Aunt Marianne and Diana photo shoot

As Diana and I played after Lily went to sleep...

Fall Weddings!

This Fall we have had a great time going to lots of weddings!  Who knew the Fall was such a popular wedding time; although I am the first to admit non-summer weddings can be especially awesome :)  The first in the bunch was Pat's friends Chris and Katy down in California.  Sadly I couldn't go because I had class that weekend at SU, but Pat had a wonderful time!  Elaine was the maid of honor, Peter and Caroline drove up from Newport Beach, and Erica said it was too bad sitting between Nick and Pat on all the flights!

A beautiful view walking along the beach before the wedding

very pretty ceremony and location!

It's official

Next up was Andy and Mandy, or as we like to say at work, M-Andy.  Andy is a religion teacher at HNA and we were excited to celebrate with him and Mandy on their special day.  The ceremony was at Seattle U and then the reception was down in Sodo.  It was fun to see how much fun both Andy and Mandy were having all day and how much they loved the ceremony and also the party after.

Andy has been commenting how it's hard to get used to the ring...Pat said the same thing

the talented musicians, Matt and Taryn

yeah religion teachers

Third wedding in a row went to Ceci and Waylon!  Ceci and Pat went to Gonzaga together and we have loved all being in Seattle and getting to hang out lots over the years.  Jeanine was a bridesmaid and looked amazing!  We had a great time out in Poulsbo for the wedding.  Nate, Rachelle, Pat, and I took the ferry over to Bainbridge and had lunch in the downtown.  We all commented on how fun it is to take the ferry and that we should go over to Bainbridge!  Then we drive up to Poulsbo.  The wedding was near the casino and down at the water.  Such a beautiful location!!!

Jeanine looking awesome!!!

Ceci and Waylon say I do

The lodge 

                         

                         Prom poses!!  Cathy and Srini

Nate and Rachelle

Pat and Marianne

love this pic!

Ceci and her dad did a traditional Italian dance for the first dance...amazing!

Our last wedding for the Fall was another HNA religion teacher, Amanda...it's the thing to do these days.  Her and John met at Gonzaga, but as Pat and I were saying at the reception, he is too old to know any of her friends :)  I guess that means I am too, but I really wouldn't have known them at UP!  The wedding was up in Stanwood.  The other times we have been to Stanwood is to go to Maria's family's cabin, so this was the most dressed up we have been in Stanwood ever!

A beautiful ceremony with some of the GU priests presiding

What a great looking group of religion teachers!! (me, Julie, Amanda, Julia, and Sarah)

Lots of fun dancing with the beaming couple!

Lots of weddings, lots of fun times with friends!  It was lucky most of the weddings were around Seattle this Fall.  Now we don't have another wedding until February.  Thankfully it's in Arizona which I will not mind at all come February!

Fall Bucket List--carmel apples & Halloween

We tried to make carmel apples for the Halloween party at the Lambert's.  The carmel turned out great; hard not to with so much butter and sugar :)  But it turns out getting carmel to stick on apples is quite a challenge.  We ended up opting to cut up the apples and serve the carmel as a dipping sauce in the end.

ahhh...butter, sugar, and sweetened milk...

the corn holders worked great for dipping, but more carmel ended up on the wax paper than on the apples :/

The final product was not as expected but tasted great!  We had a great time celebrating Halloween, both at the Lambert's then at Holy Names.

Halloween at HNA is big!  Everyone dresses up!  Here is our group at the Pemco Northwest Profiles
(back: Sarah, Julie, Patti, Amanda, Jessica, and Lora
front: Becca, me, Julia, and Kelly)

Pat and I didn't have costumes as of 3:00 pm but we pulled through by the 5:00 party!
(back: Pat, me, Elaine, Erica, Nick, Sarah, Rachelle, Nate; front: Ali, Ryan, Christen, and Brian)

Ali and I loving Halloween!

costume in under 30 minutes without
spending money...I was proud 

Hot-lanta

Pat went to a conference in Atlanta.  When I went to text him to ask if he made it to "hot-lanta" my iPhone wanted to change it to "hot pants."  One of my favorite autocorrects to date!  The conference was okay, but Pat did play hooky one afternoon and walked around Atlanta a bit to see the capital and the birth place of Martin Luther King, Jr.  He was tempted to get gold teeth at a store he passed, but opted not to.

This is the memorial at the grave sites of Martin Luther King, Jr. an Coretta Scott King.
Pat also got to walk around the Ebenezer Church where MLK was the pastor and saw the house MLK grew up in.
Super cool! 

I loved this text from Pat from an authentic fried chicken restaurant.
I'm not sure what I like more, the food or the plates!