June 1st

Today I helped host a Pampered Chef shower for a friend of mine that is getting married in two weeks. She's a new teacher at our school, and I've only gotten to know her better in the past few months. All I had to do to get ready for the party was to straighten up my house (and yesterday I planted tons of flowers all over the yard). The Pampered Chef lady and her daughter-in-law did the cooking and planned the activity and helped set up the decorations and stuff like that. Even Rebecca helped set things up and clean up afterwards.

Before Rebecca (the bride) left, we were looking at some pictures in our hallway--everything from when Tim and I were little kids all the way through our engagement and wedding day. There's one picture where Tim is pushing me up a hill in a wheel barrow, and I explained that it was from a shower that our friends had for us when we got married. I guess a tradition from someone's family is that the groom pushes the bride up a hill in a wheelbarrow and if is successful, the couple will have good luck. Tim was very successful. Then I remembered that the shower (which our friends called "Tim and Kristin's Big Skinny Greek Lutheran Wedding Shower") was on June 1st five years ago!

Tonight we wanted to take Ethan to a new park, so we drove to one not too far from our house. As we approached the totally amazing playground, I told Tim about the wheelbarrow picture and we remembered that this was the park where our shower took place. We didn't even plan that out beforehand. It's cool to think how far we've come in five years, and that even though our lives have changed, that each new stage is so much fun and holds so many good memories.

Of course Ethan loved the slides and tunnels on the playground, but he enjoyed our little hike even more. We walked across this huge field, and the entire way he hung onto both of our hands. I wish I had a camera, because I'm sure we were cute. Then we went down this trail where we had to walk single file. Ethan laughed and laughed because the grass along the trail tickled his legs, and sometimes the hill was so steep that he slid in the dirt. He thought it was so funny. Ethan walked almost the whole way. I'm glad we have a little hiker on our hands.