The Pacific Northwest - Seattle

We wanted to take a family trip with just the four of us sometime this summer, but we didn't really get around to planning one until late June or so. Add to the mix that we didn't have any particular place where we wanted to go and we probably could have thrown darts at a dartboard and ended up happy. Instead, we used some online price tracking tools to find the cheapest flights to anywhere from Salt Lake City. After throwing out Vegas and Boise (we've visited Vegas a number of times, and Boise...), flights on Southwest to Seattle came in on the lowest end of the spectrum. We checked the Mariner's schedule and picked a weekend when they would be in town to set up our visit.

It was fun to take the girls on the airplane. They both were champs and seemed to enjoy themselves. It was also nice to not have to pay for any checked bags because between the four of us and our carseats and stroller, we had a bunch.

The weather was absolutely perfect for our entire trip. The temperature hovered around 80 degrees and we didn't get a lick of rain. Every day in Seattle we had gorgeous views of Mt. Rainier (at 14,411 feet the mountain is the second tallest in the lower 48, but it is one of the most topographically prominent mountains in the entire world).

The first thing that we did once we landed in Seattle was to gasp at the greenery all around. Coming from the uber-dry state of Utah, the dense foliage and beautiful trees are always amazing. Once our gasping was completed, we jumped in our rental car and headed over to Pike's Place Market. I wanted to visit a small Russian bakery, Piroshki-Piroshki, for lunch where Ada and I shared a cheese and meat piroshki (a small meat and cheese filled bun). Alison grabbed lunch at a French bakery before we headed over to watch the fish-throwers. This was Alison's first meat in over four weeks (I had broken my vegetarianism earlier that morning with my favorite Caesar salad bagel from the Salt Lake Airport).

Waiting for Alison and Ada taking a bathroom break.
Apparently she is storing some lunch in her cheeks for later.

We lucked out and didn't have to wait long for the fish sellers to start throwing their wares. They really rocket those things. I almost felt bad for the lady standing behind the fish catcher. She about had a heart attack because she almost got a face full of cod. Luckily, the fish was caught.

Ada was a little nervous to touch the fish, but I convinced her to do so. Before long she started hitting and pounding on the fish on the tables like crazy. It took all that I had to restrain her because I was laughing so hard.

This bronzed pig just outside the market must be a popular icon in Asia, because the whole time we were there, even when the girls were climbing on the pig, there was an Asian reporter and camera crew doing some sort of feature story on the pig.

Our biggest fight the whole time was who would get to sit in the back of the stroller. We did out best to have the girls take turns, but neither one wanted to sit in the front of the stroller. Of course, we bribed whoever was sitting in the front of the stroller with extra treats, fruit snacks and candy.

Next we headed down to the waterfront, but on the way we made the obligatory stop at the bubble-gum wall. We had to take extra care to keep the stroller away from the wall because both Ada and Kate were grabbing for the chewed gum specimens.

Our first Seattle attraction was the Seattle Aquarium. We opted to purchase Seattle City Passes to save on admission to 5 of the 6 included attractions that interested us.

The aquarium was fun for the girls. They enjoyed touching the starfish and seeing the various marine animals.

Our next attraction was a 1-hour fairy ride (oopsie, I meant ferry ride) around the Seattle harbor and Elliot Bay. The girls enjoyed being on the boat and we got some great views of the city. One of my favorite features of our camera is the panoramic pictures, so I'll have a post of just those pictures (but don't expect them for another 6 months or so...).
The Space Needle from the harbor.
Mommy and Kate.

We stopped and ate dinner at some seafood place on one of the piers on our way back to our car. Alison and I had hamburgers (we forced Ada and Kate to share some fish and chips at least).

We stayed the night at Red Lion Hotel in Bellevue. We had wanted to stay closer to downtown (or even in downtown), but all of the hotels were surprisingly expensive this entire trip. We apparently picked the very height of the tourist season for the Pacific Northwest to visit.

Favorite Song

Ada and Kate are simply obsessed with the following song. Every time that we get in the car, they are begging to hear it on the radio. As you can imagine the radio rarely obliges, but late last night as we were all returning from the airport the song came on the radio and the girls were so excited. Ada knows a good portion of the words and Kate is always begging for the "I won't let you choke song." I love when they just start singing the chorus as they're playing throughout the day.

I present to you Mumford and Sons - The Cave:

Phone Camera Dump #2

This is the second and final batch of random photos from my phone camera.

I don't recall the specifics of this picture, but it was taken April 11, 2010. Amazingly, today (February 27, 2011) Kate is wearing the same dress.
My good friend Dan took me to a Jazz playoff game. In the lower bowl. We got free shirts. I've always been jealous of the fans at the playoff games (for any team) that get the free shirts. Now I'm one of them.
This is our new playground set. We spent a weekend last June putting it together. The girls absolutely love it.
Bear Lake = cold water, choppy ski. But I love it.
Ada and Kate.
Kate driving the fire truck at our ward summer breakfast.
Kate taking her cousin Max on a drive. She especially likes him when he's shirtless...
Niagara Falls to visit a lighting factory in Canada.
I got to control the lights of Niagara Falls while everybody was watching the fireworks. Ada and Alison were able to pull up a webcam of the falls and tell me what colors to change the falls. It was awesome!
Ada and her cousin Ella.
My Sunday lunches after church are the best - especially in the fall when there is football involved.
This is a politicians graveyard near RES.
Sleeping Beauty wearing Cruella DeVil's beau's jacket.
Gameday at RES. Go Utes.
Kate loves her chu-law-ket.
Ada was looking forward to telling Santa what she wanted for Christmas. She was excited when she finally got the chance.
Kate, Alison and Ada on the Mickey Ferris Wheel at California Adventureland.
As the title suggests, this is the "World's Largest Golden Nugget" housed at the Golden Nugget in Las Vegas Nevada. We stayed here for $30 on our way home from Southern Cal (priceline.com).
Grandma holding Brynlee at the Utah-BYU game at the Huntsman Center.
Sundays are tough days.
I take Alison out to a nice restaurant and this is what I get?

10 Years Ago...

January 2001

I didn't think that there was very much that went on during the month, but after making a list this may turn out to be a long post. After returning from Germany, that same night I took the train to Smolensk to be reunited with my companion and district. For the next few weeks I was especially grateful to be able to continue serving as a missionary.

Every week I felt like I was beginning to understand the language better and better. The understanding certainly came more quickly than being able to speak well. A new group of missionaries from the MTC came to our mission this month. I was excited to no longer be the greenest of the elders in the city. Unfortunately, the new elder that was assigned to Smolensk had studied Russian in high school and spoke pretty well. I then had the members of the branch asking me why the new missionary spoke way better than I did.

A couple of times during the month we took the night train to Moscow to attend zone leader meetings and zone conference. It was always exhausting to spend two short nights in a row on the train. I always really loved returning to Moscow in those early days of my mission. It was a magical city with so many amenities. I loved serving in the city of Smolensk with its small branch, but I envied the missionaries that were in Moscow. On one of the visits to Moscow, I made a stop at the Church doctor's apartment for him to look at my eye. He treated us to McDonald's for the first time while in Russia.

My companion was the group leader for the small branch so we spent a lot of time visiting and interviewing the members. There was a lot of contention in the branch and we were trying to figure out why. One single sister that we visited a couple of times lived a 1 1/2 hour bus ride from the city (right near Russia's border with Belarus). Her small log house was another hours walk on a little trail from the bus stop. She did not have running water, electricity or gas. We would help her carry water up from the river a couple hundred yards down the hill as well as chop wood for her stove. It was such a humbling place to visit. Right in the middle of her one-bedroom house was a huge wood-burning stove (built right into the house). During the winter everybody slept on top of the stove. I remember once waiting for my companion while I was up on top of the stove and falling asleep. I'm embarrassed to say that I actually fell asleep a few times at member's houses. Not understanding the language with a companion that could talk for hours, would just lull me to sleep.

The members were often so kind and would feed us from their scarce supplies. During the month I had the chance to eat calamari for the first time, sugared-liver, kholodets (a cold meat jelly) and salo (raw pig fat-and often with the hairy skin still attached). Aside from the calamari, which was surprisingly good, I would not recommend any of the other dishes.

I had been on my mission for 4 months. In that time I had now read the Book of Mormon 4 times. I don't recall if I had any intention of reading it 24 times during my mission, but I don't believe that was the case. Regardless, I gained a deeper testimony of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. I realized that it was the keystone of our religion and much of the truth of our religion hinged upon whether or not the Book of Mormon was true. I knew it then and I still know it today that the Book of Mormon is true!

This month was also the first time that I was able to be a pall-bearer. A young member of the branch's grandmother had died. I believe that many Russians have a superstition against family members carrying the casket so we were asked to help. The lady had died on the fourth floor of an apartment building and we had to carry the casket (with her body in it) down the four narrow flights of stairs. It was a miserable feeling maneuvering the casket down the stairs, but we were on our missions to serve and we were always glad for the opportunity to help.

I started teaching piano lessons to a couple of the members of the branch who were interested. I played the piano every week in sacrament meeting, for the choir and any other time that an accompanist was needed. During this same time we went from having a two-hour church block to trying out a three-hour block. It was amazing to see the branch grow together. We had some difficulty registering The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in the city. The mission accountant from Moscow had to come and help us work through the red-tape and pay a significant amount in taxes.

January in Russia is obviously a cold time of year, but it is also very icy. As all of the snow falls on public sidewalks or in front of apartment buildings, nobody has the initiative of clearing it off in front of their buildings. I knew that I would succumb to the slipperiness of the ice and I went down a couple of times during the month. Luckily I was not injured badly, but branch members and even a missionary in our zone were knocked unconscious after falling on the dangerous ice.

On one p-day my companion and I were walking to the internet cafe. We took a shortcut across one of the streets and were whistled at by a policeman. He ticketed my companion for jay-walking (15 ruble fine - which is less than $.50). He then turned to me to ask if I had any money. I told him I didn't (I lied...) and so he decided not to ticket me. The money would have only gone into his pocket anyways, but I probably should have been more honest. :)

Phone Camera Dump #1

I oughta make this a habit more often, but this is part 1 of the photos that were taken with my phone in the last 18 months or so.

Ada and Kate rocking at Cracker Barrel.
SLC Farmer's Market
Me and Coach Boylen
Kate and her cousin Grace
Ada at Applebee's
Kate at Applebee's
Alison with some random dragonl
Our cruise ship from 2009

Ada and Kate - Halloween 2009
Utes Blackout 2009
Model of Station Park in Farmington, UT
Utah State/Boise State game
Celebrating Real Salt Lake's national championship
Ada - Christmas morning 2009
Having a good time at Lowe's
Ice cream at Baskin Robbins
Our living room wall
NCAA basketball tournament 2010 in Salt Lake City at EnergySolutions Arena
Ada stuck in the kindergarten playground toy

Don't fret, there are more to come.