Seattle and Vancouver Trip

Hooray for Road Trips! This is how I saw my kids for the better part of the trip. Justin went to Seattle to teach some classes and I decided that rather than be alone for a week we'd go with him. So we did. Warning: 11 days of trip....this is a very long post! I took over 300 pics but narrowed it down somewhat.

The first day we drove to Boise and stayed the night. The next morning we started off for Seattle. About 20 minutes from Seattle is Snoqualmie Falls, which is a waterfall, second in height only to Niagra Falls. We stopped there and it was beautiful.

It's kind of interesting because when you get there, it is below you, not above you.

We got to our hotel, swam in the pool, well everyone except for me because I'm wimpy and it was way too cold for me. Then the next morning we went to a place called NorthWest Trek. It was amazing! It is like the Wild Animal Park of San Diego except it's all forest animals. There were a few caged areas but even they were amazing. It put our local zoo to shame. Then you take a bus tour around this open area where the animals roam wild. We were inches from sheep, elk, caribou, and moose. Amazing!

I loved the trees in Seattle. Oh poor us living in a desert. We have about 20 trees planted in our yard and we came home wanting more. So I took lots of pics of trees. And then there is the grizzly bear exhibit.

My boys on the bus and then a caribou.

A bison and a whole herd of elk that we had to stop the bus for so they would move.

Kate and one of the mountain sheep that ran past the bus.Kate loved all the animals.

A really neat river otter exhibit. You could see it from above or these pics were from below.

Monday we changed hotels and then hung out while Kate took a long-awaited nap. We went swimming that night with our friends to celebrate their son's birthday. We ate at this yummy Mexican restaraunt. Tuesday morning Justin went off to teach and I took the kids to the Seattle Temple to walk around and then we went to the park to play. We met friends there. Justin's co-worker took his family as well so we had friends, it was great. The Temple grounds are gorgeous. All the trees and flowers are beautiful.

That night we took a ferry across the Puget Sound from Seattle to Bainbridge. It was really fun. Cold, but fun. And very beautiful.

It's as if you're in a massive forest, it's beautiful.

The next day, Wednesday, we went to the Seattle Aquarium with our friends. The kids loved it!

Afterwards we sat outside on the pier and had lunch. There were nine kids with us two moms and so we got a lot of stares, but we had a lot of fun.

Wed. night we ate at this little cafe place called "Lil John's". They had delicious fish n' chips!

Thursday we went to the park again and this time I took pics. 

That night our family went to the Seattle Arboretum. Wow. It was beautiful and I could have spent hours there. I wish our backyard looked like this!

A huge tree--the three of them didn't even go all the way around. And, I love this pic with the sun in the tree.

Beautiful, huge flowers, trees, and ponds.

Mt. Rainier.

Afterward we went to DairyQueen for dinner and ice cream, and met our friends there.

And Friday morning, off to Canada and Vancouver.

This is the view from our hotel in Vancouver. The 24th floor!

Us looking into the harbor. Behind us is the city of Vancouver.

There was a market here and we had fish n' chips in a food court in the market.

Saturday we drove all around Vancouver. We spent a lot of time at Stanley Park. We had to go put our feet in the Canadian Pacific (I think that's what it is called). It was cold but fun!

That mountain on the right is Grouse Mountain, one of their Olympic venues. We drove up to it and it is about a 10-15 min. drive from ocean to skiing..they have the best of both worlds!

And that is the Capilano River. Yes, for those of us who live in the desert, that is a river. I know it looks like a lake, but it's a river =)

Then it was time to head home. Sunday morning we woke up and headed for the border.

This is called the "Peace Arch." It says, "Brethren Dwelling Together in Unity" and then inside it says, "May These Gates Never Close". It was neat, but it was good to be back on American soil.

So after 9 days away we headed home. We drove from Vancouver to Kennewick, WA and stayed the night there, then we drove the rest of the way home on Monday. Wow. 19 hours of driving in two days, but we made it home! =) Overall we put about 2,250 miles on the car. Crazy. We had a really good time and were so sad to come home to the desert with very few trees. But it sure was good to sleep in our own beds again. I loved Seattle, someday I may want to have a summerhome there, but it didn't rain while we were there so we were a little spoiled. It was a lot of fun!

Something Happy =)

Okay, time for something happy =) These are pics of the LIFEHOUSE/DAUGHTRY concert! The pics are not very good, but oh well, it still reminds me of how much fun we had! It was incredible!!! We had SO MUCH FUN!!! I felt like a crazy teenager dancing and singing. It was great!

So here is Jason from Lifehouse....oh how I love Lifehouse! I would have gone just for them-Daughtry was just a bonus in my book.

And here is Daughtry...so good!

But the best part was the encore!!! Yes, that is both Jason and Daughtry singing together!!! They sang Daughtry's song "Home" together and it was amazing!!! I really wanted to break the rules and record it, but you know me, I just couldn't do it.....But it was incredible!!!

I told Justin he created a monster because I had so much fun I just want to go back and do it again!!!

Grandpa Jackson

In Loving Memory of Grandpa Jackson

Grandpa Jackson passed away this morning, and I just want him to know how much I loved him and how much he will be missed. I got to see him on Sunday and Monday and even though he was sick he managed to say hello and goodbye and he even counted for us in another language...he spoke English, Danish, and Dutch for sure, and maybe even more. He has been sick for awhile, but always had a good attitude. He really missed Grandma, who passed away almost 5 1/2 years ago, but other than that he was happy. He has always been such a good example to me. He took care of Grandma for a long time and what an example of selfless love that always was. He made the best pancakes in the world!!! He was an architect and designed many churches for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He served a mission for the church in Denmark. He was always the one who took the screaming babies and calmed them down. None of us knew how he did it, but babies loved Grandpa. He was as active as he could be for a long time. He always read and studied, and was a great example of hard work. Grandpa had beautiful eyes and great white hair. He had a great laugh and a contagious smile. He came up and visited while we were getting grass in our yard, and even though he didn't remember much, he remembered my grass. What a great man. I will miss him a lot, but I am thankful for the legacy he left and for the example he set for me. I am so happy he gets to go be with his sweetheart, and I will always strive to live the best I can so I will be able to see him and Grandma again. I love you Gramps!!!

SOOOOO EXCITED!!!!

Do you remember the whole Celine debacle??? Well, I finally feel some closure! Why, you ask??? Because we just bought tickets to the Daughtry/Lifehouse concert!!!! I am sooooo excited! I love both groups and can't wait! Hooray!!!

Easter!!!

We decorated 3 dozen eggs and they wanted more! They got very creative and we had a lot of fun!

Except Kate......she didn't enjoy it very much. =(

Easter morning!

Kate may not have liked decorating the eggs, but she sure loved eating the chocolate!!!

We had a great Easter and are very thankful for our Savior, Jesus Christ. What a blessing He is in our lives. We are thankful for the Ressurection and the opportunity we have to be a Forever Family.

Akumal Trip!!!!

Last week we went to Akumal, Mexico for a fabulous week-long vacation! (Akumal is about an hour south of Cancun.) We stayed at my parents' beach house (thanks Mom and Dad!), and this was the view from our room. Yeah, I could definitely get used to that! It was so much fun! It was the first time in four years that the whole family has been there together because my brothers have been on their missions. So it was great to have everyone there! There are 24 of us now so it was chaos, but complete fun!

This was Kate's first time in the ocean and she absolutely loved it! We couldn't get her out. She wasn't scared of the waves at all.

There were some cold days but lots of sun. The kids loved the pool. TJ and Brenden are fine by themselves, but we started out having to go with Alyssa. By the end of the trip even she was great all on her own...fabulous!!!

See......proof!!!!! (I didn't think it would happen!)

Kate in the sand....she loved it!

Both TJ and Brenden turned into quite the snorkelers. I had my doubts, but they did great and loved it! Yay! Now Justin has some snorkel buddies (since his wife doesn't fit that bill)!

Just keep in mind...he's 8....just a little goof-ball sometimes!

Can you tell she's happy? She would beg everyone to take her down to the ocean. Since it's hard to say no to that face most everyone would give in and take her. Don't let that fool you though......she's a stinker most of the time. She had some rough days (don't remind me about the plane ride home).

He's so cute! I love that kid!

Yeah, we don't know what this is...but she sure enjoyed doing it!

One of my most favorite places to go is Coba. It's a Mayan ruin site. I haven't been there for13 years and Justin hasn't ever been there so I was really excited to go again. When we went 13 years ago they let us climb to the top of the huge pyramid, but I didn't think they would let us now. I was so glad they did so Justin and TJ and Brenden could also experience it.

Have you seen the animated film "The Road to El Dorado?" In that movie there is a scene where the main characters play a game against the gods. Well, here you go! Here is the actual ball court. Awesome, right? It's hard to believe that this took place so long ago.

And....here it is, the huge pyramid! It's hard to tell from the picture how big it is, just try looking at the people and you will see how big it is. Justin, TJ, Brenden, and I climbed to the top, it was awesome!

Great view, right??? Luckily you can't tell from the picture how out of breath we are! J/K, it wasn't that bad.

This little room is at the very top. I have no idea what it was used for, but I think it looks spooky.

More of Kate in the sand.

Our girly-girl. She turned into quite the fish.

One of my other favorite places to go is called Puerto Aventuras. I like it because they do things that you could never do in the U.S. Like having a sea lion on a podium two feet from people. That would never happen here. It was neat. They had the sea lion bark and kiss people and do a little dance.

They also have dolphins in ponds separated only by small fences. You can swim with the dolphins but no one did that this time.

Our friend, the iguana.

The last night most everyone had a pool party and jumped in the pool with their clothes on. Justin and I were party-poopers and did not participate, so luckily other people played with our kids.

Yep, she loved it!

I took almost 300 pics on the trip so this is only a small sample, but we had a fabulous time and had so much fun! Thanks everyone for a great time and thanks Mom and Dad!!! Now back to real life.....

Basketball!!

This year TJ and Brenden got to play on the same basketball team! Their cousin was also on their team so it was extra fun! They both did a great job, learned a lot, improved, and had a great time! Great job boys!! Now....on to soccer! =)