OK! So I'm back in the game! I'm so sorry for the delay in updating my blog, but once we got back from Seattle, I hit the ground running and have been working like crazy without a spare moment for anything!
Seattle was great - the weather was gorgeous. It wasn't exactly the most restful of family vacations, but it was good to see family and friends. I took a few pictures too that turned out really great - well I guess I should say Kati took a few pictures...she's good at that.
On our way back, we had a little drama. I got stopped not once, but TWICE going through security for my makeup. Yeah - lame. Apparantly makeup now consitutes as creams and lotion type material. But does this go for all the other airports in the United States? Oh no! Just Seattle. So thankfully, I had my backpack, cause I had to either check my backpack back at checkin with all my makeup or they were going to confiscate it all. Yeah right. Eventually we
made it to the gate and our flight. The flights were great. I was so nervous to fly, just cause our two prior trips were really rough and a lot of turbulance. So this time I was ready, when we left for Seattle, I popped a fun little pill and off we went. I think I slept most of the flight. But jumping back to our return from Seattle, we flew through Atlanta and missed our connection...which was not fun. We got dumped at this cheesy little not-comfort-inn around 11pm and found we were both starving! So we found this little local spot that had their kitchen open till 3am! We had ourselves a huge and awesome dinner - filet mignon, crab legs, mushroom burger..it was so grub. But then again, not the wisest
thing to do. With only five hours to sleep, we layed there tormented by horrible indigestion. Not cool.
Ok, so enough about our flight home. While we were in Seattle, we crammed in as much as we could to see everyone we loved. Since I have no idea when I'll be back in Seattle again, I wanted to get in as much time as I could with as many loved ones as possible. We flew in late Wednesday night and hung out with the family till pretty late just catching up. Then on Thursday we had a picnic over at mom and dad's - which was a great idea of mom's by the way. Quite a few people
showed the love and came ready to BBQ. Everything turned out just as I had wanted to, a lot of one on one catching up with people that I really missed. Afterwards, Tina stayed the night and we talked till 4am!!! (which don't forget is actually 6am Nashville time). Friday was family time - we slept in, walked around Greenlake, went to a movie, hung out around the house...it was very nice to just chill. Then on Saturday Jason, Kris, Kati and I hit the road and headed off to the Ellensburg Rodeo. I have to say it was a bit of a disappointment. The entertainer that has been there for years, who
MC's the whole show has retired and some lame-o guy came up real short by trying to be funny. It was so hot out, and we ended up sneaking into the covered grandstands just to keep from passing out. Poor Kris got fried by the sun. My favoriate was the monkeys that rode dogs like horses and rounded up little RAM goats. It was so fun to watch! After the rodeo, we met up with Suzanne and Skyler for dinner in Ellensburg. I have missed Suzanne so much over the last months and again wasn't quite sure when I would be able to meet up with her. It was great to hang out with them and afterward we went out for coffee. To be honest though, I know I was sacrificing some quality sister time. See the
rodeo has become a tradition for us Kelly girls, after all its the main reason I came home when I did over Labor Day Weekend. And not only did I have a husband this year, but I also met up with friends....and it was a tough decision for me to make. I wanted to be with the ones that I love as much as I could without making anyone feel left out. I don't know if I succeeded this last trip. That's one thing I struggle with, that I know I need to work on - is feeling like I need to please everyone else and make sure everyone is happy.
Ok - so deep breath...I started to get a bit deep there. All that to say, next year, I'll be going to the rodeo with just my sisters and keeping the day sacred. :-) On Sunday, Jason and I joined the family for church at Kirkland and afterward went out to Claimjumpers for lunch. We don't have Claimjumpers in the South, and we love their food. It was a lot of fun. The whole family was there, plus a few friends and it was so great to hang out with Karen King and Kevin King and the Sandstroms. Once lunch was over, the Sandstroms took us around Lake Washington on their boat! Jason had never been out on the lake before, and it was so fun to sit back and watch the sunset reflecting off the lake. We got some great pictures of the city too.
Monday was Labor Day and I had reserved the day to hang out with Tina & Jay Frees and their kids, Addie, Jeshua and Jaida over at Jay's moms house. She has a gorgeous place across on Kingston in the middle of some woods. It was so quiet and peaceful. Roy & Loree Rowland were
also there and we had such a blast hanging out together.
Over the course of my trip, I did get a bit injured. A bike fell on me and caused a somewhat small bruise on the side of my leg by my knee. It hurt but I didn't think a whole lot of it. Well thing is, I flew the next two days....which is really not the best thing for bruises. This sucker swelled up so big that I still have big ol knot on the side of my leg the size of a raquetball. It got all purple and blue and some people at work said I should really get it checked out in case it could be a blood clot. So off I went in search of a doctor. Dr. Steve Hai took one look at it and said, "That's quite a hickey you got there." My instructions have been to take a lot of Ibuprofen, ice continually and knock myself out with narcotics at night. I go back in to Dr. Steve tomorrow and if the swelling still doesn't go down a whole lot more, he said they may need to drain it! SO PRAY!!! I know it seems weird and dumb that I'm talking about a bruise, but this thing got so freakin big from the flying and with all the
swelling, its pinching my nerve and causing numbness, which is really annoying. I took a picture of it and might post it when I get around to it sometime.
And then to finish off our trip, we came home from Kingston Sunday night and chilled with mom and dad for a few hours before hitting the sack and flying out Tuesday afternoon. And you know where it went from there with the whole Atlanta thing.
So there's the jist of our trip to Seattle. Enjoy the pictures and I'll be back in a couple days to fill you in on life since we've been back home!!
This last weekend was so great. Deb flew in to town with her adorable little girl Emily for a family reunion here in Nashville with her hubby and I can't tell you how blessed I am that I was able to spend so much time with her. Her husband Erik was driving up from Alabama with his family, so I had Deb all to myself for lunch on Thursday and then when Erik arrived into town, he watched Emily, so Deb and I could go and be girly for the evening together :-) I have so missed shopping with my friends. Just to be able to take a deep breath and be myself was so refreshing. After I got off work, I drove her down Granny White to see some of Nashville's beautiful countryside and then we headed to Green Hills Mall - which is much like Bellevue Square back home. Except, sadly enough, we don't have a MAC store back home and I absolutely love the MAC store out here. After Deb got a makeover at MAC, we shopped for shoes (how those working out for ya deb? ;-) ) and browsed through one of my all time favorite stores...ZGallerie! To end a perfect evening we had dinner at the Cheesecake Factory.
Then on Sunday, Deb and Emily joined Jason and I for the afternoon. We did a mini celebrity tour for her and drove by Alan Jackson's house, "Sweetbriar" in Franklin. We drove her and Emily just about everywhere - through parks, down Music Row, by Vanderbilt & Belmont Universities, Starbucks in West End and of course we had to take them to an early dinner at the Loveless Cafe. I had the best time hanging out with her and her adorable daughter Emily. 
Jason is doing great with his writing. So well in fact that we couldn't keep up with paying for all the demos he needs to make. As a result, Jason got a part time job at a small cafe two days a week, 4 hours a day. It's just enough extra cash to pay for one or two more demos a month. 
Finally, I included a picture of that nasty bruise I had on my leg. Isn't it gross? Thankfully its gone, even though still a bit tender - but so much better!
