En Route

I loved how the clouds looked on my way back to work after feeding Kayla at lunch today. I tried to capture their beauty with my phone while still watching the road and it didn't work too well...but it's not an awful picture. The raindrops on the windshield look cool...

Yves Rocher

Today I had a very unique experience. Some of you may recall that I (used to) keep a Walla Walla Valley Daily Photo blog. I've been terrible at keeping up with it since returning to work (work+baby+marriage+everything else I get myself into=no time for multiple blogs), but back when I was doing a fairly good job of it I met Cieldequimper: The woman who posted daily photos from her home town of Versailles, France. After commenting on each other's photos nearly daily, we began emailing and exchanged stories. She had friends in the Walla Walla area whom she visited often. She was planning to come in the spring of 2010 to see them again, and if she did, she said she'd like to meet me. Well, today was that day, and we met at Starbucks in Walla Walla. The sweetheart brought me a lovely gift wrapped in pretty red paper (as seen above). She said she wanted to bring me something quite French and had settled on this. The sticker said "Yves Rocher."

Yves Rocher is a cosmetics company that is, indeed, quite French. Yves Rocher himself died in December, and 20,000 people turned out for his burial. Inside the package Ciel brought me was some great bath stuff that I am excited to use. Next time I go to Paris I'll bring her a little something from the Pacific Northwest. Thanks, Ciel!

HAY!!!

I've seen this truck (or this one and another like it) a couple of times now, near this same place around the same time. I took this picture this morning on my way to drop Kayla off at the sitter's house. Those are large bales...and a lot of 'em! My guess is this truck is headed East and it's turning left here to take Myra Road down to Highway 12 to head toward Spokane. But who knows?

Homeward Bound

These are my favourite mountains on the way to my parents' house. They are the Elkhorn Mountains, just west of Baker, Ore. We got to see them today on our way home from spending Thanksgiving with my family in Boise. Beautiful!

Arrived

We drove to Boise today to celebrate Thanksgiving with my family. Raina really enjoys my parents' house because they have nice big windows that get a lot of sun. She took full advantage of it when we got here and she finally settled down. I'm sure it was a nice change from being cooped up in the back of the Highlander for five hours.

coffeecoffeecoffeecoffeecoffee.....

This picture truly makes me laugh! She is so intent on the Starbucks drink (which, by the way, actually has no coffee in it), and her eyes are so big, she's just ready to have some of that frappuccino! Ruth's visa came this morning, but it was too late; they'd already rescheduled her flight for next Thursday. So she'll be spending the next week in Portland. Since she didn't have anywhere to be, we decided to go out and spend some time together before Jason, Kayla and I headed home. Before we left, Ruth demonstrated the coolness of her new pants:

Yes, she's that awesome. After we said goodbye to her, we found our way to Jason's grandpa's house (his mom's dad) who lives just a few minutes from the Wills in Vancouver. His health is failing, so we figured we should take this opportunity to visit him.

Here is Jason introducing Kayla to her Great Grandpa Albertsen. She cried at first, but then we figured out it was because the arm of the chair was cold on her bare legs. So we got a towel for her to sit on and she was much happier. Too bad Jason's mom wasn't there to make a complete generational picture.

To Portland and Beyond!

This was my view for most of the afternoon today. Jason and I brought Ruth to Portland today in the hopes that her visa would arrive (she had the address changed to Nick's house) and she could catch her Thursday flight. This was our first really long trip with a baby. It took us seven hours to make the 4-hour trip.

I love the scenery on the way to Portland. Once you hit Hood River things really get gorgeous. No matter what time of year it is!

We are staying at Ruth's boyfriend's house, though he isn't here. He's in Ethiopia serving as a student missionary at a hospital there. He's actually the Outer Clinics Director and is managing somewhere around six clinics in the bush of Ethiopia. He's having a good time! At any rate, his mother is amazing at playing hostess. This is what she served for dessert tonight: Pumpkin mousse in individual pumpkins, and homemade pumpkin pie - made from a real pumpkin (provided by her daughter-in-law, Erin). Both were delicious and quite festive. I had to take a picture. I also had to take a picture of Paris (pronounced the French way, peh-REE), the family's Bichon Frise. He makes himself comfortable wherever he wants to!

Inheritance

Meet Calypso. He and his buddy, Zero, his black-hued twin, are going to be staying with Jason and I for the next 8 months. Ruth was officially accepted as a student missionary to Poland today, so I thought it was appropriate to post a photo of these little guys. When she heads to Europe, Jason and I will be taking care of her fish for her. Hopefully they will live to see her return!

To Grandmother's House We Go

This...is a beehive. It's on the underside of a camper at Jason's grandma's house. We're here to visit her this weekend and she showed us this great wonder of nature within feet of her front door. For perspective, here's a shot of Whitney near the hive taking her own picture.

We're having a good weekend at Grandma's house. Jason's parents, as well as Whitney and Rolie, are here, and we're having a good time eating fresh fruit and vegetables, talking, and passing Kayla around for everyone to hold. The view is always enjoyable, too. Here's the sunset we enjoyed this evening. The mountain is Mt. Adams.

Lullaby on Wheels

This afternoon I was going crazy in the house, and Kayla wasn't napping. So I loaded her into the car and we went on a drive in the country. For an hour we explored area fields, gravel roads, views, and buildings. It was a great time, and Kayla did actually sleep for about 30 minutes. It was a nice break from being in the house all day.

Headed North

Today we worked a half day and headed to Seattle after lunch. Jason has a job interview in Alberta tomorrow, and we had a flight to catch. The Seattle airport has done a major renovation of their food court. It's beautiful! I don't know when they finished it, but this is the first time I've seen it. The view of the sunset behind all the planes taking off and landing...and the storm clouds moving in...it was fantastic.


The decor was very tasteful, and the place looked clean and new without looking overdone. We enjoyed a drink from Starbucks while passing time until our flight boarded at 9:30.

As for tomorrow...BEST WISHES, JASON!