G-ma and G-pa Come to Town

Grandpa John and Grandma Meri extended a business trip to Seattle to spend the weekend with us.  It was a quick trip, but we managed to pack in a trip to the Science Center.....

.....and an afternoon of geocaching.  We headed to Dog Fish Park to look for a few caches.  We looked, 

and looked, 

and looked for the cache that was supposed to be there.  We had just about given up when.....

....we found it!  We had forgotten a pen to add our name to the ledger, so.....

....we went back to add our names the next day.

The End.

Unexpected

The weather forecast showed rain all.week.long.  We live and breathe the weather forecast in this family.  You know it's true.  I post about it often enough.  We all get cabin fever.  Bad.  It's not pretty.  So we go outside any time the weather will cooperate (or not, since we've also been known to bundle up like our lives depend on it to brave the rain.  It gets that desperate.).  So imagine my utter giddiness when we woke up to sunshine and nearly 60 degrees.  It was fabulous!  Payton and I made quick work of dropping the boys off at school since it was our carpool day then headed home and headed out.  We rode bikes, picked leaves, let the dog romp in the mud and finally dragged ourselves back in when we couldn't put lunch off any more.  Now if only we could have convinced Dad and Jake to play hooky....

Little Bavaria

We made an impromptu trip to Leavenworth for a quick get-a-way while the kids are out of school for parent-teacher conferences.  We were hoping for snow, but ended up with beautiful fall weather; the air had bite to it, but the sun was still shining.  We took advantage and played mini-golf on the coolest mini-golf course ever.  And a trip to Leavenworth wouldn't be the same without hours spent in the pool, so we did that too.

Sunrise Hill Farm 2012

Our annual trek to Sunrise Hill Farm: corn maze, pumpkins, hay tower, animals, bike races and tons of fun!

About Time

We've never had official family pictures taken.  Lame, for sure.  This was the year.  Everything was set, outfits were coordinated, location confirmed.  Then life laughed and threw us a curve ball in the form of an unexpected trip back to Montana.  Take two.  Reschedule date, redo outfits from summer garb to fall fare, revise location.  Check, check, check.  Ready to go.  Again.  All ended well.  Weather held, kids cooperated, pictures done.

Photos by Jeniffer Bayard Photography

Work Party, a Pocket Beach and Sculptures

We headed downtown Saturday since Jason had to do a few things at his office.  I think architecture is in their DNA.  Good thing.  They didn't get a single artistic cell from me!

It was a beautiful, warm, sunny day even though it's October.  Not ones to waste the sunshine, we headed to the Sculpture Park and Pocket Beach.  We have tons of pictures there and I've posted no less than 496 of them, but here are a few more to add to the collection:

4

Payton's four!  It's true what my Grandma always told me; time really does seem to go faster and faster every year.  It seems like just yesterday we were bringing home this tiny bundle of pink (never having imagined we'd ever have a girl in the first place).  Now we can't imagine what life was like before she brought her own sense of spunk into our family!

Some things about Payton:
She loves playing dress-up, almost always wears dresses or skirts and has a fashion sense all her own.  She's a social butterfly.  She's mastered writing her name and is a "name expert" at school.  She loves doing arts and crafts.  She also loves going to gymnastics but doesn't like swimming lessons so much.  She's fiercely independent, but checks in often with really great hugs.  She has a great sense of humor, is happy-go-lucky and genuinely enjoys life.  Her enthusiasm is contagious.    

Some favorites:
Favorite activity - gymnastics
Favorite color(s) - pink and purple
Favorite food - pizza, pasta with parmesean cheese
Favorite song - We Are Young
Favorite book - Fancy Nancy, The Magic Tree House series
Favorite movie - Tangled