10 years down.... eternity to go!

It's taken me a while to post about our celebrating our 10th Anniversary, but since yesterday was the big day, I guess it's appropriate to post it now.  We had our trip to Yellowstone planned the weekend before our Sunday Anniversary, so we decided that going out the weekend before that would be the best time. Nate had decided that even htough it was my year to plan our Anniversary (we take turns) he wanted to do it, since it's the big 1-0!!!  So he planned this really amazing weekend for us.  He even made arrangements to have my Mom come spend the night with the kids.  That's priceless. 

Then he took me up to Ogden to an indoor skydiving place called iFly.  Both of us have thought skydiving would be so much fun, but feel like it would be incredibly irresponsible as parents to both go do it together, so we haven't.  But this was the next best thing.  And it really was INCREDIBLE!!!  I loved it.  You go inside this wind tunnel and basically just fly around!!  It's quite the workout!  We got our own shirts and DVDs of us flying.  Such a cool experience!  We're totally going to have to take our kids to do that this summer, they would LOVE it!

We stayed at the Marriott and everything was just within walking distance there, so we walked around a little had dinner at Iggy's.  SO NICE!!!  I love my kids more than life itself, but to have an evening with just Nate and I is just SO rejuvenating!  We were supposed to go to Boondocks the next day but we were so tired and sore from the flying the day before, that we ended up just going to an early showing of Thor instead.  (Awesome movie, I totally recommend it!)

We got word that Erika had been throwing up in the night and thought taking our time to get back may not be too nice for Grandma, so we headed home after that.  It was just SUCH a nice evening though.  And while it was only one night, I think it was just what we needed.  I felt like a new person afterwards.
I love that Nate can plan these things for us without any help from me and it is a total surprise!!!!  He's just so thoughtful that way.  He of course spoiled me with gifts as well, a beautiful necklace and perfume.  I have the best husband ever. 

It amazes me that we've been married for 10 years.  I remember when Mark and Nancy hit their 10 year mark and that just seemed like SUCH a long time.  I had no idea it would feel so short!  It really feels like it's gone by so fast.  Even with all that we've been through and accomplished.  It's been amazing.  I hope the next 10 are just as amazing.

Sierra's Baptism

Is anyone else as incredibly addicted to Angry Birds as Luke???

On the 7th we got to go see Sierra get baptized.  It was a really nice baptism, good food, fun times.  The lighting was horrible and I didn't get a good picture of just Sierra :*(  But I did get some okay ones that I just want to have :)  So I probably shouldn't call this post Sierra's baptism..... Random Pictures may be more accurate.



Sierra and her girl cousins



Kelly's had kind of a hard time with her 2 cousins that are so close in age to her, getting baptized so soon before her.  She is SO anxious to get baptized!  Not too much longer though!



Erika went for a ride on Sierra's new blanket :)



And Lukey again :)  NOT with eyes glued to an electronic device!

To the Zoo with Bubba

I got the opportunity to go with Bradley to the Zoo on the 4th of May.  This was a pretty special field trip, LOTS of parents come and we all get to just wander the Zoo in small groups and do whatever we want.  It was a lot of fun.  I was so worried that we were going to have crappy weather, but it was the nice day among some crummy ones, so we were lucky.  Brad let me sit by him and his friend Jackson on the bus.  Then he held my hand through the whole Zoo, made me feel really special :).

Here's his group.  We had a lot of fun together.  The other Mom in the group is the daughter-in-law of the couple who taught my Temple Prep class.  Pretty cool!  We were probably in the same ward at one time, but neither of us remembered the other, so maybe not.  Might have just missed her with the many times in and out of that ward.  She was nice, we had a lot of fun.  I think everyone's favorite part was watching the Gorilla eat his poop.  Yep.  Pretty disgusting right?  Yeah.  Well, the kids LOVED it!!  They couldn't get enough of it.  We literally sat there and watched him eat for about 20 minutes.  He would actually catch it as it fell out and then nibble on it and pick out the green stuff.... sorry that's probably tmi.  One of the kids was really funny though, as the Gorilla was bent over, bumb facing the glass, trying to push out some more food, the kid says, "Wait for it... wait for it...."  SO HILARIOUS!!!!!  Maybe it's because he's a kid, but it just made me laugh so hard!  I really couldn't stop laughing about it.... still makes me laugh just thinking about it.  So yeah, that's the exciting world of a Kindergartener.



I'm not sure why they've added Dinosaurs to the Zoo (Are the live animals not exciting enough??), but Brad thought it was cool.  I think it's lame, personally.



Gotta get a picture of him climbing on the Rhino.... this has become a classic...



We saw this family of Geese on our way to the playground.... SO CUTE!!!  NOT in captivity makes it even cuter.

Brad and the other kids in our group just ran around like a bunch of crazies at the playground.  It was really hard to keep track of them all!  They sure had fun though!  Brad's still eating his lunch since the pavillion made it too cold to eat, they rushed through lunch.\













One picture with Mom.....
Good times.  I love that Brad is such a fun kid to be with.  He follows the rules, and stays closeby.... just makes it really enjoyable for his Mom.  We had so much fun.

Improv

This feels like it was forever ago, but I think it was only a few weeks.  Either way.  It was Bradley's turn to do the family night lesson and his original plan to go to the Bouncy Place was no longer an option.   We needed to IMPROVise.  He could not think of anything else to do for his lesson then somehow he got the idea to play with these little plastic sample cups we've had laying around for the last year or so.  I can't tell you how amazed I was at how much fun we all had with them!  We had races stacking, then races picking them up after they fell.....







Then we had races blowing them across the floor.....







Everyone cheered for each other.....
It was a total blast!  I totally wasn't going to post these pictures because of the lameness involved, but how cool are my kids to actually find this entertaining, and make it a fun activity for our family night.  I love the easiness of pleasing these kids.  They really are amazing.  I always want to remember these dorky fun times that we have together.

Red Butte Gardens with my Kelza-bell

Kelly's class had a field trip to Red Butte Gardens and once again I was not chosen to be one of the parent chapperones.  I was bugged and Kelly was devastated, and then I got an email that said that any parents that wanted to come could come, but that they had to drive separately and pay their own way.  So I got to go with her afterall!  Kelly was cute, she wanted to ride up with me, and I was of course really flattered, but I thought she would miss out on the whole bus-riding-funness that is part of the coolness of going on a field trip.  So I kinda talked her out of it.  Or talked up the bus ride rather.  I ended up riding up with one of Kelly's friends' mom.  We had a lot of fun talking.  She is a very amazing person and I admire her for all that she has been through in her life.  It's always crazy to hear what trials someone else has to overcome and realize that yours are nothing.  I'm not sure why I've been so lucky in my life, but I hope it doesn't come back to bite me in the end. 

Red Butte Gardens were not as pretty as I thought it would be, but that's probably because it's practically still winter.  It was a lot of fun hunting for Bobcats, and scouting out animal "evidences" though.  Kelly is a pro!  And she's such a good teacher!  I love how Kelly is herself at school.  She really is just free of her shell, and doesn't let what others might think stop her from doing what she knows is best.  I love that.  She's just a really cool girl.  I'm happy to be her mom.  We did see a few animals, a hawk, a bunny, a bunch of squirrels, and Kelly got to take apart a flower and learn all about pollenation.  Pretty cool stuff.  She didn't pose for pictures as much as she has in the past, but she did request that I take pictures of EVERYTHING we saw.  These are the ones that I found interesting enough to put on here :) 

We had such a good time together.  I love spending time with my kids.  Kelly's a sweetheart.  She ended up riding home with us, she said, because she wanted to listen to the radio, so that was fun ;)  We shared our lunch together and Kelly played on the playground at Bountiful park.  I had to leave before she did because Nate had to have the car to go to work, but it was a fun little trip.  Very memorable.

The Oak Tunnel

We named our group the "Rabbits" and everytime our guide said, "Hey Rabbits?!" We had to say, "Heeeey Sarah!"  So cool.  And Kelly loved that it was the same name as her Aunt :)

 

Mini Daffodils

 

A cute little blue bird I saw WAY off in the distance (I love my lens)

 

another nest.  We kept watching to see if the hawk would come back and we couldn't see the eggs the guide was talking about.

 

And my ONE picture of Kelly.....