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.