Our Amazing Vacation

I'm finally getting around to posting about our trip to Seattle and Vancouver.  It was such a fun trip, I miss it already.

It all started a few months ago, we were thinking about what kind of trip we would take over Spring Break.  We've considered going to Arizona, Flagstaff specifically, in the past.  But that didn't seem right.  Nathaniel mentioned going to Seattle to see the Space Needle, and when I considered how close to Seattle Vancouver is I immediately warmed to the idea.  When Nathaniel saw that I was taking his suggestion seriously he started to get nervous and said that we didn't have to just because he said to do it.  I'm not really sure why it made him nervous, I suppose you'll have to ask him.

Anywho, so we started making plans.  First we had to get passports, and after a brief scare that we would have to spend over $1000 to get a full book for everyone, we discovered that only Jaaromy and I needed passports and we only needed the card.  So much cheaper!  The boys would only need their birth certificates.  Whew!  The trip was on!

We needed suitcases.  So we took a trip to Wal-mart and bought a big one with wheels for me and Jaaromy and smaller carry-ons for the boys.

 When we saw this little space shuttle bag we absolutely had to get it.

 Luckily, they had two!

 We got a nice one for Nathaniel too.

It felt like our trip would never come, but it finally did.  Our departing flight was Wednesday evening.  We would be landing in Seattle pretty late, but it allowed Jaaromy to still go to work and it gave us plenty of time to pack and get ready.

I was totally going to make dinner that night too.  Since we would be eating out a bunch over the next few days I wanted to save money.  But when it came down to it, it was just easier to stop at Wendy's on our way to the airport.

I was a little nervous about how the airport would go.  The boys did great pulling their own bags through the airport.

After waiting to board for about a half and hour, it was finally time to get on the plane!

Brigham was excited.  Leading up to our trip I would ask him if he wanted to fly in a plane and if he was excited.  He would smile big and say "excited!".  It was so cute.

I got to sit next to him and watch his reaction the whole time.  It was great.

The boys were all really excited.

We waited to take off for quite a while.  By the time we took off it was dark.  The flight was a little bumpy at first but it went fine.  We couldn't really see anything out the window.  I could tell Brigham was getting sleepy but we had plenty to keep us busy.

When we started to descend I looked out the window and saw all the lights of Seattle and the surrounding areas.  It was so cool!  We even saw the Space Needle all lit up.  Unfortunately, Jonathan had a small cold and it was keeping his ears from popping.  He was getting upset and wasn't quiet about it.  The stewardess was really patient with him and helped him blow his nose to see if that would help.  He finally calmed down but his ears didn't pop for at least another hour.

We chose a hotel close to the airport and I'm so glad we did.  We were able to take a shuttle right to the hotel so we didn't have to pick up the rental car until the next day.  We were all pretty tired and fell asleep pretty quick.  In the morning we were ready for our day in Seattle.

Easter

I debated whether or not to post about Easter all in one post or break it up.  I think I've decided to post all at once.  I have the time, and then I can get on with posting about our trip which is what you are really waiting for anyway.

We decorated cookies for FHE the Monday before.

This is one of Jonathan's cookies.  He named it Easter.  He wouldn't let anyone eat him and even made a sign to warn everyone to stay away.  Jonathan ate him the next day.

We're becoming real cookie artists, with different toppings and frosting colors and stuff.  Fun!

Easter morning the boys found Easter baskets full of candy and toys at the foot of their beds.

They got to work trying out the toys.

 One of the boys got a bunny catcher.  (I've already forgotten who got what.)

 One of them got these bunny rockets.

 Here's Jonathan showing us how they work.

 One of them got a carrotcopter.

Always a favorite at our house.

Then we colored Easter Eggs.  I know I might be in the minority, but I love 1:00 church.  Especially for days like this.

 A little to early for this much fun, perhaps?

 Jonathan was a little upset that the egg dye was coloring his fingers too.

 Nathaniel shared in the picture-taking.

 Jaaromy took a few himself.

 Our egg dye kit came with shrink wraps.  Kind of cool.

Sometimes they don't fit around the eggs, so we improvise.

We had our Easter FHE the Monday after Easter.  I kind of like it that way since we're all still thinking about it.  Although, a few friends of mine on Facebook posted about the last week of Jesus' life everyday leading up to Easter.  I think I'd like to do that next year.

 First the Easter Egg Hunt.  It was raining so we had to have it inside this year.

 Brigham was upset because he wasn't ready to get off the computer yet.

 He calmed down when I helped him find some eggs.  He even found the coveted "last" egg.

 Then we opened each one and discussed the events of the Crucifixion.  We had some pictures to go along with it which helps Jonathan get into the story.

 He was so excited about the whole story that he wanted to draw a "map" of the Plan of Salvation.  I was impressed with how much he remembered.  After the usual three kingdoms, he decided to add a few of his own.  One of them was called the Kingdom of Hyrule.

 To conclude our Easter FHE we had ice cream.  If you think the last several pictures look kind of fuzzy, you're right.  I noticed it at the time too.  Turns our there was a big fat thumb print right in the middle of my camera lens!  Cleaning it off made all the difference.  Whew!

For fun I took a picture of my Easter houses that my mom gave me.  Cute.

I love Easter.  The story behind the holiday is such a beautiful and hopeful one.

A Little Bit of Randomness

So here are just a few random thoughts and pictures that don't really deserve a full post but I'd like to share anyway.

First: Wasn't this the longest, coldest winter ever?!  There was so much snow and it long overstayed it's welcome.

(sigh) So much snow...

(sigh) So cold...

Second:  My tulips haven't come in yet(but they're super close!) but I was so excited for the first flowers of the season.  These popped up mid-March.

I put the pine cone there to make it more interesting.  I was so excited to have flowers to take pictures of so they had their own lengthy photo shoot.

Third: My brother Jared came over to take down our Christmas lights.  He felt bad that it was March, but because of the long, cold winter, the snow had only melted like the week before.  So I told him not to feel bad.  While he was up there, he took down this big ugly antenna that has been there since we moved in and we couldn't imagine what purpose it served ever, let alone currently.  While he was up there, I caught a couple of pictures.

 Jaaromy was up there helping.  I thought Jared cut an impressive form since he had just come from drill and was in his fatigues.  The most impressive silhouettes were blurry so this one will have to do.

That same night our neighbor behind us was doing some late night work and had a bright flood light on.  I decided to take advantage of that and take some fun pictures.  I think this is the best one.  The bright star is Sirius.  It was a 30 second exposure and so was starting to leave a trail.

This one would have been so cool!  Apparently, I need a more stable tripod.  Well, that and to make sure I'm focusing on the right object.

A few days later I took this one of the moon:

 I wanted a picture of the moon in twilight, and I think I'm happy with it.

 Then I caught this one.  Just for fun.

And Fourth: I had two nephews get baptized on the same day!  It made for a busy day but it was fun to see them do this at the same time.  Another bonus: I only had to make Jell-O for one gathering instead of two!

Congratulations, boys!  Side note: Carson's baptism was combined with three other kids from his ward and we had to take turns, but the people doing the music left after the program was over.  So, Megan found me a Primary Songbook and I was able to provide some music to help maintain reverence.  I'm so thankful that I can do that.  It often comes in handy.

So there you go.  Four birds with one blog post.

A little bit about Jonathan

I'm assistant Den Leader for our Wolf pack and, while it's not a calling I would have chosen, but it's been fun.  Particularly because Jonathan was, until recently, a Wolf.  It was fun to see him with the other boys learning fun new things.

Recently we had our Blue and Gold Banquet.  I couldn't go because it's on Wednesday when I have orchestra rehearsal.  Jaaromy was brave and took them all.  Free dinner, right?  He was sweet enough to take a few pictures for me.

They did a skit, of course.  I think that's a Pack Meeting staple.

Later, they were all gathered around doing something, but Jonathan was having a hard time standing still.

 Being Jonathan, he started to dance.

I think he's got some pretty sweet moves.

Jonathan is such a sweetheart and to prove it to you, I grabbed this cute picture of him at church.

He really wanted to give Brigham a hug.  Don't let Brigham's expression fool you, he was totally okay with it...for a little while anyway.