Natalie & Ryan: Short-Lived

So we're back from Seattle! There's lots to tell, so let me start at the beginning.

We drove down to Wenatchee early Thursday morning. Despite having to endure listening to the Fiddler on the Roof soundtrack for 2 1/2 hours, everyone survived. Lilly continuously impressed everyone with how well she behaved. I was just anxious to finally have Grandma Griffin meet her. When we pulled up to her house, I let everyone get their greeting first. As I walked into her house, she went shoving past the boys and all I heard was "move, I need to get to that baby!!" She didn't want to hug or see anyone else but Lilly. She instantly fell in love. I handed the baby over, and all grandma said over and over was "I love you, I love you, I love you..." It was so special. Lilly LOVED grandma! She broke out into the cutest smile every time she saw her. Grandma's "little lamby" or her "blessed baby," as she called her.

Just like grandma, everyone in the family adored Lilly. She was a huge hit. Thanksgiving dinner was amazing, as always. I enjoyed having Lilly sit on my lap during dinner, as I fed her potatoes (which she loved), sweet potatoes, and pumpkin pie. She also loved getting to drink out of mommy's glass of water. Friday was spent mostly napping and watching LOTS of football. Seriously, our family is addicted to football. My dad loved getting to flashback to when I was a baby, and I would sleep on his chest while he watched sports. Lilly passed out for a good 3 hours on her grandpa, and I think I can say he was in Heaven.

I always hate having to say goodbye to grandma. She gets so sad. Lilly fell asleep and was tucked into her car seat before grandma could hold her or say a real goodbye, so that made me sad. But hopefully we can go back up next summer and see her again... The ride home to Seattle was quick and quiet. I think I actually got a nap. We hurried so that we wouldn't miss the big ND game. We ordered pizza and enjoyed watching the Irish whoop USC. My ND is going to the National Championship! WOOO! We were one happy family last night, I'll tell ya!

Departing this morning was sad. Clay broke down crying when we had to go. I know we all wish we could stay up longer and spend more time with him. He's loney. Lilly sure did love getting to spend time with all of her family...The flight home was also quiet. She fell asleep before takeoff and woke up only ten minutes before we landed. I always love how the trip home feels shorter than the trip out. On our drive home, we were commenting on how quick the trip went. It seriously flew by. But I won't lie, I was just excited to get home to a bed that wasn't rock hard and a house that wasn't full of a loud, yelling family. Seriously, I never realized how loud my family was until I had to spend 4 days shushing everyone for Lilly's sake.

Anyway, we came home, relieved the travelling was over, only to walk into one of my nightmares. As we were leaving the house Wednesday morning, Ryan accidentally shut the door to the laundry room...the room where the kitty litter boxes are. So, you can imagine our horror when we walked into a house FULL of kitty poo and pee everywhere. It looked like a bunny had been set free, with how many little pellets were everywhere. I made the mistake 3 TIMES of grabbing something, putting it up to my face, and saying "did they pee on this?" only to find that yes, they had peed on it, and I just sniffed in a big whiff. Fortunately, they only peed on things that I could clean; the curtains in our bedroom, and all of the pet beds that were laying around. They also turned the cute blue and brown picnic basket into a make-shift litter box. Suffice it to say, it's been thrown away. Sad. But I think we successfully cleaned everything up. Just to be sure, we're going to rent a carpet cleaner this Saturday. I won't feel okay putting Lilly down on the floor or letting her toys touch it until it's been cleaned.

Other than that, the trip and travelling went really well. Lilly was so perfect and made everyone fall in love with her. No surprise there. I can't wait until we can go back up.