California Dreamin'

That's what I'm doing this morning after returning to this miserable weather.  We had such an amazing time on our vacation.  The weather was perfect and the kids had a blast.  And I took A LOT of pictures.  710 to be exact.  I will spare you the most of them and share a few of my favorites, though it will be rough to narrow it down.  I plan to upload a few more to my facebook page. 

We picked a great time to visit.  We never waited longer than 25 minutes for a ride with the average wait time being less than that and sometimes no wait at all! 

The kids were chosen out of a group of about 100 to participate in the Star Wars Jedi Academy training.  This could not have been more perfect for them, since they are obsessed with Star Wars!  They first received group training from the Jedi Master and then were invited up on stage to individually battle Darth Vader himself!  They received their own Certificate of Completion for the program and then had perma-smiles on their faces as they came off stage! Of course I have the whole thing on video!

California Adventure was a hit as well.  A few favorite memories for me were screaming in Aaron's ear on the giant California Screamin' roller coaster pictured in the background above, as well as being stuck at the top of the Mickey Ferris Wheel where it was WAY more windy than on the ground and we were all freezing to death!

On Saturday we rented an SUV and drove to the coast.  This picture was at Huntington Beach where they were having a surfing competition.  Aaron was pretty excited to get to see that.  About five seconds after this picture was taken, a giant wave came in and took Landon out, leaving him soaked, sandy and crying on the beach.  Of course I had to take a picture of that! 

We continued down the coast and hit up Newport Beach and Laguna Beach as well.  We saw the tidepools at Crystal Cove Beach, but frankly they paled in comparison to the Washington coast tidepools. 

But it was all fine by me because those beaches are amazing. I could've spent the whole 5 days laying there!  I can't wait to go back!

A Taste of Summer

You'd never know it was April by the looks of things around here yesterday! It was an amazingly beautiful spring day and we took full advantage of it!  The boys insisted on swimming trunks and even retrieved the flip flops from the depths of the closet.

Of course we had to break out the new water guns Levi got for his birthday last month.  They were a hit!

Then the boys spent some time on the swingset showing me some "cool tricks".  Levi's latest is swinging as high as he can and then jumping off into the grass.  (This of course gave me a heart attack the first time he did it, but then I remembered doing it as a kid and chilled out a little!)

And we attempted a family bike ride, but about a quarter of the way through, my tire popped.  So that ended that and we went back home.  But it was a super fun day and we LOVED the sun!

It's someone's special day...

Happy 7th Birthday Levi!

We're countin' the days!

We have two pretty excited boys around here these days...

(Well... and maybe one pretty excited Mommy.)

PS. The coloring picture on the wall is what Landon says he is going to give Mickey Mouse when he sees him.  He says, "When I see him, I'll give it to him and then say, 'Mickey, I'd like to shake your hand."

Sweethearts in Seattle

coffee. sleeping in. shopping. antiques. crumpets. sunshine. piroshkys. hot tub. wine. market spice tea. blue skies. crepes. laughs. memories. 

12 years. 

many more to come....

I ♥ this man!

This weekend marks 12 years of marriage to the man of my dreams!  Here are some of my favorite memories...

1997

 

1997

 

March 7th, 1998

1998

Honeymoon in Puerta Vallarta

 

2000

 

2001

 

 

2001

Greenlake

 

2002

6 months pregnant w/Levi

 

 

2003

 

2004

7 months pregnant w/Landon

 

2005

Completing our family!

 

2006

Sara's High School Reunion

2007*

Portland, OR

*Side note:  Some of you may have recently heard about the above pictured shirt.  Let me reiterate.  I love you Babe.  I do not love that shirt.

 

2008

Dancing at the Century Ballroom for my birthday

 

2009

We've been through a lot in 12 years.  Here's a recap:

• Number of different homes: 7
• Number of cars owned: 10
• Number of years of schooling: 2
• Number of jobs combined: 10
• Number of states visited: 8

I cannot imagine what the past 12 years would have been like if I didn't get to spend it with my best friend.  He's more than I ever wanted.   I can hardly wait to find out what God has in store for our future.

Happy Anniversary Babe!

I ♥ YOU!!!

A great day...

To PLAY!!!

We have been loving all the unseasonably sunny weather lately! It was perfectly timed with Levi's winter break from school. On Friday, we went with some Edwards girls to a couple of parks and enjoyed some time outdoors.

 

I have been really practicing with my camera the last week or so... and the kids are just about done with me.  If Levi even sees that I'm behind the camera, he won't even give me a single glance!  Such a stinker!  Landon will oblige me a little more often, but with him I usually get his cheesy picture grin so I guess it's a trade off.  I manage to get a few great shots for every hundred or so taken!  

 

I'm  not quite sure what was with Landon, but once we got out to the water, he started having serious issues!  He started stomping in the water, and as if it weren't obvious, I told him what would happen to his pants if he kept it up.  He didn't listen and ended up soaked.  Then he got his hands all sandy, then touched his eyes.  Then the crying started.  He proceeded to whine and cry about going home and changing his clothes.  And being the sensitive mother that I am, I of course continued to snap pictures!

 

This is him giving me his sob story. I just said, "Landon, if you're Daddy were here, he'd have NONE of this! He'd say, toughen up son!"

He eventually somewhat snapped out of it and played a little before we left. It was overall a great time. But next time I think I'll remember to bring a towel!

Spring is in the air!

 

Today was absolutely gorgeous!  There were many signs of spring about as we spent some time at the park today.  In my opinion, it is days like today that make living in Seattle worth it! 

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A perfect day for lunch and the park with Bamma!

Landiana Jones

This weekend marked the 5th birthday of my BABY!!!  He hates that I call him my baby, and insists that he is not, but I don't care.  As they say, he'll always be my baby!  We celebrated with an Indiana Jones themed party at his request, and with, er... a LITTLE prompting from me.  (I couldn't handle another superhero themed party!)  The kids went on a treasure hunt complete with the crossing of a snake pit, target practice and tunnels of DOOM!!!  Happy Birthday Landon!