Not Much Going On

June: Checked out our new kitchen

July: Celebrated the progress on the construction at our new house

September: Celebrated Nate's Birthday

October: Attended Courtney's baby shower

October: Decided to check out the local hospital

Met Isaac

See? Been real quiet 'round our place.

Movin' to the Country

Yes, it's official, we've moved to the country. We drive by cows and horses, and there were deer in the road yesterday. Nate has to watch for cougars & bears as he runs through the trails out here (for real!) and I've noticed a striking increase in big trucks. It would feel like Eastern Washington, except for all the trees.

We're loving the country. Yesterday, as I walked to my car, all I could hear was rain falling. No cars, no music, just rain. It was amazing! It's quite a switch from almost-downtown where we used to live. I could hear the traffic on 405 from my living room. The only animals we saw were cats & rats, and lots of dogs on leashes. I think this country air is going to be great! And yes, we're going to eat a lot of peaches.

Games!

We like to play games. We really like to play games. Agricola. Acquire. Power Grid. Every version of Settlers of Catan (and there are many). And now, Facebook has lured us in too! Farm Town. Not unlike the Farming Game (my favorite local Eastern Washington game), but online! Plow & sow today, harvest, sell, and replant tomorrow! Or cooperate with your neighbor and earn more money! Beautify your spread - add fences, fruit trees, animals, & scarecrows. I'm completely addicted. Nate is working up a profit optimization spreadsheet as we speak: plant 1 field of corn, to mature over 3 days, that costs $150 and will earn you $285 or plant 3 fields of strawberries, to mature in 1 day, cost: $50 ea, income: $85 ea? I maintain that as long as you're limited by funds, strawberries are better, but as soon as you are limited by space, go for corn. Am I right?

Wait, I think it's official: we are board game geeks. It's ok, though, Nate & I are used to geekdom. We've spent more than 10 years being Orc(estra) Dorks and Band Geeks. Is that why we feel at home?

Anyway, if you have a hidden Game Geek within, don't be shy, let's play! Online, at the board, whatever!

Moving!

Yup, it's true - we're moving next weekend. Which means we are packing now. I keep thinking the move'll be easy, I mean how much stuff can we really have? We live in a teeny-tiny 1 bedroom apartment. Well, I guess we're good at stuffing things in odd places 'cause packing is taking forever. Mostly 'cause Nate's doing all the work while I nap on the couch. Anyway, we're leaving Bellevue to become condo-owners in Redmond, and are pretty excited. The best part? The fireplace. If i hadn't already packed the camera (oops, it disappeared into a box over a week ago) I'd post some before pictures soon to be followed by after, but oh well.

All over until next year?

Christmas came and went in a flash. Well, maybe a flurry and a scurry.

It was magical! The whole Scott clan was together: 9 people spanning 3 generations and we giggled at the nieces, ate, opened gifts, giggled, ate, and giggled some more. We saw almost all of the Reese family - Brent & Elissa didn't make it from DC, and Matt's in Brazil - but again we giggled, ate, opened, ate, and giggled. Family makes the holidays fantastic!

We had snow in Seattle that had us completely discombobulated before Christmas. 6 inches in a hilly town w/o snowplows and a moratorium on salting can really mess things up. Then a whirlwind of snow in the Tri-Cities, and a slippery drive to Spokane.

But, a chinook hit, and all the snow is gone. And it seems like it took Christmas with it. Yes, we still have all the loot, and can vaguely remember how people enjoyed the loot we gave, but those good memories are fading. Now I'm fully in the post-Christmas let-down. It was over so fast! Thank goodness we have New Year's: we can take baby-steps to reality.

Ok, it can be Christmas

Don't ask me where I've been, but today the Christmas hymns in church caught me off guard. What?! Christmas already?! How can I be surprised!? I'm the one who loves Christmas. I'm the one that wakes up the family at 7 am (really, really early for me) to open presents right now! right now! right now! Even at Nate's parents' house last year, I had round everyone up so we could get the party started.

So tonight we watched the First Presidency Christmas Fireside, put up the tree, and listened to the Charlie Brown Christmas soundtrack. Ahhh, now I'm ready. It can be Christmas.

Snow and Thanksgiving

That about sums it up: we had snow on Thanksgiving! No, we weren't in Seattle, but in my favorite Thanksgiving place: Bonners Ferry, Idaho. Very small town, very near the Canadian border (we didn't run into Mr. Robert Michael Jack, Border Patrol. I was disappointed, for sure.) But we were in a beautiful 1950's home with lots of windows and hard wood floors. It was filled with family, and it felt like holiday. The nephews and niece were adorable, and it's great fun to watch Nate wrestle with the kids (while I watch serenely from the couch). And, we go to visit this great store. Hard to believe, but little Bonners Ferry has a killer gift store. I'm glad a got a little shopping fix on Black Friday.

Now we're back in Spokane, and trying to laze off all the great food. It's not working.

Baz came though for me though. We saw his latest, "Australia" and it was fantastic! It has his look, and was a sweeping epic. I'm so glad he's still making films. I saw some familiar actors (one from Strictly Ballroom) and it was great. Thanks Baz!