The Great Outdoors

Vancouver, BC Canada
First off is Vancouver, BC trip. I didn't take too many pictures because we've been here before so most of the pictures are from my sister and her friend's camera. We (they) chose site seeing so that involved a lot of driving. I was the driver so this is what I have to say about it: 'Wow! Vancouver is huge!' Last time we were there it was cloudy and snowy. It was bright and sunny when we went and we could see everything, except we didn't see everything and ran out of time. The beach was full of people. I prefer less crowded beaches but the sights were stunningly beautiful. All of the northwest is so beautiful. It's only fair God made it so that it has a lot of clouds in the sky to hide some of its beauty, otherwise other places would feel intimidated.


Seattle Symphony
A friend of mine told us that the Seattle Symphony is performing at Pine Lake for free for the Issaquah/Sammamish community so we quickly gathered our stuff and headed out to the park after Dan got home from work and thoroughly enjoyed the music. The kids got free snacks, beach balls, and the best part was Reena winning a free photoshoot session, a $300 value. We were pretty excited when they called her name as the winner. It's just fun to win stuff even though her mom is a photographer and could do her portrait pictures just as well.

Ensign Ranch Ward Campout
Our ward had a campout at the church's campsite and we went with our friends. We all had a great time even though we hardly got any sleep. My friend Shellee asked me to reserve her a spot next to ours so I did, gladly even. I realized later that night that perhaps I should've reserved a spot a little further out. Her husband snored so loud and kept us up pretty much most of the night, adding on to the fact that we have a baby who kept waking up looking around and asking to go bye bye. We loved camping out with close friends though and the ward had several fun activities. We did a lot of singing by the fire and it was all very very fun. Brie was the youngest kid there and everyone knew it that night. :) She made sure everyone heard her.

Reena and Brie kicking back and enjoying the campsite, at least before 7:00.
These were the other activities we did the day after at the campsite. The funnest was probably the family canoeing. We had never taken our kids out canoeing before. Brie kept reaching over the canoe to touch the water. It was very scary for me watching her. We all made it out alive!
-Horseback riding
- Going down on the Giant Slip and Slide. This looked really fun but Reena went down once and was pretty much done with it. Thankfully she had a friend there to help her go down so we didn't have to get wet.
-Family Canoeing



I love this picture of Brie. Doesn't she look like a country girl?

7th Heaven Anniversary
We love the outdoors. Can you tell by our previous blogs? God's creations are way more beautiful than anything man could create. We've enjoyed living here so much. The people are very nice here and very active. We hope to be like them. Nice and active. So of course what did we decide to do for our anniversary? Kayaking. We gave thoughts to doing a dinner cruise out to the Peninsula, whale watching and site seeing on the San Juan Islands and considered other things, all of which would require a family member watching the kids otherwise babysitting cost would be too much. Unfortunately my sister went back to Philly so that made it easier to decide. My mom also has volunteered to come out later in the year so that's still on the list but kayaking is always our favorite so why not. We started out in Portage Bay, then Union Bay and finally out to Lake Washington. We saw a beautiful view of Mt. Rainier and we weaved through the world's longest floating bridge and all right here in Seattle, a half an hour from home. After our long excursion, we were so hungry. We quickly put our nicer clothes on and went to one of our favorite restaurants, which we are now making an anniversary tradition as well. The craziest thing was we got the EXACT same table and server as last year. So we ordered the EXACT same meal as we did last year - the campfire feast which included a 12 sample platter, 2 steaks main course, and a yummy dessert which we got extra just by mentioning that we are making BLACK ANGUS our anniversary tradition. We ate so much our stomachs hurt and we had to pack up our dessert which we had next day for FHE. It was all very wonderful. It's fun to have traditions.






House Plans Update
In terms of our house, it's going along well. We just recently got approval from the Highlands, the community we're building in. We also got the house plan and land appraised and it came out $200,000 more than it will cost to build. You might ask, "how is that possible in this economy?" and the answer is because of this economy. We were able to get the land for $40,000 less than its value and because we're doing it custom, we add things that have character and distinction and take out the unnecessary stuff. But it isn't as simple as that. It has been a very long process with lots of research, designing and redesigning.
Well Ciao, chao tam biet. Until next time. Thanks for reading our blog! We always enjoy your e-mail comments on our blog. Love, the Stevens.

Big city, little people

This past week is just as crazy as any other week at the Seattle Stevens house. We really try to enjoy the fun though. We FINALIZED our house plan and it came out looking pretty decent. The best part of switching to this builder rather than our previous builder is we're saving $20,000 and comparing to the houses around the neighborhood. we're saving $100,000! We helped design it. That's the cool part. Dan's mostly excited about the extra large garage that will be his shop and still be able to fit 2 cars. I'm excited about the kitchen which I intentionally want to be in the center of the home as I cook and bake a lot. The 3 window seats will be lots of fun for the kids as well as a playroom downstairs with the light french door so the parents could still see the kids but no toys in the family room. We're building this with kids in mind, and on a budget.

Blueberry Time!
Her eyes match up with the blueberries around her.
Before I write anything else about this past week, I just want to say thanks to my phone. This blog entry has many pictures from my phone, not bad I think.
Seafair Parade
Seattle has an annual event called the Sea Fair that goes for the whole summer and this last Sea fair weekend was huge. It included the hydroplane races and Boeing airshow. Since we included pictures of the Blue Angels last year, I thought this year we would include a picture of the parade of ships. Lake Washington looked as beautiful as ever but especially fun and exciting on Seafair weekend. We loved driving on over the floating bridge and counting the hundreds of sail boats and the ships. Picture from my phone so not as great but still captured the beauty.
I took my sister and the kids out to Carceek park. The park sits by Puget Sound and has the train tracks running on the edge of the park. We saw several trains and light rail trains passing over the bridge. It was very fun for the kids.
A Russian guy and his friend took pictures for us and asked if I were babysitting my 2 kids. I told him they were mine and he didn't believe. He thought I was only 16. Wow!

Seattle Woodland Zoo

My little bug got a bug!
My sister was able to come out and be with us for the month of July and August because she has been taking an online class. She got done with it and did real well so to celebrate she took Reena out on a super aunt date. She took her to see Despicable Me and to Barns and Noble to pick out a book and then took her to McDonalds for a treat. When Reena got home she looked real tired but very happy. I could tell she had a blast. Next morning however she didn't feel the same. She woke up twice in the middle of the night and woke up gagging. She vomited and looked horrible. Canada trip was on the calendar and we were meeting up with my sister's friend in Vancouver. So her daddy, being the wonderful man that he is offered to take care of her while we go. It was very hard for me but if I were to stay home Brie might catch it and everyone would be miserable. So we went. Reena felt better by mid day and we were able to see many pretty places in that beautiful city of Canada. (More to come on the next blog)
Merry go round
Every time we go to the Zoo Reena wants to ride on the merry go round. She's crazy about them so I promised her we would return with cash to take her on the merry go round. So we did and went back to the Zoo, twice in 1 week!

Other than that, our week has been our normal fun stuff like blueberry picking, baking trophy cupcakes, visiting beaches, going to the park, riding bikes lots and lots of time, playing outside everyday (I can't keep my kids outside and their mommy is still very new at sunblock), and eating a lot of ice cream. For a while I was addicted to McDonald's cones.


It took her 10 minutes to go 5 feet. Her daddy decided that was enough for her.


Mommy, I think it's time to change my diaper and wash my face! Thanks.

The ADVENTURES of the SEA Stevens

Activities of the past week.
Raspberry picking, blueberry picking, bike ride on Alki beach, swimming in community pool, visiting with adopted grandparents, trail walks, swimming in our backyard pool, boat ride, Denny Creek.
Around here, raspberry picking is an adventure. I don't know if when it's within 15 minutes of your home you could call it an adventure but the kids absolutely loved it.
They have boxes there you could use but we brought a bottle of water to wash the berries on the field to eat. Brie used the empty bottle to put her raspberries in.

Adventure #1: Aquarium
The Seattle aquarium is always going to be a favorite around here. It sits over water of Puget Sound so they have a section that you can sometimes see the fishes swimming in the water.


We took the kids to the community pool 3 blocks from our house and they had a blast! With so many lakes and ocean water around us we rarely go to pool.


These are the Nguyen's adopted grandparents. They are the sweetest people on earth. They make us feel so special. They drove all the way from Utah to see us. We took them out to eat by the beach. We love them so much.

Adventure #2: Denny Creek.


What made Denny creek really neat was seeing the freeway running on the top as we walked below. Somehow it felt very futuristic.
On the path was a huge hollowed tree that all of us could fit inside. But this picture of just Reena is cuter. She really liked this tree.
We saw the creek along the path and then we came to this! The place of many falls. There were about 3 stacks of water fall. We didn't even get to the top. Maybe next time when we don't have the kids with us.


Adventure #3: Boat ride on Lake Sammamish


Adventurous you say? Yes. That's why we moved here. We don't have to find creative ways to have fun. We just up and go have fun. Yes we're very much loving this area. It's not just busy stuff we do, it's actually fun and entertaining. The outdoor activities are countless. Only one problem. Too much to do we don't feel the need to go anywhere else. But I will make sure we do find our adventures in other places. But we sure do enjoy not having to spend too much money with all this free outdoor funs. I had one mother told me that reading our blog makes her want to take her family out to do more stuff and that makes me very happy. I'm glad we could be an example.


It's so nice to have my sister here. I truly LOVE being the oldest child for one BIG reason. Your kids get spoiled by your siblings because they don't have their own kids to spoil. Once they have their own kids, they don't care as much for your kids. I love that every summer so far we've been able to have at least one of my siblings come and be with us. We love having my sister here and all the help she's been able to give as we get our house in order. We gave the bank all of our money and we're moving forward. We've been busy. We're greatly anticipating our back East trip. Hopefully this time it won't be canceled due to the weather. Have a wonderful weekend everyone!