SEVEN

october 20 was our 7th wedding anniversary! so proud that we made it past the seven year itch. ;) we've been talking about weddings a lot lately in this neighborhood and i have to say that i think marriage just gets better and better with time. seven years feels like such a good spot for us -- marriage is comfortable and fun and happy and cooperative and we've worked out a lot of kinks over the years. i'm so lucky to be married to b.

anyway, we kept things pretty low-key this year. i always like to go out and DO things instead of buy things for anniversaries or birthdays, and we threw around a lot of activity ideas, but since hudson was going to be our +1 it kind of limited our choices and when it came down to it i just wanted to keep things simple. we went out to dinner at cuoco (one of the famed tom douglas restaurants in town) and it was delicious and relaxing. that coconut cream pie everyone talks about is legit, people.

our actual anniversary was on a sunday, so it was even more laid back. we just went to church and had dinner with some friends, then came home and popped in our wedding DVD that we hadn't watched in years. it was so fun to look back at ourselves and our families from seven years ago and see what has changed...and also what marriages we have already outlasted. ha.

seven years! here's my traditional look down memory lane. four states, two kids, lots of jobs and LOTS of hair colors/styles later. ;)

[salt lake city UT]

[los angeles CA]

[beverly hills CA]

[provo UT]

[provo UT]

[vancouver canada]

[seattle WA]

jack's first day of school 2013

last month jack started preschool! i was a little nostalgic the night before, but the first day went great. b stayed home from work in the morning and we made a big family breakfast -- homemade pancakes and bacon -- and jack got to wear the cute airplane shirt he picked out at target. we packed up his lightning mcqueen backpack and took some pictures and it was still too early to leave for school, but jack was literally bouncing around with excitement so we had to take a little tv break to kill some time. then we loaded up the car and headed to his new school! he marched right in without looking back and has loved preschool ever since. i cried a little on the way home. ;)

at his classroom:

so proud of our big boy.

still alive

we're still here! i've got a few posts rolling around in my head and i hope to get to them soon. hudson's crib is in our office currently, where it will stay until he's capable of sleeping through the night (judging by his present sleep habits, that will not happen until he's 5) so i can't ever get on the computer after 7 pm and it sucks. my blogging is on the backburner BUT i've got some pictures of him that are so freaking cute that it feels like a crime to keep them from the world any longer, so here you go. enjoy these until i can post something more substantial.

loving licking his baby bjorn at the pumpkin patch last week:

he clocked in at 100th percentile for head size at his 4 month appointment. how is that even possible?

swimming in california last month:

sure love this little monkey.

pre-school eve

tomorrow jack starts pre-school! well, sort of -- we have a family meet-and-greet type thing for an hour, then he officially starts next tuesday. i am SO excited for him -- i think he will really love going to school, meeting new friends, learning from his teacher, having an activity that is all his own. plus the 2 1/2 hours i will get to fly solo with just hudson at home sound pretty dang dreamy to me too. ;) but in all seriousness -- i feel a tiny bit sad too. my boy is growing up!

i sure love this kid. we've both had kind of a rough summer trying to figure out a new normal now that jack isn't the center of my attention at all times anymore, but i think we're starting to get it. and despite all the tantrums and irrational crazyness coming from him, jack is still the sweetest cutest boy. i'm floored daily by the cute things he comes up with and by seeing how his little mind works. (also in observing how good of a mimic he is becoming -- just this week i've heard him say "green light, idiot" and "freaking obama" to his toys...i'll let you guess where he's learned those. guess mama needs to watch her language. :)

and now, after three years of being right by his side almost every second of every day, he is going off to the real world. granted he IS only three years old and it will only be for 2 1/2 hours, two days a week, but this is the beginning of the end. i won't be there to watch and guide him as i've done so far in his little life, and it makes me sad to think of that cute little guy learning and growing and doing things without me there to cheer or help. this is one tiny baby step into the real world -- the first step in him learning to be an independent, think-for-himself human. i guess that's what parenthood is all about....but it sucks. my type-A self does NOT want to give up control of my kids, especially to let them be corrupted by the big bad world. ha, yes, the big bad world of pre-school...i realize i sound like a crazy person, but this is the first step. heaven help me the day he leaves for college or his mission. :)

hudson's blessing day

my parents stopped in seattle for a weekend on their way to an alaskan cruise, so we decided to bless hudson while they were here. (jack's blessing day here, my boys are practically identical babies.) this was only my dad's second time coming to visit us in washington so we were so excited and wanted to show them a good time.

on saturday, we had brunch here and then headed out to ride the ducks! i LOVE that tour and could go ten more times without getting bored. such a fun way to see seattle.

the sleepless in seattle houseboat of COURSE!:

then on sunday we went to church and b gave hudson a name and a blessing in front of our whole ward. hudson had the cutest little outfit (a bow tie made by b's super talented cousin plus suspenders!) and was wrapped up in a crocheted blanket my 90-year-old grandma had made for jack. our seattle-family friends the davises came to join us and it was such a nice day.

after church we went for a walk and took a few family pictures in our front yard. jack's face in the second pic is seriously priceless.

the next day my parents left for alaska and b went back to work for the first time post-paternity leave. i was a little bit of a wreck. luckily everything went fine. and THEN, as luck would have it, 10 days later my parents had a layover in seattle on their way home from alaska but when they landed they found out their next flight had been cancelled. they had to stay overnight in seattle to wait for the next flight so the boys and i went down to hang with them for a few hours. what are the odds?!? it was the best surprise ever. 

just some cute boys

i've had intentional parenting on the brain a lot lately as i've been trying to adjust to life with two kiddos. loved this huffington post article about taking time to enjoy the simple joys of everyday life and i'm loving getting a little more one-on-one time with each boy as hudson's sleep schedule has ironed itself out. i'm really trying to enjoy each moment of this crazy stage of life even though it's so exhausting and hard sometimes. of course i'm definitely not perfect and i still find myself with short fuses and nonexistent patience, but hey, sleep deprivation and traveling husbands and sassy almost-preschoolers will do that to you i guess.

i just started a gig writing for another blog and posted today about my adjustment to the two-kid-life but there's so much more i could say on the subject. in the meantime, i've noticed my cell phone filling up with the sweetest pictures of my two boys and every time i flip through them i feel like the luckiest girl on the planet. i just keep thinking back to college before i met b when i had so many questions about how my life would end up and what paths i would take...if there was any way i could have looked ahead and seen myself as a mama to these two sweet little boys and a wife to my very best friend, my mind would have been blown. how did i get so lucky?!

epic july: week 4

i wasn't kidding when i said july has been the best month ever. last week, we took a little vacation down to the oregon coast.

we hadn't ever been to oregon and it's just a few hours away, so it seemed like a good place to test the waters on vacationing as a family of 4. we rented a cute little beach cottage via vrbo.com, which was perfect -- a zillion times better than a hotel, especially if you have kids.

our first stop was astoria, filming location of cult classic the goonies. the house still looks just like it did in the movie, except for an israel flag hanging outside. ;)

view from the house:

then we took a trolley ride along the waterfront, which was a huge hit with our little train lover. jack was so thrilled to board it (i told him a trolley was like a train, thinking he wouldn't know what a trolley was, and he immediately corrected me and reminded me of the trolley on daniel tiger's neighborhood. nothing gets past that kid.) and just sat there smiling & leaning out the window during the entire hour-long ride. it was a really fun, relaxing way to see the city -- b and i loved it too. 

on tuesday, we walked down to our little beach and played in the sand, even though it was cloudy and cold. here's us saying "THIS is the beach?!" :)

proof that huddy was there too:

that afternoon, we drove down to seaside to check out their little downtown area and get dinner...i was less than impressed, it kind of reminded me of coney island's ghetto tourist attractions. oh well :) 

wednesday we went to cannon beach! besides the goonies house, this was probably the most iconic part of oregon for me to look forward to since i had seen haystack rock so many times before in pictures (and in the goonies, ha). we made sure to go when the tide was low, and the area just around haystack rock was filled with the coolest tide pools ever. i had only been to tide pools in CA before this and they are totally lame -- this one was amazing, with tons of starfish and mussels and seagulls and puffins and crabs, and even a sea anenome eating a dead bird. jack's favorite part was finding a tiny hermit crab. there are a bunch of local volunteers at the tide pools to help you learn more about the ecosystem and animals, and told us all sorts of cool tidbits. also jack got to wear binoculars, which he loved. 

from there, we drove to tillamook oregon to tour the cheese factory! not going to lie, this was one activity that solidified our plans to go to oregon -- i LOVE that cheese (and ice cream). the factory was awesome -- cheese samples, lunch at the cafe, dessert at the ice cream counter, peeking in the factory windows to watch them make cheese, and a trip to their gift shop to bring stuff home. it was a delightful afternoon. 

that afternoon, we took a kite to the beach. in oregon you can drive right ON the beach! so fun (though i was worried our little accord would get stuck...b could totally handle it of course). it was sunny so we wore our bathing suits...but it was freezing. ha. i stayed in the car.

and thursday, we came home -- after a delicious brunch at mcdonalds. one thing i will say the oregon coast is lacking is good food...zero restaurants impressed me down there. then we drove back up to seattle, stopping only at an amish furniture store to diffuse a double meltdown (yeah...ask me about it sometime) and then we were home! such a fun trip for our little family.