Wednesday, May 20, 2009

14 Years Today!

Today is our 14th anniversary. I can't believe how quickly time has flown by!
Our story: We met on the BYU folk dance team. Chris was dating someone and I was just dating. Here we are in Binghampton, NY, at a festival. We had been friends for about a year. We went on tour together in 1994 to Greece, Turkey, Jordan and Bulgaria. Now for anyone who's never toured you get to know someone really well after touring with them. You spend 24 hours a day, 7 days a week with them. You see them when they're tired, hungry, happy, sweaty--basically all of the good and bad. We didn't spend every minute together on tour by any stretch of the imagination, but we did get to know each other well. Chris hinted that he wanted to be more than friends, but he wasn't my type at all! So I dismissed that and he decided not to waste any more time. Well, I couldn't handle that, so to make a long story short, our first kiss was on the rooftop of our hotel in Amman, Jordan, the night before we came back to the U.S. Neither of us thought our relationship would last. Here we are at a homecoming parade at BYU when we got back from tour.Well, we did last, and Chris proposed when I flew out to Missouri to visit during Christmas break.
We were married May 20, 1995 in the Boise, Idaho temple. I don't remember too much of the day--it was all a blur, but these are some of my favorite pics--most of which were taken by my sister, Natalie, who thoughtfully kept the camera snapping all day.
Right after we came out of the temple.



Alot has happened in our lives over the past 14 years. We've experienced our highs like having children and finishing med school, and our lows, like burying parents. We've changed and grown spiritually and physically. If I had to do it all over again, I would as long as I had you, Chris. I love you more today than I ever imagined I could love someone 14 years ago. You are everything in the world to me. Happy 14th anniversary.

A Retaining Wall, Some Rhodies and a Dance Recital

A few weeks ago we decided to work on our landscaping. We tore out the sod on both sides of our house and added mock orange, lilacs, burning bushes, wigela and spirea. Chris built this retaining wall on his day off. He did an amazing job!

While we were landscaping, we added some rhodedendrians to the north side of our house. We've been throwing around the idea of planting rhodies for about 5 years now ever since seeing them at a neighbor's in Missouri. Rhodies thrive in the NW, and growing up, Chris had huge rhodies in the backyard of his Bellevue house (we're talking 8 feet tall or more). We worried that they wouldn't survive in humid Kansas, but these varieties are supposed to do really well here. We bought the biggest plants we could find and Chris meticulously prepped the ground. They're so beautiful--we hope they come back next year!



Kiersten and Abbie had their dance recital at the Music Hall a couple of weeks ago. We ate dinner downtown in the Crossroads District at a yummy pizza place Kierst and I discovered while looking for food before the BYU Ballroom Dance performance in April. Kierst has been wanting to take everyone there.
Kierst in "Boy From NYC," her jazz class. Abs in "Part of Your World," her combo class. Kierst did ballet in "Swiss Miss."Both of the girls did a fantastic job! We were so proud of them! I love seeing my kids enjoying what they're doing. There's nothing better than that. Analise sat on our laps for most of the performance. We can't wait for next year's!

Thursday, April 30, 2009

Do we live in Seattle?

Today I am tired of the rain. Chris loves all the rain (he was born with webbed feet--that's what happens when you're born in Seattle), but I grew up with lots of sunshine in Idaho and I love the sun. It's been so rainy the past couple of months that Abs has only had a few soccer games and a couple of practices during the spring season. Chris seems to be in a good mood with this kind of weather, but it turns me into a grump. I'm ready for the sunshine again!
Every week I have time to kill while Kierst and Abs have dance class. When the weather's nice, I can take Analise to a park right by the dance studio. Last week it was beautiful!

Easter Eggs

One of our favorite Easter traditions is dying eggs for Easter. Then Chris makes deviled eggs for Easter dinner. Yum!

Happy Birthday, Abbie

While we were in Denver, Abbie celebrated her 6th birthday. We love Abbie's sense of humor and her willingness to befriend and help everyone around her!

Denver Trip

The last week of March we drove to Castlerock to visit Grandma and Grandpa Stapley. The kids had a blast playing with their cousins, swimming, going to the Denver Science museum (thanks, Wendy!) and of course spending time with Grandma and Grandpa. Thanks, Julie & Ron, for your wonderful hospitality!
On the booring drive across Kansas we stopped by Stapley cousins in Manhattan to say hi and then stopped at Braum's (our favorite!) for lunch. The kids didn't pay much attention to the landscape as we drove, but were fascinated by the windmills.
Abs and Lesee with the world's largest clear topaz. It was originally owned by Salvador Dali.
Kierst and cousin David by a few of the minerals. The science museum had the most amazing collection!
In front of a cave transported from Mexico. Enviromentalists, where are you?
There was a large assortment of fossils from KS. Kansas, of course, used to have a coastline. Too bad our property isn't waterfront today.
We love you Grandma & Grandpa!

Birthdays Times 3

March is our 3-birthday month. It's lots of fun (and busy) to celebrate all the girls' birthdays in one shot. Kierst and Abs are only 4 days apart, which leads to the delimma of how to celebrate. We like to give each one her own party, but we often have their parties on the same day. This year they both chose pottery-painting parties. What a great time! A snowstorm moved into KC that day, but gratefully it held off until the parties were almost over. Both of the girls are webkinzaholics and so for their birthdays Chris made each of them webkinz houses to help contain the insanity.