Weekend in DC

We love to be active when we visit DC for short weekend trips- Will always golfs and there is usually a bike ride or now kayak ride involved at the Potomac River. This weekend was no exception to our need for nature. We had an eventful father's day with even a basement flooding and William and Bill trapped downstairs for hours trying to fix it! It all turned out just fine. We got to meet our sweet new niece, Lilian, which was a complete treat! She is adorable.

We did a lot of this with Kayla... best conversations.

We woke up Father's day morning to this beautiful display in the kitchen. Mark had actually woken up before everyone else and precut and displayed EVERYTHING we needed for a great breakfast together. Nice work Mark.

I also finally got a pair of sandals. William and my sister in law Allison are loyal Rainbow wearers and on a whim I decided to see what all the fuss was about. I LOVE THEM! They are amazing. Thanks Mrs. Calleen! It was a good weekend all in all.

So nice to get out of the city sometimes.

Happy Birthday on the Hudson

Around 8pm on the night of William's Birthday while some friends were waiting at Hudson River Park to Surprise Will he decided he may not meet Chad Harding for a game of basketball as planned. I ask, "At what point do I just tell him there are people waiting for him and he has to go?" It was all very risky. But thanks to Chad and Will's love for bball on the River- He showed up to great friends and food. He was actually TOTALLY surprised and did not stop smiling the entire time. He was just so surprised to see so many bankers off by 8 as well. It was a GREAT success.

I looked out the window and what did I see...

Happy Easter!

We had a great Easter starting off with visiting Kentwoods neighborhood in DC. There were 1000s of Cherry Blossom trees filling each street of this darling neighborhood. It was romantic and lovely. I would love to live in a sweet neighborhood like this one day with William and our family of little munchkins.

Can you believe this sight? It is so beautiful.

HAHA- I usually don't post pictures of myself. Well actually I don't usually take pictures like this, but Catherine enjoyed that she caught me dazing.

Great day together with family. I really like Easter. Its a symbol of Resurrection and new beginnings of life. New beginnings is interesting because wouldn't every beginning be a new one?

We watched conference all weekend and felt it was directed to families and how to make them follow the Gospel in such a way to find true joy. We are grateful for family.

Happy Easter activities

Easter egg dying, playing in the park, and hunting eggs. We had a fun filled spring break with the kids. I loved just spending the days of beautiful weather with the kids and playing the the city's parks. We also hit up the circus and I was amazed! I have never been to a real circus and I just could not get enough of the body benders, trapeze fellas, and motorcycle guys that I could not even watch they were so tricky. I want to see elephants up close- They are remarkable looking animals. We also went to Staten Island on the Ferry and visited the Staten Island Museum. We ate lunch at Benihana and played at Central Park. It was a long break, but so fun to play with boys and just be little boys playing in the parks all day.

Easter Egg hunt starting line

Coolest product I have seen- Crayola 3-D Chalk. Its amazing and works so well. A must buy for kids 5 and up. I loved it as much as they did.

Rainy Mondays

Dear blog-

today was rainy and dreary, but I did get to lay around this morning and go into work late bc my family is in ut skiing. I am a bit jealous, but happy to be here with my dear. I had lunch today with a sweet friend and enjoyed chatting about girl stuff. Then I got to see will for a moment at work and headed back to my work to finish up for the day. So when the kids are not around I focus on projects for the family dealing mostly with organization of rooms, closets, and storage. After work I was waiting for will to get home when he called to insist I run uptown quick to meet an old friend. Mr robert parsons was in town for business for a few hours!! We were so happy to see him and chatted for a while before he had to catch his flight. He is such a great example of working hard and of learning. So thankful we got to spend time with such a dear friend. Its still raining but that didn't stop us from running into a favorite store to buy a pillow we have been talking about for a while. Its a big pretty pillow that does not match anything we have, but we like it.
That's all.

WSP, Thrift stores, lots of pork

Today started off so nice- basketball for Will- I relaxed- Then we went to beautiful Washington Square Park. It was so nice out. Angie was kind enough to share her photography with me...

Then we hit up Stand 4 for fries for an appetizer before going furniture shopping, not for us, don't worry.We ate GIANT slices of pizza at Artichoke- pretty great and sat outside in the sun to enjoy the first taste of Spring.

The rest of the weekend consisted of cooking a lot of pork and creating meals around it. We made sweet pork for Cafe Rio style burritos and BBQ pork for sandwiches and mac n cheese- We ate dinner on their roof and looked out on this amazing city we somehow got a chance to live in. I am SOOO pumped for SPRING!!

Wonderful Winter Weekends

Friday was another snow day with the munchkins- We went sledding again at Central Park- Luca had sushi for the first time and I was so proud. I want my kids to always be willing to try new things- he had a baked salmon roll- so the texture was different than raw fish. It was a fun day. USA even beat Finland in the

Olympic Hockey game.

Tonight I literally wanted to go to bed when I got home. Will talked me into getting out of bed around 8 and our friends Rachel and Jeff came over to hang out. Rachel brought us our Christmas present- IT IS AMAZING!!!! The most amazing gift she could do- We have been searching for things for our walls and this is it! I love it. A lot. Thanks Rach for sharing your talents with us. It was so fun to spend time with them tonight.

Saturday started with Will leaving me to play basketball. He ran through Central Park to get there and called and insisted I leave asap to go there and take pictures. I couldn't resist. So I went to Columbus Circle and started walking around the park- I was just here with the boys yesterday, but I had not idea the beauty that I was missing out on. There was SO much snow on the ground. Will met me after bball and we could not get enough of this-

I volunteered to take pictures for my friend, Rachel, today. Her little girl was having a "Fancy: Dress up" birthday party and I had to come! She filled it with loads of sweet details and darling activities. Lots of pink, boas, fingernail painting, jewelry making, facepainting, and fun little girls in pretty dresses. She did a great job with the party- it was a lot of pressure to capture it!

I headed to the church for our Ward Olympics after the party and got to chat with adults for once in a long time! We love nursery, but its fun to spend time outside of Sunday with the adults. We were team San Marino? I think- Anyway we did not do too well. But it was fun and there was great food. Taco salads are so yummy. Also crepes with brown sugar sprinkled on the top. Yum.

Taylor had organized a date night for some couples they know earlier that week- I had turned down the invite because it was a fancy place and I knew we already had a lot going on this weekend. Well after the ward activity I gave in. We went to Tao - It was a really cool place with this huge statue by our table and loud music that made your heart beat to it. We enjoyed getting to know Lizzy and JT , Sheena and Jason, & Kelly and Brian- as well as the good ole Cannons. I was happy that we went. Thanks Tay. After dinner we went to Kelly and Brian's apt and played some Bump/lightening/speed at the indoor basketball court. Then the boys shot pool while we chatted it up. I was fun to meet some new couples. Next date is already planned.

Will and I have been waiting to watch Everyone's Fine- We thought it was suppose to be so good- Its SOOO depressing. I was not happy with this movie at all. Moral of the story so you don't have to see it- Be honest with people who care about you and don't just always respond that Everyone/I and fine. I am aspiring to be a totally open and honest person.

Sunday was a yummy day. Church was good. Great talks. Then it was dinner time at the Cannon's. As usual. It was DELICIOUS. We made pork with yummy sauce, these great potatoes, broccoli, and fruit salad. We even set the table and everything looked so nice. Love having great friends and a friend to cook with.

Thank you for weekends.