Mother's Day

Being a mother is a dream come true. I'm not ashamed to say it is all I wanted to be when I grew up. Mother's Day is a great reminder to me of how lucky I am to be Miriam, Simon, and Levi's mom. Although it isn't always easy, it is the most satisfying and rewarding thing in my life.

Celebrating Eight Years

Since our anniversary is during the holiday season it is often hard to get away and celebrate. This year I surprised Michael with dinner in downtown DC at Fogo de Chao. Since we were early for our reservation we walked over to the White House to check out the Christmas tree. It is crazy that we were doing the same thing 8 years ago.

Here we are 8 years ago in front of The White House. We were poor college students, so a honeymoon to DC was the best we could do. We didn't know then that we would be moving here 2 1/2 years later.

At dinner we stuffed ourselves with all the delicious meat we could eat. Since we mentioned we were celebrating our anniversary our waitress brought us a dessert after we ate. It was a great time together celebrating eight years of marriage. It is always nice to get away and spend time alone. (We are grateful to live close to Michael's parents who are willing to take our kids for the night in order to make it happen.) It is so wonderful to be married to your best friend.

July 4th, also known as Vanessa's Birthday

First of all let me just preface this post by saying I am a terrible documenter/photographer. We were so excited to have my parents here to visit for my birthday. However, I didn't get very many pictures of them. I guess we were just so busy having fun that I forgot? Anyway, I need to do better taking pictures... on to the post...

We got some sparklers for the kids for the Fourth of July. I am not sure how excited and into it they were. I was hoping to get some cute pictures, oh well. Maybe we will skip it next year.

Michael made me a tres leches cake for my birthday. It was yummy as usual. The kids thought it was funny that I only had one candle... thirty-five would have just been too many! Michael and the kids got me a gift certificate to go get a manicure and pedicure.

This year we decided to go back to Leesburg to view the fireworks. The kids were excited to stay up late and see them. We got a pretty good view of them, but it was so muggy that a lot of the smoke hung around without a breeze to blow it away. It was kind of crazy. I don't know how, but Levi fell asleep at the end of the fireworks. It was a great day spent with family.

Mother's Day

When my Mother's day gift came in the mail Michael and the kids couldn't wait to give it to me. I opened it a week early. We were very excited to start making smoothies in our new blender right away.

I came across this quote about motherhood that sums up my feelings about being a mom, "There is no one perfect way to be a good mother. Each situation is unique. Each mother has different challenges, different skills and abilities, and certainly different children. The choice is different and unique for each mother and each family... What matters is that a mother loves her children deeply and, in keeping with the devotion she has for God and her husband, prioritizes them above all else." M. Russell Ballard - Daughters of God