Fall in Washington

Living most of my life in both CA and CO, I've never really experienced a fall. Sure some of the leaves would change but by the first snow in CO (usually say Sept.??) it would be winter from there on out. This season has been amazing for us to watch all of the leaves change, and stick around, for months on end and we have definatley taken advantage of it. We've gone on numerous drives just to see the colors and love the colder, somewhat rainy days of just drinking coffee (or pumpkin beer that Marc has made a staple in the house until the end of the season) and eating pumpkin bread (which I insit be in the house at all times).

We took a little weekend vacation down to the Portland area last month to visit the Little People Big World farm. I know we are total dorks but for those of you who are TLC fans, I also know you're very jealous :) They have a pretty neat farm and aside from some really crazed fans who probably knew way too much about that family and made Marc and I feel really weird, we really enjoyed ourselves. Unfortuantley, we went the last weekend in October so it was slim pickings as far as pumpkins go.

We recently had Marc's parents, Paul and Sue, out for a long weekend and had a nice relaxing time with them. We did all of the typical touristy stuff, ate way too much, and had "Christmas Morning" since we will not be able to celebrate Christmas with them in December. Marc got a Wii and although there was no Wii face (PJ), he was very excited.

My grandfather is also finally done with his radiation treatments. For those of you who do not know, my papa was diagnosed with throat cancer in September. Thankfully it was only stage 1 when they found it (which is apparently very rare for throat cancer) so they are pretty optimistic that we will come out of it cancer free. He went through grueling treatments, has to have a feeding tube, and for a while suffered panick attacks and hallucinations from the pain medication he was on. Towards the end of treatment, my nana and papa were basically living at the hospital since he had to have treatments twice a day. He finished on Oct. 31st but will suffer pain for the next 6 months to a year as this neck and face are burned from the radiation. It could also take that long until he is off his feeding tube and has energy again. Please pray for my nana as it is hard for her to take care of my papa everyday and for my papa to no longer be in discomfort. I am so anxious to be out there at Thanksgiving so that I can be with them. Marc's dad has been a huge help to them through this process as well. Paul went through the same cancer and treatments several years ago and his information and encouraging words have truly helped them get through this time, we are so thankful. In December the doctors will do some tests to see if the radiation was able to get all of the cancer cells so we continue to pray for good results.