7 is heaven!

It's been a great 7 years and can't wait for an eternity more! Time has gone by so fast, we've learned and grown together and made a cute little family along the way. I count my many blessings each day to have married you! You make me a happy girl. I love you!

Take me out to the ballgame!

Last weekend we went to Mormon night at the Angels. I didn't watch much of the game but always enjoy the company and atmosphere. This year Matt, Kay, Jared, myself, Ethan, Molly, and Danny all went together. Ethan was perfect! Grandpa sat next to him and taught him the ins and outs of major league baseball. The night ended with fireworks and a tummy full of hot dog, cotton candy and slurpy. Doesn't get much better than that!

Little Tan Man

Tanner has started to make funny faces when I tell him to say cheese while taking his picture. He scrunches his little face so I've gotten some pretty funny pictures of him lately. Little Tans is the sweetest little thing but we cannot get him to eat if our lives depended on it. He is so hit-or-miss but most often its a strike out for us. He is a fruit lover but that is still never a guarantee. On Saturday we took the boys to get doughnuts and that was even turned down after one bite! What kid does that? I tried to give him licorice later in the day and again it ended up on the floor. He is a bottle lover like Ethan though. We thought Ethan was a bad eater at Tanner's age but Tanner takes the cake (figuratively, not literally)!

A funny thing Tanner does is he will run as fast as he can when his diaper is off (usually after taking a tub) and start peeing on the carpet. It's pretty funny to watch such a petite little thing run away from you and get in his stance ready to pee. He also loves our computer now and will climb on the desk to pound on the keyboard or scroll on the mouse. It's interesting  how all children go through the same phases at the same age.

Our Cruise to Alaska

Thursday July 14

This morning Jared and I flew into Seattle a day early to explore the city before leaving on our cruise tomorrow.  As we were about to land it was neat looking out the window of the airplane, seeing several green islands surrounded by deep blue water, each connected to the next by a bridge. I loved seeing the landscape down below, unlike other cities we have flown into it seemed much prettier. Downtown Seattle reminds us of San Francisco where you have to pay for parking everywhere you go with bridges and markets throughout. The weather is such a contrast compared to California in July - much more drizzly and cold. We got off the plane in sandals and shirts and wished we had pants and jackets. Due to the stormy weather (and poor visibility) we decided to forego going to the top of the Space Needle; instead we found a cool park nearby that showed the skyline perfectly in the distance. We went to Pikes Fish Market to see the fishermen throw the different fish back and forth as people bought them. They throw the fish long and hard several times and come very close to people's faces at times but never missed. Throughout the market there seemed to be a theme of flowers, fresh fruit, jewelery, and jams to buy. We got to see the original Starbucks, drove around Safeco Field (baseball stadium for the Seattle Mariners) and the various piers. We’re gald we got to explore Seattle a bit before leaving for Alaska.

Friday July 15

Getting on the boat was a smooth and painless experience. In the past it has felt like a long process due to the wait in line but this didn’t seem to be the case this time. Shortly after finding our room we did first things first: find hot chocolate, get an ice cream cone and started the many rounds of Nertz. We explored the boat and went to our first dinner in the main dining hall. We were seated with three other couples which were all much older but every nice. One couple is LDS from Salt Lake City and work in the temple. There are a lot of older couples as well as large families on this cruise. We went to our first evening show which was good. It’s been fun exploring and relaxing!

Saturday July 16, 2011

Today was an "at sea" day and the barf bags are out and hanging near every stair case on the ship. I have been nauseous most of the day but luckily this evening my symptoms have subsided a bit.  This by far is the rockiest cruise I’ve been on. The other two cruises I've been on didn’t cause any problems and most of the time you couldn’t even tell you were on a ship, but this time you can’t get away from it. I have heard several other people feeling sick due to the rocky sea as well. I guess this is more normal for a cruise to Alaska but the sea should calm down a bit once we approach the Inside Passage. Being sick brought back memories of being pregnant. Smells were more intense today, and I felt extra hot and had to lay downd because I felt like I might need a barf bag of my own. We did make it to a movie showing, laid out for a bit in the freezing cold with our ice cream, went to the Captain's party, the formal dinner, evening show and played lots of Nertz. Jared is killing me almost everytime! I have to catch up.

Wrap up of the cruise

We stopped at three ports - Juneau, Skagway, and Victoria (in British Columbia, Canada). At Juneau we rode a sky cable car to the top of the mountain that overlooked the city. We went on a short hike and enjoyed the scenery, including seeing a bald eagle up close. It was a beautiful day, one we could have worn short sleeves. On the sea days we played lots of games, read a bit, watched movies and went to some of the other activities they had for us on the ship. The food this time was okay compared to the other cruises we've been on. Skagway is a mining town with old false front buildings throughout. We took a walking tour through the small town and learned more about its history as the gateway to the Klondike during the gold rush. Our last stop was one of my favorites, Victoria. It was beautiful! I loved how clean and quaint it was. We took a double decker bus around the city, getting on and off at different stops, and really enjoyed the scenery. We had a blast and can't wait for our next cruise.

Lake Powell

We are back from our 9-day trip to Lake Powell and had a great time. Ethan and Tanner were such good boys and it was by far the less stressful year since Jared was with us. It's been far too long since he's been able to come and most likely will be far too long before he will get to go again. It was SO nice having him there to play with us and help.

Ethan was so brave this year and loved riding on the boogie board, tubing, the jet ski's, and going down the waterslide off the houseboat. He would have stayed in the water all day if we let him. Carly and I rode with him most often on the tube and it was so funny because Ethan was yelling "faster, faster" as Carly and I are yelling, "No! Slower!" The whole time he was laughing saying such funny things, "Let's do some cool tricks mommy." We were going at a good speed and Ethan held on so well and loved it! We were all in awe. At night the adults played lots of games including Nertz (a fun card game Joel and Carly taught us) while eating homemade ice cream. At the end of the week we got to visit and go to church with Joy since she is an hour away from Lake Powell in Fredonia. It was nice visiting with her for a few hours. She seems to be doing well and enjoying her time there. It was another amazing year at Lake Powell.

How they have grown

We had one last playdate with the Bedke's. It was like old times going up to the park. When we became really good friends Ethan and Madison were babies and Blake was two years old, now look at them! Mary-anne has four kids and I have two. Everytime we see each other, the kids seem to be so much bigger. Time flies!

Friends Forever

I was searching for a specific picture in my files this morning and came across a picture of Ethan and Madison as babies and was flooded with the great memories and times we have had with the Bedke's. I am grateful for the friend Mary-Anne has been to me. She is an amazing person and someone I'm happy to call my best friend. They will be leaving to San Francisco to start a new adventure very soon. I'm happy for them and this big step in their lives but I'm sad she will be leaving Irvine. I will never forget the late night talks we have had, the beach days, babysitting swaps, kids birthday parties, walks around UCI as people thought we were crazy with so many children, getting our nails done, swimming, many target and costco runs, many many park days, and really anything either one of us wanted to do we made it an outing and did it together. I've missed that this year as we have been in LA but everytime we go down to Tustin we always make a stop to see the Bedke's. I am so grateful for our friendship, for how real it is and how I can totally be myself and she the same. I can walk into her house and help myself to food. I love the way we know each other's kids so well and can take over in a minute's time if needed. We can talk to each other like no other and get side tracked constantly!! We start one story and in a minute we are already onto the next without finishing the first. If I call her with a question I have to ask her right away or the question never gets asked or answered while we spend an hour on the phone. I know that though we will be further apart our friendship will never fade. Friendships like ours are rare and don't come around that often. Tomorrow is not a good-bye...just a see you later.