My Friend

This is my beautiful friend Ida. Today she has lost her battle with cancer. Ida and I became friends shortly after I moved to the Seattle area. We were called to be on a committee together at church and because of this, we got to know each other. I have never been so greatful for a church calling.
When Ryan started attending Sunbeams (the youngest Sunday School class), Ida was her teacher. I know she made an impact on Ryan that has helped to develop her knowledge of the gospel. Ryan has known that Ida has been sick and yesterday she asked when Ida would be well enough to come home from the hospital. I told her that unfortunately, that wasn't going to happen. She asked if Ida had to go live in Heaven now and I said yes. My poor five year old started to cry. A minute later she asked when we would see her again. Me, being in a rush and not thinking in an eternal sense, I said we wouldn't. Her quick response was, Mom, what about the resurrection? I know it is truly from the examples of primary teachers, like Ida, that my daughter has a knowledge that we will all be ressurected after we pass from this life.
Ida was an amazing example to me. While serving on the activities committee together, Ida helped with EVERYTHING. No matter what she was asked to do, she did it without question. She was quick with new ideas and ways to make things better. She truly went above and beyond. Ida had a beautiful knowledge of the gospel and was strong and determined in her beliefs and standards. Earlier this year Ida was called to be an adult Sunday School teacher. I truly enjoyed attending her classes and learning from her as Ryan did.
A few weeks ago I was given the opportunity to sit and chat with Ida during an afternoon. We talked about so many things. I will treasure that ninety minutes that we spent together. There are so many things I will miss about Ida. I will miss the silly faces we gave each other, the many laughs we shared, the long conversations had after meetings. However, I know that she is truly in a better place. I hope to have learned from her and find a way to treasure my friendships even more. Life changes so quickly and people move in and out of our lives so often, but my spirit has been truly touched through my friendship with Ida.

Spontaneity!!

Apparently Jac didn't have any plans for Labor Day, so on Friday afternoon I got a text from her saying she should come to Seattle for the weekend. Of course I couldn't say no, so I quickly hopped online, found her a flight, booked the ticket and three hours later she was on a plane headed our way!! Lucky her, she had a bag packed for the weekend at her mom's house. Totally spontaneous!!!
We all picked her up and headed to Naan & Curry for some yummy Indian dinner. The girls weren't crazy about the food, so after their dinner of rice, we stopped by DQ on the way home for some blizzards.
Troy of course had to work on Saturday, so we headed down town to do our loop: Anthropologie, Nordstrom, Sephora, Chocolate Box. Shopping and food, what's not to love?

Wig and Jac love to try on the Anthro headbands!

And, if the big one does it, the little one does too... Hope Wig doesn't decide to jump off a cliff or Peyt is going to follow!

Lunch at Nordstrom, which we haven't had together since Maryland! Nothing beats our first Nordstrom lunch. It was the beginning of a CRAZY friendship and it's always a special place for us to go.

Wow, I look AWFUL!

Reading 'Where the Sidewalk Ends' poetry; Jac gave the book to Wig for Christmas, so it's always their thing to snuggle up and read their favorites. Jac's favs - 'Boa Constrictor' & 'Crocodile's Toothache' and Ryan's favs - 'Sarah Cynthia Silvia Stout Would Not Take the Garbage Out' and 'Unicorn'.

We all crawled in bed to give Troy love. He was trying to watch tv, but we wanted him to play with us instead! He was probably watching 'My Antonio', really bad reality tv anyway.

Wig... followed by Peyton of course... wanted Jac to paint her nails in her special order. Of course whatever Wig wants from Jac, Wig gets! Isn't is gorgeous?!

We're so glad Jac came. Nothing beats just hanging out and relaxing with good friends on a spontaneous weekend!!

1st Day of Kindergarten... Finally!

Ryan had her first day of Kindergarten today! After two weeks of the teachers being on strike, they finally came to a resolution yesterday morning and the classes started today. Ryan woke this morning with a great big smile on her face and quickly had her bed made and her clothes on! Troy was able to work from home this morning so he could go with us to take Ryan to school. We walked her over, found her class and she was so happy to jump right in with her class. She had such a fun day and is so excited to go back tomorrow and 'everyday'!
(I did have to explain to her that she doesn't have to go on Saturday or Sunday.)

A Portland Wedding

We journeyed down to Portland yesterday to attend the wedding of one of Troy's co-workers, Phil and his bride, Tianna. The wedding was at 3:30pm and we were set to arrive in the Portland area around 2:15. At about 1:45, I decided I should probably start getting my makeup on. Unfortunately, I then discovered I had left my makeup on the bathroom counter back at home. I quickly got on my phone and started calling the Nordstrom's along our path to see if I could get an appointment to get my makeup done. I finally got an appointment at 2:30 at Washington Square in Portland. Since I was going to be tied up getting my makeup done, Troy was in charge of rushing to Macy's for a gift (I figured I'd have a half hour to get this done until I realized I would now be spending that half hour being made presentable!). Troy wasn't thrilled with this idea, so I got on the phone to Macy's at Washington Square. The girl who answered was extremely helpful. She pulled up the registry, picked out a gift in my price range, let me pay over the phone, and had it gift wrapped. All Troy had to do was go to gift wrap and pick it up. Seriously, what did people do before cell phones and GPS? After my makeup was done and the gift was secured, Troy brought all of our clothes in to Nordstrom and we tied up the family restroom to change. We then quickly booked it out of the mall. Too bad we didn't have more time, it looked like a really nice mall!!!Unfortunately we were running late now. The wedding was set to start at 3:30 and we arrived at 3:50. Lucky for us, as most weddings they didn't start the ceremony until about 4:00 so we were just in time. It was an absolutely gorgeous day, unfortunately, we were sitting out in the sun with no shade and it was over 90 degrees. Not terrible, but for everyone dressed in suits and wedding attire, we were melting. The ceremony was overlooking the vineyard. Everything was beautiful, the flowers, dresses and especially the surroundings. The wedding was at Garden Vineyards and it is amazing. After the ceremony there was a cocktail hour with some appetizers. Everyone ran for the shade and drinks to stay cool. We later had dinner, which was very yummy, some toasts and speaches by family, and finally cake. Most of you know I only eat sugar on Sunday, that rule was broken yesterday. They had four kinds of wedding cake and I LOVE cake. Between Troy and I, we tried them all!!! There was dancing, which was the favorite part of the night for Ryan and Peyton. Peyton would dance for a while and then come back because she was thirsty. Then she'd put her finger up and say, "Mommy I dance", and off she'd go again. This went on all night! Ryan made a little "boyfriend" named Cameron and the two of them danced all night as well. It was a beautiful night and we were glad we were able to make the trip down.

Since it was late, we grabbed a hotel nearby and crashed. In the morning, we headed out, but stopped downtown Portland at Voodoo Donuts for some CRAZY donuts. I don't love donuts, but these were DELICIOUS! Peyton had a donut with sprinkles. Ryan had something like cotton candy with blue frosting, blue sprinkles, and pink sprinkles. I had a donut with chocolate icing, oreos, and peanut butter. Troy's was a heart attack waiting to happen peach fritter with the biggest pile of cream cheese frosting. Seriously, they were all so good I was wishing I'd had another.It was a quick trip but a lot of fun! Hopefully we can go back to Portland and spend a little time sometime soon.

When I Grow Up...

Back at Ryan's preschool graduation, her teacher asked her what she wanted to be when she grew up. Her response was a soccer player. Everyone knows how much this shocked me, considering my daughter has NEVER played soccer. Because of this, we've decided to encourage her in her "dreams" and signed her up for soccer with her best friend Kennedy. Her first practice was last night and she LOVED it! She ran up and down the field, tripped over her cleats, kicked the ball around, and just had a blast.

(thanks for the pic Sarah)