Marriage License Application and Certificate

We all know about the glamorous wedding ceremonies and receptions (those photos to come) but the mundane, behind-the-scenes task of getting married is the certificate.  Onions and I went to a small satellite office of King County in Bothell and first filled out the marriage license application.

No line, a couple forms and $64 later..........

...our certificate.  Total time: 15 minutes.  Here in Washington State, the form has "bride, groom or spouse."  No drama.

After the ceremony, Eleni, our officiant signed our certificate along with two witnesses.  We went back to the office and submitted the form and voila...married!

National Institute for Civil Discourse

Founded to promote dialogue and undo gridlock in Congress and State Legislatures, the National Institute for Civil Discourse was in Seattle this past weekend to train state legislatures and to give its award to two Washington State legislators.  Check out their link

So you're going, "why were Ernie and Onions there?"  Our friend Eleni C. (and her mother on the far left) is part of an organization that help write the program for civil discourse in the Washington State Legislature and so she invited us to the reception.

But the main draw was that Rep. Gabby Giffords, who was shot in the head by a gunman) was there to actually present the award.  That's her husband on the left.  Although the award was for civil discourse, the couple talked about discourse through the lens of gun control.

Awardee Rep. Hunt.

Awardee Rep. Zeiger.  The event was an interesting way (and certainly backdoor) introduction to the American political system for Onions.  He joked that in China, there IS NO political discourse (you figure out why!).  Secondly, the funny thing was that Onions' English name is the same as someone prominent in the field so each time he was introduced people were reverent to him.  Hahaha.

The Many Faces of Mt. Rainier

While driving down to pickup our first out-of-town wedding guest, Zhang Tong, we decided...."let's go to Mt. Rainier!"  The best plans are spontaneous and here we are taking in the view from Longmire.

From Paradise, we took a short hike up into the meadows....here's the view looking south.

The glaciers of Mt. Rainier from Paradise on the south side of the mountain.

From Box Canyon, a view from the southeast.

A view from the east, looking into the sun as it sets in the west

And from the north in Enumclaw!