Blackberries for Sawyer

 Before we leave Seattle I am going to take Sawyer to all the places I love.
This place was the first.

Earlier in the summer I came to this blackberry patch when I was pregnant and I promised myself that I would bring my baby to this place before we left Seattle.

I have been patiently waiting all summer for the berries to ripen, and when Aaron's sister sent us a recipe for berry cobbler I knew it was time to take Sawyer to the blackberry patch and pick us some berries.

Sawyer laid around while I picked the berries. Afterwards, we sat on the grass, stared at the beautiful scenery, and had a mid-afternoon snack of berries and cream.

Actually, I ate the berries and he drank the cream :)

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Greenlake Park and Cupcakes

Our little family had a wonderful time in Portland this weekend visiting with both of our families for Sawyer's and Seth's blessings. Sawyer and Seth are cousins and were born 3 days apart! We decided it would be fun to bless them the same day and have a big get-together afterwards.

Before we left for Portland, my family drove up to Seattle to visit and see some more sights around the city.

One particular day we went to Greenlake park, which has an awesome paved trail and lots of docks and floating playgrounds. My family's toy poodle enjoyed really enjoyed the water, his name is Sadie. My family wanted a female, but they ended up adopted this little male poodle. For some reason they bought him a pink leash, named him "Sadie" and they always use female pronouns when referring to her (er, I mean him)... I guess they really wanted a female dog.

After walking around the park for a while, we finished off the day by walking over to Cake Envy for cupcakes and hot chocolate.

My mom and I are still editing the photos from the blessing, so they will be up the end of this week. I hope you all had a wonderful weekend! I know we did :)

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Sunday Dinner

Aaron and I have taken advantage of the extensive collection in the Seattle Public Library. A couple weeks ago, Aaron  came home with 5 cookbooks (!!!) one of which was an awesome grilling cookbook from Williams-Sonoma. Ever since we found our free grill (yes, it was sitting along the road side and we dragged it home) we have been dying to try out some recipes.

This week I went to a "girls' night" hosted by some ladies from our church. We have a professional chef in our ward who gives regular cooking classes to anyone who wants to join. This week the class was all about salads. Oh my goodness, she made the most delicious salads and dressings.

Lentil salad with carrots, beets, and a balsamic vinaigrette.
Peach, goat cheese, and arugula salad with a lemon dressing.
and last, but not least, a Middle Eastern carrot salad with olives and creamy feta.

She spoke all about mixing different flavors and how to pick delicious acids and oils to make the perfect dressing. I will be posting more about this later...

On Sunday, Aaron pulled out a grilled chicken recipe with a Greek marinade and I made a peach salad to go with it. And I couldn't resist making a peach coffee cake with the leftover peaches. The only problem was that our toaster oven didn't quite bake the cake evenly. By the time the middle was cooked thoroughly the top was overly done. Oh well, it was still delicious.

This is the only way I can get things done! He didn't like it at first, but now as soon as I wrap him up he falls asleep.

 Viola!

And of course a fancy dinner isn't complete without some sparkling cider :)

Here is the recipe for the Greek marinade. If you are interested in more grilling recipes, we highly recommend this book! There are so many marinades and sauces it is mind blowing.



Greek Chicken Marinade

1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbsp fresh flat leaf parsely, chopped
1 Tbps each of fresh: oregano, basil, rosemary, and thyme (you can use 1 tsp of dried)
1/2 cup olive oil

Mix the first 4 ingredients together, then slowly whisk in olive oil. Place in plastic bag with chicken and let sit in refrigerator overnight.

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Summer in Seattle

So far this summer we have had quite a few adventures...

My family came to visit for the week of the Fourth, which happened to be very convenient since Sawyer was born on the Fourth :)

They bought a City Pass and went sight-seeing the entire week. If you are going to be visiting Seattle for more than a few days I would highly recommend buying the City Pass! It is much, much cheaper than paying separately for the most popular Seattle attractions. They said they really enjoyed all of the places they went!

Before I had Sawyer, Aaron took me on a surprise date (he is awesome at planning dates!). We went to the Ballard Locks and saw some very expensive yachts as well as migrating salmon. Highly recommend seeing the salmon during the summer months, plus it's free!

After going to the locks, we went to lunch at a delicious Mexican restaurant and then... A tour of the Theo Chocolate Factory!!! 

Oh my gosh you guys. Seriously, the tour was so cool! Theo is one of the few chocolate/confection factories that actually make the chocolate they use in their chocolates and candies. They buy cocoa beans from all over the world and then go through the process of making chocolate. We got to sample lots of different flavors and varieties of chocolate--did you know that cocoa beans have different flavors based on the soil that the cocoa trees grow in?! I.e. cocoa beans from Africa will taste slightly different than beans from South America.

Anyway, it was only $7 per person and it was well worth the money! It is a must-see if you are traveling to the Seattle area. 

Aaron and I have had such a wonderful time together before starting our little family. Aaron is so great at planning trips and adventures :) I'm so happy we get to spend eternity together!

However, after Sawyer was born we obviously haven't done anything too adventurous.

We went to a birthday barbecue for one of our new Seattle friends, which was only 10 minutes away from our apartment.

It was at Matthew Beach Park, which is a really neat park on the lake. 

Sawyer slept the entire 2 hours we were there :) I dressed him up all cute in a polo bodysuit expecting to be taking him out and showing him to the world, but alas he was a sleepy boy.

 This weekend we planned on going to explore Mt. Rainier, but it was too foggy.

We got to Puyallup and decided to turn around since we couldn't even see the mountains.
However, we did some exploring of Puyallup and Kent and went to Winco to buy some groceries.  We also tried Pho for the first time. It was actually really good! In case you haven't tried Pho before, it is a Vietnamese soup that is mainly a beef broth with lots of spices, noodles, and tender cuts of beef (and tendon if you ask for it!)

Of course, Sawyer slept the entire time :) At home he is awake most of the day, but as soon as we put him in his car seat to go anywhere he falls asleep and stays asleep for the majority of the time. Such a pleasant boy! We couldn't have asked for a sweeter, calmer baby.

In other news, at his 2 week well-baby check we learned that he has gained 1 1/2 pounds since birth. He is getting quite chunky :)

Aaron is studying hard for his actuary test that he will be taking the 3rd week in August. After working 8+ hours a day he comes home and studies for another 1-2 hours. His studying involves lots of practice problems that are so intense that he needs two calculators. Yes, two. In fact, he was explaining the pros and cons of each model of calculator and how he uses each one for different problems. I tried not to laugh out loud at his nerdiness.
Because of all the time he spends at work and studying it was hard for him to spend time with us. He can't really hold Sawyer and it's really distracting for me to try and talk to him, so we decided to pull out the baby wrap that I made and see if that helped solved the problem.

Ta da! Problem solved :) I have also found that the wrap is awesome for doing housework. I definitely recommend getting a wrap if you have a baby, it is a lifesaver!

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Seattle Cottage

This weekend I decided it was time to take some pictures of our little apartment, especially before the baby comes and I don't feel like cleaning or taking pictures of my mess :)

As I've said before, our apartment is 400 square feet; the whole apartment measures 20 x 20. 

The owners built this little cottage in their backyard, which makes it nice and cozy and secluded.

Here are  few pictures of the apartment, I didn't take pictures of everything (closet, cupboards, bed) because I honestly couldn't find enough space to position myself to get a good picture of it, or it just wasn't worth documenting. 

Some things I LOVE about the apartment:

• high ceilings
• lots of windows--one whole wall is completely glass
• stylish design--window coverings, furniture, bathroom
• outside view--tall trees, bushes, flowers
• flooring in bathroom--it is made of wood slats that drain easily, which is great since there is not an actual shower, just a head sticking out from the wall (see picture below)

you can literally sit on the toilet (which is on the right) and take a shower at the same time!

as you can see, the wooden floor is actually a large drain, and the walls are completely tile,
so you can get the bathroom as wet as you want!

On the left you can see some evidence of our unmade bed,
and on the right (which you cannot see) is a large desk area with a flat screen TV and tons of cupboard space.

And some things I'm not so crazy about:

• no oven
• mini fridge that can fit only 3 days worth of food
• no bathtub (postpartum recovery is not going to be as pleasant)
• bed that is completely cornered between 3 walls (Aaron has to crawl over me in the night)

Overall, we love our little cottage! There are a few things that aren't so great, but they are easy to live with for 3 months. It's interesting how much you can simplify and live without.

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Berry Picking + Father's Day

For Father's Day weekend we decided to go pick some strawberries!

We drove to Carnation, WA which was about 40 minutes away from Seattle. Carnation is a small farming community that is absolutely gorgeous! There are a lot of "u-pick" farms in the area, which makes the produce cheap and gives us something fun to do on the weekends.

The strawberries were only $1/lb so we ended up paying only $13 for 13 lbs of strawberries. And it only took us about 30 minutes to pick them all. It was a really fun way to spend our Saturday morning and now we have lots of strawberry jam and frozen berries for smoothies.

After picking strawberries we came home and relaxed for a few hours. Aaron finally had a chance to play some video games--between his internship and studying for the next actuary exam he has little time to spend for himself. After playing for a little while he said "Video games just aren't as fun as they used to be."
I think the whole Father's Day thing really got to him ;)

We're trying to keep a good balance between enjoying our summer and remaining under budget, so we settled on eating out once a week. Aaron got to pick the restaurant for this weekend and he chose barbecue! The restaurant was in a creepy part of town and would only accept cash. Yeah, it was a little sketchy. But oh my goodness the barbecue was amazing! My pulled pork sandwich was delicious and the baked beans were the best I've ever had. No joke. If you are ever in Seattle you must try the Barbecue Pit. It's in the Central District.

On Sunday I made an array of Aaron's favorite dishes: Maple salmon, strawberry spinach salad, and baked sweet potatoes. I also gave him the Father's Day gift I had been working on for the past week. He seemed to enjoy his first Father's Day!

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A Morning Walk

 It seems that the only form of exercise I can do is walking. Well, it's actually more of a waddle now. I also do a very altered form of yoga, but for the sake of the yoga we won't even call it yoga. We'll call it stretching. Anyway, lucky for me Seattle is the perfect place for walking. The temperature is perfect (65-80 degrees) and the scenery is beautiful.

We live in the backyard of our landlords in a little 400 square ft apartment. They have some beautiful landscaping in the backyard, and I just couldn't resist taking this picture as I was putting my shoes on.

This is a view of the Maple Leaf area (Northern Seattle). Aaron went on a bike ride the other day and came back completely exhausted. He said he went down 98th st. Well, this is 98th street.

I was huffing and puffing just trying to walk back up the hill, let alone trying to ride a bike. 

A few blocks away from our apartment is a berry patch/trail/creek. It's actually a flood plain for the creek, but tons of raspberries and blackberries grow there. I can't wait for August when the berries are in season!

As you can see from the sign, you are allowed to pick berries and walk your dog simultaneously :)

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Seattle Thus Far

The weekend before we moved into our apartment we were lucky enough to spend some time with some of Aaron's family. One of those days we all set sail on a ferry to Bainbridge Island.

While visiting the island we went to a beach/park. We started turning over rocks to find little crabs, and then of course the men got a little overzealous and turned over a very big rock...

There were tons of baby crabs, eels, and a starfish! We also noticed this very large crab and thought it was dead, so Shannon (my mother-in-law) poked it with her foot. Unfortunately it was alive and scared the junk out of everyone watching.

The best part was indulging in ice cream at Mora Creamery (AMAZING). Luckily it is across the bay so I am not tempted to eat there on a daily basis. Seriously, it's that good.

After moving into our apartment last Sunday Aaron and I had a whole week just to relax and prepare for the next few months. We went to a Seattle Mariners game and ate at a wonderful little Mediterranean cafe.
The rest of the week we walked around Maple Leaf and got to know the streets and stores.

By the way, I will be posting pictures of our apartment soon! I am still in the process of organizing and decorating our cozy little home. The move has really brought out my nesting instinct ;)

Aaron started his internship on Monday and has felt a little overwhelmed by the steep learning curve, but overall he is enjoying it! He works downtown, a few blocks away from Pike's Place Market and a lot of other fun places. We are getting used to public transportation, which is quite something for two people who grew up in small rural towns in Idaho.

What do I do all day?
I've been doing prenatal yoga and walking on a daily basis.
The past week I've been doing a lot of research on how to save money on groceries. In other words, Seattle is expensive! We were expecting this, but it's more than we actually anticipated.
I spent a couple days shopping and driving around looking for inexpensive places to find groceries. I found a wonderful little produce stand that sells local fruits and veggies for the same price as grocery stores (the owner just so happens to be from Idaho!). I also found a fish market at Fisherman's Terminal that sells fresh seafood for a very reasonable price. I also found eggs and milk from local farmers, and there are tons of pick-your-own farms that sell in-season produce for dirt cheap! For example, organic strawberries for $1/lb. Can't beat that!

I've also raided the local library...

 And I've been trying out a lot of new recipes. If any turn out to be impressive I will be sharing them on the blog. Especially since I have quite a bit of time to spare...

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