Happy Birthday Daddy!

The kiddos helped me make German Chocolate Cake for daddy's birthday last week.



















Emmie made her own birthday hat. It was so creative :)


























Dad got off early from work on his birthday so we took him to our favorite place....a park. This park we've discovered is great....people have just left used bikes, cars, basketball hoops, plastic slides etc, for all the kids to use here. There is also a big sandbox that entertains the kids for a long time (huge bonus when you are 8 months pregnant and can simply sit and watch!)





















Love this face! Emmie has been way into swings lately because she has discovered how to pump. She is a pro now. Sometimes we don't give her a good enough starter push....hence the 'tude






















It was fun to show Jon our favorite park. It was beautiful weather too.






















Belly shot!


























Someone had lined up all the slides and obviously didn't think how that would feel to run into a ladder each time you go down a slide!























Lukie Ben's scowl!


























I wish I took more pictures of Jon's birthday decorations. It was hilarious. There were all these cheesy signs everywhere about turning 30, centerpieces and party blowers.


























My favorite was a warning sign on the door that said "warning, 30th b-day! Party in Progress" Oh my.. Emmie ripped that one down right as we got home. I did not go out and buy all these decorations.....hahahh Jon was glad when he found out where I got them. He wondered why I would spend money on that stuff. It turns out I am a part of this online community here called "Freecycle" and somebody happened to be giving away decorations for a 30th birthday last week! So classic.


















Jon with one of the party centerpieces. I love how the party consisted of the four of us and it was totally decked out like we were having the whole town over!























I made Jon a new recipe given to us by Erin and Mike. They introduced us to quinoa when they were in Utah this year, and we have loved it ever since. Along with the quinoa, we had some fish with creole seasoning and then lastly, Emmie's favorite part of the meal, blueberries and strawberries.

















Jon loved his cake. Alex, please thank your mom for this amazing recipe.






















HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!


























The real excitement began the day after Jon's birthday when he got a phonecall at work from his lovely wife- ha! It was 5:30 pm and here is the conversation: Me: "Hi dear, what are your plans tonight?" Jon: "Just wrapping things up and leaving the office around 6:00." Me: "Well, dear, as usual, I am here to change your plans." Jon: "What?, you mean like you are at my office? Where are the kids? What are you doing?" Shae: "I am parked safely by your work--wrap up what you have going and I'm taking you out for your birthday. Kids are with a sitter and we are going to explore DC!!! Needless to say, he was surprised. As many of you know, that means success for the Shaebobs! Our first stop was an Ethiopian restaurant in Georgetown. The food was great! We were a little confused at first because we were supposed to eat it with our hands. We loved walking the streets of Georgetown. It had a really cool small-town feel to it. Lots of little shops and international restaurants. After dinner, we went to Serendipity on the same street for their famous Frozen Hot Chocolate. Jon showed me on the menu that this restaurant has been on TV for their $1,000 Ice cream sundae. I guess it has edible gold!!












Next we went to see some of the National Monuments downtown. We had several people tell us how neat it is so see the monuments at night. They are all lit up and it is just beautiful. We only had time for one memorial, so we chose our favorite (maybe I should say my favorite) Abraham Lincoln. It was incredible. I had never been there before. What a special feeling there was around the memorial of this courageous man!

















I feel like I am going to gain a great appreciation for our country while I live here. I am so excited to go back to the city to learn and see more!




















Jon was having lots of fun taking cool pictures....















































Belly shot #2
Lincoln Memorial





















So pretty!




















There's the birthday man himself! We had fun walking along the Potomac river after seeing the memorial. What a beautiful city we live by. We can't wait to go back. The greatest part about the night was after returning home, the babysitter had already put the kids in bed and they were asleep.....yes asleep and we got back before 9pm. We will be calling this sitter again soon!

We love you Jon! I couldn't be more happy married to this incredible person. His bright outlook on life is contagious. He loves his wife and kids and shows it by putting us first and serving us every day!




















I can't end this post without including our St. Patrick's Day festivities (One of Jon's favorite holidays, just ask him). Here is Luke dipping his toast into his cereal....





















Yes, his cereal is green. I think the green milk is Jon's favorite part about St. Patricks day. I know Kate's favorite would be the soggy bread part :)























Here are some random, cute pics of Em and Luke. They wanted to shave in the bathtub like daddy does!



















The comb shave works great!























And lastly, Luke is enjoying potty training so much that he gathered all his undies in his bed to sleep with them!

Our New Home

Hello everybody!! We have slowly been getting settled into our new place. It has been one month since our move from Utah. I decided it is time to write a few of my thoughts and post some pictures of our new life in Virginia. This picture was taken on my favorite night here....dinner with the missionaries! The kids had so much fun helping me make the dinner and serve the missionaries. Luke ended up trying on their shoes at the end of the night, so they made sure he felt like a true missionary, tag and all. I loved how Emmie insisted on wearing a sparkly dress for the missionaries! This made us think of our missionary brothers, Parker and Scottie. We also thought of Shelby this night as it was her birthday :)

















We have made it into the city as a family one time since we've been here. It was such a fun day. I'm sure it's hard to tell from this picture how Emmie is feeling!!

























Metro ride



































































































The kids were enthralled by the "choo choo train" that daddy rides to work every day.





















There's a smile





















Walking in the cold to the Natural History Museum





















We saw a lot of cool things, but of course I had to post the giraffe...





















And these are the kids' faces while looking at....




















THIS!




















Luke was out once we stepped back in the metro for the ride home. We are excited to go back and explore DC!

























One of the greatest things about living here so far, has been the mild weather. This picture was taken the first week we were here (February) and we were out at the park at least once a day.






























































































We discovered little Korea here in Virginia. There is a huge Korean Market place about 10 min. from our house. Shopping there was honestly one of the most exciting things we have done here! And that is not saying it was lame, because it was absolutely fascinating. There were sample booths of Korean food, Asians left and right, everyone speaking Korean, aisles and aisles of food, accessories, kitchen appliances, clothes, etc etc. It was SO COOL. Anyway, we discovered that both our kids LOVE seaweed.














I think they are crazy. It is the only flavor in Asian food I have yet to develop a love for.




















We made an early birthday cake for Jono (he turns 30 this week...ahhhh!) Isn't this girl gorgeous?






















The kiddos are adjusting well. They really love their new house.





















Here they are showing off Luke's new sports sheets. This kid LOVES all the ball sports. He will correct us if we identify a ball wrong "baseball, basketball, football, etc". There is a basketball court at the park near our house. He will stand there and watch the boys play ball and skateboard while me and Emmie are on the swings. He wants to do the "boy stuff"

















Luke is learning how to sleep in a big boy bed. He is also potty training. Poor kid is going through a lot of changes, but he is doing SO WELL. I am so proud of my buddy!





















The kids love their beds because we have them on the floor right now. They can jump back and forth between them.

























A random shot of the dining room. I am getting used to having stairs in our house. I love it and I don't love it (especially by the end of the day when I think I am going to have my baby 2 months early because I am so tired)



























Boxes are our new favorite toys!
























































We love hanging out with our friend Lucy!






















Sarah and Cam (daughter Lucy above), and the Becks (Jenn and Dave) have been so good to welcome us here to Virginia. Sarah took us to the National Building Museum last week. They had a "building zone" for the kiddos.





















Luke liked being a "worker"

























One of the greatest blessings of moving to this area, was that I found a joy school group that welcomed Emmie right away. The kids are so much fun. Here we are painting with shaving cream. However, they all wanted to be like their moms and put shaving cream all over their legs!!

















Emmie loves to make beds, houses, and castles for her barbies and dolls. She can get very creative.






















And yes, we still have dance parties in our swimsuits :) I am so grateful that the transition has gone so well here. I feel overwhelmed by the generosity of people--both in Utah and here in Oakton. So many people have helped us with this move. We couldn't have done it without you. We feel your prayers daily!