fautumn kitchen adventure

so i (andrea) decided to try some new fautumn recipes. i boiled the meat of our field pumpkins, pureed it, and then endeavored to make pumpkin soup!

the days are getting colder and soup makes me feel all warm and cozy, like that campbell's soup commercial, you know, the one with the snowman who comes in for a hot bowl of chicken noodle soup and the snow starts dripping away ending with a cute little boy full with good soup. well, no snowmen have come through our doors but the hot soup has made for some cozy rainy days.

fautumn is here!

**note regarding the title: one day i (andrea) was talking to aaron about the season that is upon us and i said, "i love fautumn!" i was so excited that i said both fall + autumn...= fautumn. this is now a regular vocabulary word in the garrett household.

indeed, fautumn is here and the colors around us are simply amazing. below are a few pictures aaron took just outside of the apartment.

we have had some great october weather with sunshiney days and cool nights. we have made it a tradition in our little garrett family to visit a pumpkin patch and do some pumpkin carving around this time. i have included some pictures from previous years here. aaron and i miss this little farm- mangini's fruit stand and farm in good old pleasant hill; it is one of our favorite places.
october 2007
october 2008 with finnegan

our visit out west to the olympic peninsula was a beautiful one. we drove the hood canal loop starting in bremerton and going southwest to hoodsport. there we stopped by a small farm (hunter farms) that had some good looking produce and a neat little hay maze. our drive then took us north to quilcene and ended with a ferry ride from bainbridge island back to seattle.

we didn't get any pumpkins at that little farm so the next weekend we searched for another place. we found Remlinger Farms in Carnation, WA. it was so cute. they had dozens of scarecrows and plenty of fresh produce...but the pumpkin patch was not open!
so with our hands still empty, we searched on for a pumpkin patch. and what a beautiful search it was! we saw some amazing valleys, streams and colors on our drive. we even saw steelhead and salmon spawning- there must have been over 100 fish in this small creek!

we picked our prize pumpkins at 2 bros pumpkin patch where aaron had to use shears to cut the stems away.

it was an unexpected beautiful fautumn drive and it left me thinking that it is amazing what an artist God is and that He blesses us with wonderful days of crisp air and scenery that is so pleasing to the eye.
we had fun carving our field picked pumpkins and baking some of the seeds.





did i mention that i love fautumn?

since the wedding...

after getting married we spent nearly a week in kauai for our honeymoon. it was amazing and we can't wait to go back! aaron graduated from cal poly, SLO with a bachelors of architecture and i (andrea) finished up my bachelors of science in nursing. we were blessed enough to live with my parents while we job searched. i interviewed with a couple of hospitals in seattle and accepted an RN position at virginia mason hospital in downtown seattle. so we packed up our things and headed north! we found a great apartment on mercer island just 10 minutes east of seattle.

we had just enough time to unpack and situate our things and then i immediately started an intense residency program which felt like nursing school on steroids- 12 weeks of endless studying and learning the ins and outs of the critical care life. well, i made it and to celebrate aaron and i took a road trip to eastern washington, drove through idaho, and camped in glacier national park, montana (with bandit of course). all i have to say is that we saw some of God's most beautiful handiwork. below is a picture of a marmot (i didn't even know this existed!) one of the many forest animals we saw on our trip.

we have enjoyed a beautiful washington summer with an average high of only 75-80 degrees and ample sunshine. naturally we found ourselves exploring ice caves, swimming in lakes and glacier fed rivers, and climbing mountains. another blessing is that we found a great church before we even moved. calvary chapel eastside has been a source of good Bible teaching and fellowship. aaron has really gotten involved with the church youth group and is even playing in a band with some of the kids in youth group. we are praying about a trip with the band to go minister to the churches in rome, italy- we will keep you updated. of course we miss family and have been able to make some trips back to both the bay area and bakersfield. but it has been a nice adventure being up here and settling into our first home. who knows where God will have us be down the road, but for now we are thankful for His continued provision and blessings and rest in His amazing love and grace for us each day.

a wink and a smile

this was the official beginning of the garrett
family. we were married on september 6th, 2008 in san anselmo, california. it was a beautiful, hot sunny day with friends and family.

'Now my heart is music, such a simple song
Sing it again the notes never end this is where I belong

Just the sound of your voice the light in your eyes
They’re so far away from yesterday
Together like a wink and a smile
We go together like a wink and a smile'