The Emerald City

 When I first visited Seattle two years ago I had no idea how big a city it was. I mean, look at those skyscrapers!  It's such a cool city but like all big cities it has interesting people, interesting smells, good food, lots to see by just walking around, cool places to go to like museums and unique sights.

 The Market is a must!  So many cool shops to walk around.  There's a fish market, gorgeous flower bouquets, honey, homemade jam, food shops, etc.  Monday morning I enjoyed walking around and grabbing some breakfast.  It was just so nice to go places on my schedule and not worry about the kids.

 This is one of my favorite food stops across from the market.  This is greek yogurt marionberry crumble form Ellenos.  The lemon crumble is also really good!

 Just the prettiest flowers!  And so reasonably priced too.

Since I didn't meet up with Julie and her kids until lunchtime I went to the Seattle Art Museum to pass the time.  Not super kids friendly so once again, it was nice to meander on my own. :)

Ok, this painting was way more amazing and impactful in person but someone was nice enough to take a picture of my next to it.  The green trees, stormy clouds, and waves captured a scene nothing like home in Arizona. 

 Julie was such a trooper to bring all her kids into the city.  This was her first time so I got to show her around a bit.

 Crumpets are very English but it was so nice having them fresh with toppings for lunch!

 Everything was delicious, the only problem was that we all wanted more.

 So we got some Beecher's homemade Mac and Cheese.  Beecher's make yummy cheeses in store, you can even see the big vat they make it in.  Their Mac and Cheese has such a good noodle to sauce balance with a little bit of kick.

 Say hello to the gum wall!  It's actually a gum alley.  Thousands upon thousands of pieces of gum.  Gross, yes, but also fascinating and a tourist must-see.

 The city is right next to water and it was a lovely day!

 This is one of my favorite pictures I took.  Such a beautiful day!

 We hiked up this big hill so I had to take a picture of how strong Josie and Jason were.  It was not easy and they were getting tired of walking everywhere.  I barely made it up!  I'm so out of shape from not working out regularly since early pregnancy.

 Here's the Space Needle.  Andrew and I still haven't got to the top so it's another reason to come back to Seattle some time.  There's a really cool playground the kids played at near the Space Needle while we nursed the little ones and rested our legs in the shade. 

We took a monorail back closer to Julie's car and my hotel at the end to give the kids (and my!) legs a break.  It's a cook way to see a bit of the city in a different way.

Des Moines, Washington

 Every year there is a Marketing Conference in Seattle, Washington and every other year Andrew goes to it to learn things and stay ahead.  Two years ago I got to go with him and I brought Rupert along.  This time I brought Beatrix and my parents had the other four kids.  Since Julie and James recently moved to the area (end of May) we got to visit!  James picked us up form the airport Sunday early evening and Julie fed us a yummy chicken dinner.  She really is the best whole foods cook!

Beatrix got a lot of love from her cousins!  Baby Alice just turned 1 so she was looking older.  She loved to grab Beatrix's face and pull her headband off so we had to keep an eye on her. ;)

  Here's the Puget Sound just 5 minute drive from their house.  It's a pretty cool area with boats, a dock, and a little rocky beach with shells, rocks and cute baby ducklings.  Since it was Sunday we stayed off the beach and went for a little walk.

 First time wearing Beatrix in a Moby wrap. 

 So green!  The weather was so nice for a July evening.

 Here's their little tree house they're renting.  It's actually a pretty good size, and we call it a tree house because of the big deck in the back and on the side.  It's built on a hill so the back of the house seems way in the air.

 Josie and Jason liked to show me around their yard.

Julie and James moved to this Seattle suburb after we already had tickets to go so it was fun adding them on the itinerary.

newest niece: baby Seymore

 Nora had her baby at the wee hours of this morning! The whole family has been praying for her because Garrett has been away the last 5+ weeks for military basic training and they move to Colorado in less than two weeks.  Nora is a trooper, she just amazes me. Being pregnant with my sister is one of the best things ever.  Having baby girls so close together has been amazing, I'm just sad they're moving so soon.

Aubrey Liesl Seymore 8 lbs. 5 oz.

She has round cheeks, looks more like her sister than brother, and has perfect pink skin.

 Cousins 11 weeks apart.

In our family it's tradition to give a 5 layer brownie from Sweet Cakes to the mother who just had a baby.  Sara got mine after Beatrix.  It's pretty epic!  Since we visited before it opened we picked up a brownie from AJ's, the next best thing.  She's still get her 5 layer brownie later!

Congrats to the Seymores' for baby 3!!!

a summer Thursday

My oldest and youngest looking cozy.  We all adore Beatrix.  This is at Mesa High, our favorite free lunch spot.  We like to go right after Rupert's swim lesson and Zara's swim team at Kino.

Love these goofballs. :)

 Thursdays are our swim meet days.  This week Mesa High hosted.  The kids get there at 5:15 and the meet starts at 6:00.  Zara is in the 5-6 age group, we have no swimmers in the middle age group, and Elliot and Avery are in the 9-10 age group.  This week's swim stroke was breast stroke.  If the swimmers don't swim correctly they are disqualified and get a participation ribbon instead of 1-8 place ribbon.  None of our kids disqualified, although Zara wasn't consistent.  We are so proud of how hard they push themselves and do their best!

 Third place!

Sixth place!

 They each got two ribbons.  One for their individual race, and one for relay.  They have to qualify for relay earlier in the week to compete and Elliot was the only one that qualified this week, so we were surprised when Zara and Avery ended up doing relay as well!  Elliot has qualified all four meets, this was Avery's third relay to swim, and Zara's first!  How is Elliot a foot taller than Avery!  They are a year closer in age than the girls are. :)  

Beatrix was so content the first half of the meet before crying.  She did so good, just a little hungry.

 To celebrate finishing all 4 swim meets (freestyle, back stroke, butterfly and breast stroke) we took them to Zoyo's, a favorite frozen yogurt place of ours.  Some of the kids got more candy toppings than frozen yogurt but oh well.

This was my best one yet!  Chocolate and vanilla swirl with oreo and fudge, and blackberry frozen yogurt with fresh raspberries.  Amazing!!

Father of FIVE

 I still haven't shared about our little baby apart from a mention in yesterdays post but we had a baby and we love her so much!  I'm crazy about her and love these photos Julie Larson took less than two weeks after she was born so I'll share some daddy ones here in honor of Father's Day yesterday. 

We never met Julie before the shoot but I found her through instagram and love her work.  She's so talented and was so great to work with, I totally recommend her for baby or family photos.  I mean, it helps that we have a perfect baby to photograph and some cute kids. ;)

* Pure magic! *

Andrew is such a fun and patient dad.  He balances me out so well in parenting.  He comes up with great solutions when we're struggling with a child, even when I think my ideas are better at first. ;)  Andrew is a hard working and is a good balance between being laid back but not settling.

And look at that beautiful little face!  She's already grown since this picture and I'm trying to soak up every moment with her but it's still going too fast.  It's hard knowing she's our last but we feel good about it too.

I'll make sure to share some more photos because they are so good!  I also haven't written the birth story anywhere yet so maybe I'll do that later this week.

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day!  Today was pretty low-key as far as Father's Days have been today.  Elliot and I made Andrew a smoothie for breakfast (part of what he asked for) but it wasn't served in bed.  I got Andrew some fancy, manly protein powder (not just the Target brand I usually get) and a card from all of us but that's pretty much it.

Oh, and I gave him a couple for any class he wants to sign up for.  He told me a week or so ago for Father's Day he wanted to take a landscape photography, or grilling, or guitar class.  I had no idea what to sign him up for or where, especially because he's so busy with work and as YM President.  Hence the coupon.  He already sign up for a couple private swim lessons with that coupon.  He wants to work on breathing technique so he can do better at the triathlon this fall.

Oh, and I made a yummy salmon dinner which Andrew loves, something I never cook.  Sooo good.

^ ^ ^ Rupert is holding Andrew's Father's Day card. :) ^ ^ ^

Life has been pretty amazing but busy in my world lately.  Beatrix will be 7 weeks old tomorrow and she's a normal baby that needs to nurse often and be with mom a lot.  I love my babies, and having 4 other kids at home is a handful every day this summer break.

I had two goals this summer:

1. to read to the kids every night //

I have been doing this!  We're over half way through The Secret Garden.  We're going to watch the movie after we finish it.

2.  to publish a blog post at least 5 times a week //

I hadn't even started this until tonight!  Hopefully this will jump start me into the rest of summer.  It's not like I'm not taking pictures constantly. (hello new baby!!) Blogging is something I've made an effort of the last two summers and I didn't last long last year.  It's not that I don't love to blog, because I do!, it just takes time and summer wears me out and now I'm nursing a couple times in the night (Beatrix is a great sleeper though) and sleep is a higher priority mostly.  

Well anyway we have been having a great summer so stay tuned for more updates. :)

Life is beautiful with a baby.  She's just beautiful and magical and the best.  This picture with my dad is from yesterday.  So grateful for an amazing dad (who just retired last month!), and for Nev my father in law, and Andrew who is such a good daddy to our 5 babies!