seven years

We went. We saw. We played. We loved.

Or at least I loved going to Canada for our 7th anniversary! Jarron had a hard time appreciating our "neighbors to the north" and kept reminding me how much better America is. I have to agree that I love my country too, but Canada was fun! Sure people smoke everywhere (a lot of European travelers/influence), people drive crazy and parking is expensive, they like Obama, and American credit cards are not always accepted...But it was culture! Adventure! ROD STEWART in concert! Crepes filled with nutella and chocolate served with ice cream are considered a nutritious breakfast! And it was beautiful. The weather was cool and we even got to walk in the rain with a borrowed umbrella. There are trees everywhere and rooftop gardens all over downtown. We got to see where the 2010 Winter Olympics will be held and witnessed some new construction going on for the event. The city is HUGE and we only explored downtown, never going across the water to its other half. I found it interesting that there are so many Asians there. I hadn't realized that it was a lot like Seattle (which is just south of Vancouver) as far as demographics go. They comprised a lot of the work-force (we even saw a hot-dog stand called "Japo-Dog"!) but also had a lot of money to bolster the economy (they buy their engagement rings at Tiffany.) But as much as I enjoyed the outdoors and sights, my long-awaited concert was the best part! My heart is beating faster as I type about it--I had a fabulous time and would go again in a second. Jarron and I walked from our hotel (only about a mile away) and found our nose-bleed seats in the balcony. Good fortune came our way as the usher felt bad for Jarron and offered us upgraded seats in the second section by the stage!!! (I had gone to get food and the usher helped Jarron find our seats. He asked Jarron if he was attending alone, to which Jarron scoffed and said, "No!" The usher asked him if his wife dragged him along and Jarron anwered in the affirmative. When I got up to our seats, the usher came back and offered the upgraded tickets. Jarron scored big time and made my concert going experience that much better!) Our new seats were great, but we sat by a LOT of older people who yelled at me to "Sit Down!" when I jumped out of my seat as Rod came onto the stage. I had to dance in my seat until my neighbors started to get drunk and loosen up. About half way through the concert, I got to dance STANDING UP (!) with ladies going through mid-life crises! It was amazing. And the best part was that Jarron never said a word or even looked embarassed. He let me dance my ace off and have a great time like he promised he would. I later asked him what he was thinking as he watched me dance and he said, "I just think that people would be surprised to know that you weren't drinking." I love him. And Rod, too. And the drunk dancing ladies. I can't wait to go back and visit the other half of Vancouver, eat somewhere good (I mostly had mozzarella sticks, cake, cupcake, nachos, a pretzel, coke, and the aforementioned crepe the entire weekend. Oh, and the second worst Mexican food I've ever eaten in my life!), and visit the Sid Dickens Studio (the guy who makes the wall tiles I hang in my house. We did, however, buy 4 tiles at a shop downtown where Sid personally delivers his merchanise! My jaw about dropped and hit the floor when Jarron told the shop lady he'd take all the tiles I said I liked. What a great anniversary/birthday/housewarming gift!). Here's to 7 years of being married going for an eternity's worth more.

almost famous

Check out our feature at the newly remodeled Richland Public Library in Richland, WA! It's a terrible picture by all accounts, but maybe it will be a cool memory for the boys. :) What happened was this: The day before we went to the library for storytime (and ultimately had this picture taken), I had been at cubscout day camp all day and went to bed exhausted. So when I woke up the next morning to take the kids to the library, I said to myself, "Screw the shower, screw my hair, screw my outfit, screw getting the boys dressed." But as things tend to happen, it was an ill-fated choice because during storytime, I was pulled to the side by a librarian and asked if me and my "cute boys" would pose for a publicity picture for the "new" library. GRRR. Why didn't I curl my hair?? Or at least WASH it? So they snapped a few pics (I opted not to look at them), mass produced our image and made trifolds for the computer stations when the remodeled library opened a few weeks ago. Shown here is the end result and we have 10 courtesy copies to keep for memory books, etc. All I can say is that I'm moving anyway, so what do I care if my ugly mug is scattered all over? At least the boys are charming (although Jarron detests the 49ers jersey Mayes is wearing!).

a house on Home

A sneak peek at our recently purchased house on Home Ave in Selah, WA! We'll be officially changing our address mid-late September. WHOO-HOO!

training season

Major milestone for Mayes: He peed in the toilet for the first time on Monday (the 20th) and has gone at least once every day since. Crazy!! He's about 2.5 yrs right now so I'm not expecting much and I'm not officially going to undies any time soon. (Unless he insists.) Part of me is a little nervous this won't last...But at any rate, YAY MAYES!

it's (almost) official

No, this isn't a prego announcement. It's better! Jarron and I are 2-3 weeks away from having our Washington State Enhanced Driver's Licenses! Which means that we can use them to cross the Canadian and Mexican boarders and even go to the Caribbean without needing a passport. I am sooo excited to see what Canadians are all about in Vancouver when Jarron and I go to a ROD STEWART concert there for our anniversary this summer!! I will admit, I am a total fan and have a secret crush on Rod. We got our cheap seat tickets in the mail and reserved our 4.5 star hotel (one magical night only) and now the countdown is on for August 8th.

The substory to this is that when we were in the agonizing process of applying for EDLs at the DMV (ugh yuck vomit hate gov't agencies), the boys were hanging out at Jarron's brother's house playing with their cousins. Right before we left the DMV, our sister-in-law called to tell us that Cameron broke his toe and was freaking out/screaming/crying. He wouldn't let her ice it, he turned down ice cream, and wouldn't be consoled. Jarron, the more panicy parent, took Cameron straight to the ER and they x-rayed C's foot. Sure enough, his middle right toe has a teeny tiny break, but the more amazing thing is that they discovered a small extra bone in his right pinky toe. Not really surprising since this kid has all the weird stuff (including an extra tooth). Rest assured that he's fine, but during the ride home he was bawling and insisted that we call the police to help since "the police help people who are hurt and could catch the criminal who did this" to him. After a few minutes of this, Jarron told Cameron that we'd help him but he needed to stop talking about his "freaking toe". Cameron retorted (between sobs) that it wasn't nice to talk about his toe like that! You would have thought he broke his freaking head. It's a darn good thing that Jarron knows about the silver bullet to all childhood hurts: Slurpees. Peace restored.

Master Fishermen

First off, Jarron started work on Tuesday. YEAH!! He commutes about an hour each way four days a week but he enjoys the people he works with and the type of therapy he'll be doing once training is over. Before he started, he had about 2 weeks off after graduation in which we moved all of our stuff and spent some time with the boys. I'd like to recount one of the family activities we had:

Last Friday we went fishing at a man-made lake close to Richland with Jarron's older brother and two of his kids. Cameron started to wander around waiting for a fish to bite and decided to poke sticks into the water instead. He was about 30 yards away when, all of a sudden, he came racing around the bend yelling, "I caught a fish! I caught a fish!" Mind you, he had no fishing rod and was all alone so I was skeptical. Low and behold, as he got closer I saw a real, living fish in his hands!! We were all shocked and asked him how he caught it. He said, "I just saw it start to swim away so I stepped in a little bit and got it." Seriously. The child caught a fish with his bare hands. He never ceases to amaze me. So here are a few pics of the incident and a couple of Mayes demonstrating his emerging fisherman skills.

The Palm Springs of Washington

Today Jarron and I took the boys to Yakima, WA (self-proclaimed to be the "Palm Springs" of WA) so we could check out our future hometown. Jarron starts work at the hospital there on Tuesday and we are SO excited to start paying off student loans and save money for a house.

Our itenerary was simple: scout out the local high schools and desired neighborhoods and get a feel for the housing market. We'll see what happens as far as home buying goes--Jarron has already decided on which house he wants and is praying it stays on the market for a (potentially long) while. Aptly, the house is on Trout Lake Court.

I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised with how much I enjoyed Yakima. There are a lot of great parks, newer areas, a charming "historic" downtown (where the hospital is), and great views. I felt a little more at "home" in Yakima with the snow-capped mountain range nearby. I guess Utah grew on me more than I realized. I need scenery in my life!

On a related note (well, not really but it happened while we were driving), Cameron asked me to find his superheroes. "You know, mom...The orange and green ones. One has hair that feels like chocolate and one has a helmet." Help! What in the world is he talking about??