Holiday Recap

Did anyone notice that as everyone was posting Christmas stuff we finally posted Thanksgiving? We’re always a holiday behind…

Well not this time! But that’s only because we shot video and didn’t take a single picture! Weird!

Our Christmas and New Year’s weekends were fantastic. Lots of family, gifts, and love. Rob was around a whole lot which meant more relaxation for me ;) and we went and saw Avatar Imax 3D and watched lots of movies in bed (both of these things happen rarely).

So we had a great time!! Hope all of you did, too!

Boise after Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving afternoon we piled in the car and started a long drive up to Boise to visit my sister (Breanna) and her family.  We were especially excited for the weekend because my brother (Kelly) and my parents were all going up for the long weekend.  Nate and Madeleine were stoked to play with their cousin Joe.  :)

There was a lot of time for the kids to play together.  My dad spent the whole weekend photographing the kids.  Here is a picture or two and a video of the kids playing around my sister’s place.

Cousin Joe sitting on Nate.  Nate was a good sport to let him do this and Joe thought it was so much fun. 

Nate playing transformers with his uncles.

And a video showing how to get a lot of exercise on vacation.  Click here if you can’t see the video.

We visited the Boise Discovery Center on a VERY cold afternoon and all had a blast.  What a fun place.  I know I could spend hours there without my kids! I made a couple of fun pics while there and hope you enjoy them.

What happens when Nate makes a giant bubble?

Bubble particles fly everywhere!

You can catch a few more pictures from the Discovery Center like these here on our site.  Here is a fun one of me and Julie.

We attempted to make a visit to the Boise State Penitentiary; however, we arrived much too early and settled on French pastries instead.  Good Call!

Here is a cute picture that my dad got of the kids out side the penitentiary.  Very Cute!

Here we are walking the streets of Boise.

We did various other things on the other days and had such a great time.  Kelly and I took Breanna’s husband (Gene) to a see As Tall as Lions and Minus the Bear. These bands just happened to be coming through town over Thanksgiving weekend.  Hooray for us!!!  We had a total blast and the music was great!

It was great to spend time as a family.  What a great Thanksgiving weekend!

A Quick Trip To Memories Past

Here’s an excerpt from an email I (Julie) sent a friend while Rob and I were dating. It’s a killer memory and I’m SO glad I kept these! I love journals…

From: "Julie Raines" 

To: Whit 

Subject: You're gonna love this!

Date: Mon, 29 Jul 2002 13:20:53 -0600

…So.  That leaves us to this past weekend. Remember we were going to St.George?  

Well.  Here it goes. We had a WONDERFUL time!!!  Honestly, I can't think of ONE thing 

that would have made it any better.  Literally.  

So we're driving down and we're about 3 blocks away from getting to his grandparent’s 

house.  It's 11pm.  All of a sudden,he pulls to the side of the road and stops.  

I'm like, "Uh, what are ya doing?" He says, "Well, I wasn't going to do this now, 

and I REALLY didn't want to do it in the car....but I wanted to tell you that I'm 

falling in love with you."

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Can you imagine myself? So here's my romantic response (you're gonna love this)  

I say, "You do, huh? Hmmm.  Well, that's good to know."  Then I pause for dramatic 

effect and to make him sweat a little. "That's good to know because I'm falling 

in love with you too (here's the romantic part)...I'm falling in love with you too 

and it would really suck if it wasn't both ways 'cause that would be no fun."

Can you believe those words came out of my mouth???!!!!  Talk about a blithering idiot.

So there you go.  It's official, we're falling in love.

The rest of the weekend was just as good.  We visited with his grandparents, 

hiked Angel's Landing in Zion's, went swimming, out to dinner, rented a movie, 

and cuddled.  Driving home we also talked about important future things and he 

wants us to take a Marriage Prep class in January.  As of now, plans are for us 

to have a Spring wedding.  I wouldn't be surprised if it was pushed up, though. 

So. There you go.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

He’s 4

Nate turned the big 4. He’s a serious stud.

Here’s the ultrasound video of when Rob and I found out we were having a baby boy. Unfortunately we missed the part where he crossed his legs and put his hands behind his head, and yawned. It was so cute!

Here are just a few things out of his mouth just this week.

• He spilled a cup of milk and ruined a library book. I told him the library wasn’t going to be too happy and he asked, “Will the library put me in jail?”
• He reached under the oven with tongs and pulled out a wad of paper. He exclaimed, “I am a GENIUS! Mom! I am a GENIUS!”
• He LOVES fast, loud music. Think Reliant K, Weezer, Aerosmith, Pearl Jam, etc. He wants a black electric guitar. Rob introduced “Tin Man” by Animal Kingdom to him and he asks me all the time if I’ll turn it on loud. One time he brought his dot-to-dot book to me and said “I want to listen to this song this many times (25).”
• He was helping me put his birthday invitations for his cousins in envelopes and putting stamps on them when he said, “I’m just like a real mailman!”
• We were looking at a book about animals and there was a picture of a mother opossum carrying her babies on her back. He asked if it was because their feet popped off.

Those really are just a few of the funny things he has said. We’re always laughing at his silly comments.

And lastly, here are a couple pictures from his birthday party. Thanks, everyone, for coming and for the gifts! It’s a crazy time of year for a birthday, but we really appreciate you taking the time to come show Nate how much he’s loved.

Playing with his remote control monster truck.

Family can see a few more pics from the birthday party here.

A Thanksgiving Scavenger Hunt

My (Julie) mom put together a fun Thanksgiving Day scavenger hunt. The items found were things to remind us what we should be thankful for in our life.

Here are two shots of the kids scavenging.

 

Cousin Jordin.

 

Family can find more pictures here.

7 Loving Years…

It all started seven years ago this month!  Thank you for so many amazing experiences and memories!  :)

 

I love you Julie!!!!

Johnny Lingo!

Remember when wards and stakes put on insane productions, skits, and plays?  My parents ward put on a version of Johnny Lingo.  For some inconceivable reason I was cast as Johnny without even volunteering!  So if you want to see me and several other friends dancing, singing, and pretending to be Polynesian then view the three videos below at your own risk!  My parents are both in it too!  I am not to be held responsible.  If you’d like to download the video visit the gallery here.  Hover over the video in the gallery and you’ll see a save movie option. 

Little Snows in the Snow

Am I lazy if I just post pictures without a paragraph or two to accompany them? Probably, but I don’t think these need much explanation.

A few more pictures are here.

A Crafty Saturday

A couple of Saturdays ago Rob and I got on a crafty kick. He’s been wanting to make this for Nate for a while.

Since Nate got something fun to play with, I decided to paint these nesting dolls for Madeleine.

These toys are super cute and I’d love to say that the kids play with them all the time. But, as it turns out, it took longer for us to make these than it took the kids to get bored with them. Oh, well.

While the paint was drying on the dolls, I put this together for our bedroom.

And anyone have any ideas for what I can do with 4 square carpet samples? They’re from Pottery Barn and super cute so I hate to just throw them out but I can’t think of what to do with them.

Our Trip to Penn State – Part 3

This is the final installment of our trip to Pennsylvania. For the last day there, we decided to spend it walking around Philadelphia. Rob and I are city walkers. Every city we visit we just love to walk and walk and walk. What better way to see somewhere new? So we returned our rental car, strapped the kids into strollers, and off we went for a good 9 hours of pedestrian fun.

We started at City Hall.

Then walked up through JFK Plaza

to Logan Circle.

We’ve always wanted to check out a big city library so we visited the Free Library of Philadelphia.

Then walked down 18th street and shared an authentic Philly Cheesesteak for lunch.

We chased and took pictures of the pigeons in Rittenhouse Square.

Then walked along Locust street, turned down the Avenue of the Arts, and then onto Antique Row.

At this point, the kids were tuckered out and each fell asleep in their stroller. Rob and I walked through Society Hill on our way to…

Independence Park. Originally, we had planned to take turns going on the tour through Independence Hall, but since the kids were asleep, we decided to try to go together. Sure enough, 3 minutes in, they both woke up. Then 6 minutes later we had to leave our tour to cross the street and find a bathroom for Nate. So, unfortunately, we didn’t get to see much of the famous building where the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were written.

But we did get to see the Liberty Bell.

Then we walked through Old City, passed Betsy Ross’ House, and to Elfreth’s Alley (the oldest, continuously inhabited street in all of America).

We saw the Ben Franklin Bridge, then walked a circle back to Market street. On Market street we suddenly seemed out of place being Caucasian and found ourselves amongst multitudes of “bling” shops. Not just any bling, rapper bling. And wig shops. Quite interesting.

We ate dinner at Reading Terminal Market before catching the train back to our hotel.

My favorite thing about Philadelphia is all the small, tree-lined, cobblestoned streets with beautifully painted antique doors and shutters. It’s so different from what we have here.

Our trip was great. We are SO thankful we got to visit Grandma Maria. Nate wanted to look at a map the other day and asked where Great Grandma Raines lives. It was such a blessing to be able to take my kids to meet her. They have great memories of her, which was my whole hope for this trip.