John 14:18-19

Love you Sheldon

Daddy lets me get dirty and have fun

Daddy takes me for walks outside

Daddy is a hard worker

Daddy plays with me

Daddy gets money for us

Daddy is always nice to mommy

Daddy takes good care of us

Mommy thinks daddy is cute

Daddy gives me hugs

Daddy is nice to me

Daddy jumps on the trampoline with me

Daddy teaches me things

Mommy & Jace love daddy

I was just looking at our pictures from 2012.  I was looking at our Valentine's Day pictures and Jace helped me to think of things that we love about Sheldon.  I wrote them down on hearts and we taped them onto our window.  Jace decorated a few hearts too.  Jace could hardly wait until Sheldon came home from work to show him what we had done.  I just wanted to record what Jace and I thought of together so that I can always remember.  I hope Sheldon can see this list too and know that I love him so much.  

Dear Sheldon

Dear Sheldon,

I miss you so much.  I hope that you are able to see me and feel the deep love I have for you and for our son.  I never imagined I would be living on this Earth without you.  I always thought I would pass away before you, when we were older after living a full life together.  I never really knew how much safety you provided for me.  We had a marriage where I could be myself and you loved me unconditionally.  You were always concerned for my welfare and truly cared about me.  We have a love that will continue forever.  You always made me laugh and smile, even when I didn’t want to because I was upset about something.  We talked through things and made decisions together.  Even when I made decisions and told you later, you always agreed with me.  You have a kind heart.  I never heard you say anything negative about a single person.  You were always concerned with the welfare of others and you treated other with kindness and concern.  You never said a mean word to me even when I tried to get you to argue with me. 

Jace brought us so much happiness.  We always talked about how much we loved him and what we needed to do to raise him correctly.  You led us in family prayer and scripture study every night.  You tickled and wrestled with Jace every night before bed.  You brushed his teeth and taught him how to be a boy and play rough.  You were so excited to buy the three nerf guns that we unwrapped on Christmas Eve so we could have a big nerf gun fight that night.  Often when Jace would get up in the middle of the night, you were the one to comfort him and help him fall back asleep.  You took Jace for walks to look for golf balls when I needed a break.  Jace adored his daddy.  You provided for us and gave us a wonderful life.

I remember the last week I had with you, looking at you and thinking about how much you had matured since I met you almost ten years ago.  I thought how grateful I was to be married to such a handsome guy.  I was so proud of you.  I love you Sheldon.  I loved our life together.  I wish it didn’t have to be cut so short.  I hope you are able to still look out for me and care for me.  I need it now, more than ever.  I know we will be together again and those sealing promises in the temple will bring us back together again.  Please watch over Jace and let him know how deeply I care for both of you.  Thank you for being everything to me.

I love you forever,

Julie    

Nine Years!

Sheldon and I celebrated our ninth wedding anniversary on the 23rd of November.  I can't believe it has been nine years!  We have grown a lot together and a lot of things have happened in nine years.  I graduated from BYU and taught elementary school for six years.  Sheldon graduated from the University of Utah and also graduated from optometry school at Pacific University.  Sheldon started his first job as an optometrist.  We bought our first house.  We struggled with infertility for seven years before we were blessed with our sweet son through adoption.  We are currently working on the adoption process again for the second time.  We lived in Utah, Oregon, Hawaii, Arizona, Las Vegas, and now Washington.  We have watched our son grow to a happy and busy two and half year old.  We have had so much fun together and I feel so blessed for the nine years we have been married.  Thank you Sheldon for making them happy years.  I love you!

Here is one of our engagement photos

Nine years later!

To celebrate our anniversary on Saturday night we got a babysitter and went out to eat at Norma's Burgers and went to the movies.  It was fun for us to just be together and enjoy that time as a couple.  

On our actual anniversary, Sheldon brought me some flowers and surprised me with a gift certificate for an hour long massage at a spa in Olympia.  I gave him some cologne and baked him some Texas sheet cake.  We went to the mall that night so Jace could have some fun at Chuck E. Cheese and we ate in the food court.  A fun family activity!

Going Home

The last day we had to leave our rooms by 8:30 am so we all went to the breakfast buffet and waited for our turn to leave the ship.  We all said our goodbyes and we went to the LAX airport to fly to Las Vegas.  We were both very anxious to see our little Jace.  He had a fun week with his grandparents and was spoiled rotten.  I found out later they let him have his birthday present from them early since he discovered it in their closet (a power wheels train) and he rode it around their bedroom every night.  Thanks mom and dad for watching Jace all week!!

Every time we turned on the TV it greeted us by name.

This was a 7 day cruise we will never forget!!  See you all in ten years!!!

Cruise Day 6 & 7

We had two days at sea because we were headed back to Long Beach.  Friday night was our last formal night and it was fun to get dressed up again.  We also enjoyed the hot tubs, the all you can eat buffets, the late movies on the Lido deck, the water slide, the comedy shows, the dance clubs, miniature golf, playing board games, taking naps, and our clean room with the towel creations.  By Saturday night I was ready to get off the boat though since the boat was rocking a lot.  We had a fun two days and we really enjoyed the ship.

Goodbye Mexico!

Sheldon's favorite dessert.  He ordered it every night!

Cruise Day 5

We made it to Puerto Vallarto and we were just able to walk off the ship to disembark.  In cabo we had to take water shuttles and it took a while to get on and off the ship.  We signed up for another snorkeling excursion.  We went to the Marietas Islands about an hour from PV.  We snorkeled, kayaked, and enjoyed a beautiful white sand beach.  They also served us lunch.  We saw some amazing fish and even got to hold a puffer fish in our hands.  This was my favorite day of snorkeling.

After our excursion we walked around a little bit and did some shopping.  It was kind of weird to see police officers in the back of trucks with machine guns.  But it also made me feel a little safer too.

Cruise Day 4

We were originally supposed to go to Mazaltan on this day but Carnival canceled that port because of drug war violence so we had another day in Cabo.  We got up early so that we could go back to Lover's Beach to take some pictures.  We took a water taxi from the dock to the beach and we enjoyed the beach with only a few other people there.  After that we booked a snorkeling excursion at the Chileno Bay that is about a 45 minute boat ride from Cabo.  We had to be back to our ship by 4pm so that our cruise ship could make it to our next port on time.

Here's Pelican Rock, where we snorkeled the day before.

We saw Lover's Beach and Divorce Beach which are located at the end of Mexico's Baja California Peninsula.  Divorce beach is touching the Pacific Ocean and Lover's Beach is touching the Sea of Cortez.  We could also walk under Los Cabos Arch.  Usually it is covered with water and they said that is only happens every four or five years when the sand under the arch is exposed.

Divorce Beach has very dangerous waves and signs are posted not to swim there.

Sheldon wasn't too scared to go and put his feet in though.

We got to walk through the arch and go through to the other side.

We found a cool cave to go and walk through.

Here's the view from inside the cave.

We saw seals too.

We had a great view of our cruise ship.

We took a catamaran to our snorkeling excursion.  I didn't take any more pictures once we got in the water.  We saw lots of cool fish and enjoyed the boat ride back and forth.  We had another fun day of snorkeling in the Mexican Riviera.

We enjoyed another nightly show put on by our waiters and a very yummy dinner.  We also watched and sang some Karaoke and went dancing.  We stayed up late and had a lot of fun!