Seattle or Bust

DISCLAIMER: If you put the mouse on the picture when it gets full screen, you can see the captions for the pictures but it stops the slide show so you have to move the cursor til the next pictures comes up and then do it again. (I messed up on that last caption though and don't know how to edit it at this point...sorry... It's supposed to say "Good Night Seattle...we love you!!) You can speed up the slide show by hitting the little + on the bottom left of the screen. Also the "raindrops" special effects are supposed to give you the feel of Seattle...although when we were there, the weather was beautiful and clear. So enjoy our trip!!

I am derelict in getting our trip to Seattle posted and if I were really good, I would back post like Dana does but I don't know that technique so I just delinquent post instead. We had so much fun moving the kids to Seattle...as much fun as one can have traveling for two days straight, shopping til we dropped, unloading a UHaul litterally full to the door from midnight to three and almost crushing Ben at least once under a heavy load and then organizing and putting furniture together most nights til 1. a.m.....Sounds awful in print but we loved it cuz we were with our kids. And then we really actually got a few afternoons to explore the beautiful city of Seattle and some of the fine food. The Italian restaurant and the Deli were great. And be prepared when you go to Seattle to raise your arms high in the air and say WHEEEE really loud as you drive the city cuz every street in Seattle goes straight downhill and Ava and Elie love to do this. Ava wants to do it all the time but I told her...if you do it when there's no downhill, it isn't quite as fun....and she agreed. Elie goes more just AHHHH!!! And most of the residential streets are only wide enough for one car to pass at a time so it is challenging. But the views are amazing and the houses are just beautiful and all so unique. So there is a lot to see in Seattle and it seems to be all within a few minutes of their house. Next time we go I want to explore the zoo and the Aquarium which look awesome. I'm excited about this move. Thanks for getting this residency Ben. You are awesome...and so is your family.

How Inspired is That

Maggie received her mission call to the Texas Houston South Mission, Spanish speaking and reports to the MTC on September 2nd, 2009!!!! How amazing is that that she got her mission call to the area that Jana and Ben were in....now that Ben graduated from med school just last month and they're no longer there. The Gulf Coast of Texas just wants my girls. Well HOWDEEE and toss me my cowboy hat!!!

Let's think of something to do while we're waiting....

With Maggie's Mission Call Letter coming one week before her return from her Study Abroad semester in Paris, I had to think of something to occupy myself and keep from ripping open her letter. So I decided to prove my strength to her by posting a picture on Facebook every day (to her delight) to prove it was still intact and unopened. I understand kidnappers post a picture daily of their hostages with the current newspaper headlines to prove their victim is still alive and with all ten fingers and toes still there, so I followed their lead.

One day I posted that I thought I could read the word Muckluks through the address window and posted a picture with my warm slippers.
On Sunday, we decided to use the Sunday funnies as our headline since the day's before headline was quite depressing. Then we decided to let Dave use his priesthood authority to gently toss the letter at our world map and see where inspiration landed it. It ended up between Iceland and Ireland....either one REALLY cold and Maggie hates the cold. Not a good sign.
As the days got closer, we decided to enlist the help of our trusty guard dog Wall-E....Actually we put in a stunt double for the letter cuz we weren't sure how trusty Wall-E would be but you can see he handled it with the greatest of respect.
Wall-E called in his trusty side kick, our cat Babe for support. They wholeheartedly took on the assignment and were willing to guard the letter with their life.
It may look like Wall-E is being derelict in his duty and sleeping, but he actually has one eye open, ready to pounce.
With the final day here and Maggie winging her way back home to us, we feel somewhat not unlike the doors outside Mervyn's on the day after Thanksgiving at 5 a.m. with the OPEN...OPEN...OPEN!!! beckoning us in anticipation.

Have I Seen His Hand in My Life Today

I have seen the hand of God in my life often and I can not deny his guidance and love and intervention. I see it through my life, my husband's life and our relationship and I see it in my children's lives. It's every day and I'm grateful for that.