The 4th in Unincorporated Snohomish County

Wowza! The 4th of July in unincorporated Snohomish county is just bonkers! I'm almost at a loss for words to describe how crazy it was. It was definitely the craziest evening of fireworks I can remember. Also quite the change from living in Seattle, where fireworks are banned (except for maybe sparklers) unless they are a part of a big public show. Up here fireworks stands abound, and folks just go nuts.

Unfortunately it was freezing last night, but that didn't stop anyone. We just bundled up and lit up the fire pit. Instead of cold beer, we drank hot coffee with Bailey's and settled in on the front lawn for the show. Our culdesac has two boys of the perfect age, 11 and 13, for blowing stuff up. It's been quite a few years since Noah was able to light fireworks, so he had a blast as well. He got the big boy lighter, though... the blow torch. Ahhh! In the end though, everyone kept all of the their fingers, and no unintentional fires started, so all in all it was a success!

My contribution to the whole shebang was the cake. I saw this cake on another blog, and just HAD to try it. It seems making elaborate cakes is kind of a fad hobby right now, and I haven't really attempted it much myself... until now. It wasn't without its hiccups (like the cake sticking to the pan and ripping in half - wah wah), but I think it actually turned out pretty nice despite my novice cake baking. Here it is:















Haha, just kidding:

Early Anniversary

Since we will be traveling to Montana next Sunday on our actual anniversary, we went out this last Saturday night to celebrate our first anniversary. We had dinner at the top of the Columbia tower. It was beautiful and delicious, and they gave us a seat right in the corner overlooking the whole city and sound. For those of you not from Seattle, the Columbia towner is the tallest building in Seattle, and the top floor is the 76 stories high. The sunset was goooorgeous!

I got Noah a new driver for his golf set, and dropped it off early so they brought it out when we were having dinner. I actually surprised him, which is a hard thing to do! I love you, Honey! It's been an amazing first year as husband and wife, and I am looking forward to the many to come!

Hiking

Last weekend we tore ourselves away from housework and hiked Rattlesnake Ridge with some of the other employees at Noah's gym. It's not a terribly tough hike... 4 miles round trip, however, you are climbing a ridge, so the first half is completely uphill. Then you mix in a group of personal trainers and well, I'm sure you can imagine! :-) I did pretty well and was fairly pleased with my fitness at the end of it. However, the next morning I was so surprised to find I could barely make it DOWN the stairs. Apparently running down a mountain trail works all kinds of funny little muscles in your ankles and calves. Hmmm... not completely sure how to work those out in the gym. Anyway, there are some beautiful views from the top: