Last day of school and Pre-school Graduation

It is official... Mattie is in Kindergarten. After 2 and 1/2 years of pre-school she is ready for Kindergarten. Her class did a cute presentation and sang a few songs and had a little lunch. I dressed her up for the day and I was told she knew how pretty she was. She would twirl around in her dress and would giggle. I knew this day would come but did not realize how soon. David's class also did a little presentation but sadly I did not charge my camera so I did not get any pictures of him and just a few of Mattie.






Michael also completed first grade. He had a great school year, made lots of friends and Ms. Becker was a great teacher.

Washington DC

White House


Eisenhower Executive Office Building (Has a long history behind it but today it where the majority of the offices are for the white house staff).


Close-up of the daddy lion saying


Daddy Lion watching cubs play


Momma Lion


Momma Lion watching her cubs sleep


Names on the wall of 2 Officers that we know (Robert Targosz and Eric Shuhandler)





Police Memorial Pond


Old Post Office (Such pretty building and currently being used as federal offices and retail shops. I wish I would have taken a tour of the inside. I recently learned that this beautiful building will be turned into a hotel by the Trump Hotel Corporation).


Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers


Capital Building


Washington Monument (notice the difference in the color of the stones)


Protesters


Iwo Jima Memorial


This is the Rosslyn metro stop that was close to our hotel. I was told that this was one of the deepest stops. My first time seeing the escalator was around midnight. I held on tight the first few times. You can feel your body weight shift forward when you are riding the escalator.



I did it... I took a trip without the kids and Dan. I had the opportunity to go to Washington DC in April with my mom and Debbie. Debbie was teaching at a conference for a few days. I was able to stay with her in the hotel and I was offered a really inexpensive flight deal. We left on a Wednesday afternoon and did not get to the DC area until 11 at night. We actually stayed in Arlington. Our hotel was along the Potomac River and the view from our room was Georgetown University. When we got to our hotel room it was close to one in the morning and we were starving. Debbie used app on her phone to locate a few late night restaurants that delivered. We decided on a place called Manny and Olga's. We were a little fearful thinking what restaurant stays open to 3 am and delivers food. Turns out the food was really good. We finally went to bed around 4 am and I think I slept to about 10 (East coast time which was 7 am in Arizona). While Debbie was teaching and doing her Economic stuff or I should say hanging out at the Federal Reserve, my mom and I went exploring. We saw a few exhibits at the Smithsonian, The Washington Monument, The Capital, Supreme Court and Library of Congress and did some shopping at Georgetown. The next day we saw the White House, Police Memorial, Arlington Cemetery walked through the downtown area of DC and saw a LDS church located next door to a pub. On our last day we did a few quick trips including the Smithsonian, saw Ford's theater and we went back to Georgetown to DC Cupcakes and also Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream. I loved DC Cupcakes. I can understand why they have their own show. I got a mix of flavors and brought them back home for the kids. There is one funny story. When I was at the Smithsonian of American History my mom and I were in the elevator and this chinese man got on the elevator with us. At the same time he and I reached to push the floor button and he lightly slapped my hand and told me "no". I just looked at him and kept thinking did this guy really just do that to me. I doubt he could barely speak english so me saying something would not have been worth it but seriously how rude!

Washington DC was great and I loved being on my own and having my own schedule. My mom and I did a lot of walking and by night time we were so tired that we would order food and have it delivered to the hotel. We would lay in bed for the night and watch TV, read books and snooze on and off. Every night we went to bed around 1 or 2am. We rode the metro most of the time and only took a taxi a few times. Being born and raised in Arizona this is new to me. It took me about a 1/2 day to figure the metro out and the maps. I found that people in DC were very friendly and when you are walking around holding a map people would ask if you needed help.

I was really impressed with Arlington Cemetery. It was extremely beautiful and the history that is associated with the Cemetery. I think I could have spent all day there. I was also impressed with the Capital. You see a picture of the Capital on TV all the time but I did not realize how big it was. I loved the buildings and how they looked. The one thing I learned is that everything has stairs. I really want to go back to the DC area and I want to take Dan. He is like me and we both love history. DC has always been one of his places that he wants to go and visit. This area of the United States played such and important role in the development of the country. When we were walking around you would see a motorcade or black vehicles drive by. I always wanted to know who was in the car. We also got to see a protest, I had no idea what they were protesting but it was still very interesting to see. Walking around DC and Virgina I tried to imagine what it was like during the Revolutionary war, the War of 1812, The Civil War and just other events when our country was being developed.

The police memorial was very peaceful. I had a hard time finding it at first and I thought it would be bigger. I was doing a rub of a few names when a lady came over and offered to help me At first I thought she was homeless. She had this cane with all sorts of stuff hanging from it. multiple lucky rabbit's feet, a tail of some animal (racoon, squirrel I have no idea) and just other odd stuff. Turns out she volunteer's at the memorial and she helps people with the rubbing and questions. She is a little cooky but very sweet and loves her job. I though the police memorial would have statues of officers and there are not any. Turns out they have lions and cubs. She said that there are so many different types of Police Officers in the United States with different uniforms and looks that it was hard to represent all of them. A male and female lion were choosen. The female lion is watching over her sleeping cubs. This represents the soft side of law enforcement (helping a person out, helping a child find their parents etc..) The male lion is watching over his cubs playing and this represents the harsher side of law enforcment (criminals, robbery, shootings).


When we were headed back to the airport we had to take a taxi because the metro line to the airport was closed for repair. We actually picked the taxi up in Georgetown and stopped by the hotel to get our luggage. I knew it would be an expensive trip and the fact that we had to hold the taxi I think was a 7 dollars charge. While were were driving to the airport we started talking with the taxi driver and he was 70 years old and lived in Virginia his entire life. He asked it we had extra time and we told him yes. He drove a different route and gave us a little tour of Virgina. He asked if we saw Iwo Jima. I told him no and he drive by Iwo Jima. We were in the taxi for about an hour. When we got to the airport he discounted our trip my half. I was very thankful for him. He was honest and took extra time to share what he knew.

Mattie and David Field Trip to the Zoo

In April David and Mattie had a field trip to the zoo. Both of the kids go to the same pre-school but are in different classes. I was a little worried about how it would go because usually each when will go in different directions. I brought the chariot (double stroller) and they both rode in it, so I had a easy time of keeping track of them. I walked around the zoo with another mom who's daughter is in David's class and her daughter had Down Syndrome. I thought David would be really excited to go and ride on the bus and to my surprise he did not like it. I had a hard time getting him on the bus. Once on the bus he laid his head in my lap and would only look up every once in a while. I wonder if he had motion sickness but he does great in the car. I think it was just to much for him and the bus was noisy. Mattie on the other hand loved it. She sat next to me or in the seat across from me next to another little boy. We walked around and saw all that we could see. The kids loved the monkeys and the elephants. David also liked the tractors. Mattie is still a little shy from the real animals so she kept her distance from them. She has been learning the signs for different animals and she was able to sign the names of the animals that she knew.

10 years......

Today is a big day for Dan and I. Today is our ten year wedding anniversary. I remember the day. I remember decorating, and getting ready, and what I did before everything started. It sounds weird but I went to the gym. When I got in my car and was driving to the clubhouse to help decorate, I was flipping through the radio stations to find a good song. The scanner stopped on 94.5 (cool gold, which at this time was the oldie's music station) the song "Going to the Chappel" came on. I will admit I'm a nerd and like some of these old songs. I thought how perfect is this.

Dan and I were married on a Monday. Why a Monday? Well for a few reasons. May 20th was the anniversary of our first date. Second, anyone knows that weddings are expensive and when you pay for a wedding yourself you cut every possible corner. In the world of weddings getting married during the week is a lot less expensive and it easier to schedule dates. When we looked at getting married on a weekend it would be a year out. Dan and I did not want to wait a year to get married. We got married at Val Vista Lakes and the cost to get married there during the week plus the discount that we received because my Dad lives there was within our budget.

This post is not about our wedding but how we met and few special moments.

It May of 1999. I was attending ASU and worked part-time for the County Attorney's Office. I was a copy girl. I copied all the cases that came into our office for charging. Some cases were big and required boxes to hold everything. Other cases were smaller. I became good friends with a few attorney's and I started babysitting for them and then some of there friends. Often as a group they would all go out and I would have a bunch of kids to babysit. Usually it was a high number like 10. Dona who was a friend and I babysatt for worked at Mesquite Junior High. Her daughter Kristi was in 7th grade. I would have Kristi help me babysit and then split the cost with her. Anyways Dona would talk about someone who worked at her school and how I needed to meet him. I did not do it right away and I saw his picture in the paper one day. The school Dan worked at this time was in the paper and he was interviewed and photographed for it. After I saw him the paper I had this special feeling and I knew I needed to meet Dan. I told Dona and it ended up that I had a big babysitting job coming up.

I had Kristi help me and then I would drop the money off to Dona at the school and so I could meet Dan. Well it worked. Dona walked me around the school and pointed Dan out to me. Later I was in the office talking and in walks Dan. We talked briefly about college. He had a degree from UofA in Political Science. I was getting a degree in Criminal Justice. We bothed liked history and he knew I was interested in Law Enforcment. My ultimate job was to work for the Forest Service. Well the following weekend I had another big babysitting job and so the same routine followed. The second time I ran into Dan he asked if I was interested in doing a ride a long with him in the summer time. I said yes and gave him my number. The next day he called and instead of a ride along he asked me on a date. That first date was May 20. We went to Macaroni Grill then to Coffee Talk and back to my house and talked to 3 in the morning. I remember what I wore. Black skorts with a hot pink button up shirt. He had on jeans and a a striped polo shirt. He drove a blue Ford truck and gave me a white carnation. The next week we had lunch at Souper Salad. That night he asked me to his house for dinner. He made Green Chili Chicken burritos with
Red Enchilada sauce on top and his own Jicama Salsa. To this day we eat this at least once a month. That weekend we went on a date to the Improv. We did alot of stuff together. Cooking dinner or just hanging out. I was in summers school full time and worked full time so my weekends often included studying. I remember calling Dan up one weekend in September and said I wanted to take a trip. When? Right know. My grandparents and uncle were up at the cabin. My brother was working at the fire station and my sister-in-law Debbie was bored and knew Grandma and Grandpa were up there. She said you should ask Dan to come to cabin with us. Debbie drove the car with Lane. Dan and I drove up in his truck. His new truck that he only owned for a few months. After that weekend his truck had a few Arizona pin strippings on it.

I think back about this trip for many reasons. We were all sitting outside in chairs talking when Debbie announced that she was pregnant with their second child. My grandma caught on right away what Debbie said but it took my Uncle and Grandpa another round of words and trying to figure out my Grandma expression. That night we played cards until the early morning hours. My uncle had this dog who had terrible gas. The dog layed underneath the table and passed gas ("s.b.d.'s"silent but deadly). You always knew when it was coming because the dog would move around a lay at the next victims feet. Finally the dog was booted outside. It was Dan's first experience at the cabin. Besides the gas passing dog I'm glad this was his first trip. He really got to know my grandparents and uncle. It was a casual and relaxed trip. Usually the cabin trips are many people, can be chaos and something is always broken and requires multipe trips into to town to get the item repaired. This trip is also important because it was the last trip I had with my grandparents to the cabin. A few weeks later my Grandpa passed away. Ironically he passed away at the cabin, a place he designed and built. The cabin is still an important place for us. I think Dan's second trip to the cabin involved a lot of snow and him digging the vehicles out with a broken shovel and no water because the lines were frozen.

Dan and I had a great time together during our dating years. He even did a spur of the moment trip with me to Payson to visit some family friends and have Tacos. It was memorial weekend and my mom was cooking Tacos at Charlene's house. I think he thought I was crazy because who would drive to Payson for Tacos. Well if you had my mom's tacos you would know why. Plus Charlene's family is fun to be with and well Payson is used to be my home away from home. I was born in Payson and spent my summers in Payson as a kid with my Grandma and Grandpa Anderson. I got to show Dan all the special places in Payson. While we were in Payson a little black and white kitten took a real liking to Dan. We brought her home and guessed what we named her "Payson". She was our first cat and she was very hyper. This cat loved Dan and only liked me when he was not around. Dan would sometimes have to break us up because we would fight. She used to get mad at me and chase me around the house and bite me. She used to sleep between us in bed or on the couch and she would lay on him and stare at me. She was very possessive. The cat is no longer with us. We had Payson for 7 years, before we had to put her down for health reasons. To this day we still talk about her and laugh at some of the stuff she did. We also did get a cat after we were married and he became my cat. We got him from a co-worker who lived in Chandler. He was a cute grey and white kitten who was found in a drug house. Guess what we named this cat "Chandler".

In November of 2001 we drove to Santa Fe to visit his parents for the weekend. By this time I was working full time at the County and graduated in May of 2001 from ASU. Go Devils! I did not know this but the weekend had been planned for a long time, this was Dan's trip. the trip when he proposed to me. I had no idea it was coming. The first time we went to Santa Fe was right after my grandpa passed away. I loved Santa Fe and his parents took us up into the Mountains of New Mexico. It was so pretty and I loved the history. There is a church called the Loretto chapel. It is famous for the story about the miracle staircase. I loved the story of the church and this is one of my favirote things to visit. If ever get a chance please go and see it. So that weekend of our trip Dan and I went back to the Loretto church and that is when he proposed to me. I used to wear my Grandma Anderson's (Payson grandparents) wedding ring on my right hand. Dan and I were sitting in front of the church talking. He asked to see my Grandma's ring. I took it off and handed it to him and the next thing he is down on his knee asking me to marry him. I was really surprised and of course I said yes. I remember after it all happened there were people standing around who saw it happend and they clapped for us and told us congratulations. The engagment ring Dan had made for me was not ready in time for the trip. Kind of a big thing to have when you propose to someone. I knew he felt bad about it but he also knew how special my grandma's ring was to me. (What Tish did not know was when I found out the ring would not be ready in time I called her sister-in-law to ask if I should still propose. Debbie suggested I still go throught with it. A very good suggestion.)

We planned our wedding in 6 months and on May 20th, 2002 we were married. We celebrated with family and friends. We had about 200 people there. A good family friend that I knew married us. The day was perfect and actually the weather was cool for May. One of those odd May days that Arizona gets here and there. Dan had his brother, good friend Dave and my brother as his groomsmen. I had my sister in law, a good friend of Dans, and my niece who had just turned one as my bridesmaids. Dan's grandma Willkett and my Grandma Henney were both at the wedding. We have a wondeful 10 years. We have 3 kids. Michael was born 2004, Mattie 2007 and David 2008. Like any married couple we have had hiccups and challenges. We have grown and aged in the 10 years and learned a lot. Here is to another 10 years and many, many, many more.

Mint pie http://notsohumblepie.blogspot.com/2010/05/fresh-mint-truffle-tart article about mint plants: http://www.motherearthnews.com/organic-gardening/uses-for-mint-zmaz77mazbon.aspx

Show me your teeth

Michael lost his third tooth this week. His first was in January, second in February and third in March. It is hard to tell because his adult teeth came in way before his baby teeth fell out. I decided it was time to document his 1/2 toothless grin.



Since Michael was showing his teeth Mattie and David wanted to show their teeth also.

Glasses

Since Mattie has been a year old she has worn glasses. I can't even count the number of glasses that we have gone through because they have either been broken or lost. Lately Mattie will take her glasses off and well she basically hides them. I searched and searched for glasses one weekend. That Monday I took her to school and the first question I was asked was "no glasses today". In a way it makes me feel bad that she is not wearing her glasses but on the other hand she hides them and finding them is not always easy. Well after school I was doing some cleaning and Mattie was playing with this dog and I look down to see this.



I laughed because I never thought that maybe one of her toys would be wearing the glasses. Since then I have seen her put glasses on her baby dolls and even found them in her toy draw. One day last week Michael could not find his shoes. We were running late for school and searched high and low. Michael had to wear his old shoes which are a tad small. I was mad at him for not being responsible. I soon realized that maybe it was not Michael. I searched Mattie's room again and found his shoes in the oven part of her kitchen. All I can say is this little girl is getting good.

In addition to Mattie wearing glasses, David wears glasses. He is better about keeping them on but every once in a while a pair will disappear. David lost his glasses last November but lucky I had a back up pair. Well over the weekend David came to me upset and said "Mattie broke" and he was holding his glasses. I set them up on the half wall thinking I could fix them and later I was in bathroom and saw David's glasses. I thought how did these get in here and then I realized they were not broken. So some how 4 months later David's old pair of glasses show up. I have no idea where they have been but I can honestly say that Mattie did it.