a great weekend!

It all started when I left work early on Friday! Whawhoo! It was a long week, so I headed down to Auburn to relax. I made cookies with dad, dinner with mom, visited with Becca, Levi and Isaac and hung out with the animals.
Jagermeister...ready for the next bird or squirrel to chase...

Brewster was so ready for bed!

Buttercup was so happy to see me :) and the feeling was mutual.

On Saturday, we headed out for breakfast and costco shopping. Later in the day was the annual Battle in Seattle Central Washington University (Tyler's alma mater) Football game at Qwest Field...this year with a new opponent: Western Oregon University. Unfortunately, WWU's football team was cut in the budget cuts so WOU stepped up to the plate. I guess a new rivalry has begun. This was my third Battle in Seattle experience, here is 2008 and 2007! (I didn't realize I had been blogging for so long!)

Garin, Tyler and Arlen ready for the game to begin!

I really love the marching band!


It was a crazy game. Central played very poorly in the first half and didn't score at all...at half time they were down 21-0. A new team stepped out on the field for the second half it seems. Central scored 23 unanswered points including a down to the wire field goal to win it. Lots of action!
The final score was 23-21!

I tried out for the cheer squad after the game, not! :)

Today, Tyler and I visited the Arboretum for some fresh air and beautiful scenery. Fall colors are in full swing, as you can see!







Now time for a little ice cream and a lot of sleep to get ready for the week ahead! I'll be pet sitting in West Seattle most of the week, and attending Carly and Andy's wedding next Saturday...so looking forward it!

Bellevue Botanical Gardens

Last weekend, we stopped by Bellevue Botanical Gardens to check it out this time of year. I believe our last visit was Christmas 2007 to see the holiday light display. They do a beautiful job with the gardens. Here are a few snapshots to share.







We'll probably check out the holiday lights again this year but for now, it was a refreshing breath of fresh air to walk around for a bit.

Elysian Pumpkin Beer Festival

Yesterday was a fabulous day! It started off well before sunrise when I headed to SU to proctor the first SAT of the school year. Thankfully, I bought myself a new book the day before to keep me entertained: Eat, Pray, Love. Those of you who are readers have probably already read it. It is really good thus far!
After the SAT, I headed over to the Elysian to meet up with Karlie, Jordan, Fisch, Abby, Molly and Dustin for the fifth annual pumpkin beer festival.

Quite the event! It was nice to see everyone, try some amazing beers...even one straight from the pumpkin...








The nachos were oh so tasty and we topped it off with some Molly Moons ice cream. YUM!



Fun times, I sure miss these guys!

Doggies!

I used to call him "Little Bear" and now I affectionately call him "Old Man Bear." He's quite the trooper and I am particularly in love with his mohawk. The rest of his hair grew back in patches so he gets cold easily, hence the sweater.

And then we have "Barlee sweets" who has a new collar! Now people won't confuse her for a boy.


Cuteness, I know :)

Family time

Lots of good family time this weekend. Tyler's brother Blayne, his fiancee Megan, and her mom Cindy were up here to do some wedding planning. This meant visiting, relaxing and enjoying each others company on Friday and Saturday. Not to mention watching some football :) Here are a few photos to share of us enjoying the fall day.


On Sunday, we headed down to Auburn to celebrate my dad and Levi's birthday with lunch at Mama Stortini's. Here we are as a group...

And here is the family feast for four, yum!

Dad loved his card...'It's your birthday, celebrate accordionly!' Complete with the chicken dance song when you open it up!

A few other photos of the afternoon...





You'll see that dad and Levi don't know how to pose like adults for a picture, haha!


A really fun and enjoyable weekend!

Go Rocky, Go!

Rocky was enjoying the sunshine today and the freedom to run around the green pasture. Too busy running to notice the good grass! Yeehaw ;)

Funny thing is that you can hear the turkeys gobbling in the background!

Cute kids

It is probably no surprise to my readers that I love animals. Some day, I hope to have enough space for many of them. No kids, just animals :0) That's my personal preference at least for now. I visit my family in Auburn to get my animal love dose and those of you who have been there know that there are many animals to love. Here are a few shots from last weekend.
Here is the princess, chillin' in the sunshine!

Brewster with his favorite person in the whole world (momma)...

Singing us a song...

Benji relaxing after a hard day chasing field mice...

You can see that Rocky has grown into a young man. He is almost 6 months old and these were taken on one of his last nights with momma because dad weaned him this week.



Love these kids with all my heart! <3

home improvements

I love decorating and only wish that some day I have the money to buy nicer things :) In the meantime, though, I make do with what we have and enhance as necessary. Of course, Tyler isn't exactly the biggest fan of decorating...but we have made some home improvements that I thought were worth mentioning.

My favorites:

Curtains in the bedroom...

Before:

After:

Mirror above the fireplace...

Before:

After:

Tyler's favorite improvements: airport express card which wirelessly allows us to play our itunes through the stereo (and use his iphone as a remote), digital cable (yes, we've joined the 21st century), expanded wireless home network connecting computers, printers, and phones, cataloging all of our CDs...and I think that concludes the geek fest (haha).

Now, if only I could paint the bedroom pink, lol :)