Happy 5th Anniversary!

Kelley and I have been married for FIVE fantastic years! Through ups and downs and tears and laughter we have grown together and are we're ready to go for many more years. What have we learned? Communication and laughter are the keys to our success. We love Seoul and are excited for Sydney. Seoul's new favorite thing is to pull us together and hug both of us and say "family hugs!" Who knew we could be happier than just being the two of us newly married?!

Funny: I had thought we could have dinner at the restaurant The Melting Pot if Kelley hadn't planned anything. (Silly me for thinking he wouldn't have something planned.) One night he asked what I wanted to do just to see what I'd say. When I said the place I thought of to eat he started laughing hysterically. That is where he had planned to take me! (Guess the romance isn't over... we still think the same - haha)

So, he got me red roses and my favorite holiday chocolates. Then he took me to see the Christmas lights at Peacock Lane... so beautiful! Then we had a late dinner at The Melting Pot and it was absolutely amazing. We loved it! The food was fabulous and after dessert (white chocolate creme brulee fondue - divine!) we joked that we were "chocolate wasted"! It was a great evening and we had so much fun together!

 

Kelley is my best friend! I love him so much and I'm so grateful for the person he is... what he teaches me and how we complement each other in our strengths. He is my rock and keeps me grounded and makes me smile & laugh. His love for our family is astounding and he does so much to provide for us.

Love you forever Kelley!

'tis the season!

We love Christmas! The music, the decorations, the festivities, the treats... all of it!


House Lights
Kelley was on top of doing lights on the house this year... got them and put them up Thanksgiving weekend. Sweet man that he is he made the effort to do the red & white lights because I mentioned that I like the look.

 


The Singing Christmas Tree
By chance I had the opportunity to go to The Singing Christmas Tree in Portland with my mom, brother & sister-in-law and their friends. It was pretty cool, I have to admit. I think maybe next year I will try and go as a family with Kelley, Seoul, and Sydney. Love that Christmas music!
 

Christmas Tree
As usual we had the annual adventure of getting a Christmas tree. The tree farm we were intending to go to was closed so we followed the signs to another one... which turned out to be way farther than the sign indicated. Seoul found pine cones and helped pick the perfect tree. We decorated the next day and it looks "beautiful" as Seoul says every day. She was very helpful putting up lights and even the bulbs... until she shattered one in her hand. Don't worry - she didn't get hurt... and the plus side is that she doesn't play with them now :)

Macy's Santaland
This year Kelley surprised us and took us to see Santa at Macy's in Portland. It was pretty fun, although Seoul didn't write Santa a letter... oops! The line was longer than at Bridgeport last year but it was all inside out of the rain. Seoul was excited until the second I put her on Santa's lap. We have a matching picture to last year! The decorations were really pretty.

House decorations
We added a few things in our house to make it festive. We have just enough for the space we live, which is nice. It is so fun!

We have to start/do our Christmas shopping to prepare. For whatever reason I thought we had lots of time until Kelley pointed out we have two weeks (from last Saturday) - oops!

Happy Holidays! We hope everyone is happy and doing well!

School's not over yet...

Congratulations Kelley! He has been accepted at OHSU to earn a Graduate Certificate in Biomedical Informatics (computers & health care). It is an online program so he will continue to work full-time at Legacy Health. We are trying to decide if it is best for him to begin courses January or wait until spring quarter. Depending on how many credits he takes each quarter it could take up to two years to complete. Eventually he'd like to continue on to earn a Masters Degree in Biomedical Informatics. Sounds intense, yes?

I'm proud of him for wanting to continue his education and provide even more for our family. It will be an adventure having two kids while he's in school but I have faith that we can do it if we work together. Let the fun begin!

Bazinga!

Right now we are sitting here laughing at the show "The Big Bang Theory" - we love it and laugh SO MUCH! Does that mean we identify with one of the characters? Hm.

Oh, and yes Amy Farrah Fowler is also known as the character "Blossom" back in the day... anyone remember that show??

Happy Thanksgiving!

We are so very blessed... it is the season for giving thanks! The big spread was at Evan & Dana's house and they did a fantastic job. So much food we all stuffed ourselves! Traditional food of turkey, potatoes & gravy, rolls, veggies (various types), candied yams, cranberries, sparkling cider, etc. Kelley's family tradition is lots of treats - golden graham s'mores, "those" brownies, magic cookie bars, fudge, and caramels made the menu this year. Don't forget the typical desserts of cheesecake and lots of pies. Plus lots of visiting and a hilarious game of 'Apples to Apples'! Love food, love family, love friends! Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving like we did :)

 

(Evan, Dana, Trevin, Amanda, & Ella; Curtis, Shelley, Cole, Ty, & Gracie; David; Dale; Ruth; Sherril; Mindee; Kelley, Seoul, & I (we missed Ashley who was sick and Jerry, Earlene, David & Isaac who couldn't make it from Utah because of the crazy weather)

Baby Sprinkle for Sydney

Our good friend, Brittany, was kind enough to throw a "baby sprinkle" for me (think smaller scale "baby shower" - get it??) It was a great time and we appreciate it! People are so kind and generous! The food was delicious... I LOVE desserts :) We played a game "How well do you know children's literature" and for as much as we read I didn't know a lot of the classics - oops! Seoul had a ball running around, soaking up all the attention. She has now claimed the stuffed animal and hair clips for herself - poor Sydney! Kelley went out with Nhat, Randy & Randy Jr. What a fun night spent with friends and family!

Thanks Brittany - you're the best!!

One Year Anniversary

I have to note that it was one year ago today that we moved here to our new house! We love it! It was a week of bad weather last year so we bumped up the move-in date. These days Seoul dances in our mounds of leaves, but also helps daddy battle them.

We love it... feeling home, the neighborhood, our yard, homeowner tasks... it's all fabulous!