New Moon!

I wanted to post the New Moon trailer mashup as well as a couple of songs off the soundtrack. The first is a fan-made trailer from all the available footage that's been released thus far. It basically tells the whole story from beginning to end in about 6 minutes. What's not to love? And the fun part is that I've already read the book (more times than I care to admit) and so none of it is a spoil! The second video is of the first song released from the soundtrack. It's a song called "Meet Me On the Equinox" by northwest based Death Cab For Cutie. And the third is the second song released from the soundtrack... just today! It's called "Satellite Heart" by Anya Marina. I didn't like it at first, but it's growing on me and the words are pretty cool!

A night out with friends

On Friday night, we had to run errands in Mill Creek so we met up with Chris Smith and his daughter Morgan. I was sorry that his wife and two other daughters couldn't come. Anna had to stay home with the other two girls, who were sick. But we sure had fun with Chris and Morgan! Mike has known Chris and Anna since before we were married. And Morgan (their first daughter) was born shortly after we got married. It has been so fun to see their family grow over the years. We couldn't get over Morgan... she has blossomed into this beautiful young woman. She is so sweet and well mannered!! The boys had a lot of fun with her!

We went to a place called El Paraiso Mexican Grill in Everett and I have to say, the food and service were awesome! Plus, Chris hooked us up with a 20% discount, which always helps matters. Then we walked over to Baskin Robbins and enjoyed some ice cream and just talked and got caught up (and Facebook'd all the pictures as soon as they were taken!) It was a really fun evening and I'm so glad we all got to get together. Next time hopefully the whole family can come!

Forks or Bust!!

On September 11, Jodi and I headed out to Port Angeles and Forks for some girls Twilight time. What an amazing trip!!! We had an absolute blast! Here's a rundown:

Friday: After getting our kids off to school, Jodi came over to my house and then we left. We stopped to get gas and then made a straight shot out to Port Angeles. I have to say, having a girlfriend to talk to (and no kids fighting, whining, or begging) made this THE fastest road trip I've ever taken! The time absolutely flew by. We got to Port Angeles and grabbed some lunch and then headed over to the Dazzled By Twilight store. It was so fun to look around at all the fun stuff there! When we got done shopping there, we looked at a guide to get some ideas for other activities. (Oh, I guess I should mention that we chose that particular weekend because September 13 [Bella Cullen's birthday] was Stephenie Meyer Day in Forks and there were celebrations planned.) Jodi noticed that an art studio was offering an art project (a Twilight plaque) for just $5. We figured it wouldn't hurt to check it out. Honestly, for $5, I was expecting to be handed some poster board and stickers. Boy was I wrong!

We walked into Aglazing Art and realized right away that we were getting a lot more for our money than we realized. The art project being offered was a ceramic plaque! We started with wet clay and got to design anything we wanted. They supplied the know-how and the tools. We spent THREE hours there, just enjoying ourselves. We kept remarking how lovely it was that we had NO obligations and didn't have to worry about dinner, picking up kids, homework, or anything. It was NICE. Here's what we did:

The pieces will have to dry completely and be fired twice. They will be mailed to us in a few weeks. We can hardly wait. The paint colors won't look anything like they do in the pictures. These are unfired pieces. Once they are fired the colors will pop considerably and the pieces will shine. We only paid $5 for shipping (both) so for a grand total of $7.50 each, we got a handmade piece of art. It was by far THE steal of the weekend and one that will hold a lot of meaning for us!

After we got done with our art project, we headed out of Port Angeles and around the peninsula. We stopped briefly at Lake Crescent and drank in its beauty. But we had spent so much time in P.A. that we wanted to get out to Forks before it got to late and we kept on going. It only took Edward Cullen 20 minutes to get from P.A. to Forks (stupid, shiny, Volvo owner!) but it took us humans the full hour! We arrived at our cabin and fell in love. It was the cutest cabin EVER and it was right on the Sol Duc river. We absolutely could NOT have asked for better accommodations. We paid the same amount of money for our cabin that others paid for motel rooms in the main part of town... not very nice motels I might add. We had total silence and privacy where we were. In fact, that first night, we stepped out of the car after being out in the evening and we could NOT believe the billions of stars we were privy to. It was intensely breathtaking and my only regret was that I hadn't packed the telescope! Here are some pictures of our cabin:

We unpacked the car and then headed out into the "city" (it's really more like a 2-stoplight-blink-and-you'll-miss-it town!) We visited the TWO Dazzled By Twilight stores in Forks and I have to say, it was a FAR different experience than we had in P.A. The Forks store would be what you would consider the "flagship" store. It was HUGE. It looks perpetually closed from the street because it's very dark inside. But it's like that on purpose. When you walk in, you immediately get the sense that you've entered a completely different world... a forest. The stuff on the floor is hard to describe... fake grass would be the best description (softer than Astro Turf but more coarse than carpet). There are big trees in the store as well... and the ceiling is dark and star-lit. The whole place is under a canopy of trees. It's a really fun experience! And of course there are racks and racks of Twilight gear... more stuff than I ever thought possible under one roof. Think "Disney Store" size... only it's ALL Twilight... every last thing in there. Shirts, hoodies, jackets, sweats, magnets, vinyl (Valerie's vinyl!!!), key chains, stickers, lunch boxes, books, CDs, DVDs, post cards, playing cards, soap, mints, candy, shot glasses, mugs, goblets, antennae balls, bumper stickers, and the list just goes on and on... and on.

The next morning we went to a local church who was offering a "Bella Birthday Breakfast". It was really good... crepes, sausage, and fruit. Then we hit the town and saw places like Forks Hospital (and Dr. Cullen's personal parking space), Forks High School and Rialto Beach! I think Rialto Beach is one of my favorite places on the planet (not that I've been to all that many places, but I doubt TOO many places could top Rialto for me!)

Here is my absolute favorite beach shot of the weekend:

Here are some other shots from Rialto beach (which looks over to First Beach at La Push):

Here are some shots taken when we took the two-minute walk to the river. It was magical!

Later in the evening, we stopped by Sully's Burgers and grabbed a Bella Burger, some fries, and some Twilight Punch and headed down to First Beach in La Push. We got to listen to a Quileute elder tell legends on the beach and that was a real treat. My only gripe was that he didn't have a microphone and as the crowds got larger and larger, it was difficult to hear anything. But I'm glad we went! Listening to this man reminded me of listening to my Hawaiian Tutu and other aunts and uncles tell old Hawaiian legends at family gatherings or family reunions. Gosh I miss those days...

Here are a couple of other shots I took while we were at First Beach:

And finally, here are some pictures we got while at Lake Crescent, on our way back around the peninsula. We were shocked to see a couple of fawns just grazing in the grass. Sadly, they are too used to human contact and were not really afraid at all. But they sure were beautiful to look at.

It was a fabulous trip and I am super happy that I went. Jodi was so much fun! I think we both needed to just skip town for a bit. Thank you to Jodi's husband and my mom for holding down the forts at home so that we could leave reality for a bit and enjoy a weekend away!

First Day of School!

Ethan and Evan started school today. It's the first time either of them has been in school all day so I know there will be challenges ahead. While I am looking forward to time to sleep after work, I will miss them terribly. :-( But I know this is what we are supposed to do at this time. They were excited to go to school today!

Ethan is in 2nd grade. His teacher's name is Mrs. Marzec and he's in a 1st/2nd split class. Evan is in 1st grade and is in Mrs. Woods' class. Evan was especially excited to see Cameron Jones in his class. They are in the same primary class at church! Ethan recognized some of the kids from Evan's kindergarten class in his own (since it's a split class). So it's good that they both know some kids!

More signs of fall!

As we sat down to breakfast this morning, we spied this beautiful maple leaf. It appeared to be hanging in midair. In fact, it was suspended in a spider web!