It's July 18 and this marks 16 years of marriage for us

Just can't believe its been 16 years already.  We've never been happier, stronger and more in sync with each other, than we are today.  We've certainly been blessed all these years.  We celebrated at one of the best Japanese restaurants in DC.  Makoto.  It is pricey, but worth every penny, as long as you don't do it very often.  Below are some pictures of our evening.  We dropped Lillie off at a friends house and we really enjoyed ourselves.

The restaurant is a tiny little place in the heart of Georgetown in DC.

It's as if we stepped back into Tokyo.

First course was greens with bonito flakes and quail egg.

Second course was eggplant (top left), grilled peppers in miso sauce (lower left), clams (top right) carpaccio in dashi (lower right).

Sashimi course.

Chilled fuji apples with cucumber gel as a palette cleanser.

 Soft shell crab fried in rice cracker with sea salts.

Misoyaki butterfish.

Steak.

Shabu shabu course.

Sushi course.

Everything was so great, but the best part was the company of course!

4th of July 2008 and 2013

We watched fireworks again with my counselor President Williams and his family.  Below are two pictures of the children five years apart.  Time goes by too fast.

 Lillie, Sydney Williams, Mike Williams, Abby Williams, Jared Williams

May 2013--Stake Missionary Preparation Workshop

In response to the church's lowering of age for the missionaries and the need to prepare our youth at an earlier age to serve, we decided to put together a stake missionary preparation workshop.  It was an all day event with all kinds of classes, workshops and fireside meetings.  For our first time, we thought it was very successful.  

Above, leaders made picture boards and displays of when they were on missions.  

Above, the youth learned how to change flat tires in their church clothes.  

Spencer Erickson, Joey Zawada, Al Parraguez, Nathan Wilson

Jessica Kirkham, Willie Shields, Emily Wilson

Austin Olsen paired with the missionaries he went out with to proselytize.

Bishop Vance teaching a class.

Kathy Wilson and Kim helping with lunch.

Pres. Williams, Bishop Isaacson, Brother Kirkham getting their lunch.

Kim, Sister Denyer and Sister Volk

And of course our sweet Lillie was there the entire day helping us.  She is such a good girl.

We Love Utah

We had a wonderful time in Utah for conference. It was really special for us this time, since Lillie was old enough to attend the sessions with us. We were spiritually uplifted and felt happy to be in the same room as our prophet and apostles. We also enjoyed time with Kim's brother and his family. And we had a great time visiting and eating at some of our favorite haunts from our college days!

Priest Laurel Dinner Dance

Tonight we had the Stake Presidency's dance for the Priests and Laurels from the stake. It is a semi formal dance for these youth aged boys and girls. We had about 100 attend. We have a reception line and greet all of them as they enter the room, and we have a formal sit down dinner and dance with a live jazz band. The decorations this year were really well done. We just couldn't be happier with everything. Below you will see pictures of the event. We loved how they draped fabric from the ceiling it was really nice. You will also see pictures of both my counselors and their wives, Pres. and Sis. Volk and Pres. and Sis. Williams. And of course you'll see us. We tried to dress for the occasion.

Following Lillie's Baptism, we had a special Dinner!

We had a Chinese feast in honor of Lillie's special baptism day. We had all her favorites, noodles, fried rice, shrimp, and mushrooms. It was delicious and the perfect way to end a special day.

Lillie's Baptism

Our Lillie was baptized on January 26, 2013 in Hawaii. It was a special day for us. Our Lillie was so excited, it took us two times to do it properly, but it was well worth it!

Happy 8th Birthday Lillie

We celebrated our Lillie's birthday today. She is so sweet and special to us. We had her make a list of 8 wishes she would want. She choose, not going to school, sleeping in mommy and daddy's room for two days (that counted as two wishes), having daddy stay home from work all day, chocolate cake for her birthday cake, crab sushi rolls for dinner, swimming with daddy in the inside pool, two fishes.

We granted her all her wishes. We also celebrated by getting her an American Girl doll, had a nice birthday at the doll bistro and bought all kinds of new outfits for her and her doll so they could match.

Nana bought her an iPad, so we went to pick that up from the store. It was a great day for our Lillie on this important day!!

JUMBO Pillow Pet

When we came home from our dinner on Christmas Eve, Lillie discovered that Santa had left her a JUMBO pillow pet, her prize pillow pet!! That was a nice surprise!