Fourth of July Fun

For Taylor and I, one of the HARDEST things about moving to Pullman was the fact that for two years we would be far away from our family members in Utah. 

Hatton Family
{Photo Credit: Tasha Poulsen Photography}

                 

Rasmussen Family

However, one of the BEST things about moving to Pullman is the fact that for two years we will be close to our family members in Washington! 

Last week I was excited to receive an invitation to have our little family attend Fourth of July celebrations with my Aunt Ruth Ann and Uncle David. Their family lives on a farm just outside of Toppenish.  Their three daughters (my cousins Marci, Tawni, and Melody) all live relatively close by and it made for quite the party!  We wanted to break up the 3 1/2 hour drive, so on Thursday we drove over to Grandma and Grandpa Tuckett's house in Mesa.  Grandma welcomed us with her usual supply of food and ice cream.  We even broke out one of the movies my Aunt Sheri recently sent to her. On Friday we all piled into Grandma's car for the trip.  It was fun to drive past all of the farms and orchards.  Grandma narrated the drive with stories about the family while Grandpa listed off the crops he could see and asked where we were about every three fields or so.  Taylor and I also enjoyed seeing Mount Rainer and Mount St. Helen's on the horizon and Grandma told us we should try to make a trip out that way sometime. 

In Toppenish I made a point to look out for the murals, and I'm pretty sure I was able to pick out the mural completed by my friend and UCA co-worker Helen Olsen.  I'd love to take the time to go back and explore more of the "City of Murals".  We spent the afternoon eating tons of food at the Kezar's luau themed barbeque and watched the kids enjoy the sandbox, makeshift kiddie pool, and water slide.  Grandpa was soon ready to get back home to his own bed, but luckily some homemade Butterfinger ice cream was ready for us before we left!  It was the kind of delicious stuff my Dad would have loved! 

Grandma was nice enough to let us stay one more night and we headed back to Pullman on Saturday morning.  Traveling sure made us tired, but being able to be around family this Fourth of July made it all worth it!

Family Updates:
Taylor: This week Taylor found some WSU fleece and decided to make a no-sew tie blanket.  We used some JoAnn's coupons to purchase the materials and he has been working at measuring, cutting, and tying.  He also made it through all three Jurassic Park movies and still found time to play on the Xbox when he wasn't watching Declan.

Elise: I had fun shopping at WinCo this past week and for me figuring out grocery shopping has always been a big part of feeling settled and at home.  I still remember sobbing after leaving my bag of groceries on the bus in my first area in Portugal.  Culture shock can be rough!  I'm still adjusting to having my days be about taking care of Declan and our home, but hopefully I'll be able to settle into a routine before Taylor starts school in August!

Declan: We've gone through more outfits this week than we have in a long time!  Declan has been spitting up a lot, but he has also been giving us lots of laughs.  He did great on our trip and rarely cried in the car.  He loved talking to Grandma Tuckett and Aunt Ruth Ann even got him to laugh.  He is still working hard at trying to move around.  

 

We are enjoying our Pullman adventure so far, but miss all of you!