5 days old
1st birthday
2nd birthday
Just a few days ago while visiting Western, where Mommy and Daddy met
After all the craziness of the auction was over, and I was able wind down a little bit :), we decided to take our little family to the beach for a weekend of relaxation and family time. We realized on our way down there that we really hadn't taken a vacation just the four of us, ever. We always are visiting someone else, or going with someone else. And not that we don't love doing those things as well, but this was a real treat for us. We left on a Friday morning and went to Klipson Beach in southern Washington, and stayed through Sunday. We really didn't have an agenda, we just did whatever we wanted! Fabulous! We rented a little one room cabin just about a half mile from the beach that had a fire place and little kitchen, and it ended up being perfect for us. We made a make-shift bed on the pull out sofa for the boys and lined it with pillows so they wouldn't fall off, made little lunches and ate wherever, walked around town and on the beach, and played as much baseball as possible. The beach was practically deserted, so we got it all to ourselves! I can't tell you how much it filled my tank, even just a few days. We had such a wonderful time as a family, and made some wonderful memories. The boys are still talking about it to this day and want to go back as soon as possible. :)
We miss you Jolene!
Our Cystic Fibrosis Benefit Auction went so well this year. After months of planning and preparing, we finally were able to pull off a wonderful and fun night of fundraising and remembering. What a joy it was to be there with a room full of Jolene's friends and family, friends of many other families effected by CF, and wonderful supporters! I am so thankful for everyone's love and support!
Thank you so much to everyone who came the night of, volunteered, donated, and helped in any way!
The amazing night began around 6pm with silent auction, raffle, appeitzers, and fun with friends. We then had a sit down dinner with food donated from the Olive Garden and Outback Steakhouse, as well as some live entertainment provided by the SnoValley Dolls (who were amazing!). The night was beautiful and all of the decorations were just perfect. We had a wonderful tribute for Jolene and spoke about cystic fibrosis and finding a cure. Karine gave a amazing talk about Jolene's life and spirit, which was beautiful. After the dinner we did our live auction with Teage as our amazing auctioneer, and he did an fabulous job. We had so much fun! Overall, the night was such a success and I was extremely grateful for all of the help and support that we received.
Our live auction table 
The beautiful cake that was donated for our lovely dessert!
Our auction items were absolutely AMAZING this year! Such generosity, even in this economy.
Some of our wonderful volunteers.....we couldn't have accomplished this night without them. They were all so very amazing, just jumped right in and did everything they could to make this night a success. I LOVED all of them!
Teage was our amazing auctioneer!! He did such a wonderful job!!! I was very proud of him.
Erin, Karine, and I after when the night was coming to a close. What fantastic supports they are!
My little family the day after the auction with our special Ropes for Hope bracelets that Kaitie made us. Kaitie also came the night of the auction to sell her bracelets and be Vanna for Teage during the live auction. She was such a good sport! Thank you Kaitie!!!
Friday night we went to a Mariner game, which was so much fun! We didn't make it on the jumbotron this time, and every few minutes Dylan kept asking me, "Mommy, why we not on the big TV??" Hilarious....
Then we went out to lunch with Tutu and Poppi at one of my favorite resturants of all time, The Spaghetti Factory. We even got to sit in the train!
The boys went to hang out at Tutu's house so Teage and I could go have some time together after lunch. Teage took me up north to the huge outlets in Mukilteo which we had never been able to go to before, and we just walked around by ourselves, trying on clothes, enjoying the sunshine, and not worrying about anything! Then he had this amazing plan to make me go on my old marching band field and play my saxaphone all by myself while he video taped me......oh goodness! :) Fortunately for me, the field was closed for renovations, so I escaped that concert. :) We did a little shopping, hung out at the street market, and then went over and had dinner with the boys. What a fabulous day!!!!!
Us after a long, but fun day! :)
Mother's Day was great as well....Teage had to work, but we had dinner together when he got home and I got some amazingly sweet cards from all of my boys. I love my family!!!!! And I am a very blessed girl!
Happy 6 Year Anniversary Baby!!!!!!!!!!
Our whole amazingly awesome group :)
Some of us with our favorite speaker of the day, Mariama Kallon. What an inspiration!
Then just a week or so ago we found some super great deal tickets for the Mariner game and decided at the last minute to go with the boys. Since they were so last minute, we had FABULOUS seats from season ticket holders that couldn't attend. We had SO much fun! Not only did the boys get to high five the Mariner Moose again ("I high five the moose!), but we also got up on the jumbo tron AGAIN as well! These boys are good luck charms! It was so much fun....by that point Lucas was so tired that he pretty much was sleeping on my shoulder, but Dylan was still dancing around on Teage's lap the whole time we were on the screen. Even though both boys were exhausted by the end of the game, they had such a great time and were talking about it for days afterwards. We are hoping many more Mariner games are in our future!
After the parade, we took the time to go see some beautiful flowers while there as well. The boys were so tired by that point that they slept in the car while we took turns taking some fun pictures swimming in the sea of daffodils. :) They were so beautiful! We haven't seen the tulip festival since we lived in Bellingham, so it was really fun to go through the flowers with Teage. Kim and I had a great time too! 
And if that wasn't enough, we decided to venture up to Canada as well. Thankfully the boys did a great job, even on little sleep. We knew that we wouldn't have another opportunity to get to Canada in the next few weeks and we really wanted to go to the Vancouver Temple open house. And though it was a VERY long day, we are so thankful that we went. The boys loved seeing the temple and being able to go inside and walk around. It really was beautiful, we all loved it. I don't think I have seen anything more beautifully situated. We even had time to go out to dinner to celebrate Kim's birthday before heading home. We loved being able to spend some quality family time, I feel like we haven't been able to do a lot of that lately.
What a fantastic day! Thanks Kim and Mark, we had such a wonderful time!
We had a wonderful Easter this year. Not only did the boys understand better, both that they were going to be able to find eggs and eat candy, but also that the holiday is celebrating Jesus Christ and his sacrifice for us. We had wonderful fun with all of our families and friends as well. The Saturday before Easter, we had a huge Easter egg hunt with a ton of friends up at a park near where we live. The boys were a little confused about why they had to go FIND the eggs, but both had a lot of fun. We also had our little neighbor friend Austin come with us and he had a great time as well. 
Then on Easter Sunday, we went to brunch with the Pfeifer family, a tradition that we look forward to every year. We also got to take some great pictures while we were there, the boys had a great time. And they got to eat bacon, which for them, is always a pleasure! :) Thank you Grandma and Grandpa Pfeifer!! 
Then later we went over to my mom's house and saw our whole side of the family, as well as Teage's Dad there as well. The boys got to have another fun Easter egg hung, and the adults got to do a scavenger hunt as well! Thanks Mom! We had a lovely dinner, with lovely friends and family, and really had a wonderful time. We are so thankful for Easter time to be able to slow down a little bit, have fun with family, and celebrate Jesus Christ. 
We hope that you all had a wonderful Easter holiday! We love all of you!
Seats are filling up!!!!!