the big 3 - 0

Turning 30 wasn't so traumatic for me as I think it might have been for my parents and my 3 older sisters. I know how they feel. All of us 4 girls were born in 7 years, so we spend a few years all being in our 20s, in our 30s and when my oldest sister turns 40, I will the feel the heavy THUD of being 33 and sucked that much closer to being 40. Aging by association. I am sure there is a pysch class on that somewhere.

So we decided that for my birthday we would go dancing. We used to really like to dance when we were in college. Dance at LDS young single adult dances that is. World of difference from dancing at a club or other location, as you might imagine and we found out last night.

We went to a great place on Capital Hill called Century Ballroom (small photos at left and below). They have a half hr lesson at 9pm and after that the pros come out of the woodwork and everyone dances and the floor is packed. So fun! Thursday night was Salsa night, and it was amazing to watch great Salsa dancers. Stephen and I are not great Salsa dancers. We can swing a little, and I prefer freestyle. There's a reason "Dancing Queen" is my favorite song and my nickname in college was Tara "jiggy" Hambelton. But who knows of a clean Disco place?See, this place is great- especially on Waltzing Sundays, shown here

The instructor had us partner up and everyone was in a circle. After a minute she told us to move to the left and switch partners. Uhhh, what? I didn't sign up to dance with a bunch of sweating, single guys, but dance I did. We traded partners about 10 times. When the lesson was over, the tall and (may I say) good looking guy I was currently practicing with asked me to dance. When he saw my deer in the headlight reaction and then frantic looks back at my husband he got the message and assured me if I had a partner, no big deal.

It turned out that at Century, everyone dances with everyone and it seems so much fun! Stephen and I noticed right away if we weren't actually touching, then someone was sure to hover nearby. There were a lot more guys than girls and it seemed like there were a lot of guys (some older, some younger) who were really good at Salsa and liked to give lessons to girls like me who obviously didn't have a clue. It was so refreshing to see a lot of people mingling and dancing. At young single adult dances, there is a lot less asking going on since an invitation to dance is practically a marriage proposal. There is some sort of commitment inferred by asking someone to dance at an LDS dance! It's crazy, but true. Seeing how I am nearly 6 feet tall and the commitment provisions and all, I rarely got asked by anyone other than friends.

When we had had our fill of trying to keep up with much better dancers around us, Stephen went upstairs to get my coat from the coat check. Sure enough, 30 seconds later I was on the dance floor with a Salsa pro even though I had been standing by the door, behind the velvet rope. It was great fun to dance with someone who really knew what they were doing (sorry honey). With Stephen and I and the Salsa, it's like the blind leading the blind, we're no help to each other. Maybe next time we will be more comfortable practicing with better dance partners. Getting asked to dance was a great way to end a birthday night- maybe enough of an ego boost to get me through the fact that I'm in my THIRTIES. ha

Tulips and Mile High Meringue

My parents came up Thursday-Saturday to bring us some stuff in their van and to see us for a quick trip. It so happened they were here while the tulips in Skagit Valley were in bloom, so we all took a trip up there Saturday morning before they headed back to Boise. Talk about ridiculously beautiful! My parents have been to Skagit Valley a few times years ago, and so they knew it was worth the extra time on the road. It is really amazing, I highly recommend taking a trip to see them.

They also suggested we all get a late breakfast together at the Farmhouse, a restaurant up near the tulip fields. Check out that meringue!!

The Farmhouse was just what I had been craving: a down home diner with pies in the waiting area. These places are a dime a dozen in the Midwest, something we took for granted, especially since we were always running up to the more rural areas of Wisconsin. We LOVE diners. There seems to be a dirth of them in the Seattle area, no surprise. The Farmhouse was especially good, although we did not try any of their mile high meringue pie, it was just satisfying to oogle at it. Thanks Mom and Dad for all the fun packed into the time you were here!
Before going home, we checked out LaConner, a cute town close to the tulip fields, recommend it. We took the long way home to Seattle through Whidbey Island, stopping first in Anacortes. We drove down Whidbey Island, the view at Deception Pass was so beautiful, but we didn't stop to take a picture : (. We took the ferry from Clinton to Mulkiteo and from there it was a quick trip home.
Today was rounded out with a nice walk in the Arboretum with Stephen's coworker and wife. So nice to spend a a good part of the day outside since it was sunny and to get to know someone new. The Arboretum had azaelas, rhododenruns, and Magnolia trees in bloom.
I guess this was one of those weekends we took advantage of the "ridiculously beautifulness" of this place. When you ask Odessa what she did this weekend, she says "saw flowers". What else? "saw another flower and got an ice cream cone". Thank goodness for Dairy Queen who got us through our drive yesterday!

"I need to Dance!"

Many mornings Ada will tell me this, very emphatically. "I need to dance!" On Sunday when I was rushing to make dinner for the missionaries, she came and pulled on my hand, "mom, come dance wid me!" How can you resist that?
She has started insisting on wearing dresses, something I never thought my girls would get into. She knows how to turn on the stereo and when a song comes on that she is not hip to dance to she will whine "no, not dis one!" Good thing we are in a Tot Bop class at the community center once a week. She is getting in a little more groovin.

ok, I did it again

Wow, here is a great giveaway and a great blog about being a Mom. I have followed this blog a little and she is hilarious. Seriously great mom products showcased here. You can click on the picture and enter to win yourself.

and then there were 3

Oops, not an announcement! Ha ha. I am regularly watching my friend's son and learning a lot about having 3 around. I just realized one of the lessons is that it's more OK that one of your kids is screaming at the grocery store if you have 3 kids verses 2. You see, the way people look at it I think is that only 1/3 of your charges are causing trouble. They think "at least 2 out of 3 isn't bad" and I get more of a look of sympathy rather than scorn. Fascinating, isn't it? Here in Seattle if you have more than one large dog you get looks of derision at the grocery store (that and the fact that they can see you were too busy to remember your 18 reusable grocery bags at home and your child has a disposable diaper on, oh curse the ways us child bearers are polluting the environment!), so I think it's curious that I can take 3 without getting as many crappy looks as when I have just my girls. Maybe it's because they think Aiden and Odessa are twins. ; )

Ridiculously Beautiful

(by the way: I updated my Picasa Web Albums)
One of Stephen's favorite sayings is: "we live in a ridiculously beautiful place". I totally agree. What's particularly amazing about Seattle is that it's beautiful on the way to the grocery store, not just at park look-outs and near the water. Everywhere is near the water and the Olympic peninsula and Puget Sound make every view amazing. The cherry trees here are in bloom and they line some major streets. Although the photo below is not from Seattle, some of the streets look almost like this.
Here are some photos I found online by a photographer named Doug. They are amazing. He gave me permission to use them on my blog.

View of I-90 floating bridge at night from Bellvue

Driving down the street, and bam! Mt Rainier

Another view of Mt Rainier from Seward Park

Our daily view of Seattle driving from Magnolia

Magnolia Park (you can see the corner of it in the photo above) It's Stephen's favorite spot to watch boats

Boats like this one

And this one- my favorite picture! You can see views like this daily! Better visit, don't you think?

Traitor

In the process of moving, we switched phone/internet providers 3 times. I know, I know. Turns out our providers in Queen Anne don't service Magnolia. You know- this tiny little backwater, end of the earth place called Magnolia. WhatEVER. Then the next company couldn't get our phone number from whoever AT&T sold our service to (like the mortgage mess?). Their customer service people were all overseas and I have to say, it was rough trying to understand them and why my phone still wasn't connected. They are so polite, it was almost obnoxious.

Customer Service Rep: Hi, my name is Martin, how can I help you today?
Me: (thinking- "your name is not really Martin") Yah, my phone service is still not connected.
"Martin": Yes Mam, that must be frustrating, can I get some information from you?
blah blah blah
Martin: I'm going to need to put you on hold now for a few moments, will that be ok?
Me: uh-huh
Martin: Mam, you will be on hold for a just a few little minutes, are you alright with that?
Me: Yes! (just hurry up already!)
Martin: Ok, I will just put you on hold for a minute, I will be right back. . .

And on and on. So when I called Quest and got a local customer service rep and he told me he could have it all set up in 3 days, I was like hooray! But I still had to make that uncomfortable call to cut off the other guys. Of course they weren't too happy.
Worse yet, a few weeks later, after enduring the digital signal on our TV (we could only get one good channel with an expensive indoor antennae and every time a cell phone got reception it would make this hideous beeping noise!) we finally decided to get basic cable. This was a huge compromise for Stephen who has co-workers who don't own cars or TVs. Our way of life doesn't include much pop culture or TV - except for PBS cartoons during the day, which are very important!
So I called Comcast who is wired into our building. Of course the (local) customer service rep gave me an even better deal than Quest. With the recession, I am sure I am not the only who has found that people are willing to do quite a lot to get you as their customer. Each company has asked me what I am paying and offered to do the services for less. I love it, I have to admit. But the call to Quest to cancel was painful to say the least. He really laid it on thick, trying to get me to switch back, claiming he could give me other services for less. I felt like a traitor, switching companies so much and getting better deals each time! But I don't feel bad enough not to call a hotel we want to stay in for our anniversary and seeing what kind of package they can squeeze out for me.
Here is a funny you-tube link to Brian Regan and his take on getting your phone hooked up and confirmation codes from customer service people. Boy, if I had a dollar for every confirmation code I got during this move . . . .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohE_edBCM0Q