Hilliard Family Reunion

We spent Friday evening through Monday afternoon in Wisconsin at my Uncle Darrell & Aunt Jill's home, where they hosted the whole family for our 2010 reunion. It was so much fun! We barbecued, hung out in the sun, swam in the pool, rode their horse Jewel, played volleyball & ladder golf (turns out Chels & I are good at ladder golf!), jumped on the trampoline, and spent time chatting and catching up with the family.

Chels, Ava, & Clarabelle

Claire & Parker soaking up the sun!

Cousin Devin, Ava, Aunt Edie, Ash & Candace

Cousin Laura with her kids Ava & Parker


Ava, Parker & Claire loved the trampoline!

(Blake secretly loves it, too!)

Claire playing ladder golf

Chels and Jewel

Bon, Clarabelle, & Jewel

Everyone brought family pictures with them so we spent a lot of time looking those and remembering and laughing about the good old days :) Mom is one of 7 kids, and 6 were able to make it to the reunion, and then the families of those 6 kids came with their families, and thankfully much of the family was able to make it. A BIG thanks to Darrell & Jill for hosting us all!!!

Left to right, top row then bottom:

Aunt Jill (Darrell's wife) & Reena, Aunt Sandra, Aunt Edie (Mitch's wife), Aunt Gail, Mom, Uncle Darrell, Uncle Mitch, Uncle Wes

Here we are trying to get our act together for a family photo.
Looks like I'll have to get the professional shot from Uncle Mitch! :)

Chelsea even got to experience a severe thunderstorm and tornado warning on Saturday night. You know the kind where the lightning lights up the entire sky, and the wind picks up the trampoline and flips it over onto the fence? Now she's officially an honorary Minnesotan! Good thing we took the tents down :)


Hanging out in the basement bathroom with the kids until the storm passed.

Don't worry, we didn't actually see a tornado! Chelsea can't believe that I actually MISS the fantastic storms like this in the Midwest, but I do! :)

Minnesota Trip!

Well it's been awhile since we've posted anything because we just got home from Minnesota. We had a great trip! We went to visit Candace's side of the family. Here are some highlights: we got there on Tuesday July 13th and look who was waiting to greet us at the airport: cute little Clarabelle (and Mom and Ash, too)!

She's holding a sign for us, Auntie Candace & Auntie Chelsea, aka AC2 :) We stayed with Candace's sister Ashely, her husband Blake, and their sweet daughter Clarabelle. So much fun! On Wednesday morning, we headed up to Northern Minnesota to visit Dad's side of the family: Bonnie, Ash, Clarabelle, and Chels and I. We stayed Wednesday and Thursday with Dad & Peggy--they hosted a family BBQ on Wednesday night for the family to come over (Dad is one of 5 kids, so they all came over with their families and Grandpa & Grandma). What a nice surprise! Chelsea got to meet the rest of Dad's side of the family that she hadn't yet, and she also got to see what life is like on the farm :)

Then we spent Thursday at Itasca State Park, which is home to the headwaters of the Mississippi River (honey, I spelled that out just for you!). Here's Clarabelle and Auntie Chelsea getting ready for the trip:

It was Dad and all the girls: Bon, Ash, Clarabelle, Chels & I, and Candace's little sister Mary. We had lunch at the park, and then Bonnie, Dad, & Mary biked on the trails. Very beautiful! We stayed through Thursday evening at Dad & Peggy's, then headed back to Cambridge (about 4.5 hours apart). Here's a picture from an ice cream stop:

Friday afternoon Candace's older brother Luke, his wife Amy, and their son Gavin came to Ash & Blake's to hang out for the day. It is so cute to see Gavin & Clarabelle play together--having cousins is so much fun!

They love each other :) We played yard games and had lunch together and just got to catch up. It was nice :) Then that night Mom, Bonnie, Ash, Blake, Clarabelle, and Chels and I headed to Wisconsin to Mom's little brother Darrell's house for the Hilliard Family Reunion, woo-hoo! Stay tuned for more pictures and stories from our trip!

Lazy Saturday

Today I got to see what it feels like to have Saturdays off--nice! Except for the fact that I have to work tomorrow. Otherwise it would be even better! Went to the salon and got my hair cut this morning, then spent the afternoon with Todd at the pool at his new apartment. Woo-hoo! It felt so funny to be one of those ladies who goes to the salon on the weekends--must be nice to do that all the time! :) After our fun in the sun we had a delicious snack of goat cheese and seasoned crackers. The best-ever goat cheese is from Surfing Goat Dairy on Maui: check them out here: http://www.surfinggoatdairy.com/ YUM!!! You can order from them online and I highly recommend it. When Chels and I were there last year we bought the "Alaskan Delight" and "Men's Challenge" flavors and they were delicious!

The dairy farm is a must-see if you're visiting Maui, and the goats are super cute, too!

Ask and you shall receive!

Well, it's summer in Seattle, finally! I find it funny that Seattleites, me included, complain about how hot it is when it's 70+ degrees outside, while just days before we were pining away for the sun's return. Today was a little toasty for me, but Thursday will be too much--95 degrees, yikes! Chels and I will be in MN a week from today and I'm sure the humidity will take some getting used to. Last Sunday was July 4th and it was cold, overcast, and typical to what Seattle weather is for most of the year. We were wearing jeans and sweatshirts, while our families in CA and MN were wearing shorts in the sun!

We spent the day at Aunt Cathy & Uncle Sandy's house on Camano Island and had a very nice time. The kids were all there; us, Miranda and Matt, Claire and Sean, and Steph and Dan.

Here's Steph & Chels on the beach. You can tell how "nice" the weather was--doesn't Chelsea look thrilled? :) They are California girls, after all... The view is gorgeous even when it's overcast and raining.

We had a fun time hanging out with the family, playing Scattergories and eating the delicious food Aunt Cathy always makes for us. A very good 4th of July, indeed! :)

July = Summertime in Seattle?

I hope summer comes soon to Seattle! I'm thankful it wasn't this morning, though, because I just got home from helping Todd move. It wasn't too bad this year... I think it's because our friend Greg was also helping and he can carry a lot of heavy things, yay! :) It only took a little over 2 hours so now I have time to relax before work at 1pm. Here's what we've been up to this past week:

Seattle Pride Parade was last Sunday so Chels, Todd, and I went and met up with Danny and some of his friends. It was the first time the pride flag was flown on top of the Space Needle! Pretty neat...

Todd & Chelsea

Chels & Danny

Me & Todd in our matching shirts, which was my birthday present from him. Thanks, Toodles!

Then we went to Steph's to help her try on her wedding dress. I'm so excited for her and Dan's wedding! Can't believe it's less than two months away--that means Chels & I have almost been married for a year! Wow :)

Tomorrow night we are going to our friend Lindsay Fuller's CD release party at the Tractor Tavern for her new album, "The Last Light I See". Should be a great show! Chels made us t-shirts to wear with a picture of the album cover on them and they look great. Good idea, honey :)

Last Saturday night, cousin Miranda's boyfriend Matt & his band Tempul played a show in Everett. I had to work, but the rest of the family got to go and had a fun time. I have yet to see them play but everyone said the music sounded great and it was a fun time. Way to go, Matt!

I think that's about it for what we've been up to this week... Getting excited for our Minnesota trip, we leave two weeks from Tuesday, yay!