Say WA?

We had a terrific time on our Washington trip last week. What a jam-packed long weekend of activities. From a beautiful dinner at Zoe with our friends Angela and Bart, tiki-rific lunch with cousin Nathan, to a snowy drive across Snoqualamie for Easter - we couldn't have asked for a better trip. However, we could have taken more pictures... any friends or family reading this - please send more photos!

I finally got to meet my best friend Andrea's daughter, Tea. She is a doll, and her son Gavin is quite the little man. My friend Lolly hosted a barbeque at her house, and Keith truly enjoyed the opportunit to meet everyone and work the grill...Aunt CeCe delighted us gastronomically at every meal. I think both Keith and I gained 5 pounds in two days. The cousins were adorable as they hunted for Easter eggs, and we were lucky it didn't rain. Isn't this a cute picture of my cousin Halleigh?? She is so much fun!
We left Okanogan Sunday night and split our trip back to Seattle into two days, staying for a night in Leavenworth - a little Bavarian village in the Cascades. Of course, we found the Starbucks.
To all those we were able to see on this trip, we had such a great time, we love you and hope you'll consider San Francisco for your next vacation!

Faux cowboys and girls

We had a blast at the rodeo! Armel and I got into the spirit and "dressed up". We stopped at a bank on the way to Cow Palace, and I jumped out of the car to let Keith exit. Imagine my mortification when I realized I was standing on uber-trendy Fillmore Street in cowboy boots and a hat. Get me in the car and to the Cow Palace - and fast. Paul and Keith, well, they endured our costumes and midway game excitement.

Armel won all of the midway games, although I did do a fair job at the star BB gun thing. Keith rode the scrambler with me, and we also had a funnel cake... can't wait for next year...

There were two Washingtonians I was able to count - the announcer wasn't that great, unfortunately. One saddle bronc rider from Pomeroy and some team roping brothers from Ferndale!

Grab yer cowboy hat

I guess the saying is true: you can take the girl out of the country, but you can't take the country out of the girl. I've talked Keith into heading to the Grand National Rodeo this weekend! A pair of Ropers and Wranglers aren't that awful, I've assured him (but don't think I'll get him IN them). Not that I'll be sporting that look myself, anyway...

Held at the aptly named Cow Palace, we'll be enjoying the first year the event has included midway games and carnival rides. That in itself is excitement enough. We'll be joined by our good friends Armel & Paul. As Armel and I tend to be quite competitive, I'm sure Keith and Paul are already looking forward to standing around while I try to prove to Armel that I'm the champion of skee ball, the squirt gun thing, and the BB gun star game (and vice versa). Hopefully, some funnel cakes will be involved.

We're looking so forward to our trip up North. Flight arrives into Seattle on Wednesday evening, and we'll leave for Okanogan on Friday mid-morning. Still need to email CeCe and Denny for directions as I seem to have forgotten how to get to Okanogan from Seattle. One can only hope that it's like riding a bike. Or playing skee ball.

Engaged!

So, I am assuming most everyone has heard the exciting news. Our weekend at the St. Regis turned out to be well, very special! A proposal... in a hotel? How completely down my alley!

Keith gave me a gorgeous steel & glass ring as a "placeholder". On a trip to Portland a few years ago, we'd stumbled upon a jewelery designer I fell in love with, Cathy Waterman, at a store called Twist (www.twistonline.com). Seconds after giving me the "placeholder", he said he intended to get a Cathy Waterman ring, but wanted my input. How completely sweet! Of course, I've been on www.cathywaterman.com and the Twist websites only about 500 times in the past week. The decision has finally been made, and the following ring should be here on Monday or Tuesday!