Honeymoon: Day 3

Monday, June 29, 2009:

After sleeping in Monday morning Jacob and I packed up the hotel room in Birch Bay and got in the car to head to Canada, first stop, Vancouver with one small detour for WalMart. Using the GPS borrowed from his parents, we located a WalMart that was said to be close to the border and on the way to Vancouver. I think it may have been more of a detour than we expected. And we were primarily going for groceries, which they didn't really have because it was a pretty ghetto WalMart. But we did find some Kraft Dinner and a nice insulated bag to keep all our chocolate goodies from melting while in the car. Then we stopped by an ATM to get some Canadian cash and hit the Wendy's for two frosties, which somehow got translated to one. But I wasn't that hungry so I ate a few bites of the frosty and Jacob ate the rest.

Then we drove to Vancouver. This seemed like the longest drive to me. I'm sure it wasn't really any longer than the drive to Birch Bay but it felt it. Maybe because it was primarily through cities and and much slower roads.

In Vancouver we found a place to park near the Canada Place where cruise ships dock and many Olympic things were being prepared. We then walked toward the Steam Clock and enjoyed that particular part of the city. It was obviously pretty touristy but was nice and shady with all the trees. We then made our way up to the specific road that was supposed to have a ton of shopping. We found a place to eat there that was recommended by one of the guide books we had. We ate at this little crepe shop. It was rather delicious. It reminded me of the delicious food you can get at the Paris casino in Las Vegas.

As we headed back to the car we were lucky to run across a hoard of people gathered around what appeared to be some sort of filming. We soon found the show "Fringe" was filming there. This was exciting because Jacob watches the show (I've seen a couple episodes with him) and one of the main characters is Pacey from Dawson's Creek (whose real name I can never remember). So I got to see him live. And pretty close up. It was rather fun to watch them do a few takes. We will look forward to trying to figure out which episode it is in the next season.

Jacob with Pacey right behind him.

And then a little more zoom...

Countdown to the Vancouver Olympics.

Overall I think we were both ready to leave Vancouver after our brief tour as we weren't really that impressed. And we were anxious to catch the next ferry to Victoria. Turns out we missed it by minutes and had to wait an hour for the next one anyway. But it was an enjoyable wait. We played a little SkipBo and ate a few snacks.

Then we boarded the ferry. With the rental car safely parked, we headed up to the deck to watch the scenery. It was really fun to see the ferry move through the islands around Victoria. Very scenic. We stayed out on the deck as long as I could manage but had to move inside because it was getting pretty chilly.

As the ferry was pulling away from Vancouver the ocean had a distinct line where the water changed colors. Anyone know what that is all about?

Enjoying the breeze on the ferry ride.

Getting closer to Victoria. The scenery changed. It's weird how mountainous it kind of is.

But this was the best view I saw the whole way over.
(I know, so sappy! But my husband is so handsome!)

After arriving at Victoria we drove awhile to our hotel. By that point it was pretty late and we, again, were both pretty tired and ready to call it a night. I'm not even sure if we ate dinner that night, which is strange when you consider what a big fan of eating I am.

If we had to do this day over again we may have skipped Vancouver all together. I think we maybe just saw all the wrong things or spent our time unwisely. I would have liked to go the suspension bridge....maybe. It also could have been a little scary. But still an enjoyable day seeing parts of the world I had never seen before. And having to use my passport!

Honeymoon- Day 2

Sunday, June 28, 2009

So, here's something I didn't quite plan on, getting used to sleeping with someone in the same bed. Let's just say that our plans to sleep in as much as we wanted didn't really work. We were up Sunday morning at about 7 am. Not cool. But it worked out well because we did want to attend a Sacrament meeting and this whole waking up early allowed us to make the 9 am meeting, thus freeing up the remainder of the day for enjoying the nice weather.

After church, and after trying to take a little nap, we ended up taking a walk along the coast. Jacob thought I was crazy for wanting to wade into the water a bit because the "beach" wasn't the most inviting or friendly to bare feet. But I insisted. His soft feet stayed safely in their shoes while I walked bare foot in mud and rocks. And it was so worth it!

We walked for a long time and both of us were sunburned by the end of it. But we also got to see a lot of people combing the beach for whatever seafood they were hunting. I think it was clams.

Something I didn't know about Jacob: He claims to be an amazing rock skipper. He said I could find any rock and he could skip it on top of the ocean water. So, I found three rocks that I deemed "easy," "moderate," and "difficult." He was amazing. At least in his efforts. He was able to skip the easy one. Not so much the moderate and difficult. Nice job trying though!

After our pleasant Sunday stroll we got into the car and drove to Peace Arch Park right on the edge of the Canada/Washington border. This was fun. We could walk across the border and leave the country. They had border patrol officers in the park and I think anyone who looked a little suspicious was subject to search. We carried our passports with us the whole time just in case we needed to prove we were legit. We are so sketchy after all. We had fun taking pictures of ourselves straddling the border between the US and Canada. I had never been in two countries at once! Heck, I'd never even left the US prior to my Canadian experience. Anyway...moral of the story is...the park was fun!

Returning to the condo we made dinner. We had bought some steak, potatoes, and cauliflower with cheese sauce the night before. Jake grilled up the steaks and we enjoyed the dinner with some sparkling juice contributed by John and Megan. It was fun cooking and eating together and trying to be a little fancy. Here's a photo of Jacob to prove it.

We then returned to the coast to watch the sunset. It was amazing. Jacob bought me a new camera that is a little more high tech than my smaller point and shoot. This one is not quite an SLR but allows you to mess with the setting like an SLR. I really want to get into photography and we both really enjoyed playing around with the camera. We took A LOT of pictures of the sunset.

The camera also has an amazing zoom on it so we tested out the range with a few more photos. Notice the moon in the top shot. And then with the zoom full force in the second.

After watching the sunset we headed back to the condo and put a movie on. We both fell asleep to the movie...so tired!

END OF BUSY DAY 2.

Honeymoon: Day 1

So, Jacob and I uploaded the rest of our pictures from the honeymoon and there are a ton! I'm going to have to break it down to a day by day recap to show all the best pictures. There are some real winners.

So, we began our adventure by flying into Seattle on Saturday, June 27th. We picked up our rental car and headed for the Boeing tour we were scheduled for that afternoon in Everett, Washington. Turns out we hit a big traffic jam due to construction and it almost foiled our plans. We made it to the Boeing plant and into the tour with no time to spare. Good thing they start the tour with a really boring movie that we missed half of. That really worked out to our advantage actually.

Jacob and the sweet ride we rented. Total boat of a car.

So...pictures of the Boeing plant and little display. No pictures were actually allowed in the factory which is a shame because that place was HUGE and pretty impressive.

Jacob inside the model of the newest Boeing aircraft. (I think)

And me...in the same model. One of the features of the plane is the extra large windows.

The factory is behind us but you can't tell how huge it is. Seriously...so big!

After the tour we made our way up to Birch Bay, Washington where we stayed in a lovely condo right on the coast (Thanks Aunt B!). We got there at about 9 so we were pretty tired and hungry. We headed to the grocery store to pick up some food, made dinner, and then called it a night.

And...this is what Jake looked like by the end of the day. I probably wasn't much better. :)

Wedding Photos Preview

Here is the link to our photographer's blog. She has some great photos of the wedding posted. Just a preview...not the whole bunch.

I think they turned out pretty great.

Thanks Jess!

Welcome Back

I came back to work to find my office decorated like this...

There were signs of similar fashion all over my office.

I really enjoy my co-workers. I also very much enjoyed the reminders of the name change because, let's be honest, it's hard to get used to. And the signature...oh my does it need some help. I typically start signing Carter and then realize that isn't my name anymore so then I become one of those people who signs the full name; first, middle, and last.

And, I uploaded a few pictures from the honeymoon that were on my little camera. The rest will have to come later as they are still on the other camera.

Enjoy!

Jacob and I watching fireworks over the Willamett river in downtown Portland. No Stadium of Fire, but still a really good show.

Me on the train ride from Seattle to Portland. It was definitely a highlight of the trip. I felt like Harry Potter on the Hogwarts Express.

Jacob waiting for the train.

Seattle, Pikes Market. The fish throwers are right behind me in the photo. They were pretty entertaining.

Jacob outside Pikes Market.

Jacob and I on our morning bike ride on through a park and along the coast in Victoria. I highly recommend biking in Victoria.

Jacob and the coast on that same bike ride. Victoria was beautiful.

And, finally, I couldn't resist including a picture of the treats Jacob packed along for the Honeymoon. John and Megan also gave us a bag of treats for part of their gift to us so we were totally stocked up. Thanks guys! And thanks to Jacob for buying some of my very favorites including teddy grahams, reeses pieces and dove dark chocolate. And I wondered why I felt like I wasn't going to fit into my dress for the open house in Oregon...hmmmm....interesting.

I'm Back

I am home from the wedding and honeymoon. And I definitely have mixed feelings about that. I'm sad to have to return to work but I'm excited to be living with Jacob and figuring that all out. We have a lot of work to do in arranging the house and trying to get it ready for a housewarming party at the end of this month. We wanted to be able to do something for everyone in the Colorado area too. It's going to be a busy few weeks.

And I should be working on things now but instead I am catching up on blogs. And I realize that Julianne tagged me so here is the 6th picture from my 6th folder.


This is a photo of Aubrey just a few days after she was born. So cute!

Time Flies

Yep...that is the number of days until I am married!!!! I was telling Jacob I think our engagement went really quickly. He said it seemed like a long time since he proposed in February.

I think we both agree Friday is approaching quickly.