Kings Dominion Company Party

Jonathan started full-time work this summer and our family enjoyed a major benefit in September: the company party at Kings Dominion! With the kids so young, we expected they'd last just a few hours, and boy were we surprised that they were still going strong when the park closed at 8pm! The day started off a bit rough: somewhere between our house and the park entrance we lost Jacqueline's sandal (you'll see some great socks that we got from the "build-a-bear" souvenir shop on her feet in some of the pictures), and we learned quickly that, while Jax WANTS to go on all the rides that Michael enjoys, she actually only LIKES the ones where she gets to sit right next to her brother...

We spent the whole day in the kids park, aside from a moment for lunch and then for Jonathan to ride a few big-kid rides (I am normally a fan, but had some lyme-like virus that caused nausea, so nothing looked good to me), and had an absolute blast. What a fun day!

Beach Getaway

Jonathan's parents scope out the best beach houses each summer and then call us all together for a week of fun-filled swimming and relaxing. This year's beach house even had a pool! The kids took about half the week getting used to the ocean (the pool came in really handy during these first few days - they would play in the pool first thing in the morning, then head down to the beach for a bit, and then come back to play a little more in the pool), but then their enjoyment built little by little until they loved it (on our last day, of course)!

During our week at the beach we get a lot of time to focus on our beautiful children and just play with them. What a great time we have!

We also get to spend lots of time with our nieces, Hannah and Sophia, who are lots of fun (and really wonderful to our kids).

We sure love our time at the beach!

Georgia on My Mind

My sister Cari and I have an annual tradition where we invade the other's house for a week or two and let all craziness break loose. It's AWESOME. This year Kade was 4, Michael was 3, Luke was 2, and Jax was 1. I think we commented half-a-dozen times about how bad we feel for mothers with 4 under 4. Whew! Thankfully her boys were well able to hold their own against Michael (who is going through quite the mean phase), and all the kids were wonderfully kind and gentle with Jax.

The kids laughed and played and hit and cried with activities like Jump City (a giant indoor play area with tons of "moon bounces" with different themes), their backyard pool (and hose), finding all sorts of wild life in their "wilderness" of a backyard (in the picture Kade is holding a jar with "Sarah" the frog they found), walks, and bike riding - all while enduring lots of hot, hot weather. They liked fighting over movies to watch, computer time, the hose, playing on the top bunk, and really anything once they got tired. And it was a blast!


As for Cari and I, we squeezed in scrabble games, pedicures, and card games once we realized that the kids were on vacation too and could watch as much TV as they wanted. I read almost the entire Twilight Series (a few days is all it takes) and Cari read "Rebekah," (I believe it's by Orson Scott Card) and we both talked into the night much later than we should have at nights. I loved it Cari! Thanks for letting us come.

Lazy Days of Summer

We went to a fantastic nearby park with Michael's good friend Cami and her family. The two kids are so similar; they run and play and climb and jump and laugh at twice the rate of the other kids their age! It is so much fun watching the two of them together.

Jax and Michael also had a little fun this month contorting their faces through our screen door. Every time they do it I laugh out loud. Here is Michael flattening out his nose, and Jax doing her best Gooneys impression.

ABBA and Our Eight-Year Anniversary

Jonathan and I were best friends in college for a full year before we started dating. I still remember walking around the block near my house for hours, laughing with him about all the crazy things we'd done and commiserating about the people we were dating.

Then one day we were planning to go swing dancing. I was running late and while he was waiting for me to get ready he found my "Chess" CD and popped it in to listen. When I came into the room he was singing along full-force! Suddenly this friend of mine seemed a lot more interesting...

This year, to celebrate our anniversary we went to see Momma Mia! at the National Theatre - even though my only real exposure to ABBA is the Chess musical, which isn't really ABBA but a collaboration between two of its members and Tim Rice.

We loved it! What a fun play - I think I could have seen it again the following night and felt the same enjoyment. The plot was fun, the acting was fabulous, and the company was great! In addition to the acting, we also enjoyed the actors themselves, as several of them reminded us of people we know: The main girl reminded me SO much of Jessilyn Peaslee, the woman who played her mother was strikingly similar to Sharise Anderson, and her mother's friend looked almost exactly like my mother's friend Deanne Karate. And, of course, the unfortunately effeminate character "Sky" made me think back to high school when a friend who was not yet out of the closet would tell me about his love interest using that same pseudonym.

It was a great evening.

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This is the perfect time for my "tag" responsibilities about my husband:

• What is his name? Jonathan Bryson
• How long have we been married? Eight years
• How long did we date? We were friends one year, and then dated the next year
  
• How old is he? Thirty-six
• Who eats more? Definitely Jonathan. Definitely. Most of the time.
• Who said I love you first? Jonathan
• Who is taller? Jonathan
• Who sings better? I think that I do, but he has funny quips (like doing his best Antonio Banderas sarcasm while singing "What is this howling, hysterical sorrow?" when the kids are throwing fits).
• Who is smarter? I think we are both pretty smart so it depends on the subject. Jonathan is definitely better at developing original material and his social smarts are far superior to mine. I'm better at editing what he writes and planning everything down to its most minute detail. And between the two of us we can bore anyone to tears with our discussions of management theory.
• Whose temper is worse? We are both pretty calm - but Jonathan has the unfortunate job of reminding me that I can be calm when I'm stressed.
• Who pays the bills? One of the conditions of our marriage was giving me the financial duties.
• Who does the laundry? I do the laundry most of the time. He does the ironing all of the time.
• Who cooks dinner? I do except for Sundays when Jonathan makes waffles.
• Who drives when together? Jonathan. I hate to drive, especially the never-ending stop-and-go of DC, and I'm really terrible with directions.
• Who is more stubborn? Definitely Jonathan.
• Who is the first to admit when wrong? Jonathan, but I'm trying to get better.
• Who wears the pants in the family? Probably me right now, but because I've been doing it alone for a year and haven't figured out how to share the power.
• Who mows the lawn? Lawn? Do some people out there have lawns?
• Who kissed who first? He did
• Who asked who out first? He did - and even managed to make it clear that he meant something different than our usual "get a group together and go dancing/dining/etc." activities.
• Who proposed? Jonathan
• What is my favorite thing about him? His voice. I have always loved talking to him and hearing his voice.

I tag: Cari, Chris, Danielle, Jennifer, Kae, and Peggy. Tag - you're it!

First Fruits

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, our little patio garden has brought forth its first fruits at last! What began as a few zucchini has now become an overwhelming number of cucumber, a somewhat halting but continuing supply of zucchini, and now the long-awaited tomato. Michael has been excitedly checking on the tomatoes each morning over the last several days to see if they were red enough, and we now get to enjoy our tomato bounty.

Family Home Evening

Is any family able to achieve the picture-perfect FHE? Growing up we tried really hard, but mostly laughed and joked (and poked and bothered) with the occasional lesson. Now with my young kids, and husband who was not particularly keen on FHE in the beginning, we too try each week to have a terrific learning experience - but, our pictures look nowhere near this serene scene from the LDS website. However, once I decided to make food a central part of the activities, we now have a lot more family interest in having it!

The above picture makes me laugh because both Michael and Jonathan look shell-shocked (Jonathan had been back less than a week when we snapped it), but despite the newness of their relationship, they both seem to think their fruit-roll-up Titles of Liberty are worth waving...

Our Family Home Evening consists of opening songs ("The Wheels on the Bus" is a real favorite); a "concert" where we all beat on our instruments simultaneously and then, just as the noise gets unbearable, yell "switch!" and start over again; a quick lesson that usually involves reading a short story from a religious story book with lots of pictures; and then, the moment everyone waits for (at least once the concert is over): the making of the treats!

My sister asked me to write up some of our favorites. One of the funniest (because it was strangely difficult for us) was our attempt at making Corn Flake trees (the lesson was on prayer - I know it's a stretch, but so many people have gone into the woods to pray!). We especially liked these because we were forced to eat all the candy bar "tree trunks" that were broken when we unwrapped them...

We've also made caramel popcorn "Liahonas" using a toothpick and gumdrop for a pointer - and dutifully followed Michael around the house as he carried the Liahona shouting "Turn right here! Now turn here!"

We made Snickerdoodles when we spoke about the Brother of Jared and had Michael smush each little ball cookie with his finger before putting them into the oven. We made an altar of scones when we talked about prayer and thanksgiving.

And, our all-time favorite activity so far: Graham Cracker Urim and Thummims. Yum.

Of Boys and Swords and Dvorak

We've heard that there are two kinds of little boys: gun boys, for whom all toys and sticks and even garbage become pretend guns; and sword boys, for whom all things become swords. For Michael, even the swords we gave him become a violin and bow half the time.

As a result of his interest, we changed our schedule a bit and now try to do something musical every week or two. We've attended string performances, Jazz festivals, and on Saturday Michael went to his first symphony! He sat through the entire performance (which, if you know our energetic little boy, is quite the achievement), even dancing to the beat a little in his chair sometimes.

We have yet to see anyone perform a Dvorak piece, which is Michael's favorite (seriously, when I pop in a CD, Michael asks to listen to Dvorak - he really wants to hear Symphony Number 9 in E-minor), and I love to hear him pronounce "Dvorak." He also reminds me that we need to get some Copland, since we heard the National Symphony Orchestra play one of his pieces and I don't have any of his music at the house - which is odd because, seriously, what American doesn't love Aaron Copland?

I must admit that I now feel quite terrible each time I look at his short little fingers that he inherited from me - as most musicians I've seen have much longer fingers. Hmm. Maybe it's just a phase and his poor stunted digits won't haunt him throughout life...

I'm So Glad When Daddy Comes Home

Jonathan has an incredibly busy schedule, as he is still working through military out-processing requirements, has begun a new job, and is finishing schoolwork from the semester before he left for Kuwait. On Saturdays, though, he comes home early from a day of studying and we head out for something exciting.

Michael calls it his "Saturday Surprise" because we don't tell the kids what we're doing until we get there. Rain or shine, cold or hot (one time the heat index was at 110 degrees), each Saturday finds our family out in the DC area doing something fun.

Giving the Plants a Talking To

When I was younger, I remember telling my parents that I would never, ever have a high-maintenance yard. I was sure that my future yard would be grass - with maybe a few trees if uninterrupted green looked really terrible. How funny it is to find myself in an apartment with no yard (a situation that would have sounded quite appealing to my teen-aged self!), and yet plants - that I planted!

Early this month I purchased some seedlings from our local nursery and potted them on our balcony. Most of them seemed to start off well enough, and I've enjoyed watching them grow while I plan all sorts of great uses for the fresh produce.

The red pepper, however, gave me problems from the very beginning. When everything else began to grow and flourish around it, the darn pepper just vacillated between "nearly dead" and "almost dead." It looked terrible! Finally I decided to give it one week before pulling it up and replacing it. I doused it one last time with water-dish soap solution to kill off pests, moved things around a bit to give it a bit more light, and told everyone that the plant would soon be gone if it didn't start growing peppers.

And grow peppers it did! Within days we saw the first successful baby peppers. This poor plant still looks like it's about to keel over, but it has staved off death (for now) by convincing me it will eventually produce something edible.

Michael Turns Three

Can you believe Michael is three years old? He's grown from a tiny baby who couldn't hold up his own head to a running, talking, jumping, and singing little boy.













Michael loves music, and has surprised me with the depth of his interest from the first time he heard an organ play. Last summer he was introduced to guitars and violins at my parents' home, and has since used everything from swords, rulers, and baseball bats to pretend he has these instruments. His doting grandparents on both sides of the family saw this and (with such coordination that I think they must have planned it together) presented Michael with his own little violin and guitar for his birthday this year.


In addition to all the great gifts from grandparents, Michael also got some from us - particularly from Jonathan who had great fun picking out some things for the little boy who aged a full year in his absence. And of course, those of you who know Jonathan won't be surprised, a skateboard was quickly purchased so that Michael can share his dad's love for all things related to skateboarding, rollerblading, and snowboarding (we'll soon start on the others, you can be sure).












How lucky we feel to have this wonderful boy in our lives! Michael makes sure that his sister is happy by giving her books, toys, and hugs. When he hears music he quickly grabs (or pretends with) an instrument. When he sees me unloading the dishwasher he runs over to help put away the silverware. And he protects kids when they are being picked on by smacking the attacker (hah!). We love our little boy.

Jax Turns One

My second baby turned one in April! As is our tradition, Jonathan and I used our amazing cake decorating skills that morning on a special birthday cake - a crown for our little princess.













Jacqueline is named after my wonderful grandmother who loves life and loves others and will always be one of my favorite people . We decided our baby's middle name, Grace, because we felt so blessed when she arrived just days before Jonathan's departure to Kuwait.


Already Jax has shown such kindness, love, and beauty that we can hardly wait to see what is ahead for this little girl. When she hears music she dances, when she sees a challenge she confronts it straight on, and when she needs attention she laughs. We love our precious baby so much.