2010 Year in Review Part 2

We spent a couple days in Vancouver, BC, which is only about 3 1/2 hours from Seattle.

We biked 10 miles or so around Stanley Park.

Chris found a hotdog place he really loved!! Japadog serves hotdogs Japanese style with toppings like seaweed, edamame, japanese mayo, etc.

We took a day trip to Victoria, BC. We visited Butchart Gardens and later went whale watching.

We went whale watching in the San Juan Islands. Don't you love my stylish outfit? It was necessary...the water was wet and cold.

We saw a baby orca whale and its mother.

In July, we went to Charleston with my parents for my birthday. This was taken on the boat heading to Ft. Sumter.

Look at the table behind us (not at Chris's blurry face). I was being a papparazzi so I could get a picture of Dwayne Wade (great basketball player for the Miami Heat) and his girlfriend, Gabrielle Union (she was in Bring It On).

Shelley and David got married in June.

We went to Alabama Football games.

Gorgeous sunset at Bryant-Denny!

We had a going away volleyball party at our house. It was so much fun! I miss all of y'all!

Kendal, Me, Heidi, Nikki, and Elisa (in back saluting someone?? Haha) at another party. I miss all of my Building Church girls so much! Love you!

The toughest and most exciting part of 2010: moving to Seattle!

If you've been following our blog, you already know we drove to Seattle. On our 8 day roadtrip, we went through Lubbock, TX to visit the Potters (or as Chris calls them, the Pottys).

We also made it to the Grand Canyon and hiked around the park.

Jenny Lake at Grand Teton National Park

Snake River in Wyoming

If you come to visit Seattle, you'll definitely go here...great food, fun shopping, and it's close to everything.

The Public Market has gorgeous flowers year round (they're even better in summer), and each bouquet is generally less than $10.

Public Market decorated for Christmas

This is taken in Mukilteo, which is where we live. The photo on our blog header was taken at this same location by Christopher.

We went to Roloff Farms on October 30th and met Amy Roloff,

Molly Roloff,

and Matt Roloff.

If you've watched Little People Big World on TLC, you recognize this sign.

We spent Thanksgiving in Tuscaloosa, AL because the Bama/Auburn game was the following day.

We spent Christmas in Alpharetta, GA...

...and had our first White Christmas! We also built our first snowman.

This is the last photo we have of 2010. We had a Christmas party and visited our Bama friends in Birmingham. It was so much fun! And the group is growing! The first and last picture I had from 2010 was of these people. I love my friends!

2010 was a great year, and I'm looking forward to all that will come from 2011!

Moving

Hey friends! We finally know when we're moving. The movers are coming next Wednesday and Thursday to pack up our house, and then on Friday, Oct. 1st, the movers are loading everything and moving our stuff to a storage unit in Seattle. We're going to go to Tuscaloosa that weekend so we can go to the Florida/Bama game. We'll come back on Sunday and leave for our Seattle road trip on Monday. And it will be a road trip! We're planning on taking 7-8 days to get there. We're planning on making a few stops along the way: Dallas, Santa Fe, Grand Canyon, Hoover Dam, Las Vegas, Salt Lake City, Yosemite, Yellowstone, and finally Seattle. I know it looks like a heart monitor graph, but we've never been to most of those places and figured it was better to do it now when it's at no cost for us than later when we had to pay on our own. I'll have to post pictures throughout our road trip. Someone, hold me accountable!

The whole process seemed move slowly until now. Everything is now moving very quickly! The reality hasn't hit yet, and it may not hit me until Wednesday. I'm hoping when reality hits, I will be excited rather than upset about leaving. Though I am sad about leaving friends and family, I know that we'll be back plenty to visit everyone.

Free Time

I now have free time...a lot of it. The only thing I have left regarding school is a presentation and a final exam. We still have wedding stuff that probably needs to be completed this week, and hopefully it will get done. It usually doesn't. We'll see. I can't believe we have less than 3 weeks before we're married. Last weekend, I had a shower. We received some great gifts! Hopefully we'll be able to store them all. 

We're in the process of finding a place to live. This Saturday we're finally going to Huntsville. Guess who's coming with us?? Kona is coming (well, she is moving too)! She's actually coming because she can't stay in the laundry room for 10 hours without peeing all over the place. Plus, she would be so hungry. The funny thing is that the apartments we're looking at are excited that we're bringing her. We're looking at at least 3 apartments, and since we're going that way, I convinced Chris that we need to meet our new puppy. If you know me at all, you'll know that I'm almost more excited about the puppy than I am about finding a place to live. It will be a long, fun day!

-Christie

3 1/2 Weeks!

There are only 3 1/2 weeks until our wedding! How crazy is that?! Time really does go by quickly. I really can't believe we are both about to be done with school, get married, get another puppy, move, start working, and eventually buy a house. So much is about to change, but it will be great. Something that I have been sort of sad about is not being able to buy a house. I know it sounds silly, since most newlyweds and recent graduates don't buy a house immediately, but I really want to take advantage of the low house prices. If we wait a year or more, we may not be able to afford a house. Hopefully, I will find a job, and we will be able to buy a house in 6 months or so. I know everything will work out, and I just need to be patient (which is pretty hard for me). 

On another note, Marlowe opened her eyes this past week, so (of course), here are some pictures...

I can't wait to pick her up and hug her, and I know Kona can't wait to play with her!

-Christie