Worry Free Washington Trip

I say worry free Washington, because my dad was home from Afghanistan, so we didn't have to worry about him. And Lily was safe at home in Texas with Robby, so I didn't have to worry about her beating up her brother or getting into things she shouldn't while I was visiting home. It was just a very nice, relaxing vacation at home. Thanks to everyone who watched Lily and to Robby who encouraged me to go! I went home to see my dad-it's the first time I've been home while he's home since last August, though I saw him in March in Utah for my grandpa's funeral. He was only home for 2 weeks to have a medical procedure done, and so Robby told me to go for it and take Lance home to meet Grandpa and his cousins and Aunt Sarah and Uncle Steve.
Our first day home we went up to Mt. Baker Ski Area and Heather Meadows. This is Mount Shuksan from Picture Lake, a very famous mountain. Isn't it beautiful? I LOVE it! While we were home Mom was having her kitchen redone, so we ate every meal outside. Mom did a great job of cooking out on the grill. We all ate off of paper plates, but Dad got the real stuff :-) This was my favorite meal-Sockeye Salmon caught that morning and grilled. YUM! Doesn't get much fresher than that!

We went out to the beach quite a few times while we were home. Lance loved being outside. This was the first time that Dad had met Lance. On Sunday while we were at church Lance was on my lap and would just stare at Dad. Then when Dad would look at him he would smile and smile. It was so nice to have him get to know his grandpa a bit!

The first night home we had a cookout out at the beach. Braxton really loved Lance and always wanted to know where he was. He sang The Wheels on the Bus to him over and over, and did a pretty good job holding him. Brax is Janica's 2nd-he's 5.

Here's all the boy cousins together. This was the first time they all met.
It was really cold up at Heather Meadows, so we all got warm by the fire.

Can you tell we're up in the clouds? After this picture we drove up even higher, and couldn't see anything. Literally. You had to watch the yellow line to see where to drive. We went back down lower afterwards to have our picnic where it was a bit warmer!

It was so nice to have Mom and Dad together. Dad's now back in Afghanistan, and is planning on staying until March. He'll come home for Christmas, but that's probably it. Mom sent him back with a huge suitcase full of food. Literally. That's all that was in one of those big missionary sized suitcases. He even went back with a cooler of cheese!

Here they are with Janica's kids and Lance.

This telescope was free and you could look closer at Mt. Shuksan. Janica's boys were very excited to be in Mt. Baker National Forest because apparently there's an I Carly episode where they go to Mt. Baker National Forest to look for Bigfoot. Otherwise known in the Northwest as Sasquatch. So this man in the background was showing them the Sasquatch's tracks on the face of Mt. Shuksan. And his cave. The boys were SO excited and would say, "I see it, I see it!" The rest of us were dying laughing.

Sisters, sisters, There were never such devoted sisters...

Mom's new kitchen. It will be so fun to see it over Christmas.

I think this may be my favorite picture from the trip.

This beach is 5-10 minutes from our house. Can you see why I wouldn't mind moving back???

I love this picture, too. Grandpa with all his grandsons. There are 5 girls between Brax and Lance. It goes Ryan, Emily, Braxton, McKinnley, Akaila, Kylee, Lily, Mady, and then Lance.

Dad would give Akaila rocks to throw. Braxton is going to be football player. Hopefully for BYU so his Uncle Robby can go watch him play!

My best friend, Bekah, just had a baby, Max, and we go to see them. They live up in Canada. Max is 8 weeks old and Lance is 4 months. He's a good sized kid

Besides the obvious being with family it was so nice to be able to run where I wasn't dying from sweating so much, go be able to sleep with blankets on and no airplanes flying overhead, and to walk around outside in bare feet! Oh, to live where there's soft grass again!