9 Years of Marriage (yesterday)...

Marcus and I started dating our junior year of high school. We got to know each other on the cross country team.

Then we went to junior Prom together. 

And became best friends too...

And by our senior prom we were engaged (yes I know this is insane). Then we graduated from high school, got married, and move to CA to go to school.

And then we celebrated one year of marriage...

And then two, three & four. And then I graduated from college, and together we moved across the country to Connecticut so I could attend grad school.

And while there we celebrated 5 years, battled infertility, and then by our 6th wedding anniversary...

we had two tiny babies and became a family of 4.

 Then we celebrated 7 years and moved across the country again this time to NV.

By year 8 we had moved again. This time to Mayberry, CA

Then we moved again to the Bay area, CA 9 years later. 

Many moves, several more graduations, twins, lots of growing up... here's to many more years with my love.

The Color Run...

Several months ago Marcus and I (well mostly me if I'm being honest) had this great idea to try and get our old high school cross-country team together to do the color run.

I was so excited!! Then, nobody could it, except for two of our friends, then the day before the race one of those friends had a job interview and couldn't make it.

So it wasn't even close to being the entire old cross-country team but we still have a good time and we did the COLOR RUN!!

For those who don't know about this run, it involves wearing a perfectly white shirt, then running a 5k, at different points during the course you get colored "dye" thrown at you. By the end you're a colorful mess. 

Me and my friend Jamie. She is one of my best friends from high school (was the maid of honor at my wedding).  This the before shot.

Me & marcus "before"

Eli & Emmy came along for the run too. Dressed in their whites. We brought towels in case the color freaked them out. They were very tired and not yet in the mood for much.

Waiting to start with 15,000 of our closest friends haha.

Emmy decided that riding in the stroller was not for her. She wanted to run. She was wearing sandals but that didn't stop her. She probably ran 2k without stopping, and then spent the rest of the race walking and riding in the stroller. She loved the color.

Marcus after the race was over. Nice and colorful.

Marcus & Emmy (she was upset because she wasn't right at my side. My little side kick)

Me & Jamie after. Jamie really got hit hard by the blue. Part of me isn't very colorful because I often picked up Emmy as we ran through the color areas. It was so dusty you visibility was really low and I was afraid she would get trampled. 

I also decided to wear the bandana to protect my hair. I read on the site that sometimes it can take a few days for some of the color to come out of hair. Since I was officiating a funeral the next day I decided I might not want to have various colored streaks.

All done with the race. In need of a bath.

Jamies boyfriend came along for moral support. He managed to stay perfectly clean (he's not a runner haha).

It was a good time. I would do it again. Emmy would too...

 I think Eli will pass he was not a huge fan of getting color throw at him.

Geese don't have hands...

We only have one car. Which worked out okay when we lived in Mayberry because we could walk any where we needed to in our town. We now live in the city and since I have regular office hours it's become more complicated for us. Marcus, Eli, and Emmy have been going a little stir crazy so they drove me to work today.

Emerson was so excited because she thought she was going to work with me, Eli thought he was going to school, and they were both incredibly disappointed when they discovered they weren't even getting out of the car. Poor babies.

Their sadness was short lived because Marcus took them to a children's museum and "mini zoo" and they had hours of fun.

Marcus mentioned that they both were intrigued by the geese for different reasons.

Emerson just decided that she would mimic the goose. The goose made a noise, Emerson made it back. The goose shook it's head Emerson did the same. Every move the goose made Emmy did it back. This has been her new thing lately. I catch her mimicking me all the time.

Eli on the other hand is an observer. He likes to study things and try to figure them out. He has a great memory because he pays close attention to everything around him (I think this is why he walks so incredibly slow he's got to take the world in).

This morning offered him the chance to study a goose close up. His question to Marcus, "Where the geese hands is daddy?" Haha 3 year olds are cute. Marcus answered, Eli asked why, Marcus answered Eli asked why. 

They also saw some bats which where kept in a cave area. Eli & Emerson in describing their morning to me called it the "too dark" the bats where in the "too dark"

They loved it.

The climbed...

And where spiders on a web,

And made silly faces at their dad

And had a great morning.

Later they all brought me lunch at work. So even though the day started out as a dissapointment everything ended up being okay. They're both still adjusting to my working full time again.

I really really hope we can find a way to make sure they can go to preschool. Their preschool is at my church, it's a great program, and I think they will love it. Here's hoping and praying Marcus can find work. 

Before she sleeps...

Emerson wasn't quite ready for sleep when we put her to bed, so Marcus put up a little reading light so she could write.

A few minutes later we went to check on her and found this...

I guess she was tired after all. Marker in hand, notebook, and of course piggy. My sweet girl.

Some Family Pictures...

I officiated my first wedding a couple of weeks ago. My camera died so I didn't get any pictures but a friend of mine emailed a few of the pictures she took.

The wedding was at Vineyard in Wine Country, CA. It was gorgeous.

My silly girl. Ever attached to her mama

Again with her "cheese" face on.

Mama and her babies. Again notice Emerson's attachment. Eli looks a little bored with the whole thing.

And our whole family. Look how gorgeous it is. Beautiful setting for a wedding. Plus my kids are super cute!

Disney Day #4...

Finally, our last day in Disney. On our 4th and final day in the parks we decided that Eli & Emerson had to be allowed to sleep until they woke up on their own. We really pushed them the previous three days with late bedtimes and early wake-up times and they did great, but Marcus and I were exhausted so I can only imagine what they must be feeling.

It ended up being a great decision on our part. They slept until about 10am and then after breakfast we headed back over to the park.

We waited in line to meet Rapunzel. Out of all the Disney characters and princesses this was the only movie Eli & Emmy had seen.

The loved her. Especially Emmy.

Emmy didn't want to let go.

More hugs

And the whole family

A quick Walk with Snow White

And we ran into the fairy godmother too.

And this white rabbit guy.

Eli & Emerson had cotton candy for the first time. When we handed it to them, they weren't sure what to do with it, and didn't believe me when I told them they could eat it. However, once they did they were hooked. Good thing they had lots of cousins willing to share.

This picture is kind of a joke. When we went to disneyland 10 years ago as seniors in high school some guy stood next to this statue and said, "you did it Walt, you did it."

Of course as ridiculous 18 year olds we thought this was hilarious. So I had to go and tell Walt that he did it. (The sign on the statue says "I think most of all what I want Disneyland to be is a happy place where parents and children can have fun together." ~Walt Disney)

We did have a lot of fun.

The rest of the day we went on some other rides with Eli & Emmy, later in the day we met back up with my Aunt and she took the kids so Marcus and I could use our fast passes or Indiana Jones and Space Mountain and then we headed over to California Adventure. We hit up as much as we could (but avoided Cars land). Cars land had only been open for a few days when we were there and it was crazy. I had no desire to enter into the crazy. I figure we'll go to Disney again someday and we'll see it when the big appeal dies down a little.

A family picture in front of the castle and Tinkerbelle showed up.

Marcus and I giving Disney a thumbs up (the photographer made us do it) haha.

The very last thing we did was ride on the roller coaster "Screamin" with my cousins. So fun. It's been a long time since i was on what I consider to be a "real" roller coaster.

I loved, loved, loved, Disneyland and can't wait until we can go back again. This time maybe in the fall.

Eli & Emerson still talk about Disneyland and the Princesses that they got to meet. Lots of fun. 

Remember the scene...

from Cinderella when the little mouse Gus-Gus is trying to pick up a bunch of the chicken feed. He uses his chin for leverage and stacks as many as they can only to have them all fall again.

This is by far my favorite scene in the movie (random I know, but I love it). When I was younger I often tried to duplicate his strategy using a variety of things, just to see how much I could carry.

Eli's never seen the movie but he sure did nail the skill:

I was so amused when he came out of his play room carrying his blocks just like GusGus haha. 

Eli didn't quite understand my amusement he kept asking, "what mom?"

On a different note in the latest on funny things my kids say. I have a tendency to call Emerson a little turkey. I have no idea why I just do.

The other day she was begin silly and I said, "Stop being a little turkey"

And she looked and me and said, "you're a ham" 

Then she said, "I not a turkey, I'm just a Emmy" funny girl.