Anniversaries are funny things

As Jared & I celebrate our fourth anniversary today, I couldn't help but think about our last three anniversaries. Our first we spent at the Anniversary Inn, followed by a week in Las Vegas. Our second, a romantic dinner at the Mona Lisa fondue restaurant. Mya was a month old last year, and not on a bottle, so we ducked out for a few hours for dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings. This year...lunch at the Cheesecake Factory, frozen yogurt with Mya after work, and then home for the Vikings/Saints football game. The funny thing is that each year I have enjoyed myself. I feel like breaking out song, singing the lyrics of a country song "...this is right where I'm supposed to be." I love my husband! I love my life! God is good!

Minnesota Vacation

The last week of July, Mya & I packed up in the car and drove back to Minnesota with my parents. I felt it was important for her to meet her great-grandparents, and them meet her. Plus, it was Mya's 1st birthday and my grandpa Vos' 85th birthday the week we were there, so it was really fun for them to celebrate together. We drove 26 hours...straight through. We pulled out of Bliss at 8 pm on Thursday and made it to Jackson, MN at 10pm on Friday. It wasn't too bad with three drivers and Mya did great! I was so proud over her. Grandpa didn't know we were coming, until Saturday when we showed up at his door with birthday hats on and a cupcake in hand. Mya is his first great-granddaughter. They had a lot of fun playing together. He had recently refinished a little red wagon so they spent a good portion of the afternoon weaving through the living room furniture.

Saturday evening, the rest of the family surprised grandpa for a co-birthday party. Doris had ordered a birthday cake for Mya and boy oh boy was she in heaven when we let her dive into it!

Four Genterations of Vos'

Four generations of Shearers

My grandma Shearer lives in Jackson, MN so we got to spend some time with her as well. Her friend Roy volunteers at Fort Belmont (an old restored army fort) and we got a private tour of the grounds. It wasn't very exciting for Mya, but I remember visiting the fort as a child when we would go visit grandma and grandpa, so I enjoyed the nastalgia of it all.

Of course we had to have another birthday party for her with great-grandma! This time she knew exactly what was going on so I had to hold her off while we finished singing happy birthday.

a-boo!

A few weeks ago Mya was playing on the floor in the bathroom while I was getting ready for work. After finishing my morning routine in the bathroom, I moved to the bedroom to make the bed. Mya crawled over and closed the bathroom door. I asked "baby girl, are you locking mommy out of the bathroom?" She swung the door open and shouted "a-boo!" I was shocked, did I just hear her right? She wasn't even prompted to play the game. Then she pushed the door closed and proceed to play peek-a-boo with me 3 more times. I ran to get the video camera, laughing in astonishment. But as soon as she saw it, she came crawling out of the bathroom to play with it too, better luck next time. She is growing up so fast, everyday there is something new she is amazing us with. We are so blessed to have her in our lives.

So many books, so little time

Mya loves to read books! We read everynight before bed and she watches her My Baby Can Read DVDs, but just these last few weeks she has been choosing to play with her book over her toys. We keep her book on the window seat in her room so she can get to them pretty easily. Today we were playing in the living room when she decided she was done with the toys. She crawled into her room and proceeded to pull all the books off the shelf. It was so precious, I couldn't help but just sit and watch!

Happy Birthday to ME!

WOW, what a birthday! I knew we were going on a tour of Sonoma & Napa vallies on Monday, that was my request. Jared had told me we were going on a group tour in a passenger van with 8 or so other people. I was perfectly fine with that, I was just excited to be visiting the wineries. Well what do you know, that sneaky husband of mine booked a limo for the day. Here I was standing outside the hotel waiting for a 15 person passenger van and up pulls a limo. I was in shock, I started crying. We had an incredible time! I was speechless, I know...hard to believe...but true. On our way out of town, we stopped at Golden Gate park and took a moment to enjoy the views.

My friend Teresa lent me her "birthday tiara", so between it and the limo I truly felt like a queen!

My favorite winery was Rubicon Estates. It is the oldest winery in Napa Valley. The grounds and the buildings were breath taking! Their wine was wonderful too.

My last day as a "twenty something"!

Not to brag, but...today was amazing! The weather was a perfect 70 degrees, the sun was shining, and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. We started our day with a tour of Alcatraz Island. What an incredible experience! It was very interesting to see how the inmates lived, but what fascinated me the most was the lives of the families that lived on the island. I had no idea that the officers and guards lived there with their families...young children none the less.

In the afternoon we visited the famous Lombard Street, the most crooked street in the world! It was a long, streep hike up the backside of the hill, but pretty cool to see in person.

We ended our day at Jack's Bar in the Cannery at Delmonte Square. Just relaxing on the patio with friends and adult beverages listening to live music. It doesn't get much better than this.

I am so blessed to have such an amazing husband and great friends, thank-you honey for a great vacation! I love you! Tomorrow we are on to wine country.