12 Years

12 years ago today I married my sweetheart. Didn't we look happy? We were. Don't we still look happy? We are. Maybe we are a little more grown up and a little less naive. Maybe we have learned that marriage can be really hard sometimes, that joining 2 different lives together can be difficult. But at the same time, it is one thing in my life, maybe the only thing, that I don't stress or worry about because I don't have to. The mutual love and commitment we share makes the hard times less hard and makes life happy and content. We are far from perfect, but we have created a great life and an amazing family and I thank my lucky stars every day that I married Ray.

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Memorial Day Weekend

We went to Cascade for Memorial Day Weekend. We kicked it off right when my mom came up to Spokane earlier in the week and we went to see WICKED!!! It was completely amazing, I could gush on and on about it and it wouldn't do it justice. AMAZING! I want to see it 25 more times. Seriously.

On Friday morning the kids ditched school and we left for Cascade. This is a picture of Lewiston as we were coming down the big huge hill. The rain looked so cool!

The weather got worse from there. This is McCall as we were passing through.

Luckily that was the last we saw of the snow. My sister Dana was there with her 4 kiddos. My dad came up later that night with my brother-in-law Jason. It was such a great weekend! The kids got to have some serious cousin time. They were outside the entire time, even though it was kind of cold and rainy.

Uncle Jason was reading them scriptures. They were obviously glued to every word he said.

We went to some hot springs, I can't remember the name. Look how quaint the office is. I can't believe I have been going to Cascade all these years and haven't ever been there! It was so fun! The kids had a great time, and the adults did too. It was a win-win.

Elliot was cracking me up with this snorkeling mask. He was bound and determined to get it on even though it was obviously too small for him. :)

Here's Ray getting really mad at me for bringing my camera in the water. :)

The ride home was very peaceful and quiet.

We made a fire and made s'mores!

Elliot is cracking me up in this shot!

COUSINS ROCK!!

Naomi couldn't get enough of baby Ila Jo. She was lovin' on her the whole time. :)

We had a little scare with Elliot while we were there. The kids all went on an "adventure" with uncle Jason on Sunday afternoon. They just went hiking along a 4 wheeler trail by my parents house. The kids were all out exploring. Jason called them all back and Elliot wasn't there. Ray got up there with Maggie at about that time and they all were searching for Elliot, all the kids were "helping" a whole lot, I'm sure. Eventually Ray called me so I could go help. When I got that phone call dread is the only word to describe how I felt. Every worst-case-scenario you can imagine was running through my head. My mom, dad, and I ran up to where they were. I prayed the whole time. Looking back on it I can say that I initially felt peace when I prayed. But the longer he was gone the more I let fear take over and started to panic. Some men on 4-wheelers had driven by earlier, before I got there, and they went off to search for him too. They were the ones who found him. I think he was gone for about an hour. They drove up with him and I was so beyond relieved. Elliot was trying so hard not to cry when they drove up. It broke my heart. They said that he was about 1/2 mile away sitting on another trail. Elliot said that he started to get scared so he kneeled down to pray and decided to just sit down. I know that was the Holy Ghost helping Elliot in that moment. If he had kept walking who knows what would've happened. Everything turned out fine and it was a good chance for us to talk to all the kids about safety and what to do if you get lost. It was also a good chance for Elliot to further develop his relationship with his Heavenly Father and learn that prayer is powerful and our prayers are answered.

We had a great weekend and can't wait to do it again (minus the Elliot getting lost in the woods part) over the 4th of July!!

Ila Jo

Over Memorial day weekend I got to spend some more time with this sweet little angel babe.


Look at those lashes *swoon*

There's something so sweet about a little screaming baby ;)

Isn't she completely scrumptious?

I think so. :)

TREK!

Every year the kids school has a big fundraiser called TREK. Basically they run around the track as many times as they can and collect pledges (or their mom just buys them a t-shirt and calls it good as far as contributions go because she hates having the kids try to sell stuff and refuses to participate in all such things). It was Elliot's first year and he was so excited he could hardly sleep the night before. The kids had a great time, they got a t-shirt, water bottle, some pizza and snacks. We shockingly had a really nice day in the middle of weeks of rain, it was a TREK miracle!

Elliot was so cute. He and Grace each made it 7 laps. Grace walked most of the way. Elliot ran the whole way, every time I saw him he was running. Love that kid.

37

April and May were so crazy for us that I didn't even make Ray a cake for his birthday. I bought him one at Costco instead...I'm lame. I wish I would've done more because he is the love of my life. He is such an amazing husband and father. Most times I feel like I don't deserve the unconditional love he gives me. I'm so grateful to Ray for working so hard to provide for our family, for following his dreams, and for being such a good example to everyone around him. He works so hard, most weeks he works 6 days a week, and he willingly gives so much time to serving in our church. He's one of the good ones, I'm a lucky girl! Happy Birthday Ray!

I could only scrounge up 1 candle from the cupboard...I'm sure he would rather 1 than 37 though!

And here's a picture of this cutie, just because :)

Great to be 8! (part 2)

I'm so behind on blogging, people. Frankly, it's been hard to find the time, the VanderLouw's have been busy. But I feel compelled to keep blogging because it is my family journal, one I recently made into a book and I want to keep doing that every year. So I will blog on.

We had Grace's 8th birthday party at the end of April. The 8th birthday is a big deal to us, so it was an exciting month or so for Grace. For her party she originally wanted to have a sleepover, but we a a family rule about no sleepovers so we decided to have and almost-sleepover pj party. The girls all arrived at 5:00 in their pj's and stayed until 9, all 10 of them. All 10 7-8 year old girls... Anyway, we had pizza when they got here and did lots of other sleepovery stuff.

We decorated pillow cases

Played Just Dance 2

Had cupcakes

Opened presents...

Thanks for the squinkies and bubble gum Sydnie!

Thanks for the Zoobles Zoe!

Thanks for the hair barrettes and earrings Acadia!

Thanks for the stuffed animal and water bottle Elizabeth! (I guess these water bottles are all the rage? Grace was excited because everyone at school has one.)

Thanks for the Squinkies Rozlyn!

Thanks for the earrings Aria!

Thanks for the earrings and scrapbook stuff Kara!

Thanks for the bracelet making kit Emma!

Thanks for the Squinkies Lily! (can you tell what toy is popular these days?)

We had a great time!! (can you tell who the class clowns are? ;) )

We also made necklaces, played outside a lot, watched Tangled, and yours truly painted everyones tonails (um, yuck, but I took one for the team). Grace's 8th year of life is off to a great start!