Garrick, the Winner

One time Garrick won a bus pass and instantly became famous. Not only is his picture up on campus but it is also on their home screen. What a stud.

Washington

The last vacation before school started. Garrick and I decided we wanted to end our summer by going to Washington to visit the Andersons! After a long 15 hour drive of movies and healthy snack food (we learned our lesson from Colorado) we finally arrived. We spent our time hanging out with the family, touring Seattle, playing frisbee, meeting up with Garrick's grandma and aunt, camping, hiking, double date with Bret and Carrie, and most importantly relaxing! Carrie and Bret were the best hosts and spoiled us every night, we love them so much. 

On the ferry boat, from Bremerton to Seattle

 

We had to contribute to the famous gum wall.

My favorite part of the farmer's market was the rows and rows of fresh flowers.

It has been one of Garrick's life long dreams to see the Space Needle in person, and we finally made it happen!

After walking all day we were beat so we took a nap on the grass, it was perfect. 

In Seattle we experienced an abundance of new things including fish and chips, 15 cent gum, the farmer's market, mass tourists, ferry boats, the boardwalk, space needle, weird outdoor art sculptures, and more! It was an adventure.

In addition to seeing Seattle we really had out heart set on camping in the washington wilderness, it did not disappoint. I'm in love with Washington's green forests.

Carrie is the sweetest and made a huge effort to celebrate Garrick's birthday, here we are singing happy birthday to him with his Coscto muffin. 

Basically the only way to get kids on board with camping is to promise them smores.

We went on a little hike to see a pretty waterfall, the kids were pretty tired so everyone took turns riding on Garrick's shoulders, he was a champ.

Carrie was amazing the entire time we were there, she was a prego champ. 

We camped right next to this little rock beach, so pretty.

Garrick was pretty bummed he didn't catch crab but we did see some dead ones! 

(Garrick's artistic photography skills)

Love these kids

I think this is my favorite picture, so cute. 

This happened basically every night, too cute. 

In Olympia, we met up with Garrick's Grandma and Aunt (who he was meeting for the first time) We had such a fun time getting to know each other. We plan on coming back and meeting the rest of his family out there. 

We love love loved every minute in Washington and Garrick is convinced that WA is heaven. We will most definitively be visiting again soon! Thanks for everything, Andersons!

Celebrations

It just so happens that for the past two years we have been out of town for Garrick's birthday. This makes me sad because there are all of these plans I have for his special day. So in light of this situation I decided we would celebrate his birthday week! Some of these activities have been Tucanos with my family, a surprise sushi party with our friends in Salt Lake, games and dessert with his family, watching his favorite movie, lots of frisbee time, breakfast in bed, freebie meals and presents each night, camping in Washington and spoiled by the Andersons. Hopefully he felt loved and adored by his wife! 

The Big 25

Garrick is so great for many reasons. Sometimes all he wants is to cuddle, he belts out One Direction in the car, he is crazy in love with the outdoors, he has about 5 solid accents that come and go throughout the day, he has so much American pride, he is naturally good at everything! He is my biggest example of love, faith, patience and perseverance. He is my adoring fan, my cheerleader and coach. He makes me laugh every single day. He is quick to ask questions, quick to seek answers. He is quick to trust in God's plan, quick to thank Him. He knows, loves, and lives the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 

 He is my person. He is my home.

Happy birthday, honey. 25 seriously never looked so good. Love you!