The couple in the picture below couldn't have known that their future would include four wonderful children, eight moves (all except one an international move) and living overseas for 19 of their 30 years together.
Little known fact: Kent and I met at Washington State Universty when I went to stay with my brother and his wife after they had a baby. 
The newspaper announcement below was one Kent's mom put in the paper in Vancouver, WA.
Little known fact: One week after our marriage Kent left me behind and spent two weeks at US Army National Guard summer camp. 
Sadly, the wedding photos are rather pathetic because we decided to save money and not hire a professional photographer. Big mistake. Huge. But one that can't be changed.
We were married in the Seattle Temple, which had only been open for six months.
Little known fact: Kent proposed to me in front of the Seattle Temple.
We had an open house at the Methodist Church in Vancouver, Washington, where Kent is from, on the day of our marriage.
Well known fact: hats were quite stylish for weddings in the early eighties.
After our honeymoon in Seattle and Victoria and Vancouver British Columbia, we had a reception in Spokane, Washington, with my side of the family.
Little known fact: I had strep throat during our reception. I probably infected half the ward.
We've had many amazing experiences and faced afew challenges in our years together. It wouldn't be honest to say that our marriage has always been perfect. We've had our good years and difficult years--as I think most couples do. But we've had many, many more good years than bad, and have learned that we're both at our best when we working together as a team.
Little known fact: I'm a nightowl (it's 1am as I'm writing this) and Kent is an early bird. When we were dating Kent would stay up late so we could spend as much time as possible together, so I didn't know until after we were married that he likes to go to bed by 10:30pm.
HAPPY 30TH ANNIVERSARY, HONEY!!
I LOVE YOU. THANKS FOR ALL YOU DO.
A few last pictures from the quick trip to Houston. It was very gratifying that Kiera (age 2 1/2) is now old enough to remember us, and when she saw us at the airport she ran towards us shouting, "Grandpa!" and "Grandma!".
Kiera in the tutu and crown I gave her last year for her second birthday. She and I enjoyed some bonding time while her mom and dad spent a couple of days away. 
Kent's Mom and brothers Marty and Rob came to visit us the end of April. After church the first Sunday in May we went to the National Arboretum in Washington DC. They have an azalea trail, and the flowers were in bloom. Azaleas are one of my favorite flowers, and the pictures don't do justice to the many lovely colors of we saw. I hope Kent and I can go see the azaleas every year at the arboretum. 
Kent's mom has always loved flowers. I'm sure it's where Kent got his love of gardening. When we were first married if I wanted to know the name of a flower or plant, I would ask Kent's mom.
The columns below used to be around the US Capitol building, but were replaced in the 1950's.
We took a daytrip to Gettysburg, PA, which is less than a two-hour drive away with Kent's mom and brothers.
Unfortunately I didn't have Kent get into this picture with his family members.
This civil war re-enactor was available to answer questions.
I had my spring recital in May instead of June this year to accomodate a family who was going out of town. Below is one of the 15 invitations I made.
Kent and I played a duet of Billy Joel's "Piano Man", only we changed it to "Piano Teacher". I played the piano while Kent played the harmonica and sang words adapted to the names of my piano students.
We did a couple of cool things for Memorial Day. We went to the military cemetery in Fredericksburg, Virginia, to see the 15,000 luminaries again this year on the Saturday night of Memorial day weekend.
On Sunday after church we went to the Kennedy Center for a free Memorial Day concert being conducted by Craig Jessop, who formerly led the MoTab. The picture below is of the bridge between Arlington Cemetery and the Lincoln memorial. I took this picture as we walked across it because the bridge was blocked off so the "Rolling Thunder" motorcycle organization could have it's parade. We saw LOTS of motorcycles!
Inside the Kennedy Center with the US Army orchestra and a combined choir from across the country performing patriotic songs.
And now for the month of June, which started off with several Relief Society activities. I taught at class at our evening RS meeting on making organza flowers like those pictured below.
The theme of that activity was "Bloom Where You're Planted", so my counselor and I made 80 sugar cookie flowers with sticks in them. We made them into flower pots (ice cream cones filled with ice cream) and some Oreo crumb dirt. They were cute and yummy but didn't stand up very well.
I helped to prepare and serve a meal at a homeless shelter.
I hosted a "Welcome and Farewell" Garden party for the Relief Society sisters who were moving out and into our ward.
We bought a new light for the dining room, so I took the old one and spray painted it white. (With lots of help from Kent.) I added some bling and hung it below the deck during my garden party. Kent has the yard looking great.
I organized a Relief Society "Ladies Day Out" trip to the Library of Congress in DC.
Unfortunately only three of us went.
This is me with George Gershwin's piano.
The Library of Congress was built in the 1890's and is a beautiful building.
Our last outing of the month was to the overflow Smithsonian Air and Space Museum near Dulles airport. We were excited to see an authentic space shuttle, the "Enterprise."
The Enola Gay dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. Can you see the reflection of me taking the picture?
It was hard to fit it into a picture, but that's a Concorde jet behind us.
. Thank goodness the weather cooperated and we were able to have the party outside in the back yard.
