Last Day

On the final day of our Thanksgiving trip, we headed back into the city to hit up some tourists attractions. I didn't get any pictures this time at Pike Place Market, but it is very fun. It is enormous. Sits right by the water and goes on for blocks. It is also where the first Starbucks is located. The rest of the afternoon was mainly just spent overlooking the city in the Space Needle. Two things I have learned about myself when traveling: 1. I love cities with water (as in ocean, rivers, lakes) and 2. I love to find the best place to overlook the entire city. I could write a whole post just on my favorite overlooks in different parts of the world. We will save that for another time! Okay, enjoy these last pics and sorry it took me forever to write about our whole trip. We truly did have a blast and I wanted to capture it all! If you have never taken a trip to the Northwest, I highly recommend it!

Port Townsend

Our day spent in the quaint little town of Port Townsend was probably my favorite. We took the ferry over from Whidbey. I love the ferry rides in Washington. I get so used to traveling in cars that it is fun to switch it up and walk onto the ferry or you can drive your car on the ferry if you need to.

On the ferry
I love those cheeks!
Approaching Port Townsend
Downtown

We had fun looking at all the precious houses and old churches

Overlooking the town

Forgot to mention baby girl started walking (although she is not doing it in this picture) while we were in Seattle. It was really special because my whole family was there to watch it. It is funny though because even though she can do it she is still not totally sure of herself and will crawl many times or just stand in place like her legs cannot move!

Day 2 and SEC Championship

I cannot finish catching up from our Thanksgiving trip without mentioning the Auburn Tigers and how they dominated in the SEC Championship game! It was fabulous to be there and wonderful having so many Auburn fans here in Atlanta. A memory we will never forget!

Post-Game Celebrations

Ok, back to Thanksgiving. Friday after Thanksgiving was the Auburn/Alabama game so of course, our whole day was planned around watching the game. Another unbelievable Auburn win. By far the most amazing comeback I have ever seen and even sweeter that it was against our biggest rival at their stadium. We always love Auburn but it has been extra special this year (as if you couldn't tell by our excitement and my numerous posts about AU!!)
I didn't take pictures of us watching the game because it was way too stressful 90% of the time. But, in true bachelor fashion, this is my brother's Christmas tree (and only Christmas decoration for that matter). Yes, this is for real! WAR EAGLE!
Friday also consisted of watching this deer right outside the window. It scared all of us half to death because it was so close (no zoom on camera). Literally, his house sits so close on this "cliff". After the excitement of watching the deer for a few minutes we started to panic again worrying the sweet thing might walk off the cliff. Thankfully, we did not witness that and it never happened! Whew.
Another great view from the patio when the sun came out. We actually had great Seattle weather. Not too cold and never rained. Pretty rare this time of year there.
Later Friday afternoon, we headed to Deception Pass bridge. The only bridge to Whidbey Island. Most people ride the ferry to the island, but this is the only way by car. The bridge is so high! I have walked across it once but couldn't do it again this year. It freaks me out to stand in the middle of it and look down.
The water below is beautiful though!
And here are a few more pictures from our Thanksgiving lunch Thursday. Sorry, I jumped all over the place today.

Caroline's first attempt with crayons.
So happy to be off the place and with Mimi.

I still have many pictures to share from our trip and hope to soon! I am so behind I cannot even get to our Christmas celebrations yet! Goodness, I love this time of year! So many blessings and so much to be thankful for.

The Journey

This time last Thursday we began our journey to the Northwest. We were up early and made it through security at the airport by 6:30am. Unfortunately, Christian and Linsey's first flight from West Palm was cancelled and so they missed their connecting flight (with us from Atlanta). We were bummed not to travel with them, but the good part was baby girl took one of their seats on the plane instead.

I would give Caroline about a 7 out of 10 rating on her first flight. We had no meltdowns so I considered that success. A little antsy, a little fussy at times, but then happy some too. Eating/snacking and reading books seemed to be the best activities. Don't let the picture below fool you...this only last 30 mins!
And 5 hours later, we made it (bags and all)! I have to admit, it actually went by pretty fast. They even had the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade playing live on the plane! Then, remember how C and L were bumped to a later flight...well we had to wait at the airport until their flight arrived so we could all get the rental car we were sharing.
2 hours later C and L made it and we were off to meet my mom and Matt for Thanksgiving lunch (which was basically dinner time for us on the east coast). C took another little cat nap on the way to lunch.
Beautiful view by the water for lunch. I didn't take a picture, but Seattle had a big snow earlier in the week and there was still snow on the ground everywhere Thanksgiving! It melted by Friday, but it was fun for the day.
Finally, after a long day of traveling it was wonderful to arrive at Matt's house and not to mention having this peaceful view as well.
More pics from the rest of the trip to come!

Thankful

I have been thinking about gratitude and thankfulness a lot this week. Probably because it is Thanksgiving, but I wish it was a perspective I had more often. I think gratefulness is one of the most attractive qualities in people. It embodies so much: wisdom, humility, selflessness, and contentment. A grateful spirit has such a unique outlook on life. Truly living life in the Lord’s presence. I feel like I am typically always looking ahead to the "when this happens" or "if I had this" mentality which can make you easily forget a grateful perspective. I posted a devotion on Thanksgiving last year and I always love to look back read it too. Check it out here. A very good challenge and reminder for me.

We are headed to Seattle this year for Thanksgiving with my family. I am so excited! My older brother, Matt, lives on Whidbey Island, WA (outside Seattle) and I have not been out there since Christmas '05. AND it is snowing there this week! I hope it sticks for a few more days.

This will be baby girl's first flight and it happens to be 5 hours long! Yikes. I have no expectations. Thankfully, Christian and Linsey will be on our flight too. You would think I am packing to take our family to the moon I have SO much stuff! John is going to flip when he sees all our bags!
It is also Iron Bowl week!! That's right, the Auburn/Alabama game is Friday! I am already nervous. If you are not familiar with this rivalry or game it is pretty much the biggest day of the year in the state of Alabama, ( I know that may sound pitiful to some of you out there) but it is like no other!

My mom made this precious Auburn dress for C this year. It has been her "game-day" outfit every Saturday this season.

I'm off to finish up packing!

"Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift." 2 Corinthians 9:15

Happy Thanksgiving and War Eagle!

Turkey Day

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving here in Atlanta with John's family. John has a tradition of running the Atlanta 1/2 marathon every Thanksgiving morning. Caroline and I went bright and early to support him at mile 7. I am pretty sure John was more excited about getting a picture with Caroline during the race than he was the race itself. After the race, we headed to the Phelps' house. His mother makes the most amazing meal. She does it all herself and all homecooked from scratch!

At the race

A friend of John's from school joined us this year for lunch. Ruslan and his wife, Louisa do not have any family in the states. And they just had a baby boy born two weeks after Caroline. They Phelps always like to invite friends who may not have family nearby to join their Thanksgiving. I love that tradition!

Ruslan, Louisa, Altay, John, and the Phelps

The rest of the weekend was wonderful and relaxing minus some football games we were not very happy about! Christian and Linsey were in town for Thanksgiving with the Alison's. So, Mom came over for the weekend to see everyone too. We were thrilled to spend time with them!

Uncle Christian and Caroline matched for the Auburn game!

War Eagle anyway!

We also got our Christmas tree and are in the process of decorating! Will have to add some pictures soon! Hope everyone else had a great Thanksgiving!

Thankful

I love Thanksgiving. I am ashasmed to admit though the reasons I usually love Thanksgiving have to do with good food, cold weather and a warm fire, a day or two off from work, a low key day to rest before the hustle and bustle of Christmas, great football, etc. Growing up, my family would always share a couple things we were thankful for each year at Thanksgiving. And just as it says below, I immediately aslways jump to the good, to the Lord's provision and blessings. Granted, there have been numerous times looking back now I have seen how the difficult, the pain and hurt as well have molded me and shaped me for the better. But, those are not usually the pretty things I would think about at Thanksgiving.

However, this little devotion I read below gave me a different perspective this year.

Am I thankful?
Sure I am. As long as it’s convenient.
As long as the gift-giver is within ear’s reach of my thank you. And as long as what I’m thankful for is good, comfortable, pleasant and smells great.
I never thank anyone for rolling over my toe with their cart in the grocery store or thank someone for an unkind word. And I never thank God for struggles.
I mean, how stupid would I sound:
Thank you, God, for NO MONEY to pay the mortgage today.
Thank you that my seven-year-old has emotional outbursts every morning before school that reduce her to a pile of unbrushed auburn waves and tears on the bathroom floor.
Thanks for spilled apple juice, dried and sticky on the floor.
Thank you, God, for the rejection of friends and that crazy mean email last week. Thank you for the tears it cost.
Thank you for the argument I had with my husband last night. Thank you, God, that he doesn’t understand me.
No.
We are usually thankful for blessings.
Gifts. Encouragement. Provision.
We send thank-you notes to mothers and cousins for baby gifts and Christmas packages. We call our pastors and thank them for the sermon. We are grateful for warm beds and fireplaces that glow in our family rooms.
We are thankful because it’s easy and expected.
But the sweet times, the easy-flowing happy times are not what shape me. I am comfortable and will stay the same if everything always goes my way.
Discomfort is the only way I grow. And I am never grateful for sitting in the valley of hurt and pain. I’m never thankful when things don’t work out like I planned.
I stamp my feet instead and no-fair God. I tell Him He doesn’t know what its like to be me.
I’m not changed in the lots-of-money, kids-are-well, husband-adores-me days.
But I am changed in the I’m-fat, second-argument-this-week-with-my-mom, worried-about-my-kids days.
This is when I’m moved to trust. I have to because nothing else works.
These are the days when God comes in and under-girds my heart with His own, turns my head to refocus my attention and then asks me to trust.
And I should be grateful that He thinks enough of me to carefully craft difficulty to edge me toward beauty, kindness, and grace with pressure.
I don’t want to just be thankful for the easy. I want to be grateful for the hard. And that involves a choice...one I'm making today.