Jeff & Laura Tolsma Family Blog: 13 things for 2013!

I'm overdue for a post. So here's a long one. I've compiled 13 things to blog about as we start off 2013! In no particular order....

1. Dad Bates comes for a visit! He popped over for lunch on a Saturday afternoon after going to the temple. So fun!

2. Brielle got her 4-month immunizations. This is pretty much how she felt for a day or so afterwards:

3. Brielle in her Bumbo seat. She rarely sits in the Bumbo seat "correctly." She always finds a way to wiggle around. I think it is too boring for her. She likes to be active, up and seeing what's going on. If she could walk now, she would! This is how she always seems to end up. Disclaimer: You should never have the Bumbo seat on a table...unless you are taking a picture of your baby for your blog! :)

4. Yea! A new little princess has joined our world! Annabelle Mary Fountain was born to JoAnna & Robert Fountain on Sunday, January 13th. She's so adorable and I can't wait to hold her myself. Not only is she cute, but she has the coolest birthday: 1/13/13. Can it get much better than that???

5. We celebrated our 5 year anniversary!!! Whoohoo!

We celebrated all weekend. We mostly reminisced, watched our wedding video, looked at pictures, journals, etc. I saved the hot cocoa favors we gave out at our reception, so we drank it and stared into each other's eyes. It actually tasted GREAT 5 years later!

In addition to reminiscing and drinking hot cocoa for our anniversary, we celebrated in style. We bought a Seattle City Pass that gave us cheaper tickets to:

6. Seattle Aquarium,

7. a Seattle Harbor Cruise,

8. the Pacific Science Center,

9. the EMP Museum (Experience Music Project)

10. and the Zoo!

Here's what you see first when you walk into the aquarium. A huge tank! They had a diver with a microphone attached to her mask...she would talk to the audience as she swam around, and it was so neat!

I coordinated with the star fish so we would match that day...

I had to have a Free Willy moment:

We went on a Harbor Cruise...totally awesome! They take you all around and give you a tour of Seattle. We learned a lot, and it was a unique way to get a tour!

We stayed downtown at a hotel and ate dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. Yummy! Here's our family of three:

The next day we rode the Monorail to the Seattle Center. Brielle was bundled up in the cold, Seattle weather!

We went to the EMP Museum, which I really enjoyed. They had a horror movie exhibit, which I thought was interesting only for the interviews with the directors and the behind-the-scenes. They had a black leather jacket exhibit, Jimi Hendrix exhibit, Nirvana exhibit and other pop culture stuff. It was unique and fun. I made Jeff take a picture by the guitar sculpture which extended up 2 floors!

Our last anniversary we saw the World's Largest Belt Buckle in Texas. This year, we saw the World's Largest Electric Guitar! What will we see next year??

We then walked over to the Pacific Science Museum. We saw an Imax movie of the Canadian rocky mountain railroad. It was so awesome! We really want to go on a train ride after seeing that movie. :) The scenery was incredible, and the stories of what the men endured to build it were inspiring. Jeff looked into taking the train trip across Canada...and it was about $6,000....so, nevermind. We'll just watch the movie again. :)

We spent our holiday Monday at the Zoo. It was cold! Surprisingly, I thought the animals were quite active considering how cold it was outside. Usually when I've gone to zoos in the summer, the animals are all sleeping and boring. But these guys were up and moving around! It was great!

We got personal with the gorillas and lions. That was my favorite!! (as long as they are safely behind glass of course)

Who says black and brown don't go together? Apparently these ducks don't follow fashion trends.

We would enjoy the indoor exhibits a lot longer than normal....it was great to take a break from the cold. But we made it all through the whole thing! It was a great zoo.

11. Jeff's playing ward basketball! Brielle and I went to watch. It was fun to see him in action.

Brielle loved it and led the crowd in all the cheers.

12. We went to a Mardi Gras party! Our friend is from New Orleans and she taught us all about traditional Mardi Gras celebrations. It actually is more of a season that starts the 12 days after Christmas. It was really interesting to hear about this holiday from her perspective and how fun it used to be before it got modernized and about drinking. We ate the special cake with the baby Jesus hidden inside, and it was fun to eat homemade Gumbo & shrimp too!