Welcome Garrett!

Hello everyone!!! I got to go down and see Garrett today so here are some pictures for everyone to enjoy!!

Congrats to Will and Sarah!

Congratulations Will and Sarah!! We are all excited for you and your new little Garrett William!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ROD!!!

Rod turned the big 3-1 today!!! We celebrated with Coco Pebbles cereal, church, and lots of homemade cards and pictures from the girls. I also made my first cheesecake ever. It was delicious! Rod and I went out to dinner last night, Rod got in his bike ride, and we got to go bike riding together on Friday. So we've had a fun weekend. Rod informed me he's feeling better than ever on his bike! So, of course, he's celebrating his birthday with some custom (a.k.a. handicapped) handlebars.

The birthday meal: grilled ribs, mashed potatoes, grilled broccoli and lemon, and homemade Parmesan garlic bread sticks. Delicious! We probably eat red meat, like literally 3 times a year, so we figured we could feast!

Rod has this new PDA that he LOVES. It's got GPS and all the fancy stuff so he can get to his jobs all over town. Here the girls are watching Esther and the King (a Liken the Scriptures movie) on it with daddy.
Rod turning 31 is crazy! It becomes more crazy when I remember that we met when he was 22 and I was 18. Where does the time go? I still consider us newlyweds, but in just a month and a half it will be 7 years of marriage! It's hard to believe our dating years (okay, year) was that long ago. It's fun to look back and see where the years have taken us! I love to look at pictures of us doing fun stuff- camping, rock climbing, going to dances, and just hanging out- while at the same time realizing that it just keeps getting better! Of course, we can't do all that stuff as easily with kids, and a job, etc., but there's so much more to be done, and time just keeps screaming by!

Ah- Rod wants me to clarify- he said his bike riding is the best since his surgery, NOT "better than ever", implying even better than before his crash. But I think he is quite happy that it hasn't even been 6 months since his accident and he's able to get back on his bike and ride.

Cherry Blossoms

Here's an upclose of the beautiful cherry blossoms

Our 35th Wedding Anniversary

Robert & I celebrated our 35th wedding anniversary on April 18, 2008. We went to a international dinner & dance. It is called the Azalea Festival here in Virginia. "Miss Azalea" was from The Netherlands this year - and there was a "princess" also from each of the NATO countries. It was fun to dress up. Tiffany did my hair, and Kim was down from DC to see us off. When we arrived at the Sheraton at Waterside, there were lots of people standing outside watching those dressed in formal attire get out of the cars. I felt like we were on the red carpet for a moment with all the onlookers. Many of the men wore their dress uniforms. It was fun to see uniforms from different places in the world. The Azalea festival honors one of the NATO countries each year. This year was Netherlands, last year was England. This is our first year of involvement and we did enjoy it. WOW - 35 Years!!! And we're still going strong!!!

(I tried to put up two pictures - one up close and one farther away. It looks like only one came up. - Notice our beautiful cherry tree in full blossom. It only lasted a couple of days before the rains came and caused the blossoms to fall.)

Tiff- I heard about Lynnea's crazy crib climbing adventures! If you're not quite ready to put her in a bed yet, check out these crib tents. They're safe and they work! It does look kinda silly, like you're caging your kid or something, but it does the job. I had one for Lizzie when she was 7 or 8 months old, not to keep her in, but to keep Caitlin (and objects she may throw) out, since they shared a room. Anyway, they are kinda pricey, but I sold mine when I was finished with it on ebay, so you could do that to even out the cost. I only lost 15 or 20 dollars total (and mine had a strap ripped when I sold it; if you keep better care of yours you could probably even out better). Here's the web site: http://www.totsinmind.com/products/crib.html

They actually have two different kinds, one has mesh all throughout the inside of the crib, and the other just goes on the top of the crib, so check out both.