

Hershey's peanut butter easter eggs

Chocolate milk

Seeing how excited Tyler gets about putting something new on his truck

Holding Abby

An amazing and supportive extended family

Having one of the kids break into a big smile when they see me

When Garrett says, "Where are ya?"'

Fun sister-in-laws

When Lily and Button break into a happy dance when I come home

Ice cream

Watching a feel good movie

Leaving for vacation

Sleeping on a down pillow

Good in-laws

Marlee's shoulder and neck massages

Hitting a great sale on clothes

Friday's

Being married to an amazing guy

Red roses

Peanut butter moo'd jamba juice

A good book

Wearing a warm and comfy sweatshirt

A warm and cozy bed

The fit of a comfy pair of jeans

Hearing the birds sing outside my window in the morning

Reading comments on my blog

A garage to park my car in so I don't have to take time in
the morning to scrape the windows

Having a working washer and dryer in my house

Coming home from work to find the house vacuumed, the garbages emptied, the dishes done, and the clothes folded.