Seattle Times

The craziness of summer has seemed to carry me away from the blog lately; but tonight I'm sitting (and slowing) down to tell you about two of our Seattle adventures.

Back in June we had those three crazy weeks during which I left my boys to their own devices for two weekends in a row.

Funny how bittersweet it can be to have them function so well in your absence.

After my whirlwind trip to Texas on June 16th, I was home for three very short days before jetting off to Seattle to visit my girlfriend Amanda.

Amanda and I both grew up in Alaska and first met each other at a junior high volleyball game. Later in high school we took a lot of the same classes, played on the volleyball team, and all too often found ourselves lingering after school together, waiting for our older brothers (also friends) to finish wrestling practice or football practice.

After high school, I stayed in the northwest while Amanda headed off to New Orleans for college. Lucky for me, about ten years ago her work transferred her out to Seattle.

It was a lucky move for her as well. Three years ago she met the man of her dreams and they were engaged in 2011.

June's trip to Seattle was for  -- you guessed it -- the bridal shower and bachelorette party!

Amanda's future mother-in-law hosted a beautiful shower for her at The Georgian.

The flapper-girl themed bachelorette party followed later that evening.

It was a fabulous weekend!

Fast forward to August 9th and we were headed to Seattle again, leaving Kendry at the halfway point with Grandma and Grandpa - and cousin Paxton.

Justin and I took in Discovery Park on Friday, before heading down to check in to our hotel.

That evening we tried out the lightrail for our first time and traveled downtown for the rehearsal dinner.

Our friend Ashleigh, also a former Alaskan girl, flew in from D.C. with her husband that evening.

After walking 5 blocks from the lightrail to the restaurant in new shoes (silly, Jody!), I had horrible blisters on each foot. My knight in shining armor left the restaurant and trekked a few blocks until he found a Ross store with some flip-flops in my size.

My hero!

 

Finally, the wedding day!

The photo of me with the bride is still with the professional photographer so this photo will have to suffice for now:

It was a wonderful weekend celebrating and catching up with friends, and the hubs and I enjoyed some quality time as a party of two.

On our drive home the next day, we stopped off at Snoqualmie Pass to hike to Snow Lake.

This was a trip well worth the 6.5 hour drive both ways.

I love Seattle.

And if all goes as planned we'll be making the drive again in a month for a visit to our clinic! Please be praying with us. -JJ&K