Friday, January 23, 2015

Friday Favorites

Things have been a bit quiet over here on the blog.  After last weekend, I've been trying to get everybody and the house reorganized again.  Wednesday the kids and I got our flu vaccines and it kind of wiped me out yesterday.  I was so tired, and decided just to rest.  But today I'm back and I'm sharing some of my Friday Favorites.

1.  Positive thinking has been on my mind quite a bit lately.  I truly believe that how, and what we think about, effect us and our day.  I'm working on being more of a positive thinker and trying to teach my kids to be as well.  Here are a couple of quotes that I found on Pinterest that I love.



2.  I came across a blog recently that I'm loving.  Her name is Mackenzie and she blogs over at
Design Darling.  It is such a fun blog and I'm loving it.  It looks like she blogs a little bit of everything, from fashion, travels, and organization.  You should check out her blog, you'll love it!

3.  I received my new Erin Condren planner in the mail after the first of the year and I'm loving it again!
This is the front
 and the back...

I wish I could come up with a good reason to order a couple of planners this year, because I'm also loving the look of the Simplified Planner.
  Maybe, I need one just for my blog?  Any other good reasons why I should have two planners?  ;)

4.  I was told by a couple of different people to try this Sally Hansen polish.  Well folks, it's good!  It will usually hold up good for about 5 days.  If I'm going to put polish on, usually I do the gel polish, because I don't have the patience to put polish on every day, which I would have to do, if I use regular polish. This is the first polish that I have ran into that is worth putting on, because like I said, I can wear it for almost a week. 


5.  Lastly, if you haven't read this book before, you need to.  It is such a great and easy read.  I read it last year, and I'm looking at reading it again in the near future.  It's a great book to add in with your bible reading for the day.
At the moment, I've been reading one chapter a day in Exodus and then I read one chapter out of a book called "Catching Fireflys," that a friend of mine recommended I read. At the moment, it's the perfect combination for me to start my day.

The weekend is here and I'm ready to embrace it!  We have no great plans, and that's usually just how I like it!  Give me a good long, lazy weekend and I'm a happy girl!  :)

Today I've linked up with Andrea, Erika and Narci

Amy

And Natasha

Have a great weekend ladies!

Tuesday, January 20, 2015

Road trip to Seattle

Wow!  What a weekend!   
Saturday morning our bags were packed and we hit the road early, headed for Seattle.   We stopped in Selah and dropped Emma off with my Aunt and cousins.  She had no desire to go to the game.  She'd much rather go shopping and be spoiled.  Which she was...  :) 



Once we got to Seattle, we checked in at our hotel, and then walked around for a bit.  We stopped in one of the pro shops.  Then we walked up or down, (I don't know what you'd say... I have no sense of direction when I'm in a city, put me in the mountains, Haha) the street and played at the arcade while we waited for our table to be ready next door.



Dinner at The Cheese Cake Factory.  We figured it was our winning tradition.  We had eaten dinner there last year for the NFC championship, and the Seahawks won.  If it works...  Anyway, we laughed when our server came over to our table, because he was our sever from last year as well.  Of course he didn't remember us, but we recognized him.  We told him he must be good luck as well.

Everything on their menu looked good, but I decided to try the fish tacos.  It's something I can't get around here.  They were okay.  I've only ever had fish tacos in Hawaii, so only having them, to compare to, it just wasn't the same.  But their Lemon Meringue pie Cheesecake... to die for!!! 

Sunday morning, we got up early and headed down closer to the stadium to get breakfast.  The concierge at our hotel told us about this little 50's style cafe.  It's called Planet Java.  He said not too many people know about it since it's just a little "hole in the wall place."  When we got there, there was no line and we just walked in, but by the time we came out, here was the line.  

Jesse was done with having his picture taken. 

After breakfast, we walked around the stadium a bit and then went to find Tiffany so I could meet her.  She blogs over at A Touch of Grace, and she is constantly inspiring me to get my butt moving and get to exercising.  Her and her husband are both diehard Seahawk fans and went to the Super Bowl last year and are already making plans for this coming one.  Bless her heart, I had to call her 3 different times and say, so now where do I go, which street do I turn on, did I already pass that?  Haha!  Add to it all, that it was pouring down rain, and I looked like a drowned rat.  But we found her.  She was so sweet, and just like what I imagined she'd be.  We only got a chance to chat for just a minute, since Dan and I had the kids with us, and we'd promised to take them to the pro shop.  But it was awesome meeting her.

Before the game started, we got up close to take a picture and watch some of the players run out and practice.

When Russell Wilson, ran out, Gracie started crying.  I think she was a little "star struck".  This was her first game, so it was exciting to see it all through her eyes.

Dan's brother and his wife also made it to the game and they sat a couple rows in front of us.  I tried to get a picture of all 3 of the guys.  Jesse again wasn't smiling, and Jeff was trying to get him to.

Here was our view.  We had great seats.  It was pouring down rain, on and off.  I was so thankful for poncho's and ear plugs.  There is a fan that sat behind us that had the loudest, most piercing whistle I have ever heard.  He knows it's loud, so he offers earplugs.  Dan has sat in this area before, so he had already picked us up some.  Ha!


Gosh, it was such a bittersweet game!  It was so fun to be at the game, because we love our Seahawks, but it was also hard to watch, because it kind of felt like they didn't show up for most of it.  Around the time that we had 4 minutes left in the game, we decided maybe we should slip out and beat the crowds and traffic, and get our truck so we could go get Emma.  We were down by a couple of touch downs and really didn't figure they would do anything since they hadn't even been playing well all day.  Go figure, as soon as we leave the stadium, our boys woke up, came back and won it!  We were so excited they won, but we are still dealing with our stomach aches because we missed it!  As it was announced that Seattle had won, we all cheered, and Gracie burst into tears again.  She was so happy for Russell Wilson!  :)  She's got a big heart and wears it on her sleeve.
Within a couple minutes, they were both out!  We kept listening to ESPN and would look at each other and shake our heads as if to say, "what the heck were we thinking?"  We will never live it down.  Our family has given us such a hard time about it already.  At one point, Dan told me, "We don't deserve to wear the number 12 jersey."  Oh dear!  ;)

I took this picture right before we got to Selah for the night.  Washington gave us a beautiful sunset.

Like I said, Emma was spoiled.  They took her to Toys R Us to pick out anything she wanted.  She looked around and all she wanted was a thing of moon sand.  They went out and ate pizza. 
They also got her this horse balloon that walks around behind her on a leash.  It has just enough weight on it's feet that it stays on the ground.  I guess she took her new pet all around the different stores and restaurants. 
Monday morning, we headed home.  Jesse wore jersey to bed and again the next day.  We stopped in McDonalds at Moses Lake on our way home.  I think this picture shows how tired and wiped out we all were.  ;)
Such a fun trip and Seattle has always been one of my favorite city's to visit, but it's true what they say, "there's no place like home!"

Thursday, January 15, 2015

Hawaii

I hadn't posted about our girls trip to Hawaii that we took in October, so I figured better late than never, right?!  It's a long post with lots of photos, so you might want to grab a cup of coffee and get comfy.  

I didn't bring my camera with me on this trip so all of these shots were taken with our phones, so they aren't the best quality. 

We had a long year in 2014 and us girls decided we needed to get away and shake some of the stress of the year off.  We ended up going to Maui, which is such an incredibly relaxing and beautiful place.  I've went there twice now, once with Dan and once with my Mom and sisters.  Both times we have stayed at the Westin Resort and Spa in Kaanapoli.  It is an awesome resort and located in a perfect spot, right next to the Whalers Village.  There are a handful of really great restaurants and lots of shopping right in the area so you don't even have to leave if you don't want to.  

We stopped in the lobby and took a "We've arrived" photo.  My eyes are half closed... I must have been relaxed.  Actually, I know I was!  ;)

The lobby is open on one whole side, so you are constantly looking out and about.  They have a little Starbucks coffee stand right down this hallway right before you get to the pool.  It is so nice to just grab a cup of coffee first thing in the morning, and hit the beach.

It is one of my favorite things to do, because most people are still asleep, or moving slow, so usually you pretty much have the beach to yourself for a bit.


So worth it to get up early to have this to myself.



They do have this really beautiful restaurant where you can either choose the buffet or just order off of their menu.  They have a spectacular view as well.  Complete Paradise! 




 This is one of the restaurants that is right down in the area near us and is one of my favorites.  It's not the food that makes it, but the atmosphere.  It's called Hula Grill.  Every time I've went they always have live music, it's right off the beach and all the tables and chairs are set in sand. Bliss!

Right across this restaurant is another one that is probably my favorite, it's called Leilani's.  They have the best fish tacos, and margarita's.  So good!

Group Pic

We did venture up to Lahaina a couple of times.  It's a very touristy beach town, with lots of little gift shops, and restaurants running up and down the street. We had dinner one night and picked up a few things to take back for the kids.

Most of the time though, we just laid out either by the pool, where we were served yummy drinks and snacks or we rented chairs and umbrella's and laid out on the beach.  We were lazy, and loving it!


Views from our balcony.

These boats would come up and dock periodically, for people who had signed up for snorkeling, sailing, whatever.   Like I said, once you arrive here, you don't even need to leave.  There is so much to do.

Such a fun place to visit and I can't wait to take my kids with us someday!

What is your favorite beach destination?  I would love to take a trip to the Caribbean, (Dan and I are actually talking about making this happen sooner than later), and if I went back to Hawaii, maybe check out Kauai next time.  I love to see new places, so give me some ideas if you've got them.  :)

You can also check out my post about when us girls went down to New Orleans for a quick girls trip.  We toured a couple of plantations and took in the sites.

Or you can check out when we did a Montana road trip last Summer.  We looked for sapphires, and visited old ghost towns.  Road trip Part 1Road trip Part 2Road trip Part 3.