New Family Pictures

Thanks to the skills of our Sister in law Jenny we have new family Pics!

Summer in Retrospect (Installment I)

The streak of sun and warm weather is gone here in Seattle. It has been replaced by familiar overcast skies and sixty degree weather. I can no longer even pretend it is summer. Growing up summer was filled with dirty bare feet, long sunny days of playing in the fields, forests and bike riding from one place to another- all while eating endless supplies of pop sicles. Great memories! I hope for my kids that they have equally great memories.

I make a conscious effort to do activities that will create memories for years to come. This summer was a great memory making summer. In June we went to Southern Idaho for a family reunion. Below are a few pictures of this.

Kevin's parents with almost all their grandkids.
I like how Jane is like the cherry on top in this picture.
In June we also welcome Uncle Blake home from his mission. He had a layover in Seattle so we ambushed him in the airport. We love Blake and love that he is home. The kids really enjoy Blake, he is a fun uncle. Maycie surprised me with all that she remembered about Blake before he left. She remembered how he used to chase her and tease her. He picked up right where he left off, Maycie was quite pleased!

Cousins

A year ago Kevin's brother Eric moved to Seattle with his wive Jenny and kids. They live about five minutes from us. We have enjoyed having them so close. It has especially made two little girls very happy!

Aubree and Maycie are about two weeks apart. You wouldn't guess it by looking at them. Aubree has a whole head of height on May. Maycie's goal is to 'grow big like Aubree' ironic considering May is the older of the two.




They slept all night in this bed together and woke with big smiles on their faces. Such great memories for these little girls!

The Art of Shining Shoes

Kevin flew down to the University of Florida for an interview at the end of August. He was interviewing for a residency to specialize in Endodontics after dental school. In preperation for this interview Kevin meticulously picked out what he was going to wear. Then he focused his energy on shining his shoes. One would think that this is a relatively simple process. I have recieved an education and I can now testify that that is not the case. A 'high quality' shoe shine is quite involved, as shown below.

It began very familiar to me, applying polish and then buffing with the brush. That was not the end. Kevin repeated that process three times, yes three.
It was then followed by heating the leather with a blow dryer to warm the leather and polish. After warmed he then shined with nylon. Kev meticulously surveyed his work in the sunlight. I couldn't resist taking these pictures once it escalated to this level. The kids joined in and it became a sunday afternoon family activity. After finishing his three coat process on one shoe and only one coat on the other, Kevin put both shoes in front of me to show me the 'significant' difference. I couldn't tell a difference. But in his defense I am not detail oriented, however I am very gratiful for a wonderful husband who is. He is going to be a great Endodontist.
Right after his interview Kevin recieved a call from Florida and he was offered a spot. We accepted! FLORIDA HERE WE COME! In about 9 months.

KiNdErGaRtEn

Our oldest child is in Kindergarten. This is a milestone! I didn't even cry putting her on the bus. (truth be told- I did cry on her first day of pre-school) Maycie has been excited for this day all summer long.

I think Maycie is a well prepared little kindergartener. She know her letters and sounds. She is getting the hang of sounding out words. Maycie especially likes numbers. She likes counting and adding up things. She is becoming more out going, especially this last year. Before Maycie started pre-school (age 3) she wouldn't hardly talk to anyone or let anyone but Mom and Dad touch her. She used to be a quiet little thing. Even her cry as a baby was relatively soft. Those days are long gone. At moments I miss those days. She loves to belt out original songs suddenly in the car, backyard and even in church. She is our little Maycie girl and we love her!

Maycie picked out this shirt all by herself. I was hoping for another one but she was so sold on this one I couldn't resist. She asked if she could sleep in it the night before. I told her it would get wrinkley and so she opted not to do that.
Maycie's hair has gotten especially long this summer. I have a personal policy that hair shouldn't be long enough to get in the way of business in the restroom. I am feeling that her hair is at a good stopping place for growth. But after trying to get her hair to grow long since birth I must say I now enjoy looking at the her long locks.
She looks so grown up sitting at her very own desk! Even the expression on her face is composed, especially for her! Ahhh how time flys.

30th Birthday Hike

I turned 30 this month, yep 30. That means I am an official adult. When you are in your twenties it is like you are a jr. adult but once 30 hits there is an officiality that surrounds your adulthood status. I don't feel any different, I mean once you have three kids, a husband and student loans you are an adult in my book but I am official to one and all now, at least in my head. (Not sure if any of that rambling made any since)

Anyhow hiking the entire Narrows has been on my list to do since I was 15 yrs old. The Narrows is a 16-17 mile hike in Zions park in Southern Utah. The hike is thru a narrow, steep canyon I would estimate about 3-400 feet high. Most of the hike is in the virgin river. Most parts are shallow but there are parts that are too deep to walk so you simply float leaning back on your pack. My sister Shelly and I had been conspiring together to do a hike for awhile and finally the stars aligned and we did it. My sister Tammy joined in and Shelly's daughter BreAnn came as well.

My camera got wet the second day so we only have a few shots of the first day. The second day was more fun in of that we floated parts of the river and hiked around a waterfall. It was so great to get into the hiking zone where your mind clears and you are only thinking about the next step and the beauty around you. I enjoyed it a great deal. I also enjoyed the bonding time with the girls. We had more then a few good laughs and lots of indepth conversations. What more could I ask for? not much! Except maybe a pillow on the trail at night.
Above is Bree and I wet up to our arm pits and still with smiles on our faces. It was awesome!

Above is Shelly rounding some rocks in the rapids. This hike was not the summit hike that I would typically go for it was more tedious. We spent most of the time in the river negotiating rock after rock after rock. My legs were hammered after day one and day two was no different. We were all walking funny once we were done.

Above is my sis Tammy. We are seperated by four boys between us in the birth order but we are still good buds!
At the end of the first day it begin to thunder and lightning and rain. Shelly found this spot in the sand just under a rock overhang. We were dry and the sand was a big improvement to the hard hard ground we didn't sleep on the night before.
Here we are the Fab 4. Thanks ladies I had a blast!

Happy 30th to me!

Motherhood- Failblog

My son doesn't want to be potty trained. Just ask me and I will tell you all about how complacent he is about the whole thing. I will go on in detail about how nothing seems to stick to keep him motivated and about how grose the whole business is of potty training. I did just this to a friend at the park yesterday. Then as we were leaving the park Nelson saw other kids going potty at the park restrooms and said as we were in the frenzy of heading to the car to go, "Mom, I need to go potty." Instead of saying "Ok, lets go big guy" I looked at the park restroom and imagined how unappealing those places are. Not wanting to wrangle the one year old ( who was still screaming about having to leave the swing) in there while simulaneously keeping the walls from being painted by an unexperienced three year old. I responded with "Can you wait til' we get home?" Oh no I didn't. Yes I did. Sighing inside. I had just been talking about how complacent this kid was and just when he showed interest I squashed it! I cring just thinking about it. I am a mom with all the best intentions but despite all of them I fail, a lot.

So do I bemoun my imperfections? No! Well maybe a bit, like all the way home, and when I go to bed that night. But I have decided to do a retake. We are going to do a retake on potty training at our house and be more fresh and excited about how 'cool' this potty business really is. Retakes are a good thing. Below is a picture I got offline that makes me smile. Wouldn't these people like to do a retake.