.sometimes.

It's nearly noon, and I'm not dressed or ready for the day.  In my defense though, I did take on the bathrooms and the basement cleaning today.  I figured it would defeat the purpose of getting ready by scrubbing toilets and sinks, and crawling around mopping floors.  Strangely enough though, I still feel a bit lazy for not having myself put together before noon.

When did my body get old?  It seems like I feel it almost everyday.  Things take longer to heal and my joints ache (not just muscles) after work outs.  I have to be very diligent about stretching...which I never have.  This week something went no bueno in my neck and now I'm moving my whole body to turn my head.  I told Roy, "It's been 3 days, why doesn't it feel better?" to which he replied that it just takes time for your body to heal.  I miss you young body, come back!

I'm lazy when it comes to laundry.  Sure I separate colors and whites, and do some spot treating, but for the most part I just throw and go.  When will I ever learn my lesson???  Yesterday I threw my darks in for a cycle.  Come to find out, Roy had left a pen in his pocket and black ink was everywhere.  I nearly cried, but decided I'll run it through one more cycle and see what happens.  It did the trick and I though I had dodged a bullet.  I put those darks into dry and went on with my day.  To my dismay, as I was folding that load I discovered yet another pen, that I had missed on my first round...a lovely blue fountain pen that had distributed it's ink on several items.  For the most part the items where inside out or old work out cloths so I wasn't to upset, but there were a few items that I'm trying desperately to restore to pre-pen encounter.  I'm determined to be more diligent about my laundry checks from now on.

.a nothing post.

It's Saturday morning, and it's quiet. Finn is still sleeping off his late night, so I have some time to throw out all my random thoughts.
-I love that summer is slowly winding down...you wouldn't know it with the heat wave we've been having, but the days are growing shorter and I feel autumn creeping onto the horizon.
-My house feels like a wreck lately. I don't know why, but it feels like I can't keep up with all things that need to be cleaned the way I want them to be cleaned.
-The mountains are calling me. I want to build a fire and roast something.
-I love that Finn is feeding himself those little puffs. He would just open his mouth and let me feed him, but I know that if a put a few on his tray that he will grab, and work very hard to try and get it into his mouth so that he can enjoy those few moments before the puff morsel dissolves.
-Speaking of eating, I bought this little gadget

so that the little nugget can suck on all sorts of yummy fruits and veggies without worrying about him choking.  Might I add that he LOVES it!

-I want a new blender. With all the smoothies I've been making lately, its a pain to clean and disassemble the one i have. I want a small single size one that doesn't take a lot to clean.

-Finn is starting to smell like a big kid in many ways. Gone are the sweet smelling baby breath days, and of course his diapers are more rancid too. But the breath, I wasn't expecting the breath to stink so soon. I finally broke down and bought the gum and tooth cleaner for infants, and surprisingly it helps.
-Roy has been running at the track with me a few days a week. It's been hard! He has shown me a few speed workouts to mix up the routine, and I love that my whole body feels it the next day, not just the ol leggies. Last night we went as the storm clouds came in. Thank goodness for that cool off, I only wished it would have rained on us.
-Spiders are taking over my house, well at least the outside. I feel like I sweep away cobwebs on a daily basis and not two days later there are new ones. It might be a losing battle.
-I have tons of tomatoes that I need to find something to do with. Since Roy pretty much despises this lovely fruit my options are limited. I think I will just have to can pasta sauce.
Finn is rousing so I'll leave the randomness for now.

.seattle, day 5...in which we leave.

Our final day in Seattle, we drove back into the city to get a few pics, a few souvenirs, and some crab.  Roy finally convinced me that I would regret not having the experience despite the cost.  First stop was of course the space needle. 

We didn't go up, but we got an obligatory picture of the famous landmark.  We walked around the downtown center and checked out the huge water fountain that people can play in.  It was nice to sit for a bit and just enjoy.  Charlie kept saying he wanted to go play in the water with the music (this kid has Latin hips), but whenever his dad tried to take him down fear would over take him and he would refuse to take another step closer.  Such a funny kid!

Finally, we made our way back to Pikes market where we bought 2 legs of Alaskan King Crab....yikes it was a pretty penny!  For our grand finale of the day we made a wonderful seafood dinner complete with cheese biscuits, fresh limeade, and of course crab.  It was AWESOME!  What a wonderful way to end a vacation, being with good friends enjoying good food!!!

.seattle, day 4.

This was my favorite day of the whole trip for a few reasons.  First we got to go to Vashon island, and second because I got to meet Josh one of Roy's good friends from Fl. Jon grew up on Vashon, and his parents still live there, so we lucked out and had a local showing us around.  As far as meeting up with Roy's friend Josh, it was all perfect timing.  Josh had called Roy the day before we left and told Roy that he was going to be in Washington for a wedding.  He was leaving Sunday night, so he was going to be in Seattle for the day.  We had a nice Sunday lunch while Josh and Roy talked and caught up. 

When we got to Vashon later that afternoon, Jon took us (mostly me) to go see the bike in the tree.  If you haven't read the children's book "The Red Ranger Came Calling", then you're missing out and won't have any clue what I'm talking about.  But if you have, then you know exactly what I'm talking about. 

Down to point Robinson and the light house next.  We got to go up to the top, which according to Jon and Chelsie, never happens because it is never open.  Lucky us!

Jon took us to hunt for crabs and star fish down in the tidal pools by his house.  Crabs give me the heebee jeebees, ucckk, they remind me too much of spiders.  Char feels the same way about crabs, as you can see in the picture of him and Josh.

                                                I'm such a pansy....look how small they are.

Jon risked his dry clothes to grab us a star fish while the tide was coming in. 
After the tidal pools we enjoyed an awesome dinner that Jon's mother threw together for us, and then played a few games in which Roy actually won.





We missed the first ferry back to Alki, so we had to wait an hour to the next ferry...one of the draw backs to living on an island.  Needless to say both Finn and Char fell asleep in the car on the ferry.

.seattle, day 3.

I know I'm dragging this out too long and just need to get all of the trip put up at once, but I find that I devote more of my time to other things like cleaning, reading, and doing Finn things.  But I'm trying to get it finished up here soon.Saturday was our random day. We started out the day with a early walk with Finn.  He had had a rough night and to our dismay woke early too.  Walking along the boardwalk he drifted off to sleep, while his tired parents enjoyed the cool quiet morning. 
We drove out towards Seattle and made our way up to Snoqualmi Falls.  We made it a quick visit since it was teaming with tourists, but we did enjoy feeling the mist rising up from the falls, and having people take pictures of Finn...people couldn't get enough of him kicking his legs in his Bjorn.

After a quick stop for some lunch at local eatery named Dicks we made a quick stop at Bruce and Brandon Lee's graves for Roy.  The headstones were made out of some of the most beautiful stones that I've ever seen!
The Fremont Troll was next up on our whirlwind stops of the day.  It's just a sculpture that the town put in under a bridge of a cement troll with a car in his hand.  The best part of the sculpture is that they used an actual VW bug.
We stopped at Gasworks park for the boys to stretch their legs and climb around for a bit.  The park was created from an old factory and a lot of the old machinery is just painted and can be played on.  It also has a great view of the city.

Our last stop of the day was to Ballard locks.  The locks allow travel from lake Washington out to the sound, it was pretty interesting to see the boats being lowered down and raised up as they went in and out.
I made chicken enchiladas for dinner and we again crashed for the night. 

.seattle, day 2.

Friday morning we made our way to the foot ferry, and took a 10 minute crossing to downtown Seattle.  We walked along the wharf and checked out some different shops, and then found ourselves at the gum wall.  The idea of the gum wall is completely nasty...made me think of middle school desks, but it was actually quite fun and artistic once you got past the fact that it was chewed gum.  As a bonus, Roy and Chelsie even found their names.  We tackled Pikes Market after that.  It was of course packed beyond belief, but it was still fun to see all the funky people, smell the beautiful flowers, and look at the huge amounts of fresh fish.  We enjoyed a fresh baget sandwich, and a yummy eclair from a french deli where we couldn't pronounce a single item.  We did a bit more shopping, and then we grabbed a quick gelato on our way back to the ferry.  I had strawberry basil and cream gelato that was to die for, Roy thought it tasted like a plant.  After walking around the whole day, we were all done.  So home to enjoy pizza and a movie while the kids hit the mattress.  Good day!

.seattle, day 1.

The Northwest is a beautiful place that I've always loved.  The weather is darn near perfect for my liking, I completely love the rainy overcast days that so many do not, and the combination of tree and ocean is just lovely.  I would miss my mountains and snow, but could be very happy there I think.
Awhile ago we had some friends move up there who were always telling us to come visit, so I finally took them up on their offer.  Roy could care less to travel so I undertook the whole process of planning and getting everything underway, but I'm so glad I did....it was a fun family trip.  Though, I have to say, traveling with children really does add a level of stress to the whole thing.  Finn did amazingly well for being completely off schedule and being strapped into his stroller for great portions of the day.

We arrived early Thursday morning, and ran to the store to pick up a few things for the week.  Jon and Chelsie live nearly on the beach in Alki, and have an amazing view of the sound and of Seattle.  So that night we decided to just chill at the beach and eat dinner with a bon fire.  Their son Charlie who is nearly three is a crazy social kid.  He was all over the place talking to complete strangers and dancing up a storm with the band that was playing on the beach.  Finn had no desire to get close to the water...it seems that the waves were a bit too noisy for his liking, but he kicked it in the sand and tried really hard to figure out what it was that he was sitting in.

Roy enjoyed the beach more than the water too.  Apparently sea kelp weirds him out, and of course it's everywhere...not to mention the water is ice cold.  What did he expect...Florida?
It was a great evening though just catching up and enjoying the atmosphere of Alki beach.

.7 little ones

Finn,

feeling sand for the first time

and a ha-ya...dad

Another month has zoomed past, and your getting more active and interested in the world around you.  You didn't gain a single ounce at your last appointment so we are trying hard to pack on some el bees.  The dr wasn't super worried, but we are definitely going to keep track of you so you don't drop completely off.  You made your first flight this past week, and did exceptionally well.  The magazines kept you occupied for a great part of the trip...you just love paper.  At seven months you love kicking your legs like a maniac, eating yogurt, playing with my hair, and rolling.  You sit pretty good, but still fall over if there is nothing behind you.   You are also getting awesomely vocal and saying sounds like dada and clicking your tongue a lot...so much fun!  We still haven't seen any teeth around these parts, but you have started to drool like a fool, so maybe soon we will be seeing some. What fun we have around these parts watching you learn and grow. 



thickening thighs in my walker

peek-a-boo

.this & that.

I went digging through my cupboards this past week and re-discovered some wedding gifts that have been collecting dust, one of which is a very nice ice cream maker.  We made up an awesome batch of homemade chocolate chunk.  Unfortunately for me, it was delightful and made about a gallon of that deliciousness. I invited neighbors over to partake in our abundance, and we still had some left.  I had to eventually get rid of the rest, because having it in my freezer was very much a temptation.  Hopefully, when our family is more complete, it will produce the perfect amount for a family to indulge in.
Aside from making high caloric food this past week, Roy & Beth celebrated 4 years of marriage. Roy surprised me by taking half the day off, bringing me flowers, going to a movie, and dinner in which I finally got to eat REAL crab.  I told him I always wanted to eat seafood, with a hammer and a bib.  I enjoyed it thoroughly!
In other good news, we head up to Seattle at the end of this week.  Finn's first big trip, and ours with a little dude.  I'm excited, and a little apprehensive about traveling with a baby who demands structure, but I guess we will see how it all goes.

.4 on the 4th.

I remember the first time I saw the man who would become my husband...a one Roy Hoffman.  I walked into Sacrament Meeting at my first single's ward out of college.  He was wearing a ridiculously outdated suit with pure and utter disregard of what anyone else thought of him, and he was busy.  He wasn't like the other guys loafing around in the back pews, or showing up late, waiting for Sunday to commence. He was making sure it happened. Needless to say he was hard to miss, what with his loud suit, and active character.  My first judgment of him was, "what a cool kid, I like that he's different".
Now here we are some 5 and half years later, having been married for 4, and I still think, "what a cool kid, I like that he's different".  It's funny how some things never change, but how some things can change so much...4 years of life together can do that. 
Thanks for being, growing, and becoming with me sweets!