10th Anniversary

Brian and I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary on Thursday, June 18th! It's amazing that it has been 10 years, however, when we were talking about all that we've done in the past 10 years it amazed us both! We've lived in 7 different locations - Provo, Portland, Indiana, Boston x2 - two different times and places, Scotland, and now Maple Valley, Washington! More amazing than how many places we've lived is just all that we've experienced together - the good and the hard. I wouldn't say there have been any 'bad' times in our marriage, but definitely times that we've been tried. At least we've gone through it all together! Brian is an amazing husband and I couldn't ask for anyone better and I couldn't imagine anyone else being able to put up with me as well as he does! I know I complain about the little things at times, but he balances out my high strungness with his laid-backness so well that we just work. I'm the luckiest girl in the world to have a husband like him!

We couldn't really justify a big trip since we just did Japan a few months ago, so we decided to enjoy Seattle kid-free for a day! I picked up Brian from work and we had a wonderful lunch at Maggiano's - yummy Italian and they brought us champagne and fried zucchini to congratulate us. :) The zucchini was good! Brian then super surprised me with a Shutterfly book of his 10 favorite memories of our first 10 years together! A Shutterfly book (needed to repeat that)! That stuff is always me, so it was so sweet that he would do that - it was the sweetest book and the best present ever!
We then did a little shopping and then took a little cruise of Lake Union, the locks that take you from there to the sound, and the Puget Sound and waterfront. It was really interesting and fun to see the actual Sleepless in Seattle floating house. We had a wonderful dinner at Anthonys, went to the movie Angels and Demons, and stayed at the Edgewater on the pier.

It was a wonderful day and full of fun reminiscing of the past 10 years and speculation for the next 10! It will be fun to see what the years to come will bring!

We came home to a pretty sick little Nathan. He had a cold when we left, but was wheezing really bad when we got home. After a few breathing treatments and a doctors visit I was off to the hospital with him. They have stabilized him well, but he was admitted and kept overnight. He did SO well - he was so polite to everyone and so cooperative. He is such a sweet boy and it was sad to see him in there. He seems to be doing better, but still needs to be watched and treated often. Hard to feel helpless and not be able to do more to help him.

Matthew's Graduation!

My little graduate!

Matthew was so excited for his big graduation day! He looked darling in his cap and did a great job singing all of the songs in his program!


Matthew loved preschool, but he is so excited to be moving on to Kindergarten! He asked if he would get to go the next day and was a little sad to hear that he would have to wait all summer! He's growing up way too fast for me!

Go Mariners!

We took the kids to a Mariners game for family night last Monday and they loved it! It was a chilly night and it was raining, so the roof was closed, but the boys didn't mind. All three of them really got into the game. Nathan would cheer whenever there was clapping and dance to the music. He is still saying "Go Mar-i-ners!" every time he sees anything related to baseball!

Adam got into the rules of the game and keeping track of the players. He really wanted to catch a foul ball! For the first 6 innings we were in the nose bleed section so there wasn't any hope, but Brian talked to one of the ushers about letting us move down and we sat on the 10th row for the rest of the game. Adam got really excited every foul ball, but sadly didn't get to catch one this time.


Matthew had a great time too! He probably thought that the highlight of the game was the food - kettle corn, cotton candy, and peanuts! My favorite quote of the night was when we were walking down to the lower seats and Matt saw on the floor of a row tons of peanut shells and he said "Who would do such a thing?" He was SO appalled! It just made me laugh. We explained it to him and after we got him some peanuts he learned quickly!

It was a fun night that we'll hopefully get to repeat on a warm sunny Seattle summer night!

Adam's Baptism - May 2nd

What a special day! Adam has been preparing himself for this day for so long and it was wonderful to see how serious he was about participating in this ordinance.

Before his baptism Adam got to open some special gifts. His Nana (my Mom) made a special 'comforter' for him and gave him a wonderful letter and sign to help him remember that the true Comforter is the Holy Ghost. We gave him his scriptures, which he was so excited to receive! He really wants to read the Book of Mormon all the way through. Grammy and Grandpa also started a mission fund for Adam, which I'm sure he will really appreciate in years to come!

Adam had his own meeting for his baptism, which was really nice. For the program he asked Alyssa (his cousin) to speak about baptism and she did a wonderful job! Then he and his cousins sang the first verse to 'When Jesus Christ was Baptized' and then Adam sang the second verse by himself. It was so touching and probably my favorite part of the program. The second verse says:

And now when I am baptized, I'll follow his example -

Be baptized by immersion Through sacred priesthood pow'r.

Then I will be a member Of Heav'nly Father's kingdom

And have the Holy Spirit To guide me ev'ry hour.

Adam was then baptized and the smile on his face when he came out of the water was just precious. Brian confirmed him a member of the church and he received the gift of the Holy Ghost. Brian's Mom then gave a wonderful talk on the gift of the Holy Ghost. It was such a nice meeting - Adam just glowed!

He was surrounded by friends and loved ones and had a wonderful day! We had a nice dinner with the family after at our home. It was so nice of the Ashtons to come from Boise, my parents to come from Utah, Brian's parents to come from Wenatchee, and the Mitchells to come from Portland to support Adam - it meant a lot to him to have them there supporting him.

Adam is a very in tune young man and is very aware of the Spirit. I'm so grateful that he chose to be baptized and I know that he will strive to keep his covenants. I am so grateful for the wonderful example that he is for his brothers! What a wonderful day!

Mom's Retirement

I went down to Utah on April 25th to be there for my Mom's retirement from the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. I was so excited to be there, and excited to be in on the surprise for my Mom that Caryn, Cam, & Lori were coming! We all met up at the airport in SLC and when my Mom came to pick me up I told her that I met some people that needed a ride - he he! She was so excited and shocked when she saw that they had come to surprise and support her!

We picked Dad up and went straight to Brick Oven for a yummy lunch! After that we girls went for pedicures - perfect to prepare Mom for her trip to Florida that she was leaving for the next day!

After a fun chick flick we went to Coray & Mindy's house for an excellent BBQ and fun night together! We gave her our gifts - I got thoughts from all of us kids and the grandkids on what it meant for us to have her in the choir the last 10 years and Dad gave her a beautiful engraved music box. It was a special night just sitting around talking about choir memories and spiritual musical moments. (My biggest disappointment was that we didn't have time to play games, but I may get over it someday.)

Sunday was a wonderful day! The broadcast was really nice and it was a bit sad thinking about how I won't get to 'see my Mom' every Sunday anymore. I've personally loved just being able to turn on the TV and feel like she's just not that far away. After the broadcast they had a wonderful program! While setting up for the program President Monson was a hoot! He tinkered around on the organ and played some cute songs and gave high 5's to several kids - such a sweet genuine man.

For the program they spoke about each person and then President Mack and President Monson spoke of their tremendous service and the sweet music that they shared. It was just a wonderful meeting!

After the meeting my Mom and Dad barely made their flight for a week in Florida - my Dad had meetings, but my Mom got to relax and enjoy the freedom of being completely retired from work and choir! Good job Mom - hope you're enjoying your much deserved retirement!

Adam turns 8!

My little guy is growing up! On April 23rd he turned 8 years old! He has grown up so fast and it has been so fun seeing him become such a big kid! He had such a fun birthday - he had been excited about it for months! He wanted a Lego birthday and he got it!

Most of his presents were Legos and he had a Lego party with some of his friends from church. The party was full of Lego centered games and the cake was a hit!

The picture below is one of the only non-Lego gifts, but Adam does love soccer too (and I love the pic because it's one of the only ones I got with his actual smile that I love so much)!

Adam is such a great guy! He is a wonderful brother and friend to both Matthew and Nathan. He can be a pretty intense kid - he gets focused on something and he gets determined to accomplish whatever he sets his mind on. He loves most any project - art, science, math, etc. He is a really bright boy and loves to figure out how things work. It's so fun to have him always asking questions and explaining his theories. He loves to play outside too - his favorites are kickball, soccer, star wars (with light sabers), and hiking. I just can't believe how fast he is growing up - it makes me want to hang on to every day!

Spring Break! April 2nd - April 12th

Doing some catch up on the blog since life has been a little too crazy to keep up on it lately! We had a super fun spring break trip! We started out by staying at the Ashtons on our way to Utah - the boys had a great time with their cousins! Nathan was having trouble breathing in Boise and we took him in and discovered he had the early stages of pneumonia - what a fun way to start a trip!

We arrived in Utah on Friday, watched Conference on Saturday and then on Sunday we got to go to Conference! Adam and Brian got to go to the Sunday morning session and I went to the afternoon session with Mindy (my sister-in-law) and Jonathan and Abby. It was so wonderful to get to be there and watch Mom sing at her last Conference! Oh, and it was neat to see President Monson and the apostles too! :)

We got to spend one more day in Utah and on Tuesday we drove to the Bay area in not-so-sunny California! We stayed with our friends, the Wirthlins, and it was great to see them again - the kids especially loved seeing each other again since they hadn't seen each other since Boston! Since Matthew and Emma are betrothed it was good to see they still like each other! On Wednesday we had a great lunch with the Reids, some good friends from Oregon, and then headed to the city. We explored the Pier and went on great boat tour around Alcatraz and under the Golden Gate Bridge! We then had a yummy dinner at Chevy's with Cam and Lori!

On Thursday we headed to Six Flags Discovery Kingdom in the rain - we were disappointed with the rain (we get enough of that at home), but had already bought our tickets. Luckily the raining died down a little while after we got there and we had a great day! It is a great park - lots of rides for the kids and some great rides for Brian and I too! They also had a lot of marine life - the Dolphin Show, Sea Lion Show, and Killer Whale Show were really entertaining! The bonus was that the intermittent rain kept all the Californians away and we could walk on all of the rides! That night we ate at In-and-Out and drove 3 hours toward Oregon!

Friday we got to Portland and had a great dinner at the Rodman's house - Ryan let us share his birthday with him! It was great to see them again! We then stayed at the Mitchells for the weekend. The Easter Bunny came Saturday morning and had hidden all of the kids Easter baskets - it took Adam the longest time to find his, but we figure that since he's older it must have been in a more challenging spot!

We went to OMSI (science museum) Saturday morning and decorated Easter eggs and had a fun Easter Egg hunt at the Mitchells in the afternoon.

Easter was a wonderful day! Brian's parents came down and met us at church and after we had a really nice dinner. Matthew was sad to leave his cousin, Peter - Matthew has a special place in his heart for babies, especially Peter!

That night we drove back to Maple Valley - it had been a super fun trip! The boys did great and had a blast!