Spring Happenings in WA

I need to do a bit of catch-up with what's been going down these last few months. I'll need to write another post about having my parents and Austin's parents come visit. It's always fun to see family!

Mostly these are just pictures of the little exploring we've done in the last little while of areas around where we live. We live about 5 minutes away from a state park and I basically go there anytime the sun is out. They have huge open fields, about 20 different hiking trails, a castle playground (essentially Imagination Station of my childhood), and picnic tables galore. I don't think I'll ever get tired of going here.

Conference was the beginning of April and what a historic conference that was! From sustaining a new prophet to all the new changes, I've never been more excited to be 'active' in the gospel and not just 'busy with Church.' We love living close to family where we can make a quick weekend visit. We stayed with Ondalynn's family in Vancouver and got to see Viv's and Seth's families. 

We heard that a great date night idea is to go to Green Lake, near University of Washington campus. It has a paved trail that curves all around the lake. I think it's also next to the zoo. It was packed but we had a fun time playing "how long before we see the next UW apparel." We ended the evening by eating at Chipotle (Austin's first time-won't be the last).

 Then one night we took dinner and had a little picnic at the state park close by. We just love this place!

Oh hey, here's me at 30 weeks (now I'm about 34). 

April was Tulip Festival month in Skagit Valley. You never know the weather around here if it's going to be nice or rainy but I'm so glad we took a shot to go one Saturday and it turned out to be a beautiful day despite it being SO windy! Once we got off the freeway and we're on the country roads, we thought this is like the Palouse but just more green. There were beautiful open fields, farm land, and even a huge tree stump with a "for sale" on it.

Juanita Beach Park is also a hot spot for warm weather. It's a fabulous park area right along the lake. It's got sand volleyball courts, basketball courts, and a sandy beach. Plus a great view of Seattle's skyline. One night I thought we could take leftovers for dinner and hang out there but it was so packed. We found another park close by and it was so beautiful eating dinner next to the lake.

And here's random pictures of more beautiful areas from parks and trails we've been on.

 The picture below reminds Austin of Narnia which was fitting because I saw a mom and her two boys who had climbed one of these trees and read Lion, Witch, and The Wardrobe. Seems fitting I guess.