We haven’t told many people, but we have officially moved! We are settling down a little in our home. It’s starting to feel like home and that we’re not just on vacation.

Some of my favorite things about Seattle/what I’ll miss…

1) Pike Place on Saturday mornings. More specifically, the fresh mini doughnuts, spice store, fresh flowers, and local artists. Don’t forget the specialty olive oil/vinegar stores.

2) The view as you cross the bridge into Seattle toward Queen Ann (on a sunny day), south-bound. The water glistens, and you have a great view of the Space Needle.

3) Cherry blossoms at UW in the spring.
4) Paseo restaurant. Any of their cuban style sandwiches rock my world. Fresh, local baguettes, killer, cuban-marinated meat, grilled onion, jalepeno, and romain lettuce. Mmm, my mouth just waters. If you haven’t tried it, do it. You won’t regret it.
5) Specialty’s Cafe. Cranberry Turkey sandwich and finish it off with their huge, chocolate chip cookies. Though the sugar cookies are awesome too. You can’t really go wrong here. You can even check online to see when the cookies come hot out of the oven.
6) Running on the Burke-Gillman trail. It changes names along the way, but it runs from Gasworks to Woodinville. I have run on that trail for 12 years.
7) Edmonds/Kingston Ferry. I have ridden on that since I was 5, probably more than 1,000 times. There is the most amazing, fresh, water/air smell as you cross. That smell will always be “home” to me.
Being 15 minutes away from some of my favorite shopping. And having my favorite stores in 3 different locations, all roughly the same distance from my house. TJMaxx, Costco, PB/PBK, Gap, Target to name a few. The list goes on, but if one store was out of something, head in a different direction and try a different one.
9) Aaron Brothers. If you haven’t been, go. Go in Jan and July. Buy 1, get one for $.1. I have bought more frames than I’ll admit, and I have saved 50%. Beautiful frames. Go there since I can’t.
10) And most importantly, family and friends. We will miss you and think of you often. And we’ll be back

Onward to Easter. We decorated eggs a couple of weeks ago with cousins. Sara was so excited to be with the “big girls” and Allie thought she was the bomb for being able to decorate the egg like everyone else. She did ruin her shirt, and her eggs all were cracked, one had a hole, but she had A GREAT TIME.
The girls have become such good friends. Of course they have their moments, but these pictures will show you how close they have become. Sara takes on the “mommy” roll most of the time and Allie WORSHIPS the ground Sara walks on.

The band in the cabana sang, “We’re Leaving on a Jet Plane” and it was so depressing to think about leaving the next day.
This was right outside of our hotel:

Family


The whole evening was just playing on the beach and in the water. Sara became very confident swimming with her life jacket, and Allie preferred to play with sand on the beach. We weren’t far from the airport, so Allie kept on pointing out the airplanes




Final Sunset in Hawaii

So, I’m sure a lot of people have been to Hawaii, but I honestly never thought I’d make it there. The opportunity arose though, and we went! It still feels like a dream though. It’s so different then the cloudy, Seattle weather. I don’t need to say much what we did there, the pictures will speak for themselves.
Cove Outside of the Resort

Waikiki Beach


We pretty much just played in the sand the whole time. It was sooooooooo relaxing. The most relaxing place I’ve ever been…hmmm…yep, even more than Thailand.

Sweet Shades

Sara let Allie borrow the sunglasses…she didn’t wear them long, but they were cute!

We tried going to Pearl Harbor. My opinion? Don’t take kids under 4. Completely non-toddler friendly. We made the best out of it though and I’m glad we did it.


On the USS Arizona Memorial.

Hanuama Bay
Snorkel and Beach Fun

Then we headed up to the North Shore. A totally different terrain, and it was hurricane season, so the waves made it unsafe for us to swim

We headed to the Polynesian Cultural Center. Seeing the hula dancers was the what Sara had been waiting for, the whole trip.


Too Much Fun

I still can’t believe we were there.

Next, we headed to the LDS Temple. It was exactly what the pictures show, but more.

Our Family

Fellow photographer, business partner and best friend.

Statue of Jesus

This statue is different than the one on Temple Square in that it was hand chiseled.

Our lodging on the North Shore was completely not what we expected. The whole place was covered with a film of salt, yet it was supposedly clean per our cleaning fee included in the tab, we ran into cocroaches and then this cool gecko in the food cupboard. The cute gecko was the last straw and we asked for a refund and headed back to the southern side. If we hadn’t been there with babies, it would’ve been more manageable.

Allie turned one and what else could I do but give her a photo shoot? Seattle Arboretum, here we come! In all actuality, I did less of the shooting, and more of the assisting as Allie still proves to be a “Momma’s Girl.” If Liz so much as looked at her, she had a meltdown. In Allie’s defense, the best light doesn’t coincide with optimal baby times.

My personal fav.


Depicts Allie’s love for her “Lovey.”

Best friend, Ethan got his 1 year photo shoot too.

Photo Shoot Part 2
Since Allie wasn’t in the best of moods, I wanted to get out and do one more. Can you ever really have too many???

Sara had fun at the park while we took pictures

She climbed up the tire hole for the first time! Way to go Sara

And lastly, Dad taught Allie how to “high-five”

July brought Allie’s 1st birthday. And the week of her first birthday, she took her first steps, turned forward facing in her car seat and decided she wanted to try out utensils!

It an average, reached 7 degrees hotter inside our house than it was outside. So, we had many days of 92 inside.
Cooling Off

Trying Out the Fork

First Steps

Right before or on her first birthday, Allie decided she was going to walk and she just kind of did it.

My sister and mom and I always tear up when we walk through Main Street. Proud to say I held back the tears!

Caught Me

If I could figure out how to put video up here, I’d have to show you this video of a girl dancing her way into Disneyland. She was 10 years old or so and had the moves of Michael Jackson, except she sported some awesome, bushy, dirtly-blonde-do. Maybe her dancing should be compared more to someone like Goofy. It was pretty awesome though. She didn’t have a clue that anyone was watching.
Who’s the leader of them all that’s made for you and me? MIC KEY, M. O. U. S. E…

Treetop

Toon Town

We fit right in!

As soon as it started warming up, the kids wanted to be outside and in the water. Luckily for them, June brought some warm weather!
Sweet Bikini

Allie is practicing standing for here. Still new for her.
Ready for Sun

Beautiful Smile

Another Beautiful Smile

Another Sara Face

For the 2 people that may read this (my mom and sister), gear up for some summer fun. I finally poured over the hundreds, maybe thousands of pictures that we took over the summer. Happy to say, we had a rockin’ summer. Hope you enjoy!

Sara likes to get into what Mom and Dad do…

Like Mom…

Pretending she’s looking at the picture

Like Dad…

Thought it’d be fun to see what the sisters look like at the same ages.
Allie