Flooding in Fircrest - OH MY!

Last night the rain poured down in buckets. On the news they compared it to water shooting out of a firehose ... I didn't think it was quite that bad, but it was seriously WET. Anyway, around midnight Stephen and I heard a really loud noise outside our house. We went to see what it was and there was a firetruck, several police cars, and a bunch of people in rain slickers standing around just up the street from our house. Apparently, the rain had caused a flood.

We had heard that the river down from our house overflows when the rain is really bad, but last year we didn't have any flooding. Last night we got to experience it first hand. Our house sits on a hill so it isn't affected, but our poor neighbors were out in the middle of the night filling up burlap bags with dirt to soak up the water. So, Stephen and I pulled out our rain panchos, laced up our boots, and headed out to give them a hand. The rain was coming down so thick I could hardly see in front of my face! It was crazy wet. We filled a bunch of bags for about an hour with our neighbors across the street, Gary and Chris. Luckily, the rain started to die down, the water-level in the river stopped rising, and our neighbors realized they probably wouldn't even need the sandbags. Thank goodness! At least we did our good deed for the week and we got to get to know our neighbors a little better. It was a pretty fun little adventure...

Chili, Cornbread, Candy, and Costumes

We stayed in for Halloween this year and had the Horwaths over for dinner. I made chili and cornbread (ok, Stephen made the cornbread, I just made the chili - baby steps people!). I was very proud of myself for not burning, undercooking, or otherwise ruining the chili. We decided beforehand that we would just order pizza if it didn't turn out. But it turned out delicious!

Good food, good company, and lots of candy ... what more could you ask for?Jon and Angela with Ella "Bean"

Jack-O-Lanterns

We waited until the last minute to get pumpkins last year and ended up with none. So, this year, we wanted to have fabulous pumpkins greeting our little trick-or-treaters. I have never been one to create elaborate pumpkins (mine usually consist of triangle eyes and a smile), so I was very excited about how our creations turned out ...Stephen's Headless Horseman
Carly's Friendly Bat

NOT a Halloween Costume

I had a little incident last night with the Baby Kitty. I wanted to hold her. She didn't want to be held. She won. My face lost.She struck with great precision and managed to hit a vein - thus the beautiful black eye...
We spent the evening at a plastic surgeon's house. Fortunately, no stitches were needed and he just "glued" it back together.

The Colors of Fall...

We had such a fun fall weekend when my sister was in town. First we went to the Puyallup fairgrounds for Oktoberfest. Stephen and I loved this because it reminded us so much of our trip to Germany, which we absolutely loved. We loved the beer halls in Germany, and they turned one of the fair halls into a giant beer hall complete with German steins, polka music, lederhosen, and fantastic beer.Then we headed to the pumpkin patch...

Red Carpet Premiere

The Tacoma Film Festival was this month, and Ashley's short film "Trust Issues" was featured at the Grand Cinema on Saturday, October 4, 2008. It was so exciting to see Ashley on the big screen with a full audience watching - all paying to see the show. Ashley did amazing, as usual. She definitely stole the show and was the best actor of all we saw.Kaitlin was featured as well. Her poster was displayed in a prominent location directly in front of the entrance to the theater.
We got there very early. By the time the show started the theater was full!

Ashley's in print ... many more to come...

Some Much Needed Girl Time

Kristin came into town recently and we got to spend some quality "girl time" together. I loved having her here so much, but it really made me miss her even more. We have so much fun, and whenever we have the opportunity to get together it's always like we were never apart. I only wish we lived closer! Arizona is another trip Stephen and I are planning to take soon!

The first night she was in town I met her and Kristina at the Melting Pot for happy hour.

Girl time! Face masks, wine, sweets, girly magazines, and all our favorite tv shows - we were in heaven!
The next day we headed up to Seattle for some "sightseeing" - of course, Kristin lived here for most of her life so she wasn't exactly a tourist, but it's always fun to pretend.
Lunch on the water...
We couldn't resist doing a little shopping downtown of course...

We ended the day at the beach ... and ran into someone famous too (we still don't know who it was, but they had several police escorts, bodyguards, and a couple armored cars). Kristin and I snooped around enthusiastically like paparazzi, but failed to identify the culprit.

What a fantastic day!

Jason Comes Home (Yes, Jason, I said "Home")

One of our very best friends moved to New York several months ago and he finally came back for a weekend visit. We spent the night in Seattle and Wen Arto threw one of his parties just like old times - We had so much fun! Jason loves New York, but it's nice to have him come back for a visit every once in a while because we really miss him. Stephen and I plan to take a trip over there soon too!
Breakfast at the Blue Star...

On Sunday, we went over to see our friends Josh and Vanessa and their little girl, Ada. I hadn't seen Ada since just after she was born and she had gotten so big. Such a happy baby! It was great to visit with them.

Lukie's Birthday

Luke turned 18 this year - I can't believe how quickly time has flown by!

End of Summer Trip ...

The last weekend in August we took a little road trip to Tri-Cities to see the Sainsburys. We had so much fun with them and wished we could stay longer.

The ride there started out a little "bumpy". We packed up a suitcase for the weekend and left Saturday morning. About five minutes out I asked Stephen if he packed the camera. He wanted to be sure, so we pulled over and I opened up the back of the car to check that we had it. We did, so we continued on our way. What I failed to notice when I checked back there, though, was the suitcase was missing!!! The back was totally empty except for Stephen's briefcase and I didn't think anything of it! It wasn't until we got to North Bend that it dawned on me - literally, if I was a cartoon, you would've seen a lightbulb flash above my head - lol! Stephen thought I packed it and I thought he packed it. Luckily, neither of us was particularly cranky that day, so we just laughed our butts off at our mistake. Instead of turning around, we stopped off at the outlets, picked up a couple things, and continued on our way. So, in the end, it made for a funny story and I got some new clothes out of the trip - couldn't have been better if I had planned it :)

We arrived at the Sainsburys around 3:00pm and checked out their beautiful home. Nathan was full of energy :)

Pretty soon, the boys were ready to head out on Brad's new dirt bikes. There were sand dunes down the street from the house, so they didn't have to go far. Of course, now Stephen is ready to get his own!

Tiffany and I wanted to try them too!

That night, we got to spend some time playing with Nathan. He is the most adorable little boy! It was really funny because he started talking with a higher voice while I was there (anyone who knows me knows I have an annoyingly high pitched voice, but now at least someone thinks it's worth mimicking!)

The next day we headed out to explore the town. We saw Brad's office and had lunch at this delicious sandwich place...

... and then we went to ... dum da da dum ... the Hanford Nuclear Plant!

All along the highway were these green reindeer signs ...

Luckily, we survived Hanford (none of us turned green like the reindeer), and continued on our way to a nice park where there was a festival with a very, um, interesting band.

Brad's teaching him young - Nathan's already checking out people's teeth!

When we got back to the house, Stephen took me for a ride on the four-wheeler.

THAT was fun! I did have to smack Stephen when we were done because I think he forgot that a girl was on board. He had us going so fast and down some extremely steep hills - I thought we were going to end up backflipping in the thing! I have to admit I loved every minute of it :)

Then the boys went back out ...

... and us girls enjoyed the last of the summer heat on the porch

Dinner at Famous Daves - sooooo good!

What a fun weekend!