Weekend Getaway

We were finally able to go away for our anniversary and decided to stay at the Inn at Port Ludlow Resort near Port Townsend! This is a picture I found of the resort from the internet. We had stayed there a few years ago and decided to go again because it is close to where we're planning a family reunion for my family. We had such a nice time! It was a whirlwind trip because we wanted to be able to see as many sites as we could on the Olympic Peninsula in just 2 days. We were so lucky to have Grandma and "Bumpa" LaPerle watch the kids for us. We left Friday morning and headed over to Sequim, WA which is about an hour from the Edmonds/Kingston ferry.

Here's me standing on the bridge in front of the resort. It was a very nice and relaxing place place to stay.

Our family will be staying in vacation homes in Sequim in about 3 weeks, so we went to check them out ahead of time. The weather was just perfect and the area over there is absolutely gorgeous. We visited so many different places, it's hard to capture all of them.

Here we are at one of the beautiful rugged beaches near Sequim which is on the coast of the Strait of Juan de Fuca.

We then headed to the Sequim Dungeness Spit which is a 5 1/2 mile long sand spit jutting out from the northern edge of the Olympic Peninsula. We took the beautiful, forested 1/2 mile hike down to the spit and then enjoyed the views of Vancouver Island in the distance and exploring on the beach. Most of the beaches on the peninsula are beautiful in a rugged way with a little sand, but lots of driftwood and colorful rocks. We picked out a few beautiful rocks to bring back for Tyler and Maddie (shh, don't tell, we took from the natural environment! You could hear them clanking around in Jeff's pockets on the hike back and we hoped the ranger wouldn't make us put them back!) We are excited to come here again with my family and I know the kids will have a blast playing in the water and exploring and making forts out of all the driftwood!

As we were driving away from the Dungeness Spit area, all of sudden there were deer -- a doe and her 2 fawns right in someone's yard! We then saw another family later that day and then more the next day right off the road by our car! It's so fun to see deer so close like that!

The views of all the beaches and scenery we saw were gorgeous. This view reminds me of the Oregon coastline.

We saw so many places over the weekend that it's hard to name them all and we don't even have pictures of all of them. One of my other favorites was Lake Crescent. There are so many beautiful trails and hikes to see waterfalls and such. After all the sightseeing, we drove to Port Angeles, per recommendation from the locals, to find a restaurant that served fresh Dungeness crab and seafood. We stopped in a restaurant named "Bella Italia" (does that name mean anything to anyone??) and naively asked for a table for two. The hostess asked if we had a reservation and of course we didn't think we needed one. She said without one the wait would be about an hour. So we decided to go somewhere else, but on the way out I saw a copy of "Twilight" highlighted on the hostess' table. Maybe one of you can fill me in on the correlation between this restaurant and the book, since it's been awhile since I read it. I defintely could picture the places where "Bella" got lost in Port Angeles, there are a few rough places downtown by the water. Well, we didn't get to eat there, but one of the waiters followed us outside and highly recommend that we go to a place back in Sequim that served delicious crab and seafood, northern Italian style. He said he knew the cook and highly recommend it, so we drove the 20 minutes back, and it definitely was worth it! I can still taste the crab cakes, and Jeff's halibut with couscous, morelle mushrooms and sweet corn. Yum! Crab cakes are a must when you are in the Dungeness valley area.

Well, all in all, this was a great trip, and we wish we had more time to see everything. We're so lucky to have all this beauty to experience only an hour or two away. I can't wait to go there with my family again in July!

Father's Day

You know what the best thing about this Father's Day was...? Jeff was actually able to be home and not at bishopric meetings. The kids loved being able to come in, jump on him in bed to wake him up and shower him with their gifts they had made. What a way to wake up! Tyler had made some coupons for his dad which were good for one breakfast in bed, one game night, one night making cookies together etc. At preschool Madeline made and decorated a card with a tie on it and her picture on the inside. They are so thrilled about making their own gifts. Madeline also had a poem for dad, that I just have to include because it's so cute and it describes her relationship with Jeff perfectly!

For My Dad
Each morning when I hear your voice,
My face is full of smiles.
For you are just the greatest man
There is for miles and miles!

You know that I look up to you,
For I am very small.
I love the games you play with me,
We always have a ball.

At night you tuck me into bed
And make me feel so loved.
It's neat that I was sent to you
From Father up above.

I made this special gift for you
So you would look so smart.
It may not be of shining silk,
But it's a work of art!

So wear this tie on Father's Day,
And you will make me glad.
I want to say I love you,
'Cause you're the greatest dad!

Love, Madeline

They had fun making him french toast and sausage for breakfast and then enjoyed time playing games. After church we barbequed chicken in the backyard and the kids played. We were even able to eat outside on the patio table. The weather was perfect for father's day.



Jeff is such a great husband and father and the kids are so lucky to have him for their dad. He is so involved in everything they do and will sit and play legos or video games with Tyler or Barbies and princess Polly Pockets with Maddie. He helps out so much around the house and gets them involved in everything he does, like making muffins for breakfast, doing the laundry or household projects like installing a ceiling fan. (Which by the way, was his (our) other gift for father's day!) I appreciate him so much for the example he is to the kids and for how hard he works for our family. We are so blessed and I am so greatful for a wonderful husband!
Happy Father's Day!


Our Garden

I wanted to also include pictures from awhile ago of our garden project. Yeah, we finally started a garden after 14 years of marriage! No excuses like not enough yard space or not enough areas in the sun, we finally built a raised bed and did it and it's doing so well! I wanted a salad garden primarily so we have romaine and red leaf lettuce, spinach, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, cucumbers, red peppers, beans, zucchini, basil and chives. We're trying to get tomatoes growing in the front yard, but we need more sun!!

Here's Tyler and Jeff building it:

Maddie posing by the garden (she's always wanting me to take her picture now! -- I wonder why)

Here is the first salad we had from the garden. It's really true that if the kids help plant the vegetables, they are more inclined to eat them, or in Maddie's case, try them.

School's Out! Party Time!

Whoooooh! Says Tyler! School's out, it's a vacation! He's so excited! I can't believe he won't be in Elementary school anymore. It's off to Middle School. This is such an exciting time for him and he's so ready, but mom is not! It's hard to see them grow up and move on to another era. Hard for me to not have a child in elementary school for at least another year. I'll really miss going into his class every year to volunteer and work with his teachers and all the field trips. Tyler has been so blessed to have gone to 2 great elementary schools and had incredible teachers. First, Skyline for 3 years and then Highland for 3 years. We just got back from his 5th grade graduation and it was great. They had a slide show of all the class (Class of 2015 - can you believe!) with pictures of them in Kindergarten and now 5th grade. There were also captions of what they hope to be in 10 years. It was so fun to see, but emotional as well.

Here's Tyler before Kindergarten:

And now in 5th grade:

"Video game creator, and artist".

They had to write about their favorite memory of 5th grade and then the teacher read it and handed them their certificate of graduation. Here's what Tyler wrote:

"Over the whole 5th grade year, I think that my favorite memory was when we had the Hawaiian Luau party. I just enjoyed dancing, talking, and playing with my friends. I also enjoyed trying to win prizes. I even learned new dances. Overall, I think this was my best memory of 5th grade."

Us after the graduation.




Tyler and his teacher Ms. Juneau.

Celebrating graduation!

Riding the bus the final time from Highland!

Tyler at "Night of the Notables". They all had to do a presentation on and dress up as a notable person from history. Can you guess who he is? . . . (Paul Revere). All the costumes were great, and he looked very authentic!

This is a rainy day field trip at Cedar Springs camp. Poor kids had to be out in the rain all day learning about orienteering, looking for owls and playing games. Fun memories though!

Congrats Tyler! We're so proud of you and know that you'll do awesome in Middle School!

Skate Party!

Wow, this has been, still is, quite the week! It seems that all the end of school activities, field trips, parties etc. are this week and we still have one more week of school! I really want to document a lot of it for Tyler because this is it for him in Elementary school. They really are making it fun for the 5th graders to go out with a bang! So I have some catching up to do and lots more pictures to post but for now, I want to put these on of the "End of the Year Skate Party". Tyler has been skating a lot but this was Maddie's first time and Jeff and I were amazed that she had no fear! She wanted to keep going around. I have to admit, I'm feeling older (won't admit my age here), but it was tiring going around with her and holding her up so she wouldn't fall.

Then she discovered that if she asked, Tyler might take her around. It was so sweet to see him help her.