Birthday Surprise

For my birthday this year, Stephen told me he had a surprise so I should pack an overnight bag for three nights and not ask any questions.  Well of course, that was nearly impossible - I obsessed over the surprise for about a week trying to get him to spill it (Stephen is really bad at keeping secrets so I thought getting it out of him would be easy, but this boy was NOT talking).  I almost sneakily checked his bank account for clues, but finally accepted that a surprise would be fun and waited until Thursday, which was when I was supposed to find out.  

Thursday night after work Stephen finally unveiled the surprise: three nights at the Four Seasons in Seattle! It was a beautiful hotel - everything about it was perfect.  Right on the water, all decorated for Christmas, and it even smelled amazing when you walked through the door.  

When we got to the hotel, we were greeted with rose petals, champagne, chocolate covered strawberries, and ... another surprise ... a treatment in the spa.  This was going to be a weekend of relaxation and indulgence - ten points for my husband!  He definitely out-did himself this year.

There was a gorgeous deck overlooking the water with the swimming pool and this fire pit.  It was a great romantic spot to hang out and see the city.

We spent most of the weekend enjoying all that Seattle has to offer.  The city is so beautiful during the holidays so it was such a treat to be there at night when everything is all lit up.  We did a little Christmas shopping (one of my favorite things, and Stephen was such a trooper), and went to a couple of our favorite restaurants that we don't visit very often now that we live in Tacoma.  It was a really wonderful weekend to kick of the Christmas season.

We celebrated my birthday dinner on Saturday at a wonderful italian restaurant in downtown.  The food was amazing - it actually tasted authentic, and the courses reminded us of Italy.  

Dessert is my favorite part - we ordered cappuccinos like in Italy and I couldn't help but take a picture of the yummy tiramisu and gelato.  

Beautiful downtown...

Annual Portland Trip...

Friday morning after Thanksgiving Stephen and I headed out from Aunt Deb's to make the hour drive down to Portland to meet my family for a little Black Friday shopping.  When we got there - around 9am - they had already been shopping for about 3 hours! Craziness :)

Dinner at the regular spot...

Then out for another fun night of bowling at Grand Central - I have to admit, I have gotten substantially better at bowling since I last played with these girls.  That's not to say I'm good by any means, but I was definitely making strikes with the best of them...

Lisa does not like to bowl a bad game...

Victory Dance

Gobble Gobble Turkey Day!

We had two turkey dinners on Thanksgiving this year as usual.  We started at my parents around noon and then headed down to Kelso for another Turkey dinner.  I always surprise myself by how easy it is to eat two dinners.  The Hansens always serve dinner a little late, so I am ready to have another go by the time it's served.  Everything was absolutely delicious this year...

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays and my cousins and I have the best memories of having Thanksgiving "dinner" at my parents around noon and then heading down to Portland together for Black Friday shopping the next day.  Unfortunately, since my cousin Lori moved to Palm Springs she hasn't been able to make it home for a few years.  I always miss her and I really wanted her to come home this year ... well, the little sneak that she is ... she told me that this year would be the same, and she couldn't make it again.  Of course, I had no reason not to believe her so when she walked in the door on Thanksgiving I thought I was seeing things! My whole family had known that she was coming, but everyone kept it a secret from me so it would be a surprise.  And it was a great surprise! We had such a fun time.  Here we all are right after Ms. Lori made her big entrance and the screaming had subsided....

Lots and  lots of cooking ... I made my favorite walnut and blue cheese salad... my mom made pretty much everything else :)

Ashley made the yummy pies...

Lori and Jordan

Auntie Vicki, me, and Lisa

Mom and Dad at their little "bistro" table - we had so many people we needed four tables!

I love this picture of the boys - Stephen, Craig, my dad, and Tony

Reunited and it feels so good...

And then we were off to Aunt Deb's for the Hansen Thanksgiving.  Most of my pictures are of us after we had dinner - as you can see, most of us have put on our "digesting clothes" :).  We always have such a great time at the Christian's house.  After dinner the boys usually put on a movie and then later it's video games :)  This year, they rented Apocalypso which I've seen and cannot watch, so us girls enjoyed some gossip in the other room until the gruesome parts were over.

Kaitlin and Sandy

Max kept digging into the couch to hide his treats - so cute!

Video game time...

Cozying up to watch the end of the movie (can you tell whose legs are whose?) :)

Bowling Night

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...