Amateur Hour

Sometimes all you want is a "sister pic." This isn't going anywhere, it won't be framed; if its really cute it might be considered instagram worthy, but it will most likely end up on facebook. However, the photographer will make or break said "sister pic" that you're envisioning. See below:

  

And of course you'll have a few selfies of the photographer too:

Next time I'll spring for a legitimate photographer, like perhaps my 11 year old brother instead of the 9 year old one. 

Thanksgiving Preview

I wish Thanksgiving and Christmas were further apart. I just spent the most relaxing, happy, wonderful, six pound inducing (you think i'm kidding) eleven days with my family up in Washington. I have about a trillion things to do and then in three short weeks I'll be back! I'll do a full fledged break play by play sometime later this week but I have a project due in a few hours so here are two pictures that sum up my entire Thanksgiving break.

Two Days

Two days and I can sit at this kitchen table and do fallish art projects with my favorite babies. 

YIPPITY SKIPPITY!

To Be Seventeen

Today my brother Christopher John Riding turns seventeen. Which is only weird because I still consider myself seventeen. Chris is one of the greatest boys I know. He is sensitive and mature beyond his years, something I'll take credit for. Haha just kidding but I do think that having two older sisters contributes to this. I can't wait to see where he takes his life. I hope he comes to byu with jen and me. I love being here in Provo and wouldn't trade it for anything, but its things like birthdays that make me really homesick. I hate the idea of missing out on my siblings lives, and also the fact that I know exactly what they're doing for him to make today special. How lucky am I to have a family and home worth missing?! :)

Tata Summer!

To be completely honest I'm surprised at how sad I am to leave and head back to Provo! Well, let me rephrase that. I'm thrilled to get back to Provo. I like my freedom and independence. But I'm very sad to be leaving my family and this new place that I kinda sorta consider home, for now. Life has settled into a happy, normal pattern. My life lately has consisted of-

Going to get our Washington drivers licenses... weird but fine!

Practically acquiring carpal tunnel syndrome from writing so many of my favorite boys who are out serving missions. Gosh I miss my friends. Oh hey if you are not LDS and do not know what I'm talking about, this explains what they do better than I can!

Going to fun parks like Newcastle Beach Park and Meydenbauer Park that are on Lake Washington

Seriously. Could not be any more charming. Also it was nice to be in a swimsuit as opposed to the rain jackets and jeans and fleeces worn earlier in the "summer."

Personally, summer = ice cream.

Especially really really great chic hipster too cool ice cream boutiques like Molly Moon's.

Getting toilet papered. This picture cracks me up but I will not give the young men who participated in the defacing of my front yard the satisfaction of putting this on any other social networking site.

Getting over the weirdness/lump in your throat when your pals from home send you pictures like this- someone else's van in our old driveway.

Getting over my mega huge massive crush on Ryan Lochte. Yikes!

Goodbye Seattle! Surprisingly, I'll miss you.

Seattle Happenings

This summer has been a great one! Once we finally settled in to our house here in Seattle and stopped unpacking long enough to play tourist its been so much fun! 

Contributing to the famous Gum Wall

Visiting the famous Pikes Place Market

Enjoying some of the best berries I've ever tasted

Some of the best fresh produce period actually!

Baptisms at the Seattle temple with Chris

Whale watching in the San Juan Islands

 

Which is basically Canada (read: it was freezing) but very fun!

 

Lots of hikes for the whole fam!

We have really grown to love the culture here. It may not be Southern Hospitality, per se, but we have felt warmly welcomed by the kind strangers we've encountered and interacted with. Thanks Mom & Dad for planning lots of fun day trips that not all of which have been properly documented! 

Utah

If you were to tell me that you were headed to Utah, this is what I would tell you to do. Because this is what I did these past few weeks...

 

I was so incredibly ready to go home back in April that I kind of forgot how much I love and adore BYU and specifically Provo. So, you ought to head down to Provo and remember how much you like your school.

Perhaps even go visit your dorm so you can feel nostalgic and old/proud that you are no longer a freshman.

See as many friends as you can possibly can.

Take your sibs to your fave shaved ice place.

Try and see as many almost-missionaries as you can.

In fact, try and suprise-attend their farwell talks if possible and most definitly attend the gathering at their house afterwards (read: free food).

Then drive down to Panguitch Lake in southern Utah and hopefully it will rain which may hinder your outside activities but in all reality it will be very nice.

Play with all your many boy cousins.

 

Get life advice from your papa and try and figure out your life.

Cuddle with as many small children as possible.

Honorable mentions: hiking, chatting with the lovely Beus women, going on a handful of dates, swimming to get tan since that is no longer an option in Washington, teaching four small girls to 'use the facilities' in the woods, learning a couple of new card games, logging in hours of highway driving, getting updates from all of my loving, wonderful aunts, etc.

I'm headed down to California for my beautiful frand Brookie's wedding and get to party with Rachael, Lily, Avery and Sydney! Oh life is so good sometimes. Can't wait to see all these girls that I adore. Wahoo!

The Washington Report

First, let's take note of my witty post title. Oh ho ho. Okay so part of me wants to stay loyal to Texas and say it's just awful here but it's not. We love it here. 

Here are some of the things we're loving...
(if you click on the pic you can see a hi-res version)

Fresh fruit! Blueberries, blackberries, cherries, nectarines, blah blah blah we have yet to try fruit that isn't fabulous. 

Downtown Seattle! We've only actually gone downtown once, that's how many things there are to do here in Bellevue. But Seattle is just so cool. So much to do.

Downtown Bellevue! It has some of the best shopping I've ever seen. Adorable little shops and a great big park that is very Central Park-esque. The fireworks we watched on the Fourth were spectacular too.

Hiking! It's been really awesome to have the great outdoors so accesible. We literally live on a mountain (weird weird weird) so trails are minutes away from our front door. The above pic is so heinous but I was trying to show that it was cold enough (42 degrees thank you very much) that we could see our breath. It was too funny not to put up. And the slugs... yeah they're everywhere it's disgusting. They're so so big too. Blech. Makes me feel sick.

We love our house. It's really pretty and the backyard is huge and perfect. We feel so blessed and very happy!

The wildlife. And I'm actually not loving it. I think it's weird and hilarious. This is a dead mole. There are cougars and wolfs and bears and snakes that have been spotted in our neighborhood. Wahoo!

And now that the sunshine has fiiiiinaaaaaaaaally come out, we can finally appreciate the reason that Bellevue  is French for 'Beautiful View.'

We are so grateful for the warm welcome we've received. There are so many good people here! But we miss our Texas friends very much! Visits are encouraged :)