are you ready for this?

ok. i warn you that this may be my longest post to date. a lot has happened in the short time i've been away, and around. my life is changing yet constant. we have had a lot of new adventures and a lot of blessings that have been brought with them. heres what's been happening..

California:

remember how i went with my mother in law in the beginning of may and now its june. holy its june 10th. where does time go? anyways here are some pictures from that splendid week.

the sacramento temple. its a beautiful place. especially in 90 degree weather.

michael and jill. 

sam's mom with all her family. and mom and dad. they are wonderful people.

sam's aunt melissa and his cousins. they were so cute and so incredibly nice. 

here are those white ecuadorian roses i was talking about in a previous post.

Decker and Abigail's wedding:

ok i admit it. i didnt take my camera for the actual ceremony and reception. i was pretty frustrated about it, but our brother in law nicholas got lots of great shots so hopefully we can get some from him... anyways the day before the wedding all of my sisters in law and mother in law went and got pedicures! it was a great time.

shauna and abigail.. doing a weird face :)

my foot.

abigail, sams sister jenny, and our absolutely beautiful niece victoria.

sam didnt have dress pants for the wedding... so he wore these... ok only to the store to buy some.

The Retirement Party of Mrs. Joni of Tender Hearts Preschool.

in march taryn called me with the bright idea of throwing mrs. joni a retirement party. although we struggled for awhile trying to figure out when we could do it. memorial day weekend turned out to be a perfect time. minus the weather. we had to bring an outside party meant for around 200 people into my grandma and grandpas house. :) with 6 church tables some couches and alot of standing.. it all worked out great! the fiesta theme was wonderful

the food. this is only half of it. we had a great nacho bar with lots of different mexican dishes. we definitely over estimated how much was needed. but leftovers are good right?

the welcome table. i know the sign is really ugly but we made it LAST minute. everyone was supposed to fill out a card with a memory of mrs. joni.

my cousin andrea sewed these adorable table toppers that had sombreros and maracas on them. and my cousin carli spray painted the picture frames that held old preschool pictures in them. 

my mom actually made this sucker bouquet the night before my relief society girls... i used it at her party too.

i love this man.

grandma ladeen (shes not really my grandma) and grandma teresa 

taryn's inlaws and my mother in law. it was so nice of them to come.

fabulous helpers. the barkers and our aunt vicki

my mom came to her own party thinking it was a get together lunch with cousins from arizona... ha she insisted on bringing something hence the bowl of salad.

after we yelled surprise... i think she figured it out.

what my mom didnt know even after we had surprised her with a party was that taryn had flown in... my grandpa got everyone settled down and then asked someone to volunteer to say the prayer... taryn jumped out from the corner and said " ill say it" my mom was ecstatic!  i love my grandma and aunt pat's faces in this picture because you know they are copying my moms face! :)

i love this picture! look at the look of overwhelmed JOY on my moms face! just like she is saying THANK YOU HEAVENLY FATHER! i love it. it completely captures the emotions that she was feeling and that we were all feeling for actually being able to pull off the surprise party!

the calls (our old neighborhood friends) came. it was so good to see them. its crazy how we are all grown up now but how we are still great friends. i love them. we have so many awesome memories together.

the pinata that looks like mrs. joni! :)

this pinata got its head wacked off. i just like this picture.

The mountains. with the cousins.

jace and sam. sammy was getting ready to go on his first motorcycle ride ever. 

carck. sammy. tae. shag.

the hansen girls.

i love carli and allie. 

i couldnt get over these trees. everyone kept making fun of me for repeating myself, but when i feel strongly about something i dont know how to express it very well so i just repeat it over and over and over :) so i kept saying how much i loved these trees.. by the end everyone was like shut up kyrsten!

sam. dang. this motorbiker is fine!

we had lots of fun taking jumping pictures! all of us girl grandkids were there and whenever we are together we have a blast!

THE DRIVE: 36 hours long.

wow. thats all i can say about it. 

we stopped in nebraska and stayed in a hotel. stopped in des moines and saw sams cousin and her husband and then drove to davenport and stayed with our friends larry and rebecca. after that we stopped in dublin and stayed with the palmers. i love seeing my sister in such short increments of time. in fact i get to see her again sunday. heaven.

here we are only 7 miles from our house... oh. my. gosh. we hit rush hour traffic. it took us over an hour to travel those FINAL 7 miles.

the apartment.

the bedroom

the kitchen

the dining and living room. (my husband decorated :))

when i walked in there were streamers and balloons with this sign. :) i love sam.

he even bought us BRAND NEW PLASTIC WEAR and had it set up on the table :) oh my heck he is awesome. he even bought my favorite color.

our crap.

A nice sunday in dc.

the lincoln memorial.

mr abe lincoln himself.

the washington monument

the vietnam memorial. i like this one a lot because of our reflection in it. (sams idea)

inside the air and space smithsonian. what i wasnt aware of was that it isnt actually one huge museum like i thought.. there are like 16 smithsonians. interesting. also while we were there (i know it was sunday but...) night at the museum 2 was showing in the imax. this movie was filmed in this museum so we couldnt help but going. it was pretty fun to walk out of the theater and be where you were just watching. if that makes sense :)

the capital. isnt it a beautiful building?

i really like this picture because my freckles are showing like crazy. the sun really brings them out. i love freckles. i think they are beautiful. and im not kidding. plus it means ive been in the sun.

this is the post office. i thought it was a really cool building.

we saw president obama (hes the one in the blue shirt)

ok its not really him but dont you think it kinda looks like it?

here we are at the white house.

while we were walking around downtown dc i saw quite a few homeless people. it was interesting, because people just walked by them without even a look or a smile (i did it too) but afterwards as i was thinking about it, it reminded me of the parable of the good samaritan. its interesting that we have all that we need and want, yet i am willing to just pass someone without anything by without anymore than a thought. as i have thought more about this, i have promised to my Heavenly Father that i won't allow something like this to happen again. i know that many of those people that are in need have made decisions and have used their own agency to bring those circumstances on themselves, but who am i to judge. i might not be able to do a lot, but i can do what i can do. and i will. 

in conclusion of this post, we have had a great couple of weeks. it was really hard being away from sam for those two weeks, but he was working hard and making good friends here in dc. i loved having him home and it was so great to spend time with our family. 

now that we are on a new adventure we are finding that it is much easier to come closer together without all of the distractions that surround us at home. (dont get me wrong i love those distractions) but now all he has to worry about is work and all i have to worry about it cleaning and cooking. 

I love staying at home and making sure our house is organized and that sam has a good dinner. i have to admit the pool has become a good friend. :) i love the sun.

sam has had a lot of success with this company, and we have definitely been blessed. he is working with a great group of guys and he has a great boss. 

on sunday, we leave for another adventure. we are spending a week in cancun with the hansen family. :) i cant wait. all you can drink -virgin- miami vices (strawberry daiquiri and pina colada mixed)

until next time.

x0x0