Easter Weekend

Full Circle

Every summer I can remember my family would drive over to Whidbey Island to spend a week with my Aunt Shonagh, my Uncle KC and their kids in a cabin on the beach in Mutiny Bay. The get there you have to take the Whidbey Island ferry from Mukilteo, which is literally two blocks down from the house where Aaron grew up and his parents still live. So every year since I was very small I drove by my future husband's house without knowing it. When I was fifteen or so my parents stopped making the trip, but I'd almost always still go to hang out with my cousin Kayleigh and help out with the little ones. When I was 17 Aaron came over to see me while we were on Whidbey and I could never go there without thinking about him after that, which for a pretty long time was bittersweet. Shonagh invited us up over Easter weekend, so we caught the ferry late Friday night and stayed until Easter morning. It was really cool to bring my son to the same beach I played on as a child, then pined for my husband as a teenager while I took long dramatic walks. Jack had a great time playing in the sand and climbing on the logs, and got along really well with my cousins Maggie and Kaden. We took some good beach walks, made lots of really incredible food and had an all-around fabulous time. I really like that I married the man I've loved since I was 16, and staying at my childhood vacation spot together was a really poignant illustration that there's been a plan for my crazy life all along; I just had to wait for the good part.

Mama's Happy To You

These are my birthday presents from Aaron. The couch and the coffee table we already had, but the flowers and the rug are new. The rug looks small in the picture, but it's really 8' x 10'. We had to arrange the furniture in the middle of the rug because it was the only way it fit comfortably into our living room. I'd been bemoaning how much I hate the carpet in this house for quite a while and we'd talked about getting an area rug to cover it up, but we decided if we were going to spend the money we should get a nice(read: expensive) one that would last us a long time rather than buying a series of cheap ones that would need frequent replacing. So it was something on my wish list but in the "things to budget for in the future" section, not the "things my husband will waltz through the door with the day before my birthday" section. He picked it out all by himself, he didn't even ask me what colors I wanted. The picture doesn't pick up the tones very well, but what I love about it is that it's the perfect shade of neutral to hide dirt and still be warm. Damien was here when Aaron gave me the rug and they carried it in together singing Happy Birthday; since then Jack has been calling the rug "Mama's happy to you." It totally changes the feel of the whole room, and I'm excited to have a set of furniture to put in our new house(someday) that will make it feel like our living room and not just the room where we keep our couch.