Pizza Party

If you know me at all, you'd know that one of my main loves in life is pizza. I also love spending time with good friends. So when we realized the time was getting short for one of our friends here who's moving to Texas, we decided to combine the two and have a going-away pizza party at our bakery. We're so sad to see them go, but wish them luck in their new adventures! We used our Popeye bread for the dough, added toppings, and voila!

(I don't know why Sam insisted in sitting in the high chair. He's the oldest kid there.)

Sam will miss his buddy Kaylee.

And we will their whole family. Good luck!

Mini Mission Reunion--Washington Style

Last Sunday I met up with one of my old mission companions. We both live in Washington--about 3 hours apart--so we decided to meet in the middle. We met in Olympia at a random park and had picnic. Before this visit, we hadn't seen each other in over five years--it was just a few weeks before she got married, and a few months before I got married. A lot has changed since then.

She was one of my companions in the MTC (we were in a threesome). And then we served together again in Geneva, Switzerland. Some of the best times of my mission were with her.

Us as brand new missionaries in the MTC. "Hey look at us! We're missionaries!" July 2003

These were taken in Geneva. July-October 2004

And here we are now!

And these are some of the good things that happened to us after the mission.

Thanks for making the drive to see us, Soeur. Je t'aime!

Happy Bastille Day!

Happy Bastille Day a couple weeks late! Thanks to a cute sister of mine who mailed us our cake mix, food coloring, frosting, and coin to hide in the cake!

Click here for an explanation of the holiday if you're not familiar with it.

Farmer's Market

We have been participating in the Lake Stevens Farmer's Market. I help Chris set everything up, stay for about an hour, and then go back to our store with Sam to cover the last two hours until we close. Chris usually wakes up around 3am, comes home for a couple hours in the early afternoon, loads up the cars around 3pm, and comes home from the market around 9:30pm. It's a big day, but has helped out our little store tremendously!

Here is a little video of our tent.

Sam Turns 3 and Other Adventures

We had my parents, sister, and her three girls come visit for a little over week to celebrate the 4th of July and Sam's 3rd birthday. We had such a great time together and did lots of fun stuff (I had to miss some of these activities because I had to work. For a full account, see my dad's blog):

- Watched a parade in downtown Everett
- Watched fireworks over Lake Stevens
- Went to Forest Park's petting zoo
- Swam at a pool
- Enjoyed a scenic drive to Snoqualmie Falls
- Played at the beach (though there wasn't much beach because the tide was so high)
- Enjoyed a couple free movies at the local movie theater
- Went bowling
- Went to a fun concert in the park at Silver Lake
- Had dinner at the farmers market and enjoyed the bluegrass music in the park
- Enjoyed another scenic drive to Deception Pass on Whidby Island, and a ferry ride back to Everett
- Celebrated Sam's 3rd birthday on Jetty Island

Sunday morning after my dad, sister, and the girlies had left for their long drive home (my mom flew home later that evening), Sam woke up and asked where everyone went and when there were coming back. He cried when I told them they were gone. He had such a good time with his cousins.

We didn't take any pictures because the batteries died in the camera. But we did take a few movies, so enjoy! The first part of this first clip is very reminiscent of Sam's 2nd birthday.

The REAL Mac n Cheese

A few months ago we found a good deal on store brand mac n cheese. Sam is used to the Kraft brand, and when he saw me pour in the green box instead of the blue box, he tried a bite, freaked out, and refused to eat the rest of it. He said he wanted the real mac n cheese. In his defense, I was in a big hurry and didn't cook the noodles long enough, so that's why it tasted different to him. In any case, he no longer will eat the store brand kind. We now keep one empy Kraft mac n cheese box and either pour the store brand into the Kraft box just before cooking it so he sees the noodles coming out of the right box, or say something like "Hey Sam, we're having real mac n cheese for lunch" and show him the blue box. It works like a charm! We're so sneaky!

Shaving Time

Here's a video of Sam and Christopher shaving a couple months ago.

One of Our Favorite Places to Go

We love Seattle summers! For the most part, the weather is beautiful and temperate. When it's sunny outside, we spend a lot of time out at a local beach (Howarth Park). Chris and Sam go a few times each week, and I go on my day off and sometimes on Saturdays before work. We usually go in the early afternoon before it gets to crowded, but when other people are out too, Sam loves to make new friends with everyone. Here is a video of us at the beach the end of May.