And the Friends Keep Comin'...

Luke and I are so lucky. Not only do we have an amazing community of friends out here in Seattle already - but they just seem to keep coming!

One of my very best friends, Amanda, and her husband Travis recently moved out to Seattle for a new adventure. I've known Amanda since high school and feel blessed that we have gotten to share so many different experiences and seasons of life together since then. 

Here's a snapshot of the day we spent with them a couple of weekends ago (yes, Amanda, I sniped this from your blog!). We did one of our favorite hikes - Lake 22. It was pretty foggy at the top, but as we sat and ate lunch, the fog started to clear around us and all of a sudden the beautiful mountain lake emerged in front of us. It was awesome.

We are so glad to have such great friends here. We are lucky, indeed.

Fun with the Parents

I've been meaning to post about my parents' visit for a while now - since they were here at the end of September! We had a great time hanging out and doing Seattle stuff.

We made sure that they got to soak up some of the major Seattle attractions:

1. THEO Chocolate. We took a tour of this local eco-friendly chocolate factory - and enjoyed lots of samples along the way.
2. Dick's burgers. This local drive-up burger place is a staple in Seattle. Though I cannot attest to the burgers, everyone who tries them has good things to say!
3. Kerry Park. This is probably the most famous view of Seattle. You can see the sound, the city, the Space Needle and on a clear day, Mt. Ranier in the background.
4. Parson's Garden. I took my parents to the garden where Luke proposed to me. Love that place :)
5. The Ballard Locks. This is where the boats transfer between the fresh water of Lake Union and the salt water of the Puget Sound. It's pretty amazing to see them transfer some gigantic boats between the two water levels. 

And of course, we made it to Pike's Place Market. It was a sunny, beautiful afternoon and we had a great time seeing the sights and gawking at the beautiful flowers there. Even though I've been there a dozen times or more - it never gets old.

So glad my parents were able to come visit and see our life here!

Welcome, Fall...

Fall has arrived here in the Northwest. We have soaked up every last bit of sunshine that we could and are now trying to fully embrace the next few months of drizzle. Last weekend we spent our Sunday hiking and then made a stop at the pumpkin patch.

Here are some pictures from our climb up Mt. Pilchuck. It was absolutely perfect weather and completely clear once we got to the top.

Are we there yet?

View from the top

After our hike, we went to Bob's Pumpkin Patch in Snohomish for a snack and more fall fun! We did the corn maze - finishing in a mere 45 minutes, with the help of a map. And we picked out a pumpkin to bring home.

Hope you are enjoying the Fall weather too!

More business!

Here's my latest piece for the October issue of Minnesota Business Magazine - enjoy!

(flip to page 21 to find my article)

To the Salish Lodge we go!

For a little late anniversary getaway, Luke and I went to the Salish Lodge in Snoqualmie to celebrate. It's a beautiful resort and spa that I've been wanting to go to ever since we moved back. It's just far enough outside the city that you feel like you're away, but still only a 30-minute drive or so. We spent the afternoon exploring Snoqualmie falls and walking into town. And then we had the most amazing dinner at the restaurant at the lodge. It was delicious!

Exploring the falls!

Luke found some old trains on our walk. And in true Luke fashion, he climbed over the fence and into the train cars... However, as many of you know, he does have some experience in the area of climbing on trains he's not supposed to. (And riding them, for that matter.)

The river that goes into the falls

The falls! In the spring they are even bigger, supposedly. That's the Salish Lodge in the corner.

The next morning, we woke up and went to breakfast. I had been anticipating this breakfast for quite some time, as it's supposed to be amazing. We both went for it and ordered the four-course country breakfast. Look at this menu and you'll see what a task we had undertaken:

Unfortunately, we came nowhere NEAR finishing all of this. We slowed down significantly around course #3. But it was all so delicious - I doubt we will ever have a better breakfast!

This is Luke's full face as he takes on course #4. 

It was a great 24-hour getaway and I am just so thankful for my wonderful husband!

We love visitors!

Last week we had Luke's parents in town for a visit. To celebrate their 30th wedding anniversary, they road-tripped out to the West Coast, all the way from Wells, Minnesota. Luke's sister, brother-in-law and our niece, Claire, also made it to Seattle for some family time. It was great to all be together and we couldn't have asked for better weather to enjoy while they were here.

The first night they were here we went to Ivar's Salmon House for dinner on Lake Union. It was a beautiful night, so we sat on the deck overlooking Lake Union. Then we went to watch the sunset at Golden Gardens!

 Steve and Lisa enjoying the view!

Gotta love those mountains.

On Friday night, we went to the Bell Street Diner for dinner downtown on the pier. This is actually the restaurant that Luke and I went to the night that we got engaged (before he proposed). Again, another beautiful night sky - so we couldn't resist the photo opp!

That's Luke's game face. I have no game face to speak of...

And somehow, this is the only picture I have of Claire from the weekend. We are sorely lacking in the area of kid toys at our house - so Luke shared with her. However, the air soft guns weren't quite age appropriate. But she did take a liking to this container of ear plugs he gave her!

Thanks for visiting everyone - we were so glad that you came!!

Love from the Homeland

Hello everyone! Sorry it's been awhile since my last post. But, we've been busy traveling to Minnesota and then hosting Luke's family here in Seattle. But things are finally back to normal, so I have a chance to sit down and post :)

We had a great time at home as we always do. It was so fun to see people and enjoy those hot summer days that we've been missing so much here in the Pacific Northwest. We hadn't been home since we passed through on our road trip out to Seattle in January, so it was a much needed visit.

We actually flew out to Minnesota on our FOURTH (yes, that's right) wedding anniversary! We had a romantic meal at the airport, so that was nice. And my mom even got us cupcakes from the bakery where we got our wedding cake for dessert that night.

We were also able to make a trip to Noerenberg Gardens where we got married. For those of you who were at the wedding, it was just as hot the day we visited and I started having flashbacks of Luke sweating while we were standing there during the ceremony. I remember thinking: "Is he crying or are those beads of sweat dripping down his face?"

Four years!!

Other than that, we got to see lots of friends and family, which was so good. Luke got to go fishing and we even made it to a friend's wedding. All in all, I'd say it was a pretty perfect trip :)

Until next time, Minnesota!