Christmas happenings

December was a month of celebration for sure!  Between the work parties, our condominum community gathering and get-togethers with friends, we partied it up.  :) 

Tonja and I enjoyed a behind the scenes tour of the Nutcracker and free tickets to watch the ballet.  It was super cool.  I had just seen it last year, but hopped at the chance to go again because in my new job, I advise the dancers who are pursuing a bachelors in arts management at SU.  It was very cool to be able to see my advisees doing what they love to do.  The tour guide was Lindsi who happened to be dancing "Clara" that night and another advisee was the peacock.  They are so so talented!  What an honor.  Here are a few quick photos of the behind the scenes tour.

As you can imagine, there are many layers to the behind the scenes! Look up!

The costumes are very intricately designed.

The horse costumes were brand new this year, many of the others are very old apparently:


Ready for the show to begin!  Unfortunately, no pictures allowed during the performance.  You'll have to see it for yourself next year :)

I definitely want to put in a plug for the nearby restauarant Toulouse Petit.  Amazing happy hour!  (Not so much the drink prices but the food selection and prices for sure)!  It's right next to Pesos's in Queen Anne.

Christmas lights always put me in the spirit.  Mom and dad got some cool new LEDs this year thanks to Becca and Levi...what a cool lookin' house huh?!

The night before Christmas eve, we drove around Becca and Levi's neighborhood to find this amazing display (iPhone pic):

Even the roof was well lit!  Incredible!  Their neighborhood is most definitely spirited.  Here are a few others (pardon the poor photography):

To be continued...

Merry Christmas!

Dearest readers,
I hope that you and your families had the merriest of Christmases.  We sure did :)  You'll hear all about that later.  For now, here's my holiday greeting to you!
xoxo,
Laura

adventures with Lee

In addition to our Mt. St. Helens roadtrip, we took Lee to see beautiful Leavenworth and quaint Cougar Mountain Zoo. 
Becca and I took a day off work to make the trek to Leavenworth.  Thankfully, the weather cooperated.  I'm pretty sure I was more excited about the trip than Lee but isn't that always the way it works?  What can I say, I'm just full of excitement.  :)
I have been CRAVING snow!!!  If only Seattle would have snow like we had in 2008...now that would be lovely! 
Here are some shots along the beautiful drive, I may or may not have annoyed my fellow passengers by opening the car window while taking some of these:

We arrived in Leavenworth and I appreciated the lovely decor:

It took great restraint but I refrained from taking pictures of my food so as not to embarass my dear cousin Lee.  But let me tell you, there's nothing more delicious than bratwurst and saurkraut!  Real Germans Eat Saurkraut, Lee!!

Too bad the mountain goats weren't out...

We did a little Christmas shopping at Kris Kringl and enjoying the snow-filled tree!

 Check out Leavenworth's new brewpub!  We'll have to check it out next time.

One of our last adventures with Lee took us to Cougar Mountain Zoo in Issaquah.  The baby cougars were my favorite.  Super cute, meow!

The cool part about this zoo is how close you can get to the animals and the zoo art!

Hello pretty lady!

Family photos are so much fun.

I thought this reindeer was the cutest with his white nose!

 And speaking of kitties, wow these guys were big!

Thank you, Lee, for making the trek out here and for putting up with my excitement!

Isaac Concert

We enjoyed Isaac's holiday band concert this year once again.  Hard to believe this is his senior year at PHS!   The students did a wonderful job. 

Have a listen :)

http://youtu.be/uKp4DJLAKak

http://youtu.be/RPIUVMt8Ah0

!!Congrats, Isaac!!

Mt. St. Helens

Cousin Lee came in for a visit from the great state of North Dakota.  Perfect opportunity to head down to Mt. St. Helens on a cold crisp day.  I actually don't think I've ever been there so it was nice to see.  The Johnston Ridge Observatory was closed, but we were able to drive all the way up to Coldwater Lake.  It was very foggy sea level despite clear weather forecasts so I was a bit worried at first that we wouldn't get a peak at the mountain but clouds began to clear and the drive up for a closer look was beautiful. 

Here we are at the nature trail surrounding the Seaquest / Silver Lake Visitor Center.

We saw a bit of wildlife:

As we began the drive up the highway, the views became increasingly amazing.  Check out that mountain!

Cousins!

Walking around Coldwater Lake was beautiful!

Thanks to Becca for being the excellent navigator!

Can't wait to return in the summer for some hiking!

Go Redhawks!

Redhawks basketball is back in full swing.  December 1 was the College of Arts and Sciences night at Key Arena.  My new coworker/former classmate/and friend Tonja joined us at the game.  Here we are at the pregame festivites ready for the Redhawks to take on Stanford at the Key. 

Shawn Kemp was even at the game! Fun times! I really do enjoy the games, even if our win/loss record is less than perfect.  Going Division 1 was controversial for sure on campus, but it seems to have had positive affects.  One perk is seeing old classmates/friends who come back as alums to support their alma mater.  At this game, I saw Joe & Sam from Campion 4 (Amy/Jen...I bet you remember them?!)  And Shane, an MBA alum. 

Thanksgiving 2011

It was a weekend of great food, visiting, relaxation and decorations!  The great food that I was responsible for consisted delicious gluten free pumpkin bars, amazing gluten free butter biscuits and some fabulous hummus.  Just call me betty crocker!  :)  The biscuits were amazing, I must admit...even gluten lovers like Tyler liked them!

The weekend also consisted of a fair amount of local wine drinking.  YUM!

We spend Thursday and Friday with Tyler's family.  Blayne and Megan came into town from California and it was a great few days!

Tyler and his dad adding the bay leaf...

Blayne and Arlen cooking up some stuffing!

On Thanksgiving morning, Myles and Michelle cooked up a wonderful breakfast feast.

Then it was on to the main course...in the newly remodeled dining room.  Lovely!

Throughout the weekend, Fluffy, Megan and I enjoyed some time by the new fireplace.  Meow!

On Saturday, we headed down to Auburn for round 2 of turkey.  This time it was smoked turkey, gluten free quinoa stuffing, brussel sprouts, and more.  Fantastic!

We didn't waste any time getting the Christmas trees up.  I helped decorate three trees that weekend.  Here is at my parents house:

And Tyler and I's tree!

All decked out!



Hope you all had a blessed thanksgiving and are enjoying the spirit of the holidays.