a few vacation pics…

so my poor little computer cannot possibly hold all the pictures from vacation, but i wanted to share a few:

 

this was the view to the left of the house in manchester.

 

Nick and Kevin outside the “Museum of Mysteries” and i use the term museum very loosely…

Kevin and i on top of the space needle…

i have so many other great pictures, like nick running the bases at Safeco, or all the mountain pictures both from Hurrican Ridge and Mount St. Helens, but like i said my little computer hates me right now! and to top it all off, my camera, which is probably the first digital camera, ever, cannot seem to focus to get a good pic of my ring…sorry i will fix that!!

 

happy thursday!

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the one with all the influence…

since we have returned from vacation, nick has been tearing through season after season of Friends. i would have to say it is one of Kevin and I’s favorite shows, so we really do not have a problem with it. it is interesting though how things that are repeatedly discussed on the show have now eaked their way into nicks way of thinking.

for example: nick has a girlfriend now, probably the first “real” girlfriend ever (and i use that term lightly) so this morning, nick says “Jen…i have something to tell you”

me: [just returned from walking the dog and not compelelty awake yet] “yeah nick whats that?”

nick: “do you believe that there is one person out there for everyone?”

me: “actually i do” editors note: it was way to early for me to go from i used to not believe in that but things change and i did not want to go into why i used to not believe that compared to what i think now…

nick: “well you know on friends how they talk about that with ross and rachel…well i think bethany is that person for me”

me: [in my head i felt like homer simpson with the little monkey playing cymbals] “wow really nick…that is really special”

i didn’t have the heart to tell him that is such a weighty thought, or try to explain to him how much people change and the future is so large and that he is only 12 or that they go to different schools. partly because i didn’t have the energy and partly because i do not know, maybe they will be together for a very long time. i have no idea and just left it at that. i think the important thing to address from all the friends watching is the influence of joey-not surprisingly-nicks favorite character.

and i thought explaining what a mangier trois (spelling error i am sure) was, was the most difficult thing to wrap my brain around…

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fudge?

this past weekend kevin and i decided to partake in something we have never done before. we attempted to make fudge. if i haven’t said before, kevin has a major sweet tooth, so we thought making fudge would be fun and really how difficult could it be? after going to the store for a few ingredients, we settled down with the “grandmas old-fashioned fudge recipe” and went to work. we heated and melted and cooled and stirred and the smell was heaven- for good measure we put it in the fridge, because it had taken a lot longer than anticipated and we just really wanted to eat the fudge RIGHT NOW!

we left it alone for a while, made dinner, ran a few errands, and opened the fridge with great expectations of amazing fudge (that kevin even said we are doing this engaged…tee hee) but the fudge had not firmed up yet, a few hours later…still no firmness. so then we got ambitious and put it in the freezer, still no change. i went to bed, kevin decided to try it, taking a fork to it and eating it like spaghetti, he said it tasted great. so great he went back for more a while later when he discovered that the traces of his initial grazing…had disappeared. so either we made a bottomless fudge stew, or amazing dipping fudge, or we just really screwed up the recipe, we are now the proud producers of two things of fudge that still have not firmed up.

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its just the beginning…

we arrived in seattle washington on a friday afternoon. we actually landed the same time as kevins brother and his family, so that made the meeting up a bit easier. after gathering our bags and getting our cars we headed to the hotel, checked in and went for a walk down to pikes place market. from the moment we set down i did not meet one single angry person. you know the kind who seem like you have totally ruined their day because you asked them to do their job, but i digress…

so we were up for almost 24 hours and finally got to crash. we got up early the next morning to drive to the house which was absolutely. undeniably. perfect. we had a view of seattle to one side and mount rainer on the other, with islands and ferrys in between. our first week was spent going on whale watches, going into the city and other little day trips. we even went to the Museum of Mysteries-translation-basement room with photo copies of newspaper articles on aliens and big foot and some really deep hole that no one seems to be able to find. it was quirky in one of the smaller quirkier neighborhoods in seattle.

our first saturday, we went to seafair and sat right on lake Washington as the blue angles buzzed the boats. it was the closest i have ever seen them and oh so very cool. i am a sucker for loud fast planes oh and the old ones too! after a bus ride to the monorail to the ferry to the car we found ourselves back in the “magic” house-i say that because it had everything, i mean everything! 

dinner was cleaned up and the sky was clear, kevin and i took a walk down the Pier, there were people bringing their boats in and crabbing. we headed back to the house, but just before we went inside, on the beach in front of the house, with seattle to my left and mount rainer to my right, kevin turned to me, got down on one knee and said i love you in a way that still makes me melt. he asked me to marry him and i cried and said yes and cried and said omg a million times and i love you so much a million more times.

he had a diamond pendant from my grandmother made into an unbelievable ring, and also said “by the way, your dad approves of this” then things got blurry, lots of hugs from all the family, nick was so excited, cynthia called me aunt jen, eva welcomed me to the family and greg said congratulations and “wow thats a fricking gorgeous ring” then the fireworks from seafair were being shot off, we could see them over the hill, the stars were out in full force and i sat with kevin and a serious perma grin.

eventually i called my family, and what i mean by eventually is i really do not know what the time frame really was, but it was wonderful and exciting and i cannot believe that this is happening to me. that lasted the rest of the vacation.

p.s i will have pictures of the mountains, maybe the whales and some other things too, but not right away, my little mac mini is all full and needs a partner.

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