A&W

Wednesday, August 13, 2014

The Last 10 Months

This has probably been my longest break from blogging, and I'm using "break" as a nice way of saying - I'm terrible at blogging. I'm going to do very short recaps of each month with photos since our lives have changed drastically over the last 10 months. Once I'm caught up, maybe I'll be better at staying up to date!

NOVEMBER

This month came with a major surprise. Wes got a job in SEATTLE working on Nike's digital advertising. In three short weeks we got the job offer and packed up our apartment (which was harder than it should've been with how small it was) and moved to the West Coast once again.

Can you tell I was just a little excited?

DECEMBER

We found a new home in Seattle, a new car, and even our first kitchen table since being married! No more tiny coffee tables for our dinners.

We had a wonderful Christmas at home surrounded by all of our family. It was so nice to be home again. Two Christmases away was way too many.

We even got to play with these munchkins from North Dakota!

JANUARY

I found a job at a physical therapy clinic and Wes continued to enjoy seeing a Swoosh at work each day. Mom and Dad took a quick 3 hour drive to see us, just 3 hours!! Mom and I got to play at the famous Pike Market and we adventured into the gorgeous Discovery Park.

FEBRUARY

I started working and we had more visitors! We enjoyed a great Super Bowl weekend, we even got to root for the winning team!

We went to the Imagine Dragons concert, which was AMAZING!!!

MARCH

We continued to explore and love the NW, even while getting drenched at the Sounders opening day.

APRIL

We went to DISNEYLAND!!! And were happier than most of the little kids there. Seriously, one of the funniest vacations we have been on together.

We went to the most gorgeous Tulip festival, even if we were stuck in the most awful traffic...the flowers were worth it no matter what Wes tells you.

MAY

Went down to Portland (about every other weekend all month) to root on our beloved Blazers in the historic second round playoff series!

It happened to be Mason's prom night, which he forgot about, so they went to the game instead with this awesome sign. We Portlanders love our Blazers!

We also went down to Eugene to watch Mason jump in the State Track Meet. We LOVE being so close to family now so we can actually make these events!

JUNE

We made another trip down to Portland to celebrate Mason graduating from high school. Luckily, Portland is now only a 3 hour drive away!

Mom, Dad, and I went to the beloved Rose Festival. Mom and I even rode the rides!

We continued to try and fit into suburban living by picking up tennis!

We also bought a grill!! What is more suburban than that?

JULY

This month was filled with Smith/Berne Family festivities!! My Grandparents celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary! Yes, 60! We had a huge family reunion to celebrate.

We were lucky enough to have my favorite people visit!

We even got to finally meet the newest Whitman!! And yes, she is just happily being held as we rode a bike trolley thing around downtown Portland! She is seriously the happiest baby, and a lovable chunker!

We were a mini circus on wheels!

I really wish she lived closer...best friends/sisters shouldn't live in different states!

Then to end the month, my parents came up to visit us in Seattle. We had a fantastic weekend of playing outside in the amazing Seattle Summer weather.

Started our fun off with a Mariners game, they even had fireworks after.

The next day we decided to kayak in the most amazing weather! This was a fun flash back to when we kayaked together in the Boston Harbor! Just kayaking from one coast to the next!

We ended the amazing day at Alki beach relaxing in some gorgeous sunshine.

AUGUST

And now to the present! We started the month off with a bang. We went to the Beyonce and Jay-Z concert thanks to Wes' work.

Then we went to the Seafair Air Show. Wes has been looking forward to this pretty much since we moved to Seattle! It was a gorgeous day of fun boat races and amazing air shows.

Yes, those are Marines hanging from a helicopter! GO USA!

We even got to see the infamous Blue Angels! They were amazing.

We sure do love living in Seattle.

We have had a pretty amazing las 10 months. I am still shocked that we have been in Seattle for 9 months! It feels like just yesterday we were riding the subway to and from work and living in our tiny city apartment. We feel so lucky to be living in the NW again, so close to family, and both with great jobs.

We can't wait for even more adventures here in beautiful Seattle!

Sunday, August 18, 2013

Oregon- Berne Reunion in Bend

It happened. We finally got to go back to Oregon!! If you hadn't heard me complain, we hadn't been home in over a year and a half. It had been way too long and I was dying to be surrounded by the wonderfulness of the Pacific NW and most importantly, family.

Luckily, my Grandpa Berne turns 90 later this year and we decided to celebrate his life and his 60th wedding anniversary to my Grandma in July when everyone (except for Adam who is currently in India) could make it to Oregon. My cousin even flew home from Israel. The Berne clan all met in Bend/Sunriver to have way too much fun together.

My sisters family (4 kids and 1 adult), my brothers family (1 newborn and 2 adults), my parents (2 adults), and Wes and I (2 more adults) all stayed in my parents home in Bend. That came to a wonderful total of 4 kids, and 7 adults! I may be the only one who enjoyed all being under the same roof, but man did we have fun!

We had amazing lunches out in the backyard! (Oh to have a yard again!)

I got to finally meet and hold my brothers adorable little boy! I struggled putting him down.

We played in the pool for hours!!! My sisters two oldest girls are like fish! Wes enjoyed the pool because he claims he could never rough house with his brothers. These little girls loved their Uncle tossing them in the air.

The little ones even came out to swim with us!

He didn't swim, but he sure was happy watching!

Someone was a little nervous about getting sunburnt...

Little dude was pretty into squirting people. I could not stand how awesome he looked with the shark gun. He may have 3 sisters but he is boy through and through.

Most epic fighting stance.

My cousin Elena and her two girls even came over to play. Even more girls to throw around!

The few moments we didn't spend in the pool we went biking. My dad and I used to go mountain biking for hours. It was fun to bring Wes on a couple of rides. It was so beautiful! I miss being able to hop on a bike and go for an amazing ride on the most gorgeous paths.

I was so happy being reunited with my bike!

The rest of the Berne clan stayed at a massive house in Sunriver. We went over one of the nights for a big family dinner. Aunt Rosie and my Mom surprised everyone with new Team Berne shirts (We had these when I was really little). It was such a fun addition to our reunion.

Oldest great-grandchild modeling her new shirt.

Grandpa with all of his grandsons (and youngest great-grandchild)

My grandparents with all their girls!

My Grandparents and all of the grand and great-grandchildren. What a beautiful group of people! Even if it is impossible to get a perfect picture of us all...

The original Berne clan

The next day the whole clan went up to Elk Lake to continue the celebration. We rented a pontoon boat, paddle boards, a kayak, and a canoe. We had the most beautiful weather with a perfect view of the mountain. It was honestly amazing. The whole week home I felt like I was on a different planet than the one NYC is on. Being at this lake was unbelievable. It is almost like I have forgotten places like this exist!

Baby G didn't even flinch when we brought her onto the boat. We have so many photos of her because she is so cute! We are totally going to have photo overload when we have kids...

Loving the sunshine!

Little Dude liked driving with his Bopa.

Look at how beautiful that view is!!

Grandma and Grandpa were so happy to have their whole family with them.

The whole gang on too few paddle boards.

J was so brave all day. She rode on the front of Aaron's board the whole time.

Bopa with Little Dude and Alisha finally got to try the boards

As you can see, we had a pretty amazing day on the lake. The lake was our last full day in Bend, but because we hadn't had enough fun we decided to go for a pony ride right before we left! The kids had gone last year too so J and M remembered the horses. Little Dude was excited to be near the ponies. He got super excited when his pony pooped!

M loved the blonde horse of course.

J talked Wes' ear off about horses. She has done extensive reading about them and is now an expert.

Next year the girls get to ride a real horse without anyone leading them!! They are so excited to do that. J couldn't stop talking about next year.

Bend was an amazing trip. It was filled with family time and such amazing weather. We were able to celebrate my Grandpa's life and spend time with family we haven't seen in years. Each day was packed full of family fun. There is nothing like Bend during the summer.

We couldn't believe how fun Bend was and then we went back to LO and continued the fun! Stay tuned for more Oregon Paradise.