Wade's Birthday Weekend

Wade had to be in NJ for work meetings for his birthday this year, so we celebrated the weekend before instead (I am a little late in this post since I was waiting for pictures). Our friends Karen and Jeff have a cabin in Cle Elum (east side of the mountains, about an hour away) and we ended up spending the weekend up there. The guys went up the night before for a guys night and woke up early the next morning to play golf at Suncadia. The girls drove up the next morning and hung out with the kids at the cabin and at the lake and then the adults went to dinner at Suncadia.

Wade and Justin (above) and Wade and Jeff (below) playing golf. It happened to be the hottest weekend of the summer (mid-September) so it was beautiful for golf, but really hot (in the high 90's).

Alliya didn't want to go on a ride, but did like sitting on it.

Lake Cle Elum....I had never been before and it is beautiful. As the water evaporates from the heat it becomes a perfect spot to drive to the lake and enjoy the sandy beach (we don't have many sandy beaches in WA).

Stephanie ended up getting stuck in the sand and luckily a really nice guy was able to get her out (after multiple attempts).

Karen, Stephanie and me at Suncadia for dinner

After dinner we went back to the cabin and had a nice bonfire, roasted marshmallows and had a great time.

Justin, Stephanie and Max

Karen and Jeff - Thanks so much for letting us enjoy the cabin and spending Wade's birthday with us! We are really lucky to have such great neighbors and friends we had a great time with all of you!

Her New Ride!

We found this car at the community garage sale for $10!!! It did need a new battery, but she is so excited! Before the new battery came (and on rainy days now when she can't drive it) she goes in the garage with her stuffed animals and dolls and just sits in the car and plays. It cracks me up, but I am glad she likes it so much. She says she can't wait for Emory and Brennyn to come to Washington so they can play in the new car with her.

The Great Pumpkin

We went to Fall City pumpkin patch again this year since we had such a good time last year with all of the kids. They have great decorations for pictures, homemade donuts and apple cider, hayrides and of course the pumpkin patch.

We walked (I guess I waddled at 8 1/2 months pregnant) around the pumpkin patch to find Alliya's perfect pumpkin. She picked out one her size and one for her new baby brother Austin that came the next weekend.

The great white pumpkin was found....

The hayride that I thought would be a quick 5 minute trip was a 20 minute loop through the fields...I was hoping the bumpy ride would start labor, but no such luck...

She is getting so big!

Do The Puyallup...

The big fair in the area every year is the Puyallup fair. Alliya is just young enough still to not really do the rides, so it makes it an easy time of walking around, eating great fair food, looking at the animals, (and Wade's favorite) people watching. We had such a beautiful Indian summer this year and September was gorgeous, so we ended up with really warm weather for the fair (which isn't usually the case)! We even ended the evening watching a hypnotist.

Alliya's favorite...cotton candy!

Waiting in line for the petting zoo. She got to pet a lamb, a chick and her favorite, a baby bunny. I had to drag her out of the petting zoo and explain why we can't take them home.

Oh What a Night

Most of our friends and married with kids, so we don't typically go to many weddings. This year we went to one wedding and it was amazing. Michelle is one of the girls that works for Wade and she got married over Labor Day wedding. It was a traditional Jewish wedding (which I had never been to before) and was BEAUTIFUL. They had it at the Westin in Bellevue and it was black tie optional (my big dilemma was what to wear at almost 8 months pregnant). I tried to get pictures of the ceremony and the decorations - they were breathtaking with a black and white theme with flowers everywhere - but I am so disappointed that none of them turned out. I am also bummed I didn't get a picture of Wade wearing a yamaka for the ceremony.

The traditional Jewish Hora (chair dance)...it was a sight to see and lasted about 30 minutes.

The newly weds with the "epi cup" - Wade's team won the "epi cup" for the month in sales...so obviously he had to bring it to the wedding for some photo ops.

Wade, Michelle and Teresa (rep from Portland).

Two New Additions

I have mentioned before how amazing our neighborhood is and this is no exception. Gina and Sandy were nice enough to throw Julie and I a baby shower. Julie had her little guy Zach the beginning of August, so we were able to enjoy her little one and get a baby fix at the shower. It is so nice getting the ladies together and in addition, this time we had the most amazing cupcakes (I need to get the name of that bakery in Issaquah) and really fun activities for the shower.

The Moffat Street Ladies...

Stephanie, Karen and I

Thanks Ladies for the awesome shower. Julie, Gina, Sandy and I.

Julie and I (she looks amazing, I can't believe she just had a baby!)

Julie and little Zach

We each had to make onsies and bibs. It was very entertaining to see how creative everyone could be.

Sandy made one of my favorite creative gifts - a diaper cake...practical and adorable!

Birthday Celebration

My 30th birthday was in August. Wade told me last year we could go anywhere I wanted for me 30th birthday...since I was 7 months pregnant we decided to postpone any trips and stay local. We ended up having a nice low key dinner at Salty's on Alki. Seattle is one of the most beautiful places on a nice sunny day...I love Seattle in the summer.

Our new favorite water park!

We discovered a new park in Bellevue, and since summer finally arrived we took the kids to check it out. It is a type of water park but with big animals they can climb on and a play ground next to it. It was awesome, the kids were able to cool off in the water and the oversized toys kept them entertained for hours.

Alliya had a great time with her swim barbie and made some new friends to play with.

Emory and Bronson found a big whale that you can climb up and slide down like a water slide...I think this was the highlight of their day....we had to drag them away when it was time to go.

Brennyn found a smaller whale she could just sit on and relax.

It was so nice to get a warm day finally when the kids were here so we could play outside without having long sleeves on. We packed a picnic lunch and a big sheet and spent the afternoon at the park. I love days like this!