Our trip to Seattle from Dec. 23rd-28th was a bittersweet one. Sweet because I got to spend Christmas with my family and see all of my friends, but bitter because it will be a long time now before I get to go back-the longest I will have gone without a visit since I moved away. Previous to our visit I was excited about the prospect of a white Christmas, after arriving I wished I had never wished for it in the first place! Mark and I had booked the Marriott at the Redmond Town Center which was a blessing because we were close enough to see most everyone but spent much of our time snowbound in the hotel waiting for people to come to us or pick us up to go elsewhere.
Christmas Eve we woke up to snow showers and spent the day with my Mom and then went to my Aunt Lorie & Uncle Ken's which is always lots of fun. It was great to see my cousin Jake who is a sophomore at WSU and my cousin Garrett who is 12. Christmas Day our plans changed and we spent the day with my Mom again and even managed to drag Mark out to see the Benjamin Button movie which is worth seeing just for the scenes of Brad Pitt in his late 20s/30s! The 26th was the day that I got to see all of my friends in Seattle for dinner. Ashley & Troy came to pick us up and when we arrived at Katie & Jerame's house I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw how they had decorated for our baby shower.
In the U.K. it's not common to have baby showers so I wasn't really expecting one, it was a big enough treat just to have all of my friends and their husbands in one place! Mark was pretty shocked too although I think (know in fact) that he's come to realise what a special group of friends we have in Seattle. Leah made these beautiful cupcakes, the girls pitched in for an amazing meal and Katie gave up her house to a party which is a big sacrifice when you have 4 month old twins! Dett was up from L.A. (I hadn't seen her since the wedding) and Jeanne was just back from Thailand bearing gifts (LOVE the pashmina!). I got to see Keri's baby bump for the first time (she's two months behind me) and Ashley's who despite being two months ahead of me actually seems to be the same size or smaller.
In addition to a baby shower we also had the first ever "man shower". The guys had their own little party which involved Thai whiskey, tequila and some serious man bonding. Mark said for the first time ever he really felt comfortable and like he was with a group of friends. I can't even begin to tell you how spoiled Baby Verghese is going to be-he's got a pile of Calvin Klein onesies, a proper English cardie and cords courtesy of the Haighs, and a whole suitcase full of his own adorable clothes-thank you a million times over for being so thoughtful, for the gifts and for braving the snow and ice to celebrate with us. I can't tell you all how much it meant and how much I love you.
Another highlight of the trip was the limited amount of time we spent with my Dad which included a lunch with my Aunt Sue who I haven't seen in years. It was pretty special to see her as she's recently battled breast cancer and was great to catch up on how my cousins were doing.
Below are a few pics from the Seattle leg of our trip, the ones from Miami that I will post later this week show us looking a lot tanner and healthier!
Leah's beautiful cupcakes
Man Shower!
Mark in the snow on Christmas
The girls
My Aunt Sue & Dad
Mark & I on X-mas (Mark has a big smile because he got spoiled big time by my Mom!)
2 comments:
Loved this post Jen. Can't believe it's going to be so long until I see you again....and we'll have babies!
I'm so glad you guys had such a good time while you were here. It was such fun at the shower and it's great to hear Mark had a good time with the men. Andy talked about it for days afterwards!
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