First, we have to talk about Brady's 31st birthday. We had a family BBQ for him at Stu and Helen's house and we announced my pregnancy that day. We decorated his bday cake and wrote, "One year older and a baby on the way". It was pretty funny to watch people's faces as they registered what the words were saying on the cake. I got him some sweet biking gear so he looks real fancy riding his bicycle now :)
Brady's company takes the week before the fourth of July off, so we went to my homeland. I always crave me some Washington green, so I was really excited to go. We stopped at Karissa and Mark's house in Spokane and spent the night with them. I met Sydney for the first time and she told me I'm her favorite aunt-ish. I love and miss my K-train a ton... I wish we lived closer, but it's nice knowing that both of our families live in WA and UT so there will always be reasons to visit each other. In these pics, Sydney was almost 7 months and Sadie was just over 16 months. Sydney weighed 22 pounds and Sadie weighed 20. Sadie has some catching up to do with her BFF!
Shay happened to be in Washington when we were visiting, so we got to see him for a little bit. Shay and Brady have a really good relationship... a little creepy sometimes, but good for the most part. We were happy to see him but missed Leah!
My dad took Brady and I on a mini canoeing outing on the Black River in Rochester. The river was really low, so there were a bunch of times where Brady had to get out and push us across the rocks. My dad told us we needed to wear life jackets and 5 minutes into our little trip, I realize that Brady isn't wearing his. I said, "Hey, you're supposed to wear a life jacket. My dad said we should!" He replied, "Julie, I'm a grown man, I don't need to wear a life jacket... and you're almost 25, you can do what you want." So I took off my life jacket. It was pretty funny, especially because the water was so calm and serene. We had a good time together and I loved the scenery.
We went to Mount Rainier National Park and hiked the Skyline Trail. I hadn't been to Mt. Rainier for 10+ years and Brady had never been, so it was a neat experience for both of us. We really loved this trail because the mountain was in our view point the entire time. The wild flowers looked beautiful and smelled so yummy! I think this is one of my favorite hikes of all time. I love that Mountain, because it reminds me of home.
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| It looks likes she's about to punch the camera :) |
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| Brady wanted a special pictures amidst the wildflowers :) |
We spent time with Leslie's family and watched Beren and Asher play soccer. They're getting pretty good! Leslie was a punk and had her new baby Koralai ten hours after we left Washington to go back to Utah. ;)
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| It's not a true Plank party if 4-square isn't involved :) |
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| Indiana had a slumber party and we found this sweet hair styling book that Leah and I used to get tips from! Made me laugh :) |
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| I got my hair did ;) |
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| Dairy Queen after the boys' soccer game. Calvin is cwazy cupcakes! |
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| Sadie was scared of the big horses and only a little hesitant with Orejon. |
We headed up to Seattle on Friday and spent a couple hours at Pike Place market. We have to go each time we're in Seattle. We NEED those mini doughnuts, Beecher's mac n' cheese, and the fresh peaches! Plus, the atmosphere is so fun. After Pike Place, we walked down to the board walk. I love the Puget Sound! It really is so beautiful.
That night, we had dinner with Paul and Tracy and Sean and Jenifer plus their kids. It was fun to catch up with them! That night, Tracy was kind enough to babysit Sadie while we went to the Sounders game with Emily and Colin.
We got ripped off on our seats. We kind of winged it and got tickets from a scalper. Our seats were really high up, but it was still fun to be among true Seattle Sounders fans! Having Colin and Em there was great too. I didn't get to spend a ton of time with them during our stay, so I was really glad that they came up for the game.
On Saturday, we went to the Seattle North Stake's Fourth of July pancake breakfast and caught up with our old Bishop and some other friends from the ward. I miss that ward and those people! Afterward, we hit up Green Lake and let Sadie play in the water a bit. Out of all the things I miss about Seattle and Washington in general is the access to lakes. When we lived in North Seattle, we lived a half mile away from Matthew's beach and ten minutes away from Green Lake. Going to these places was so fun but it made my heart hurt because I want to be close to those lakes again! Our good friends Brandon and Jaclyn met us at these lakes and parks and let us hang out with them literally all day long. They're the best and we miss living close to them! Oh, and we went to Red Mill for lunch, but they were flipping closed. I was so mad and sad. Just because it's the 4th of July doesn't mean you can close your restaurant! I wanted to write them a hate letter... but then also a love letter since I love their burgers so much. We settled with Kidd Valley instead. Still a good burger, but not like Red Mill.
That night, after the Dickinson's made us a yummy dinner, we went outside to throw firecrackers to celebrate the 4th. Brandon kept throwing them at Jac; super funny, but also scary! I kept my distance haha.
We wanted to experience a true Fourth of July in Seattle, so we went to Gas Works park like old times to watch the fireworks. Our friends Ryan and Sheri came with. Ryan was Brady's old roommate in Seattle and we all played soccer together. Sheri and I moved to Seattle around the same time and she just lived a few houses down from the Thai House so we were close. We loved catching up with them! We were a little worried about Sadie freaking out over the fireworks but she absolutely loved them. She had the biggest smile on her face the entire time. It made us happy. The show was pretty good. The music kept glitching, so it wasn't the best show I've been to there, but it was good enough for me :)
This was the best trip home I've ever had. We were able to do my favorite outdoor activities and we saw family and friends while doing so. It's going to be a long time before I get to go back home so I'm going to cherish these pics for awhile! :)
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