Salty in Seattle

 It's becoming a new family tradition to spend a day in Seattle over the holidays.  It usually entails a great restaurant, a Broadway show and some shopping. Last year, when it was just Darel and at home for Christmas, we decided to drown our sorrows in a new restaurant, Salty's.  It is right on Puget Sound and on the weekends they turn the restaurant into an all you can eat seafood smorgasbord. It's pretty amazing.  Below is the view from our table.

Grandma Phyl even came up from SLC for the big day and to spend New Years with us.  As you can see from the pic below some of us were more enthralled with what's on the plate then smiling for pictures.  It was a bit out of control but I guess that is how Smarts do to things.

I love when Phyl and Dad, I mean Phillip, get around each other.  They just seem to feed off each other. Direct quotes from each of them:

"I'm going to add some lemon to my diet coke to make it healthier" -Gma Phyl

"Is it possible to eat so much you crack a rib?" -Phillip

Needless to say the whole brunch was one funny comment after another.  

 Shea, Darel, and I spent most of the brunch discussing which is better getting married or going to Salty's.  We always seem to plan the trip when the married sibs are with the in laws and so far only the single sibs have experienced Salty's.  The conclusion we came to was that a ring may not be worth missing out on Salty's...it's that good.

Christmas...finally

I have a million blog posts floating around in my head so I'm going to do a blitz--you've been warned.  I had forgotten how great the holidays are as a student.  You get tons of time off and nothing to worry about over your vacation.  I could definitely get used to three weeks at Christmas. The best part is 80% of the fam also falls under the student category so we were all home together for a long time.  It was the first time in two years we had Snick and Shea home for Christmas Day.  We didn't do anything out of the ordinary but it was just fun to spend so much time together.  Here is the run down:

I spent the first few days at the Portland "Zoo" where I hung out with my favorite animals, super heroes, and princess.  I also learned how to use the IPad.  Is it pathetic that my 2 and 4 year old niece and nephews have to teach me?

 

 

Next, it was off to Yaktown where the festivities began.  We took a million photo shoots with the Evster. Luckily, her mom is a paparazzi and she's used to being in front of the camera. 

 Went skiing twice.  It's been years since we hit up White Pass and over the years they have expanded to make it an actual ski resort instead of just a few chair lifts.  Skiing may be my new obsession and will definitively be on the agenda for future Christmases; even if Darel continues to wear her thrift store snow outfit and Nick tells me my ski outfit looks straight from the '80s.

We also did lots of lounging.  There may have been at least 2 days where I did not even get out of my pajamas.  Was I embarrassed when a friend stopped by at 7pm and I was still in my PJs from the night before? Nope, not when I'm on vacation.

 It wouldn't be a Christmas with out a lot of games.  This year we were obsessed with Ticket to Ride and boggle on the IPads.  At any given time we had two IPads going with 4 players and we'd pass the game around.  Before we knew it hours had passed and we were still in our PJs.  It was great!

 

 We spent time with roommates.  A trip home wouldn't be complete without seeing my favorite family, the Mickelsens.

 And of course we ate...a lot.  Shelly kept the food coming and we obliged but eating whatever was in front of us.  There is something like home cooked food, after eating spaghetti for three months straight, that just makes everything better.

Being at home was exactly what I needed to get ready for a new school term.