We finally made it to Seattle! Spencer has been feeling better, so with mom's help we got our stuff in Petaluma last week. We were in Oregon City for the weekend, and then came to Seattle a couple of days ago. Most of the furniture is in the house now, though we still have a couple of things coming, like dressers. Coming home and having our belongings in our house and having Spencer feel better has made me feel like life is getting back to normal, which makes me really happy. Max was upset by the moving in. Things moving around makes him anxious, but he settled down once the house looked more like a house and we stopped going in and out and gave him some attention. He was happy to get back to the dog park the other day though. It's still the best one that we've ever visited.

Last week Spencer's grandma Ethel Hull was laid to rest in Clackamas at a very lovely location in the Willamette National Cemetery. Graveside services are not conducted at this cemetery, so a couple days later we all went as a group to see her burial site. It was nice to do that, though we couldn't stay long, unfortunately, because the east wind was blowing very cold that day. I'm sure we'll visit her again soon. She died early Friday morning December 10, after falling ill the previous Sunday. The family spent the week with her and Grandpa at their house in Oregon City. She was able to see Spencer (who had not been to visit in a while because of his illness) and meet Charlotte for the first time before she died.

So tomorrow we head back to the Portland area for Christmas weekend. It will be a good time, I'm sure. Though we have had the pleasure of seeing our families a lot during the last 6 weeks, there are still a few more who were away but who we'll get to see this weekend. Randy arrived last night, and I'm very excited to see him.