less than two weeks!

It's getting so close! We are ready to go, at least it seems that way....surely some last minute details will surprise us, but that's ok :) I did find out that the hotel we had our special deal at has filled up....YIKES! And, they are completely booked for the weekend because of other events in the area. There is space available at the hotel across the street, The Best Western Evergreen Suites....that website is http://www.bestwesternwashington.com/federal-way-hotels/ is you still need to get a reservation.

The big news for us is that we completed at half-marathon this past weekend. That's 13.1 miles! It was Zach's first big run, and he was AWESOME. We are already working strategies and training for our next one...we are signed up for the Seattle Rock'n'Roll 1/2 Marathon that's at the end of June. WOOHOO!!!!!

Please call us or email if you have any questions about where to stay, what to do, when things are happening. If you are able to join us on Sunday morning at 10:30 in the lobby of the Marriott hotel to open gifts and spend a little more time together :)

long lost bloggers

Hi all! We haven't updated in awhile, and with wedding invites out, we figured it was about time! Things are awesome here, well, except for winter weather getting in the way of spring weather.....waking up to snow again today was kinda weird.

We are still on our training schedule for the Half Marathon in early May....we ran almost six miles today, in the wind and hail, no less....we are hard core! We may be running in the Foothills Dash in Orting next weekend, just to get in the race mode, but we'll see how the weather is lookin :)

We went to a great concert in February....saw Marc Broussard -- again -- in Seattle with our friends Morgan and Justin. He put on an awesome show, as always. We attached a video from the show....hopefully you can hear it!

One of the most fun things that happened since we last posted was that we got a visit from Tucson mom Jennie :) We had so much fun, but the only bummer was that Zach was out of town for almost her whole visit :( Lots of mom-daugher time was great, though! Alyssa threw a bridal shower, which was filled with lots of laughs....how blessed we are to have such fun friends and family!

Some updates for the wedding.....rehearsal dinner has been moved to Friday night (church was being used on Thursday). Sherry should be sending out those invites to the wedding party soon, but we wanted to give those of you who are traveling the heads up :)

It was really exciting to send out invites....makes it very real, and very exciting for both of us! So far, no major stress...we have most of our wedding planning chores done, and we are just waiting for the big day!

FYI....Wedding Travel Information

Okay folks, so here is the first peek at some of the information you will need to plan you trip in May. Our wedding will be at Grace Lutheran Church in Des Moines, WA. This is just a few minutes south of the airport. The reception will be at the Centre at Norpoint in the NE Tacoma area. We have reserved a block of rooms at the Federal Way Courtyard by Marriott for a special rate (should be $93 per night for a queen bed and couch pull-out)....just tell them it is for the Zimmerman/Leach Wedding. Their website can be seen here. This hotel is located between the Church and the reception, and is close to the mall, a movie theater, and many restaurants.

Courtyard by Marriott
31910 Gateway Center Blvd. South
Federal Way, Washington 98003 USA
ph 253-529-0200

We are trying to get a group rate at the Tacoma Courtyard by Marriott as well. Stay tune for those details.

Itinerary...

5/14 Th Rehearsal @ Grace Lutheran for wedding party
Dinner for wedding party and invitees
5/16 Sat Wedding @ Grace Lutheran at 4pm
Reception @ Centre at Norpoint
5/17 Sun Breakfast & gifts maybe???? (place TBD)

Looking for fun things to do when you are here? Here are a few suggestions:

Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium
www.pdza.com

Tacoma Museums - History, Art, and Chihuly's Glass Museum
www.traveltacoma.com/museumdistrict

Northwest Trek Wildlife Park
www.nwtrek.org

Mt. Rainier National Park
www.nps.gov/mora

Seattle's Famous Pike Place Market
www.pikeplacemarket.org

Seattle's Space Needle
www.spaceneedle.com

Seattle Center & Pacific Science Center
www.seattlecenter.com

If you have any other questions on what to do just email us at zachandanne@gmail.com

We hope to see you all then!!!

-Zach & Anne

Christmas is postponed ...kind of...

So, Anne and I are still in Tacoma!?! Why is that strange you ask? Well we should have been in sunny Phoenix, AZ this morning having breakfast with my friends Tyler and Claire. We then should have been going to Tucson for Christmas with Anne's family. But...those plans got postponed when our flight got canceled.

Anne and I actually celebrated Christmas on the 18th. She had to stay home from school Wed, Thurs, and Fri due to the weather. We have had snow here since the 15th. We had a great Christmas and got lots of nice presents for each other. Then we went over to my parents house, Mama & Papa Zimmerman, to do Christmas with them on the 20th. This was a short celebration since the snow came that night too and we wanted to get home before the inches piled up and made it really dangerous to drive home.

The snow isn't stopping anytime soon. Here are some pics from our house and yard.

These are our pets, Bailey, the cockapoo, Dixie, the crazy cat, Frank, the dachshund/pitbull


Zach by the tree on Christmas (the 18th), with Frank




Our backyard.


This is our hanging basket in the backyard. Can you believe this? And this was just overnight.

Busy, busy, busy

Hi all! We have been all sorts of busy lately! Here's a quick summary of recent events....

We ran the Turkey Trot 5k on Thanksgiving morning and spent an awesome day with Zach's family in Redmond (mom, dad, brother, aunt, cousins, second cousins, grandpa)...what a fun crowd!

We had a holiday get-together with all of Anne's college buddies and the kiddos...woah!

Anne got baptized on December 7th at Grace Lutheran which was a very powerful experience. Zach's family stood close by during the ceremony :)

We ran the 10k Christmas Rush in Kent on the 13th of December....BURR!! That afternoon, we made more glass-blown creations (ornaments this time), and then went to Anne's staff Christmas party that evening.

We saw a fantastic performance by the Christmas Revels this week. It was a Scottish theme with lots of singing, dancing and story-telling. We got to enjoy it with Mama & Papa Zimmerman :)

Snow day for Anne on 17th (today), and probably more snow days to come. Fun to have a day off, but it will be a bummer when we have to make up the days in June :(

We are headed to Tucson for Christmas, and we will try to keep you updated on our latest winter adventures....it's almost time to SKI!!!!!

Here's a pic from the holiday party we went to....we won honorable mention for our accessorizing abilities (it was an "ugly sweater" contest)

Engagement Party

October 18th was a great day. We were treated to an Engagement Party hosted by Zach's Mother. Anne's Mom flew in a few days before and was able to attend. Most of the bridal party was able to attend except for Zach's sister Reidun, she is currently teaching English in Seoul, Korea, Zach's friend Tyler who lives in Mesa, AZ, and Anne's sister who lives in Farmington, NM. It was a beautiful day, with a nice sunset. Zach's mother hosted a great party, and several people gave great toasts to us over the course of the evening. Thank you to everyone who was able to attend. Here are some of the pictures from the night.

PLU Homecoming

Well, this is a very touchy subject in our household. Anne was very lucky to attend the University of Puget Sound (UPS) in Tacoma, Zach is a legacy alum of Pacific Lutheran University (PLU) here in Tacoma. These two schools are bitter rivals since they are only separated by a mere 10 miles or so. The day was beautiful, one of the warmest we had back in October, and Anne was kind enough to wear a UPS shirt while attending the game. We had fun at a small tailgate party with some of Zach's college friends and then went out to dinner with some friends of Zach's parents afterwards.