Trip to Seattle

Back in May I went to Seattle for Memorial weekend, but more importantly I went to help my sister move into a new house.  She was busy crazy working at a full time job and she really just didn't have the time to pack up a house she had lived in for 17 years.  I had a plane ticket coupon that needed to be used and some time to spare, so it all worked out pretty well.  And hey what are sisters for if not for free labor?

First of all let me just say that the word "move" is a four letter word in my vocabulary.  I don't like to hear it, I don't want to say it, and I certainly don't like to do it.  And I suppose a big part of that is because it is closely related to other four letter words like "work" and "hard" and "pain".  And seriously I don't care who you are or how organized or how much time you have, have you EVER heard anyone say the words "I just moved and it was the best thing that ever happened to me."  No, something, somehow does not go as planned.  There are always the small things that go wrong and were unexpected. I once moved from one apartment to the apartment next door and I had  a month to make the move.  It was probably one of the best moves I have gone through, but still not as easy as not moving.  But sometimes it is a necessary evil. Every time I have moved I have been helped by friends and family, and I could not have done it without them.  So this time it was my turn to pay back a little packing Karma.

It was a little bit crazy for me, because Diana had her orchestra concert at 6:00 pm and my flight left at 9:00 pm that night.  Of course I had been crazy busy working all week, and so I was sitting listening to the orchestra and freaking out a tiny bit on the inside that I hadn't packed yet, and I was leaving for the airport in just an hour.  Luckily, we had brought two cars and so once the 7th grade orchestra was finished playing, I went home to pack, while Marion stayed and brought Diana home.  It was also ridiculously hot, close to 100 and the AC wasn't working in the middle school gym.  My sister told me that it was 50 degrees and raining all day in Seattle, but it was certainly hard to wrap my brain around the fact that it was going to be cold.  In fact the last thing I did before getting in the car for the airport was to change out of my shorts into long pants.

Surprisingly there was no line at security and I whizzed through in just a few minutes.  I don't think that has ever happened before.  My flight was very uneventful.  I was bitter about the fact that I had downloaded a book to my phone and I had to turn it off during take off.  I watched the girl on the other side of the aisle enviously as she read her "old" fashioned paperback book.  Score one for real books.   If we are keeping score, I do really like reading on my phone.  Score 1 for how light weight it is and score another point for the fact that it is lit and so you can turn off the light in your room and read in bed and when you want to fall asleep you don't have to turn off the light.  I am not sure how to score the convenience of being able to get just about any book you want with the downside of paying for that connivance.  The best thing to do would be to be patient enough to wait for the book you want to become available from the library, but we all know that I don't have much patience.  I guess the question becomes, which do I have more of patience or money, and so far it has been money.  Ok serious tangent about books.   Meanwhile back at the ranch, lets just say I was annoyed I couldn't read for the short time they made me turn off my phone. 

The first day I was there (Thursday), my parents were working at the temple and my sister had to go to work, so I went over to her house and packed up her pantry which had some of the magical qualities of the closet in the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.  It was a big project to get finished and by the end of the day it was done.  My other sister arrived that evening to help as well.

Friday, my mom, sister and I spent the day packing and made a lot of progress.  That night we went out to eat at our favorite sea food place Anthony's.  It overlooks the sound and the view is amazing.  There was a beautiful sunset while we were eating.

We stopped and got out of the car so we could get a shot of this.

I don't get back to Seattle very often, and I always forget just how green it is there.  You don't see this in Vegas.

If it is clear you can see Mt Rainier from my parents balcony.  It is a bit hazy but you can barely make it out.  In the winter when it is always cloudy, you can be here for a week and never see the mountain.

My sister's kids had a dance festival the day we were moving in, because why wouldn't they?  Actually it was a nice break from the unpacking to go and sit and watch them perform.

Here is a better shot of the mountain, although I snapped it in the car while we were driving.

And one more.

Saturday morning, the move went really well.  There must have been 20 people show up to help.  My sister was Relief Society president for quite awhile.  She has helped many people in the ward and they were all anxious to help her when she needed it.

Here is a shot of my dad climbing up in the truck to get things secured.  Someone else from his ward was there and he said that this is normal for my Dad.  

We got a lot into the van and trucks, but it is always amazing just how much stuff you can accumulate in seventeen years.  It required several trips.

This is a shot of her neighborhood.  She moved to a lovely neighborhood close to some really good schools.

And here is a shot of her front door.  Her house is really nice and she should be very happy there.  Her new ward came and really helped out with the unloading.  The RS came and helped get her kitchen unpacked.  Thank goodness for the help of the church at times like these.

Finally it was time for me to head home.  Here is a shot at the airport.

And I couldn't leave without some famous fish and chips from Ivar's.  So yummy!

And then who doesn't want their picture taken with a giant stuffed killer whale?

A shot of me on the plane.  As a side note, while packing I helped myself to one of my sister's books "The Summons"  by John Grisham.  So now I could read during take off.  :)  Too bad I was so exhausted that I fell asleep almost immediately upon sitting down.

I had several bumps and bruises from the whole moving experience, but this was probably the most impressive one.  I was putting a second coat of paint on my niece's room and didn't have any painting shoes.  Of course I was barefoot and managed to stub my toe on something.  For how quickly it discoloured and swelled up, I think I may have broken it.   But it wasn't sore for long.

We all joked that we needed some t-shirts that said "I survived Kris's move 2012."  In a way it was a lot like Girls camp.  Not a lot of showering or sleeping, lots of work and totally worth it in the end.  All in all, it was a pretty good trip.  I won't say it wasn't exhausting, but it did inspire me to come home and do some cleaning out of junk.  So that was a really good thing that came out of it, without me having to pack up my whole  house.  Oh and it did inspire me to say the words "I am never moving again." 

We will see how long Murphy lets those words hang around.