A Trip to Washington: Part 2

 

While we were in town, Alex and Devan and their kids were in town too so we decided to spend a day in Ocean Shores together.

It was a little chilly for swimming but that didn’t stop all the kids (and some of the adults) from getting wet.

We needed a place to warm up, so we went to the little museum (The Interpretive Center if you want to sound fancy) by the harbor.

Everything in the museum was meant to be touched so it was a great place for our curious toddlers.

I wanted Nathan to get excited about the starfish, but he wouldn’t so I made Ryan do it instead.

After Nathan and Hannah were done fighting over nicely looking out of the window together, it became a great place to dance.

We found that the harbor was much calmer and warmer and more pleasant than the ocean, so we spent the rest of our day there.

Ryan dug a big hole . . .

It was such a fun day together!

While at my parents house, Nathan got to try his first s’mores.

If you know Nathan, you know he HATES things on his fingers. He’s all boy, but he DOES NOT like to be sticky.

I offered to hold it for him.

And once he got a good bite he was hooked! Who cares about sticky fingers when there’s marshmallows and chocolate to be had?!

Ryan is a HUGE Braves fan and for the first time ever, they were playing the Mariners at SafeCo Field in Seattle. Forget about the job interview, this is the REAL reason we went to Washington.

By the way, we’re not moving to Georgia (we’re not moving anywhere, right now).

Father’s Day and My Birthday

After having nothing to blog about for the last few months, I’m suddenly completely overwhelmed with things to blog about! I guess that’s summer! Of course, I’ve been procrastinating blogging because I’m overwhelmed about everything I have to blog about, which just made the situation worse. Now, I’m diving in head first.

On June 17th I turned 25. It was a really low-key day but I enjoyed every minute of it.

The day started with Fresh Fruit Bruschetta with Honey-Orange Cream. Divine!

And it ended with Greek Chicken Gyros on homemade flat bread. Why is it that my celebrations always end up being about food?! Oh well, calories don’t count on your birthday (this is a FACT).

Oh yeah, and we also had a chocolate cake. I really need to meet my neighbors so I can start giving them baked goods.

And speaking of food, I got this wonderful new cookbook for my birthday and I'm loving it!

Since Father’s Day was just a few days later, we definitely got our fill of celebration. Next year I get to share my birthday with Father’s Day so Ryan and I are going to have to do something really special!

I made Ryan a new apron (since he loves to cook for me so much). I gave him an apron when we were engaged but it’s looking pretty gross now.

It was really fun to have these days almost back to back so we could spend the whole weekend doing nice things for each other!

25

We’ve all heard the saying, “hindsight is better than foresight”, and if you’re like me, you’ve probably been hearing it from your mom. Foresight is kind of out the window for me right now so I thought I’d think a little bit about hindsight. Today is my 25th birthday and I have no idea where my life is headed. I wish that an older, more mature Heather could come and tell me where I’ll be and what I’ll be doing in the future. I remember wishing this as a teenager too. I would have jumped at the chance to be told what my future held. So, 15 year old Heather, I’m here to tell you a thing or two about your life over the next ten years.

1. Love your body. Please. Cherish those pre-pregnancy hips and know that you are beautiful just the way you are.

2. You know that guy you’ve been dreaming about? Well, he’s even better than you imagined. Oh, yeah, and you’re going to marry him a lot sooner than you think!

3. Yes, you will have heartache, but you will also have joy beyond anything you can imagine.

4. There is life beyond BYU. As a matter of fact, you should definitely make sure to apply to SVU. And get used to traveling.

5. Figure out who you are and what you want in life, then fight for it! Enjoy the journey and DON’T SWEAT THE SMALL STUFF!

I know this isn’t a great picture, but it’s the only picture I have from when I was 15. I took it of myself and included it in a letter I wrote to my future husband.

Graduation Day!

Yesterday was Ryan’s official graduation day. He finished classes back in March so we kind of celebrated then.  In March we really expected we would have moved on by now, so we didn’t plan on doing graduation until a few weeks ago when it became apparent that we wouldn’t be going anywhere any time soon. Consequently, Nathan and I were the only ones there to support Ryan in person. I know a lot of other people were there supporting him in spirit.

The ceremony for the whole school was in the morning and the ceremony for Economics was in the afternoon so we decided to stay on campus all day rather than come and go all day.

The day started off not so good when we missed our bus and had to run to catch a different one. It was all my fault and I was so afraid Ryan would be late. We made it on time and Nathan and I tried to find a seat. I was alone with Nathan and I had the stroller  and enough stuff to get us through the day with a grumpy toddler (in other words- a whole lot of junk!) and there was no where for me to sit with the stroller. I had to rely on a few good Samaritans to help me maneuver. The first part of the ceremony was the “Duck Walk”. All the graduates came onto the field and walked around the track. Is it lame that I totally started to cry? Anyway . . . we were sitting really close so we ate snacks and waited for Daddy to walk by. I thought I got a really cute video of Ryan as he passed. Nathan was so excited to see him and didn’t understand why he didn’t get to come sit with us. Unfortunately I never turned the camera on. Yea, one of the those moments.

Nathan only lasted through the first half hour of the ceremony so we spent the next hour running around (he ran, I chased).

We did get a few good pictures of Ryan afterwards, though. Can you see him? He’s the tall one with the burnt orange hood. He complained about the color but at least he wasn’t one of the guys wearing a pink tassel!

Also, check out the weird-o arm things on his robe. We joked about all the things he could hide inside (snacks, an umbrella, etc.) His friend chose to use his arm pockets for his flask. How that man managed to finish his Masters degree I don’t know.

Between ceremonies we wandered around campus and got lunch.

There was a little kids booth with play dough and coloring pages and puzzles. Nathan had a lot of fun playing.

Mostly, we spent our time taking turns chasing after Nathan. I really don’t know how the kid had so much energy! He woke up at 5 that morning and only slept for about an hour in his stroller, but the whole time he was awake it was go go go!!!

The afternoon ceremony was a lot more personal since it was just the Economics department. Only a few people graduated with a doctorate and only 3 graduated with a Masters. When Ryan’s name was called, his advisor said a few nice things about him. I had coached Nathan to yell “Yay Daddy!” when it was Ryan’s turn. Ryan says he couldn’t hear him but you can hear him in the video.

Untitled from Ryan Bartron on Vimeo.

After we cheered for Ryan we had to get out of the sun and move around a little bit. Guess who we found?

We followed the duck around for a while, then stayed in the shade and tried to cool down. After a while I thought about trying to sit back down again, but guess who was in my seat!

We found some really fun construction in the back instead.

Yay Graduates!

Can you tell we are all hot , tired, and ready to go home?

One last picture!

We hopped on the bus and headed home to a yummy dinner in the crockpot- and, of course, cheesecake!

Nathan did a really good job holding on in the bus just like mom and dad. What a day!

Just Dance

Lately, I’ve been trying to dance my way to a skinnier Heather, so I’ve been using my Wii Just Dance game every morning. Nathan likes to do it with me and he’s getting pretty good!

Nathan Dances 2 from Ryan Bartron on Vimeo.

Nathan Dances 3 from Ryan Bartron on Vimeo.

Another Day . . .

Have you ever seen the movie Groundhog Day? I’m sure you all have. That’s my life right now. Except, instead of waiting for a  furry little rodent to poke it’s head out, we’re waiting for much bigger things. And every day is the same old nothing. I was literally shocked to find out that it’s June. When Mother’s Day rolled around, I was sure it wasn’t coming for another month or so. Because all our days are melting into one eternal day. The same thing every single day. I think I’ve lost touch with reality a bit.

So, no blog posts lately because there’s really nothing going on over here. However, Ryan and I did get to do one fun thing recently. Last week, we finally got to go out and celebrate our anniversary (Ryan was sick then) by going out to dinner. We went to a yummy Italian restaurant and had such a nice night (all made possible by Corrine- thank you!)

Since we didn’t take any pictures of our anniversary last year, we tried really hard this year to get some good documentation, but we just really aren’t all that good at taking pictures of ourselves. Must be the height difference.

A cute guy WITH desserts? Yes, please!

And speaking of Groundhog Day, if you love Bill Murray movies you MUST watch The Man Who Knew Too Little. Funniest movie. Grandpa loves this movie. When we first watched it with him he tried to explain the movie to us but he was laughing and wheezing so hard he couldn’t speak. Check it out!