Here comes the Bride....

It is so funny to me how you can have so many wonderful memories of a place and then you revisit this place after many, many years and you don't remember a thing!!

I was able to go to Seattle, Washington for 5 kid-free days (I think that was probably the best part! Sorry Tracy) to attend a friends wedding. My family lived in Kent, Washington for about 5 years and I would have to say that my best and most fond memories from my childhood are from there. As a family we did many different activities and explored a lot of Seattle and surrounding areas. We would go to the Pacific Science Center, The Seattle Aquarium, Boeing Family Days (my dad worked for Boeing), Seattle Space Needle, Salt Water State Park, Olympic National Forest, The Old Spaghetti Factory, Underground Seattle, etc.

My friend, Tracy Lambert almost Peterson, and I drove around trying to do some last minute wedding stuff and I didn't recognize hardly anything. There was Lake Meridian that I did recognize, and going into Seattle it looked the same, but everything else was lost. It made me sad in a way, but happy that I still had the fun family memories of what we did.

The Beautiful Bride and Me not ready yet!!

Tracy, Rebecca, Sue

Dale and Sue Lambert,
The Bride's parents who I absolutely love!
The Wedding Party

The Drake Fam Reunion

After a long trip, with many events in between, we have returned home to find everything just how it should be:

Our garden overgrown, not with weeds, but the actual plants are enormous, which people don't usally complain about. But when the garden plot is smaller then one of the plants it makes it more difficult.

Our two turtles that we gave to Alan for Father's Day (so that he couldn't complain about having them...Hey, I know how to work the system!) alive and happy and our house didn't stink as much as we thought it would!

Our lawn freshly mowed and trimmed by our good neighbor Grandpa Dan! He also fixed the back stairs, which was a pleasant surprise!!

People taking bets on weither or not we would ever return!

Just some quick highlights from the trip.

1. We got to see my parents new house.
2. We got to meet our almost sister in-law Brittany
3. We got to meet all of the cousins that we had not met yet!
4. We got to go to cousin Isabell’s baptism.
5. We got to celebrate both Peter’s 5th birthday and Father’s Day on the same day!
6. We got to witness little Georgi get blessed by all of her uncles and grandpa’s.
7. We got to see many wild animals up close in Yellowstone, but unfortunately we didn't see any bears (that's all I wanted to see).

All in all it was a good trip and we got to see family and friends that we hadn't been able to see for a long while. Sorry about how many pictures there are, but it was hard to choose just a couple!

Moving.....

My Mom called me a couple of weeks ago and told me that she found her dream house! They were going to get their shower re-done and they really like one contractor but they wanted to see his work before hiring him. He told them that he was working on a house not far from theirs that has the same shower. She went (with Grandma GG) and both of these women fell in love with this very large, very new house that is on a 1/2 acre lot. It has the master bedroom and the laundry on the main floor, which my Mom has always wanted. In fact my Grandma was thinking about selling her patio home to live in this house that is probably 4-6 times the size with an upstairs and a basement, but my Mom beat her to it!


It seems like all of the "kids" (six boys and two girls, youngest being 21, picture left) are all totally thrilled, especially the youngest who doesn't ever remember moving. What an easy life he has had! My parents have lived in their current house almost 20 years. WOW!! For my family that is a huge thing. While growing up we moved about every five years, because my Dad would get the itch and need something new. My parents have actually been talking about moving for a while. They have had the itch but I don't think it is as strong because the old age thing is settling in!! The thing that was surprising to me was the fact that they raised 8 children in their current home and now that they only have one child at home, and he could move out at anytime, they are moving to a bigger house. But the fact of the matter is my family has expanded greatly with everyone, except one being married and with at least one kid we are a much larger family. We just all don't live there, I bet that makes you happy doesn't it Mom?!! (picture right, all grand kids except my 3)


There are so many memories in that house and so many things that my "handy" Dad has done to it. It isn't the same house we moved into long ago. It's always fun to go see what is different when I go home. I haven't talked to all the In-Laws but both Son-in-Laws are not sure about this move. Alan keeps thinking about our dating months, and the memories we have had there, but I remind him that "my room" is no longer there, it is a sitting room that doesn't even resemble my room. The "guest/computer room" that he stayed in is no longer there. It was combined with other rooms to make a great room. The deck that made him realize that my parents had their hearts in the right place was replaced with a much bigger, better model. The garden that took half of our yard has been downsized to make room for the large workshop that my father built and customized.


Their house is up for sale, they have a contract on the new house. In fact, the new house should be finished this week! My Mom is gitty and happy, and I am dreaming of this house I have never seen. Hopefully I will be able to get pictures soon so that I can straighten out my dreams and make sure that I am truly dreaming about my parents new house!!