Snowshoeing....finally!

Up until February it had been a pretty calm winter around here.  Not much snow, pretty dry, horrible ski season (which is actually a plus since James can't ski this year with his ACL still healing).  People were actually starting to get concerned about a low snow pack and the potential for drought conditions this summer.

Then all the sudden winter showed up in February and the mountains got pounded with snow.  There were actually many times the pass was closed and it was dangerous conditions.  Once things slightly calmed down we were ecstatic to finally be able to go snowshoeing!  This is one of our favorite activities in the winter because we own our own shoes and it's much cheaper and easier to do than skiing.

So one Saturday we headed up to Gold Creek in Snoqualmie Pass to enjoy the beautiful views and get our mountain fix.  We actually did the trail last year which you can read about here. What we didn't anticipate was that Nate wouldn't absolutely love it right off the bat.  With snow flying in his face, the cold temps, riding in a sled for the first time, and no toys involved I'm not quite sure why he didn't absolutely love it.  What toddler wouldn't?  We took Nate snowshoeing last year in our hiking backpack a couple times and he was in heaven every time--very content and would actually fall asleep! Hence here we are in the dichotomy of our life: baby vs. toddler--toddlers have a lot more opinions about things we're discovering.  But we trudged on.  Eventually we came to a spot where people had built snowmen and that helped cheer Nate up.

All the sudden he felt much more brave to ride in the sled and was having fun eating the snow.  We soon stopped to enjoy some lunch and then he became a completely different kid--very happy, enthusiastic, etc.  Man the miracle of food.  We should have started with that from the beginning.

Nate attempting to do a snow angel

After lunch Nate took a long ride in the sled as we took the trail around the pretty lake.  The views on this trail are so beautiful.  It's not a difficult trail, but it's amazing how much of a workout you can get in snowshoes even if the trail is relatively flat.

After about 30 min we could tell Nate was getting tired and it was naptime.  So we tried the backpack again. This time I think he was appreciative of the chance to rest and enjoy the ride.  In about 10 minutes he was fully asleep!  He did that last year too, but I didn't think it would happen as a toddler.  He slept the whole rest of the way and James and I got to enjoy a peaceful journey through the snow.

Yay for naptime!  And yay for James' strength carrying a heavy backpack!

Thank goodness for the sled once he got used to it

All in all it was a great winter day.  We're excited for hopefully a better winter next year to do this many more times and even get up to ski more too.  Ok now we're ready for spring......

Seahawks are World Champions

What an incredible football season it's been!  Seahawks just won SuperBowl 48--their first SuperBowl win ever!!  James and I have waited all our lives to witness this and we still can't believe it.  The whole time we were watching the SuperBowl we were in total disbelief and even though they went up 43 to 8 (against the Broncos!!!  Best offense in the league!!!), we wouldn't let ourselves fully believe the win until the final seconds of the game.  We had to keep pinching ourselves.  I realize that for all the people watching who weren't Seahawks or Broncos fans, it was a pretty boring game.  But for Seahawks fans, it was like we died and went to heaven.  All parts of our team played perfectly.  It was the ideal culmination for a hard fought, magical season.

Yesterday Seattle had a parade for the team downtown and over 700,000 people attended.  The fan base in this city and the team's relationship with the 12th man just gives me chills sometimes.  It's such a great community bonding experience.  All week I think most of my conversations have been about the Seahawks and the SuperBowl. Everyone now has a "where were you when the Seahawks won the SuperBowl" story or a crazy parade story.  Unfortunately we didn't get to the parade, but we watched it on tv.  Such a spectacular thing to watch.

Probably the most special thing for me though has been that James' favorite team has finally won a world championship.  He believed in them all year and was always positive about their abilities when I was doubtful.  He grew up watching the Seahawks games with his dad and on SuperBowl Sunday he and his dad got to witness probably the most spectacular game of their lives together.  And now we have a 3rd generation who is in on it too.  Leading up to the SuperBowl Nathan wanted to wear his Seahawks attire every day.  And throughout the day he would randomly just say "Go Hawks!"  What a special thing for James to share all this with his dad and his son.

Ok I know this is getting pretty schmultzy.  But this has been a pretty big deal around our house.  We're excited for the journey again next year.  And in the meantime, we'll watch the replay of the game for the 50th and 100th time--whatever we need to do to get us through to August.

Christmas Catch Up

I'm really not surprised at all that it's the beginning of February and I'm just now doing our Christmas post.  Feels like I'm always behind on the blog.  But oh well.  I only do it for our family so all that matters is that I do it right?

Here is a recap of our Christmas 2013 through pictures...

Annual trip to Molbaks for Christmas decor and samples of danish!

Making Christmas cookies with Nana and Pops

Annual trip to Nielsen's Bakery to pick up danish for Christmas morning

Christmas Eve with the Warners

Nathan had lots of presents to open!

Christmas morning at our house--Nathan got a new kitchen!

Building a new toy airplane with Papa

Christmas day with the Spauldings & Antis'

Visiting the Zoo Lights at Woodland Park Zoo

What a fun holiday!  Nathan was at such a fun age this year and helped make our holidays more magical. We're so blessed and spoiled by our families.  What special times we got to share that we'll never forget.  

Saying Goodbye to a Beautiful Friend

On Sunday, December 8, 2013 Becca's long battle with stomach cancer ended.  She is now in a better place with no more suffering.  I still can't even believe it and it's hard for me to comprehend that I just won't see her anymore.  She was such an amazing friend and she was such a beautiful person both inside and out. 

I was fortunate enough to spend some time with her in the hospital about 2 weeks before she passed.  At that point she was still pretty coherent and in very little pain.  I went with a close group of girlfriends and it was one of the most special girlfriend times I've ever had in my life.  I was privileged to witness true, raw friendship--amazing women surrounding a friend with so much love in the darkest, hardest days of her life.  I'm so grateful for the incredible friends I have in my life. I think it was comforting and energizing to Becca for us to be there.  The following two weeks Becca started to lose her capability to speak and she was sleeping most of the time.  She finally ended her courageous battle and passed peacefully in her sleep with her parents by her side.

We celebrated Becca's life on Saturday, December 14.  It was so wonderful to see how many people attended the service and especially how many friends from high school were there.  Becca touched so many lives. 

It's still hard to put into words how I feel and it's hard for me to process that I've lost a close friend.  Especially with how fast it all happened.  For now it's been comforting being with friends, spending time with her husband and son, looking at pictures to remember happy memories, and reflecting on how grateful I am for my special friendship with Becca. 

Becca, you are so loved and will never be forgotten.

Thanksgiving weekend

I started writing blog posts a couple weeks ago and then other things happened and I'm just now coming back to it.  So the next few posts are catch up posts....

I just love the time of year between Halloween and New Years.  So much festive and fun stuff going on.  Lots of family time, beautiful décor, and things to look forward to.  Although this season hasn't been as joyful because we are just heartbroken about Becca and what the Stevenson and Holland families are going through.  This year's holiday season just isn't the same.  But we're trying to make the best of it as much as we can especially because Nathan is so much more aware and into the holidays this year.  He has said "wow" probably 100 times from seeing fun décor in our home and in the stores, and Christmas lights on the houses. 

Thanksgiving weekend was full of holiday events.  Especially because Thanksgiving was so late this year, it feels like the day after we just rolled right into Christmas.  The other special element to our weekend is that we got to have Brown Bear with us the whole time.  Brown Bear is a mascot from Nathan's class.  For the past couple of months, each kid has gotten to take Brown Bear home for a week or two and take him on special activities.  This week was our turn!  Keep an eye out for Brown Bear in the below photos.

I feel like Nathan got to more fully experience all the great parts of Thanksgiving this year since he's older now.  Our day started out as it usually does with the Macy's parade.  Nathan was enthralled watching all the dancers, marching bands, and floats.  Then he had his first official full Thanskgiving meal this year.  Last year he was just starting on solids so only got to enjoy sweet potatoes.  But this year he had all the fixin's.  We had a lovely meal at the Spauldings' with Uncle Jerry and Aunt Joyce visiting.  After the meal we took a brisk walk down to the park that Nathan loves.  Later in the afternoon we went over to the Warners' to enjoy some pumpkin dessert and French silk pie.

The next day we moved full speed ahead into Christmas.  Nathan, my parents, Brown Bear, Carly, Ryan's girlfriend and I all went to downtown Seattle to brave the Black Friday activity while James and Ryan went to the Apple Cup game (lucky them!).  The stores were crazy, but we tried to keep a good perspective and just enjoy the sights and sounds.  We visited the gingerbread houses in the Sheraton which were really cute and of course had to stop for peppermint mochas in the middle of the day.  Some stores were way too overwhelming for me.  I tried to get some Christmas shopping done, but realized it's better not to have an agenda on this day and just simply be present, browse, and just enjoy being with the family.  Ryan and James met us later for a yummy dinner at the Pink Door--one of our favorites.

Saturday's adventure consisted of helping Grampa Jay find a 12 foot Christmas tree for their home.  That's right...they have tall enough ceilings that they can get a 12 foot tree!  After a couple hours of searching and Jacky and I teasing the guys because they're so picky, we finally found the perfect tree and sawed it down.  Can't wait to see what it looks like all decorated!

Finally Sunday we spent some time at home.  We worked on getting our house decorated both inside and out.  Then in the afternoon, we met the grandparents for a Santa visit at the mall.  I was looking at last year's Santa photo and Nathan was happy as a clam sitting on the big guy's lap.  This year...not so much.  This year Nathan realized that Santa is a little scary.  But we got a classic crying photo (I was hoping we'd have at least one of them!).  He was a brave boy.

It was a wonderful holiday weekend and I just reflected a lot on how much I'm thankful for even in the midst of this hard time.  In fact it's interesting how the hard times help us realize what's really important and help us appreciate the good in our lives. I'm grateful to Becca for helping me live better in the present and really take advantage of every day.

Trick or Treat

I better get the Halloween post up before Thanksgiving hits or I'll really be behind.  This year's Halloween was really fun because Nate got to go trick or treating for the first time.  He dressed up as a lion and he does a pretty scary "roar" impression.  Papa and Pops took him to our neighbors' houses and he got his first loot of candy (yay for mom and papa who got to eat it all!).  I think Nathan was more interested though in the kids that came to our door.  It's not every day that kids in costumes ring our doorbell a bunch of times.  He was fascinated!  Along with a Halloween party the week before (see costumes below) and a party at his school, it was a really fun Halloween this year.

James carved this awesome pumpkin in about 30 minutes!

Cutest lion ever!

Ready to go trick or treating

The Spaulding circus!  (our costumes for our Halloween party)

Team Becca

I need to post photos from Halloween.  But it was more on my heart to do this post today instead.

Since I primarily write this blog as a means of keeping a journal or as a "scrapbook" for our family, I feel like it would not be right to only focus on the happy things going on in our lives.  I want this blog to be a real account of what we're experiencing and feeling.  So today is more of a bittersweet post.

First the bitter part.  Our dear sweet friend Becca has bravely been battling stomach cancer since March.  It has been a brutal few months, but Becca has handled it with so much strength, grace and perseverance.

And the sweet part.  Her amazing husband, son, and family have been so brave and it has been an honor for us to witness their servant hearts as they care for Becca.  It has also been special to watch friends, extended family and even people who don't know the family well rally together to contribute meals, yardwork, and other service. 

Last weekend a couple hundred people gathered to put on the Team Becca event to raise money that would go directly to the family.  The event was planned in correspondence with Stomach Cancer Awareness month.  James, my brother and I had the honor of helping to put on the event through photography, handing out auction tickets and organizing the donations/auction prizes.  The awesome friends in my life never cease to amaze me.  Heidi, Leslie and Vanessa worked so hard in the weeks prior to the event in making plans, ordering food, collecting auction items, ordering t-shirts, and involving volunteers.  As each person arrived and came around the corner to check in, my eyes filled with tears to see old high school friends that I hadn't seen in years and to witness so many people coming together to support Becca and her family.

Halfway through the event we got the wonderful surprise that Becca was getting discharged from the hospital and was actually going to be able to attend the event.  It made me so happy that she and Carter got to personally witness the event and see all their loved ones gathered in their honor.  Becca looked so beautiful and had this glowing smile.  Needless to say I was pretty much in tears the whole day.  To feel the love in the room and witness the generosity and support of others.  All told the event raised over $30,000 for the family.  Simply amazing.

Our hearts are heavy and we pray for miracles every day that Becca would be relieved of this suffering.  We are so inspired by her courage and strength.  Becca, we can't even describe how much you mean to us.  We love you and are always here for you.....as are many others.  In the midst of pain and suffering, it's always amazing to me how God somehow shines a little bit of light.