A foot of Snow

In the winter it usually rains a lot in Seattle. Well the last week it has been extremely cold here, so instead of rain we have had lots of snow. We have close to a foot on the ground. They don't use salt here just sand and they don't have a lot of plow trucks. With all the big hills it is almost impossible to get around. On Sunday we were just stuck inside so we decided to play in the snow. We went sledding at a park a few blocks away with our friends the Morgans.

Our Christmas Tree

We have a family tradition of cutting down our Christmas tree. This is the second year we went to a Christmas tree farm. It is so fun walking through the trees looking for the perfect one. We will find one and then think we should keep looking, but then can't find the one we found first. IT was a blast with Rachel. It was like 60 degrees (this was several weeks ago) and drizzling.

Santa visit

Rachel is in love with Santa. She has already seen him twice and anytime we go to the mall she says " Watch Santa". This is because I told her she can't sit with him again, because she already had a turn. She talks about him all the time and gets all the Santa ornaments off the tree.

Fall Walk

Saturday we really wanted to go somewhere exciting to hike. It was sunny, but we thought the mountains would be cold. We also had a church party that night so we needed to be home in time to go. I was getting bummed about not going anywhere. Eric said lets just go to a park and take a walk. So, we went to Green Lake Park. It has a nice bike and walking path around a little lake. It turned out to be so fun. Rachel would run as she saw joggers and of course got so excited everytime she saw a dog. She also really enjoyed the leaves!

Some other pictures are at this site.... http://picasaweb.google.com/ericmichellerachel/MoreOutdoorAdventures#

My Birthday!

Eric works in the evening so Trish, Onica, and Ilya came over to have dinner and hang out. It was so fun, Trish showed me how to roast a chicken. (which we laughed at the thought of her teaching me how to prepare meat!!) We painted our nails. This picture is Onica and Ilya reading Rachel her bedtime stories. They are so good with Rachel.

The Saturday before my birthday Eric woke me up with breakfast. It was so special. Rachel got me a few gifts (measuring cups and spoons, new bread pans, and a book). I got to go to Ikea later in the week and bought a huge storage unit for all my scrapbook stuff. Then Eric and I went to the Capital Forest. Rachel got to hang out with Will, Onica, and Ilya. We hiked in the rain. It was really fun!! And afterward we went to the Melting Pot, of course, for dinner.

Halloween and Trick or Treat

This is Rachel in her Halloween PJs. This was actually Halloween morning. We were dancing to the Monster Mash and other great Halloween tunes!

Here we have Rachel trick or treating with her friend Ilee and also eating the candy. We also went to the community center were they had pizza and carnival games. It was super fun!

Homemade finger paints

We made homemade paint last week. It was so easy! You just take water and flour and cook it until it is thick and then add food coloring. We also added a little dish soap so it would dry glossy. Rachel loved painting. She painted all over herself after she did a few papers. She also really likes to color and draw. I caught her yesterday scribbling all over a library book with a pen. To see more pictures of her and paint and homemade play dough check out on online picture album.
http://picasaweb.google.com/ericmichellerachel/RachelSArt#

So, I got my first two piano students this week! I am so happy. I have explored all options of making cash, even delivering newspapers at 4 am. Maybe I won't have to do that! Anyway, I am still crazy about food storage and cooking. This week I am making sour dough bread from a starter I made today. It just grows on your counter and you have to feed it everyday! CRAZY!

Eric is doing well. School has been really good and he gets to come home for lunch everyday, which is great since he works every night until nine. He likes his security job, but says it is boring. He works for Union Bay (the clothing company), basically he just walks around and makes sure the building is secure.

This weekend was general conference (our bi annual church meeting from Salt Lake) I was just thinking how blessed we are to have such technology as I was sitting in my sweatpants listening to the prophet. It was a great meeting and I am totally inspired to be a better person in so many ways.

Fall is here!

Every year fall comes and I get so excited about the crisp air and changing leaves. This year was no different just in a new city. We decided we needed to have a autumn adventure so... I used my handy dandy computer skills and found a fall festival along with mountain hiking.

Yesterday we drove out to Leavenworth, which is a small "Bavarian" style town in the Cascade Mountains. We had a great time watching a parade, perusing the shops, and of course, enjoying a bratwurst! After a leisurely morning, we stopped in at the ranger station near by town and went hiking in the Wenatchee National Forest. It was a great day.

Today we are decorating for Halloween and having delicious chili! Next week we are getting a half a cow from the butcher!! We are sharing it with Eric's brother Will and his family! We are excited to have a freezer full of meat!

Not much else Rachel is crazy about hats and shoes. You can see more pictures in our online picture albums: http://picasaweb.google.com/ericmichellerachel

Blogging?

So, I am going to try blogging. There are just too many pictures to try to email everyone.

Sooooooooo, we moved to Seattle!! Weird and Crazy. Our trip was so fun. You can check out the pictures. Rachel learned to say Buffalo in Yellowstone. Really cute. And I decided I never want to live in South Dakota. We had such a great trip.

I am totally becoming one of the food storage freaks. My sister in-law Trish got me going on the canning. We are canning applesauce and juice tomorrow. We are also going to freeze corn. And I bought 25 pounds of Roma tomatoes to freeze. I even thinking about buying wheat in bulk. OH CRAZY MORMON LADY I AM!!!

So, Eric started his job tonight. He is a part time security guard at Union Bay (the clothes company). He is loving it, he texts me tonight and says he walking around singing!! AND the best part is he wears a uniform. Totally HOT!! He starts school on Wednesday at the University of Washington. HE is doing a DMA program in Vocal Perform. When he is finished he will be a professor and kids will call him Dr. Rutherford!

Rachel is crazy and so busy. She started Nursery at church. It is a Sunday school class. She totally loves it and didn't even miss us. We have playgroup on Tuesdays and story time on Thursdays. She repeats everything you say. She loves to dress up and loves to help me clean and cook. She especially loves loading the dishwasher. I will be lucky if she continues so willingly as she gets older.

I am trying to set up a piano studio. I have some prospects and had a break through today with an elementary school music teacher. I am going to start South Beach diet on Monday. I still got 30 pounds of baby fat to lose. I was running about 3 miles a day before moving so hopefully I can get back on that train. So, I also have photos of our awesome house. It has been fun setting it up. So, I will try to keep this updated as best I can, but things are good! Gotta go get to my tomatoes!!