Mission Tour/Graduation Trip

As most of you know Stephanie graduated this spring with a degree in Elementary Education and an emphasis in mathematics. 

Scott served in the Washinton Kennewick mission, which covers most of South Eastern Washington, and parts of the North section of Oregon. 

We headed out around noon on Friday April 29th, since Stephanie was 25 weeks along, we decided to split the trip up a bit so that first night we stayed in Boise.  The next morning we headed to Kennewick, we got into town about 3:30 and Scott took us around.  We visited the temple, then went and found the converted chicken coop he lived in, then we enjoyed a walk along the beautiful Columbia River.

On Sunday we headed to Yakima.  Scott served for about 7 months in this area (two different transfers)  We were able to attend one of the wards he served in, and then they had a break the fast so we were able to socialize with a lot of the people he taught/served with in that area.  We stayed with the Russell's (Scott's mission parents)  on Sunday and Monday night, they treated us just like we were family.  Momma Russell always had a beautiful breakfast for us, and made up a room just for us!  Here is a picture of momma and pappa Russell, Kadee their daughter, and momma Russell's nephew.  Also a picture of Brittany, Bill and Sean the Russell's daughter who Scotty helped reactivate while on his mission.

On Tuesday we made our way to Seattle.  We took a 60 mile detour to visit the village of Leavenworth, very worth the detour!  Heading into downtown Seattle we stopped at the temple, what a beautiful, and huge temple!  When we got to the hotel we were both so tired we just relaxed and watched NCIS that night.

 

Wednesday was a day at the ballpark...  Scott is a diehard Mariners fan, and so of course we had to go down to the field and do a tour.  While we were waiting for the tour we were in the team store, and of course one of the workers convinced Scott that one game was not enough, so we went and got tickets for that evenings game, our seats were on the front row in left field right by the bullpen.  The following are some of my favorite pictures of the tour, then a picture of where our seats were, and a few pictures from the first game we went to. 

We went to the game a little early and were able to see the Rangers do batting practice.  Scott had his mit with him and was amongst all of the little boys fighting to catch a homerun ball.  I sat up higher to avoid the craziness, but low and behold I got a ball, and Scotty didn't...

Thursday it was kind of a dreary rainy day, but we ventured out and walked to the space needle, we went up to the top, but don't think we would do that again, it was too expensive, and we didn't get much out of it.  Then we went on "The Duck Tour" this was worth every penny, you ride in an old WWII land/water craft and tour the whole city both land and water. 

We went home and took a little nap (mostly for Steph's sake because she was so tired).  We went down to Pike's place to see what that was all about then we headed to the baseball park again.  We were able to catch some of the Mariner's batting practice, and then settled in for another game.

Friday we geared up for the trip home.  We went from Seattle to Boise, boy was that a LOOOOOONG stretch!  Thank goodness Scott drove.  When we got into Bosie we went and visited one of Scott's best friends and they threw a baseball for a while.  We went the rest of the way home on Saturday.

Overall we drove almost 2000 miles, very fun, and I would do it again in a heart beat!  So glad we did this before our little girl comes along, it was much easier without having to lug everything around for adults plus a baby.