Catch up time...

Brian and I just got back from a fabulous trip to Oakland/San Fransisco. My friend Tami got married and flew us out there to photograph the wedding. Huge shout out thanks to Jill and Caroline, who with out them, this trip would not have been possible. They were master babysitters for us so we could go. The first nigh we got there we headed into the city down to the Fisherman's Warf. We got lunch there and then walked around for a bit. Well, this whole trip will be a little out of order, but one of the things we did was go out to Alcatrez. It was so interesting and they had a really great audio tour there. Pretty cool. The boat ride over was absolutely freezing!!! It took me like 3 hours to thaw. But most of the pics are from the boat ride over and around Alcatrez. More to come on that later.









I just thought this was such a cute picture of the two. Love Izzy's hair!


And cute again....



I feel like a bad Mom 'cause I haven't even talked at all about Caroline's Bday. She turned 4 and was so excited. We kept hearing about how her bday was next for about 2 months. She's so sweet. Love this girl. Her bday pics were funny 'cause she showed no emotion on any of them. Jill really reacted when Caroline opened her camera that she's been wanting forever and that's how we got the smile. I asked her what she wanted for her bday cake and she said Snow White. I think I need to stop asking. I had no idea how I was going to do that, but then an apple popped in my head and I asked Caroline if that was okay. She said, "that'd be a great idea". And so the apple it was. I had to stick Snow White ontop though to get the whole request in there. We had all my family up and it was a good time. Pizza was nasty, but oh well. Company was good!







I have more to post, but I've been at the computer editing wedding pics for a few hours and am ready to lay down. More later...

Dr. Studly

Sorry ladies. He's mine. ALL MINE! I know you want a piece of this and I can't blame you, but he's sworn his undying love to me and there's no room for anyone else in this stud's heart!

#1

I sometimes like to refer to this hottie as "The Chud-Stud". Last night he and his vball team took first place and not only that, but undefeated in the "play-offs". I wish I could have been there to see it all go down, but "watching" the game with 4 youngins doesn't really work. Oh well. Here are a few action shots of my man.

Lately...

We've been pretty busy lately running back and forth trying to figure out where we're going to end up in the next few months, and I think we have, but until it's for sure, we'll keep it a secret. :) So let's see, since he last post, nothing major has happened, just a little bit of this and that. First, we had a penny walk. Tradition at conference time. It was great weather and fun to all be together. Mellie was the honorary penny dropper this year. She's had A LOT going on! Well deserved.





Then we've had the trips to the park. This is the best park around. It's huge. I've talked about it before. My Mom and Mellie and her kiddos came up and we went to it. Will and Coop had such a fun time toghether.





Easter was a good day. We of course had to bypass picture taking before church, and after, why bother! However, Isabelle had just turned 9 months, so I grabbed some of her after church and snagged one with all the girls. We didn't get them dresses this year. Just felt like they have enough dresses and didn't want to buy just to buy. We went to WeeMama's and Papa John's for dinner and an egg hunt. First though, my parents emptied their coin jar and put on an egg hunt for the adults. The hubbies were blind folded and we had to instruct them where to go to find the egg. It was so funny. Total money added up ended up being around $75. Now that's my kind of money jar! Afterwards the kiddos had theirs.






Of course we had the decorating of eggs. This year I splurged and got the one with the "egg wraps". I love those things. They had fun decorating. A dozen eggs goes way too fast between 3 kids... and Bri. :)

Other than that, just in the midst of major decision making. We'll post when we know more.

Our road down memory lane

We've had such a fun month visiting friends from the good ol' days. What are the good ol' days? Well, dental school of course. Who'd have thought it was really true when the graduates ahead of us would say, "enjoy it while you're there, 'cause once you're out, you'll miss it." Yeah right! Well, matter of fact, they were right. We all kept looking forward to getting done with school and out in the "real world" and why the heck did we do that? I mean we all lived next door, hung outside all day and let the kids play while catching up on life and getting a nice tan. Every now and then we'd head inside for a potty break or food, but the day was simple. We got free health insurance, food, power and dental care :). Who needs a job when you get all that?! We looked forward to the first pay check and ended up being poorer those first few months than we were in school. Ha! What a sick joke! Anyway... we got to catch up with 3 of our favorite families from PA. On our trip down to Vegas we stopped by and spent the night with the Gunns. Aria and Elizabeth were best friends and even looked a lot alike as little girls. We had a good time catching up with them and the girls loved having an official sleep over and even sleeping in the same room!


The next morning we drove the rest of the way to visit the Heidemans in Vegas. We love this family! They helped us out with so many different things. Fixing Brian's hair cut I gave him the first Sunday we were there. I forgot to put on the length guard and shaved a spot up the middle of the back of his head. Greg came to the rescue and said something I'll never forget... "don't you know you never let a pregnant woman cut your hair?!". We had many great nights with them talking, eating rootbeer floats and brownies, making bleaching trays and just hanging out. We had a night out on the town. We got to their home and quickly ate lunch and headed out to the Springs Preserve. It's this huge "park" and has all kinds of exhibits and then garden areas. It was fun to get out and let the kiddos run around too. Don't these two look so in love? :)







After that, we ran home and Alicia got 2 babysitters to watch all the kiddos so we could go downtown to catch a show. First we grabbed some dinner at this quick spot. It was delicious! I had the best butternut squash soup. After, we watched Le Reve, one of the Cirque shows. It was amazing and we had great seats. The show was so fun to watch. It's amazing what people can do with their bodies and how strong they were! After that, I talked all of them into riding the Big Shot on the top of the Stratosphere. I was telling them how fun it was and we just had to do it. Well, we got up there and strapped in and then I remembered how freakin' scary it was. I was like, "what the crap was I thinking?!". I then got the sick feeling in my stomach and was not looking forward to the shot up into the air. I heard the sound that prepped me for what was to happen. I screamed my head off. Greg and Brian were making little sounds before, but as soon as it shot off, they got all quiet. After that we got on the Extreme ride. FREAKY!!! The boys pansied out and Alicia and I got in the front row. Well, the only truly brave one was Alicia. She totally wanted the front row, and not only that, she held her hands up. Nuts! That's one tough cookie! After that we grabbed some ice cream to soothe our throats from all our screaming and yelling. Well, that and because it tastes good. It was such a fun night and great to be on a date with them.



We hung out on Sunday and got to visit with another couple,the Luths. It was fun to catch up with them and Alicia made a fabulous dinner. Yummy! Monday the guys went out on a business lunch and then later that afternoon, Brian and I took the kiddos to the park for a bit. It was beautiful weather. After, Alicia and I got to go on our date. We went to dinner at a Mexican restraunt, made a quick shopping stop and then went to see The Knowing. It was a pretty good movie. Made us think a little so that's always good. It was a nice night away. We got up the next morning and headed back. It was so great to be with them again. The kids had a blast playing the backyard and running around.



We made it back and 3 days later Brian and I took off to Colorado. My parents and sisters were kind enough to watch the kiddos (minus Isabelle) while we headed out there for a business venture and to visit with the Twiss family. Another great fam from our past. Brian was checking out Tyler's practice and the area. It was fun to be with Sarah and Tyler again. We had a good time playing some games, chatting and driving around checking out the area. We took a drive out to Evergreen. It was so picturesque. We ate at the One World Cafe and then headed across the street to a yummy pastry/bakery place. Everyone loved the doughnuts and had to buy more. There was a beautiful lake with the mountains behind it. Of course we had to stop and take some pictures. Brian and Tyler posed for a picture. Goofballs! We drove around to a bunch of areas and caught up with life. It's so nice to have friends we can relate to in so many ways. Dental school was great for so many different reasons, but especially for the wonderful friends we made!

Funny girls

On St. Patrick's Day, the kids woke up and looked in the toilet. Why you might ask? Because last year, a neighbor (you know who you are :)) had a leprechaun "tinkle" in the potty and it was green. So the kids were anxious to see if we were as "lucky".

Elizabeth: Mom, you gotta come see this. This is so crazy.
Caroline totally surprised: Mom, our toilet is green.
Me: No way. That's so gross.
Caroline runs to another toilet....
Caroline again, totally surprised: Mom, your toilet is yellow.
Me: No way, that's super gross.
( apparently there was little mellow yellow if you catch my drift)


On the way home the other night Elizabeth was trying to persuade us to get her a pet, but this is how the convo went:

Elizabeth: Mom, are you allergic to anything?
Me: No, I'm not.
Elizabeth: So can we get a dog then?
Me: No, I don't think so.
Brian: I'm allergic.
Elizabeth: To what?
Brian: Cats and dogs
Caroline: Can we get a fish?
Elizabeth: How about a bird?
Me: Heck no. No pets for me. I have 4 kids to take care of, don't need another one. Then we have to feed it (a dog) and walk it and find babysitters for it when we go out of town. But when you're older, if you still want one, you can get one.
Elizabeth: Not if my husband's allergic.

I thought it was so funny that she threw a husband into her "when you're older" picture.


Just 'cause I thought this was a funny pic.

Busy busy

I feel like we've been running all over the place lately. It's been fun feeling like there's actually things to be doing and getting outside! Loving the weather! Last week I took Caroline on a date. She was so excited. We went to Baskin Robbins and got some ice cream. She loves ice cream and I'm a pretty big fan too. It was so fun to just be the two of us. I asked her what she wanted to be when she grows up and she said a doctor. "What do you want to be when you grow up?" she asked me. I thought about it and to my surprise said, " a Mom". I almost teared up. Guess it's not so bad after all. She kept giving me big hugs around my neck and telling me how much she loved me. That is one of the best things to hear from your kiddos!


It's been so nice getting outside. I love the weather and it helps me have more patience. We went to this awesome park that is a castle. It's almost too big and I can't always see Cooper, but it was a lot of fun. Here are a few pics from the excursion. The last one is the best. Elizabeth hurt Caroline, so she's crying, Cooper is just there for the picture and Elizabeth is throwing a little attitude because I told her it was time to go. She said, " I'm not going to smile unless you say we can stay 10 more minutes". Nice.




I caught this sweet moment. Wish they happened more, but glad they happen at all.




My sister Melanie has been going through a lot with the post-cancer surgeries on her hand. Poor thing had a baby a month ago and has had 3 surgeries since then. My Mom has been full time Mom to try and help her out. Things just keep going wrong, but hopefully this is her last surgery for a while. She has a long recouping road ahead of her, but she's tough, so she'll get there. Not easy!

We've been going to the gym faithfully for the last 2 weeks and I am actually loving it. Who'd have thought that I'd enjoy exercising? Not me. But I do. It totally de-stresses me, then I come home to dinner time and it's ruined of course, but for about 2 hours it's great! I can feel the difference and even though I've only lost 4 pounds, I can tell by the way my clothes fit that something is changing.

We're in the midst of deciding where life is going to take us. Brian is finishing up his job here in July, so we're in the middle of some major decisions. I thought once he started work, we were done. Guess I was wrong. We probably have at least 2 moves in the near future. Blah. Oh well. Isn't life adventurous!