Valentine's day 2014

We finally had a great Valentine's day, despite the fact that we've been sick. I was lucky enough to have THREE boys be my valentine :)

I took 2 hours of PTO so I could get off at a reasonable time (4:00) and the boys rode the bus up to get me.  Lucky our new car seats came the day before so Andy didn't have to deal with that on the bus!  He did get to deal with this:

 

They met me in Kirkland since I got off when their bus was still in Seattle, then we drove right back over the bridge to go back.

We went straight to the waterfront.  We had bought tickets to ride the Great Wheel! They gave us a time slot, but we wanted to go as early as possible (I thought it might get busy on v-day).  Sawyer was iffy at first, but eventually he got excited.

Here we are in line, but we barely had to wait at all- which was good because we didn't need to be out in the cold any longer than possible (luckily it wasn't too cold either)

We got on and we got our own box!  I think they did that because it was v-day and still early.  I think normally they would have put us with another couple since they fit 8 people.

Love this view of the stadium (red for the holiday)

We went around 4 times (one with stops, and 3 rotations without) and went to get food at the oyster bar. Kellan ate a lot of corn (we cut it off the cob)

Heart

 Afterwards we drove to Alki to get the best view of Seattle at night.  Seriously, my phone can't capture how pretty the view is.  If there is one thing you do in Seattle, go to Alki at night for that view!  We always try to go there if we aren't rushing back home for some reason.

I am so happy this Valentine's day went so well!

*Snow*

We finally got a legitimate snow day!

It was kind of bad timing though.  We were going to the Tacoma mall and a few flakes started falling.  When we came out, it was this:

*I interrupt the snow story to say how excited I am about the new convertible car seats we bought. After researching we found the two I wanted to get (Chicco Nextfit and Diono Radian RXT) at an AMAZING price.  Andy's cousin told us Target had the Chicco on sale, PLUS Cartwheel App had 20% off car seats. We got the $300 car seat for $180!!! After calling Toys R Us Customer Care (they have their trade-in program going right now) they said they had to have the car seat in stock to trade in (you get 25% off if you trade in an old one and we had an old one we got as part of a craigslist deal we would never use) but you also get a coupon book.  We went to Babies R Us anyway to see if there was a coupon that would help with the Radian and turns out they can order you online ones!  It was on sale at the moment plus with 25% off, we ended up getting the $340 car seat for $203!!! Both of these last from infant through the last you'll need a car seat so very excited.*


This was the freeway.  There were random cars that were stuck or had spun out the whole way home.  We had 4WD though so we were fine.  Sawyer was cute pointing out all the things with snow on them so amazed.  We got home and he goes "There's snow on the car! There's even snow on the spoiler!" Someone's been watching too much cars.

We got home and took the boys for a sled ride.

 Andy had to pull them up hill, I pulled them flat and downhill ;)

"Lets make footprints like a route!"

Sawyer liked me doing donuts with him and then he'd fly out.  He thought it was hilarious.

Our cool neighbors are moving :( but they gave sawyer this cool tractor and a big wheel

The next morning it hadn't quite melted

I match so well

"Can I play in my snow box?" The wind blew off the lid of his sand box.

Most of it melted by the next night, but that's the way we like it!

10 months

Happy 10 month birthday Kellan!!!

Here he is waving to you:


He is so sweet. He smiles and laughs a lot and likes to eat (he will eat anything) and play with Sawyer.  He loves to roll balls and chase them the most.  He is starting to walk to things on his own instead of us telling him to come to us.  He doesn't say any words but I can tell he recognizes his name for sure in any form (Kel, Kelly, Kellington, Welly, etc haha)

It was a good day, too.  It snowed and school was cancelled so I got to work from home! My boss was really confused why I said I was working from home because there was no snow at all in Bothell.  I told him to check schoolreport.org to prove it.  It was really funny but SO COOL how I can work from home.  They give you a little thing that changes passwords every 30 seconds and you have your own and it pulls up your exact desktop at home...like the exact windows I had open at work were now on my personal computer- pretty cool!

A day at the office, HAHA!

We also got our tax return and were able to pay off the pathfinder, my student loan, our hospital bill from Kellan, a credit card, and my camera. Awesome!

Superbowl 48

Oh. Em. Gee.

I'm not sure where to start.  I apologize if you hate photos, because this is another photo overload...but I just can't condense it any better.

I guess I'll give a brief history.  I have been a Seahawks fan for awhile.  I never understood football when I was young, but I started getting into it in high school.  When I joined cheer I had to learn it because...well...that's how you know what cheers to start.  We were extra lucky though.  You know how cheerleaders have like 5 matching outfits for camp, a warm weather and cold weather football outfit, a basketball/wrestling outfit, 2 pairs of shoes, and a set of warm ups and poms?  Well, that stuff ain't cheap (they're custom tailored), and the school never pays for "clubs" (though they cut more people than any other sport and you have to abide by athletics rules...ugh).  Anywho, we had a hook-up at the Seahakws through one of the girls' dad.  We didn't have to do any of those carwashes or pay out of pocket, we were able to work at the Seahawks games in those booths selling merchandise, and they would pay your account at the school off.  We could watch the games on breaks, and I really got interested in the team so watched all the away games.  Plus, being a part of the atmosphere really gets you into them.

Well, I did that for 2 years, but then graduated.  Of course, that was the year they made the Super Bowl, and that was the year I lived in Las Vegas.  My dorm floor had a fun party, but I was the only hawks fan.  Not so exciting.

This year was different.  I was able to be a part of everything.  We had parties for the games, and the 12th man came out in full force EVERYWHERE.  Buildings flew the flag, changed their lights to blue/green, skyscrapers coordinated lighted offices to make giant 12's, and everyone participated in "blue Friday" (the Friday before games, it is encouraged that every fan anywhere wear Seahawks gear or blue color, whichever is appropriate).  It was A.W.E.S.O.M.E.  It is so cool when everyone has a sense of community, and much preferred when it isn't because of a tragedy.

The game itself was...well...do I need to go into it?  I have always loved the Broncos and Peyton Manning (separately, but now together) but nothing compared to the hawks.  I kind of feel bad for them because it was such a blowout.  Oh well.  WE WON. 43-8

As soon as the game was over, we went outside.  The neighborhoods around us were blowing off fireworks.  My neighborhood had people doing the SEA-HAWKS chant, and we went out with our own fireworks and banging a pot.  It was grand.

They announced the big parade and lucky us...it was on Wednesday!  Our day off!  Everyone and their mom seemed to be going, and they were encouraging public transportation to avoid traffic.  We knew it would be bad so we got on the 5:30am Sounder train.  About half the people on there were hawks fans.  I guess we took the right train because soon after that, we heard they didn't even open the doors in the Puyallup station (there are still 5 stops after Puyallup and only 1-3 before depending on which train) they were so packed!  People had to wait several trains!  The only problem was, we got to the stadium at like 6:15...and it was 15 degrees.  While the experience was awesome, I would never do that again.  It was WAY.TOO.COLD.  We got a good spot though, we found a curb about a foot and a half up so we could sit comfortably, and stand on it and see over anyone that would stand in front of us later.  It was perfect :)

Made it on the train (flattering angle, eh?)

There's the Clink and an office bldg with a big 12

Haha, those kids took a picture too

12th man flag flying around

The area got packed soon after

After waiting forever, the parade finally showed up around 1:30.  It was so fast, but really cool to see all the players up close.  There was a rally afterwards at Century Link (overflow showing on the big screen at Safeco Field) but they were selling out immediately (free) and we felt it was better to see them up close than on a TV we could watch at home later anyway so we planned to leave right after.

Bus!

Marshawn Lynch (beast mode) throwing skittles off a Duck with the Sea Gals

The trophy!

Pete Carroll - this is all happening just feet away from us.  I can't believe how close to everyone you could be and many of them were high-fiving and shaking hands!

Tight ends

I wish Russel Wilson wasn't wearing sunglasses...

There's Richard Sherman, my favorite player :D

The Boeing Seahawks plane ended the parade by flying over us (it says Go Hawks on the bottom and the rest is painted in colors with a 12)

We left right away and headed to the train.  We knew there were tons of people going there and Sawyer had soccer at 4:30.  We headed to the station and merged into the crowd which slowly moved toward the train.  Well, we were already way in the crowd, almost into the door (no way to go backwards at that point) when I realized that there was a line that we had completely cut hundreds, probably thousands of people.  Um, oops.  The kids were getting so uncomfortable though so I didn't even feel bad.  The first train (they added an extra route that day) filled up and we JUST BARELY made it into the second one- the one we really wanted to be on (they stopped it in front of us but let a few more people in last minute including us).  It even left early.  They packed us like sardines and we made it back just in time to drive through McDonalds, change Sawyer in the bathroom, and get him to soccer right on time. Phew!

 Dad and Sawyer were packed right by the door.

It was an awesome experience.  So cool to say we were a part of it and to support our team in their first ever Super Bowl win.  The final estimates were that there were close to 1.5 million people there! I don't think I'd do it again though- not with kids anyway, and not when the high is 20 degrees!