Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Eastern WA Camping Weekend

This past weekend Brad and I drove to Eastern Washington to spend the weekend camping at the Sun Lakes state park. It was our first time using our new tent that we received as a wedding gift. Thanks Bill and Belinda! We met up with our family Jen and Brian, Marc and Anna and the kiddos Grace, Ezra, and Audrey and our friends Josh and Mishal with their kids Reed, Jack , and Lauren, Danny and Lexi with their son X, and Lexi's parents Bob and Cindy. Our drive to Eastern was.....interesting. We hit Marysville and Josh and Mishal had a flat tire on their RV so we played with the kids at the rest stop for an hours or two and waited for Les Schwab to showed up. They finally showed up, but no tire. So we drove a few exits down to another Les Schwab and hung out in the parking lot as it got fixed and ate lunch. This is the cutest picture I've ever taken of my niece Audrey. Isn't she the cutest!
Grace being goofyLunch at Les SchwabKiddos showing off their musclesWe finally got on the road again and saw Jen and Brian with another flat tire on their boat. At this point flat tires were amusing. So, we pulled over and helped out.

We finally made it to our camping site. We set everything up and had dinner with everyone and visited. Since it was hot over there we had to have Jenn's Birthday celebration on Friday when we got there so that the cake wouldn't melt. The plan was to decorate the campsite with streamers and birthday stuff that I bought but because of the flat tire fiasco we arrived at the same time as they did. It was a bummer, but I think she was surprised anyways and had a great birthday. The next morning I woke up with a ton of energy and a big smile on my face so I decided to go for a jog and exercise down by the water. The view was perfect.....I had my iPod music turned up and I was jammin out. It was awesome. We spent most of our day hanging out by the lake on the beach getting tan and relaxing. It was so much fun to go on the boat, play with the kids on the inflatable island, and jet ski. It was my first time going and it was super fun. I went wake boarding but it didn't go so well...I did a face plant and even a few days later I'm still sore and in pain. Oh well, it was really fun. Can't live life without trying at least.

On Sunday night we went to the Grand Coulee Dam and watched the laser show off the side of the dam. It was pretty cool. I've never seen it before and I had no idea how big the dam really was, its huge! Here is a picture of Brad and I with Gracie and Josh too. He He!

We left Monday morning since I had a few things to do at work that day. Brad and I stopped at this amazing fruit stand and bought the yummiest looking nectarines, apples, and pears. It was so nice to get away for the weekend. Now we're back to reality. Good thing we are going on our honeymoon really soon! (I'll post more pictures once I get photos from Brad's camera. These are the photos I took with my big Nikon.)

Hawks vs. Broncos

On August 22, Brad and I went the the Hawks and Broncos game with our friends Tara and Genevieve. Our good friend Josh gave us his tickets since he had awesome Suite tickets. Tara and Gen are both Broncos fans and we have been trying to get to a game together for about two years now. Before the game we headed to Dick's to get a burger and then to the Pyramid alehouse for a pregame beer. It was their first time going to a pro game. It was fun to banter back and forth with them since the Broncos suck :) We also met our friends Daniel and Katie at the game. Half way through the game Josh came to our seats and brought us to the cool people seats in his suite.......it was sweet :) Great view, free chocolate mints. What a life.
Score 27-13....Seahawks Baby!

Bangs

Yep I got bangs and dyed my hair to my natural color. I wanted my hair to be healthy and I wanted somehting different. I liked them for about a weekend, then they grew out to be too long. Now I can't do much with them and they are a pain to style. Lesson learned.

Shaunavan Greenhouse!

The last week of August my Uncle Ron, Aunt Jake, and my cousins Jasmin and Chance visited. They did a road trip all the way from Shaunovon, Saskatchewan. My Aunt and Uncle own a greenhouse and were in town visiting because of a gift show in Seattle. It was so nice to See my Uncle Ron again since I just saw him a month ago in Newfoundland. He makes me laugh. I haven't seen my Aunt Jake and my cousins since Mitchy's wedding so it was nice to visit with them. It was also the first time for them to meet Brad. Hopefully next summer Brad and I hope to make the drive to Saskatchewan and visit them at their home and see the Shauuuuuunavon Greenhouse that we heard so much about. It sounds wonderful.
On their road trip here they visited places like the Bushart Gardens, Banff, Alberta to ride on the Gondola, Hells Gate at the Frashier Canyon in B.C. and Forks, WA to see where the movie Twilight was filmed since my cousin Jasmin is a big fan of the movie. One night Brad and I had the kids over for a sleepover. Chance and Brad played video games while Jazmin and I watched 17 again and Twilight. Afterwards we went to get pedicures. Jazmin had never had one before. It was my obligation as a woman to show her the path of pampering yourself :) The last night they visited Jasmin, Chance and I went to get ice cream.....on the way I decided to teach Jasmin how to park in a vacant parking lot since she has her learners permit. She did a great job driving! It was so cool to help teach her. I miss them already.

Monday, August 10, 2009

Satre Family Reunion

Two family reunions in one month...phew. This time we traveled to Olympia for Debbie's family reunion....my mother in law. We had such a wonderful time catching up with everyone. I got to see a lot of them at our wedding but I was so busy that night I felt like I barely was able to talk to everyone. We had a picnic in the park, watched the boys play ball, and enjoyed each others company. I went to the family reunion last year as Brad's girlfriend and meeting the entire family was super intimidating, this year I fit right in :) Here are a few pictures: The boys and their football pose
Cheering the boys on as they play football
Can you tell that I fit in?

Happy 30th Babe!

We celebrated Brad's 30th Birthday at our new home and invited all of our family and friends to a Football theme birthday party. We had so much fun hanging out, eating food, having a dance party with the kiddos, and bocce ball. Here are a few pictures from the Birthday party. My Cousin Charrone made this poster for the party. It was really funny. Happy Birthday Babe. I made the cake myself.....it wasn't easy, i put it together with icing since it fell apart. Brad looks scared in this picture....I think he is realizing that he is turning 30 in this picture. Kiddos watching TV on our couch.
Dance Party in our den.Marc, Daniel and my birthday boy

Happy Birthday Babe. Can't wait to spend the next 30 years and more with you.

I Love Thee Newfoundland

Mom and I flew into St. John's pretty late the day before my birthday. Luckily my Grandma's sister, my Great Aunt Bernadette and my beautiful cousin Joyce live in St. Johns so we got to stay with her for a night. When we arrived at her house we did what every Newfoundlander does when they do to someones house....have a cup of Tetley Tea and have snack. In this case we had homemade bread with Cheese whiz and fresh berries. I remember when my Grandma and Poppy lived on Jerseyside hill and we would go visit Bernadette and Joe. She was always so sweet to me and I love her so. Our first day there we all went to my Aunt Diane's Salon to all get our hair done. It was a lot of fun! Maurice had his first haircut, grandma had her hair colored and styled and so did my Aunt Nancy and Mom :)My Grandma and my Mom getting their hair did :)Aunt Nancy, Baby Maurice, and Aunt DianeNewfoundland is beautiful.....I was lucky enough to go about 2 years ago and even luckier to go for my huge family reunion! I grew up in Argentia, Newfoundland on the base when my Dad was stationed there. I got to spend a lot of time with my Grandma and Poppy, Aunts and Uncles. My Grandma Snow White's maiden name was Traverse and she was a family of 14 (Listed Below on our family T-shirt that my Aunt Diane had made for the family) In the photo is my Great Grandpa Tom and Great Grandmother Veronica. My mom is a family of 10 and 8 out of the 10 were able to come home for the reunion and man was it a party. About 175 people came to my family reunion. It was amazing to see people I haven't seen since I was a kiddo and meet people that I have heard about but never had the chance to meet. My Great Aunt Lizzie and my Great Aunt Anne's crowd was such a fun to be around. We totally hit it off....probably because we are really awesome, but its just a guess. My Great Aunt Anne, My Grandma's Boyfriend Clem O'Keefe, My Grandma, and My Great Aunt Lizzie having a great time joking around at Aunt Lizzie's house. I believe she had about 18 people staying at their house. There were people sleeping everywhere including tents outside :)This is my Great Aunt Anne's daughter Tammy and her partner Wanda. It was so nice to finally meet my cousins and spend time with them. I would list them all but it would take forever....big family and all :)

Here are a few of the really really cute ones that I have:

Baby Maurice, my Aunt Nancy's youngest....he just had his first haircut so I was entertaining him while Veronica got hers cut by my Aunt Diane. Veronica and I saying Cheese while I was watching her at my Aunt Nancy's House on Jerseyside Hill. We were playing with puzzles and watching cartoons. She says the cutest things. This is Princess Gillian, she is my Uncle Rodney's oldest. She loves the new Twilight movie and can tell you anything you could ever want to know about it. She is so kind and so helpful with the rest of the cousins. This is Lucas my Uncle Rodney's youngest showing us his awesome dance moves. He reminds me so much of my Uncle Rodney when he was younger, he cracks me up. This is my cousin Kayla, my Uncle Larry's youngest, my cousin Emily, my Aunt Arlene's oldest, Gillian, and Zachary, my Aunt Arlene's youngest. For the Come Home Year reunion they were holding a scavenger hunt so we decided to represent for the White Family Grandkids and found as many items as we could on the list. In this photo we found a spike to the old railway that came through town. The railway has been gone for about 75 years so we totally lucked out and found them. Kayla found a piece of one, Gillian and Emily found a big nail that was used in the railway and so did Zachary. They have eagle eyes.

Here we are in front of the old trophy shop that is now a bed and breakfast. The scavenger hunt list made you figure out where the old locations were and take photos in front of them. Another one of the scavenger hunt items....Bennett's has been closed for about 20 years but its still standing. Luckily we gathered about 9 out of the 20 items on the scavenger hunt list. The items were pretty hard to find. We were the only ones that entered and we won the grand prize of $100. The kids were so happy and I am so happy that we showed Jerseyside and Ferndale how the White Family is awesome!

The family reunion itself was probably the most fun. We shared stories of long ago, danced the Newfie jig, ate food together, drank and laughed. It was incredible to see how many people I am related to. This is a photo of my Grandma and everyone in our family who came home for the reunion. Keep in mind we are missing quite a few cousins, great grand kids, an aunt and an uncle. 8 out of 10 of my Grandma's Some of the Grandkids, there are sooo many more. Having the family Dinner and listening to My Great Aunt Judy tell stories.The dancing begins....we danced for about 4 hours straight to an awesome bandThis is how the night ended....I love how my Aunt Anne always kisses everyone. That's her brother my great Uncle Gory. After the reunion was over that night we went to my Aunt Diane and Uncle Peter's house til 2am and laughed ate soup and went to bed.

My most favorite part of my trip was learning how to make my grandmas homemade bread. We made 5 loafs and I brought home two :) Such a treat and so special that I learned from the pro.

I Love my Grandma Snow White soooo much. I'm her favorite.