On the Road All Night and All Day

We decided to drive to Idaho after Jonathan finished work on Friday so we could get there during the day. (Yeah, it was CRAZY!)

Goodnight Nevada

Good morning Idaho (and bug guts...)

On the way home, it seemed like a way better idea to drive during the day. (Not too crazy.)

Seth saying bye in his snow boots.

A wonderful sight!

The sunset outside our window.

While I was preparing for our trip to Idaho, I found a cute blog post about a road trip date (click here to see it). I decided that it would be fun to do the same for us. Both ways, we used the "Road Trip Countdown" to keep track of where we going.

As we drove home, we let them drop to the ground.

We also printed out the license plate game. We almost got all of them (thanks to all the tourists at Yellowstone). On the way back, we also did the Road Trip Questionnaire. It was so much fun answering questions for each other. The first question was what your favorite color is. I've known for a long time that Jonathan's favorite color is red, but he didn't have it as easy. I love so many colors and haven't had one favorite since I was little (it was blue). Jonathan's answer however, was perfect. He said that my favorite color is any bright color. It was fun answering a whole bunch of other questions, some more thoughtful than others. It was great to get to know each other even better!

Well, that's how the drive to and from went, next up will be our first day in Idaho!

I Don't Know, Idaho!

Idaho was great! We loved every minute of it! The major highlights were meeting sweet (not so little) Clara,

playing at Annie's parents farm,

checking out BYI-Idaho with Hannah,

having a room to ourselves at the cabin (I'm not kidding, this was a big deal!), 

and seeing the cousins get along so well.

I still have so much more to share, but I figured this would be a good place to start.

A Father's Day Project

Idaho was GREAT! I'm still getting all of the pictures organized, but I will soon be sharing all that we did.

Since Jonathan and I knew we were going to be in Idaho for Father's Day, we decided to take care of his dad a week early. For awhile now, Dad has been trying to organize all of the bikes in the backyard. Thanks to pinterest, I found a few different plans for bike racks. I showed them to Jonathan and we decided on the best looking one.

Jonathan was busy fixing Dad's computer, so I took over building the bike rack.

Yeah, we were those people...

It looked like I was covered in dandruff!

All the cutting was done.

Assembling the frame took a lot longer than I anticipated, but it got done! During the final steps, I needed Jonathan's muscles to get the pipes to fit.

The final product!

It fits perfectly in the backyard and the bikes are now organized!

We're Idaho Bound!!!

We are off to Idaho! All 17 of the Pattersons are gathering together to celebrate the addition of cute little Clara to our crazy bunch. This will be the first time that we will all be together this year.

Chris and Annie have done a lot of work to get things ready for us and we can't wait to start all of the fun!!!

The energetic boys.

The adorable girls!

We're going to have a (small) pool party!

We're going to have way too much fun!

Any Given Thursday

Jonathan and I have a very predictable routine on Thursdays during this past semester. It took us a while to figure it out (like sometime in March), but we did it. We would start our day out at the temple.

We would occasionally have lunch at Chipotle.

We were definitely the best dressed people there!

Then Jonathan would head off to school while I did laundry at my parent's house.

Our routine worked very nicely. Now that school is out we decided to make some adjustments to our normal routine. We went on a day trip down to the Oakland Temple.

Our check off list! (The oil cap refers to our first trip to SF.)

On the road!

This was the first time I've been since I was about 15 or so. It is a HUGE temple!!! We may or may not have gotten lost 3 or 4 times while we were inside. (It's hard not to!) It is a beautiful temple and so very different from the Sacramento Temple with how it looks, but everything else was exactly the same.

At one point while we were in the temple, an cute old man was helping me and I got a little emotional. The reason why is because my grandma and grandpa Machen were temple workers there at the Oakland Temple and that man reminded me of my grandpa. It's not that he looked like my grandpa or anything like that, but he was using his time to be at the temple. My grandpa was an amazing man and he could do absolutely anything he put his mind to. (He even married a girl that said no to his first two proposals. True story!) My grandpa died when I was only 7 months old, so all I have are stories about him. I love that I can go to the temple and feel close to him.

After getting lost one final time, we decided that we had to get some food. We weren't too sure where anything was, so Jonathan did a quick search on his phone and we decided to go to Judy's Burgers. It was in the ghetto, but the burgers were GREAT!!! Jonathan's one complaint was that they had just rinsed off the lettuce and so that made the burger drippy and a little soggy. (Yeah, he's a burger connoisseur...)

The view from the roof.

We then headed off to the city!

Coming in on the Bay Bridge.

We made it into the city!

The first thing we had to do was get crab sandwiches! So, we headed down to the Piers and get sandwiches for us and for my family. (No matter who goes into the city, we always get each other sandwiches. They're that good!) We still had some time before we would need to pay for parking, so we decided to look at some of the boats that were docked.

Yeah, I pretend to be a real photographer!

The water was so sparkly!

 After looking at the boats, we knew it was time to head over to Ghirardelli Square for some ice cream! I am my father's daughter, I absolutley LOVE ice cream! In all the trips to San Francisco I've been on, I have never gone to their ice cream parlor! It was full, but not insane like it can be at times. The ice cream was delicious!

My ice cream cone in a dish.

After we finished up our ice cream, we wandered around the Square a little bit and found Jonathan's new car! (We wish!)

Don't want to meet your daddy, just want you in my Caddy!

After that, we decided it was time to head home. It was a long day and we were already getting tired!

Leaving on the Golden Gate Bridge.

Sacramento skyline.

It was a fun day in the city. I can't wait to go to the Oakland Temple again!

Miss Mercedes!

Mercedes is such a little character.

She knows exactly what and she likes. I am lucky enough to be a new addition to that list. Last week on Jonathan's day off, we went over to his parent's house. Jonathan was busy fixing the computer while I was spending time with Mercedes. We were sitting next to each other on the stools and after a while, she leaned over and wanted to sit on my lap! I was shocked that she wanted to sit with me! (It never happens when Kenzie is around!)

 A little while later, I was making sandwiches for Jonathan and me as Mercedes was eating her noodles. We were being silly and laughing. I took lunch up to Jonathan and stayed up there with him. After a few minutes, we could hear little footsteps coming up the stairs. Mercedes slowly creeped into the room and wanted to be with me! Jonathan was also excited because Mercedes willingly entered into the same room he was in. It is so great that Mercedes is really starting to like us without even bribing her!

Last night, we were over for dinner. At one point, it was just Jonathan, Mercedes, and me in the family room. Mercedes was sitting in Grandpa's chair and I decided to sit in a chair across from her. When she was looking away, I slowly walked towards her acting like I was going to tickle her and then would run back to my chair when she would look at me. After doing that a few times, I went ahead and tickled her. She was cracking up! Then she started doing the same thing to me! She even tickled me a couple of times. She is such a funny little girl!

By the end of summer, we should all be friends!

Getting Things Done!

The first couple of weeks of summer have already been fun and productive! We started off our vacation by celebrating the anniversary of our first date and seeing the solar eclipse. After that we fixed our dinning chair and Jonathan's bike.

We didn't notice that our chair was broken until after we got it, but it wasn't enough to bother Jonathan until the night of my birthday party. After everyone left, Jonathan took off the broken piece and laid down the chair. And it was laying there for almost a month before anything else happened (yeah, I wasn't too thrilled about that). Finally, Jonathan realized that something needed to be done with the chair. So, we started the project, but ran out of time before Jonathan needed to head off to school. All we had was the new piece of wood cut out, but no holes in it. After that, we decided to just wait until the semester was over before we tried to finish that project again. Jonathan got right to work on it and figured out where the holes needed to be and then drilled them! (Thank you Adam for having a drill press!) I loved watching Jonathan sawing and drilling. I hope we have more projects like this during the summer.

 Fixing Jonathan's bike proved to be more tricky. His bike had the unfortunate habit of losing one of it's peddles. That made it hard for Jonathan to get anywhere. Jonathan developed a plan to get it to work, though he needed a tool to make it work. Luckily, as we were walking around Lowe's, Jonathan saw a bunch of Dremels. They were on sale and just so happened to be perfect for this project! Jonathan was so excited to get one.

He quickly got to work and figured out the perfect way to keep to peddle on thanks to a suggestion from Dad.

After fixing it up, we rode all the way home. (Over 7 miles!) It worked beautifully!

This is just the first of many bike rides and projects for this summer!

My Kids

I absolutely love my nieces and nephews. They are all so unique, sweet, and funny. We've been spending quite a bit of time with them lately and I wanted to share a few stories and pictures.

Ryan is eight and a half (it still amazes me that he can be that old!) and loves playing games. On Memorial Day we played Rummikub together and it was so much fun! It's great that he's now old enough to play games that aren't just Candyland!

Tyler is a tank! He plays hard and sometimes gets hurt in the process. He loves speeding around on the scooter and sometimes crashes because of it, but he is a good sport and makes it back to the house on his own.

Tyler came flying down the stairs and suddenly started to tumble down. As soon as Amy scooped him up off of the stairs, he said "I didn't even scream!" He is so tough!

Kyle loves doing what his big brothers are doing, unless of course it means getting wet. He is our cat. During our big water war, Kyle was sprayed a few times and he cried. Other than that, he had a great time. He will be an amazing soccer player. That kid can kick the ball and then chase it down so well!

Garrett loves having his cousins around. He loves being in the middle of all of the action. When Ryan and Tyler were riding around on bikes and scooters, Garrett was chasing them down on his little tricycle. He doesn't push the peddles though, he instead pushes his feet off of the ground. It is one of the funniest things to watch!

Lyla is a sweet and chubby little girl. Everyone wants to hold her and she humors us so well. She is usually the quiet one watching all the madness going on around her. She is starting to get a little more chatty and smiley. We just love our Lyla girl! 

Mercedes is such a funny little girl. She refuses to wear pants and will only wear skirts or dresses. She is slowly starting to like Jonathan. Mercedes no longer screams when he comes near or sneaks out of a room when she realizes he's there. (Trust me, it's a big deal!)  She is growing up so much I just can't believe it!

Well, I can't give much of an update on Seth and Clara, but in 10 short days we will be in Idaho playing with them! We are both so excited to see them and their parents. I can tell you that Seth is one of the sweetest older brothers a girl could ever want. We have quite a few pictures of him holding Clara's hand. Clara is growing quickly like her older brother. It will be so wonderful to finally see them!

What's in a Name?

I like making lists of names. Some are names of family members and some are names that I like for my future children. I sometimes wonder what effect our names have on us.

I was named after my grandmother. I feel like I have a special connection to her even though I go by my initials. Since the name everyone calls me is only two letters, I feel like it sets my apart from others much like my various interests. I have become very comfortable with who I am even though I am different from most people.

This was the day my dad was sealed to his parents in the Los Angeles Temple.

Jonathan was named after Jonathan, the son of Saul and friend to David, in the Old Testament. He has many similar characteristics of him. He is kind and the best friend a person could ask for. He supports those he loves and tends to stay away from the spotlight.

A few weeks ago, Jonathan and I went to the temple and did sealings. This is the ordinance that binds families together forever so that death cannot separate us from our family. The people we did sealings for were from all over the world including Africa. A man who served in the temple in Africa shared that in Africa, people don't name their babies until they are 8 days old. If the baby dies before then, they take the bury the baby in the jungle and don't speak about them again.

When a family is prepared to go to the temple, they are asked if they had any other children, and if they do they are asked to name them. You see, it doesn't matter if the child was part of the family for only a few short days. They are still a loved child of God and they have the same privilege of enjoying the blessings of being part of an eternal family. These children that were once forgotten to the world are brought back to the remembrance of their family and receive such glorious blessings because of it.

I am so grateful for the wonderful blessings we receive at the temple and that they are accessible to everyone including our ancestors.

The Man I Love

There are many times when I wonder how Jonathan has been able to survive. He is often in his own world and is rather forgetful. This is a prime example.

That is his breakfast bowl on the trunk of his car. He made it all the way through our apartment complex with about nine speed bumps. Yes NINE! Boy, is he lucky!