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!