Scott and I just returned from visting my brother and sister in law in Seattle.  This trip was one of my most favorite vacations ever and I don’t think we could have been planned it at a better time.  I’ve always wanted to visit Seattle and my brother Shane has been stationed there with the Coast Guard for the last 3 years.  He’ll be returning to our time zone next month and I’m so glad we didn’t miss the opportunity to visit.  I’m not sure how we managed to pack so much into the 7 days we were there but I really feel as though I’ve experienced all or at least enough of Seattle.  And let me tell ya, the Seattlites are all liars when it comes to the weather.  We didn’t see a drop of rain the entire time we were there.  Just blue skies and warm temps.  They of course say it wasn’t the norm, but we were not complaining one bit as we took in the views from the Space Needle, saw a Detroit Tigers vs. Seattle Mariners game, went brewery hopping one day and wine tasting another (I never knew Washington had so many breweries and wineries).  We took a road trip to the mountains and rainforest, went indoor sky diving and got in front of the camera for a portrait session with Chris Ohta Photography. We visited the infamous and disgusting gum wall and got to see the original Starbucks.  And now that I’m getting into what I know is going to be my busiest summer yet, it was great to take a week away to clear my mind and spend some time with family.  I’m feeling more refreshed than ever!

My work schedule has been a little crazy this week while trying to get everything caught up around.  Although I typically work mostly (early) mornings and days, this week I’ve been burning the midnight oil.  So don’t be surprised at the time stamps of emails that have gone out this week.  Thank you Starbucks for my afternoon pick-me-up/caffeine jolt to keep me up at night to get some business done!  The weather has been so nice and we’re busy playing catch up around the house too, planting our garden and getting everything back in order from being away.  Including cleaning the gardens, moving and raking 10 yards of fresh soil, a few weeks worth of laundry and filling empty cupboards that look worse than Mother Hubbard’s.  I’m not even going to talk about how I’ve been trying to recover my lost iPad or how our kitchen plumbing exploded on me when I had to fix the clogged drain, it’s just too gross and depressing and I’m still glowing from vacation.

Although I haven’t had much of a chance to work on my pictures yet, here’s one I took with my iPhone on our trip to Forks & La Push The Olympic Mountains.  Happy Friday!