i have returned!

hello all! i have returned from washington state alive and well. i have SO many pictures to show, but since my goal is to move in to la salle on wednesday, i have to wait.

brrrrrief overview of the trip:

wednesday: leave the house at the crack of dawn (1 am) to get to the airport with the 3 hours that travelocity suggested. well, what we didn't know is that the ticket counters don't open until 4:30. hmm. anyway, after finding food, we boarded our 6 am flight to cincinatti. after 45 minutes in cincinatti, we were off to seattle. our first day in seattle was spent catching up with my aunt, cousins, and mary fran (my dad's cousin and my aunt rosemary's best friend). we did some touristy things, but my family was so tired that we were useless.

thursday: shopping! i got the cutest dress at macy's and did some damage at old navy (i know, i go cross country to shop at old navy). we also did the duck tour of seattle, which was awesome. i saw the "sleepless in seattle" house barge and all the sights of this amazing little city. we went to the longest dinner EVER at the old spaghetti factory and crashed early...again. oh those wild mcgees.

friday: since sasha, my cousin, was having her rehearsal dinner that night, we had to make our way to olympia. so, we made our trip by way of mount rainier (the highest point in the continental united states). it was awe inspiring. the pictures don't even do it justice. i wore my new dress to the rehearsal dinner and after wards my family (me, dad, mom, and sarah) went to devin and jacob's house to stay the rest of the trip (they're my cousin and her husband).

saturday: THE BIG DAY! my aunt marlene (sasha and devin's mom) bought us girls mani / pedi's (amazing) and we did that most of the day before the wedding. the wedding was outdoors and had mt. rainier as a backdrop (just like devin and jacobs, which was two years ago). it was a short ceremony, but everyting was amazing and beautiful. the reception was really fun and the food was delicious. this was the first time i've spent any time with chris (sasha's husband), even though he was at devin and jacob's wedding (it was their fourth date...little did we know!). in short, i'm happy to have him in the family. i joked with jacob that chris is my new favorite cousin in law because he spun me during my money dance with him. i'm kidding though...they're both pretty cool. after the wedding, my family was hungry so we went to the store and got some food and watched harry potter.

sunday: sasha and chris didn't leave for their honey moon until monday, so they spent the day at devin and jacob's opening presents and spending time with family. afterwards, sarah, ali, and i went shopping at our favorite oly store, archibald sisters. it has funny and cute stuff in it. then we ordered chinese and after everyone left, my family, devin and jacob (and mac and mo, their cats) watched "benchwarmers". good lord it was bad. jacob and i laughed through the whole thing, but everyone else fell asleep.

monday: we woke up and had to get ready to go to the airport. i chatted with devin for a little bit and she made us sandwiches and lunches to go. it was really great to spend time with them for once. hopefully, they'll becoming out to visit us this next summer, so i'm pretty excited. our flights went well (except for in atlanta, we had storms and had to sit on the runway for a while AND my dad couldn't find any place to eat in the airport because only the pizza joint was open and he doesn't eat cheese). it's 4:37 am...and time for bed.

talk to you all soon, and see most of you in 48 hours or less. :)

i'm peachy!