A Few of My Favorite Things..

Thanksgiving on Whidbey; Becca and Alex plus the Crossen clan and Alex's parents met out on Whidbey Island to cook and eat a wonderful and festive dinner. It was a great time to lay back and relax, plus it was Tater's first ferry ride, so that's always cool! Kelly and I were so thankful to make it to dinner on time and we didn't have to do any cooking!! It was a combined three Thanksgivings for us this year, wow :)!

Thanksgiving 2011; Kelly's family (Terry, Tracy, Candace and Cory) all came up to Tacoma for probably one of the best holiday dinners I have ever had! We cooked, went out to dinner in Proctor, played nerts which was epic because Candace and Cory are unstoppable, visited Lauralee, and watched some Lady Gaga Thanksgiving special. 

Terry made me a beautiful multi-color scarf (she already knows that I love cozy and colorful things!) that Tater is cuddling. 

Cory's 30th birthday in CA. 

Beautiful trip; lucky, lucky us to be able to see a gorgeous part of our west coast with some great tour guides (Cory and Candace)!!

Progress!

Kelly and I booked our photographer and I bought my dress! 

Larry Stanley is going to be our photographer for the day of our wedding and the day before. We are so incredibly excited--- once Kelly and I saw his work we knew immediately that his work was one of a kind and absolutely beautiful. 

Saturday before Becca's birthday party we went and checked out a couple beautiful dresses by Vera Wang at a dress shop downtown Seattle. I found the perfect dress; very classy yet playful and unique details, or as Liz said "fancy arts and crafts" (maintaining my elementary teacher-position even into the realm of fancy couture dresses) and it was obviously very, very much on sale. 

Becca Boo's birthday in Woodinville was great. Her fiance Alex planned everything and it worked out seamlessly, plus Elaina came up from San Francisco which was an excellent surprise for everyone! Wine, Big Daddy's bus service, red velvet cake & Stumptown Coffee + ending the night with some NCAA BBall--- it was awesome. 

This week is going to be great and super busy at work, Christmas baking and shopping and hopefully seeing some of our buddies!! 

Ghirardelli Chocolate

A commercial for Ghirardelli chocolate just flooded my memory with some great times with my Dad's family in San Francisco. San Francisco has a lot of significance to my life because of the priceless memories I have with my Dad's family. Next to Colombus, MT-- San Francisco is a place where I was able to visit my Grandma Ginger and my aunts and uncles. Kelly and I have also bopped around the bay area and made some of own memories pounding the pavement, but my most cherished ones come from my earlier years.

Some of the deeply archived photos are too embarrassing to share of some of mine and Becca's most awkward years (decade..?) but here are a few highlights that I get to remember because of my Dad's awesome family did so much to keep us connected during the holiday seasons of our younger years. A Few Highlights...

• Visiting China Town and watching Becca sprint through it because it was "too smelly"! :)
• Spending time with my Grandma in her little apartment
• Grandma introducing me to Hello Kitty 
• Seeing a whole duck served at a Chinese restaurant
• Doing presents and celebrating the holidays at my Aunt Colleen's 
• Seeing the city and all of the amazing sights at night lit up for Christmas 
• Seeing the Palace of Fine Arts with my aunts and uncles (now one of my all time favorite places)

I have the coziest feelings when I think about my time with the Crossen side San Francisco and the bay area. Those memories mean so much to me--  and will always influence my new traditions Kelly and I are creating together.

Busy, Busy, Busy

The past few weeks have been packed with birthday celebrations, football games, Becca and Alex's engagement celebrations, pumpkin carving... and the usual grind of our day to day. 

Work is busy and going well for Kel and myself. He has been on a few work trips, and I am getting ready for student led conferences this week. Definitely looking forward to that! 

We are reprinting the save the dates, so they will be en route within the next week hopefully. It is fun sharing with friends and family the details about our 6/9/12 Chico wedding; the anticipated relaxation of the hot springs and the natural beauty and adventure of Montana. Not to mention the fact that we're getting married, that is the best part of it all!! 

Here are some cute pics my Dad took of Becca and Alex too. Cute Pics. 

My Favorite 2-year Old

I finally saw my favorite 2-year-old, 3-year-old and 6-year-old (Gus, David and Betsy) last Sunday after my family went to the Seahawks game. I live across the street from the Kessler/Stonich household and was their nanny all of last year. It is so fun to think back at all of the many, many memories I had with their family. Some of my favorites are definitely: 

1. Daily double stroller rides up the hill to school with the 2 boys and Betsy in it, 1 dog on a leash and a cup of coffee.
2. Singing made up songs to Gus so he would fall asleep
3. Watching the kids check the advent calendar every morning during Christmas time
4. Halloween; angel, and kitten-firefighter, so wonderful.
5. Curious George with "eggies" for breakfast.
6. Taking David and Gus to the pumpkin patch with his preschool class, picking out a pumpkin for Sheepy
7. Gus playing soccer, bouncy house, ruling the open gym for tots, library read alouds, lots and lots of treats at Zoka's
8. Seeing the kiddos ski at Alpental, while Gus slept on my back
9. Betsy losing her teeth, and creating fake teeth to fool the tooth fairy
10. Lots of play dough, potions, cookies, and messes in the kitchenMany trips to the museum of flight-- I think one of them will be involved with aviation
11. Gus and Betsy's day at Owijimaya
12. Swim lessons, making popsicles, watching baseball during dinner (usually not that interesting for kids unless we were talking about Gigi and the Phillies) 
13. Snow days, windy rainy days running home from school, sunny hot water balloon days

So much fun. When I think about family I will always treasure what I experienced with them as a cohesive and solid unit. I sure do miss them!! <3 <3 <3 

Stained the Deck, Figuring Out Save the Dates

Great weekend in Tacoma/Seattle. Kelly and I worked hard to repaint the deck, it looks awesome now! (pictures to come). Watched the hawks with the family and friends in Seattle, sad loss.

Tater Tot went swimming today with his life jacket, we had to enjoy the hottest day out of our summer! It is still 80 degrees out, nice!

Kelly and I are close to having our save the dates printed, hopefully get those out soon! Got a few more engagement cards; we feel so loved and blessed to have such amazing and supportive families and friends!

Looking forward to a busy and fun week!!

4 Day Weekend

What a great week! I have 22 almost 7 year old's in my class, and they are all wonderful. I'm working with an excellent team in my favorite school district. I am so lucky! Day 2 we did have balloons and cupcakes brought in for a student's birthday. I was proud that my class not only left with blue frosting on their faces and balloons tied to their backpacks but everyone also made it on the right school bus. Yay!!

Kelly and I had a great week of picking out colors, talking about wedding invitation/save the date ideas, and looking through magazines.
Here is one color combo idea:

Grey
Poppy
Aqua
Yellow


June in Montana! So excited!

This weekend we get to go see DMB and Dispatch at the Gorge on the Columbia River. Very few bands have so much meaning  to me; Dispatch and Dave Matthews Band have been musical staples in my life for the past 10 years. I used a Dispatch song  in Jocelyn's slideshow at her memorial, and the DMB concert with her and our girlfriends is such a great memory. This year Becca, Alex, Christa, Liz and Mike & co. will all be out there too, should be a great time!

*And my ankle is feeling better :)

Back in Tacoma, Teaching 2nd Grade

I love good news!

I'll officially be teaching 2nd grade in Tacoma! Today was my first day, and my students' first day is next Tuesday. So that leaves me less than a week to do a lot of preparing. :)

It is going to be a wonderful year! I can't wait! 

Family Engagement Party

Kelly and I had a beautiful dinner with the folks, Becca, Alex and Lauralee! 

Making Plans

This weekend Kelly and I were spoiled by the Totten Clan and Lauralee since they threw us a completely gorgeous and wonderful engagement party for my family and his. Pictures to come!

What a fun weekend being able to hang out with my awesomely fabulous family. I treasure the time I get to have with special people; being entirely present and open, asking questions, listening to peoples' stories, sharing moments of silliness and fun.

Becca and Alex went to look at Alderbrook Resort on Hood Canal Saturday before they came out to the Tacoma house for the engagement party. It is an absolutely beautiful location and would be a stunning place to be married.

Thank you to everyone that has sent words of support and encouragement via email and in cards. They are so meaningful and very fun to read!

Tonight Kelly and I have been super busy because we have been finalizing some details for reserving a wedding date at Chico Hot Springs; Saturday June 9th 2012! My requests included; filling in gopher holes and Kelly's is a keg of Moose Drool beer. So far we're keepin' it simple :)

Funny Story

Kelly and I were up on the "Field of Dreams" at Chico just running around with Tater (the corgi) and taking some pictures. It was the last morning of the trip, the car was packed, we just wanted a good picture of this potential wedding site to take home with us.

On the last photo I clicked the button to set the 10 second timer... ran over to be in the picture with Kelly.... and fell into a gopher hole. It was pretty crazy, but luckily the timer on the camera caught Kelly and Tater coming to my rescue!!

After I rolled my ankle. 

Field of Dreams 

Tater in the field

Elevating and icing! 

A little more ice before our 12 hour car  ride home!

This is a day 3 picture. Look at the sweet  bruise!

Kelly luckily had his cell phone on him so he called Chico's front desk so I wouldn't have to hike down. One of their grounds guys came up and took us three down in a golf cart. He was so nice and went straight to the gift shop for something to drink and some advil. When he saw how huge my foot had already swollen up he thought I needed to see a doctor right away.

This was definitely not my first sprain so I knew what to expect so I left my first aid needs in the hands of my future husband. Kelly was pre-med for a year and apparently had a couple years of athletic training in high school. His first reaction after I stopped crying and he looked at my ankle was "Well there isn't anything sticking out." Thanks Kel. :) He also joked that the camera may have caught a picture of him passing out if he saw the actual sprain, but fortunately it was deep in a gopher hole and I just looked like I was tripping.

But really, Kelly did a great job wrapping my ankle up and keeping ice on it for the day or two following the gopher-hole injury.

I thought this was pretty funny, and luckily it was just a sprain, and the fact the camera caught a picture of it is pretty great. I love the moments I get to spend with people doing challenging things; at work, at home, backpacking, learning new skills etc. Sometimes they are freak accidents that become opportunities to deal with a challenge that you aren't always prepared for but will put you into that survival mode where your character of compassion, patience and strength will really come through.

And the people that help with the after math thank you! Thanks Mom for helping with laundry and driving, Becca for dinner help, Christa for the vino and fun company, Austin's medical expertise, and lots of concerned texts :)!

Kelly and Rachel

Pilchuck 2011

Rachel & Kelly's Story (the short and sweet version)
By: Rachel Crossen 

It would be impossible to contain all of the amazing moments I have had with Kelly this past year into a blog post, but I will do my best to share some of the highlights. Hopefully this is just a brief synopsis about both of us...so people that don't know us as well will get the scoop.


A Little Background
Kel and I both attended PLU and played sports, enjoyed our variety of studies and traveled abroad. Kelly had an immensely successful career as a football player and was a leader on and off of the field-- he is an all-round great guy, I get to do some bragging because not everyone has had time or the opportunity to meet him.  Through college we were good buddies, and part of the same group of tight knit friends. Birthdays, "Friend Thanksgivings", Super Bowl parties are some of fun times we'll remember with our shared crew of PLU-buds. I will do some bragging about myself and share that I loved to plan a lot of these activities and events with my girlfriends, which included a lot of cooking, kegs, party hats and most importantly organizing something for everything to do together-- & we will continue to do so as we all transition into our more grownup, big kid lives. During college I worked and volunteered in the community, studied in the international honors program, traveled abroad in India and graduated from PLU's School of Education. .

Tacoma 4th of July 2011

About Us Today
Kelly lives in Tacoma, WA with his cute corgi dog. He works in sales for his family's business, Totten Tubes. It's a steel tubing business that is located out of the Los Angeles area in CA. He loves what he does more and more everyday I think in part because of the people he gets to work with. I frequently find myself being kept up to date with how all of the great folks he works with are doing, I also get some major doses of knowledge about the fascinating steel tubing industry. I have been teaching since graduation in 2008, I have also coached high school volleyball, and have spent time working in a nonprofit that supports the academic success of students in foster care. I am now hoping to be back in Tacoma with a new teaching contract, keep your fingers crossed!

Lucky Us
Kelly taught me how to snowboard this year. I loved it. We frequented the summit for evening adventures, getting caught in some great powder with Liz one night, we were lucky to have our neighbor's beautiful ski cabin to seek shelter in! I think I have taught Kel some skills in the kitchen, or maybe he's just working on his repertoire as a taste-tester. Some of  the kitchen adventures; cooking tamales, canning asparagus, homemade carrot cake, granola, and of course tater tot casserole.
We love to travel, and had the opportunity to explore Belize and part of Guatemala with just our backpacks, hiking shoes and swimsuits. We were able to road trip the CA coast, ate crab and clam chowder in San Francisco, experienced the beautiful trees in Stanley Park in Vancouver, B.C., skiied, swam, sailed and met the family at Big Bass Lake, volunteered at the Ronald McDonald House in Seattle, dined in the we're-too-cool spots in Portland, OR, shucked oysters on Chuckanut Drive, biked/camped the San Juan Islands, escaped from Jetty Island in Everett, and have hiked to the top of Mt.Pilchuck to bask in the fading sun on the old fire lookout in the North Cascades.

You Betta Belize It!

To say the least we are very, very blessed with the opportunities we have had to grow together this year.

Family and Friends
We are thankful to have been welcomed into the families we have been able to visit with; mine in Minnesota, and Kelly's immediate family in Arcadia, and look forward to connecting with everyone else in the near future. The love, support and encouragement from our community of friends has been so awesome. Won't ever be able to say enough about our great friends and how much they mean to us.

Looking forward, Kelly and I are excited to plan a wedding and will be preparing for this next step in our life together through reflection, conversation, and some good ol' hard work.

Thanks for reading, love you all!

Looking Back at Big Bass Lake, MN

Some of the wonderful family and memories from the lake!

So happy Alex and Kelly are going to be a part of this family's history! 

At the lake I love... eating at 9:00 PM with my uncles manning the BBQ. I love seeing my great aunts, aunts, cousins, and my cousins children all in the same place (4 generations). I love how the decor in the bathroom and sauna will always be the same. Cruising the lake post or pre dinner. The old burn bin days. Trying to keep a bonfire going all night. Laura, Becca and I pulling each other behind the little boat. Listening to stories from years ago or from the past year. Paul and Babe. Ghost stories. King of the raft. Bike rides with Linda, one-on-one time with Mary Jo or Jerry. Seeing my awesome godparents. Remembering and honoring my grandparents Paul and Izzy.

Summer 2011-- Big Bass Lake, MN

Big Bass Lake, MN 

July 2011

I am so lucky to be able to go back to Minnesota every summer and spend time with my amazing family. This summer was exceptionally wonderful because Alex proposed to Becca on the dock. So epic. :) 

I love my family so much, we always have a ton of fun doing all of the lake stuff together. Minnesota lake culture is different than any other experience out there, and is even more unique on Big Bass Lake because of the deep family roots that go back generations.

"Lake stuff"-- swimming, using the old Finnish-style sauna, fishin', skinny fishin', horseshoes, lots and lots of competitive card games, bike rides, bonfires, great food and most importantly spending time with my super great family! :)

Engagement

Chico Hot Springs August 11th 2011

Chico  is one of my all time favorite places and Kelly made it extra special by proposing on the front lawn last Thursday!