Our project

I think I am so clever. Family fun Magazine had an idea and I took it a step further. Well, we are currently in the process of taking it one step further, is what I meant to say! In light of our move, and all the upheaval it will bring for the kids, I told them that we could go to all their favorite places and take pictures. When we are gone, we can put together a book with them in all the places they use to go. Joshua loves this idea. We have been to his school, to the park, to the library, to the pool, and the camping pictures are for the book too. He made a list of all the places he needed his picture taken and we are nearly done. The kids have had a great time shouting "take my picture" while doing some interesting things. Callie has suddenly developed a permanent facial tic- as she wants to make a silly face with every shot. Delaney refuses to look at me, Marian ducks her chin down, and Joshua just has a cheesy smile. I have got to figure out how to get them to look natural!

So, back to our project. I may have mentioned before how much I LOVE blurb.com and their books. We will take the pictures and make them into a book for the kids. That way they can look back at where they use to live and see what they use to do while living here. Hopefully I can show them that they have all new places to go in their new home. For example, we will have a new library to visit, and a new school, and there will be new fun parks and a pool there too. Here are some of the shots we have- notice Callie's face!

Camping with Dad!

Dan took Joshua and Marian camping last night. The had a very good time! They roasted hot dogs over the fire, and then made s'mores. Dan said they all slept well, once he got them to stop talking. And this time they didn't get home till 8:30! I had packed them donuts for breakfast, but they ate them last night, and stopped by BK for breakfast. Anyway, these are the pictures Dan took.

Back to the Pool

Yep, we went to the pool again today. In a fit of panic, Dan realized he only has 2 weeks to get his swim up before the triathlon. So we went to the pool. The kids had such a good time. Marian is really getting brave- till you take her where she can't touch. Then she hates it. Joshua went of the diving board today! 5 times or so. I went off it as well- my first dive in like 7 years! It was fun to see the kids getting better in the pool. Joshua's arm strokes are really improving. He learned the basics last summer in a session of lessons and he loves to work on it. Marian sees what he is doing and has to do it too. Sometimes that works out nicely!
Here is Joshy, leaping off the diving board. He was so funny.

Marian cracked me up with her beautiful leaps into the water. Look at her go! She goes all the way in everything! No half-hearted stuff for her! It is all or nothing.

Callie is just a cutie. She splashed away in the kiddie area and had a blast.

Delaney just splashes, and splashes, and splashes and thinks it is so much fun. I'm just happy she's not in the bathtub getting water all over the floor.

More Changes

A funny thing happened last night! Dan and I were out on our hot anniversery date, and we had a little disagreement over the date of our triathlon. Both of us were convinced we had the correct date, and Dan told me he had based our entire move based on the thought that this event would occur on May 17. Well, it turned out that he was wrong, and it is actually on May 10.

One would expect that life would merely continue as usual, with Dan adjusting to the idea that he had one less week to train (especially important, since he still has not yet started swimming!). Yet alas, this was not to be. This was a monumental mental shift for him, and since our move was based on the Triathlon date, by golly, we'd have to change that now! (Change the move date, not the triathlon date!) Nevermind that we'd been in to TMO on Wednesday and we had scheduled our move and our checkout dates.

Since this was imortant to Dan, I have gone along with him as he spent the day redoing everything, so that we now move out one week earlier than initially scheduled. So I am now quietly panicking at the thought of having to do everything in one less week. I hate moving. I hate sorting and cleaning and packing. I hate the disruption and the uncertainty, but most of all, I really really hate saying goodbye.

Happy Anniversery!

Yes, 9 years ago today it was my day to be the Princess. Dan and I got married in the Los Angeles Temple on Saturday April 24, 1999. Here are some lovely pictures of our special day.
Here we are on the Temple steps with our parents, freshly sealed and still shmoopy and sappy.


This was one of my favorite shots. I think I like it because it has my Dad and Dan in it (kind of out with the old and in with the new) , and I'm totally focused on my flowers. You can see Nana's Veil in it too. My mom, her mom, all my aunts, most of my cousins (or their wives) wore this veil when they got married. Its so cool to get to be a part of a tradition like that.

And I just like this one because we are so silly. I still have those shoes- I love them! Isn't Dan so strong and handsome!?? He still is. Its so funny to think back to that day and what I thought my life was going to be like after I got married. In a lot of ways, it has turned out like I expected: our 2.5 kids (we rounded that up to 4 so far!), hubby who goes to work every morning while I get to stay home, you know, that June Cleaver life....

What is a surprise is that Dan joined the Marine Corps, and how much I love being a mom. I don't want to go to work; I am happiest at home with my silly, funny, interesting children. I am so grateful to have a husband who supports me in that and who can work so I can stay home. I am so lucky to have a husband who is on the same page with me on just about everything. We have the same values, goals, and the same feelings about bugeting, family and discipline. I am very blessed to have my Dan. I never would have imagined being so happy and just content with life. Happy Anniversery to me!