Summer Wrap Up Part 3 - Annabel and Quinn Are Sealed

I have mentioned my friend Annabel before on my blog.  I posted pictures of her wedding a couple years ago and various pictures throughout.  She has become one of my best friends.  You know, sometimes you develop a friendship with someone that withstands the test of time.  I actually call these friends, "life-long friends" because I know we always will be just that.

 

Annabel and I met while doing The Will Rogers Follies at BDT.  As we auditioned, we helped each other as we rehearsed the steps.  She and her sister complimented me on my double pirouette.  Ultimately, I was cast as Z's Favorite and she was my understudy as well as one of the Ziegfeld girls.  It was a super fun show to be a part of!!!

As time progressed, we sat by each other in the dressing room, bonded over the horrible cattiness of that show (we were picked on a bit), and about a month before we closed started hanging out outside of work.

I remember our first dinner date.  We sat at P.F. Chang's in park meadows outside and watched a beautiful sunset.  We talked about lots of things including religion.  She respected me as a Christian as she herself was a Christian (something else I guess that bonded us together in a sea of non-believers and scoffers backstage).  She asked me that night, "What is the difference between regular Christianity and Mormonism?"  I told her there was a lot.  But I tried to sum it up by using a metaphor.  I told her that I thought regular Christianity was like bread and water.  It was good and it would sustain you.  But that Mormonism in comparison was like a marvelous feast with succulent meat, mashed potatoes, vegetables, bread, drinks, desserts, etc.  We went on to talk about the Book of Mormon and she told me honestly how far fetched it all sounded.  I agreed with her.  She asked me for a BOM and the next time I saw her, I gave her one with my testimony in it, which simply said, "I feel closer to God when I read this book".   I could tell she wasn't really all that interested in pursuing it, but it did make it so we could talk freely about why I do things or don't, my values, etc.

Throughout the next couple of years,  Annabel and I probably hung out every week or two - going out to dinner or shopping and we'd talk about life.  Part of what she'd tell me about was her dating life.  It seemed she just met scummy guy after scummy guy.  She wanted a Christian man to marry.  Doesn't seem like that hard of a thing to find.  But it is!  She'd find guys who said they were Christian but only went to church twice a year.  Or guys who were willing to go to church, but didn't really understand how a Christian man should treat his girlfriend.

A couple of years later, she was introduced to a Mormon guy named Quinn.  He gave her multiple incentives for looking into the Mormon religion a little deeper.  And once she did, she had some many "coincidences" that it seemed more than just chance.  The truths resonated with her and she had the desire to be baptized.  It was hard because her family and other Christian friends did not approve.  Ultimately though, after the stress of their wedding subsided, Annabel decided for herself to get baptized.  I only recently got a hold of these pictures.  It makes me happy to look back and see the journey that has happened and that I've gotten to observe it.

This past June and July, Annabel took out her endowments (Denver temple) ...

...and got sealed to Quinn for Time and All Eternity in the Salt Lake Temple.  Several of us went to Utah to be a part of it.

So I had to include this as one of the highlights of my summer.  It was very special.  And now... Annabel and Quinn are about to have their first baby (due Valentine's Day)!  I can't wait to meet this little princess who will now be born in the covenant.

Summer Wrap-Up Part 2 Beckie Comes to Visit

As is her annual tradition, Beckie, my sister (2 years younger than me), comes dutifully to visit for several weeks every summer.  It's the best!  And we all really appreciate her effort!!!

Family History
While she was here we did several fun things.  Two days, we dedicated to making a dent in family photo labeling and preserving.  There are so many photos we have growing up.  And I know all of us care about them so much.  We are trying to get them taken care of so we can enjoy all of them throughout the years.

This is my Dad's office in the basement - cold, industrial - but functional!

Baby boys!

The little ones played together in the backyard sandbox/swing set or played games.

Grandpa John feeds Baby Jonathan

We went to White Fence Farms one night, but I got hardly any pictures of it.  Darn!

Swimming

We went swimming.  It was a bit trying at first I remember - dealing with all the logistics of the little ones.  But it ended up being worth it!

Could these little girls be any more beautiful?

These two are fun to sit next to each other - though they don't really play together yet.  They will someday!  BTW, I got more comments on those knee pads Jonathan is wearing from strangers than anything else.  They were a life saver this summer! Really saved his little knees.

Harder than it looks to cross People!

Cheyenne Mountain Zoo

One day, we went to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo in Colorado Springs where you get to actually feed the giraffes!  It was really pretty cool and scenic.  It was a great zoo - but I did think they could use more places to sit throughout.  

Onto Part 3!

Summer Wrap-Up Part 1

So I have a bunch of miscellaneous tidbits from the summer (and late spring really) that I wanted to share.  It's amazing as I look back to realize how much we did amidst a move!    And this isn't all of it either.  As you may remember, I recorded several of the activities we did with Stephanie and Sigmund earlier, plus Jonathan's birthday, plus our stay with Charles and Ellen.   And this is only PART 1!  We had a lot of fun and memorable moments.

Birthday Parties!
So this year marks the time that Mary is of age to have been invited to several fun birthday parties (Nadia's not pictured).  A dear, old friend of mine - Susan -  from middle school had a bug themed birthday party for her daughter this year and invited Mary!  We were thrilled to come.  They collected lady bugs, had bug face painting, and other fun bug themed stuff.

Sigmund had his 3rd birthday party - Thomas the Train themed.  Here I am with my sister, Catherine, who is Sigmund's aunt (which is how Stephanie and I met).

And Cousin Ruth had pony rides at her birthday!  It was super fun...

...Not to mention their awesome backyard!

Mother's Day
Here is a pic of me and the kids on Mother's Day and a pic below it of painting pottery for GrammE for her Mother's Day present.  It was a cookie jar with Mary and Jonathan hand prints.

Park/Library/Pool/Zoo/BBQs
No summer would be complete without trips to the park, the library, the pool, or the zoo or family BBQs..  (More pics in upcoming posts featuring Mary's swimming lessons.)

I love how Mary is enjoying the sun here

Ballet in the Park - A Midsummer Night's Dream featuring my friend Christina's girls.  Mary is the child standing.  : )

Some Not-So-Happy Moments
Oh I wish I was a perfect parent.  But I'm not as much as I try to be.  One day while at the bank, I misjudged that the automatic sliding doors would sense Jonathan as he got close to them.  They didn't and his poor little hand got a bit mangled.  I'm including it here, because I was so upset with myself and felt like the biggest idiot on the planet.  But I was SOOOO SOOOO grateful it wasn't worse.  It is a good reminder for me that I need to be constantly vigilant when it comes to the safety of my children.  

Okay.  So I know some of you will die that I'm posting this.  But I'm going to!  Here's why.  Because THIS is part of the everyday grunt work you do as a parent.  Worst Blow Out Ever.  ; )

Sailor Boy
So it goes without saying that I very much enjoy/ed dressing up Mary.  Guess what?  Jonathan isn't totally exempt.  I HAD to get this adorable sailor hat.  Stupid, because he refused to wear it.  Still, I don't regret it. He had this cute outfit to wear throughout summer.

Poor thing.  I made him wear the hat for the picture at least.

One Sunday after church, we couldn't go home because there was a showing happening.  So we had a picnic on the temple grounds and Jonathan snuggled up to me at one point.  How happy that we got a pic of it!

Happy Home Moments
So because we had to be out of the house so often for house showings, I found myself wanting to stay home when we could.  So here are some random home pics:

Jonathan loves helping with the dishes

Mary insisted on painting her own toe and finger nails.

Cool little Dude

Happily playing together

Sweet Boy

Mary and Daddy weeding the grass

Mary organizing

...And posting notes

Playing in the rain

Here Mary has earned a whole jar full of marbles by making good decisions.  She got to pick out a toy and she decided on the baby Rapunzel doll.

Okay.  Here is another where you are gonna think, "Annie!".  But I wanted to show you how Jonathan would eat his food.  He'd chew it up into tiny tiny pieces and spit them out.  He has grown out of that now.: )

Okay.  I had to include this last story because it was funny.  I should have included it in Jonathan's birthday post.  Well anyway, on Jonathan's birthday, Jeff and I drove separately to his parents house where we were having the party.  I'm not sure what happened - I think Jonathan had just woken up - and he was hungry and cranky.  We had a long drive and I didn't want to hear him upset the whole time, but the only thing I had on me were some snickers bars to go in my Snickers salad.  I handed him one, intending for the crinkly wrapper to appease him.  Well folks, I don't know how kids know, but they do.  He started chewing on that candy bar and was quiet the rest of the way to GrammE and Papa's.  I figured it WAS his birthday, right???  When I got there, Ellen was shocked and very amused.  We had a really good laugh about it.

 More to come!