Cameron's Dedication

A couple weeks ago we had a lovely Dedication ceremony for Cameron.  It was a gorgeous summer day and similar to Nate's dedication, we had the ceremony in the beautiful backyard garden of the Spauldings'.  One of our most favorite people in the world, our pastor friend Darin Hanson conducted the private ceremony for us and all of our family was in attendance.

The purpose of the Dedication is more of a commitment for us as parents and then the larger family to raise Cameron to know that Christ loves him and to teach him about the lessons and life of Jesus, how to have a personal relationship with Christ and that God loves us so much that He sent his son to give us grace and save us.  We dedicated ourselves in a formal ceremony that Cameron would know and experience all this for his spiritual growth as a child and then he can continue on his own faith journey as he moves into adulthood.

In addition to the commitment statements, James and I also read our personal promises as parents to Cameron.  The things we want to commit to for him so he can grow up feeling loved, knowing grace, having fun, and living all his life adventures to the fullest.

It was a wonderful day and such a special little celebration.  He probably won't remember it, but we won't forget it any time soon.

**Special shout out to Uncle Ryan for capturing some great shots of the day.

Cutie loves showing off his belly button

Darin is such a blessing to us!

Reading our promises to him

Surrounded by such an amazing family

We love you Cameron!

2016 Goals

When 2016 began there were 2 goals that I wanted to accomplish this year.  One was teaching a class for the first time at Seattle University.  The other was completing a triathlon.  And now I can excitedly say that I completed both goals this year!

Goal #1

Back in February, I thankfully received the opportunity to teach a 2-credit, 4-week class for all undergrad majors on campus.  I was given the autonomy to design the class and come up with my own curriculum.  The opportunity came my way because the university is trying to offer more 2-credit classes every quarter in case students have to drop a class, but need to remain full time or if students want to add on a shorter class for their quarter.  I have wanted to teach a class since I started my job 10 years ago.  I got to teach at my former job at the University of Missouri-Columbia. It's a much larger school and they relied a lot on staff members with masters degree to help teach some developmental type classes like Learning Strategies which is what I taught.  A school like Seattle University is much different since it's private and smaller.  They pride themselves on students having small classes with tenured faculty so there's not much opportunity for staff to teach.  Finally after 10 years the chance to teach arrived on my doorstep.

To prepare, I came in on weekends for a couple weeks to prep, develop my curriculum and plan things out.  I found myself getting very excited and feeling lots of energy every time I worked on my class.  The big first day came in mid-February.  I was so nervous that morning.  Plus my class started at 8am which made it even more nerve racking.  My students would be sleepy no doubt so it was up to me to keep them engaged and make the class interesting.  The title of my class was Strengths and Career Planning.  My whole goal was to usher students through useful, practical lessons and activities to help give them clarity and confidence around their career aspirations and strengths.  Lessons included Gallup StrengthsFinder, resumes/cover letters, interviewing, networking, and LinkedIn. Some days I involved colleagues of mine as guest speakers.  Luckily I ended up with about 19 wonderful students who were engaged and saw value in the class.  They were all different majors, different stages in their college careers.  Despite some coming in late and most of them feeling very tired at 8am, they were respectful, kind, eager, and made my experience very meaningful.  I loved getting to work with a variety of students--not just business majors too just to change things up a bit.

All in all it was a wonderful experience.  And I've even been asked to teach it again next spring 2017. I have some things I want to do differently next time, but it's nice that I've been through it once now and have most of the class curriculum established.  It'll be much less daunting this time.  But I'm having a lot of fun with this.  I can tell there is definitely a piece of me that loves teaching.  I don't want to do it on a regular basis, but it's a nice supplement to my normal job.  And it's pushed me this year and rejuvenated me.  Goal #1 complete!

Goal #2

Let's just say that living with a triathlete husband these past 3 years has lit a fire under me to get my butt in gear and get in shape.  Especially after going through 2 pregnancies and infant stages.  This year I finally found the window to pursue a fitness goal and fit in more of a fitness routine.  When the year began I set my sights to complete a triathlon in the summer.  I had no idea how I was going to fit in training, but thankfully James was supportive and helped me make some time.

With the extra proceeds I made from goal #1, I was able to purchase a road bike in March.  That was the big catalyst to making goal #2 a reality.  I'd always wanted a road bike and wanted to get more into the sport, but I kept making excuses that it's too expensive or I'll wait until the boys are older.  I don't know why I waited so long!  I've found a new love for biking.  I just love riding on beautiful country roads which are plentiful in our area.  And we have a trainer so it's even something I can do at home in the early morning or when the weather is bad.  Plus it's much easier on my body than running.  So I figured out the bike part of the training.  Now how was I going to train on swimming?

After some research I found that the Mercer Island community pool actually has a evening lap swim schedule condusive to my work schedule.  With James' support I stopped by the pool on my way home from work one time a week and got my swim in.  I forgot how much I enjoy swimming as well. Just me in my own little world, letting my mind go and feeling refreshed.  Much easier on my joints as well.

The most dreaded part for triathlon training for me was the running.  I've had bad knees really since college.  I used to run in college, but my knees were always so sore and in so much pain that I gave it up and instead did the elliptical machine at the gym or walked.  I hit a moment this year though where I felt like "This is ridiculous!  I'm 36.  I should be able to run at this age.  I want to keep up with my boys and be able to be active with them.  I need to figure this out."   After learning from an orthopedist that nothing was really wrong with my knees--just ware and tear, I started to see my PT on a regular basis.  She helped me build up my leg muscles and also taught me how to massage and rub out the muscles when they're feeling tired/strained so I can take the pressure off my knees.  It helped tremendously.  I'm still not a major runner.  I usually go on walk/runs.  But I've made a lot of progress.

The big triathlon day arrived on July 17.  I decided to compete in the ChelanMan Try-a-Tri.  James was competing the same weekend in the Olympic Triathlon and I thought it would be fun to do a competition the same weekend as James and a lot of our friends.  I'm so glad I did because it was helpful to be around so much support and to have friends cheering as I did my race.  Plus what a gorgeous location!

The Try-a-Tri was a 1/4 mile swim, 13 mile bike and a 5K run.  Based on my training, my goal was to complete all 3 in around 2 hours.  I ended up finishing in 1 hour and 38 minutes!  The bike route was much easier than what I had been doing in my training.  It took a little while to get used to the swim because the water was cold and I couldn't catch my breath.  But then I got into my rhythm and completed the swim in about 10 minutes.  The bike was my favorite--a beautiful route along Lake Chelan.  And it was a really nice morning.  Overcast and cool.  I tried to remind myself to pick my head up, look around and enjoy the moment.  My least favorite part was the run, but it wasn't that bad.  I took a break to walk a couple times and it actually went pretty fast.  It was so fun to come across that finish line with my family and friends cheering me on!  I felt strong and energized.  And I'm so glad my boys saw me work for and complete a goal--especially a fitness goal.  Goal #2 complete!

I need to start brainstorming some good personal/professional development goals for 2017.  But for now, I think I'll just take a breath, put my feet up more, and soak in the rest of summer.  Whew!  :)

Trip to Maui

In late May James and I had the incredible fortune to getaway to Maui for 10 days JUST THE 2 OF US!  Seriously before I even begin to record the trip, I have to give a major thank you and shout out to our parents for helping to watch the boys.  Wow!  You don't even know how grateful we are to you. Thank you!!

We've been to Maui a couple times together, but this trip was different because we had a whole new appreciation for rest, relaxation, being on our own schedule, and focusing on marriage-care and self-care.

We did 1/2 the week down in Kihei and 1/2 the week in Kaanapali.  We'd never stayed down in Kihei before and we really enjoyed it!  I think we would definitely stay there again.  It just seemed to have more of a local feel and felt less touristy or resort-ish.  It was just more low key which we really liked.  In the future I would stay in a condo down there (we stayed in a hotel this time) so we could have a kitchen and cook but otherwise Kihei was really great.  Here was some highlights:

*There are some really great state park beaches in Kihei.  One was right across the street from our hotel and we frequented that beach quite a bit--taking walks, laying out, playing in the ocean, etc.  At one of the state park beaches a little north of our hotel, we took our breakfast one morning and watched the surfers

Beach across the street:

*We found great little local restaurants some of which have chains or other locations on the island, but they still felt like fun, low key businesses.  To name a few--Coconuts, Java Cafe, Miso Phat Sushi, and Cafe O'Lei.  The food trucks were also amazing!  There was one close to the beach where we got huge pieces of fish along with rice and salad for only $14 a plate!  We took our dinner that night down to the beach to enjoy the sunset.  There was another food truck we ate at for lunch that had the best tacos.  Yum!

*Kihei has an amazing Aquatic Center where we went twice in the morning to do lap swims.  And it was free!?!?  So nice to do an outside morning swim with the sun coming up.

*One of the days we rented road bikes and took a long ride down through Wailea out to McKena State Park.  It was a beautiful ride, but also tough with all the little hills and windy roads.  

*The last day in Kihei we decided to rent surfboards and try our hands at surfing.  We'd both had lessons in the past and didn't feel like we needed them again.  Talk about feeling old!  We were amazed at how sore we were after trying to surf for 1.5 hours.  James got up multiple times and I got up finally at the end.  It was so fun and a great adventure, but our bodies paid for it.  I also got a terrible sunburn even though it was cloudy.  But I'm glad we did it--any chance to be in the ocean was wonderful.  Sadly no photos from surfing since we were both in the water at the same time.

For the second half of our trip we were up in the Kaanapali area.  We were fortunate to stay at the beautiful Westin Ocean Villas where we stayed a couple years ago thanks to a great deal we received in the mail.  I would say this half of the trip was a lot more relaxed.  We were definitely in "island" mode by this point.  Here were some of the highlights:

*Luckily our first full day in the area it was cloudy and rainy which was nice because the back of my legs looked like a lobster from surfing the day before.  So we just took a nice drive up north, explored around Honolua Bay and then went back to the room to watch Return of the Jedi and take naps.  It was kind of a nice break from the sun and a very relaxing day.  

*We enjoyed an incredible dinner at Lahaina Grill which is always our "go to" fancy restaurant when we're in Maui.  We are never disappointed with this place.  The flavors, presentation, service, etc. are all top notch.  This was our 3rd time at the restaurant and we couldn't stop oohing and aahing over what we put in our mouths.  Yum!

*We had two full days of basically lying by the pool doing nothing.  It was heavenly.  I don't think I've ever done as good of job relaxing on a trip as I did on this one.  We'd move from the sun to the shade to the pool and just listen to music, read our books, talk or just zone out enjoying the perfect tropical breezes and the ocean/pool views.  We really soaked in our place and tried to be as present as possible to really enjoy it.  

View from my lounge chair

*Our major adventure in Kaanapali was snorkeling at Black Rock near the Sheraton.  This activity was especially spectacular because we essentially were swimming with a family of sea turtles!  We've snorkeled this area before and saw great fish, but I've never snorkeled so close to sea turtles before.  It was amazing!  I could have watched them all day.  Sadly no photos--wish we had a Go Pro.  

*We saw probably about 4 gorgeous sunsets on the trip.  There's just nothing quite like a Maui sunset.  And it amazed us how early it gets dark in Maui--around 7:30pm which is weird compared to Washington's 9:30pm darkness.  

All in all it was a fantastic trip and just what we needed.  It was good for our marriage, bodies, and souls.  And of course our boys had an amazing time with their grandparents--they barely even noticed we were gone.  I did observe though that they were very cuddly when we got home and didn't want us to be away from them so I think we all have a new appreciation for each other.  

Aloha!

Nathan's 4th Birthday

We went from superheroes to dinosaurs to Blaze Monster Machine to sports to animals and finally landed on superheroes for the theme.  Needless to say having an almost 4-year-old decide on his birthday party theme was no small task.  How do you choose?  But the selling point of dressing up in a superhero costume for the party was the proverbial "icing on the cake."

A couple weeks ago we celebrated Nathan turning 4!  Wow I can't even believe it.  It's such a cliche, but time really does fly by.  How can our little boy be 4 already?

We had out party at the park again this year--but this time a different park closer to our house.  We lucked out again with gorgeous weather. Nathan dressed up as Captain America and Cameron was Hulk (they basically wore their Halloween costumes from last year).  And it was so fun this year because for the first time some of Nathan's friends from school came to his party.  There was a buffet lunch complete with foods that gave you specific super powers.  Kiddos got to decorate superhero masks, mash up a pinata, and participate in a couple party games.  And of course everyone played at the park. Some people dressed up (see below) and one of the highlights was watching all the kids chase Gramma around who was dressed as Darth Vader!  It was a wonderful day and so much fun.  Nathan had a great time...and a couple of meltdowns as well which you might expect from someone his age. But all in all it was a really fun day.

Party time! Nathan with his friends Paige and Gavin

Nathan and Ronan--they've known each other since the Infant class!

Superpower foods

Superhero sandwiches

Superheroes Nathan and Gavin

Cameron and Uncle Ryan making superhero masks

Best costume winners!

Even Iron Man decided to drop in

Pinata!!

Pin the spider on the Spiderman suit game

Even Cameron got in on the action!

Captain America Shield Throwing game--knock down the villains!

Amazing and delicious cake made by Grampa

Happy birthday Nathan!!

This boy loves balloons

Gift opening with the family afterwards

The next week was Nathan's actual birthday.  That morning we woke him up singing Happy Birthday with a candle in a doughnut.  He got to bring cupcakes to school and celebrate with his class.  Then that evening we had his favorite pasta dinner and the kitchen was decorated.  I think he is finally coming down off the sugar high now a week later.  Thank you family and friends for helping to make his day so special.  Hopefully he'll remember this birthday for a long time.

Quick Easter Recap

Easter this year was lovely and pretty low key.  Here were the highlights:

*Colored eggs on Saturday

*For Easter Sunday we went to church with the Warners at Sammamish Presbyterian Church which is the church I grew up in.  It was nostalgic and refreshing actually to experience more of a traditional Easter service since our church is so non-traditional.  I realized it was actually the first time Nathan participated in a church service because our church doesn't allow children in the service until they're 12.  It was fun to watch him take it all in and he was very well behaved.  ;)

*We had a yummy brunch with the Warners at their house along with an exciting hunt for over 30 eggs and 2 baskets!

*After some naps, we went over to the Spauldings for a delicious Easter dinner of lamb.  As always it was a lovely time with family and the boys were excited to show their Easter basket treats. Unfortunately Easter was very rainy this year so we didn't do any fun photos outside in their garden like last year.  

*I personally reflected a lot more this year on what Easter is truly about.  It's overwhelming and emotional for me to try and comprehend the gift that God gave us through Jesus and his resurrection.  This year we made a point in the morning to read the children's bible story to the boys of Jesus' death, the stone being rolled away and his resurrection.  Nathan asked a lot of questions and we had a really good conversation about it all in the car.  That was probably the most special and memorable part of the day.

Happy Easter!  He is risen indeed!

Trip to Phoenix

It was quite soggy here in the Pacific Northwest from January to March.  Luckily at the end of March we had the chance to dry out in sunny Phoenix!  We haven't been consistent travelers to a sunny place in March, but I think we might be hooked now.  Man it's helpful to get away after the rainy dreary winter.

This trip was the first major airplane flight for both boys.  Nathan traveled on an airplane when he was about 8 months, but I know he doesn't remember it.  They actually did way better than I thought. Cameron even fell asleep on the way down!

We traveled down on a Friday and started out by staying with our dear friends, the Seatons who just moved to Phoenix last summer after living in China for 3 years.  We're so happy to have them back in the states!  And it was so fun to witness their new life in Phoenix now.  All throughout our trip I couldn't help thinking that living in Phoenix must feel like being constantly on vacation.  Except in the summer I know it gets miserable.  Russ and James grew up together and Russ was the Best Man in our wedding.  He and his wife Tammy have 3 beautiful little girls.  The middle daughter is our goddaughter.

Our first evening we went to a fun restaurant called San Tan Flat where everyone eats yummy BBQ outside on picnic tables while the kids run around in the sand and play on the stage.  Then as the sun goes down you can roast smores on an open fire pit.  Our kids were in heaven!

We got right into our trip, slathered on the sunscreen and headed to the Phoenix zoo on Saturday. What a great zoo!  I felt like we were there forever and we only covered about 1/3 of it.  It's huge!  But we got all our favorite animals in.  For some reason I don't have a lot of photos from the day--bummer.

That night Russ made a yummy dinner and then we did an evening swim in their neighborhood pool.

A trip to Phoenix in March wouldn't be complete without of course seeing some Mariners spring training!  Sunday we watched the Mariners play the Indians.  We sat out on the lawn and definitely got our Vitamin D for the day.  It was about 90 degrees!  Whew!  But I tried to enjoy it and just soak it in since that was the whole purpose of going down there.  I wanted it to be sunny and warm.  I love seeing spring training games because they're more relaxed--like a hometown baseball game.  Nate and Papa also got to run the bases after the game was over!

You can tell the boys aren't thrilled about the heat

The Seatons!

Oh I forgot to mention that Sunday morning, James and Russ did an awesome hike at Camelback.  It's not a long hike to the top--but it's very steep.  They "rocked" it and made it just in time for the sunrise!

After some sad goodbyes to the Seatons, we headed to visit our other friends, the Hillsteads!  Anne is my dear friend from growing up.  We've known each other since 4th grade.  She and her wonderful husband Tyler have 5 beautiful kids.  She is my inspiration as a mom and I just loved getting to see her do the mom thing in person.  Our first night she made a yummy dinner and then we had a great time going in their hot tub, making smores and just hanging out enjoying the warm evening air.  The adults then stayed up late having great conversation and watching some fascinating documentaries. Tyler had to work on Monday so Annie treated us to In 'n Out burgers (yes please!) and then we just enjoyed the sunny afternoon in their pool and jumping on their trampoline.

That night the Hillstead kids stayed home and Annie and Tyler took us to a fun place called Top Golf.  It's similar to bowling where each person takes a turn golfing and you rack up points depending on where you ball lands.  You can have food and drinks while golfing.  It was so much fun and it was a gorgeous evening.  Nate even got in on the action!

Sadly on Tuesday we said goodbye to our friends and headed to another area in Phoenix to stay in a hotel.  We were so grateful that the Seatons and Hillsteads each put us up for 2 nights.  With both families having multiple kids, it was so generous of them and we had a blast spending quality time and seeing their day-to-day lives. Thank you Seatons and Hillsteads!

For the last 3 nights we stayed in a Best Western in the Biltmore area of Phoenix.  It was the perfect hotel because it had a nice pool, was pretty close to the areas we wanted to see next and the best part was it had 2 rooms!  So we put the boys to bed in one room and then we could hang out and have time together in the other room.  It was glorious!  On Tuesday night we found this really great restaurant called Taco Guild.  I forgot to get the photos of it off of James' phone.  But they basically converted an old Methodist church into a restaurant/bar.  They maintained the beautiful stained glass windows and cool paintings on the wall.  On the side of the restaurant they even had thd old pews as seating for the tables.  Fantastic food too.  Great find!

Wednesday we spent the day in Scottsdale.  Our boys were in absolute heaven when we visited the McCormick-Stillman Railroad park.  We got to walk through an old steam train that Franklin Roosevelt traveled in, saw a huge room filled with model trains, rode a mini train throughout the park and also rode a carousel.  It was the perfect activity for our boys who absolutely love trains.

Then we stopped by Old Town Scottsdale to look a the touristy shops.  We grabbed Chick Fil A for dinner and then James headed to another Mariners game with Russ for the evening.

Our last day was designated our "pool day."  But man the definition of pool day is very different now with kids.  No more laying out for a couple hours, reading magazines and being relaxed.  The boys did great swimming in the pool with their floaties.  But after about an hour they were done and we went back up to the hotel room.  Oh well.  I'll take what I can get.  ;)

I had this vision that our last evening we would go to a fun restaurant and end out the trip with a great finale.  I should know better than to build up my expectations.  We decided to go to this beautiful outdoor shopping mall called Kierland Commons so we could eat dinner and then walk around and enjoy the beautiful evening, maybe get ice cream, etc.  We chose Grimaldi's--a pizza restaurant 'cause we thought it would be fun for the kids.  We arrived there and it was a 45 min. wait.  By the time we finally got seated the boys were starving and tired so needless to say dinner was crazy and frustrating. The food definitely didn't live up to the large bill we paid.  And by the time we were done it was too late to walk around and get ice cream.  Bummer evening.  But I know stuff like that happens.  The rest of our trip was fabulous so no complaints.  I just need to remember not to build up my hopes.  :)

All in all it was a grand family adventure.  Nathan is still talking about it so I know it will be a great memory for him.  I'm glad we traveled on an airplane while the boys were young too.  It was a good learning experience for us--plus everything with them is new and exciting so it was fun to see everything through their eyes.  Can't wait to go back soon!  Like maybe tomorrow???