Mt. Rainier and my 40th Birthday!

Still way behind on the blog for those reading in real time- just been busy trying to get this house in order along with school, work, church, holidays and all!

The first weekend after we had done that huge rush of house work we decided to take a breather and go see some of Washington before the rain and clouds invaded our lives. Mount Rainier National Park is only an hour from our house, and after visiting it in 2017 we were anxious to get back. 

Mt. Rainier is one of those mountains that just takes your breath away. We have a few spots here in Yelm that when the weather is clear you can see her in all her glory. The views never get old, and the mountains still call for me!

Enjoy some pictures from our day trip out to Mt. Rainier National Park! We only stayed for about 3-4 hours and left when it got more crowded. We did really simple hikes for me that were still beautiful.

We walked up hill for like a quarter mile to a bridge where you could see several views of these water falls.

This spot had a quick walk down to where you could view the end of the water fall we had just seen from above.

These birds were very friendly while we were eating our lunch!

More waterfalls! What a picture perfect day for some PNW scenery!

September also brought my 40th birthday. I knew we wouldn't be able to do much celebrating because of the move, but we planned to get together with the Bennetts, do dinner and games. Covid had different plans- Cade had been exposed to someone who tested positive so he was required to quarantine for almost 2 weeks. That meant the Bennetts couldn't come hang out, boo! 

That morning the boys surprised me by installing a swing on our back patio! Zebra cakes, bottled coke and gifts from my family were all the perfect touch. Dan called the swing Mom time because anyone can request mom time and we'll go out on the swing and chat, even Dan and I, and won't be disturbed. Now that it's raining a lot more we have to do some mom time inside, but i'm looking forward to getting good use out of this in the spring!

My parents and siblings all picked calligraphy items off of my amazon wish list! I'm so in love with all of these items!

And look who showed up with a gift and a song at our doorstep! Thanks Amy and family for driving all the way to Yelm even though you couldn't come in!

And of course, Alex likes his present to be the birthday treat. I was going to have him make me a vanilla cheesecake, but we did NOT have the right kitchen stuff, nor was our kitchen in any shape for that kind of baking. Instead I found a recipe for an ice cream cake using ice cream sandwiches and he made it to perfection. It was actually really really delicious. It looks huge, but it wasn't as massive as it seems.

Thanks for everyone who sent birthday wishes from afar! 40 has been interesting already!