Linnea and Minnesota

One of my best friends came to visit from Minnesota. She just had to marry a guy from Minnesota. It's a good thing I really like him or I might be extremely bitter, instead of only slightly.

Trevor and I have done our best to convince them how much better it is here in Washington. I mean what do you really have, Minnesota?! Snow and Brett Favre. And which would you rather have: harsh winters and flat, boring prairies or luscious greens and beautiful mountains? Me and Trevor in the flesh or me and Trevor over skype? I rest my case.

 Of course, this isn't completely fair since I have never actually been to Minnesota. I'm sure there are a lot of positives...I just don't care to come up with any. We just miss our friends so we will keep doing what we do best...manipulate and harass them until they cave.

We were very cool in high school.

Here we are now. Still very cool.

I do think the Minnesota accent she has acquired is pretty cute.

I'm a sucker for accents.

the apple harvest

This weekend we drove over the hill and through the woods...or more accurately: down traffic-jammed I-5 and into the gated community to Grandma's house for her annual apple harvest. My Grandma's poor little apple trees had a rough year and didn't produce nearly enough apples for us to turn into pie and cider...so we had to buy out Safeway's supply as well.
My parents and sister were visiting from Spokane and my good friend Megs had flown in from Denver. They may not have come JUST for the apply harvest, but I think it was a pretty good bonus.

Just a few of the many pictures from our apple photo shoot.

Sometimes I can get a little camera crazy. I may have snapped at my husband once or twice, as well as taken away photographer privileges from my dad. I need cute pictures, doesn't anyone understand that?! I already feel sorry for my future children.

Someday, Trevor will be happy to have all of these smiling, happy memories and he will overlook the fact that I dragged him through the trees to the the cute wooden fence (that you can't even see), punched him in the arm, and threatened him to smile nice. See, happy memories.

And then the apples turn into this, and everyone forgets my neurotic picture taking behavior.

Miss you already Mom, Dad, Holly, and Megs.

a very important letter

It's official. I am going back to school.

A little old lady once told me I have kind eyes and would make a great teacher. Welp...that is good enough for me so starting in March, 2011, I will be takin' my kind eyes to the Master in Teaching program at Seattle University.

Teaching has always been a dream of mine, or at least a thought that I could never quite get out of my head. There are a lot of things that I am not good at, but I am good with kids. I love kids. I just love them in all their silly, dirty-faced, snot-nosed glory.

I am extremely blessed that my hubby supports me as I trade in my paycheck for student bills. He even supported the $80 rock kit I had to buy for my summer Geology class. And by rock kit I mean a box of rocks...for $80. I would have preferred a new pair of shoes. He has also put up with a lot of extra emotional breakdowns as I balance a full-time job, certification tests, prerequisite classes...all while I try to keep our little family fed, healthy and happy. It has been a little crazy as our life's game changes, but We know it will all be worth it.

I can only hope that one day all the kids will be requesting Mrs. Osborne's class!

a welcome change

It's October. It's time to get cozy. I love that I get to start bundling up and wear boots and scarves. Oh how I love scarves. I love that I get to start wearing slippers and drink hot chocolate. I love having something baking in the oven while I'm curled up on the couch reading as my husband watches football. I love extra blankets, popcorn and old movies...cozy cozy cozy.

I have started decorating for the new season. And by decorating I mean adding a few Fall accents here and there. I am not the kind of person who will go outside, chop down some branches, collect some pine cones and fashion together a center piece. I tend to be over-the-top about a a lot of things....elaborate, artsy, nature decorations are not one of them. The most important additions will be the far-to-many perfect amount of new candles that all smell like Thanksgiving and make me feel very cozy. Are you sensing a theme?

This weekend I did pick up a few things to Fall-ify our home a bit more.

Our weekend also included a trip to Barnes and Noble. As a couple of literary nerds, we find ourselves there quite often. I could live in Barnes and Noble. There is nothing like a brand new book to stick your nose into.

This also has the makings of more cozy.

fun on the farm

Trevor and I didn't make it to the fair this year. I really wanted to go. I have the best memories of my family and I going to the fair when I was younger..OK high school and college too. I'm a sucker for tradition and any place that will deep fry a candy bar.
Luckily, I have a wonderful Aunt who has her very own mini farm and who will make me fair scones with homemade jam. She and my Uncle had us over to play on the farm. My cute and sporty Grandma came too.

All the goats loved me. Or they loved the carrots I was holding. Either way, I felt very popular.























Trevor made a new friend.

I wanted to take this little one home with us. I hear urban goats are all the rage.

I ♡ DC

From the moment we landed at Reagan National Airport until the moment we boarded our plane to leave, we took full advantage of our time in our Nation's Capital. My blisters had blisters from all the walking and running around. Our motto was: "we'll sleep when we're dead." And by the end of the trip we actually were dead. And it was absolutely wonderful. Neither of us expected to love DC so much. Nowhere else can you experience the power of the Holocaust Museum or witness the magnitude of the Constitution and Declaration of Independence, go for a run passing monument after monument or see things like Lincoln's top hat and the very first American flag. We were constantly reflecting on the thousands of lives lost giving us our freedom as we toured Gettysburg and Arlington Cemetery. Our country's history spills out all over the buildings and landscape. As two lovers of history we were kids in a candy store. And these kids ate a lot of candy and loved every minute of it.

The Lincoln Memorial. Our favorite.

World War 2 Memorial. we are proud of our Grandpas. 

The White House and the lovely rusty barrier keeping me out.

Thomas Jefferson's home in Monticello. 

Gettysburg. 

Ford's Theatre.

On a balcony of the Capital right above the spot the President takes the oath of office. 

Inside our magnificent Capital.

Arlington Cemetery. Overwhelming. Amazing.

The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Changing of the guard.

National Cathedral.

Supreme Court.

Library of Congress.

Smithsonian. Natural History.

The one place Trevor HAD to eat at in DC. Ben's Chili Bowl. 

We loved the fun shops and quaint brick houses in the neighborhoods of Georgetown.




















Our generous hosts. Bob and Sue.

Proud to be American.
and proud owner of a brand new camera thanks to my amazing husband.

our first anniversary

My one-year-husband and I just got back from spending an amazing week in Washington DC. There will be much more to come on DC, but I want to give you some time to mentally prepare yourselves for the overwhelming amount of pictures I will be posting.
It is a bit out of order, but here is how we spent our first anniversary:
We drove north of Seattle to a quaint little Bed & Breakfast in La Conner, WA. Just think Anne of Green Gables and an explosion of pastels and ceramic bunnies and you will have a pretty good visual. But as a small-town-girl at heart, I was loving it. And the Wild Iris Inn didn't win awards for best northwest B&B for nothing! The rooms were very luxurious and the breakfast was incredible. We had such a fun and relaxing time (which was much needed after gallivanting all over the East Coast). I almost felt like I was on my honeymoon again...minus the rainy weather and lack of anyone under the age of 70. But it was perfect.

We found these giants in our room when we arrived. I finagled the recipe from the owner before we left.

We had dinner at this delicious little bistro.

The Rainbow Bridge.

As I look back over this past year I am amazed by how much we have both grown into our roles as husband and wife. Marriage definitely takes work and is challenging at times. It is getting excited about his fantasy football team. It is comforting her while she cries for no apparent reason. It is grilling him a piece of chicken whenever we have fish for dinner. It is paying all the bills so she doesn't have to worry about it. It is smelling his dirty clothes to see if they can pass as "clean". It is trusting each other completely and putting each other's needs first.
It is joy.
It is fun.
It is the best thing we have ever done.