Eric's BIG surprise

Eric is really good at giving gifts and doing fun surprises. The day after I got back from Education week we loaded the girls in the car (We had packed suitcases the night before and had them in the trunk) and told them that we were going to visit some friends. The questioning quickly became intense... "Please tell us where we are going!" "Are we going to the beach to see Grace?" they wanted to know where we were going and did not want to be surprised. Eric and I stuck to our guns and just kept saying "We are going to visit some friends".

45 minutes later and only 4 blocks from our destination Haley shouted out "Are we going to Disneyland?" Eric said yes and all the girls screamed. But instead of pulling into the Disney parking lot he kept driving. "You missed it!"..."Where are you going?" the questions continued until he pulled under the big entrance for the Paradise Pier hotel. "What, we are staying at a HOTEL?" Haley said in total unbelief. I said yes Daddy dosen't have to work on Monday so we are staying for 2 nights. "You mean we are missing school?" Haley asked

"Only if you want to. We can drive you to school in the morning if you want" The girls were all SCREAMING as Eric got out of the car to check up into the hotel.

Guess who's the best Dad in the whole world?

The girls wanted to go swimming right away so we did. They have the longest waterslide of the Disney resorts so that was their favorite.

Ruby went on the slide non-stop. Eric went with her willingly for the 1st 20-25 times then he told her he was tired and needed a break... she talked him into about a dozen more times.

After we had our fill of swimming we dried off and walked across the street to California Adventure. They all wanted to go on Grizzly rapids so we did.

Unfortunately Lucy was the sole beneficiary of the wave of water that came into our raft. She was smiling after, but would no go on this ride again.

My favorite new ride at California Adventure was the Toy Story ride. It a 4D game that you play as you go through. It was really fun and any age could do it.

Disneyland has a house of the future. I was so excited to see all the state of the art things, but it was really boring. Basically they had LED picture frames all over the house. The only thing that was cool was the magic mirror in the teenage girls room. You could stand in front of the mirror and with a remote control select from all different kinds of outfits. The outfits would actually move and fabric would move with the person.

We waited in line for way to long to tide on Autotopia but it was worth it to see how serious Lucy was about driving.
Talk about serious- you have not seen serious until you have seen Eric in the Buzz Lightyear ride. It's a game where you try to score the most points and he is always one of the top scorers. He has to ride alone... so he can focus.

One of the greatest accomplishments of this trip was we got Haley to go on California Screaming- the largest roller coaster at the park. I was worried that she would come off crying, but she loved it and rode it a 2nd time with Eric.

The next morning we went to the character breakfast. What a hit this was. Ruby would see a character coming and run to them (before they made it to our table) She would give them the biggest most sincere hugs like they were her best friend that she had not seen for a while. Even Haley who doesn't like her picture taken would ask for her photo with certain animals.



Eric LOVES Disneyland, so when you go with him you stay as long as possible. We literally close down the park. One time it was 12pm and the announcements were going that the park was closed, but Main street would remain open until 1pm to allow for additional shopping. We sat on main street and ate Toll house cookies until we had to leave.

After closing down the park for 2 nights and waking up early, by day three I was kind of done.

By 2pm Eric was talking about the parade at 7pm. I said to Eric "Everyone is tired, cranky, spent and ready to go home, but if you REALLY have to see the parade, we can stay" To which Eric replied "Great- lets go over by toon town".

The reality of my situation quickly started to sufficate me.
I was never, ever going to be able to leave the happiest place on earth.
I could not get away from tattoo covered half clothed people.
I knew that I had to get the girls up in the morning for school and they would have 2 days of classwork and homework to make up.
I felt like I was autistic and every sound/ sight was overwhelming for me.
I seriously contemplated going to a bathroom stall for a quiet place to cry.

Then I could not hold it together anymore. I put my sunglasses down and started crying. When Eric realized I was crying he said "are you DONE?"
"Totally" I answered.

He calmly told the girls we were leaving and told them that he was tired and needed to go home. I thought he would be mad or bugged at me wanting to leave before the park closed. He was not mad at all.

When we were in the car and the girls were watching a movie with headphones he said. "I am so confused, why didn't you tell me you wanted to leave?"

I said "I told you that everyone was spent and wanted to go home but we could stay if you REALLY wanted to"

To which Eric replied "Please do me a favor, in the future when you want to leave- just say that you want to leave. I wont be mad if you want to leave... but if you give me the option of staying I will always take it. "

I assured him that I am not a communist and I do like Disneyland for the 1st 650 hours, but once we hit the 900th hour I cannot take one more second!

Overall we had a great trip and one that I know the girls will never forget.

Am I the only one that feels like this about Disneyland? 

1st impressions

I had a parent teacher conference with Haley's teacher. At the end of the meeting I said:

"Eric is excited to come tomorrow and give the bone and muscle presentation.",
The teacher looked at me and said "Is this a 2nd marriage?"
"Excuse me" I said
she asked me again if this was a second marriage.
I said "no... why?"
She said "You have a sparkle in your eye when you talk about him, you usually don't see that in 1st marriages"


The next day
I went with Eric to help set up his presentation for the class showing images of bones and muscles. Within minutes after we arrived the teacher was checking him out and said "Are you naturally this fit, or do you run". I actually saw Eric blush as he said "Well, I do some rowing". As soon as she left the room Eric said to me " Can you believe that? Would you ever consider asking someone that the second you meet them?

Clearly we have a teacher that makes interesting observations and conclusions with her 1st impressions. I'm wondering what she was thinking that she didn't say out loud.

Lunch with Dad

Eric had to work Saturday from 8am to 10pm so we went and had lunch with him. With Haley gone, Ruby and Lucy have become buddies. Ruby picked out "matching" outfits and did Lucy's hair and asked me to do her hair the same.



I think the highlight of the day for them was talking into Eric's voice recognition head set and seeing their words come up on the screen (even thought they couldn't read it).


This picture was taken by Ruby who took about 15 photos of Eric at the desk. She kept telling him not to look at the camera and pretend that he was working.

Monday

Anyone that has read Kristi's blog has seen the amazing ribbons she gets at the outlet. I had to check it out. I could not believe how cheep the prices were. They have tons of different types of ribbons and they are all different prices, but I got a few rolls of 100 yards of ribbon for 50 cents each. Oh ya baby!



After the outlet we drove to Antietam, the Civil War battlefield. I have to admit that I was not excited about going to see a place where so many people lost their lives, but I learned a lot and it really was beautiful




Then we drove to Harpers Ferry. This is where the Shenandoah River and the Potomac meet.


We walked along the Appalachian Trail, and on the stairs where George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Meriwether Lewis and so many more great men in History walked.


This was such an amazing opportunity. I can't tell you how blessed I feel to have been able to go on this trip and see all these wonderful towns and historic places. We could not have done any of this without Eric's Mom and Stepdad. Grandma Hawley and Grandpa Brown watched our girls for us while we were gone. I'm sure they could have given us a thousand reasons why they couldn't do this, but they didn't, and I really appreciate it. Hawley (a retired school teacher) worked with my girls on their handwriting and taught Ruby her address. Talk about double duty. I hope they recover quickly from their long week.

Sunday

Sunday morning we went to the National Cathedral. Photos do not do this building justice, it really is breathtaking.


The church is gynormous and has intricate details over almost every inch. The stained glass windows were my favorite, but I did not want to take any photos inside as they were about to start mass.



Check out these azaleas. I remember seeing azaleas this large in Louisiana, but I have never seen any this large in California.


The dogwood trees were blooming there little hearts out everywhere you looked.


After the Cathedral we went to the downtown DC ward building for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. What an incredible ward this is. The spirit was so strong and in Relief Society you could feel the love all the sisters have for each other and for the gospel of Jesus Christ. They had a testimony meeting that gave me chills (the good kind). My friend Kristi attends this ward so it was fun to sit next to her and her daughter Annie Kate.

Jeff and Kristi invited us to their house for dinner. We had such a great time. Their girls are beautiful and Jeff and Kristi are so much fun to be around that we did not want to leave (sorry we stayed so late Kristi).

I took my camera, but did not even think to take a picture of us together. Such a bummer.

FYI- Jeff bought a new car a while ago, but knew that Eric was coming to DC so he held off on selling his old car so that Eric could use it while in town. All of the trips we took to charming little towns would not have been possible without Jeff's car. Not to mention that they dropped off a ton of groceries to Eric when he first arrived in DC. Both Jeff and Kristi have always been so generous to us in so many ways, we owe them big time!

Saturday

Today we went to the National Mall and met up with Dori, Adam and their kids(friends from NOLA). Eric and I drove around forever looking for a parking space. He kept driving 12-13 city blocks away to find a free/ cheap parking spot. My legs were sore from walking so I wanted to park close. After driving around for 40 min we found a free spot 2 blocks away from the museum and we decided that we could stay married.

The Natural History museum was very cool. I had just watched Night at the Museum with the girls before I left, so it was hard not to keep thinking about the movie.
From there we drove to the Lincoln Monument and parked without stress...whew. I could not believe how large the monument is. I was also surprised by the beautiful stained glass windows in the celing.
Afterwards Dori and I sat on the grass while the kids played and the boys walked the Vietnam memorial. Dori is such a great person. She is an amazing parent and always improves my perspective on parenting. I can't wait for her 4th child to arrive in June.




Then we went to the Rosevelt Memorial. It was really really cold and starting to rain.


We said good by to our good friends and drove across the Potomac river to Old Town Alexandria.


Such a quaint little town with charming stores. I was able to shop in The Paper Source for the 1st time- what a great store.

We came home and had dinner at Eric's little studio and called it a night. I am not used to walking several miles every day so my legs/feet are so sore and tired. I am glad that tomorrow is Sunday and we will get to rest.

Friday

Eric surprised me by driving out to a really cool quilt store he found good reviews for online. They had 6,000 bolt of fabric- I was in heaven. This store happened to be in the cutest town called Annapolis.


There was an amazing church in the middle of the town, every prayer stool was hand needlepointed and so beautiful.



After we left Annapolis, we drove to St. Michaels where there is a Wooden boat museum. Eric built an 10 1/2 foot wooden sail boat 8 years ago and can't wait until he has time to make another wooden boat.

He seriously stood watching these two guys work forever. I had my fill of watching them after about 5 min so I walked around looking at all the beautiful boats that had been restored.






I just can't believe how beautiful it is here. All these little charming towns, no smog, dogwood trees in bloom, azalea bushes that are like 6 ft tall and 10 ft wide in full bloom and everything is so green. I'm loving it.

Kid free in DC

Today we took the metro to downtown DC and then walked all over the National Mall. We went to the National Art Gallery and then had a personal tour of the capital by someone from our Congressman's office.


Then we walked to China town. This was a disapointment. China town has a huge chinese arch at the end of the street and 4-5 chinese food restaurants (I use the word resturants loosly as you would never eat anything that came from there). Then we walked over to the Portrait museum which was amazing.

We walked over to George's house, the gate was closed so he must have forgotten that we were coming.


After our long day Eric took me back to his little place and cooked me his specialty pasta with spagetti sauce for dinner.

After our wonderful dinner we drove to Georgetown (so fun), got some icecream and walked the main street that was lined with tons of groovy shops. I was teased by walking into Paper Source for the first time only to be told that they were closing- I was so close.

Wednesday

I did not sleep last night- at all. I was so excited about seeing Eric today that I just could not sleep. So I was wide awake when the clock said 5:30am and it was time to get ready to head to the airport.

Flying without kids was a whole new experience. I took a little nap and read most of the book I brought; The Quilters Apprentice by Jennifer Chiaverini. I made it to DC and Eric was waiting for me at the airport when I arrived. I could not stop smiling, I was so excited to be with him. When we got back to his little studio, he cooked dinner for me- Linguini with spaghetti sauce. I asked if he ate that every night- he said "no, sometimes I cook broccoli with it or heat up a can of soup".

This is his pasta palace:

Good mail, Quilting & The Police station

The girls and I sent a box of full of goodies to Eric in DC. The mail man left a note saying that he tried to deliver the package(on Sat) but no one was home. We thought the package was left on the porch and stolen. Huge Bummer.

Today Eric walked to the Post office to see if they really did leave it in the porch. The Postal guy said "They may leave packages on doorsteps in Mayberry, but this aint Mayberry it's DC, you need to come pick it up. I was so happy that he got the package and all the letters and pictures from his girls.

Also...someone that lives in DC was kind enough to pick my Husband up for church, invite him to Sunday dinner at her house and send him home with 4 big bags full of all his favorite foods. What a blessing to have friends like this.

Back here on the ranch I received a care package full of goodies from Jenny. I really need to get better at taking photos before the food is all devoured. Thank you Jenny!


We took the bag of candy to my friend Jackie's house that night for the kids to snack on while I selfishly kept them awake late while I was using her huge, wonderful quilting table. I had never used one of these before- what rush! I quilted my whole Halloween quilt that night. Jackie is the only person I know that can actually crank out a beautiful quilt and have it completely done in 2 days. Granted she has machines that cost more then my car, but it's mostly because she is super talented and fast.
Can you even imagine owning one of these?

Also, Today I had to go down to the Police station to pick up a copy of the officers report from Eric's car accident. I hope I never have to do that again. When I said "I'm here to pick up a copy of my husband's police report" Everyone in the room looked at me and I could just hear them thinking " Sounds like you picked a winner".

13 years!

Eric and I have been married for 13 years today! It’s hard to believe that this all started with a blind date that I was going to call and cancel, but I could not find his phone number. We went to Los Hermanos and the Hale theater on our 1st date. About half way through our date he said “We have been out for about 3 hours, and we are in Provo so will you marry me”. I said no.

From the first time I met Eric I thought he was too good to be true and putting on a show. Once I realized that he really was that nice and thoughtful and it was not a show- I married him. The biggest blessing of my life.



While we were engaged I was looking through a catalog and saw a large wood bed and said how much I loved it. Eric told me he would make me one for a wedding gift. Ya right, I thought. But he did, he actually made the bed that I saw. I love it.


This is pretty much the story of my marriage. Eric is always surprising me and overwhelming me with his kindness, generosity and abilities to accomplish anything. I have stopped saying ya right.


Here are 13 of my favorite things about Eric:
1. The way he looks at me.
2. He makes me laugh so hard it hurts.
3. He is an amazing Father (This is typical of him making a project. The girls will be all over him and "helping" him and he is so patient with them).

4. His strong testimony of Jesus Christ and willingness to serve.
5. He really can make, do, fix or figure out anything.
6. He never complains
7. He is an craftsman.
8. The respect he has for his parents (all four of them).
9. He keeps me balanced.
10.He has a great butt!
11.He makes me happy.
12.He is appreciative.
13.That after 13 years, I would rather spend time with him then anyone else.


Happy Anniversary Love!