Blue Paint

We bought navy paint over a month ago to paint our garage and front door and we have been coming up with way too many excuses every weekend as to why we shouldn't do it. It's going to rain, we're tired, we have plans, etc. Finally this Saturday we didn't have a good excuse and decided to go ahead and paint, and we love the results. What do you think?

On aging

At what point in your life, do you feel like your old? Or even at what point should I feel like a true adult? In the United States a person is considered an "adult" at the age of 18. At 18 you are allowed to vote, you can purchase cigarettes (but not alcohol), you can get married, you can buy property, you can do pretty much whatever you want (abiding the US laws of course).

Well, I've been past 18 for almost 6 years now. But I still don't feel old, or even adultish really. I mean I'm graduated from college, I work full time, I'm married, we even own a house! So at one point do those these in our life make us feel grown up?

A couple weeks ago Nate and I went to Seattle. And while we were there we stayed in a hotel. (What is it that is so fun about staying in a hotel?) Nate said something like "do you ever feel like we're playing pretend?" Like how can we just stay in a hotel, by ourselves? Or even go on a vacation when we want, where we want?

Last night we went to the midnight showing of Dark Knight Rises. Today, I am exhausted after only 5.5 hours of sleep last night. My freshman year of college I went to bed around 1 or 2 or 3 almost every morning, and granted my grades didn't end up being the best, but I felt fine. I felt alive, and coherent. And today I feel like crap. Does my needing more sleep mean that I'm getting old?

I guess I shouldn't complain about sleep until we have children and are getting 5 hours or less of sleep regularly, right? And then maybe having children will make me feel grown up? Having a little being to care for besides myself?

Right now I think 25 feels "old", but that's only a little over a year a way for me, less than a year for Nate.

So I have a couple questions for you... whoever you are, no matter what age you are, do you feel "old"?

Second question, I want to make a list of 25 things I should do before I turn 25.  Any suggestions for me?

1. Run a 5k. (I know I run this distance often, but not outside and not in public)
2. Read 10 books.
3. Take a  photography class.
4. Get pregnant.
5. Sew a dress for myself.
6. Travel to another country. (Again. Hopefully Europe next summer)
7. Learn a magic trick.
8. Make breakfast in bed for Nate.
9. Lose 5 pounds (And keep it off until #4 happens)
10. Have 10,000$ in savings.
11. Stop biting my nails for good. (It probably means I'll develop another bad habit to replace it though)
12. Cook a turkey.
13. Eat vegetarian for 2 weeks.
14. Float the Provo River.
15. Study ASL.
16. Dye my hair brown.
17. Study German.
18. Sew a blanket/quilt.
19. Paint 2 more rooms in the house.
20. Pay for a stranger's meal.
21. Make a compost bin.
22. Visit a new state with Nate. (Together we've been to Utah, California, Washington, Idaho, Virginia, Maryland and West Virginia. And drove through Arizona, Oregon and Nevada. 40 more to go.)
23.  Don't eat any candy for 1 week.
24.  Make homemade butter.
25. Hike to the top of Timpanogos. 

Seattle Trip

We had an absolutely amazing time while we were there. Of course we had some rainy weather, but compared to the heat we have been feeling here in Utah it was absolutely amazing the whole time we were there. We broke up the driving of the trip (each way) into 2 days since it is a 14 hour drive. We stopped in Boise.

We spent the second 2 nights of our trip camping in Mt. Rainier National Park. The park was absolutely gorgeous. It was so green, and there were so many waterfalls! We were surprised to see how much snow was still there also. The first night we ate dinner of lamb burgers. We had turkey wraps for lunch the next day. We were able to go on 4 or 5 or 6 different short hikes, but it was fun to see so many different waterfalls, gigantic trees, moss, rocks, rivers and more. We saw Christine Falls, Carter Falls, the Nisqually River, Tahoma Creek, Fish Creek, Kautz Creek. We also went to the Longmire Museum and the Henry M Jackson Visitor Center. We were surprised that we didn't see more wild life while in the park, maybe it was too cold still (there was a lot of snow if we went to the higher parts of the park) though we did see a fox and a couple of deer. We ended the day very tired from so much hiking, it was raining hard so a hot easy meal of tuna helper was perfect. We talked by the fire and enjoyed playing games on our tablets and phones both nights.

The next two nights were spent in a hotel in Kent, WA. Nate of course wanted seafood, so we went to a grocery store (in the mall - so weird) called Seafood City and he got a crab and some clams. I had a bagel with cream cheese, which I was perfectly content with. We went to Kerry Park to get a view of the city and took lots of pictures. Then to discovery park, which supposedly has lots of hikes but we weren't impressed (maybe because we didn't have enough time and were already dressed up for our dinner we didn't want to walk to much.) We were also sadly tricked by some kind of berry that looked just like a yellow or red raspberry but tasted gross.

We also went to an amazing restaurant called Daniels Broiler in Bellevue (which is where we now want to live, btw) on the top floor of a hotel (so it had a gorgeous view), to celebrate our anniversary (Happy 2 years!) The food was absolutely amazing. We started our meal off with appetizers, I got teriyaki filet mignon strips and Nate got seared Ahi tuna with a ginger sauce. Then I got a salad and he got lobster bisque. For our main dish Nate got lamb ribs with lobster mashed potatoes. I got a buttery chicken with garlic mashed potatoes. For dessert we shared a coconut fudge sundae and chocolate oreo icecream with a lemon cookie. The food may be the best I have ever eaten (especially my appetizer) and the meal was perfect except for a short mishap with Nate's phone (so his phone fell to the side of the table and got stuck in between our booth and cabinets, that were all bolted to the floor. With the help of a busser boy, a hanger and duck tape, 45 minutes later we got the phone back). 

Monday was a super busy day for us. We started the morning off with a trip to Pikes Place Market. Where we stopped at Piroshky Piroshky bakery and got a bratwurst piroshky and a dessert thing with cream cheese and marionberries. Both were really delicious. We were in awe of all the fish, fresh flowers and fruits and vegetables as well. My favorite store that we found there was a place called Bavarian Meats. Talk about a wonderland for me with every kind of Milka, Ritter Sport, Haribo, Manner, Knorr instant meals, etc. The 2 women working at the store of course spoke German so I talked to them in German for a few minutes, and that really made me remember why I love that language and the countries so much (now I just need to go back to them to visit - the countries and the store). We discovered my new favorite Ritter Sport bar of milk chocolate with mixed berry yogurt in the middle (absolutely amazing) now I need to find where I can order some more online because the 3 flavors offered at our local Smith's won't really cut it for me.

We walked a little more around the city until our parking time expired and then bought tickets to ride the ferry across to Bainbridge Island. We went to Fort Ward Park on the island and spent a few hours there, relaxing, walking along the beach, feeling the cold water and hunting for crabs. We then ate dinner at The 122 (Bainbridge Island BBQ was closed ) but the food was once again delicious. We got an appetizer of mozzarella sticks and each enjoyed a delicious burger and fries for dinner. Nate got spinach and gorgonozola cheese on his, I got cheddar cheese, onion rings and BBQ sauce. Delicious. We ended our time on the island with ice cream and sorbet from Mora. Nate got coconut and chocolate/peanut butter ice cream. I got mango and raspberry sorbet. All was again delicious. We barely made it on to the ferry back in time to head to Safeco field. 

 

It was family night at Safeco field so we were able to get tickets for 12 dollars. We were high up, but thanks to our zoom lens we still got awesome pictures. And we had a great angle to see everything still. The field was absolutely amazing. We were a little sad that the Orioles lost though. We ended the evening back at Kerry Park so we could get some night skyline pictures of the city. 

 

Tuesday we headed to Hiram M Chittenden locks or Ballard Locks were Lake Washington meets the Puget Sound and the water levels have a discrepancy so they lower and raise the water to let boats pass from one to the other. We were most impressed with the Fish Ladder where we saw tons of Sockeye Salmon swimming upstream to lay their eggs in fresh water.  After that we ate some yummy Jack in the Box (hey, they don't have any in Utah) got gas and headed back on the road to Boise again. We finished our trip with Pizza Hut in our hotel room while watching the bachelorette. 

  

We left Boise Wednesday morning morning after a quick continental breakfast at the hotel. We made it home by 2:30, happily greeted by a snuggin mode Liebe and a hot pup. We had a wonderful time on our trip. And the best thing about taking a trip is coming home. We missed our house so much, and are very happy to be home.