Fam time in Seattle + Christmas in June

This Seattle trip was great as always. My amazingly kind and dear friend, Miss Angela Tam, picked Ty and I up from the airport, then we met up with our friend Galen (pictured in plaid above) for some bánh mì in the park and a tour of Galen's apartment downtown before official family time in Seattle started. It felt so nice to catch up in person with Galen and Ang...you know how it just fills your soul to hug good friends after far-too-long absences? Yeah...me too. It was so nice. Talk about a great start to a great trip.

We then headed to my brother's house where we hung out in our pajamas while we took pictures/while my 4-year-old niece took pictures before Ty and I left for Alaska the next morning.

Now, fast forward a week...

We're back in Seattle after our cruise to the great north, and, this is where the exciting gift from my brother comes in...drumroll please...insert awesome bag pictured above! Yay! Here's the story...

I'm sure none of you remember this blog post about me desperately wanting duffel bags made out of sail fabric, and my shrewd negotiating with my brother to get me some. But, two years of begging and a lot of reminding my brother that he still owed me a Christmas gift from last year yielded a rad sail fabric duffel bag of my very own to take back with me from Seattle this trip! It's my favorite. And it perfectly fit all the extra stuff I had brought back from Alaska with me.

My brother sewed that bad boy up the evening before Ty and I flew back to Utah. The whole family hung out in the garage with him while we listened to music and joked, and he worked. He cut and stitched the fancy bag on his industrial sewing machine that he normally uses to make sails. AWESOME NOTE: Amidst the bag sewing, my brother demonstrated the power of his sewing machine by sewing through a 1/4-inch thick piece of wood like it was butter. Seriously. It was amazing. And Boom! At the end, I had the most amazing Christmas present in June imaginable. Thanks Bro. I love it. You do great work.

FIRST PHOTO FROM: ANGELA