The Earnhardt Gazette: Family

Showing posts with label Family. Show all posts

Sunday, October 26, 2008

A Mini Vacation!

We missed out on a lot of the Summer because of a certain little baby we bore in April, so now we're desparately holding on to any remnants of good weather before it goes away! We did the beach a couple weeks ago, and today we went on a ferry ride! And oh my goodness, what a great day!!! The kids were ELATED to go on a big boat, I can't begin to tell you how many times they said "WE'RE ON A BOAT!" as I was taking their pictures :-)

After finally finding a free parking spot, we walked...and walked...and walked until we reached the Washington State Ferries pier where we boarded a ferry headed to Bainbridge Island. The kids were ecstatic! And immediately - "I have to go potty" "I have to go potty too" "So do I" (yes, one of those was of course Matt). So once everyone went potty, we gave Jenna a bottle, the boat departed and the kids loved watching us move away from land. My favorite part was watching the birds flying along side us! They just stayed right next to our window, it was so cool to watch! We went out front on the boat, Juliana did NOT like the massive wind, Jacob LOVED IT! I could hardly get him back inside.

We arrived at Bainbridge Island, packed us up and ventured onto the island. We walked into town in search of an ice cream treat! We found Mora Ice Creamery, super tasty ice cream, but man was it pricey... :o) We headed back towards the ferry, played in a park area for a bit, and boarded the next ferry back to Seattle. The kids went on the top deck for a while, Juliana did much better up there, it wasn't quite as windy on the way back. We piled back in the van, and Mommy & Daddy had a very peaceful ride home as ALL THREE children were fast asleep :-) Apparently all you have to do is make them walk about 3 miles throughout a day, after having fun at church :-) As soon as we pulled away, Jacob said he wanted to go back on the boat, and of course Juliana followed with a "EE TOO!"

As we were walking through the town, Matt and I both noticed at the same time how it felt like we were away on vacation. What a wonderful feeling! And so nice that it was at such a small price and so easy to do. We'll definitely do that again in the Spring, we're already looking forward to it!

What a great day, and perfect weather!!!

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Patch Time!

I feel a little behind the times as I type this on WEDNESDAY and the rest of the PPC (aka: Pumpkin Patch Crew) wrote their blogs Sunday night as soon as they returned home from our fun-filled day! :o) But alas, here it is...

We had such a great day doing our annual pumpkin patch trip with the pumpkin patch crew! The sky was blue, the animals were attentive, the pumpkins were abounding, the kids were excited, it was truly a great day! They did the corn maze a couple times, bowling, played in the wood chips, fed the piggies, picked out pumpkins (and didn't realize when we didn't take any home!), played with their cousins and friends, the parents got to chit chat, a bazillion pictures were taken!!! (from five cameras, so yes, a bazillion pictures!) We then went to the Wagner's house to watch the rest of the football game, let the kids play, and eat some dinner - more chit chat time for the adults! (can you tell what my favorite part is?!? I love visiting with people...and getting out!)

Alrighty, I'll try to narrow down the pictures...

Sunday, October 12, 2008

A Day At The Beach

Jacob has been asking all summer long if we can go to the beach and make sandcastles, but our lovely Jenna has made that an excursion we haven't been excited to take. But now that she's sitting up and doing better in general, we figured we should take advantage of the shreds of decent weather that we have left before it's gone! So after church today, we rode off to Dash Point in anticipation of finally building a sandcastle at the beach!!!

We found a perfect little spot to set up shop and get to work! We built various sandcastles, complete with moats and feather flags (just like on Curious George!). Matt wrote Juliana and Jacob's names in the sand. He did Jacob's name really close to the edge of the incoming tide so we could watch his name fill up with water. The kids tromped through the water with smiles plastered on their faces, found shells, meanwhile Jenna played with her toys on the blanket. We were able to stay just long enough, the kids were content with our adventure and Jenna was definitely ready for a nap in the van!

Thursday, October 2, 2008

15 Years Of Blessings

15 years ago today Matt & I began dating! But lets go back further... 29 years ago our moms met at a bible study my mom was holding at her house (I was 2 and Matt was 5). They quickly became best friends, even worked together for a while! The best friends took notice of how close two of Marie's boys and two of my mom's girls were in age, and thus decided that Matt & Karen should get married, and Greg & I should get married. Well, as you know, Matt & I shattered that dream! (but as Jimmy & Karen and Greg & Stephanie would agree, it was for the best!) :-)

In the summer of 1993, we went on our every-other-year trip to Sun Cove. We were sitting around the campfire one night, and Matt mentioned that I deserved better than the person I was dating at the time (which happened to be his best friend). All of a sudden Matt & I began to see each other in a different light, we were no longer brother/sister, we were a boy and a girl. We spent many nights at Sun Cove laying on blankets together while staring up at the bazillion bright stars in the sky, and counting the MANY shooting stars that passed overhead.

Upon return back to reality, I quickly broke up with "the other guy" to make room for "what could be." Matt gave me a tape to play, it was Sammy Kershaw's "She Don't Know She's Beautiful." Well as you can imagine, my heart soared and I fell madly in love with him. :-)

On October 2nd, Matt and I stood next to my car outside his house for HOURS making small talk and watching what seemed like about a thousand cars drive by (he lived on a well-traveled street), all the while both wondering who was going to make the first move. Finally at 5:00 in the morning, he pulled me close and kissed me. It was wonderful, I was on cloud nine! I slipped into my car, drove the half-mile home with a humungous smile plastered on my face, looked at my clock and quickly was SCARED OUT OF MY MIND when I realized I was 5 hours past my curfew and knew my dad would be getting up at ANY moment! Well God must have had mercy on me because I slipped in the house and into bed without hearing anything from any room, but man alive you better believe I was staring at my door in horror of getting caught! :o)

We were in youth group together so we went on many excursions together, ferry rides, bike rides, etc. We spent one of our anniversaries going on the Victoria Clipper (which I promptly threw up on!), walked around "Beautiful BC" while I tried to get the puke-taste out of my mouth, and enjoyed a much better boat ride home.

Two days before Christmas of 1996, Matt brought me to Dash Point, carved my initial in a tree, and proposed to me in the rain! It was very memorable :-) [a quick journey back to explain: when he was a kid, he, Greg and some friends carved their initials with a heart in a tree, saying that one day they'd carve the initials of their future spouse in the empty spot - so that's how he proposed!] The rain just made my engagement ring sparkle all the more! :-)

As you can imagine, our moms were ELATED to learn of our engagement! The best friend girlfriends were about to be RELATED!!! They giggled through the entire next nine months until our wedding day. We got married at Faith Baptist on September 20th, 1997 and celebrated our honeymoon at Disneyland and Ocean Shores.

We have spent MANY more vacations at Sun Cove, that destination will always hold a special place in our hearts as that's "where it all began."

We are so thankful for all of the close family and friends we've shared our journey with, both old and new. God has placed them all in our lives and we are so grateful. Thank you all for adding to our 15 years, I can't wait to see what will hapen with us all over the next 15 years! Below are some pictures of our journey :-)