Way Fun Times in Whistler

Had a fabulous time on our anniversary trip to Whistler, British Columbia, Canada. Just another perk to living in Washington State. Just a day's drive to the number 1 ski resort in North America! Whistler was a super cool place. A lot of hype about the XXI Winter Olympics happening there next year and that was pretty exciting.
So, I have quite a few pictures to share so I'll try to let the picture captions tell about our adventures.

See what I mean...the Olympics are coming and these guys are advertising. In fact, we bought Kade an Olympic shirt that was on sale and the lady at the store told us that it was, get this.... last year's line....and this year's line just came out. Mind you the Olympics aren't until 2010.

On Sunday morning we got up and put on our ski gear and headed to the slopes. We only had about a 5 minute walk through Whistler village to get to the gondolas. Here is one of our first looks at the ski runs.

Sunday was a beautiful day and we decided to go ahead and take the brand new Peak 2 Peak Gondola that just opened. This is one pretty amazing ride. You get to go from Whistler mountain over to Blackcomb mountain. The ride takes 11 minutes. We rode over with a couple of regulars to Whistler and they told us previously it took about an hour and a half to get from one mountain to the other.

Kyle and I riding the Peak 2 Peak.

Just look at that view behind us. It was totally breathtaking. God is so amazing that He created such beauty for us to enjoy.

Here's Kyle on the slopes. He spent a lot of time waiting patiently on me. Here are the realizations that I came to on day 1 of hitting the slopes:
-several years, several pounds, two babies and fast new ski's (as opposed to rentals) really does make a difference in how prepared you are to ski down the mountain.
-the thrill of skiing for me IS NOT THE SPEED!!! I just like coming down the mountain at my own pace.

I like to go slow enough that I can look out and see the beauty around me! If I'd been speeding down the mountain like a madwoman I would have missed this spectacular view! Plus when you fall it doesn't hurt as bad if you're not going very fast.

This is still day 1 on the slopes and you might not can tell by the smile on my face but my legs were about to fall off. This wasn't actually a pit stop to pose for a picture, it was a pit stop to let my legs have a break.

We came in Sunday afternoon after a day of skiing and had a nice surprise from Stephanie and the boys. They had baked some cookies and Kade wrote this sweet note to go with them.

Decided to venture out with the family for a little "fire and ice" show that they were doing at the base of the mountain. Boy was Kade excited to get out. Here he is strutting down the village stroll with his snow boots on....he is on a mission to find some snow.

And that is just what he did...find snow. Kade wanted to walk up the mountain and Kyle, being such a good Daddy, took off with him up the slopes.

Can't you just picture this little guy coming down on skis next year?

This just gives you an idea of how far these guys trudged through the snow. Kade was having a blast and getting some good use out of his snow boots.

Ryne, on the other hand was all tuckered out and had to have a little nap.

Here is the one family picture we managed to take on this trip.

Kyle and Kade watching the fire and ice show warm up. Some pretty crazy stunts from skiers and boarders. Kade clapped and cheered for each one.

Here is one skier who came up the ramp backwards and was about to do a flip. No wonder, Kade was cheering....they were pretty talented.

Here's Stephanie with Ryne in his cute little snow hat. Can't even tell you how nice it was to have Stephanie as our traveling nanny. Kyle and I really got to have a great time together without trying to keep up with two little guys. She was great with them and I was not ever worried if they were okay while we were away. This was the first real Mommy break I've had since Ryne was born and I didn't even realize how much I needed it. Thanks Steph for being our traveling nanny!

Kyle surprised me Sunday night when we went out to dinner and he had a present for me. I was surprised first of all by the trip and wasn't expecting anything else at all....certainly didn't deserve anything else! But my sweet husband gave me this beautiful anniversary band lined with diamonds. (the new ring is closer to Kyle's thumb in the pic) I LOVE IT! Wow, I'm so blessed to have a husband how loves me so much and takes such good care of me!

Day 2....here we come! Snow was falling and it was a bit colder but still a fabulous day for skiing.

You can see in this pic of Kyle that it wasn't quite as clear on Monday but it was still beautiful. Was nice to have some fresh snow to ski on. This is probably actually a picture of Kyle waiting on me. He did a lot of that. But to be fair I would always take my turn waiting on him with a nice cup of coffee and a snack at the bottom of the mountain while he rode back up and came down as fast and furious as he wanted to! I thought that was only fair.

Here are the boys all bundled up and ready to head out again.

Isn't Ryne so cute in his little coat?

Our adventure on Monday was a trip to "Cows" for ice cream. Kade was loving his ice cream cone and wanted no help at all with eating it. Got Kade full of ice cream and left him with Steph while we went to dinner. This made like three date nights in a row! We really did some good eating.

To top it all off, we decided to have two dates on Monday night....one place for dinner....stroll around a bit.....another place for dessert. Look at this yummy dessert...Baklava for Kyle and Chocolate Eruption Cheesecake for me!

Tuesday morning we had to get ready to leave. Kyle and I went out for Crepe's for breakfast and got a couple of souvenirs...trying to milk this trip for all it was worth. Kade is getting one last look at the snow falling from our place before we had to go.

And of course we couldn't go before we checked under everything for run-away toys that might be hiding. Kade was very good at helping his daddy with this job...I think he actually found a truck under the coffee table here.
Now we are back home and trying to get back in the swing of things.
Was the best fifth anniversary I've ever had!!!

We Made it to Canada!!!

Yes, we are in Whistler, British Columbia, Canada!!! I need to get some good rest tonight so I'll be ready for some serious skiing tomorrow so I'll just let the pictures tell the story for me. Just follow the captions:

Once Ryne talked things over with his new friend Elephant and...

Fireman Kade checked to make sure that all safety codes were being met....

We loaded up and hit the road this morning.

It really was a great day of traveling.

See, even Ryne is happy!!! And this pic is after several hours in his car seat.

Why was he out of his carseat? Well, it was time for lunch and we were cruising up I-5 and I saw the exit for Bellingham and got quite excited. Why? Just look at what they have at Western Washington University in Bellingham:

That sign says "CHICK-FIL-A"!!!!

Kyle and Stephanie went in to the student union and found us a treasure!

Can't you see how excited I was to get some Chick-fil-a?

We don't have Chick-fil-a's up here. My friend Rachel from college, who also now lives in Washington, was just blogging the other day about missing Chick-fil-a and it sure was making me sad. So, Rachel, I was thinking about you today.

Now, doesn't that look like one satisfied customer?

Definitely a high-light of the trip today....a little taste of home.

Tummies full we ventured on.

Here is proof that we really left the country.

Waiting in line at the border, Kyle and I had time to pose for a quick pic. Guess Stephanie doubles as traveling nanny and traveling photographer.

The first thing we learned about Canada....they encourage bike surfing here!

We also learned that Vancouver is a very big and very busy city. This is one cool building that I snapped a picture of as we made our way through the bustling city. Can't imagine what it will be like there for winter Olympics 2010.
Kade and Ryne weren't too impressed with Vancouver...this is where they both fell asleep on the trip.

Ryne woke up telling us he needed to eat so we whipped it into this Micky D's. When we stopped Kade woke up and very quickly and excitedly made note, "We're in Canada, I need to get out!!"

So we got out.

And Kade played!

and played and played....

While Stephanie and I watched.

And Kyle and Ryne did some watching too.

I can't imagine another kid ever being any happier than this to be in Canada.

Shortly after we convinced Kade that we had to go we made it to our ski resort destination. Got all checked in and settled in, made spaghetti for dinner, did diaper changes, baths and got the boys in bed. Kyle and I took a nice little stroll to check out the village and settled in at Starbucks to enjoy some time to ourselves. Here we are having just discussed what a great day it was. Both boys were excellent. (Maybe Ryne's best day ever!) Stephanie is a huge help. AND we are going skiing tomorrow!

Five Fabulous Years

Well, here in Washington it is still March 19th....but back in Arkansas it is already March 20th. And since I married my amazing husband in Arkansas on March 2oth five years ago, I think that means I can go ahead and start celebrating!

Happy Anniversary Kyle!!!!

The past five years have been the best five years of my life. God has blessed me tremendously by giving me the privilege of being the wife of one amazing man. We have had some great adventures together and I look forward to many more years of the same. I had no idea five years ago that we would end up living in Washington state planting a church and raising two boys as "northwesterners".

I LOVE MY LIFE!!!

I LOVE MY HUSBAND!!

Thanks to you, Kyle, for loving me even when I'm in the most unlovable state.

Thanks to you for being a husband whom I can trust completely and depend on continually.

Thanks for being an amazing Daddy to our two little boys.

THANKS FOR LOVING GRAND ADVENTURES AS MUCH AS I DO!!

Thanks for being obedient to our Father when He sends us on such grand adventures.

Thanks for going out on a limb and pursuing a girl two hours away in Medical School.

Thanks for that first date to Tia's!

Thanks for all the dates since then....

And just to let everyone else in on what an amazing guy I've married: On Saturday we are leaving for Whistler in Canada to go skiing!!! We both love to ski but have never been able to go together. Kyle got us a traveling nanny for the boys and we're set.

I'll definitely be letting you all know how the trip goes.

Just some Highlights

Don't think that I have a whole lot to share today. Just getting started on a new week. Lots to get done this week: Dawn and Aaron are coming over today to hang out for a bit....Tuesday must be house cleaning day because Wednesday Mike and Juli Rogers, missionaries about to head out in a couple of weeks to Moldova, are coming to spend the day and hang around for Bible Study Wednesday night (looking forward to spending some time with them). Gotta get packed for our anniversary trip to Canada which means that I must get laundry done sometime. It is also a self-imposed requirement that we get our tax stuff together before we leave the country. Need to get some photo albums and photo frames sometime this week to put all these great new pics of my boys in, so a trip to the store needs to be worked in as well. Also need to return some books to the library for Kade...gee the longer I type the more stuff I realize I have to do this week. Yikes! All of that worked in along with taking care of two boys and teaching my online science classes. That's not to mention that I'm not completely sure what Kyle has planned for us to get done this week.
Guess that means I better finish this post by telling you about these pics and get started with my list!

Ryne sitting in the Bumbo...he's really getting big.

I like this pose. Can you tell he's getting big? I had to put away the 0-3 month clothes this weekend and get out the 3-6 monthers.

So, here's Kade in the Bumbo. Funny thing, he actually outgrew this little seat a LONG time ago because his chubby little legs would get stuck. When I got it down out of the closet for Ryne, Kade somehow knew it was "his" and he wanted to sit in it. He fits again! Those little legs have slimmed up. And of course when I took Ryne's picture in the Bumbo Kade was lined up to be next.

Lovely Nap Hair.

He's even cute with nap hair...at least his mommy thinks so.

Saturday morning was an adventure at the Lewallen's place. Our friend Amanda needed a babysitter last minute and called us up. We were happy to let Brooke and Raelyn come over to play. Brooke is four and Raelyn is one. Here is a shot of all of them hanging out in the loft. They were all very good and had a great time playing together. Although it looked like a bomb went off in all the toy boxes it was a fun day. Kyle and I got a taste of what it would be like to have four kiddos.....

Here's Ryne in his little "ranch hand" get up. Everyone at church yesterday just thought he was adorable.

And last...here's our little clown Kade laying at the bottom of the stairs, elephant slippers kicked up on the rails, yelling up to us "I not ready to go upstairs yet".

I Went CSI

So as most of you who read my blog regularly know, I have not been able to locate my memory card contraption since March 4th to be able to post pictures from my camera....Nor could I locate the USB connector that came with my camera. Well, today it became imperative that I find one or the other of them because Kyle needed a picture from the camera to put on his Prayer Newsletter that he sends out to the prayer team for our church plant. I decided it was time to go CSI.....I got out the flashlight!!! Have you ever noticed how they always use their flashlights even in the middle of the day? I used to think that was kind of silly until I tried it myself once. I couldn't believe just how helpful it was to use a flashlight when looking for something in the daylight....especially in drawers and corners and closets. If you've never tried, I highly recommend going CSI if you're seriously looking to find something. Anyway, it worked!!! I found the USB connector in a drawer that I had already looked in several times.
So, with no further ado....here are some pics that have just been itching to make it to the blog:

So, this picture is how I know my contraption has been missing since March 4th. The boys took this pic to say Happy Birthday to our Mrs. Nancy. Hope it was a great B-Day!

Brothers!

Kade playing under the table with Stephanie after Bible Study last week. Kade loves Wednesday nights at our house with everyone coming over for Bible Study.

I went into the loft one morning last week and found Kade and his friends watching tv.
I thought it was so cute how he had lined them all up in front of him.

A little bath time with Ryne

And more bath time. One thing Ryne really likes is bath time.

Kade in his new sunglasses.

Ryne laughs a lot these days....it is the cutest little laugh and we love it.

Thought you might like to see some of the folks that Kade is excited to see at our house on Wednesday nights. Here is the crew from last night.

This is Kade with Hana...she is one of Kade's favorite people. Hana comes to Bible Study on Wednesday nights and Kade can't wait for Bible study to be over so Hana can play with him.

Sea Horse Food???

Okay, so we are getting ready for lunch today and I had told Kade what his choices were: Peanut Butter Sandwich, Chili, or Tuna. His first response to me was, "ummmm, I don't know". I told him to think about it for a minute and decide.
So, Kyle comes in and asks him what he wants for lunch and he replies, " sea horse food". We weren't quite sure if we were hearing him correctly so Kyle repeated "sea horse food" and Kade confirmed with a "yep". I just politely told him that we didn't have any sea horse food and asked him to pick peanut butter sandwich, chili, or tuna....and I added leftover lasagna to the mix this time. He told me again that he wanted sea horse food. Where in the world did this kid come up with this?
He finally decided he would try tuna since we talked with him about how tuna fish were in the ocean like sea horses. Wasn't too crazy about the tuna and asked for peanut butter sandwich instead. I felt bad for not having sea horse food around for him so I made him a peanut butter sandwich. Then he decided while we were eating that he wanted an "airplane chip". We had a couple of bags of chips on the table and offered him some of each...asking with each one "is this an airplane chip?" Unfortunately it appears we don't have airplane chips at our house either. So, Kade settled for a couple of cheetos. He still wasn't too happy with his lunch but he finally ate enough that he could get down from the table. Poor guy...what are his parents thinking not keeping this place stocked with sea horse food and airplane chips!!
If Ryne turns out to be as funny as Kade we are in for quite the comedy routine around the Lewallen house!
Speaking of Ryne...He slept from 10pm to 5:15 am last night!!! Yippee!!! I'm sure hoping this is the beginning of a trend and not just a fluke. Sure was nice.
We got a CD of all of Kade's two year old pics...here are a few more for you to check out:
(still haven't turned up my picture transferring contraption....might just have to buy a new one so I can get more pictures on here)

A Sneak Peek

So, here it is...a sneak peek of Kade's two year old pictures. Had this little storyboard emailed to me by our sweet photographer Dawn...check out fly a kite photography. Can't wait to see the rest! Still can't find my contraption to get pics from my camera....maybe I'll have time to look seriously for it this weekend. I did ask Kade if he knew where it was and he said he didn't know so that means it is officially lost because Kade knows where everything is!
Neighbors coming over for dessert tonight. We're looking forward to hanging out with them. Better go tidy up the house.

A Blog First for Me

Okay, so here it is, a blog first for me: A pictureless post!
I have a couple of pictures that I wanted to put on here but cannot find the nice little contraption that allows me to take the pictures from my memory card and put them on my computer. Oh well, maybe tomorrow.
So here is the update so far this week. Took Ryne to the doctor on Monday for his two month check-up and shots. Doctor said he is looking good. Has no reason to be fussy that she can tell. I told Kyle that I'd rather have a fussy baby with no reason to fuss than to find out that something is wrong with him that should be making him fuss. We still have our moments of happiness everyday. Not as many this week as last week. Anyway....his latest stats:
11 lbs 14 oz
23 1/2 inches
He's a growing boy!
On Tuesday morning I got to have coffee with my friend Nonee and do some chatting about starting a ladies Bible study at the local coffee shop in DuPont. Plan to kick off on April 16th and meet every Thursday morning at 10. We are super excited about it.
On Tuesday afternoon, we headed to Seattle to pick up some snow skis for Kyle that he was purchasing off of Craig's List. Got a fabulous deal! Since we were in the city and Kade's most favorite thing to do is the Space Needle (and we have annual passes), we stopped by the Space Needle and took Kade up. He was definitely pleased with the trip.
Today is Wednesday and it has been a busy day. Took Kade to the park this morning for a little 2 year old photo shoot with Miss Dawn. He did pretty good...cooperated the best he could for a two year old. Can't wait to see the results. I'll be sure to share some with you here.
Now, that Ryne is maybe calmed down again I can finish getting the house clean and super done before Bible study at our place tonight.
Special Note for Mrs. Nancy: HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! WE LOVE YOU!!!!
one of the pictures that I can't get on my computer is of the boys holding a sign that says "Happy Birthday Mrs. Nancy" so I guess for now you can close your eyes and imagine it.