A collection of things

Right before Halloween we finally received our belongings after 3 months without them. (That's longer than we were without our stuff when we moved from VA to korea!) It was long enough that a lot of times when the movers asked us what something was, it took us a minute to remember and then tell them where to put it. Re-configuring your life is always a challenge, but I kind of love how we end up with different ways of doing things. Kitchens are always different and we have to decided where everything will function best. In this house we have two living areas and were initally thinking of putting the piano upstairs near the kitchen and the TV downstairs in the carpeted area. But after Dan's convincing words we switched it up and I really like what we ended up with. Here's the piano once it was finally set up down stairs. 

In our renovations we took out the old closet hardware for the master bedroom because it was bent and in a really weird configuration. We also took off the doors to help make the room feel a little bigger. (it's not a very big master, and no walk-in closet) After months of living in duffel bags, and about a week after our stuff was delivered, we finally got a way to hang our clothes again! Yay!

In with our kitchen items were our pizza stones. The family had been anxiously awaiting the day we could do homemade pizza again!

It has been fun watching Alex's passion and skill as a baker grow. We decided to invest in his business by buying him a new Kitchen Aid. When he leaves the house he'll be able to take this with him and keep up the awesome work!

I was so excited when I finally unearthed my hoodies from their box. Washington weather is definitely made for hoodies!

Dan turned 41 in November! We kept it simple with a Korean themed weekend. Dak Galbi for dinner, gifts of a Korean cookbook from Maangchi, and a day pass to a korean spa. Alex made Dan's request of a better than sex cake- recipe from Sarah McBride. It was delish!! Happy Birthday Dan! Can't wait to have a day away enjoying the spa with you.

I got my first haircut here in Yelm, WA. It turned out pretty cute! Still miss my barber from SATX!

Over Veteran's Day weekend, our friend Janel who lives in Chelan, WA brought her family to the area and we got to hang out a bunch! One day the gals just went to a craft fair, lunch at Mod Pizza and brought some Crumbl cookies home! Love spending time with good friends.

Here's the Russian doll set I got at the craft fair. This lady was selling her whole collection, and at fantastic prices. This one is hand painted and signed by the artist in Russian, from Moscow 1990 and has 9 pieces!

And even though the weather is often rainy and gray, the days that are sunny feel amazing, and give a chance for Mt. Rainier to shine. I can't help but snap pictures whenever I get a glimpse!

We even get some pretty amazing sunrises around here. This literally looked like the sky was on fire!

We are slowly settling in here in Washington and it is really is beginning to feel more like a home than just a place to exist. I've started working as an accompanist already, started an Etsy shop, and Dan has been very busy at work. Cade has been doing marching band and now has two honor band opportunities that he's looking forward to. Alex is glad to be done with football, as the concussion still plagues him a bit and so it wasn't the best experience all around. He has completed one bake sale and is in full prep mode for his holiday bake sale, with a logo, business labels, Instagram page and everything! It's been such a long transition that it is nice to get some sense of normalcy again. Now wouldn't it be nice if all this Covid stuff went away? Inflation is.... just wow right now.

Flowers and Halloween

Just before we moved into our house, we took an outing to Point Defiance State Park. There really is a lot to explore there, but I think my favorite part was the Rose Garden. It had so much more than roses!

At the small Japanese garden

I joked with Alex that this was a Bullet Bill from Mario

Okay, so if I had blogged about these flowers sooner, I might have been more confident about their names. I think they were all different types of chrysanthemums? That seems right...  I loved how impressed the boys were with the different types!

And yes, there were lots of roses and they smelled amazing. I liked these two tone roses and some purple roses!

I hardly even recollect going out on a warm day any more. It's been very rainy, shocker I know! But even to the point where the news says it is 'unprecendented'. (Side note: is anyone else getting tired of just about everything being unprecedented?)  I was expecting a lot more drizzly rainy days, but it's been like all out deluges most of the time. I don't mind the gray so much, it reminds me of the winters in the midwest.

So this year for Halloween we were able to participate in a trunk or treat (in the pouring rain!) at church, and then spend time with the Bennetts on the actual holiday for chili, cornbread, hot apple cider and hanging out while the kids went trick or treating!

Alex went as Lucas from his favorite video game series Earthbound, or Mother 3.

Cade found a mask he really liked at Spirit Halloween and wore it in combination with his suit. For the trunk or treat he went without his mask and said he was a formal apology, and then on Sunday was a distinguished... alien?

We received our household goods shipment on the 29th so Dan and I didn't dress up or carve pumpkins this year. We were either too busy doing the last big section of painting before our stuff got here, or beginning to unpack the mess that arrived, lol.

Cade's pumpkin

Alex's pumpkin- look familiar? It's his costume character!

Our trunk for the trunk or treat- complete with a creepy guy to hand out the candy! (lol, Dan!)

Hope you had a happy Halloween! Now we're a week away from Thanksgiving!! Where is the time going?

In the meantime...

Here's an assortment of pictures between september and november. Really that time was filled with school and work and housework, but we did get together with the Bennetts a bunch! So glad to have friends here!!!

Dan went out with Joe on his boat! They even caught a king salmon... a baby king salmon!

Down by the water for a quick visit to Steilacoom

I found this picture on Dan's phone- so cute, and not just Dan! Carson too!

If you remember Dan was in a motorcycle wreck just before we moved, and here's his replacement!

We met up with the Bennetts for a few hours one Saturday at an apple farm and basically stood in line for a few hours and chatted until we could buy some delish apple fritters, apple cider donuts and fresh apple cider. Worth it! While we were in line the boys went around the rest of the fall festival and looked at farm animals and the other events they had set up there.

Alex decided to sign up for football this fall. Maybe not the best choice as it was a pretty rough start for Alex. He's never done a contact sport and it was very intimidating. After considering quitting he re-committed and really dug in to practices. This resulted in him getting a concussion! Washington has some strict protocol, and with all the delays in health care referrals and what not, Alex has not been able to practice or play in the games, but still has been a part of the team. In this game i got a shot of him moving the down markers for the second half of the game! That's a lot of work! I think we may finally get him approved to play again this week, right as the season is ending. Don't think football will be in his high school plans!

Amy and I got together for lunch and a walk around Tumwater falls one afternoon. I'll definitely have to take the family there, and also remember to go back around June-September to see more alive Salmon in the salmon ladder. There were just a few last living ones amongst the decaying salmon after they'd laid their eggs.

Carson likes to greet us at the doorstep as we're bringing stuff in the car. Isn't he just the cutest?

We finished decorating Alex's room with some awesome LED lights from Costco (Cade got some too), and a flag with a graphic from his favorite video game. He loves his room!

One day while driving home, the moon was just right between these trees. Not an amazing pic, but we often see such beautiful sights around Washington!

When Dan went to pick up his new motorcycle, he took Alex with him because there was a beach nearby known for having sea glass! So cool, i can't wait to go visit!

It's often foggy here. Very twilighty and picturesque. Love it!

And of course we're still chipping away at the housework. The big push was to get our big living room done before October 29th when the movers brought our stuff. It's been slow going with Dan back at work full time so we ended up staying up really late the night before the movers came and got the trim and walls in that area painted. This room had a lot of work to be done leading up to painting, which is what takes much much longer. Great work Dan! 

As far as painting we have two bathrooms, laundry room, kitchen and a few closets left to do. We decided to hold of on those for a bit since they don't have any furniture in them. Now our focus is to get all of our rooms functional and get all these boxes out! Work, work, work!