Celebrating 10 years!

For our 10th anniversary we spent the weekend in Victoria Canada. Victoria is special to us, since that is where we went on our honeymoon almost 10 years to the day. It was wonderful to spend a relaxing weekend together away from the busy life and just enjoy our time with each other. We couldn't believe it had been 10 years, and what a great 10 years it's been!

We stayed in a very quaint Bed and Breakfast called Abigail's.

In front of the Bed and Breakfast was this Whale statue. Many of these are found at various locations throughout Victoria.

This was our favorite street vendor. We gave him $ on several different occasions. Our favorite thing to watch, was when someone would take a picture of him without paying. He would scowled them in his music box type of way.

We are too attached to Jacob to leave him at home, (I guess we can separate ourselves from our other children more easily) so he spent the weekend with us. He was a sweet baby, with the exception of when he had a complete blowout over lunch! We quickly took him home and bathed him in the bathroom sink. Other than that we completely enjoyed having him with us, he doesn't talk nearly as much as our other children and he always stays close to us. It was fun for us to enjoy just him! We were asked on a number of occasions "Is this your first? We loved the reaction when we would reply "no it's our 4th."

Did you know Victoria has the tallest Totem Pole?

We got pretty friendly with this seal. He liked us because we fed him fish scraps from a local butcher.

Beautiful Victoria!

On the way home we saw the coolest rainbow we had ever seen. The picture doesn't do it justice. We could see the beginning of this bright rainbow and the end of it. Our boat was able to go right under it! It was quite spectacular. Zeke said it was a great way to end our weekend. So somewhere over the rainbow, dreams really do come true!

What's been happening......

Life has been busy at our house lately, so here is a little of what we have been up to.





First Saturday night we took my parents bowling for Father's day.
You can see from Landon and Mason the music was a little loud, but Lydia on the other hand was right at home!





Check out these bowling moves!
Landon
always has a great move after a stike!

For Father's Day Zeke got to have his traditional Father's Day Breakfast (in bed) but at the kitchen table. He has an early bishopic meeting on Sunday so we had to get up sooooo early (6:30am-hence the sleepy heads). Zeke was delighted to be served Peanut Butter Choco Pops for breakfast. It was like eating candy for breakfast.

Grandma gave Grandpa a Wiiii. (Landon and Mason are so happy) Grandpa is saying "What is it?" They had fun playing baseball, tennis, boxing, bowling, and golf the rest of the day.

Zeke got a nap!

Now I know this sounds crazy to the rest of the country, but up here in Seattle we are still in school. We do get out of school fairly late into the summer, but this year we also have several snow days to make up. As part of the end of the year festivities, my mom (who teaches Kindergarten at my children's school) had an end of the year tea party for the girls in her kindergarten classes. She asked me to make two teapot cakes for her class. They are fun to make, and Lydia got to go and enjoy the tea party also.

Just Jacob!

It has been awhile since I have posted anything, and there hasn't been anything new happening in our life, except for watching Jacob grow! Above: Last night Jacob discovered the Mariners. All the sudden he looked up and couldn't keep his eyes off the game. Must be why his middle name is Ezekiel

Below: Sleepy Boy

Moving those fists (When laying down he is constantly moving his fists like he either examining them or boxing)!

It seems like yesterday!

It was eight years ago exactly that Zeke and I would go on walks around Logan, Utah each carrying a baby in one of these front backs. Yesterday, our family went on a Sunday walk and after stopping for a rest and some much needed shade, Mason and Landon wanted to try out the baby front pack. They did so well with it that they each took turns walking home carrying Jacob. It was funny to think that it wasn't too long ago that I would go on walks carrying one of them in a front pack. Life just goes too fast!

For those that haven't seen Mason and Landon for awhile you will notice how much taller Mason is in this picture.

When asked "Who's older?" Mason's favorite response is: "Landon is older, but I am taller."

On another baby note, Lydia has been enrolled in a preschool this year. She loves going and asks every day "Is it a school day?" When Lydia was born the boys were in the same preschool, and that seems like yesterday.

Here Lydia is during the end of the year field day.

And then there is Jacob, he went to the doctor today and is growing fast. He now is 75% in all three areas (weight, height, head) and weighs 13 pounds. Growing too fast!

Let the summer begin.......

Many people say that the summer begins on Memorial Weekend. Well in Washington we still have school for another month, however we don't want to miss out on all the summer fun, so for the last 7 years we have gone camping on Memorial Weekend. It's a great way to start the summer season. We have always gone camping in Carnation, Washington. This year we decided to change it up a bit and go camping far away from grocery stores and head to the mountains. We camped at church camp called Zarahemla. It was great for me, since this is where I am taking the YW this summer for girls camp. (I am the Stake YW camp director). Some years it has rained the whole time but this year we had great weather. Along with the great weather we had 7 other families (20+kids) to enjoy the fun with.

So why do we love to go camping..... here are a few of the reasons:

*Time together as a Family

*Pretty Scenery

*Playing in the water

(too cold to swim in, but look at the work out Zeke got rowing 5 kids around)


*The kids play and play
(below: Hunter, Alyssa, and Lydia)
*Dutch oven cooking
(below is our groups Dutch oven potluck dinner)

*A fun talent show Saturday night

Landon and Mason sang "You Give Love A Bad Name" beat boxing like Blake Lewis from American Idol

Give them microphones and an audience and they are in heaven.Magician Sali Kai
The McInelly Skit (Ballerina will be posted at a later date, it deserves its own post)

*Just hanging out

Our Happiest Camper!!!

Jacob loved camping and he was as good as ever.

We sure do love this little guy!!

*Not so fun is the long drive, however going home we went over Chinook Pass it was absolutely breathtaking.

Piano Recital

Another year of piano lessons and another recital to finish it off. This time Landon and Mason were asked to perform a duet of Yankee Doodle. They thought it would be fun to dress like George Washington, but at the last minute Landon decided the wig was getting in his way. Mason still wore the hat.

Oh what a weekend!

This past weekend was full of fun and lots of excitement!

First we had

Lydia's Birthday

She had a Strawberry Shortcake Party

A Musical Strawberry game with 5 of her friends

Pin the stem on the Strawberry Planting Strawberries
Lots of presents!

Then right after the party Grandma Evans flew in!!

Saturday we had our annual neighborhood garage sale. We got rid of some old stuff and sold over 70 cookies and 30 churros!! YUM



Sunday was Jacob's baby blessing! It was a special day for our family. We were grateful we had Grandma Evans, and Grandma and Grandpa McKinney with us.



Mother's day! Zeke bought the Claim Jumper "Mother load Cake" It is a very large cake that is sure to feed a crowd (or three moms)
But who did he really buy the cake for............
He deserved a big treat though, he had quite the Sunday,he made a great breakfast for his wife and his mom, had to conduct Sacrament meeting, bless his baby, call his wife on the spot during sacrament meeting to bear her testimony, teach sharing time, and make a fabulous Mother's day dinner (with the help of my dad, Landon and Mason). What a guy!!


Monday was Landon and Mason's end of the year piano recital. The ended up playing a duet together. (Zeke will put the video of it on a later date)
Landon

Mason

And finally due to a busy life this is the scene every night!