Positive Thinking

Last week we were supposed to go on a little vacation to wonderful Lake Michigan (see picture), but it was about 55 degrees and cold. So we decided to stay home and try to do fun things at home. We were bummed to not be spending our precious vacation time at the beach. However, out of all bad things come good things, or something like that, right. Ok, maybe not but I am trying to think positively here. We got lots of cleaning done. Dan was able to study. Abby and Jake didn't miss any of their swimming lessons (I am sure they would have had no practice in the Lake--so that's good). We thought about cleaning the garage. We didn't spend any money on gas or hotel, not to mention all the benefits to the environment!

Because of all Abby's hard practicing I am sure that's why she did so great at her swim meet!

I just really love this picture of Abby at her first swim meet ever. I am such a bad swimmer (I really prefer strokes with my head completely out of the water) that I am so impressed that Abby is turning into such a wonderful swimmer. It was fun to cheer her on and watch her compete, it was even more fun once Dan took Estee home :) She is a sweet little girl, but not fun at a swim meet. We could not keep her out of the kiddie pool. So, anyway, Abby did great she came in 5th place overall.
She said she swallowed a bunch of pool water while doing a turn, I think I would have stopped and thrown-up right there-yuck! But, she is stronger than me she didn't do that she swan on and did great.

Here is a VERY SHORT video (I actually thought I was taking a picture) of her doing the back stroke.

In other news, aren't these the cutest girls? We had a fun play date with Estee and her two friends Esther and Lucy. They are all coloring, they loved coloring especially when I helped them draw pictures (don't worry just stick figures) of themselves. Their very favorite was when I drew one of them a picture of baby Sam (Lucy's little brother) and they all had to have a picture of baby Sam. They are so adorable, I loved my morning with these cute little girls!

15 years later.......

Dan and me at Junior Prom 1993


Dan and me before the big Otolaryngology dinner 2008

After 15 years (almost 14 of marriage!!), 4 kids, and so many more things, we still love having a reason to get all dressed up!

Thanks to our photographer, Abby!

GREAT DAD!

Happy Father's Day to Dan!

What a great dad he is, we are so lucky to have him.

We love having a dad who will dress up with us.....

Study with us (this is Jake!).....

Take us for rides in the back pack......

Is never afraid of a little adventure....

Like a train ride with a one-year old......
We love having a dad who takes us on cool hikes......
likes relaxing with us.....
who reads to us.............



Who rides the roller coaster with me for the first time..............

Who takes us to cool cities..........

Who baptizes us.............

Who takes me outside in the winter just 'cause I really want to be outside...........

Who taught me how to ski............

Who takes me sledding............

I love having a dad who thinks I am wonderful...............

Who I think is wonderful............

And, I love having a dad who loves me!

Thanks for all you do, you make us proud every day.

We love you, Andy, Abby, Jake, Estee

A Teenager!!

That's right. I now have a teenager. Another milestone in life, they seem to be coming at me daily. I feel not quite old enough, prepared enough, and just not quite ready! I am lucky to have one of the best 13 year olds alive, so that makes it a lot easier.

Some of the things we love about Andy:

1) He is so agreeable, he will always help out with anything.

2) He is such a good big brother. He reads to Jake every night, thinks everything Estee does is cute, and he tries to be patient with Abby :)

3) He doesn't hold grudges.

4) He has a really great sense of humor.
5) He cares about everybody.
6) He is fun to hang out with.
7) He is funny.
8) He writes in his journal and reads his scriptures every night.
9) He loves football!

Andy enjoying a birthday steak! After recently trying "really good" steak it his new favorite.

Chocolate Mint Ice Cream Cake. I decided to try and make him an ice cream cake after looking at the ones at Baskin Robins and deciding I could make that. It doesn't quite look as good as theirs, but it tastes really good and Andy loved it.

We Matched!!

and...............

Michigan it is!

We are really excited that we will be staying here another year after residency so Dan can do a Facial Plastic Surgery Fellowship!!

Go Blue!

Milestone

My little daughter Abby graduated from the fifth grade last night. I swear it was ten minutes ago she was a little newborn and I was wondering how I was so lucky to have such a perfect baby. I have a clear memory of being up in the middle of the night with her when she was really little. I was watching the Princess Diana funeral to try and stay awake, and thinking that this sweet little baby was my little princess. It feels like that just happened! How have almost 11 years passed?? It really hits me just how fast the years fly by when I look at this little replica of Abby wondering my house--called Estee! She looks just like Abby did at that age and they act a lot alike too. I feel so lucky to be blessed with two such wonderful, beautiful, and talented daughters.

Here are some pictures from the 5th grade graduation. Abby with two of her best buds.
The opening performance!

Each 5th grader had drawn a self portrait and Abby's was the best by far. I mean not to brag, but she is really a good artist. Some of the other mom's backed me up on this and told me how she really captured her personality in this picture. I could not agree more, I can't wait to frame it and put it on the wall.

Abby and her "clone" Estee, below the row of self portraits.

Another one of the songs the 5th graders performed.

I really can't believe Abby is all done with her elementary school years! Sixth grade here she comes!

Abby is excited for sixth grade for the following reasons (in her words):

1) allowance begins :)

2) school ends earlier in the day

3) Andy will be at my school and "I can annoy him"

4) art is cooler in middle school

5) I might have a Nintendo DS

6) I will switch teachers every hour (this is good in case they are annoying me)

7) longer lunch period

8) meeting tons of new people

Saturday

We had a fun day Saturday watching our kids.

Abby had a piano recital and did so good. She played Vivace by Cornelius Gurlitt, and Arabesque by Frederich Burgmuller. The camera had lots of battery power :) here she is.

It was also Jake's last soccer game for the season. They played their little hearts out in the hot sticky weather. They were so sweaty and tired, and the referee kept getting the time all messed up and they ended playing about twice as long as they usually do, poor hot kids!

He was right in front of the other teams goal and calling for the ball "I'm open, I'm open". Gosh, it makes a soccer mom's heart proud! After the game they had a pizza party. And now as soccer ends baseball begins, I'll keep ya posted! Estee taking everything out of my purse, I mean, supporting Jake at his game.
I hope this means she will be a soccer player someday! Go Estee!

After all the activities of the day we got the slip and slide out and tried to cool off. I love this cool action shot of Jake going in for a knee slide!

No smiling here, this is serious business, playing in the water.

This picture of Abby is proof that she did actually SLIDE on the "slip and slide". Which you will understand why I put in after you watch the video below--she was having a hard time sliding!

Some Favorites

OK, so I know I talk about food a lot, but here are some more favorites!

I love going to Sam's Club and getting a buttered pretzel. They are so good. I usually make up some excuse that I need to go to Sam's Club just so I can get one of these delicious things. You should really try if you haven't.

Another one of my all time favorites is a shaved ice. If you grew up in Utah then you know exactly what this is, a deliciously, sugary, icy thing.

In case my description is lacking this is what a shaved ice is. I am salivating just looking at it (sad, I know). I haven't been able to find anything like this in Michigan. The other day I happen be killing some time in the car and I drove past this IceScapes store. I was so excited to try it and see if it was like a shaved ice. Yes, it was, it was delicious and sugary and icy. Now I am looking for excuses to head to Ypsi to go and get one!

Memorial Weekend

Our family exactly four years ago on Memorial Day. My family has a big Memorial Day family reunion every year that I never want to miss because it is usually the only time all year I get to see some of my cousins, aunts, and uncles. This picture was taken on our last day in Utah before we left for Michigan! We still miss those beautiful mountains!

Even though we didn't get to spend this Memorial Day weekend with my family, we still managed to find some fun things to do. We got some work done too, as you can see in this picture of Jake with the giant axe that is way too dangerous for someone his size. We decided to get the work done before we played, so we dug out this tree stump that's been bothering us since we moved in. Jake really wanted to help out especially when we got to the axe chopping part. Here he is chopping away.

Abby also helping with the axe chopping. After I took the pictures, I noticed that she didn't have shoes on. I had to tell her that she would chop her toe off and to get some shoes on!

Dan did a lot of the work on the tree stump on Friday night with plans to finish it up the next day. Unfortunately, Dan was on call and ended up being gone all day long and the nex day, too!! He was exhausted and didn't help any more with the tree stump, so I broke some child labor laws--as you can see, it was pretty fierce. After all the guilt I felt from forcing my children to work soooo hard all weekend on Monday (Memorial Day), we decided to play. Dan had the day off and finally slept Sunday night, so we decided it was time for some fun. We had a fun family run/bike ride where Abby rode my bike with Estee in the trailer (it was so cute, I wish I would have had the camera), Jake rode his bike, and Dan and I ran alongside. Andy sat home, so I guess it wasn't the whole family, but close enough. Next we headed to the pool, which was the highlight of the day! We took the camera and got some pictures at the local pool.

All the kids loved it. But I think it was the most fun to see Estee, because she was so excited for the "Big Wa-wa" (big water). We enjoyed watching Andy, Abby, and Jake playing with her in the water.

Jake playing a game with Estee in the pool.

One of my little ghosts,. My kids are easy to find at the pool--I just look for the glowing white bodies.

Cute girls playing in the pool. We had fun day with perfect weather. It was fun to lay in the sun in Ann Arbor!