our last day in TC

we have the most precious memories of staying with grandpa & grandma. they treated us like royalty in their new place. love this picture of us

gorgeous view

yep- we drove like 4-hours like this!

being silly

me: happy. before my bee sting. i didn't realize these

"pretty colorful crates" were bee hives. oops.

tuesday in tri-cities

victoria's beauty academy & the family BBQ: this sums up our day, hee hee. we went & got cheap facials & got our hair did & just had an all around fun girls day at the local beauty school i use to go to in downtown kennewick... while zane headed to la grande for a boys day with papa philip. then we all met up & enjoyed some family time with the rathbun's! we were so surprised & honored that so much of our family took time out of their busy lives to come hang out with us. we so appreciated everyone's efforts. ginny went ALL out. she spent two-days on this amazing pork roast & all kinds of other tasty things & it was sooo incredibly yummy! & grandma peggy surprised ash with a birthday cake- it was so special & sweet.

laura

i got to see my laura. we met at shari's & shared breakfast & talked weddings! when i see you again we will both be married (& married in tri-cities!) - who woulda thought...?! definitely not us. isn't life funny=-)

monday in tri-cities

i totally dragged ash around to all our old stomping grounds. i loved seeing the place where z & i promised each other forever (in three-minutes flat!) & then we browsed the antique stores & other shops in this old strip mall in richland that i use to frequent (with coffee of course!) & then we celebrated ash's birthday when her package finally arrived in the mail & then we went to red robin for dessert!

the rhoades car

Grandpa Pete has this awesome little vehicle (think side by side 4-wheeled bike) that Zane & I took out for a spin one morning. The memory makes me laugh out loud. We went around the block & were pretty stoked with our 14 mph speed, but then he told us that Jason & Dani had gotten it up to like 20 mph so... of course we had to challenge it. So Grandpa told us how to get to a hill nearby. We made it up to 25 mph & on the way back up... like 2.6 mph. We almost gave in- our legs were screaming, but the point being... we did not!!!!! =) so much fun.

"camping"

so milltown #2, 2009 was my second ever tent experience. i have been craving one ever since we moved to florida, but unfortunately the creepy crawlies overrule all my desires so... i was bound & determined to make it happen this trip home. & we did. & it didn't disappoint. we had a ridiculous amount of stuff as you can see. my grandparents & i were joking that i may have to have a garage sale so i could fit it all inside this tent, but we made it fit & it was cozy. being on florida-time rocked too because we would easily wake up at 5:30 every morning for hot showers & then go back & take a nap until 7:30 breakfast. the cool crispy air + the sound of silence + the pacific NW views + the fellowship & friendship of our friends & family present with us equaled absolute perfection.

the U-district

have you ever seen a cooler goodwill? i think not.
looking fierce with the moustache mannequin @ Red Light
zane being a trooper: this is not his favorite street ever.

this just sums it all up. a picture worth 1000 words.

45th & university has to be my favorite street ever. like top 3 for sure.

Pike's Place

i always make time to visit this place. it never gets old. it makes me so happy!

only time for one post today- more pictures to come- more than you probably want to see. headed to miami in the morning to see gabe & jessie!

today...

there is this girl i know who is celebrating her 21st year of life on this earth. & i adore her. & she is sitting right next to me & i adore that we are celebrating together. i love you ashlee.

rhubarb.

so my gramma makes delicious rhubarb pie & she knows i LOVE it so she made some for me. so we were having it at dinner last night. we're almost all done. & derek, my brother who is like the pickiest eater on the planet (second only to my other brother daniel) & he decides that he wants to try some rhubarb. so he does. & i'm secretly celebrating & proud of him. i mean he even nodded his approval & admitted it wasn't that bad & since i was full, he was going to finish like my last 4 bites. & MID-BITE my gramma pipes up & says, "i probably shouldn't tell you this, but since you all seem to like the pie- that rhubarb has been in the freezer since 2002." silence. derek is frozen. we all DIIIED laughing, it was so funny. we were like, "soooo basically, what you're saying is that we are eating 7-year old rhubarb?" AWESOME. oh, it was priceless. i adore my gramma. derek couldn't finish.

GRADUATION!

this is not a lake- it's a road. & thats is our wake. from a car- not a boat.

oops this post is out of order & totally bugging the ocd in me, but oh well!

we attended anna's graduation last friday- she received her doctorate degree in physical therapy. I'M SOO PROUD OF HER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

& it rained. like a whole bunch...

flight to seattle

i would just like everybody (& by that i of course mean all two of you, lol) to know that i just completed my first xanax (aka anti anxiety drug) free airplane flight in years. the fact that i had overlapping doses of IB profun & nyQuil is obviously irrelevant. what we should really be focusing on is the fact that i never squeezed zane's hand once, nor were any heads bitten off & chewed during nervous fits of hysteria on the off chance that the pilot would not brake in time & we'd surely burst into flames & die (or maybe even worse... burst into flames & live), as we crashed into some poor old unsuspecting building. yes, this thought does play over & over in my head every time we are hovering inches over the runway- during that sickening wait period wondering what kind of landing we will experience this time. the goal of course being to land on two wheels preferably and to brake promptly after both wheels have made contact with the ground. NO- i do not want to "rock" like as in land on one wheel & then the other and then back to the first like a teeter totter. like the experience of one particular flight my parents were on (NIGHTMARES!) BUT. i arrived in one whole piece amazingly. and my heart only dropped near my toes like three or 5 million times. pretty earth shattering stuff. up there in the same category of accomplishments as curing cancer will be someday i'm pretty sure of it.