Welcome to Washingon!

As Joseph and I were moving to Washington from Utah just as we got into Washington state it started raining like crazy and I was driving next to a semi who was also kicking up buckets of water at my window. Joseph calls me and says "Welcome to Washington." It hasn't rained like that since we have been here until today.

Today was another crazy week for weather. This time it flooded! Last year around this time there was flooding south of our home and this year it was state wide. They closed down I-5 near Centrailia and all of the passes to get anywhere so everyone was stuck in the middle of the state.

These are some of the pictures of the creek flooding over the driveway.

Over on the left is usually dipped into a U shape and the creek is little and flowing through...



This is the little creek that is almost a river!



I was able to get my car through that by the way...

Snow? Who said anything about snow?

So according to most people that live in Washington it doesn't snow in December. Normally it snows six or seven times in January but never in December. Well of course this being my first year here I don't expect anything to be normal.

Right around Christmas it snowed and snowed and snowed for about two weeks straight and unlike Utah there is no plow system at all!! We were stuck at home a couple of times because it was too dangerous to drive. Crazy Stuff.

Halloween 2008: The Dirty Old Man and the Pink Lady

Halloween this year wasn't as eventful as in years past. I had to work so it left Joe to fend for himself against the ghouls and goblins of the night... and the bats as well (Evan dressed up as a bat this year.)





Dirty old man!!




I kind of look like the gold digger here...

Media Holiday Kickoff 2008

Once a year Best Buy so graciously sends all of it's media supervisors to one location to do training and gather insight from movie, game and mp3 developers for the holidays. This year it was in Dallas, Texas. One week of vendor shows, game demos, movie previews and a look ahead at some exclusive stuff. I was fortunate enough to know some of the other media sups. down there and we all had a blast!




Melissa wanted to try out the new Gears of War 2 game so bad she was going to bum check a guy just to play!



This is one of the real S.O.C.O.M. ops that helped develop the game. He even showed me how to properly hold the gun!



I sang a couple of times in this gaming lounge. The new Guitar Hero: World Tour game is great!



This video is really funny! The guy behind me is another media supervisor who really likes this game...so much he is playing it behind me!

Favorite Shots

These our the best shots we took while on our Forks/ National Forest Trip!

This one was taken by Joesph at Cape Flattery.



This one was taken by Corinne at a beach where you can see Canada from the other side.

Forks....

This year is our 4th wedding anniversary and my husband (being the romantic he is) planned a secret trip for us. I had no idea where we were going...I thought maybe were going to Mt. Renier or maybe to Canada...maybe were going to Utah?? I had no clue. As we were driving there he had me read a book or look at the ipod when road signs would come around. When we got to Port Angeles I still hadn't figured it out. He had me duck near a crucial sign and when I looked up we were at a light and there was a very small sign that said "Forks West" I said "Oh look honey, Forks" (I'm so oblivious sometimes) He gave me this guilty look and right then I knew where we were going.

The actual "Twilight Tour" takes maybe one day but the surrounding National Forest is a must see when heading up that way.



This is Forks High School. It's kind of small compared to schools in Utah. There is this cute little flower and gift shop across from the high school and there is a map you can pick up in there that has all the sites from the book.


Here is the place where we stayed. It was right next to the high school. In fact we could see the high school from our room.


This was actually our first stop Bella Italia restaurant. It's where Bella and Edward had their first date. Where we sat was in a booth kind of off on the side of the restaurant...We like to think that was the place Stephenie Meyer was talking about.

Seattle Aquarium and Evan's B-day!

I haven't been to the Seattle Aquarium since I was a child. (I remembered it a little) We all went for Evan's birthday and had a good ol' time!




We discovered at the aquarium that Joe loves otters! He wants to buy one and put it in grandma's pool! I don't know about that though...