Happy Anniversary!

Today is our 7-year anniversary and so I thought as part of my present to Liz that I'd actually post something on our blog. It might not be the high quality post that most of you are used to because I'm trying to do this quickly so that I can finish while Liz is getting ready for the day.

It's hard to believe that it has been seven years since we got married. On the one hand, it has gone by so fast (time flies when you're having fun right:), but on the other hand, it's hard to remember what it was like before we were married.


We've had some awesome adventures along the way. From our first (blind) date at the 49th street galleria (aka Fun Dome) and sconecutter, to fun times and memories at Utah State, to our European and Oregon Adventures, to our continuing adventure in Syracuse, UT, it has been a great ride.

Here are some nostalgic photos:




Here's a shot of the 49th street galleria. It was probably known as the Fun Dome by then, but growing up it was known to me simply as "The Galleria". Liz and I went here on our first date back in December of 1999.

My good friend from High School, Meghan Hatton, organized a group date with a bunch of her friends from Utah State and some of us from Cyprus. Blind dates can be hit or miss (usually miss) so I didn't have high expectations going in to this. Fortunately, I was lucky enough to get set up with Liz. The girls planned the date and I actually had a really good time. Besides thinking that Liz was kind of a crazy driver, (I'm pretty sure we ran a couple of red lights on accident that night) I remember thinking that Liz was really fun and really easy to talk to. We went rollerskating and I remember how dazzled and impressed Liz was with my world class technique and rollerskating prowess. I won't mention if there were any face plant or floor burn injuries that took place, but I think she appreciated my willingness to act like a fool to break the ice.


We followed up rollerskating with some ice cream at the Sconecutter in Taylorsville. I don't think either one of us could have guessed that ten years later we'd be married with a couple of kids. Life is kind of funny that way.

Our first anniversary was a memorable one. The photo above is from May 7, 2005. This is the day I graduated from Utah State. After the graduation festivities, we moved all of our stuff out of our apartment into a storage unit in Logan. We were set to leave on our European Adventure on May 9th for three weeks.

Here are some of my favorite pictures of us on that trip:

Chillin' at a cafe in Paris with some refreshing Fanta Orange.





Venice, Italy.
Kind of a crazy picture of us in Vernazza in the Cinque Terre along the Mediterranean in Italy. This place was awesome. I'd definitely go back there if I had the chance.More Fanta Orange in Rome. Ice cold with lemon wedges.


This is Liz and I at Omaha Beach in Normandy, France. I had visited this place when I was 16, but I think I was too immature to really understand and appreciate what took place here on D-day. I was glad I was able to visit again and take some time to ponder the selfless sacrifice those soldiers made for their fellow men.
Nothing like some authentic "frites" with a big glob of mayo to top it off. Yummy!

The above picture is Liz and I on Cannon Beach in Oregon with Haystack Rock in the background. Another great adventure for us was the time we were living away from family and friends in Oregon. I think for the year and a half that we lived there we really learned a lot about each other and learned to rely on each other.

The adventure of parenthood has been by far the most challenging and rewarding. Liz is a great Mom and it's really cool to see her teach and interact with the kids:

Here's to more exciting adventures on the horizon. Click on the link to get a sneak peak into our future once we've grown old together. Love you Liz!

Thinking of London

I must admit, I didn't wake up at 3:00 AM to watch the wedding, but I watched the highlights of it the next day and I bawled the whole time. I thought it was magical and a perfect fairy tale. I know I'm not a guy, but I think Kate is beautiful. My favorite part was when Harry turned around to sneak a peak of her as she was walking down the aisle. She really was stunning.

Watching it made me think of our trip to Europe and our small stay in London. Before we left on our trip, I was most excited to go to London. Lucas was the least excited to go to this place because he had already been there and he didn't think it was that great. I was really excited to see Buckingham Palace. I had a lot of expectations for this part of the trip and everything came crumbling down when we were there.

We flew there from Prague and our flight got there in the middle of the night. We had to navigate our way through the streets of London in the dark to find our hotel. As we were walking down the street that our hotel was on I got very excited because all the hotels were so cute. We kept walking and we saw one that looked awful and it had all the windows boarded up. I joked and said, "That better not be ours." Well it was. I almost started crying. Our hotel was supposed to look like this...


All the pictures I saw of it when we booked it were great, but it didn't turn out that way. Since we already made reservations and it was the middle of the night we had to stay there. The owner apologized and said it was under construction. Lucas got mad and the guy gave us a few pounds back to make up for it. Since it was a Bed and Breakfast I was curious to see what we would have for breakfast. He gave us a hard boiled egg and tea. I asked him if he offered any other drinks besides tea. He made some "hot chocolate" but it didn't taste like that to me. It was awful!

So we decided to go sightseeing. This is what I was most excited about.

Lucas had been getting sick and that day he felt horrible. We knew that they had free health insurance there so we decided to go to the hospital to see if they could give us some medicine.

This is where we stayed most of the day....

Apparently they don't work very fast at the hospital. It took forever, but they finally gave Lucas some medicine.

I was really bummed because we were only going to be in London for one day and it was almost over. We decided to ride the double decker bus to see as many sights as we could. It was a cold and windy day. (typical for London) I thought I was going to freeze on that bus.

We tried to make the best of it.

I finally got to see Buckingham Palace and the changing of the guards. This was my favorite part of the day!






Westminster Abbey, where Kate and William got married...


Big Ben...

That night we had to take a train to Portsmouth so we could catch a ferry to France the next day. We didn't make reservations for a hotel before because we figured we could just find one when we got there. We didn't realize it was spring break and every single hotel was booked. We walked around forever, but everything closes really early there. We ended up sleeping on a bench by the ferry dock. I thought I was going to freeze and pee my pants. It was the worst night of my life!

I really wish I had a better experience in London. I guess I'll have to save all my money and go back when I'm 60. I can always dream!

Soccer and Easter Fun!

Caden has been playing soccer for the past couple of weeks. He was really excited at first, now he just casually walks down the field.

Here's some action shots...(he is number 12)




Cheese!!

Muscle man pose...
He told us that we had to make a sign for him so Grandma Eyre was nice enough to make one for him. He was really sad when he found out they didn't show all his games on TV. He wanted everyone to be able to watch him.

Easter

The day before Easter we had an Easter egg hunt at Grandma and Grandpa Hendrickson's house. We got to use GPS and walk around the neighborhood to find them.

Let the race begin...

Here's Caden...




And Halle..





Here's the kids checking out all the cool stuff the Easter Bunny brought them...



Caden was very excited for Luke Skywalker! He's a little obsessed.

Lego Star Wars shirt...




I think Halle was most excited about the candy.

Candyland! (notice she has a piece of candy in the other hand)



I love her bed head!


Halle in her new Easter dress...


Caden was not cooperating. This was the best smile I got from him.


We had a yummy Easter feast. The menu included: turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, green bean casserole, yams, rolls, and fruit salad. I think this is only the 3rd time that we've cooked a whole turkey in our 7 years of marriage. I know that's pretty pathetic. It was so good! I think Caden ate like 10 rolls.

The Easter Bunny left me a yummy treat too...mmm...my favorite!

Exciting News!

We found out yesterday that we are expecting a baby boy! He's due August 21st. When we told Caden and Halle that we were expecting another baby, Halle was really excited and Caden cried for an hour. I think he thought he was getting a new toy. Then all he could talk about was that he wanted it to be a boy. In my heart I wanted it to be a boy so Caden could have a brother. Now he is very excited!! We can't wait for the little boy to arrive!