Thomas and Tannis Manning: Washington

A couple weeks ago, Thomas got a call from a couple he baptized on his mission and found out that they were getting sealed in the temple! Thomas wanted to go so bad! This was a special experience that he didn't want to miss. Well flights were super expensive since it was like a week or so away... but after thinking about it, we decided that we would regret not going. I am SO GLAD WE WENT! It was an amazing trip! Better than I even thought it would be. I knew it would be fun, but we didn't really have any plans besides going to the sealing and maybe driving around to see areas Thomas served his mission in. Everything went well and it was an incredible trip!

Friday
We woke up super early (like 4:30) and left to the airport. We realized that this was our first time flying together! We got to the Seattle-Tacoma airport around 10 or so, rented a car, and planned to go to Seattle for the day! Seattle wasn't part of Thomas' mission, but since we were already pretty close to Seattle, it made sense to go there the first day. We had a great time! We went to Pike Place Market and walked around there. So many fun things to see! We ate crepes that were yummy... saw the gum wall... and just enjoyed the city :) After that we went to the Space Needle (we didn't go up to the top though) and walked around there for a bit. Then we went to Eldon and Doris' house! They are the ones that Thomas baptized and were getting sealed the next day. We stayed at their house while we were there. They were great! I loved getting to know them. Such nice people!

Saturday
We went to the temple that morning for the sealing! It was beautiful! What a wonderful experience. I am so grateful that we could be there for it. After the sealing we took some pictures outside of the temple and then went out to lunch with Doris and Eldon and some others who were at the sealing. We ate at this yummy Chinese restaurant. After we left there, we drove a couple hours to first go to Deception Pass. It was absolutely beautiful! The pictures don't even do it justice at all. It was amazing! After we went over the Deception Pass bridge, we went on a ferry! We drove our car onto the ferry... It was so weird! Such a cool experience. The ferry ride was like 30 minutes. From there we drove to Poulsbo. Thomas served his mission in this area. It is the CUTEST little town! They had adorable houses and the downtown area seemed like it was something you would see on a movie. There was even a cute little coffee house with little tables and chairs outside and inside was a lady reading poetry. So fun! They had an event going on there that night so there was a band playing and stuff which was fun. We just enjoyed walking around and we also ate ice cream there :)

Sunday
Doris and Eldon wanted to take us to Chrystal Mountain (right by Mount Rainier) to ride a gondola up the mountain and eat lunch at the top at the restaurant. It was INCREDIBLE. What an experience! Holy cow. It was crazy going up so high and into the clouds and lunch at the restaurant was so yummy, too. We had a great time! Only tough thing was I got a headache I think from the elevation... But wow that was so amazing to go and do that. Even just the drive there and back was incredible. Washington is just gorgeous. I wonder how many times on this trip I said "so pretty!" haha. After we got back from going with them, Thomas and I left and went to Olympia. This was another area Thomas served in. We had a great time! I loved seeing the awesome capital building. Downtown was interesting... haha. There were some freaky people there.

Monday
We woke up super early and left to the airport. It was sad to leave such a beautiful place haha but I was so excited to get home to our kids!

We watched Mission Impossible on the iPad on the plane

Saw this from the plane! Crazy!

Welcome to Seattle!

Pike Place Market

We ate yummy crepes at Pike Place Market. Banana, nutella, almond and whipped cream. Yum!

We found a camera store. Thomas loved it. I was kinda bored... hahaha

Everything is just so green and beautiful....

We ate lunch at this random place we found called Zeek's Pizza. It was pretty good!

This is where Doris and Eldon live. We stayed with them while we were there. They live in a cute town in Washington called Orting. It's about 45 minutes from Seattle.

Beautiful temple!

Thomas with Eldon and Doris

Us with Eldon and Doris and also Landon Owens. He was Thomas' companion on his mission when they baptized Eldon and Doris. It's so cool that both him and Thomas could be there for the sealing!

On the ferry!

They had puzzles out to do on the ferry haha. So random yet awesome

Cutest houses in Poulsbo! I want to live in a cute neighborhood like this! By the way Thomas decided I should be a realtor because I love looking at houses hahaha. He might be right...

This bridge (Tacoma Narrows) is a toll bridge that takes you to Tacoma. It reminded me of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco :) This was the only picture I got of it since we were driving...

Going on the gondola!

It was SO COLD at the top!

Super cloudy! Which is kinda a bummer because if it hadn't have been cloudy we would have had a crazy good view of Mount Rainier and other mountains. But it was still awesome!