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!

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!