Back in The 'Vo

We made the trip back to Provo in one day this time. Luckily, it was pretty uneventful. We packed the car the night before, then got up early and left at about 6AM the next morning. After a long drive and a few stops, we rolled into Provo at about 8:30pm. Parker and Autumn never even cried! It was so fun to be 'home' and be in our very own place. The people who sublet our place while we were gone fixed it up a bit and even left us a little gift. Parker and Autumn remembered our home here and had fun playing with their old toys and running/crawling around. A few days later, Parker and our neighbor, James, were reunited. They picked up right where they left off.
I am amazed at how everything fell into place for our externship in Seattle. We found a great deal on a place for our whole family to stay, we found someone to sublet our place for the exact time that we were going to be gone and were able to be there for the Jones Family Seattle Trip. I am so grateful for everyone we met and all of the fun things we were able to do. We had a lot of fun with our little family and I really have come to love the Pacific Northwest and who knows? Maybe we will find our way back there again someday...

Jones Family Fun in Seattle

Our last weekend in Seattle was the Seattle Marathon Weekend. All of Paul's family* gathered to watch Carin, Kevin and Lindsey run the marathon and Steven and Danelle run the half-marathon. It was pretty amazing to watch them cross the finish line. I just might feel motivated to do at least a half-marathon some day.

Some other activities from the weekend included: visiting Pike Place Market, a trip on the ferry to Bainbridge Island, lots of hotel pool fun, dinner at BJ's, a barbecue at our place in Bothell, a visit to the Seattle Temple, a Snoqualmie Falls hike, and Beach fun. It was so fun to be together with everyone! We love you all!

*Melissa, Trevor and Aaron were not able to come. We missed you guys!

Coming to a Close...

Our time in Seattle is quickly coming to a close. Here is a run down of some exciting events from the past few days:

• We had the missionaries over for dinner on Friday night.
• On Saturday, we visited the Museum of Flight. Kristen (upstairs) gave us some free passes that she had. (So nice of her!) Parker liked seeing all of the planes, but was disappointed when he couldn't touch most of them. We got to tour an old Air Force One.Paul AKA Jack BauerBlack Mail
• Father's Day was Sunday and we had a big breakfast for Dad. Later. we had dinner upstairs with the Jenson's and Parker and I made a Razzleberry Pie (pre-made/frozen, just to clarify) for Paul. Paul really is such a great Dad! On Mother's Day he refuses to let me change any diapers because it is my 'special day' and on Father's Day he says the Father gets to be in charge and insists on changing the diapers. He always makes time to play with each of the little ones and always makes sure I get time for myself too. Happy Father's Day Paul!
• Monday was 'Bring your kids to work Day' at the F.TC. Parker had been looking forward to this for at least a week leading up to it. He got to ride the bus to work with Dad and spend all morning there doing lots of fun activities with all of the other kids. Everyone there got a kick out of the fact that he would not let anyone call him Parker, only Randall (see previous post for explanation)! I picked him up at lunch time and he was wiped out. Here are Parker and Dad ready for work:
• Tuesday night, we went to the Seattle Mariners baseball game with Paul's coworkers. It was great to meet all of the people he has told me about. Parker loved the game and even got a free baseball they were giving out. Autumn held up surprisingly well, of course she was more interested in looking at the people all around us than the game. She did start joining in a couple of times with all of the fans clapping. (The Mariners were playing the Padres and lost, although they rallied at the end to make it exciting. Also, we got to see Griffey hit a home run!) It really was a lot of fun!Parker was dancing to the music.