Fourth of July!

The fourth started off really hectic for me! I took Brian to the yard and headed straight to the grocery store b/c I was making bread pudding for the BBQ that were going to later that day. I showed up to the game a few minutes late. For all of you that know me, you know that drives me nuts! I like to get there 30-45 mins early. I met up with my friends Shelly, Shane and Greg. They're our family up here. Gotta love them. :) I know I do! The Mariners took a win that day! They've been doing awesome.

So now to the important events for that day... Everyone loved my bread pudding. :)

Ok, I guess there were actually some other cool events that happened. Like the fire works! Shane did an awesome job picking out some crazy ones! What's great about Shane and Shelly's place is they have a HUGE front yard and it's set back from the street, so it's a secluded yard and we were able to shoot off a ton of illegal fireworks. We're such rebels. I shouldn't say "we," really it was the guys. Brian, Shane and Greg. Brian was close to death a couple of times, but for some reason after almost lighting his face on fire he went back for more. I found it interesting that the guys would stand for 5 minutes and try to light the fireworks and sparklers with their cigars. It was much more easier with a lighter. I think Greg learned that it was a lot safer too when a sparkler almost singed his eye brows off.


Shelly and I


Greg and Brian


Shelly and I again


Greg trying to light the sparkler with his cigar


Greg getting attacked by the sparkler

San Diego

During Inter League play in June, the Mariners make a trip to San Diego every year. Brian was really adamant about me coming, so I did. What a fun time! PETCO Park is really nice! Not as nice as Safeco though. :) It was a great weekend. Brian and I hung out on his off day in downtown San Diego. We went to a pancake house for breakfast the walked Horton Plaza. As the afternoon approached that day we went and laid out by the pool, I know rough life. I had made dinner reservations at a restaurant called Island Prime for that evening, so we got dressed up and went out on our fancy date. We've never done that before, so that was a new and fun experience. The following days Brian and I met up with a couple of close friends and family members. Lorenzo (my best) happened to be down there, so we were able to have lunch with him and his friend. After Brian had left for the field, Lo and his friend took me to Old Town San Diego. That was really neat. The following afternoon we met up with his Uncle Ronnie for lunch. He's a huge Padres fan; season ticket holder. Never misses a home game, nor a game in Seattle. That's dedication! We'll be seeing him again next year. :) Later that evening, my parents came down and met me at the game with two of their friends. We went out to DICK'S (the restaurant). Not as fun as it was when you were a kid... Brian got in trouble for throwing a cloth napkin, even though the waitress started it. Lame.

I ended up going back to Riverside on Sunday for a couple of days. I was able to meet up with my friends who I wasn't able to spend time with the last time I was home. It was good to catch up with the ones I love.

Tillicum Village

My good friend Robyn who lives out here in Seattle invited me with her and two of her friends, Mara and Scott, on a mini ferry ride of to Blake Island where they host a Native show while serving you some bomb food back in May. I know, I know.... MAY?? I told you, I'm slacking... Anyway back to my story... The show was ok. Not sure if it was very accurate when describing the Native culture. One of the girls who was serving us food, who happened to be in the show couldn't even tell us which tribe she was representing... YIKES. At least the food was good. Although I did try clams for the first time... eh not a big fan. On our way back to the city, Mara realizes that she left her bag somewhere. Not sure if it was on the boat or on the Island, she asked the bartender if he had seen it and if he could keep a look out.... He said he hadn't seen it. Well as the ferry docked, all of a sudden the bartender remembers that he had seen it... RIGHT BEHIND HIS BAR. When we looked through it, the money she made in tips that day was stolen. The trip turned out to be a dud, but the company was good. We wont be recommending that tour.

One positive thing that came out of this mini trip was that I was able to capture some great shots of the sunset. Seattle has the best sunsets..... I've fallen in love with them.

Visits

I'm slacking a lot... Time has flown by these past couple of months! Brian and I have had quite a few visits since we've been up here this summer. My cousin Shannon came up and spent the weekend with us while the Angels were in town. What a blast! My Uncle Mike came in for a conference and was able to meet up with us for two days. During that time we were able to show him most of downtown. I've added pictures of some of the places we went to. Just recently my grandparents drove up to see what Seattle was all about. It was so great to see them. We've really missed seeing family. Soon we will have a visit from my mom and dad. I'm counting down the days!!!

Oh! One thing I forgot to mention that was really exciting while my Uncle Mike was here was that Brian got us onto Safeco Field on his day off!!! What an AWESOME experience! We had the WHOLE field to ourselves. We were spoiled. :)

Brian has still been traveling a lot. It may be the same amount as last year, but for some reason to me, it seems triple this year. So in order to keep busy, I have been working on getting my website up and running for my photography. After all the hard work, I have finally launched it. If you haven't seen it yet check it out at www.searaphotography.com. The water polo team that I coached last summer is playing again this summer. We started practice last month. My friend Kami and I are totally overwhelmed with kids, but we LOVE it! The program is getting so big! I've also started coaching at another program on Mercer Island where we lived last summer. It's small right now, but it's a lot of fun as well. The kids are great. Other than that I have been hanging out with a lot of friends who keep me busy! They're so good to me!


Post Alley



Uncle Mike and I


A really neat waterfall downtown near the water




You may think it's lame, but I don't. How many of you can say that you stepped foot on Safeco's grass? Yeah that's what I thought... I have proof that I did :)


He says it all in this pic.


Total baseball attitude... Ball Players....




Walkway from the bullpen to the field


Brian made fun of me for taking a pic of the phone, but it's a part of his job! I'm a proud wife, what can I say?




Space Needle

Golf

This weekend my friend Danae took me out to an amazing Golf course here in Washington. I was a little hesitant b/c I have never been golfing before, but she was so patient with me and taught me so much. My first couple of holes I was topping the ball A LOT. But as Danae stood behind me she told me "SCOOP!" and sure enough it clicked. We played 18 holes and actually were waiting for the guys in front of us to finish up all the time. Made me feel good. :) We had so much fun, and I liked it so much we played 9 holes the next day. :) I can't wait to show Brian my skills. He'll be proud.

Our New Home

After an eventful week, Brian and I have finally settled into our new home. It wasn't easy, but with the help of my mom, we got it done. Here's a little story on how we found the house...

A few weeks ago my mom and I came up here to house hunt. The day before we had to leave, we went and looked at a three bedroom house that I ended up really liking and drove by a house that we thought was really cute, but was way too small. The only problem about the house I really liked was the owner was in the process of evicting the current tenants. He assured us that the house was mine, he just needed time to take care of those guys. Well time was what I didn't have. I came back to Cali thinking that I would be able to move us up there the last weekend of March, maybe even a week later. Well, the week I was getting ready to move, I get a phone call from the owner and he says that the current occupants are contesting the eviction. Hmm... That didn't work for me. I was stressed at that point, and all of you that know me, know how stressed out I can get. Luckily my parents came to save the day for me, AGAIN. My dad said that he would still drive me up to Washington that weekend to look at places, that way they wouldn't have to cancel the airfare back home that they had already booked in advance. I had a place to stay just in case. So that's what we did. A few days before we left, I contacted a few owners of houses that I saw on craigslist and made arrangements to view them that weekend. We got into Seattle on Saturday at 3 pm and had our first (and ended up only) house to look at 4. When we pulled up to the house, my mom and I discovered it was the house we drove by but thought it was too small to live in. All the other houses that were its size wouldn't have been able to fit our furniture. Beginning to feel down, we took a look anyway. Low and behold, it ended up working out! It fits all our furniture and is the cutest little place!

We are able to have Tyce here, which makes this place even better. Next week my friend Robyn is moving back up here from San Diego and is going to bring Ty with her. I can't wait!

Here are a couple of pictures! Remember, if you're ever in town you have a place to stay!!!

Before I end this I would like to thank my parents again for all their help and support. Mom, thank you for staying an extra week to help me settle in and keep me sane. I love you guys.

Spring Training

It has finally arrived! I'm off to Arizona for Spring Training. I will be spending two weeks with Brian there, then will come back home here, and fly up to Washington to look for a place. It will be a 3 day trip up there, then I will head back home and start getting things together before I drive up to WA at the end of the month. Brian and I are super excited to get back up there!

I had a blast being with the people I love and missed. Thank you for all the great times. And thank you to those that I begin new friendships with over these past few months. Every moment spent with all of you has been memorable!

This isn't goodbye yet. We'll save that blog for a couple of weeks from now...