5 years together

John and I celebrated our fifth anniversary on Friday, July 18. For some reason that sounds like some sort of landmark, but we kept things simple and just had a date night. It was wonderful to just spend time together without having to worry about or be distracted by our children.

Here are 5 facts in honor of our 5 years together. Since we have been married we have....

• lived in Provo, UT; Huntington Beach, CA; Springville, UT; and Burbank, CA
  


• each achieved our Bachelors degrees from BYU and John went on to get his MBA
  


• had 2 beautiful children: Natalie (3) and Henry (5 months)
  


• held various jobs (Wendy- custodian, teaching assistant, nanny; John- MTC, The Boeing Company, Disney)


• traveled to Alaska, Canada, New York, Virginia, North Carolina, and various other places.
  

I can honestly say we love and appreciate each other more today than we did five years ago and look forward to what the future holds! Love you, John!

Our anniversary date to Red Lobster (our favorite). We also caught a showing of The Dark Knight movie. Earlier in the day, I took the kids to see John at work which was pretty fun (check out the pictures below).

Even the work place can make you smile if you work on the Disney Studio Lot

Standing outside the Michael Eisner building which John told me is now referred to as the "Team Disney" building

The man-who-must-not-be-named building....I mean, "Team Disney" building

Outside the building where John works

John's department

John, holding down the cubicle...

"Pre-move" fun

We did a few fun things together after John graduated and before the moving madness began so I thought I'd post a few pictures (okay...ALOT of pictures...but I'm new to blogging so I have a lot to share =).

Natalie and Henry partying at the Rancho Cucamonga Chuck E Cheese for friend Emberely's first birthday.

Aboard the "Choo Choo Monga" at Victoria Gardens during our trip to Rancho

Natalie playing with her only girl cousin, Ashley (we will miss seeing you guys!!)

Playing at the children's museum at the Gateway in SLC

......grocery shopping at the museum

Natalie riding the ponies at Thanksgiving Point's Farm Country. Natalie LOVES horses.

Natalie and cousin Hyrum at the Orem Chuck E Cheese for Natalie's birthday

"I'm three!!"

John and Natalie dressing up like dinosaurs at the Dinosaur museum at Thanksgiving Point

More fun with Dada at the museum

Henry and I were there too.... we didn't get eaten

Digging for fossils at the museum

Bowling!

John (and the bumpers) helped Natalie bowl for the first time.

Natalie loved her bowling shoes...they were actually pretty cute in that small of a size

I bowl worse than Barack Obama!

Out to dinner for my birthday. I like Natalie's face in this one.


Happy 25th birthday to me!

Hanging out with cousins Ashley, Timothy, and Michael

Natalie loves her cousins

.....she also loves holding hands

Pony rides at Gardner Village

Petting zoo at Gardner Village

Natalie really likes animals (though horses are definitely her favorite)

That pig felt rather bristly to me

The goats got up in Henry's face several times (he didn't mind). We went to Gardner Village with Nana Meleea, Aunt Laura and Hyrum.

Carnival rides at Springville's Art City Days

Pool party with the Ropers and Browers

The rowdy Ropers (John with siblings Anne, Daniel, and Mark)

Playing guitar hero with the Stoddards and Christensens

Wendy and Debbie Christensen

Aunt Anne and Natalie on the carousel at South Towne Plaza

Visiting "Nanny" (my Grandma) before we moved

A very eventful few weeks in a typically uneventful life

Today is Monday. Three weeks ago we started packing up our home of two years in Springville Utah. Upon completing our packing a few days later (Thursday), I spent a few days with my in-laws in South Jordan while John helped his brother Mark move across the country to Columbus, Ohio. John spent 3 days on the road (Fri-Sun) with his Dad and 2 brothers, only suffering a minor accident in the Taco Bell parking lot while he was eating lunch somewhere in Wyoming or Nebraska....the great plains. The door to his brother's new forester wouldn't open on the passenger side but fortunately it still was in good enough condition to take them the rest of the way to Ohio.

Meanwhile back in Utah I was frantically preparing a talk to give (I was only given a few days notice and I was in the middle of packing...plus, I REALLY worry about writing talks...I think I have already mentioned my feelings of inadequacy with the written word...my written word that is) which I delivered fairly successfully (no one laughed at my 2 jokes and I started crying unexpectedly). Immediately after Sacrament meeting where I delivered my fairway address and without John (as he was in Ohio) I headed down to California with my mother-in-law to move myself, my children, and our Camry to the Golden State. Now, some of you may not feel comfortable taking a road trip with your children and mother-in-law but for me, I was very excited when she offered her assistance. My mother in law is awesome and very fun to be around, but now I am getting sidetracked. We made it to Mesquite that night (Sunday) and drove straight to the airport the next day (Monday) in Ontario, California as she had to be back in Utah by the next day. So 2 weeks ago I had made it to California and stayed with my parents for a couple days, waiting for John. John flew back to Utah 2 weeks ago (Monday night), loaded up the 26-foot truck the next morning (Tuesday) and drove the whole way down joined by my brother James and his brother Daniel. (Do you have a headache yet?) They made it to my parents house that evening and Wednesday morning we drove out to Burbank to unload our junk into our new apartment (it seems like junk when you realize how much stuff you have acquired). My Dad was gracious enough to help us even though he had just come back from Phoenix the day before (Tuesday) to help my sister move into her new house....
We unpacked for the next few days, getting our apartment in working order before leaving for Lake Powell one week ago (yes, another Monday). We had a great time at Lake Powell with some of my siblings, friends, and cousins and made it back to Burbank on Saturday. After a much needed day of rest yesterday John started his new job today!

Lake Powell Greetings

Tubing fun (or not so fun for Natalie) with John, Wendy, Natalie, and my brother, Tommy

Riding the waverunner (or "red boat")

Henry and Nana Joan all tuckered out