5 Years

We got to celebrate 5 years of marriage this last weekend! They have really been the best 5 years, and even though we go through new and challenging experiences we continually grow closer to one another. With Miles being so small we decided to celebrate most of our anniversary as the family of four that we are.  Max had to wake up really early on Friday to go into work for a couple of hours and set up for some sort of marketing event. I got to wake up early to both boys crying...not ideal but it's life! We had a busy and somewhat traumatic morning with some grumpy kids but all was made right when Max came home with breakfast for us. We ate it all up then took our time getting ready to go to the wooden shoe tulip festival. I had only gone once but I was the bus driver and didn't venture far from the bus so I was excited to go and spend the day with my little family. And here are some pictures from that. 

This kid never stops jumping (or "dumping" as he calls it)

We apparently came at the end of the festival when they were already pulling up some of the tulips and grass. So we may have missed out a bit but there were still tons of tulips and it was beautiful! 

Big shoes to fill

All the cow cars had names...we figured this one was close enough to Charles...even though I have no intention of ever calling him Chuck!

We actually didn't ride in any of these cars...just sat and rook pictures. Haha

Sweet brothers. 

The brightest tulips in the field 

My favorite thing about newborns is that they cuddle up and sleep anywhere!

Charlie was doing something to make me laugh in this picture.

Tiptoe through the tulips!

With all the vast beauty around him, Charlie's favorite place was this mud puddle. He loved throwing clumps of dirt in it. And he only got his feet a "little" muddy.

After sitting on this bench for a little bit, Max pulled out a poem he had put together. It reminded me of the ones he had written when asking me to prom and I loved it.

After walking among the tulips, we went to play some farm games like these duck races!

He got so excited!

I spy a duck hoarder

After playing on the playground and sharing an elephant ear we got on the hay ride to head back to our car. We were all getting pretty tired. We got in the car and went to Jamba juice Just Max went in to get us drinks while I stayed in the car with the boys and pumped some milk! .

We then headed home in time for my mom to meet us there so Max and I could have a little alone date for our anniversary. We decided to spend some special time at the Portland Temple where we were married 5 years earlier. We hadn't been back to this temple to participate in the sealing ordinances since our wedding so it was extra special to spend that time together and remember the blessing promised to those that are sealed in the temple for eternity. The only downside of this is that it was so peaceful and we had such a busy day with little sleep that we had a hard time staying awake. 

Oh, and here are some pictures from our wedding day at the temple, taken by the amazing Anna!

I'm glad that we were able to spend some alone time together but we were excited to get home to our boys and to go to sleep.My mom survived just fine with both boys and we were super grateful for her willingness to watch them. 

So the traditional gift for the 5th anniversary is wood. We have never really followed these traditions before but Max was interested and did some research and found these wooden anniversary signs. He was going to order it but then decided he wanted to show me and we could design it together. We really aren't that great with surprises. We like to make sure our "surprises" are exactly what the other one wants. So these are from this ETSY store and here is a sample. Ours is still being made but will look the same only with our names. 

The next day we continued the celebrations by going to the Cheesecake Factory as a family. Max had never been and we have been wanting to go. This was also my reward for making it another week of pumping milk. haha Max and my lactation consultant decided it would be great to make a weekly incentive plan to keep me going. So far it has been working but that is another story for another day. Charlie was a little pig at the cheesecake factory. Here he is shoving a whole corn dog in his mouth while his other he had his other corn dog prepped for his next bite.

But lets be real, Max and I were pigs too. The food was great, and it is always fun to prolong celebrations. 

Anyway, the point is that we had an exciting anniversary even if we didn't get a ton of "alone as a couple" time. We'll have lots of those anniversaries in the future when our kids are grown. We love where our lives have led us in these 5 years and we are excited to spend the rest of forever together!

Summer is coming

I know this week is one of those fluke weeks where it makes you think that it's summer but is then followed by another month of rain. We have had amazing weather this week so I've made the extra effort to make sure my boys get to play outside and enjoy the fresh air.

Charlie and I cleaned out the old pool. (which has been the best $1 I've ever spent)

He thought jumping and making the water splash as hard as he could was the best thing ever.

This was Charlie flexing his muscles for me...he always has to make that face!

Miles loves being outside too. I guess it's especially great when you have a crazy big brother to watch.

We got to have some Popsicle time too!

Fish Face!

And a big thanks to Uncle James for sharing his amazing Tonka trucks! We have really been enjoying them!

And it's not very often that Charlie looks and smiles at the Camera so I'd say this one is a winner!

And this is how we start our summer! I'm secretly hoping to put Miles in the dump truck and take some pictures...we'll see how that goes.

Easter: Part 2

With all the hullabaloo of having two kids, we somehow weren't able to go to the store to gather the items we wanted to put in their Easter baskets. Yes, we know this is a secular tradition but it is so fun to celebrate and it makes it even more fun to celebrate with kids. We decided to surprise our boys (ok, mostly Charlie) with a Easter "basket" (mixing bowl) a week late. He didn't know the difference and we still got the excitement of surprising him.  

So early Sunday morning, even though Miles was still sleeping...we got up and went downstairs for the few minutes of excitement. And we don't really own any baskets...so the boys got Easter mixing bowls. 

He was pretty excited about his Easter candy and I liked that we got it for 90% off because we got our goodies late. 

Charlie got some Easter candy, some fruit snacks and a memory game that we are excited to play. 

Miles got some Easter Candy that his mommy will have to eat so we can make sure he gets it through his milk, and 2 summer outfits!

We then ate breakfast and Max and Charlie went to church. I'm thinking Miles and I will be ready to go back next week when he is about a month old. While they were gone Miles and I attempted a photo shoot while we had decent lighting in our living room. I was more pleased with how these turned out. I think it's much easier to photograph a newborn than a busy toddler.  

 I love this sweet boy so much. Time seems to be going fast and he's already growing a ton.

Happy late Easter!

Saturday mornings

It would have felt great to sleep in this morning but instead we had two active boys that were ready to start the day! So this is what happened. 

As great as it would have felt to sleep in, Max and I couldn't help but feel overly blessed as we looked at each other over our beautiful, healthy, and happy boys. Being awake early on a Saturday morning is the good life for us now! 

Note:.I just did this whole blog post on my phone while holding a baby...I'm getting good!