When I first got hired into my new job, the doctors let me know of a week in March that they'd both be gone and we'd have a skeleton crew in the office. Because of this, it was a great time to take a vacation! We hadn't been able to go to Washington the entire last year because of school, etc, so we headed to Washington. Because Liam is now over the age limit and requires a full plane ticket, we decided to drive. We left at about 5:30 am and Liam was excited as can be! The drive there went extremely well. Not until about hour 7 or 8 did we get the DVD player out. He didn't even know it was an option and we wanted him to calm down for a nap, so he thought he was getting quite the treat! Doesn't he look cute all snuggled up in the car?
We arrived in Washington Saturday afternoon. We had Liam wear a shirt that said "I am the BIG brother" to tell Wes's parents our news. It took about 10 minutes, but finally Judy got it and they were very excited! On Sunday we went to church with them and then Wes and I headed to Portland. Wes's parents graciously offered to let us take a couple days and have some alone time. We decided to make it an early celebration of our 5th anniversary coming up and we stayed at the Heathman Hotel, the same Hotel we spent our wedding night at. It was true treat and we enjoyed every moment of it!
Monday morning, we headed to Powell's books, which is an amazing, never ending bookstore with both new and used books. It takes up an entire block! They even had the entire American Girl book collection, which made me happy. :D
We then went to Anthropologie, which I had been looking forward to since December. I had gotten a gift card for graduation and was excited to use it. Wes actually was my personal shopper and found me some great stuff! I had to take a photo of their beautiful window display. I was commenting on it and Wes took a closer look, to discover that the flowers were made from recycled, spray painted plastic bottles. Cool, huh?
The ONE thing Wes was dying to do was the Jabenero Fritter challenge at Salvador Molly's. What is this, you ask? Well, Wes's absolute favorite show and Idol is Adam from Man vs. Food. He saw this challenge on the show and knew he had to try it. The challenge is that you have to eat 5 jabenero fritters and all the sauce in one sitting and if you accomplish it, you get your photo on the wall. You even have to sign a consent form because it could be 'hazardous to your health due to extreme heat.'
Can you tell he's excited?!
He said the challenge was actually a lot easier than expected. He finished it super fast and licked the plate dry!
He assured me that I should try one. He said they were tasty, which was totally true.
Tasty, but WAY TOO HOT for me. I normally don't post ridiculous pictures like this of myself, but you had to see my reaction to the pepper. Really, it did taste good, just was too hot.
They did give us a yummy coconut drink with lime to cool our tongues. That was a life saver. Wes under the famous sign and photo wall:
Wes's photo next to Adam's from Man vs. Food.
Challenge #1 down. He has big plans for more...
Wes thought this picture was so funny from the hotel. When we got back there we both jumped into our comfy clothes, which couldn't have been more opposite. Me in my sweatpants, sweatshirt and socks and Wes in his shorts, t-shirt and bare feet. ;)
Just had to take a picture of our beautiful room! The bed was heavenly!
This is the life, I'm telling you!
The next day, unfortunately, I woke up with a horrible cold virus that turned into a raging ear infection and about three weeks in bed, but we won't go there. ;) We met up with Bill, Judy and Liam at the zoo! Liam had a great time and really enjoyed the animals!
Grandma gave him some binoculars and he was using them here. So funny.
Making some music with daddy!
Driving on an African safari! Can you spot the cheetah?
He decided that he liked being in the snake habitat.
Wes and I took photos in front of this sign on our first date, so he made Liam and me pose.
My best friend/self proclaimed twin, Jana, lives in WA as well, so we got to have a fun night of dinner and video games together. We had a great time even though I wasn't feeling well. We really wished we lived closer together!
We had to model our awesome rain boots!
I didn't take as many photos as I normally do, possibly due to the cold and the morning sickness, but we had a wonderful time. I didn't even get a photo of Liam with his grandma and grandpa, what the heck!? Judy took me to fabric depot and I got some great material. The drive home was long, but Wes was a trooper and drove the entire way. When we got into Reno, we went straight to the midwife to get antibiotics for my ear ache. No wonder babies cry so much when they get them, they hurt!
Again, we had a wonderful time and can't wait until we can do it again.
We then had a lesson from the scriptures, Alma 32 in the Book of Mormon, one of my favorite chapters, about nourishing the seed of faith so it grows. We then decorated our flower pots. The kids had a lot of fun personalizing them. (although, it doesn't look like Ethan did, judging by his face. ;))
We then planted all different sunflower seeds in our pots. I love sunflower seeds because they are so super easy to grow and do so quickly, so I knew it would be fun for the kids to see results.
The kids with their personalized pots, all planted and ready for water!
Since the project our seeds have been watered and given sunlight and grown to be at least 6 inches tall. It's been a great lesson for the kids and all have enjoyed watching their plants grow!
And we really have the best husbands, who went at midnight to Wal-Mart to make sure Erica and I got the collector's edition of New Moon. :) They are trying to act like us girls here:
Thanks for a very fun night, guys!
