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! 

\

 

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!

It makes me so happy, I'm giddy!

1. It's my Christmas present.
2. It's early.
3. It makes me want to jump up and down with joy.  (And yes, I have!)
4. It's today's P365 POTD.

Christmas Tree 09

We have been going up the the mountains out past Enumclaw on 410 to get our tree for quite a few years now. I love this tradition. I love that there is almost always snow there. I love that Aaron cuts it down himself. (He may not love that part.) I love most of all that it only costs $10! While we don't always have the most beautifully trimmed and shaped tree, I love that we can get a Noble for a small price and how it really doesn't end up mattering too much once we get all the lights and ornaments on.

This year we headed up Thanksgiving weekend with our friends, the Bachs.
The boys all enjoyed playing in the snow and sledding.


Here is our tree in it's natural state...


And here it is after we cut it down...
The boys always seem to get snow down their pants, shirts and boots despite my best efforts at keeping them bundled. Here is how I found Landon trying to thaw his feet when we got back to the car...

Boys will be boys. Some day I will learn this!

In all reality, I really should buy a fake tree since I am pretty ridiculously allergic to the tree, but I just can't do away with this tradition! (I will admit the idea of a pre-lit tree is very tempting, however! Our strands of lights were a superior pain in my rear this year...ughh.) But alas, I want our kids to have memories of mom and dad taking them up to the forest to cut down their tree. And so it will be me and the claritin and kleenex for a couple more weeks!

PS. I'm still on the search for a replacement star for the Pottery Barn one that we've had until now. It got a crack in it last year. :(