Portlandia

With our time off after Thanksgiving we decided to take a short road-trip down to Portland. I didn't take a whole lot of pictures, but here are a few highlights.

Here we are in a Chinese Garden downtown. It was really gorgeous.

Look how excited we are about that Tea House!
We saw this place was popular online, but we aren't huge doughnut fans so we weren't too sure. But after a few enthusiastic recommendations from friends we decided to go. The place looks like a dive inside and out, but the doughnuts were amazing. They came in a distinctive pink box, and we saw a bunch of other people carrying them around town.
Flashback to Philosophy 205 (Deductive Logic).... All good things come in pink boxes? Or all pink boxes contain good things? Well, the contents of this box were DEFINITELY good. This picture was taken after we had already eaten the one with maple frosting and bacon - DANG GOOD. These ones have oreos, cocoa puffs, and chocolate chips/peanuts/peanut butter/chocolate syrup/bananas. Yeah. I'm serious.

We also had a fun time checking out the Saturday Market and Powell's City of Books (a city-block size bookstore). And we had some great real food (besides doughnuts), too. Portland is a cool city, and I felt out of place not wearing skinny jeans... but whatever. At least I've got the dark-rimmed glasses to help me out. Even though we have a cool city nearby (Seattle) where we can go do similar things, it was fun to get away for a day or two.

PS-- It also helps that Oregon has no sales tax! I got a sewing machine! So look forward to more crafty posts!

Snow

We had a double birthday celebration last week (similar in intensity to a double rainbow) and Mother Nature decided to bestow upon us the much un-anticipated gift of snow. Lots of it (for the NW). It left the roads frozen and treacherous. Two cars were stuck in our apartment entryway for a few days. Most of Seattle shut down and lots of people put on chains. Yeah, it was pretty exciting.

So what do you do when life gives you snow? Make snowmen!!! On Thanksgiving morning we made a snow-family on MS campus. The snow was PERFECT for rolling into snow-people parts -- must be the humidity. We like to call them our snow-friends (from a Donald Duck children's book, "Donald makes a snow friend").

Ok, so we're not experts at making snow-friends, but they are pretty awesome, right? We also made an angry snow-friend (or enemy?) looking into Henry's bosses window.

Unfortunately for the snowmen, but fortunately for us, all of the snow melted later that day. I never thought I would be so grateful to hear the sound of rain outside.

Look what Tori made!

Tori spent a good amount of time today turning boring hoodies into great gifts for our nieces and nephews:

Get it? They're little monsters! Here's the shot with models:

Big Change

Yesterday I underwent a massive change in appearance. I know, it may be shocking, so prepare yourselves.

So in case you didn't notice I got a new pair of glasses! Yes... they are still black. Yes... they are almost the same... but they are different too! 1) More square 2) New prescription 3) Better lenses (see before picture for strange haziness on my right lens). Now tell me how awesome they are.

Products of our imagination

I carved a cute pumpkin:

Henry crafted one of his own :

No wonder we don't get any trick-or-treaters.

quick pic

Here is a cute picture I snapped while video chatting with my sister, Rebecca, and my nephew, Elijah. No, Rebecca and I are not the same person. Although we do make the same cheesy faces to try to get Elijah to smile (me, bottom corner; her, middle).

October!!!!

October will be a great month! Finally Sufjan is coming out with a new album! And we just bought tickets to see him in Seattle on October 30th! Maybe we'll wear Halloween costumes!

Now we get to sing wiggle songs

We must have been just a tad too friendly with the Primary President's kids (they really are adorable, so we couldn't help commenting). Or we just sub-consciously exude this need to be around children. Or someone thinks we just need some extra birth control help. Or we must have joked one too many times about being called into the Primary/Nursery as a young married couple. Or maybe our Bishop was inspired.

Whatever the reason (and not that we need one) Henry and I have both been called as Primary workers. We will be moving around a bit, but for the time being I am playing in nursery (I can't really call it helping or teaching), and Henry is teaching some rowdy 9-year-olds. It should be pretty fun :)

Mountain Mommas

I'm not exactly a Momma, but the "Mountain Mommas" hiking group happily accepted me into their posse. They are a lively group of women from our Relief Society church group. I may be the youngest by a few years, but we're all the same age in spirit :)

One of the signs on the trail gave a very detailed pictorial description of what could happen if one was careless and went off the trail. And for some reason I'm smiling.

We have hiked a few of the trails here in Western Washington and it's been a blast. Too bad it's going to start raining soon... I don't know how much of a hiker I am when I have to get wet.
Here's one thing I've seen a lot on hikes that I'm not used to...
... the banana slug! I've almost stepped on these guys so many times. Just imagine the carnage that would be left on your sneaker. Gross! Notice the finger there for size comparison -- and keep in mind that I have long fingers (piano-playing ones).


Henry (not a Mountain Momma) and I have also gone on some hikes while the weather's been nice. We are not very hard core, but we like nature and mild/moderate exercise.
Here he is with some stuff growing on a tree stump.

And here he is in a blurry picture that makes him look really fast. He actually was running fast, but I suck at taking in focus pictures which ends up making him look amazing and awesome.

And here is Henry being overcome by the beauty of the forest. Ah! All the beauty! (What does it mean!?!??!)

Seattle area map

This is my new favorite picture of the Seattle area.

From here.

Development in action

Oddities in Bing maps
1) Click this link.
2) Zoom out from the lot on the northeast corner of 12th st. and Bellevue Way.
3) Be amazed.
4) Send us money.

More Dorky Funnies

Here are some funny links from around the world wide interwebs:

Book: When a Daddy loves a Mommy very much...

Video: Star Trek getting krunk

Print: What more could you want!?!??! (only 3 left in stock!)




Yes, that's all we're doing in Seattle thanks to Comcast (wink wink, nudge nudge). When we do happen to get out of the house sometime, I'll post pictures.

I Spy -- 8-bit edition

The denizens of Microsoft Studio A have displayed their love for Nintendo with cool Post-it note art. Ten points for the first person to name all these characters correctly! -- H.P.T.

Kooza

So this show was totally awesome. Even Henry loved it. The show is playing in a big tent just a short-ish walk from our apartment, so we went last weekend. But seriously, the show was great, and it did have jaw-dropping moments where I couldn't help but say "wow" out loud. I felt like a kid.

On a more grown-up note, I started a job yesterday! It is a great company and I think I'll really enjoy working there. It's also a much shorter commute than to Salt Lake from Provo, so I'm excited.

Now Henry and I both have jobs where we can't talk about what we're doing. It works well since I don't get computers and Henry doesn't get science.

Seattle Cribz

Hello again! Just thought I'd post up some quick pictures of our new place. This is it all unpacked and decorated (I'm not that fancy so it didn't take too long, although as time goes on I want to replace some things). So now you can imagine that you are us, living an exciting apartment life!

A dishwasher! Gasp! We haven't had one since we got married, but it was a remarkably easy adjustment to make.

Please take note of our amazingly fancy entertainment center, built completely by Mr. Henry Tappen!


Once again, we are open for visitors! As you can see there is space on the couch... or the floor....

More Seattle fun updates to come!

Adventures in Seattle, Part One

Yesterday we experienced a little bit of nature. We headed out to the Juanita Bay Park (about 10 minutes away) and saw some of the wildlife at the wetlands area there. Our favorite part was when an otter swam up and made the Great Blue Heron really mad.

Isn't the back of Henry's head cute? I think so. The heron is just to the left of his head. We have now decided that we don't have the patience to be bird-watchers, but we do like it when someone is there to tell us what everything is (a nice lady who let us borrow her binoculars).

Later on we went to an art walk downtown (no pictures) and mingled with the locals. On the way back we saw the Space Needle from the freeway. This is Henry's rushed attempt to take a picture of it. I think it's behind the trees, so look really closely.


New favorite song, featured in Man on Wire. Peaceful and serene.

times are a'changin

The last two months have been relatively uneventful, but here is a quick list to get you back into our amazingly exciting life:

1. Henry graduated from BYU... and apparently he's been going to law school on the side in secret. His picture appeared in the Daily Universe above an article about the law school graduation. We found this funny since his home-teaching companion was an editor of the paper, and should have caught the mistake (or maybe the law school graduation was just too boring to send photographers to).
2. Henry's parents visited us during graduation. We had a nice time chatting and spending some time with the non-Rappin' Tappens.
3. We visited friends and family in good ol' Arizona. I unfortunately didn't take any pictures... but we got to spend some time with cute nieces and nephews, relax without any work, and get just enough sun to be ready to move to Seattle.

4. We packed up and left our studio apartment that we've so enjoyed for the last year and a half.
5. We moved to Seattle. Yes, the time has finally come for us to grow up and move away like big kids. We've been here for approximately 29 hours. I made the flight here while coping with food poisoning, so I made good use of the "Feel Better" bags... not very fun. More updates to come as we take pictures and explore the city! PS - pray for me so that I get a job!

Moab trip 2010 - feat. HPT, VAT and da Lefgrens

We just got back yesterday from a little vacation with my sister's fam. We drove down and did some hikes in the Moab area over a few days. Here are some of the highlights: No jackets (mostly)! Gross hotel pool! Cool rock stuff! Funny kid antics! Pretty scenery!

Here are da Lefgrens. They are pretty cool. Lucy doesn't know how to pose for pictures yet (far left).
Girls in a "cave". Emma and Lucy had more fun searching for "caves" than actually hiking.
A cute picture of Lucy. She almost smiled!
Henry looking cute. That's Corona Arch in the background (Cool Rock Formation #1). It kinda blends in with the rock behind it, but if you look at the shadow you can tell it's legit.
CRF #2. It looks like a monster. It went along well with the story Henry told the kids about the whole area being a Zombie Reservation.
A good close-up of CRF#1, Corona Arch. Some crazies hiked up to the top. Luckily they did not fall to their death in front of the kiddies.
Henry being confused as to what this contraption is. A phone? That you pay to use? What?!?! Our children will probably have the same reaction (being raised in the cell phone age and all).
CRF #3. Another arch thingy. There was an extreme drop off just on the other side of the arch, so we're actually really REALLY brave just to be sitting there. Give us props.
CRV (Cool Rock View). JP and Noah fell off the edge, but no one really misses them much.

And last but not least.... the video that kinda sums up Lucy's attitude on the whole trip. She was extremely obstinate and wanted to be independent while hiking and climbing on rocks. I really am hoping to show this video to her future husband someday... hopefully to show how much she's changed:



We had a lot of good laughs over just how true to her personality this is and just how different she is than the rest of her siblings (they are all really good, obedient kids). We love her even though she is crazy.