14 Years and Counting

Yesterday was our 14th Anniversary, which both Kim and I can't believe, where has the time gone and how can we be that old?

Anyway, Grace and Eva decided to plan out our evening. First Grace had me take her to the store. On her list she had made the day before there was:

Large Table
Fancy Tablecloth
Colorful flowers-moms favorite color
Exotic Fruit
Chocolate Cake Mix
Chocolate Frosting
Stuff for Carnitas
Raspberries
Squeezy frosting - preferably pink.

After purchasing most of the things on her list, minus the large table, Grace and Eva put on aprons with dress coats over them and got to work making menus, signs, and setting our table complete with floating tea candles. As Kim was returning home from dropping T off at a birthday party, they scrambled to make a romantic playlist on itunes to download to my ipod so that we could eat with the right ambiance. You should have heard the girls comment on songs I clicked as to whether they were romantic or not -pretty funny. Let's just say they were not impressed by cheesy rock ballads. We were sat by the hostess, waited on, and checked on to make sure our drinks were topped off and our plates were cleared. Ben of course followed suit. What a wonderful night with my beautiful, loving wife.

Babe, here's to 70 more anniversaries!

"Eye of the tiger"

Ben saw Tanner's 8th grade class dance to this song for their graduation and he was hooked. This musical plays at least 4 times a day in the Uji home.

End of School year fun!

The end of Preschool, 2nd grade, and 8th grade was a busy time, but chalked full of sweet memories!

 Grace's Greek Festival!  She had so much fun learning of Greece and constantly clarifies that her outfit is NOT called a Toga.  It is a Chiton, for heaven's sake.

 Ben had LOADS of fun at all his sibling's end of school activities.  He has non stop joy...  Except when he doesn't.  ha ha

 At Lovely Eva's Pre-School graduation!  She did a great job getting up on stage for the commencement, especially because she is SO shy.  She was great and had the best year!  She's already figuring out how multiplication works, so I'm pretty sure she'll eat up Kindergarten.

 Getting fancy for the Spring Show at school.

Master Trumpeteer at work.  He did a great job!

 JR had to speak at a conference in Boston for work, so his cute brothers met him there!  Enjoying the games and sites of Boston!

Enjoying his 32nd Bday cake!

Visiting the Rhododendron gardens with good buddies.

                                               Celebrating with Dad on his Father's Day!

Cutest thing ever.  When we were done giving JR his Father's Day gifts, Ben kept running and grabbing toys and favorite things to give his best buddy dad.  He loves him SO much and wanted to make him happy.  He even gave him a little train tunnel "hat." 

 Going fishing for her LAST 2nd grade field trip.  We did this in conjunction with Greek studies.  SO fun!

 Eva LOVED a ballet class she took for a month.  She eats, sleeps, and drinks ballet.

Tanner's 8th grade campout

This June, I was able to (with the help of several chaperons) take Tanner's class on a camp out at Silver Falls.  We stayed in an amazing old sheep farm called "Old Lodge."  We had a HUGE fire pit in the middle  in which we made cookie s'more sandwiches, made "hobo" dinners, warmed up on cold nights, etc.  We had a dance party, complete with a disco ball and strobe lights, we went on 6 mile hikes, we had spaghetti wars, ate lots of good meals and played to our hearts' delight.  It was a blast, and I had so much fun watching Tanner socialize and have a hugely fun memory of his 8th grade year.  I'm so excited, yet sad he's old enough to be entering high school in the fall.  He is a GREAT kid and I'm so proud of him, but mainly-JR and I feel really blessed at all he's taught us.

EVA's School Picture

We just got Eva's school picture and it is adorable. I thought I would also add some recent videos of her and Ben. Enjoy.