The One with Washington Trip Day 3: The Return of Eric


Monday, July 27, 2009

What a day what a day. It felt like Christmas, none of us could sleep last night. We woke up 'round 7 and put our faces on. Then we went to my favorite bagel shop in the world: Mikie's Brooklyn Bagels.
I always get the exact same thing: an Everything bagel, toasted, with cream cheese.
At the entrance to the mini mall there's a sign I insisted we take a picture of Allie with. You see, Allie has recently decided to become a vegetarian. "She would."
We went to Everything Party and ordered three dozen balloons and two specialty mylar balloons for pickup later that evening.
Theeeeeeeeen we had to kill time so we went to the Kirkland waterfront. Mom was quite depressed at this point because my dad had been tracking Eric's flights all morning and had just found out that his flight from Mexico City to Dallas had been delayed over two hours, meaning he was going to miss his connecting flight from Dallas to Seattle, meaning he wouldn't get home 'til almost 11. But she was trying to stay positive, as were we. This is Washington's idea of a beach. Puh-leaze :) But really, it's fine. For Washington.
Then we visited my dad at work. We're not allowed to take pictures inside of Google. Understandable. They don't want their top secrets leaked. Understandable.
I love eating lunch with my dad at work. It's a "must" every time I come home. Google is da bomb.com
And theeeeeen we went to Seattle. Allie heard there was a "2-for-24" deal-e-o going on at Urban Outfitters.I've been wanting to see "300 Days of Summer" ever since I saw the preview a few weeks ago, but it's not playing within 40 miles of Provo. It's playing here in Seattle though! Unfortunately we didn't have time to see it then.This store is giving Anthro a run for its money as far as window displays go. This is a tree made of blue hangers with a smattering of shoes randomly dangling from it.Then we came full circle and went back to Google to pick up Dald. The plan was to take the jet skiis out and pass the time until Eric's plane arrived. I haven't ridden those babies for years and I've been feeling the itch to ride the waves. Buuuuuuut, someone up above had a better plan in mind. Miracle is the name of the game in this family because somehow Eric made his original flight and was going to be home at 9pm. No more jet skiing. Trade up though I say.
We stopped off at Everything Party and looked like a carnival coming out of there. I love this picture. Look where my dear husband is standing then look at his lovely face. A picture is worth a thousand words.
Balloons balloons balloons balloons. Oh how I love you, colorful balloons.
The car was filled to the brim with balloons balloons balloons balloons.
And so was the car in front of us! Random!
Back at home we unleashed all of the balloons and they floated high up to the ceiling. The strings were 10 miles long though so there was no worry we wouldn't be able to bring them back down to earth. Except for one which for some reason or another had a super short string so Allie, being the genius that she is, stuck tape all over a balloon and bumped it against the floater to bring it back down.Chris, Allie and I had a hay day tying 36 balloons all around the house. Every which way there are dozens of balloons to behold. As Chris so eloquently puts it, it looks like a "magical wonderland."
At this point I was sweating bullets. I have never sweat so much in my life and that's saying something because I sweat a lot. Ew right? So we took a dip in the pool for a much needed cooling off. We couldn't take the heat any longer (what is this? Arizona?) so we changed into our Sunday best, packed an American flag balloon and the festive posters I made into the car and we headed off to the airport.My mom was TRIPPIN'.We weren't the only ones waiting for a missionary, it was fun to share the moment with another family. Now that Eric's home, it seems like only yesterday when he was opening his mission call:



Finally, the blessed moment arrived. Elder Taylor rode up the escalator and back into our lives. Don't mind the shrieks and squeals coming from our entire party.

One big happy family reunited at last!

The One with Washington Trip Day 2


Sunday, July 26, 2009

Let's just call it what it is: a very random post.

My morning view. I love it.I've been so wrapped up in my scrapbooking life (which has been AWESOME) that I completely forgot that I have a whole nother option for my life: I graduated from BYU with a BA in Art Education! I can teach! I spent the better half of the morning figuring out how to get certified in California so I can become an art teacher. I found a school just 10 miles away from our apartment in South Pasadena looking for TWO art teachers. The only problem is I'm not certified in CA and I don't have other required certificates so we'll see how it goes. I'm mailing my application tomorrow morning though.
The other half of my morning was spent die cutting letters from brightly colored cardstock to create five posters to welcome home Eric tomorrow night.
I call the "Shoes." poster. It's just something Eric says, it's an inside joke I guess. Allie's gonna hold the "We've Missed You Enrique!" sign and the rest are up for grabs.
Then we went to church. It's always fun to see old friends.

Back home I went into my sister's room and snooped around. What are sisters for except to raid their rooms and borrow their clothes? I also made a discovery: apparently Allie is an artist. Am I surprised? No. That girl has more talent in her pinkie finger than I do in my entire body. This is my sister's room. Mattress on floor. Unmade bed. Self made paintings and guitars decorating the walls. Sigh. The bliss of teenage life.It's blazing hot in Washington this weekend. My parents don't have air conditioning because they'd only need it the three days a year it gets over 90 degrees. So here we are, enjoying the sunshine! I'll take it!Like father like son-in-law. Noses always stuck in books. My dad has a tarantula. His name is Timothy.I bought him for my dad for Father's Day a few years go. I'm such a good gift giver. Anybody else want one? Anybody? Anybody?
Look at his cute behind!
You likey? This land can be yours for the small price $380,000! House not included! Bonus: you'll live just down the street from my 'rents.
I took Chris on a walk through the neighborhood. Nuttin' too exciting. I saw a neat weed.

The One with Washington Trip Day 1


Saturday, July 25, 2009

She reeeeee didn't want us to go. Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!
She's a smart one I tell ya. As soon as we get the suitcases out she knows we're ditching her for a few days. These are her feeble attempts to get us to change our minds.
Ain't gonna happen sweetie, even with the tongue-sticking-outage-cuteness.
Bye bye Salt Lake!
This is some funky looking part of the Great Salt Lake.
A pretty mountain.
More of the Great Salt Lake.
Annnd more.
Clouds always looks so "yummy(?)" from above.
You know you're in Washington when all you can see for miles and miles are evergreen trees!
Mount Rainier is right through that window, see? Or not.
Must be nice to have a lake in your backyard!
Welcome to Seattle!
I love Southwest. One of these days I'll have to do a whole blog post about all the reasons why I love them. Only 48 more hours until Eric comes home!
Paige Taylor Evans © // Quinn Creatives DESIGN