Saturday in Seattle

Oh, what a perfect day! Overcast, chilly, and finally about 2pm... precipitation arrived! What a blessing to get the exact day I wanted!

First, a picture of the back side of the hotel from Friday night - taken from the water, more on that in a minute!
(my room was on 2nd floor, 5th window from the right - I forgot to close those drapes when I left!)

We went to Francesca and Nick's house first thing and it's so pretty! It's at the top of the Queen Anne section of Seattle and here's a sneek peek - cute little garden area right inside the gate and then cute blue house...

With this spectacular view...

See the Space Needle on the left and the water straight ahead?

Ahhhhh!

Then we were off on Francesca's first harbor cruise (where the picture of Edgewater was taken). We had so much fun just riding and looking at all the sights!

Cruise leaves from Pier 56, right next to The Crab House restaurant. See their sign over Francesca's left shoulder? 3 fisherman in their boat!

Then it was off to SPORTS to watch the Alabama-FSU game. Even though the game was dismal and hurt to watch - there was a contingent of the Alabama Alumni Assocation so I made some friends!

(Right when Francesca was taking this picture, they changed the channel on the TV behind me away from Bama. Just not right!)

Then on the way to the hotel, this was the view at a stop light -

And this was the view at the stop light next to the Fairmont - cool building, huh?

(what's that on the car window? Seattle RAIN!!!)

And then? Home Sweet Home for Saturday night. A girl could get used to this!

http://www.fairmont.com/seattle/

Good night...

Please do check back tomorrow night for pics from the Mariners-Rangers game and shopping at Pike Place. Yea!!!

Seattle Watch - Night One

Hello from... there are just not enough words for how much I love this city... Seattle!! One of my friends at dinner last night (pics below) asked me what is that makes me love it so much? My response? The weather (not raining yet but it's coming!), the water, the smell of the water, the ferry boats, all the other boats, the skyline, the island views, I could go on an on!

Here's the link for my first night hotel - So much fun!

http://www.edgewaterhotel.com/edgewater_home.aspx


So let's share pictures today by way of a commercial that we're all familiar with...
(yes, finally broke down and bought a new digital camera on the way to the airport yesterday!)

Cost of walking into hotel room at Edgewater ON Elliot Bay and thinking of the view when the drapes are opened... Priceless!


Weighing the option of watching the Alabama-FSU game on this TV with the view through the drapes or going to SPORTS, a sports bar across from the space needle, to interact with my Seattle people? :-)


Priceless!

Having dinner at Bell Street Diner at Pier 66 with friends FROM BIRMINGHAM and friends that have just moved to Seattle?

Yep, priceless!

from left to right -

Brian and Sharon, Mike's boss in Birmingham and his wife - they are so much fun!

Francesca and Nick, Francesca worked me at Sterling Brownell and they've just moved to Seattle for Nick to go to law school at Seattle University. I may have to visit them every 3 months!

Mike, my great friend from Birmingham that I used to work with at Blockbuster, that's in town for a conference on the same weekend!

Sitting here in this chair, with the bear ottoman, the roaring fire in front...

And this view to your immediate right?

PRICELESS!

More later - I won't be able to help myself!

Luke's Dedication, Mom's Birthday and Football (of course, it's FALL!)

Hey family and friends! Taylor Kate here writing to you prior to the 3rd week of Football Season. Daddy's team (Roll Tide) is 2-0 and Mommy's team (War Eagle) is 1-1 but they'll come back. :-) Isn't Fall fun?!!


I have loads of pictures to share with you this week as we had a big weekend! We celebrated my Mommy's birthday, Luke had his Baby Dedication at Johnson Ferry and... again, it's Football Season!


Here's the picture of Luke on the big screen at church. For Luke's dedication, Mommy and Daddy said to the church that they are making the commitment to raise Luke in a Christian home just like they did with me! Daddy held me so I was there too (and I waved to everyone and said "Hey"!!).


Isn't he cute?!!

Now it was time for Luke to have lunch so in some of the pictures he's forgotten that he's hungry and is looking at the camera... like this one with my Memo (Mommy's Mommy, Martha) and my Pa (Mommy's Daddy, Russ) -

Here we are with Aunt Natty (Mommy's Great Aunt) and Luke has still forgotten that he's hungry. Isn't this a great picture of all of us?!! (You can click on it and make it BIG!)

Uh oh! Luke remembered it was lunch time in this one! Here we are with Grandmother (Daddy's Mommy, Margaret), Grandad (Daddy's Daddy, Allen) and Great Grandad (Mommy's Daddy, Buford). I think I might have been looking at our great dog, Arletta, in this picture!

And here with are with Aunt Sh-Sh (Sheri, you know the one that lets me use her Blog to keep you updated on us!).

Now immediately after the last picture, guess what we did?

Yep, we fed Luke his lunch! :-)

And what did I do while Luke ate?

I twirled!

And you know what happens when I twirl?

I get dizzy!

And you know what I do when I get dizzy?

I look like this - "Whoa!"

Now all of that happened on Sunday but we celebrated Mommy's birthday and watched football the day before on Saturday. Here's Luke in MY Alabama outfit - that's right, it's a hand-him-down. I've mentioned before that Luke smiles and giggles all the time! See?

And here's one of Mommy and Memo about to light a very special candle for Mommy's Birthday Cake. The candle plays "Happy Birthday to Mommy"!!!! Wow!! We all thought that was funny!

And one more picture of Luke to "Tide" you over until next time. (I just can't help it).

Bye-Bye for now!

Daddy says "Roll" and I say "Tide"!

Hello family and friends! Did you like the last posting by my brother, Luke? I taught him everything he knows (which is not much yet but he's coming along!). He wanted to do this posting too but I explained to him that we have to take turns!

So, something very exciting has happened! I started SCHOOL!! Yea!! Daddy says we can't call it school yet because I'm only 20 months old and he doesn't want to rush me growing up but I'm going to the Wee School at our church on Tuesday mornings and boy, oh boy, is it fun!

Momma and Aunt Sheri said I should show you this picture first because I look so sweet...

But if you know me well then you know I usually pose for pictures like this instead. :-)

I'm still sweet either way but I like to cut up and have fun rather than just looking sweet. Oh yeah, and I like to dance!

Luke's telling me to show you a picture of him so here he is swinging on the back porch at Grandmother and Grandaddy's house. He's getting big, huh? He's still pretty little in the swing though! And let me tell you, my brother thinks that I am funny! He just looks at me and giggles pretty much all the time!

So Momma and Daddy's teams both won their first game of the year. Whew! (Grandaddy's team won too - Tech beat Notre Dame - Wow!!) Momma's game was close. Aunt Sheri and Daddy tried to cheer for Auburn... at least until Momma went to bed... but they must have been cheering for Auburn on the inside because they were awfully quiet.

Daddy's already taught me what to say when he says "Roll". "Tide" of course! Here we are kicked back on the couch getting ready for kickoff. Rollllllllllllllllll. Tiddddddddde. Rolllllllllllll.

And here's a full view of me in my pretty dress that Daddy bought for me and Aunt Sheri's hat that Momma bought for her. Please look at my jewelry! I like to wear Aunt Sheri's watch and bracelet when she comes to visit!

How was your Labor Day? We had a fantastic day! We went to the park in the morning and had so much fun that Luke just passed right out... See?

Isn't my Momma cool?!!

And then we went to Chucky Cheese's!!! Ch-ch please, ch-ch please, ch-ch please - this is what I say all the time now to Momma and Daddy asking them to take me back to Chucky Cheese's. I loved it - it was so much FUN!! I danced, I played video games with Daddy, I rode rides. See?

We'll do another posting later in the weekend with pictures of Luke's Dedication at church on Sunday. See you soon!!

Hey - It's me... Luke!

Hello! What's happening everybody? This is a big day - my first blog posting!! Yea!

TK will be doing most of the posting for now as I'm still working on my hand-eye coordination (I'm actually dictating to Aunt Sheri right now).

So... how's your summer? Our's is going great! I've spent quality family time in Talladega and in Macon but it's about time to hunker down for football season!

Speaking of football season, how do you like the hat? And yes, I specifically asked for the picture to be made this way first...

And then this way...

Oops, um... what's that on tv? That's Dora, she's my sister's favorite! I'm still weighing my options on favorites - will it be Diego? Could be. Will it be Spongebob? Maybe. Will it be the Wiggles? Possibly. I might even go 'old school' and watch Danger Mouse! (I'm hip already, huh?)

Anyway, I digress, I had to wear the hat since Dad's already taught TK how to say Roll Tide! I think Momma's working on the other team but Aunt Sheri said she can't type those words!

Here's a picture of Taylor Kate on the slide at church - isn't she cool?

And TK and Daddy on the merry-go-round at the mall - I CAN'T WAIT to ride it when I get bigger. Maybe I'll do it with no hands!

Now, are you ready to see my cool chair?

I love this chair! They are all the rage now and I can see why! Thanks for reading my first posting... Hopefully, I'll get to post again soon... At least before football season - only 14 more days!! Woo hoo!

Ecuador 2007 - Part Two

Sorry it took so long to post more Ecuador memories but here they are... And boy what a memory is the first picture! This was the wonderful and delicious lunch after church on Sunday in Montalvo where we spent the week with the medical team and in VBS.

I think I've started a yearly tradition of a picture with some of the awesome kids at the end of a great day, utterly exhausted but joyful in the Lord for all that He was doing! Aren't they absolutely beautiful?

I mentioned in the Part One Posting that we participate in 3 ministries while we are there - medical clinic, construction and VBS. Here's a great picture at the medical clinic of our trip leader and my very good friend, Jennifer Miller, with one of our translators during the week, the sweet and generous-of-heart Carlos!! Now we had fun captioning these types of pictures and we think this one is:

Jennifer - Um... what are they saying?

Carlos (thinking carefully)- Um... how am I going to translate this woman's condition? (Keyword being WOMAN's condition).

:-)

Here are Margaret and Phyliss at the "pharmacy", aka table of goodies!

Our VBS craft room for the week - Jody (in the hat) and Lark (in the pink shirt) helped the kids so much!

We take a picture every year on the actual Equator so here's all 18 of us (if you click on the picture and make it big, you can appreciate fully the sisterly bond between Caroline and Anna!).

And saving the best for last, here's our group with the special people from Montalvo Baptist Church. Please do click on this picture and make it big so you can see the beautiful scarves that they made for us and presented to us on the last night!

Hello to all our friends in Ecuador! We miss you and can't wait to see you next summer!!

Summertime with Friends

Hey everybody! Again, Aunt Sheri has dropped the ball on updating all of you so I must take over and share news, updates, pictures...

We, of course, must start with a picture of me and Luke to tide you over until the next posting later in the week. I'm toying with the idea of letting Luke post but just can't decide quite yet! It's a lot of responsibility you know - picking the right pictures, giving good details to go with the pictures...

Anyway, here's one of us before leaving for church. I know - Luke's growing fast, huh?

And one of Momma and Daddy on their big "Widespread Panic in Charlotte" weekend. Aunt Sheri promised Dad that she would post a picture of JB from the band to go with this one but the file wouldn't come across for some reason (I promise, Dad!) so we'll include that one in a later posting.

Aren't they cute?

So here's Uncle Brian (Daddy's bestest friend other than Momma) and Luke. Uncle Brian gets upset with Aunt Sheri when she "posts" non-TK and/or Luke related news. When she does, he tells her to get her priorities straight. HA!!!

Isn't he cute too?

And here's a picture of Momma and her bestest friend, Aunt Angel. Aunt Angel and Uncle Patrick are Murphy's momma and daddy. We know that Murphy and Luke will be best friends too. Isn't that great??

That's all for now but I promise that there will be other postings later this week. One from Aunt Sheri with more Ecuador pictures for us to enjoy and maybe one from Luke... We'll see if he's up to the challenge! :-)

Ecuador 2007 - Part One

Buenos noches everyone!

I wanted to do a blog posting about my recent trip to Ecuador on a mission trip with my church, Johnson Ferry Baptist Church in Marietta. However, as I'm still without a camera (can you believe it stopped working the day Luke was born?) - I'm relying on the kindness of friends that are sharing their pics with me! I'll do Part 2 of the posting with many more details and more pictures shared after our picture party!

Here's a picture of Tungurahua, the volcano that erupted the day we left camp last year!! Camp Chacauco is where we stay while we are in Ecuador (other than the first and last nights at the Howard Johnson's in Quito - more on that in the next posting) and the camp is 5 miles from the base of the volcano.

Camp Chacauco is home to the people that we love and pray for and love some more and pray for some more and on and on. Steve and Carol Thompson are the missionaries that started the camp and God is using them as an integral part in spreading the gospel in Ecuador. They are joined at the camp by several truly "divine" staff members that I'll post pictures in Part Two -

• Sweet Ovidio that leads VBS better than anyone could ever dream of doing
• Handsome Estevan that shared the plan of salvation with all the people that came through the medical clinic
• Phenomenal Sadie that is finishing up 2 years at the camp and is patiently praying for as she says "finding where God's plan and her desires meet"!
• Awesome Sarah that is the new "kid" on the block but jumps right in to help at every opportunity!
• Wonderful Carlos, a seminary student in Quito that's spending a few weeks at the camp and who was so patient in translating for the medical team all week!

We miss all of them already and can't wait to hug them next year!

This is a picture of the church in Montalvo where the medical team worked all week and where we did VBS in the afternoons. The pastor and his family are remarkable people and the church touched our hearts in ways that we will never forget! More on all of them in the next posting with their pictures!

I'll post a group picture of all 18 of us next week but for now here I am with the the "youngsters" in our group in our 2nd most often mode of transportation - the handy pickup truck. The big "buss" (how it's spelled on the bus) is great when all 18 were traveling together but there's nothing like being in the back of the pickup with the wind in your hair as you go around seriously winding curves on the sides of very big mountains!

Anna and Caroline (2nd year for both on the trip!) are the youngsters' names, daughters to Steve and Susan Sanders, and goodness what a family! The parents are spectacular and the girls... there are no words for how great they are! Both are so smart, witty, special, and as Anna would say "beautiful"!!!

Now, the way the week works is that part of our team has a medical clinic all day in the community that Steve has arranged for us to assist. The other team does VBS in the afternoons but how do we spend our mornings you ask?? CONSTRUCTION!!! And let me tell you how much fun it is! Lots and lots of fun. I would have never guessed that hard work such as this could be so much fun!

We worked on an "education annex" for the church in Patate led by the amazing Anhil and his fabulous family who are also very active in Camp Chacauco and very special friends to Steve and Carol. I'll post a picture next week of the inside of the church a year later as when we were there last year, there was no roof!! Now it's stunningly beautiful!

Here's the before shot:

And here are two of the after shots:

Tongue and groove boards make a very pretty wall, huh? Ok, how many people that know me well are saying what? When did Sheri learn "tongue and groove"?? Um... last week! And you know what else I learned? How to use a nail gun - watch out! - and a chisel to leverage the boards and pull them in line to nail down as demonstrated here -

Seriously, can you believe it? I still can't! Not only was it fun learning how to put up the walls but I didn't hurt myself which is a feat for me! (And no, I didn't hurt anyone else either!).

Now, may I brag for a moment? See the concrete part at the bottom of the last picture? My great friend, Sabre, and I notched out the piece of wood to go around the concrete all by ourselves... Maybe you had to be there but oh, the pride we felt when we did it without yelling, "Danny!!!" (that had to come help us on more than 100 occasions)!

Oh, and we kept up with "Quotes of the Day" so I'll share one now and more in the next posting. Here goes (and this is probably a had to be there kind of thing so mainly for my fellow trippers): Did you know you shouldn't operate a nail gun while you have the hiccups? Safety first!!

And for the final touch... Proof that we were pros with the hammer, nail guns, levels, and chisels. Note, I didn't say ladders as we drew the line at climbing on something we could fall off of - we left that to the youngster, Anna, the hammer master! Yes, we could have faked this picture but we didn't, just posed at the end of a long day!

Thanks for taking the time to share in Part One of the Ecuador experience! Please visit again in a few weeks for Part Two that will include many more pictures, more of the stories and fun from the week, introductions to other brother and sister team members, etc.

It's amazing how God can work on you and through you at the same time and that's been clear to me both years in Ecuador. I can't wait to go back in July 2008 (serious Spanish cramming this year though!).

Adios!