Seattle

Grandma's house, Paul McCartney concert, Seattle temple, the University of Washington, the Troll under the bridge, Pikes Place Market, and the gum wall rounded off our July vaca to Washington.

After Lake Chelan we headed on over to Seattle where my grandparents live. I loveee Seattle - Washington in general is so gorgeous and I love the crispness to the air and the morning fog that rolls over the lakes. Utah has death air so I always love getting away. The second picture is the view from my favorite place in the whole world - my grandma's house. I always feel at home there and love that nothing has changed since I was a small child - the same toys are in the play room that I adored and always coveted.

We were only there for a few days, but my dad bought us tickets to Paul McCartney for Friday night. Not gonna lie, i'm like cool this old dude rocking out and it'll be lame. Wrong. The concert was sooo fun! This guy blows my mind - he is 72 and put on a 3 1/2 hour concert. 3 1/2 hours people!! He also did not take one break or take a drink of water. I felt lame after seeing him haha. He played all the old Beatles songs and I can say that it was the best concert I have been to yet.  Love me some Hey Jude. 

On Saturday, we did something a little more special. My whole family was able to go to the Seattle temple and do the ordinances for my grandpa on my dad's side who passed away a year and a half ago. It was the best and the most spiritual experience I have ever had in the temple.  It was so special that all of my family could participate - Carson did the baptism, Mike did the confirmation, Austin did the initiatory, my dad did the endowment and then my parents were sealed together by my other grandpa for them. My dad was also able to be sealed to his parents for eternity. It was amazing. There were very high emotions that day and a very special spirit in the temple. I am so grateful for eternal families! 

[Don't know about temples? Learn more here]

Mike, Kayleigh, and I visited the University of Washington on our last day in Seattle. Mike would looove to go to school here and it is an absolutely beautiful campus. Being able to see Mt. Rainier in the distance ain't bad either. 

this is the library.... :o

Troll under the Bridge 

huge troll with a real VW in his hand

Pikes Place Market! My absolute favorite place to visit while in Seattle. I love the smell of the fresh fruit, the yummy seafood, and all the cool trinkets being sold. We bought peaches that were the size of my face aaand they were flippin' delicious. 

The Gum Wall. 

Absolutely disgusting.

I can't even really believe how much gum is actually there. Pretty positive it is about 3-4 layers thick on the wall too. Gag. 

Thanks Seattle for an amazing vacay!

xoxo, Ally

Lake Chelan

Our recent trip to Lake Chelan, WA was amazing! We got to be with basically all of my mom's side of the family for a whole week. We haven't seen most of them since our wedding, and even then we weren't really paying attention to anyone else :) We have been going to Lake Chelan for as long as I can remember - I think they started going there when my mom was a kid. It is a place filled with a lot of memories and fun times. 

I loved playing with all my little cousins - little kids are so funny because they just say exactly what is on their minds no matter what it is. We took my cousin Wyatt on the boat with us when Mike was slalom skiing & Mike was having some trouble and Wyatt just kept saying "I don't think he knows what he is doing. He isn't very good at this. Why does he keep falling over?" Haha love em. 

Besides all the fun we had, we did pass around some virus between all 50 of us there. Whew worst pain I have ever felt! I legitimately told Mike I just wanted to die. We all thought it was food poisoning at first, but it lasted all week taking us down one by one. I threw up so much that my uncle who is a doctor had to just inject the medicine right into my shoulder because I couldn't keep anything down aaanndd then I blacked out because it hurt so bad. Haha. SO glad it only lasted about a day and a half for me. 

Other than that, it was an awesome week! It was so nice to see my mom and dad and siblings even though all Austin could talk about was his girlfriend back home ;) 

Until next time! 

xoxo, Ally