starting may first...this is what we will be doing...

 goodbye seattle...

 board a 767...

 land in paris, france...

 tour the eiffel tower (and other beautiful sites in france)...

 travel down to nice, france and then to monaco...

 travel down the mediteranean coast to valencia...

 tour barcelona...

 experience the excitement of the 2010 world cup champions...

catch a game at camp nou...

we have a tentative travel route but are staying flexible in case we want some spontaneity while over there (such as taking a side trip to visit jason and anna in italy)...15 days in europe...
we're just a little excited!!

2.16.11

Feeding the birds with Grandpa Curt...missing you a lot today and everyday.

Well, another Christmas come and gone...and it was another fun and memorable holidays spent traveling, traveling and oh, traveling. luke and i celebrated with payton a few days early in our home in washington..no snow, but it rained a lot (ha!). i flew out to florida on the 24th in time to celebrate christmas eve with the kiggins side (extended family), then spent christmas day at gram & gramps. luke made it in that evening and we spent christmas night visiting with family, eating leftovers, opening massive amounts of gifts and playing farkle! it was a great time and something i hadn't done in close to 10 years. we also got a chance to visit with my grandma and she even let us pick yummy satsumas from her backyard! it was a great visit and good time to catch up (in person)! my parents had spent christmas up in virginia with our good friends, the cummings (since my dad had a layover) and ryan and sarah spent it up in indiana with her family. jason, anna and noah had to suffer through spending the holidays with a view of the snowy alps in their backyard. we missed them dearly and are quite jealous.

so, where was i...oh yeah, traveling. so my parents flew in after christmas and we drove up to lakeland, georgia (not sure it's even on a map, but it's near valdosta :)..we spent a late christmas with ryan and sarah and of course, the pups. we had a fabulous time touring their town, riding ryan's new motorcycle, playing games, eating too much food and laughing.

we even made a special trip down to tallahassee, florida so i could take luke (and sarah) to see FSU. i was super excited to show him where i spent 6 years of college and remembered most of it (ha!)..we got to meet up with my good friends lorie and jonathon and reminisce on college days.

we miraculously made it back to seattle on the 31st..oh right, i forgot to mention that we decided to save money and just fly on guest passes this year. worked great getting to florida, but due to the insane weather up north and just end-of-holiday travel, all flights were oversold until well into january. yikes. but it just goes to show that if you stand at the gate, bug the gate agent even after they've already closed the jetway door, sometimes it works out...

all in all, it was a fabulous holiday season and i wish all of you health and happiness in this new year..

happy first...

 just wanted to send a big HAPPY FIRST ANNIVERSARY to my little brother, ryan and his wife, sarah... time has flown by and i hope this year has been unforgettable...

summer trip to florida..

hi all! i know this is long overdue..not quite sure where the last 3 months have gone! obviously we've been a little busy..i'm just not exactly sure what we've been doing! i'm going to attempt to catch up now and hopefully keep on top of my blog! enjoy some photos from our summer vacation to florida...

happy birthday stacey!

two words: dirty thirty. summer vacation started off with a bang, celebrating stacey's 30th birthday in orlando with the girls! as usual, we were slightly out of control on the dance floor. just goes to show that you're never too old to shake it. stacey is the first of the five of us to turn the big 3-0 (thank goodness! haha). we're getting so old, in fact, that photos from the start of our friendship are in a box in the garage because they are prints. digital cameras were not all that popular back in 1999. yep, friends for 11 years now. hard to believe we met freshman year at FSU when we both ended up pledging the same sorority. we lived in the prestigious kellum hall dormitory. aka the biggest craphole ever. made for many good memories though and that is where our friendship bloomed. we spent the next 4 years living it up at college.. we attended graduate school in different states. the five of us continued to have our girl's weekends despite distance. eventually she moved to south carolina and me to the other side of the world (aka, seattle). since then, we've met up in vegas, orlando, tallahassee, largo...next stop..who knows?! it was a fabulous weekend spent with good friends, yummy drinks and belly-aching laughs. per stacey's request, i chose the following photos with care (in other words, no braces, bathing suits or booze..well, the first two, at least)...hope you enjoy and stace--happy dirty thirty. love you!!

happy father's day...

i just wanted to wish all those daddies out there a very happy father's day! to my grandpa tony, grandpa curt (know you're looking down on your kids today!), uncles (tom, tim, alan, scott, mike), cousins (adam, doug), my dear friends who are daddies, my brother who is celebrating his very first father's day, my hubby who is a wonderful father to my stepson and will be to our children as well, and especially to my own daddy..there's a special place in my heart for him where no one else may enter.

had to post this pic from a few years ago because this is one of hubby's favorite shirts (always gets a lot of laughs and a lot of questions...he's a funny guy!)

jason and baby noah...