North Dakota!

We wanted to visit North Dakota sometime this year, so when Aaron's parents were planning a trip, we decided to join in on the fun. We're soooo glad we did! We loved it. I love big families and we all felt so loved and welcomed. We are already talking about when we can go back again! 

We wanted Eli to be able to meet his great-grandparents. They loved each other!

4 Generations - I'm grateful Eli comes from a long line of faith, love and devotion. 

Practicing patty-cake:

We had a dinner party each evening we were in Fargo followed by kickball one night and volleyball the next night:

My father-in-law has eight siblings! We met four of them and their families during our trip. 

After church on Sunday, we drove up to Martin to stay at the farm. 

This fun couple got engaged!

Cousins:

Eli's first tractor ride!

These little critters have been destroying the garden soooo....

Grandma's goodies are extremely delicious. In fact, she stocks her freezer full of treats all the time!

I'm sure I loved North Dakota so much because it reminded me of my home.

Bye North Dakota! We miss you already! :)

Aaron's promotion!

Aaron's officially a 1st Lieutenant in the Air Force! 

Eli and I are proud of the hard work he does every day to support our family. He's currently working as an Exec to the Group Commander and according to everyone's comments, this is a position usually given to officers with more time in the Air Force. :) 

Aaron's promotion ceremony was last Thursday, May 22. As the Colonel talked about Aaron, I teared up with gratitude for his dedication to serving our country. The Colonel talked about Aaron's virtue and honesty at all times - something that is so rare to find these days. 

We've loved the last two years in the AF and have met so many great friends. Aaron and I are both planners so we get anxious at times when we think about the future in regard to the Air Force and our family. We'll continue to move forward with faith that everything will work out.

Congratulations, Aaron! 

Memories in the making

Aaron and I are taking a family history class at church right now and we've enjoyed learning ways to research our ancestors and how we can record our family memories now for our future generations. I'm working on printing out my blog year by year because this really has been a fun way for me to keep a journal. I love pictures and blogging is so much easier than scrapbooking! 

Last week Eli and I walked to a park in our neighborhood and we loved seeing all the spring flowers. They don't stay around long so I whipped out my camera to snap some pics.    

     

On Saturday evening, our talented neighbors preformed at the D.C. Visitors' Center. They are Seventh-day Adventists and when we first moved into the neighborhood two years ago and they found out we were Mormon, they said, "Oh, we've performed at the Visitors' Center for your church before!" When they brought over a flier a few weeks ago to invite to use to their performance, we promised we wouldn't miss it! They're performing again at Christmas time!

Random pic from my phone: Eli sported my sunglasses the entire time we were at Sams last week. He cracks me up all the time. 

Sorry, these pics are out of order, but two weeks ago, Aaron and Eli experienced their first "Father/Son" camp-out with our church friends. They didn't stay the night... {Aaron wanted too. I disagreed. Maybe next year!} I started to post pics of their adventure together and Aaron insisted that he'd do it. :) So, this is a little sneak peek of what's to come: 

{While the boys were gone, I enjoyed an evening of shopping and dinner with my friend Ashley!}

And finally, Eli sure looks up to his dad. I couldn't resist taking this pic of Eli watching Aaron mow the grass. Aaron saw him and decided to take Eli out with him. 

And now back to family history, we're headed to North Dakota this weekend to visit Aaron's grandparents. I'm excited for Eli to meet them and to learn more about the Volks!

I am a Mother

I loved Mother's Day and hope you had a great day too! Motherhood is better than I thought it would be. I'm grateful for my mom who made raising righteous children her priority. 

I recently finished this book - "I Am a Mother" by Jane Clayson Johnson - and I highly recommend it. Jane talks about attending many high profile business meetings with her husband and when it came time for introductions, most women traveling with their husbands would stand to introduce themselves and say, "I'm just a mother," or, "Before being a mother, I worked at this big named company," etc. etc. As I read the book, I teared up many times and realized that I will make a point to confidently reply, "I am a mother," when I'm asked what I do.

As a college freshman, I remember smirking at other freshman girls when I overheard this conversation: between friends and roommates:

Friend #1: What are you studying?

Friend #2: I really just want to be a mom someday. 

 I was determined to finish school and dreamed about working in the business world. Growing up my mom talked often of her college experience and how she had a savings account to contribute to her new married life. I also saw the value of an education as my grandma and aunt were widows at a young age and were able to provide for their families as school teachers. 

I had a great college experience and enjoyed my classes and social life. As years passed by and I continued to be single, I often wondered how different my life would have been if as a freshman girl I focused more on being a mother. Now as I look back and I'm happily married to the perfect person for me, I know my life worked out better than I imaged - I will always promote education, but I will equally promote marriage and motherhood to young girls as they plan for the future. 

I couldn't agree more with Abraham Lincoln who said, "All that I am or hope to be, I owe to my mother."

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Aaron and Eli sent me Shari's Berries for Mother's Day. 

They were extremely delicious! 

{and expensive. haha.. but Aaron knows how to make me smile and I loved them.}

At church, all the women received flowers and a dear friend gave me this yellow, happy gift from LUSH!

We enjoyed Sunday dinner prepared by Aaron and his dad. My in-laws gave me this cute card:

It was a happy day and weekend! Aaron and Eli truly make me feel blessed each and every day!

So, the next time I'm asked what I do, I already know my reply -

"I am a mother and it's one of the best jobs in the world."

More birthday pics

April 30 was a fun day! 

Pretty sure Eli's favorite part of his birthday was waking up to balloons covering the living room floor! We planned to go to the park with his friends, but it rained all day so we opted to play at the mall play place instead. For dinner we picked up Chipotle and headed for the church. On Wednesdays, we see Aaron for about 2 minutes during the day since he goes straight to the church after work so we decided to take Eli's birthday cupcakes and dinner to the church! (Side note - on the last day of the month, Aaron is required to wear a different uniform to work. I love him in this...)

Eli was showered with gifts from family members, friends and neighbors. Thanks everyone for making his birthday so special all week long!

We celebrated his birthday yet AGAIN on Sunday with Grandma and Grandpa Volk! You can never celebrate the gift of life enough, right?!

And now that Eli is 1, he's grown up SOOO much! He says the word HI over and over again and will be walking on his own any day now. He took 4 steps by himself yesterday and I wish I could capture his grin. He feels like a grownup! 

We love you, Eli. :)

Eli's Birthday Party!

We celebrated Eli's birthday a week early so we could celebrate with all our family in Utah! Thanks everyone for coming. What a memorable first birthday it was. 

After seeing "The Lego Movie" several months ago, we decided to have a Lego birthday theme! Thanks Mary Beth and Alex for sharing such GREAT pictures. 

And now we have a 1 year old! He's such a great boy. He waves to everyone, loves a good dance party, always wants to be outside, can't get enough of bath time, eats and eats everything and anything, uses sign language often, smiles and begs to talk when I'm on the phone because he thinks it's FaceTime all the time, stands right by my side when I'm cooking breakfast, lunch and dinner, enjoys pounding on the piano and has recently conquered the recorder, and the highlight of his day is when Aaron walks in the door from work! 

What an incredible year it's been!