March for Life 2014

This was the first year I got to attend the annual March for Life in Olympia, and I  hope it is the first of many more to come! It was so encouraging to see so many people take a stand against abortion and for women! I drove up with Josh and Susie. It was even nicer to be there with friends!

As we stood and waited, large groups and entire buses of people started showing up…

There were so many groups of young people and young families there!

Then we lined up and started to march towards the steps of the capitol…

The steps were just about filled up by the time we got into sight…

     There were about 6000 people at the march! We filled up the steps of the Justice Building as well!

We opened in prayer (a violin solo of “Our Father”) and then heard from several of our state’s pro-life legislators, including two democrats. One of the last speakers was a representative from Tacoma (I think?) who had an awesome testimony of how he came to be pro-life just last year before the vote on the abortion mandate and how God cured him of cancer! It was a fantastic reminder to be praying for those in our government!

Afterwards, people from each legislative district went to their representatives’ offices to tell them that we were there for the March for Life. Our group also stopped and prayed for our three representatives. Awesome!

We learned a lot for next year: don’t pay for so much parking, bring notecards to leave with the reps, wear super comfortable shoes, have red roses, make our own signs and come with a van full of people! 

White Pass Ski Trip

For Christmas this year, we gave the family a day of skiing at White Pass. Chris, Will and Andy went last year and had so much fun they wanted to go again. And Zack totally wanted to give it a try, too! The boys came home for the weekend, Chris had the week off from church and the sun was out… the perfect time to go!

So we hit the road and headed up to the pass. It wasn’t cold or crowded, despite being a holiday weekend (thanks to the Seahawks game) and we couldn’t have asked for sunnier skies!

The guys all rented their skis and boards and hit the slopes.

I fully intended to spend the day in the lodge reading books and sipping coffee but how could I when the sun was shining! So, instead I walked across the street, put on my new snowshoes and hit the trail around Leach Lake.

the view of the lifts from the Nordic lodge

 

There wasn’t enough snow for the snowshoe trail so I had to just walk along the ski trail. But it was still a very pretty and easy walk for my first time on snowshoes.

There were lots of other “single old ladies” and families on the trail, which was nice.

Eventually, the trail ended up at White Pass campground right on the shores of the lake. It made me really want to try snow camping someday! Especially with such brilliant weather!

        I could see the hotel on the other side of the lake…

The prettiest part of the trail was on the far end of the lake just before getting back to the Nordic Lodge…

In fact, it was so pretty that I went back, got Chris and made him try out his snowshoes…

By the time we got back to the lodge, the game had started and the lights had come on for night skiing. It looked like a ghost town. Well, not in the lodge where everyone was watching the game. But it did make skiing even more fun with no wait and no one in your way… ;o)

On the way home we stopped in Packwood for supper and to finish watching the Seahawks win their way to the Super Bowl! The burgers at CliffDroppers were great! We’ll go there again next time we hit the slopes! I bet Super Bowl Sunday would be the perfect day to be there… LOL

Tom & Laura’s Wedding

Chris and I got to spend the day driving up to SeaTac for Tom and Laura’s wedding. We made a few stops on the way up at Cabela’s and the Almond Roca factory store. We also stopped for lunch at an awesome little German deli in Tacoma and had the best deli sandwiches on fresh pretzel rolls! Yum!

The wedding was at the airport Marriott during Rusty Con, a sci-fi convention. Before the wedding started, we got to poke around a bit and even took a few pics and did a bit of shopping! There were so many cool things to buy!

me & Tom’s Dalek

  very cool dragon!

Then we headed to the atrium to get our seats…

What a beautiful open place for an outdoor-feeling wedding inside!

the Leingang men: Chris, Tom & Larry

    

waiting for the ceremony to start

Everyone looked fantastic and the kids were adorable! Laura even had her own Imperial escort…

After the ceremony, we went to the reception and then to dinner with Chris’ dad, Larry and Teresa.  It was a very lovely evening! I am glad we got to be part of their very special day!

Leslie, me and the Storm Troopers

January Birthdays

This year we added another January birthday to our party: Johnathon. It takes a long time to light all the candles when you have 5 cakes (desserts)!

Lighting candles…

 

Still lighting candles…

Almost done

1…2…3…Blow!

Thankfully, we have so much fun together that we don’t mind the wait. :o)

 Uncle Chris and Princess Olivia

And there’s the presents… LOL

Apparently this is what you look like when transporting human organs in your lunch bag. ;o)