More photos, more babblings (family visit)

I haven't written for a while because I haven't had much time to. We played host again to my parents & oldest sister and spent a lot of time with family.

My parents & Lori arrived on Wednesday night and we shared some upside-down pizza casserole (yum!) after giving them the tour of the house. Lori slept on an air mattress on the floor in Joe's office so she could get a little bit more privacy than she would've on our sofa-bed while my parents slept on our awesome air mattress in the guest bedroom (we'll have to replace that with a real bed one of these days).

I had Thursday off but Joe had to work, so Lori, my parents, and I drove to Ballard to check out The Locks & botanical garden (we didn't see many salmon, but it was still interesting and nice). If you ever wonder where I get my goofy nature from, look no further than my parents & older siblings:

Then we drove to Seattle and did a lot of walking. We visited Pike's Place Market and Pioneer Square. We had "Cow Chips" cookies, checked out some stores, ate at a nice French cafe, and went on The Underground Tour. Then we headed home and played some games with my aunt & uncle before calling it a night.

Some of my favorite items from the tour's gift shop:

On Friday after work, we prepared & hosted a potluck dinner. Joe's sister, Jillena, was in town to have her baby blessed by Joe on Sunday, and she & her husband, Scott, hadn't seen our house yet. So they came over, along with Joe's mother, and were joined by my aunt & uncle, a couple cousins, their families, and of course those staying at the house. The food was delicious and we had a great time.

We were planning on visiting Mt Rainer on Saturday, but my aunt & uncle had to cancel, so instead we visited Snoqualmie Falls. Then we stopped at XXX in Issaquah for some burgers, root beer, and shakes before Lori had to go to the airport to catch a flight home. We picked up my cousin, Kristine, dropped Lori off at the airport, and then headed to the Seattle Temple.

This was my third or fourth time going to Snoqualmie Falls, so these were all the pictures I got... Joe being a rebel and climbing off the boardwalk with Lori to take some pictures closer to the falls and my dad pretending to be a rebel by climbing off the boardwalk for a photo op.

Sunday morning we split up, with Joe and I going to church with his parents and my parents going to church with Kristine & her family. There was a potluck at Joe's parents' home after church, with more yummy food and mingling. Once Joe and I got home, we weren't feeling well, so we decided to get some sleep in hopes we'd feel better.

But when Monday came, we were still feeling very sick, so we weren't able to make the 4 1/2 hour trip to eastern Washington for Joe's grandmother's burial. My parents spent the day with my aunt & cousin visiting Mt. Rainer, and when they came home, we were in bed. But we got out of bed and headed to my aunt & uncle's house for a BBQ, returning home later not feeling quite

better but a little bit so.

Today I woke up still feeling under the weather, but Joe made it in to work. My parents just left a while ago to travel home through the west coast so they can visit other family and friends and places on their return trip. We were so spoiled by them while they visited. My mother washed all our laundry for us and even did the dishes a few times. My father spent a lot of his free time changing out light switches and outlets in our home, which was a much-needed project we hadn't yet tackled. It was great seeing them (and Lori, of course), and I wish all 3 of them could've stayed longer. I'm glad that Karena is getting married in October so I can get a chance to spend more time with them and more of my family and friends in Arizona soon!