Farewells

We hate to say goodbye to great friends, but I guess it comes with the territory when dealing with the military. Last night we had to say goodbye to some dear friends that are moving to Georgia. Gabs will especially miss her first little girl friend.

We've had several farewell celebrations the last few weeks, but last Wednesday was the best! We rented a boat and boated to dinner. It was an amazing evening for a boat ride and sitting on a deck for dinner over looking the sound. Just like one from Utah would miss the mountains, I so so miss the ocean and beach of California. I just feel so happy near water that I had been looking forward to this evening for weeks. Dinner was great and the company couldn't be beat. At about 8:30 we decided to head back before it got dark (Way up here in Washington we have sun until about 9:30). Unfortunately, our ride back was not nearly as pleasant as our boat ride to dinner. The wind picked up and the water got crazy! We were in a little lake boat and trying to navigate through 3-4 foot white cap waves. A few made it into our boat and I thought we were going over for sure! Freezing waters and amazingly strong currents wouldn't be a good thing to mess with. I was so scared! Not to mention that going into the wind, took a lot longer time wise to get to the dock, plus a lot more gas, so not only were we facing overboard issues, it was getting dark and we had little, little gas to get us home. We did make it, wet and cold, but we did make it! The guys were hooping and hollering calling it an adventure, and thinking what we had just done (now that we were safe) was really cool, but I, myself, could really live without adventure, I really am okay without it! What a night to remember...with all the other fun memories we have with our great friends!

Here we are at dinner: This is us after dinner before we get back on the boat for what awaits us:

Here is a little taste of our "adventure" back. This is the nice and calm we experienced just before we got to the dock, as you can only see water spraying...but imagine 4 foot waves in this picture and that is what we faced most of the trip, a little too intense for picture taking during that time!

On A Sunday...

I finally downloaded my pictures and remembered this fun Sunday about a week ago where Gabriella was being such a great "sharer". She had just gotten her first lollipop at a birthday party the day before and thought that Gwen would probably like some too. Here is how it all went down:

Gabs: "Here Gwen Gwen try some of my yummy pink lollipop"
Gwen thinking: "Mmmm, that's way better than rice cereal mixed with squash, I think I'll help myself to some more of that pink lollipop."
Gabriella: "Wow, I'm so happy I'm sharing, look at me be such a cute big sister"
Gabriella: "OK, this is getting kinda serious, I better get a hold of the situation and get my sucker back!"
Gabriella: "Here Gwen Gwen I got you this baby to play with instead!"

Gwen: "Finally, some more lollipop!"

Gwen: "She took it again!" THE FREAK OUT!

They lived happily ever after....without the lollipop!

My Sister and I!

There is nothing better than for me to watch our two girls play and love one another! With Gwen getting older and more mobile, Gabs is loving her new play mate! Gabriella is, of course, a great big sister...always telling Gwen "that's not such a great idea" and taking whatever it is away. She likes to put "her" toys on the couch and tell her "you'll never find it now, ha ha ha" as if she's Swippper the fox from Dora. She can get Gwen to laugh better than anyone, my favorite is waking up to the sound of laughter coming from their bedroom in the morning. Gwen tries to keep up with Gabs as best as she can, you can tell she watches her with adoring eyes! I just feel so blessed to have two wonderful, happy girls who are so fond of one another! There's nothing like a sister! Here are a few photos of my loves enjoying some sun time out in the backyard and melting my heart!

Grandma and Grandpa!

We love having visitors, especially grandma's and grandpa's. It was so great to have my parents come out for 10 days a stay with us. It was Gwen's blessing in January since they had seen the girls and they had changed so much. We were able to do so many fun things while they were here! We visited the rain forest and stayed at Lake Quinalt. Went to Snoqualime Falls and enjoyed a train ride on an old 1912 train. Little Gabs was especially thrilled for this day of the trip! We ate at our favorite restaurant on the water in Tacoma and enjoyed a day at the zoo. We were blessed with fabulous weather, so we were able to picnic in Steilacoom, a great little community on the water about 5 minutes from our house that over looks Puget Sound.
It was so wonderful to watch the girls with their grandma and grandpa. I loved that my mom and dad got to spend every minute of our day with us to really see their funny personalities and our everyday lives of normal things, but things you miss sharing with family...especially your mom and dad! We love them so much and can't wait until their next visit!

San Juan Islands!

We decided that we needed to take advantage of Joe having a week off, so we treated ourselves to a family vacation. We didn't want to go too far from home, so we decided to visit the San Juan Islands. We were lucky that a ferry ran from Victoria to the Islands, so we didn't waste a lot of time getting there. We stayed at a resort on Orcas island and had a great view of the water! We took the girls swimming at the indoor pool, feed deer right outside our room, went whale watching, hiked(well more of a long drive up, and a little walk) to Mt. Constitution, the highest point on the island, and of course, I squeezed in about an hour of shopping while the girls napped!

We had a wonderful time. We weren't sure whate watching would be such a great idea with a 2 1/2 year old and a 6 month old, plus not being the right season, but we decided that it might be our only chance, so why not? Luckily we did it, because we spent a gorgeous day on the sound and the girls were great! We saw dozens of whales...one, was only a few days old that our guide hadn't even gotten to see yet! We had a really great time doing something different, and promised ourselves a week a year to treat our little family to a getaway!

The day after I got home, I said goodbye to the girls and Joe and enjoyed 3 fun filled days in Arizona, where I was able to see Bryn's new home, shop, eat, see a play with my mom and sisters, and do a little golfing with my dad! Joe was a great stay at home dad, he cooked, cleaned and moslty played with the girls...only a little busted lip from Gabs. I was mostly impressed by him taking them shopping to suprise me with pearls for Mother's day! I was happy to be home with my family for Mother's Day after a great week! Unfortunately, Gwen fell asleep on the way home from church, so I don't have one of the three of us, SAD!