Filling In The Gaps

Okay. I want to fill in the gaps for the last five months. Unbelievable. 


January-Jeff and I went to a few interviews for residency. Vanderbilt, and Iowa City. While we were in Nashville we got to go to the Grand Ole' Opry, and some other fun place our friends had told us about. 


February- McKenna turned three. What should I say about Kenna? The nursery leader here called her "assertive." That pretty much sums it up. We love our feisty little lady.


March- Match Day. We found out that Jeff had been accepted to the University of Wisconsin residency program.


April- We packed up our apartment


May- Lauren's preschool graduation.
        Lauren's 5th birthday. She is so sweet, except when she is teasing McKenna. 
        Moved to my parents house for the month to save on rent. 
        Callum's first swimming experience. 
        Jeff ran a half marathon. I'm not sure what he was thinking. 
        Jeff graduated from Medical School
        I got to bottle feed a baby calf. AWKWARD. 


June- Closed on our house
         Had a little relaxing vacation in the Dells
         Moved into our house
         Painted Lauren's bedroom
         Painted my hutch
         Painted Lauren's dresser
         Painted Kenna's and Callum's dresser. 
         I left the kids with Jeff and flew to Utah for my niece's wedding. I was gone over           Father's Day weekend. Happy Father's day Jeff. :)
         Jeff started his residency
         The girls started swim lessons. 


Pictures Below........ pretty self explanatory. 

The pictures of the house will be the next post. Is it killing you??????????

UPDATE

How is Wisconsin? So far it has been really fun. We have been so blessed to have neighbors behind us that are members and they have a little girl and a boy on the way. The girls love their new friend. Milk is cheaper here than in Nebraska. Jeff and I have a new rule here that when we eat out we can't go somewhere we have been before. So far it has been really fun and we've had some really great food and some really not great food.

Pictures of the house? I haven't taken any yet and I will not until I feel it has reached perfection? What I really need is someone to come visit me so I will be motivated to take care of a few last annoying details. Like trying to decide if I should hang up my big clock or just have sitting on the mantel? One of the grouping of things on top of my kitchen cupboard is bothering me, but I can't really figure out why.

How do I like the house? It is great. The hardest things for me to get used to are
1. The light switches. Which one does what? SERIOUSLY?
2. The stairs. I'm not talking about the fact that this house has 44 stairs, but the distance between each step and how far is sticks out. I tend to bound down the stairs, and I like to feel comfortable and "know" my stairs. And apparently that takes me a little while.

Lauren prays every night that her friends in Nebraska will be happy even though she is gone. She is a sweet girl and everyone is adjusting well to the move.

So, pictures to come whenever perfection is reached.

Holy Smokes. It has been forever. Not because I hadn't tried, but because blogger wasn't working for me. I would try to post something and it would just freeze up. HOWEVER today the problem was solved. So simple really. We just needed to update to Google Chrome. So I am back. HooRAy!!!!!

Today was McKenna's third birthday. Gosh we just love her so much. When she woke up I asked her if she was three and she said "No, I'm not big enough yet." I think she must have thought that some big change would happen over night and was a little disappointed that she felt the same as she did yesterday. Lauren was extra nice to her today becuase it was her birthday and it is amazing how much better they played. We feel so blessed to have Kenna in our family. She makes us laugh everyday.

12 RESOLUTIONS FOR 2012

This year I resolve to do the following things. Some are silly and some are very important. Here they are in no particular order.

1. Go to the temple more regularly.

2. Buy moisturizing eye cream. I keep seeing the wrinkles around my eyes and know that I need start using cream but I can't bring myself to buy it.

3. Document more. More pictures. More blog posts. More videotaping. I discovered that I have a terrible memory. My memories are jogged much better if I can see a picture or something. During the break Jeff and I burned everything that we have video taped onto DVDs and there was a year and a half on one 1 hour tape. Seriously a year and a half summed up in 60 minutes. That is pathetic.

4. Print off pictures. I haven't printed pictures for three and a half years. They are all on my computer.

5. Feel the spirit everyday. I read and I pray but sometimes I get nothing out of it. Its like doing your laundry but not putting any soap in the washer. It doesn't do any good and I am going to stop my lameness and do better.

6. Start a new tradition. I measure time by holidays and birthdays and I want to make them more memorable for me and my kids.

7. Get a new phone. Those of you who have seen my phone or have tried to talk to me on the phone understand this resolve.

8. Sell a cake. I really do like to make cakes but they are sooooo time consuming I think that I would enjoy making them better if I got paid for the time I put into it.

9. Go to Target no more than once a day. Sounds easy right? WRONG.

10. Spend more quality time with my kids. I sometimes feel like I am around them all the time but that I'm not really with them, if that makes any sense.

11. Make my children their birthday cakes. For a person who likes to make cakes I have NEVER made a birthday cake for my children.

12. Say kinder words. Every knows that I speak my mind and sometimes it hurts peoples feelings. So maybe my resolve is to "think kindlier"

2011 in Review

I think that New Years is becoming one of my favorite holidays. It's a holiday
where we reminisce of what we have done and who we have become and the promise of doing better and becoming more of the person we should become. So with no further adieu here is my list of the top 11 of 2011

1. Finding out that we were having baby number 3. Exactly one year to the date.

2. Taking our first real family vacation with just the four of us. We went to Kansas City and it was so fun to make memories with our little family. Lauren and McKenna still talk about it.

3. Having Jeff take Lauren on a date to go see Annie. It was so cute to see how excited she was to wear her new dress we bought for the occasion.

4. Jeff had a week off from School and we did lots of fun things together, but by far my favorite was having a picnic lunch. It was just one of those perfectly perfect days that only come around once in a while and I will always cherish it.

5. Moving to our three bedroom apartment. Moving is a lot of work but we really love our new place. An attached two car garage. Heavenly. The perfect sledding hill. Awesome.

6. The 4th of July. We went out to Fremont Lakes with friends and then watched fireworks.

7. Preparing for Callum. I love to decorate and having a new baby is a perfect excuse. It really took up a lot of my time.

8. Trying to sleep in a tent in my parents backyard. Ha. I was really pregnant, but we got two air mattresses in it and we read a Junie B. Jones book, but then Kenna wanted to sleep inside so just Jeff and Lauren slept outside but it was still fun.

9. Having Callum. It was painful and by far my worst recovery, but we are glad he is in our lives. He is a little tricky. When he is happy he is really happy and when he is mad he is really mad.

10. Going on interviews with Jeff. SLC was the most enjoyable because I got to see my brother and sister and their families.

11. Lauren's preschool program and primary program. She is a hoot to watch as she is quite the belter.

We have been so very blessed this year. We are grateful for such wonderful friends, good neighbors and loving families. It has been an amazing year of watching my kids grow up and try new things, to get to see Jeff prepare for his future and for me to try and enjoy the ride. We are nervous and excited to see what changes the new year will bring for us. HAPPY NEW YEARS.
(And maybe my next post will be a list of my resolutions). (Aren't you excited)?

Hoarse

The other morning Lauren woke up pretty hoarse. I said:

"Lauren your throat sounds like it's a little sore. Does is hurt?"

Lauren- "No. My words are just a little crumbly."

Ha Ha. So funny.

Christmas

Can you believe I didn't take a single picture on Christmas? Well I can. I was busy video taping. It was a really great day starting off at 5:45 am. Yikes. My parents have 9:00 church so I just decided to get up after I fed Callum. My parents spoke at church which was lovely but it meant that Jeff and I wrestled our kids alone in a ward that was VERY QUIET.

There were some really cute things the girls said on Christmas

1. Lauren ran downstairs and looked in her stocking and saw that Santa Claus had left her some new cups and she "Cups. That's 'zactly what I always wanted." She is so easy to please.

2. Kenna and Lauren took candy canes to church to eat after the sacrament and then I notice that both of them had them unwrapped just holding them, and then a little while later they were licking them.

Me: Kenna we can't eat those till after the sacrament.
Kenna: I'm not eating it. I'm licking it.

Me: Lauren we can't eat those yet.
Lauren: But they are so yummers. With the cutest little look on her face.

It was a long Christmas day that didn't end until 11 or so. I got it in my head to do a 12 days of Christmas Christmas dinner and it was really fun. I made up some menus, and served the courses. We started appetizers at about 2 and dinner was at 6 and I think dessert was at 9:30 or 10. It was fun and I'm glad my family went along with it. (They all think I have crazy ideas and are sometime leery to let me do what I want to do).

Yesterday was my 26th birthday. I woke up to Lauren telling me happy birthday. It is really fun having kids to spend a birthday with. I asked Lauren how old she thought I was (probably a mistake) and she said 42. Hmmm. Sometimes I feel 42. I noticed 5 or 6 grey hairs on Monday.

Jeff made me breakfast and gave me my present (a really nice insulated picnic basket). Then my Mom took me to lunch and then we all went roller skating. I have been wanting to take the girls roller skating for awhile but the logistics had never quite worked out, but my Mom came and watched Callum and my Dad actually skated. The girls did really well. Kenna seemed to like it a little better then Lauren (she was enthralled with the arcade games though). Lauren liked to hang onto your hand and then drop and slide her skates around making both of us almost fall. And we spent a lot of our time under the disco ball watching the circles on the ground, and that made me totally nauseous.

We had dinner and ice cream cake with my parents and my sister and her husband, then Jeff took me to see New Year's Eve. It was a really great day.

A little note about Laundry

This may seem like a funny post but laundry has been on my mind lately. McKenna has been potty training. She went two weeks without an accident, but now we seem to be regressing and have about two accidents a day. The only benefit to this is that I get a load of laundry done everyday washing the clothes she had accidents in.

My girls get dressed in the morning for our "outings" and then when we get home the first thing they do is strip down to their underwears. Why is that? Is that normal? Should I be concerned? So if you come to my house you will find discarded clothes in the living room, the bathroom, hallways. We go through a lot of clothes in our house. And since my girls only wear their clothes for a few hours do they go back in their drawers or in the dirty clothes? Hmmm?

I have a spouse

During the fourth year of medical school the students get one month of vacation and Jeff started his month right before Thanksgiving. It has been lots of fun having him home. We've been able to paint Christmas ornaments, get our Christmas shopping done (together), had a little Christmas party at our house, went to see the animals at the zoo open their Christmas presents, and watch tons of movies together. I wish Jeff never had to go to school or to work.

On Friday night we had a double date to see a Junie B. Jones Christmas play. Jeff took the girls and Callum took me. Of course we car pooled. Basically it was a family outing but the girls thought it was more fun to call it a date.

Last night was our ward Christmas party and McKenna asked Santa for a puppy. I have no idea where that came from. She has never asked for a puppy before and she certainly isn't going to get a real one if Santa knows what's good for him. The other morning Lauren woke up and ran into our room and said "Did Santa Come?????" It was really cute and it is really fun to see the wonder and magic of Christmas come to life again. It almost feels like I am a kid again.

Malls

I was just at the mall to pick up Jeff's third wedding ring in five years. (If all I have to do to get a bigger ring is to lose it, then sign me up). Anyway back to the point. I used to work at the mall. I was there almost everyday for years. And now, I go maybe three or four times a year. There are so many stores and so much in each store, Yikes. I was so overwhelmed and I wasn't even looking for anything, I was just picking up a ring. In and out in ten minutes.

I'm afraid I might turn into a "What Not To Wear" case simply on the basis that I will get too exhausted at all the possibilities and options that shopping at the mall presents. I'm tired just thinking about it. You know what I mean?

Things I've Learned

Jeff and I just got home from doing three interviews. University of Utah on Monday, University of Wisconsin on Wednesday and Mayo Clinic on Friday. Here are things I learned.

1. I am a little claustrophobic in the last row and next to the window of an airplane.

2. Having a stroller and a baby gets you on the airplane first, but you also get off last.

3. Just because the word Grand is in the name of the hotel doesn't necessarily mean that the hotel IS grand. And in our case, far from.

4. The water in Madison Wisconsin is disgusting.

5. I was not meant to be a traveler. I kept getting confused about which state I was in and which one I had come from.

6. It is a good thing that I don't rely on public transportation. Jeff and I rode the trax in SLC and it took me like ten minutes to figure out the map and which train to get on.

7. My scarf got stolen on the airplane. That's not something I learned, just a side note.

8. You apparently have to either ski or mountain bike to fit in in SLC.

9. I really should have bought those pacifier wipes before we went on our trip. Callum's poor pacifier was on so many airport floors, airplane floors, hotel floors, restaurant floors. YUCK. Let's just say his immune system got a little tougher.

10. Car rentals are really REALLY expensive. Hence the reason we only got a car for one day to drive from Madison to Rochester.

Well that's all that I learned on this trip. We'll see what I learn when we go to Nashville in January.

October

Really creative title right? I'm a little short on imagination and motivation so...yeah. This is mostly just a picture post of the things we did in October.

Here is a wreath that I made for fall. I got motivated when I went to Hobby Lobby and the wreath I liked was 4o bucks. NO WAY was I or will I ever pay that much for a wreath. This beauty was only three dollars and five hot glue burns. The picture isn't great, but I love it and feel a deep sense of pride every time I look at it. Pathetic I know.

Vala's Pumpkin Patch

It was a perfect day and we all had such a fun time.

Here is my little man already six weeks old. We love him.

Halloween

Ahhh. My little Toy Story family. I was trying to think of a family costume theme and it just hit me. You know when Mr. and Mrs. Potato head adopt the three aliens that came from the Pizza Planet. Here we are. I even got the girls to walk around saying "you have saved our lives. We are eternally grateful," well their version of that statement anyway. I made the costumes without patterns. I was totally stressed out, but they got done.

My girls cheating and holding the string to eat their donuts. Hmmm. I wonder where they learned that trick. (From me. I love this tradition of eating donuts from a string, but I always cheat too).

GoodWill Finds

We were recently in North Platte and I love the Goodwill there. It is so disorganized and everything is so cheap. (Not that I love disorganization, but if it keeps the prices low, then sign me up. I don't mind rummaging. That's half the fun right. Thrill of the hunt and all).

I found a bag of these for $2.00!!! I loved these things growing up. (Do you see the babies in the background? They are in timeout for not listening. She put them there after she bashed them against the toy box. I would have put them in timeout for hitting, but whatever).

Two of these are Littlest Pet Shoppe toys and one is a My Little Pony toy. Each one was 50 cents and dug out of a bin of random toys.

Okay these were a little more expensive, but come on look at them. Adorable right???? Callum will be able to wear them in approximately two years.

Ahhh. I love a good deal. Don't you??????????

My Handsome Boy

Here are some long awaited pictures of Callum. My friend Sherrie from SherriJay Photography (http://www.picturethepossibilites.blogspot.com/) kindly took these pictures for us. I think they turned out lovely. Here are just a couple of my favorites. Enjoy.

(I love love love this picture)

"You Know What Makes Me Sick"

"You know what makes me sick? You know what makes me so angry" I could just kick a trash can and spill everything out of it and just leave the contents rotting on the ground for days and days?

(Have you heard of Earl Pitts Uhmerikun? This is how he starts his daily commentary).

Well the things that make me angry aren't political they are these as follows:

1. When I can't figure out what a vanity plate says. You know how they leave out some of the letters?

2. Craft blogs. They give me so many ideas and then I get a "project list" that is far beyond the realm of possibilities to accomplish, and then I get so overwhelmed that I don't do any of them. SO FRUSTRATING AND DISCOURAGING.

3. When people don't know how to use 4-way stops. The other car gets there first so you wait for them to go and then they wave for you to go. DON'T YOU KNOW, YOU WERE HERE FIRST. PAY ATTENTION. (Jeff just thinks they are being nice, but he does this too, and I know its because he isn't paying attention).

4. Getting speeding tickets. I have only gotten one, but it seriously ruined my whole week.

5. Proactiv. They are such scammers.

6. When the first stitch you make on the sewing machine the tread comes out of the needle. AHHHH.

7. Thinking that you kids are all peacefully asleep only the find out that they aren't.

8. Pretty much I get angry when someone doesn't give me what I want. (I admit it: I have a bit of the youngest child syndrome, but really who doesn't)????


9. Not being able to understand the lyrics of a song. I always think that I'll come home and look up the words on the internet and I never do. Why can't you just annunciate people?

And Earl Pitts always ends his rants like this. "I'm Earl Pitts. Uhmerikun. PITTS OFF."

Adjustment

So I think the person who needs the most adjusting to life after having baby number three is me. Perhaps I should have know this or at least entertained the idea, but I didn't. There has only been one really bad day when the girls didn't nap and we were trying to get ready to go to Lincoln and Jeff was having a guys night and I would be putting the girls and Callum to bed on my own. My emotional energy was drained and then Callum didn't sleep good that night and Lauren woke up twice. (one of those times screaming and screaming for ice in her cup). Needless to say I was a wreak.

I feel like the most important thing that I can do is to have energy. How does someone get more energy. The times I yell is when I am tired. I don't want Lauren to tell me "hey, you're being mean to me" anymore. I don't want to be a mean mommy.

The other thing that has been hard to adjust to is the lack of time. I feel like someone is needing something all the time. I am constantly saying "hold on a minute," and my whole day is eating up helping the kiddos. I'm sure that is is supposed to be that way and I am sure that I will get used to it, and I'm sure it will get better (right?????)

But for now I am adjusting. Trying to be more energetic and giving than ever before.

Update On Jeff

I just wanted to update everyone on Medical School. Jeff is in his final year. He graduates in May (Hooray). And then it is residency. He has already applied to residency programs. Here is the list in case you are curious.

1. Iowa (Iowa City)
2. Oklahoma
3. University of Wisconsin
4. Colorado (Denver)
5. Oregon
6. Nebraska
7. Vanderbilt (Nashville Tennessee)
8. University of Utah
9. Northwestern (Chicago)
10. Mayo Clinic (Minnesota)
11. University of Minnesota

He has heard back and has interview set up at half of the schools. So if you are near these cities expect to get a phone call for us to come visit/stay with you during interviews.

He takes his step 2 board examines October 16th and sometime goes to L.A. for another part of the test. And something...something...and something else.

Just so you know.

McKenna at Play

I was busy making some caramel apples this morning and McKenna was happily playing. These just made me laugh.