Ice Cream Anyone?

Tonight is Baskin Robbins .31 cent a scoop night. Grab your family for a cheap and yummy treat! :)

Here's the scoop: Baskin Robbins.

NW Auto Show

Shane, his Dad and brother went to an auto show on Saturday. They had a blast. Here are some of the pictures that Shane took. Emma, being the daughter of a mechanic, is obsessed with tools. So, Shane painted one of his old toolboxes pink, and took it to the auto show to get pin-striped. He said he felt quite manly walking around the auto show with a pink toolbox. It turned out so cute. We can't wait to show Emma.

PS...the last picture is of our hot new wheels. We miss the burb, but love the new Tahoe. Shane and I argue about who gets it for the day! :) It kinda reminds me of this commercial...

Tulip Festival

A couple of weeks ago we tried to go up and see the Tulips, but since we've had such a bad spring, none of them were open yet. So we tried again today after church, and it was so beautiful! My favorites were the bright orange ones (the pictures here don't do them justice!) We found some horses to talk to at one of the first fields we stopped by. Luke and Lindsay came down from Bellingham and drove around with us. We also went down into La Conner and walked around on a little boardwalk. The hotels and shops were super cute, it looked like such a great place to spend a quiet weekend. Emma was super grumpy by the time we came home, she doesn't do well if she doesn't get a good nap. It was beautiful, with just a little rain, but overall, a great time!

Garden & Bows

The weather is finally nice enough to plant the little seedlings I started about a month ago. I'm not sure many will survive, but they're outside now and we'll see what grows. Because we're in our townhouse, I'm doing all container gardening. I had one of the pots all set up and planted, and Emma accidentally knocked it over. We picked them all up, but those little guys might have an extra tough start.




I'm trying to enjoy more time being crafty, and I found some super cute ways to make bows, so I started last night. Here are a couple I've made so far. I"m hoping to get Emma quite the collection. I was surprised at how many "how-to" websites there are out there on the web. Pretty fun! :)

Sewing fun!

My sister-in-law AJ, has inspired me to start sewing. She helped me find some super cute and easy patterns for some sun dresses. Here's my first attempt. Not perfect, and a little too big, but still a good start! :) I'm hoping to make Emma a few cute dresses this summer, hopefully my skill will improve as time goes on. I hadn't used a pattern to make something for like 10 years, I had to learn how to do it all over again. So much fun!

Yesterday evening, while I was sewing away, Shane was so sweet and did a bunch of the dishes for me. He could tell I was excited and didn't want to break my concentration, so he tidied up for me.



So, here's the dress. The fabric I chose was a little retro, but in the picture it looks hideous. It really is cuter in person and in better light. Here, Emma just looks like a little Hippie.

The Zoo!

We decided to buy a membership to the Woodland Park Zoo and the Seattle Aquarium. I'm so excited to go this summer! :) Last week, we stopped by the zoo on the first beautiful day of spring and it was so great! We only stayed a couple of hours, and it was nice not to have to squeeze everything into one visit. The next day, we did the Seattle Aquarium. It was perfect, Emma can run through the exhibits and see all of the fish, otters and seals, in about an hour. I'm so excited for all of our many visits!

We get 1/2 off anyone who wants to go to the zoo with us, so come on! Let's go see some animals!

Woo-Hoo!

I just mailed off my final round of my National Boards. I'm so glad I have it finished, now it's just a waiting game until November, until I find out if I passed or not. I feel really good about it this year, and am praying that I never have to worry about it again! It's just nice to put it in the mail and let it go!

I had to wait in line forever at the post office today since they made my due day the same day as tax day...what were they thinking?!

Presidente Hadfield

My mission president, President John Hadfield, passed away this morning. My heart aches that such a great man is no longer with us. He really was an amazing leader, and inspired so much of how I live my life. I haven't seen him for about 5 years, but his influence on me, touches my daily life. My prayers go out to his sweet wife and family.

Here is a picture that was taken of him just 2 days ago at a dance in California. Our mission had a reunion last week, and I'm so glad he got to see so many people that loved him only a week ago. I'm so sad I wasn't able to go. He will be missed.

The Temple

After church today, we stopped by the temple to take pictures. Emma loves the temple, and every time we see it from the freeway, she yells out..."The Temple, the Temple!"

One of my cousins, took a picture of their daughter in front of the temple to print off and put up in their room. I'm stealing the idea! I think Emma will love it. :)

Let the nerd training begin...

Emma is very unlucky. She was born with some major nerd tendencies from both sides of the family...

So, I put Emma to bed tonight, and was downstairs working, when I hear laughing and giggling come from Shane and Emma upstairs. I go up and find them on our bed watching Star Wars on TV, and playing with the red light-up light saber. Shane was teaching her Star Wars vocab, and I just couldn't resist catching it on video.

Ray Romano & Brad Garrett

Well, last night we went to a comedy show in Seattle. We love "Everybody loves Raymond" and thought it would be fun to go see Ray Romano & Brad Garrett. John Manfrellotti started out the night, (Gianni on the show). He was pretty funny. Ray then came out and he was very funny, we laughed so hard, but then Brad Garrett appeared and we were just counting the minutes until he got off stage. He was inappropriate and vulgar most of the time. It was horrible. He seems like a sad, bitter man.

As soon as he was off the stage, Ray came back out and they did a Q&A time and then showed outtakes from their show, that were hilarious. Overall, a fun night.

It was fun to do something different than dinner & a movie. Before the show, we went out to eat at a new Italian place, "Spazzo, Italian Grill" it was super yummy, and both of us tried something new. Shane had cannoli and I had seared scallops and butternut squash risotto. Super yummy! After the show, we ended the evening with a burger-master shake.

Thanks to Jake & AJ for watching Emma! :) It was a late night for you two, and I"m sorry you had to get up for work this morning!

It was fun, but we're going to steer clear of comedy shows, even if we think they won't be inappropriate, because you never really know! I know that there are some family friendly comedy clubs in Seattle that we might try in the future.

Bye Suburban!

Oh goodness, this fantastic piece of machinery finally has bit the dust. This suburban has been in Shane's family for about 20 years. They bought it in Hawaii, brought it back to the mainland, and it was the car he took his driver's test in. I hear many family stories about it. About 3 years ago, we sold our Tahoe in preparation for the expenses of Emma, and Shane's parents gave us the suburban as a gift! It has been running great for these last three years, and has saved us so much money. But, we think the time has come to move on to greener pastures.

Last weekend, my parents borrowed the suburban and the trailer to move Zach's stuff home from Bellingham. About an 1 1/2 hours away, smoke started to stream out of the suburban, they pulled over and waited at a rest stop, until we could come get them, and then we had to have it towed back to Bellevue.

Anyway, we are waiting for the final word, but unless it's a cheap fix, then we are going to say goodbye to that sweet old 'burb, and say hello to something new. I can't lie, I'm very excited at the prospect of a new car...more to come. :)

Here it is 3 years ago this summer, I was pregnant with Emma and we went camping on the coast. Lots of good memories. (PS, Shane is the only person I know that takes pictures of vehicles, like they were his children--Luckily, it's well photographed.)

Spring Break!

All I can say is, Its about time! I'm so happy I have this week off! I plan on soaking up time with Shane & Emma, and having fun, fun, fun! We're hoping to do a bit more than just chill around the house, but so far, Emma and I have had a fun day at home.

We painted Emma's nails for the first time this morning.



Here's Emma's new bed...we're in the transition phase, and she is getting up out of bed multiple times a night. Last night we found her laying down outside of our bedroom door. She knew if she came in, we'd send her to bed, so she just camped out by the door. Hopefully she'll get over this "i'm free" phase pretty soon. We put the anti-toddler doorknob things on the inside of her door, so starting tonight, she won't be able to get out. Hopefully it will help. :)

Skagit Valley Tulip Festival

This is one of my favorite things in the world! Each spring, we drive up to Mt. Vernon (45 minutes N of Seattle), and we get to spend the afternoon in fields and fields of tulips. One of the most beautiful things in the world. You look across the horizon and see tulips forever! Just fabulous...Can't wait to go this year!

Conference time...

Spring Conference time is one of my favorite times of year. I am so ready for some spritual uplifting...nothing better than beautiful weather and beautiful words.

I remember going with some friends back in Utah (15+ years ago), and we layed out blankets on the temple square grounds and we listened to conference as we snacked, relaxed and enjoyed the beauty of temple square. One of my favorite Utah/friends memories.

I'm excited for our first conference with President Monson as the Prophet, and I'm especially looking forward to relaxing on the couch with Emma and Shane, and NOT feeling guilty about it.

I have also always loved conference on Saturday nights. Growing up with five brothers, it was one of those special times that was a girl's night out with just my mom and I, because the boys were all out at priesthood session. Now, I love it because we take Emma, and we're adding more and more sisters-in-law as time goes by, and it still is such a fun night of the year.

I hope you all enjoy conference!