We had a lot of people ask us how we were going to spend our last Valentine's Day without needing a babysitter. Luckily for Brian, Valentine's Day also happens to be my mom's birthday. So it ends up being a pass card for him each year! Actually, he wanted to celebrate it on Thursday before we left for my parents' house for the weekend. Especially since we also didn't get to celebrate it last year (it would have been our first as a married couple), since he was away on Sam's bachelor party instead. Hmmmm...that one was planned pretty well!! But, of all days, the night we were going to celebrate I ended up getting a pounding headache and was feeling pretty exhausted after a long week of conferences. So instead, he brought me dinner in bed while I napped on and off all night. Pretty romantic, I know. But that's what happens when you're almost 7 months pregnant!
We did get to go up to Seattle/Isssaquah for Valentine's Day/mom's birthday weekend. It was so great to just relax and hang out with my parents, Trav, Bridg and little Lincoln. You would think that we'd take advantage of everything Seattle has to offer every time we visit, but we all secretly look forward to the couch instead. We hate to admit it, but none of us would rather spend our time anywhere else. All six of us can comfortably sit on it and four of us can even sleep pretty comfortably as well - which we end up doing most of the time we're there. Even though my mom gets our rooms ready for us each time we visit, we rarely venture upstairs to sleep. The couch ends up being the focal point of our weekends -playing with Lincoln, reading, watching movies, sitting in front of the fire, etc. It will be a sad, sad day when the time comes to replace this couch.
Another reason we love coming up is because their house is truly like a forest resort. They are completely surrounded by ten acres of forested land, with big windows that show nothing but trees and nature. They also recently completed the year and a half remodel of the house and I think that makes us even more want to stay in and take advantage of all their hard work. Here are some pics of what they've done:
I had the fun job of helping them pick out sconces. Who knew there are about 500 different kinds of sconces to choose from?? Brian, Trav and Bridg got really tired of hearing nothing but "sconce talk" from me for weeks, but in the end I think they all turned out great!
We did get out a little. We went to a great baby store and then celebrated my mom's birthday by going to a yummy restaurant in Bellevue. This picture doesn't quite capture how much fun we really had together :)
Another reason we all got together was because Doug just got back from his trip to Haiti. He and my mom had been planning the trip for about eight months, long before the earthquake. Coincidentally, they were scheduled to leave a week after it happened. But of course, all airlines cancelled flights into Haiti for weeks afterward. Because of this, they had to cancel and reschedule their trip many times. They finally had a date set and then Mom realized she could no longer go because of work obligations. So Doug and the team of 14 set off to help out as much as they could. They ended up having to fly into the Dominican Republic and then find transportation over the border into Haiti. Doug said the poverty between the DR and Haiti was shocking. While there, they set up clinics for about seven days in villages in the countryside outside the devastated Port-au-Prince. They helped over 1000 people while there! Their team of nurses and physician assistants helped distribute medicine to these people. Doug acted as the clinic coordinator. They were overwhelmed with the sad stories and very sick people they encountered each day. This made them realize even more how much their help was needed. Here are some pics of their experience:
Devastated Port-au-Prince
Medical supplies the group brought with them to Haiti
One of the clinics they set up in the countryside of Haiti
Bathroom facilities
