Todd and Anna

Blog no more...

2009-04-22T17:27:00.002-04:00

FYI- We will no longer be using this blog (not that we used it much recently). We have started a new blog and will use that one instead. If you didn't get an e-mail from us recently with our new blog information, and you want to see our new blog then please let us know.

Long time no blog!

2009-01-07T21:37:00.004-05:00

So today we finally took down the Christmas tree today and decided that it was time to end the holiday season (or we were just too lazy to do it until now). After all our un-decorating of the house, we remembered that once upon a time we had a blog on the internet. We haven't updated since Halloween, and believe or not a few things have happened since then.

It is so long ago that we won't bore you all with details from Thanksgiving, but we enjoyed a wonderful trip to see friends in St Louis and spend the holiday with them. We had great food, excellent company, and an incredible time. If it wasn't for the 12 hour drive in the snow with 2 kids, we just might visit them more often.

Then December came and life got busy. We hosted a big get together for Todd's residency program, we had dance recitals for both girls, we set up decorations for Christmas all over the house, and so many other things. We won't go into too many details about all we did, but here are a few highlights.

Thanks to all of our friends and family for the Christmas cards. It has become one of our favorite traditions to hang them all on the wall and see them all together.

We had a wonderful Christmas in Minnesota this year. Anna's Mom and Dad flew out on Christmas Eve to spend a week with us. It was a great time with them and we enjoyed being here in Minnesota with them at our house. They were so good with the girls and so much fun to have visit.
We had a great Christmas Eve dinner at a nice steakhouse in downtown Minneapolis. Christmas morning was filled with so much excitement from the kids. Jayda was so excited to get a red-headed doll, with "red hair just like me!!!". Addison was fascinated with the snow shovel she got, and also the baby that she wouldn't put down for days. Both kids got sleds to use in the snow, and plenty of miscellaneous games and gifts. We all got matching pajamas that we opened on Christmas Eve and wore the entire day.

When in Minnesota you must at least play in the snow and cold for one day. After opening gifts on Christmas, the kids were excited to test out their new sleds and shovels. Since the temperature was rather warm and almost 15 degrees, we decided to go outside and play. The kids loved it, and grandma and grandpa were great sports to play in the cold with them.

Both Jayda and Addison have birthdays within a few weeks of Christmas. Since Grandma and Grandpa were here we decided to celebrate both of them the week after Christmas.
Jayda invited several friends over and we had a "Color Me Mine" party where each child got to decorate a ceramic plate they got to keep. They all loved the painting and Jayda had so much fun with all of her friends.

Addison got to have a party with just the family and she also enjoyed her birthday. She was SOOO excited when she opened her present that was a tunnel to crawl through. She couldn't wait to open it and crawl through it, and she just loved it when Grandpa John made an attempt to crawl through it too.

We hope the rest of you had a great holiday season and are now recovering from it all. It really is a great time of year, and even though we get so busy and life becomes so hectic we really enjoy it all. Thanks to all our friends and family for another great Christmas.

Tricks and Treats

2008-11-06T15:39:00.006-05:00

Tricks-

My sneaky brother Joey gave us a huge surprise when he showed up on our door step the day before Halloween! We had no idea he was coming and I'm glad we were home when he showed up. I'm always badgering him to come and see us, so I guess my badgering paid off! We had a great time and we are so glad he came.

Fun Rides with Uncle Joey at the Mall of America

Treats-

Joey was kind enough to bring the girls large caramel apples! The girls loved them, or at least what they could bite into!

Getting ready to go trick or treating. I got dressed up as a skunk (thanks Amy P for the idea) and took the girls out while Todd & Joey stayed home to pass out candy.

Jayda and Addison loved their costumes, even after halloween was over they kept wanting to put them back on and wear them. Addison did her best to keep up with Jayda and her friends. Jayda raced from house to house trick or treating with the neighborhood kids. Addison had to skip every other house so she could catch up since her legs don't run quite as fast. She also would grab handfuls of candy not understanding you are supposed to take just one. They both really enjoyed all of the activities we did for halloween (and there were a lot in the weeks leading up to halloween).

Gas....

2008-11-03T21:19:00.002-05:00

Two or three weeks ago I posted about the price of gas and how excited I was that it was $2.78.

This is the price at Costco today, I can't believe it.

Fall fun

2008-10-19T10:57:00.004-04:00

Quick update with some recent fall fun activities.

We went to a nearby pumpkin patch to pick our Halloween pumpkins. Even though it rained a little, the girls loved looking for pumpkins. Jayda would run from one to another yelling "Mommy look at this one, it is perfect!"

An old-fashioned wagon for them to sit in with pumpkins.

We also spent a day at the Minnesota Zoo last weekend. Perfect cool weather to be out and about, and so many pretty trees to see while looking at the animals.

Part of the zoo is an actual working farm with cows that they milk, pigs, and goats. You can feed the goats with food from your hands. Addison thought it was so fun, but every time she got close she would jump back and start laughing.

Not used to seeing a moose at the zoo. I guess growing up in the West, where moose run wild in the mountians makes it seem strange to have one in the zoo.

As I said before, tons of trees at the zoo with some really nice fall colors

Gotta love it...

2008-10-13T22:21:00.001-04:00

Gotta love the price of gas these days.... I saw it even cheaper then this at another station yesterday. Crazy how a few months ago it was at least $1 more a gallon in some areas.

Fall berries & ski lifts

2008-10-07T22:42:00.003-04:00

One of the many things we like to do in the fall is to pick raspberries. Not too far from our house is a nice big raspberry farm where you can go and pick all of your own berries. I took the girls the other night and they loved it (just look at the mess on their faces). Addison ate every single berry she picked, and Jayda ate about half of what she picked. It was a fun time for them and we still ended up with a lot of raspberries.

Having fun picking, before she realized they tasted so good and then she just kept eating them.

Sometimes it is nice to be small and close to the ground!

We still got a lot to take home...

Another fun event we did was visit a local "ski resort" in Minneapolis (it doubles as a golf driving range in the summer). It is only about 25 minutes south of downtown, and is the highest point in the county. The ski resort opened up one lift from 5-9pm for you to ride up, enjoy some fun events like a fire pit, food, band, live animals, etc... at the top, and then you can walk down the lantern lit grassy ski slope to the bottom.
It was fun and the girls enjoy the short ride on the ski lift.

At the bottom

Enjoying the ride with another family.

At the top of the resort just before it got dark. Notice the extremely high elevation! :)

Fall is in the air

2008-09-28T15:38:00.003-04:00

Fall is in the air- it is nice and cool outside today, the leaves are beginning to change, and our lives are spent outside everyday trying to enjoy the weather as much as posible until the inevitable long winter rolls around where we will stay inside for the next 7 months.

Jayda started pre-school a few weeks ago and loves it. She gets to go 3 mornings a week to the elementary school where they teach pre-school also. It is fun to see her interact and learn from them and she looks forward to going everyday she can.

First day of school

Both Jayda and Addison are taking some "dance" classes. Of course Addison doesn't really dance much, or do anything in the class but watch, but she thinks it is so much fun to put on her leotard and go. We bought her the smallest ballet shoes possible, and they were still two inches too big. Jayda on the other hand does dance and run around in the class. She enjoys the ballet, tap, and the tumbling that are part of each class. I know you are wondering what I do while they are in dance- I walk back and forth between classes and watch the girls, and pity the poor parents trying to control the toddlers that aren't in dance. That is the main reason Addison is in dance.

We got together with some of Todd's residents and went bowling last week. First time that Jayda has ever bowled and she thought it was fun to roll the ball down. When she tried to roll it by herself it barely made it down the lane, so we found this cool ball rolling thing for kids and she loved it (and we didn't have to help her)!

Some other miscellaneous activities these past few weeks:

Playing at a nearby area called "Teddy Bear Park"

Fall bike rides in the leaves. She loves to ride her bike everyday and won't stop asking when we get to go again. She has already worn through a full tire (and tube) and we had to buy a new one. She just keeps on riding....

This is what Addison does when we turn our backs. She is trouble, and keeps climbing up to play with any computer or anything else she knows is off limits.

Taxes...

2008-09-15T16:23:00.003-04:00

I'm not really into politics, and never really get into the issues or battles much, so I am surprised that I even want to post about something political. I am sure many of you have watched the democratic and republican conventions, and that you have your opinions on the various issues, etc....
Today I came across this chart about the different tax plans of McCain and Obama. It compares the income of an individual and how the tax plans of each candidate would effect that income. I thought it was interesting and maybe you will too....

Labor Day Fun

2008-09-05T23:25:00.006-04:00

A quick report on our Labor Day weekend. We decided to take a trip up to the city of Duluth, Minnesota and explore some of the area up there. It is about 2.5 hours north of us on the coast of Lake Superior. It is a very industrial city with a lot of shipping business on large ocean going ships. It was fun to see all the boats and the size of some of them.

The real highlight of our trip was all of the State Parks we visited. We went to 3 different parks and they were all beautiful. We took our bikes and rode them everyday in the parks and got to see a lot of great scenery that way.

The girls enjoyed riding in the bike trailer and were happy most of the time (except when Addison would pull Jayda's hair)

One of the parks we went to had some nice waterfalls that you could hike around and get close to.

We even brought Jayda's bike and let her ride on the path for part of the time. She did awesome and loved it, but after about 2 miles she got tired and wanted to stop and ride in the trailer with Addison. She was hot and sweaty, but so happy that she rode her bike so far and so well.

We had to tie her bike on the back and finish our 12 mile ride with it hanging off like this.

After all of the hiking, biking, and sightseeing the girls were pooped. They were both dead asleep when we finally stopped.

Lake Superior has a beautiful shore. It seemed to be quite rocky in the area where we were, but very scenic and nice.

Our last day we stopped by the local ski resort and hiked around a little. It is nothing like the ski resorts out west of course, but this had a nice view of the lake and some good area for the girls to run around.

Happy Birthday Anna!

2008-08-25T09:00:00.003-04:00

Just wanted to post a Happy Birthday message for Anna. The girls and I love her so much and appreciate all that she does for us. She is the greatest!
Happy Birthday Anna!

State Parks

2008-08-11T16:12:00.003-04:00

Now that July is over and Todd has finally finished all of his night classes (yahoo!). We decided to explore some of the state parks Minnesota has to offer. About 45 minutes from our house along the St Croix river are two parks- the Interstate Park (on the border of Minnesota and Wisconsin), and the Wild River park. Both are very pretty and have various things to offer.

Here are Anna and Jayda overlooking the St Croix river at the Interstate park. The state border is actually in the middle of the river. You can see a small ferry boat (paddle boat) that you can take on a ride up the river to see the large cliffs if you want.

Addison did pretty well hiking around in the backpack, and Jayda was a super energetic hiker that we had a hard time keeping up with. She could have run up and down the trails all day long if we let her.

Part of what is popular are the large rocks that you can climb in and on. Several groups of rock climbers were there, and Jayda thought it was cool to hide in this little rock outcropping.

The kids and dad again overlooking part of the river.

A little farther up the river is the other park called Wild River. Not sure why they call it that name, it is a very calm and quiet area where the water barely moves. It was a beautiful walk/hike through the trees to the river. It was a short hike, but very scenic and fun to watch the kids run half of the way. Here is Anna with the girls on the way down into the trees.

The girls loved walking together and holding hands or chasing each other.

After our hikes we had a little picnic at the visitor center. Addison was playing around and we snapped this picture. It looks to me like she is doing a little country jig. Not sure if she was really dancing or not, but it is darn cute.

The Good, The Bad and The UGLY!

2008-07-15T22:01:00.005-04:00

It's been a while since we have updated our blog, so I'm just going to summarize it in the good, bad and ugly. Let start with the ugly and get it over with.

UGLY

1) Our house was broken into when we were away on vacation in Utah. It was very disturbing and violating for us, but we were fortunate and only ended up with a Dewalt drill (graduation gift from my dad) and our garage door opener stolen. We found our computer with all the cords removed and turned sideways, about ready to be swiped but fortunately it was not taken.
Any one else have a vision of "swiper no swiping, swiper no swiping!"

2) Todd started his pediatric program on July 1st and we haven't seen him since. Okay, so I might be exaggerating a little bit, but not much. He leaves around 7 am and returns between 10pm and 12 am every night. The 12 am has only happened one time, but it does deserve some sympathy! The worst part is he puts the girls to bed Sunday night and then doesn't see them until Friday around 6 pm. Jayda keeps asking me "Did Dad take his sleeping bag with him to school?" and "Who is daddy going to eat dinner with tonight?".

And now for the Bad:

1) watering the new grass by hand with sprinklers. It is such a pain and takes so much time out of my day.
2) We miss all our good friends from Ann Arbor. Jayda misses all of the kids she used to play with, and we miss our good friends too. We know that most of them have moved away and aren't in Ann Arbor either, but we still miss them.

And how about some Good to finish off with:

1) We got new sod in our yard and don't have a dirt yard anymore. Even though the watering is a pain, at least we have some clean soft area for the kids to play in, and it is a lot prettier then dirt too.

2) 4th of July- A fun holiday as always. We went swimming at a nearby lake in the morning, had a BBQ for dinner, then lit some of our own fireworks before the girls went to bed. We only spent a small amount of money on fireworks for the girls, but luckily our neighbors spent hundreds of dollars and entertained us all!

3) Jayda has started a dance class and loves it. It is a Ballet/Tap/Tumbling class with other girls her age. They do all 3 events during the 45 minute class each week. She loves to dance, and to make new friends each week. We even had some of the kids come over and play in our yard after dance today.

4 ) New friends- Jayda had made some new friends in the neighborhood, and so have we. We were invited to a bonfire at our neighbors house the other night where Jayda just ran for hours with the other kids. We are grateful for nice neighbors and new friends that we are making.

5) Todd started his program. We are now 2 weeks done with the 24 month long program. He really likes the other 4 residents he is with and thinks that they will have a great 2 years together. Things are a little unorganized right now, but overall it will be a good experience and enable Todd to learn what he needs and wants to learn. We even went to a Welcome dinner last weekend and got to take the girls with us.
Here is a photo with 3 of the other 4 residents with Todd.

The girls got to wear their special dresses and looked so cute.

That is all for now, we will try to update more often, sorry we are slackers....

Lake Powell

2008-06-14T13:48:00.007-04:00

Ahhh, the beauty of Lake Powell. For those of you what have never been to Lake Powell, it is a trip worth taking. There are many different ways to enjoy the lake, from camping, to houseboating, to lodges, to hotels. There is waterskiing, wakeboarding, tubing, boating, fishing, hiking, canyon exploring, swimming, etc.... the list goes on.
Last year at his work Christmas party Anna's Mom and stepdad won a free houseboat and ski boat rental for 5 days/4 nights. They planned well enough in advance to make sure that everybody who could make it on the trip was able to go. We made sure we were in town during the trip, and it turned out to be one of the best ever. It has been about 8 years since I have been to Lake Powell, and about 10 years for Anna, so we we excited to return and enjoy what it had to offer.

Here is the houseboat that we had. A nice little private bay, some beach to play on, and plenty of water to enjoy.

Group photo on top of the houseboat.

We spent one afternoon exploring some of the high cliff wall canyons. Here we are at the end of one of the canyons, my hair is windblown, Anna's eyes are closed, but the scenery behind us is beautiful. This is "Annie's Canyon"- probably named after my wife....

As I mentioned we got a houseboat and a ski boat. This was the first ski boat they gave us. A very beat up old rental that had some body damage and a very unreliable outboard motor. After a day of use, it actually broke down while Anna, her brother and sister, and Mom were near the Marina. Luckily they were close to the rental place and were able to track somebody down after they had closed. They were very nice and the guy told us that this boat was actually an employee rental boat that they shouldn't have even rented to us.

They were nice enough to give us this brand new (literally used only a few hours before us) boat to replace the old beat up one. It was much nicer and much more enjoyable.

Hours of each day were spent just lounging around. Jayda loved to play on the beach with her cousin Ryan, digging in the sand, collecting seashells and rocks, watering anything she could think of, and just floating in the tubes.

The kids were even brave enough to get in the tube behind the boat and go for a spin.

Jayda and Ryan on the beach.

You may have noticed that I haven't said anything about Addison and Lake Powell, that is because we decided not to take her. We were too nervous about her on the houseboat and being near the water for 5 days. She has no fear and no limits to keep her from jumping off, or wandering away. My brother and sister-in-law were nice enough to offer to watch her while we were gone. Thanks to you guys!

A little more fun playing on the houseboat and in the water. There was a little slide off the top of the boat that was a nice refreshing way to cool off.

Jayda stood and watched us all play on the slide, then she was kind enough to "help" us get out of the water by offering us her hand as we climbed out.

Overall a wonderful trip and one that we would love to repeat. Even though we had some rain the first day, and very strong winds most afternoons, it was still so nice and a great place to visit. Thanks to Anna's family for planning and carrying out this trip, and for letting us tag along!

Utah Visit Part II

2008-06-14T13:35:00.007-04:00

It is finally time for Part II of our trip/vacation to Utah this summer. We have been back in Minnesota for a few days now (earlier then planned, but that is a whole different story). We decided that we needed to update the blog and share some photos for the few of you that read this blog.

We had a great time in Utah and were able to see a lot of friends and family, and have a lot of great experiences. It always seems like a busy time trying to do as much as possible, and see everyone- but this time we felt like we got most of it in and weren't too overwhelmed.

We had a great time swimming and hanging out with Todd's family for two different nights

We had a great BBQ with a group of our friends. We only get to see them once or twice a year, so it was nice that we all were able to get together one night and hang out. It was also fun to watch all of our kids interact and play together. Here is a photo of Jayda with two of her new friends.

I was lucky enough to be able to enjoy a early morning waterski trip with 2 of my brothers. We got up at 6:30am, and drove to Echo reservoir just past Park City. It was 45 degrees outside that morning, but that didn't stop us crazy men from enjoying a beautiful morning of waterskiing. Not sure what the water temperature was, but it didn't matter, we had a great time. We wore wetsuits to stay warm, we were the only boat on the entire reservoir, and the weather was nice and "warm" once the sun came out. Here is a photo of my brother braving the cold to be the first one in.

Nice water and great skiing. Thanks bro's!

Another part of our adventure in Utah included me doing a Triathlon. Yes, I said a Triathlon- the kind where you swim, bike, and run all in the same race! I have never done one before, but have always thought it would be fun. We found a fairly easy and novice triathlon in Utah that was going to be held while we were in town. I have trained on and off for a few months and was just hoping to finish and have a good time. Overall it went well and it was a fun experience. I did about as well as I expected, struggling with the running part, but enjoying the swim and bike part. Overall time about 1 hour 28 minutes, and about halfway through the group of 300 athletes. I enjoyed it more then I thought I would, and now that I know what it is like I just may have to train and do another one some time.... anybody want to join me?

Returning from the 13 mile bike ride

Heading out on the 5k run

At the finish line with my fan club!

At the finish with my trainer and number one supporter Anna (this photo was taken by Jayda too!)

Well, that is about all for this post. After this we went to Lake Powell for 5 days, and that trip is going to get a post of its own. Thanks for reading.

Utah visit Part I

2008-05-28T20:26:00.002-04:00

I figured we would update our blog with Part I of our summer visit to Utah. We have been here a few days and are enjoying our time here of course. We stay very busy trying to visit all of our families, friends, and try to relax a little too.

We decided to drive to Utah from Minnesota this year so that we could have our own car, and since airfare was so expensive. It is an 18 hour drive, but we thought we would drive to Mt. Rushmore on the way since it only added on another hour to our drive. It was a rainy and stormy drive, but we figured it would clear up by the time we got to Mt. Rushmore. Here is a picture of what we saw.

Mt. Rushmore is directly behind Anna and the girls (at least that is what we were told). It was so foggy and stormy that we couldn't see anything. We couldn't see a mountain, any carved faces, or anything. It was fun and interesting to read about the history of it, but we never saw anything. Oh well, we tried.

The girls have been having fun here in Utah playing with cousins and enjoying the nice weather. Here they are playing outside in the grass and on the swingset.

Anna and I have our 6 year anniversary this week. The best 6 years of my life :) To celebrate we took a 24 hour trip to Park City while Grandma watched the kids (thanks Grandma J). We walked down Main Street, rode on the Alpine Slide (in the background of the picture), shopped at the outlets, and drove around the area. It was a nice time and a fun way to celebrate our anniversary.

That is all for now. Lots more to come in a few weeks, stay tuned for Part II in about 2 weeks or so....

Backyard fun

2008-05-17T11:56:00.002-04:00

Who needs a nice backyard of grass to have fun? Not our kids!

Although we are going to get some grass in the next few weeks, the girls don't seem to care much. They still beg to go outside to play with the rocks and dirt. I am sure they will enjoy some nice soft grass when we get it, but for now they aren't complaining.

Look closely and you will see the two girls in the backyard of dirt.

Digging can be fun, even in hard dirt.

All Jayda needs is a paper grocery bag and some rocks to put in the bag.

What we have learned about Minnesota so far...

2008-05-13T19:56:00.004-04:00

1- It's cold here, even in May. We have yet to have a day where I haven't worn a jacket.

2- The Friday/Saturday before Mothers Day, Woodbury (where we live) has a huge city wide garage sale. There were five on our street alone. There were over 800 in the city of Woodbury that weekend, it was kind of crazy!

3- It hurts when you fall down the stairs, even in Minnesota. Both Jayda and Addison have done it, just look at the nose as proof.

4- Most yards don't have fences. At first this was very strange for us since in Utah everyone has a fence around their yard. I really like having the more open community feel though, it feels like we live in the middle of a golf course.

5- Todd has learned all of the dental laws of the state of Minnesota. He passed his Jurisprudence exam and now can be licensed. (which is good since he just got a part time job to work on the weekends!)

6- We can live without internet and TV for a week, but we didn't like it and don't suggest it if possible.

7- There really are A LOT of lakes and ponds in Minnesota. I think every street has access to at least one or two smaller lakes/ponds. There are 3 within a 5 minute walk of our house.

8- An unfinished basement can become a great playroom for kids. Check out the before and after pictures of what a little (a lot) of material and color can do.

9- More then 1000 sq. ft of living space makes us all very happy.

10- A garage is a wonderful thing.

11- In the absence of friends, our girls will play with each other and have a great time!

12- That we still miss our friends and family and wish we lived closer so we could see them more.

Sweet home Minnesota...

2008-05-11T23:41:00.004-04:00

Well, it is official, we are now Minnesotans (make sure you say that with an accent to make it authentic). Our move to Minnesota went well and we had no problems at all. We spent weeks packing and getting things ready, we had family help for a day before we got our moving truck, then a large group of moving crew friends helped us load the whole thing in less then an hour. We were very worried about fitting everything in our 24' truck, but in the end we had plenty of extra room!

Getting it all ready to load

Stacking boxes all the way up to the roof

Lots of friends to help us load and help us clean our apartment after. You guys are the greatest!!!

What could be more fun to play on then a huge moving truck and the loading ramp.

Enjoying some after loading hot dogs and snacks. Thanks to my Dad for all of his help too!

Driving this large truck, with a car on a trailer behind it wasn't too bad either. Averaged just over 65mph on the freeway, terrible gas mileage (even for a diesel engine), some incredibly scary rain and darkness to drive through on Friday night, but all in all we still made it in good time and everything was still in one piece.

We had a few of the current residents from my program help us unload our truck and within a few hours of pulling into the driveway we were unloaded and ready to empty boxes.

It has been just over a week now and things are slowly coming together. So many things to do to set up a new place. We had no blinds or drapes in any of the windows so most of our week was focused on that so that our neighbors didn't have to see us all the time. We have unpacked most of our boxes and set up just about everything, now we just have to figure out where we want to keep everything.

If you ever want to come see us, we are always welcoming visitors!

Graduation

2008-05-11T08:38:00.005-04:00

Our internet is on now so we can finally post a few recent things that have happened in our lives. Two major things- graduation and moving to Minnesota!

Graduation was May 2nd and it was a great experience. It was fun to have family in town to support me and fun to be part of the ceremony. We were very busy packing and getting ready to move (we left a few hours after graduation), but we were still able to enjoy the commencement and I am glad it went well.
Here are a few pics to enjoy:

Me

Me and my hot wife

Family that came to support and be a part of graduation and of our exciting move!

Of course the wives deserve a diploma too for all of their hard work and support over the last 4 years. Thanks Anna, I couldn't have done it without you by my side.

Congrats to the recent Graduate!

2008-04-26T11:17:00.005-04:00

Jayda "graduated" from Pre-School this week. She and her 3 other friends that have been going to pre-school at each others houses twice a week since last fall had their graduation this week. They each got a certificate and a book to celebrate finishing the big year of school. They really enjoyed all their lessons, the play time, the holidays, and just being good friends. I thought I would share some photos of her from the year- she loves to see them and remember the stories from each picture.

First day of school with her backpack on ready to go.

The 4 kids ready to start school.

A lesson learning about the seasons and dressing up for winter.

Special trip to the fire station!

Halloween

Thanksgiving

Christmas

Spring picnic at the nearby Arboretum

The 4 of them on graduation day!

Jayda the new graduate!

School is over!

2008-04-21T09:01:00.002-04:00

Well, it has finally happened- SCHOOL IS DONE!!!! As of last Monday, I have seen my last patient as a dental student at Michigan. All of my graduation requirements are finished, all my boards are passed, and my degree will be processed as of Thursday of this week! Then of course is graduation which is set for Friday May 2nd. It feels good to be done and to have survived the last 4 years of dental school.

My class had a Banquet dinner this week to celebrate us finishing up. It was ok, but not as exciting as I had expected. A little video of classmates, some "stats" of the last 4 years, a long slideshow of photos, and dinner.

Now that school is over, we have less then two weeks until we move. It is time to get packing! We have done a lot already, but it takes so long that it feels like we need to spend hours everyday until it is done.

Then the exciting move to our new place in Minnesota..... keep posted, it may take us awhile to get the internet and get anything posted once we move!

Girls Trip!!

2008-04-12T15:31:00.004-04:00

This past weekend I finally got a chance to take a short 28 hour trip with my friends and leave the kids home with Todd. Big thanks to Todd for watching the kids! Six of my girlfriends and I loaded up in a mini van on Friday and drove down to Columbus, Ohio for the half marathon and 5K races. I was training earlier this year for the half marathon and my nasty injury reared it's ugly head again, so I took many weeks off and decided to run the 5K. Race day was a little chilly and windy but all of us had a great time and did well. It was my slowest 5k time, but I was happy to be running pain free! I have such an amazing group of friends who are so fun, supportive and great to be around. I will miss them dearly when we move!
We thought of and missed all our other running friends who weren't able to come. Now the only question is where to go next year!

Easter, Michigan style

2008-03-23T14:18:00.002-04:00

Happy Easter to everybody, hope you all have a great holiday and that the Easter Bunny visited your house. We have been having a great weekend, and even got 6 inches of snow to enjoy. Anna's sister is visiting with her two kids for the weekend, so we are having fun with cousins too!
Yesterday we have a little easter egg hunt outside. We had it planned ahead of time, and then of course it snowed the night before. We decided to still do it anyway and it turned out to be fun for all.

Here is a shot of all the kids getting ready to hung for eggs.

Pretty easy to find the bright colored eggs in the white snow.

Jayda showing off her basket of eggs and getting ready to go inside. It was fun, but too cold to spend hours outside like she might want to.

Happy Easter to all!

How do you spell relief?

2008-03-11T15:20:00.002-04:00

How do you spell relief? I spell it: P-A-S-S-I-N-G B-O-A-R-D-S!!!!! As of today, I have officially passed all of my written, and patient dental boards!!!!! That means that after a few more small requirements for graduation I will get my degree and my dental license!

This past Sunday was the most stressful of them all- the patient portion of the boards. My main patient canceled on me the night before the exam, but luckily I had two good back-up patients that were willing to come in and they worked out perfectly. Such a relief to have it over and to have good results.

A trip to the Kalahari

2008-03-02T13:30:00.006-05:00

Spring Break 2008! I know that sounds weird since it is just the beginning of March, but we had our "Spring" break last week (more of a mid-winter break if you ask me). We decided to take a little trip with several other families to the Kalahari Resort in Sandusky, Ohio. It is a huge indoor waterpark (largest in America I just found out). We stayed in the resort for 2 nights in some very nice and very spacious rooms. We got 2 "suites" that had 3 bedrooms each and stayed in them with 4 other families we know. It worked out great since they have full kitchens, 3 seperate rooms for sleeping, 3 seperate bathrooms, etc... Included of course are tickets to the waterpark and that is where we spent most of our time.

It is a well designed park with lots of different rides and thrills. It has something for everyone, even the adults. Lots of little slides for toddlers, some medium slides for older kids, bigger slides for teenagers and adults, wave pool, and even a surfing area where you can boogie board or surf on an indoor man made wave. The kids had a blast, and the adults did too. A great trip for all and a nice break from the winter in Ann Arbor.

Here are photos of the trip

Three of the lovely ladies and some children. You can see some of the wave pool and slides in the background.

More of our group.

A shot of some of us in the little kid pool with the little slides.

Even Addison loved riding on the slides. The water was just shallow enough she could crawl from the bottom of the slide around to the stairs and then go back up. We had to help her some or she would have rubbed her knees totally raw.

Jayda went up and down these little slides several hundred times. They were perfect size slides and perfect water depth for her to be able to play around in.

Cute girl ready to spend the day in the water.

Jayda and her good friend Ava were nearly inseperable in the waterpark.

Addison had fun, but not always. Her little friend Ethan decided to catch a ride in the stroller with her and took up all the space!

One of the coolest slides in the park. It started out in a narrow tube, then spit you out into a large bowl and you spun around 3 or 4 times before dropping out of the bottom into a pool 6 feet below. They had a similar one that you did with a group of 4 people sitting on a tube while you spun around and dropped out through the bottom. We referred to both of these as the "toilet" slides.

Amy, Kelli and Anna just coming out of the "group toilet" slide. If is fun to see adults laughing and smiling so much on a simple water slide, just goes to show how much fun it really is!

February update

2008-02-23T07:46:00.008-05:00

Our blog updates are not as regular as they should be, but we figured it was time to finally add another update for you all now.
We have been busy with life as usual- kids, errands, preschool, housework, etc.... but what has really kept our minds busy is getting ready to move soon, thoughts of packing, finishing school, finding a place to live in Minneapolis, finding out a lot more about Minneapolis and what there is there, etc...
Todd only has 7 weeks of clinic left to finish all his graduation requirements and take his clinical boards. It is a little stressful, but will go quickly and then before we know it graduation will be upon us. Then it is time to pack up the truck and move out. We won't get too far ahead of ourselves though, there is still plenty going on here right now.

For Valentines day Anna planned a special surprise dinner for us all. She made a fancy dinner and set up the table with candles, gifts, and valentine themed items. She made us all go upstairs so she could suprise us all with the set up. It was quite nice and she did a fabulous job on the valentines day. Jayda thought it was pretty cool and kept saying how "fancy and special" it all was. You can even see she put on a "fancy" dress on for the dinner!

Addison put on these glasses the other day and thought she was the coolest thing to hit the planet. She laughed and crawled/walked around for an hour with them on. She looked like a nerd to me, but she thought it was the new hot style to be wearing.

Addison is starting to walk on her own now! She has been taking 5-6 steps at a time from one of us to the other, or to the couch. She does pretty well and is getting her balance down better and getting more confident. It is fun to watch her learn and see her get better every day. Go Addison!

Jayda was nice enough go with her dad to the Detroit boat show. Not that we are in the market to buy a boat, but it never hurts to dream right!

Free ride in a little toy boat

Jayda and her friend Dallin climbed in and out of almost every boat. They thought it was so fun to "drive" it, then sit in every seat, touch every button, then climb out and climb in the next boat and do the same. They did this for almost 3 hours!

Weather woes

2008-02-10T10:10:00.000-05:00

Oh the weather outside if frightful, but heat inside is delightful.
For all of you that don't live in Ann Arbor, I just thought I would update you all on how cold and gloomy it is here. February is such a hard month to deal with. Cloudy gray days, only seeing the sun once a week if lucky, cold, cold, some snow, and more cold. This is about the view we get all day long- gray and snowy!

March is a better month, slighty warmer and the hope of Spring around the corner. We just need to make it to March now.

I looked up the current weather in Ann Arbor and Minneapolis today on weather.com. I guess I shouldn't complain too much about the current weather in Ann Arbor, look at the comparison below. Not looking great for better winters over the next two years for us.

Currently at 10:30am: Ann Arbor (AA): 6 degrees, feels like -17 with the wind!
Currently in Minneapolis: -15 degrees, feels like -38 (what does that really feel like, it's too cold to feel!)

The next few days are pretty much the same as this. Lots of negative numbers in Minneapolis, lots of single digits in AA. Oh well, I guess that is life for now!

Don't try this at home!

2008-02-03T20:26:00.000-05:00

It's probably not the safest thing to let your three year old push her 1 year old sister in the doll stroller, but they were entertaining themselves and the good Mom that I am I let them continue. Addison had a blast riding in the doll stroller while Jayda ran full speed from one side of the room to the other. I had to put a stop to the fun when Jayda started to ram her into the walls. The tantrum Addison threw when I took her out was one of her better ones. Now every time she sees the stroller she goes crazy and tries to climb in and whines in protest if Jayda won't push her. While pushing Addison, Jayda informed me that she was taking Addison on a walk to Minnesota. Cute kids!

Match results....

2008-01-28T09:27:00.000-05:00

Well, Match day is finally here and the e-mail was finally received at 8:30 this morning. We are going to be moving to Minneapolis, Minnesota to attend the University of Minnesota for the next 2 years. We are very excited to have matched into a program and to be able to pursue Todd's desire to do Pediatric Dentistry. We are not excited about the cold winters, but we know that Minneapolis has a lot to offer and for 2 years we will be happy living there.

City of Minneapolis

Our future University (we are sticking with the block "M" theme from Michigan to Minnesota)

Birthday Party

2008-01-26T14:55:00.000-05:00

Addison's birthday was 2 weeks ago, but we finally got around to celebrating it today. We invited several of our friends to join us for a "monkey" theme birthday party. Our friends the Gamettes also have a little boy (Ethan) who was born the same day as Addison, so we did a joint 1st birthday party for both kids. It was a great success and a lot of fun for all of the kids and adults that came. Here are a few photos of eating the birthday cake.

Monkey cake with 1 candle for each child

Face plant into the cake

Hey, this is good stuff!

Messy, who's messy? Not us!

What a sweet chocolate covered face

Double sink was helpful in cleaning up the two monkeys.

Jan 20 Update...

2008-01-20T07:55:00.001-05:00

Not too much to update from this week, but I felt guilty since we haven't updated in awhile.

Addison had her 1st birthday recently as you saw on our last post. On her actual birthday we went to an indoor water/swim park. It was a lot of fun for both kids and for us. We went with two other families we know and Jayda loved splashing and going down the same slide over and over. Addison also enjoyed playing and splashing in the little tot pool. We then went to dinner and celebrated Addison's birthday as well as Ethan Gamette (the son of our good friends) who was born the same day and in the same hospital as Addison.

We also finally had Jayda's birthday party with her friends. It took us awhile to get back from the holidays and get her party organized. It was an Olympic theme and the kids played games and got gold medals and water bottles as prizes. Really they just enjoyed playing and eating cake.

Jayda's favorite gift by far was her new dress up box. It has several "Princess" dresses and also some shoes to go with it. She can now be seen just about any time of the day wearing a dress and some high heels walking around the house.

That is it for now. Next Monday we find out about whether or not I matched into a Pediatric Dental program. We will let you all know what happens......

Happy Birthday Addison!

2008-01-11T10:25:00.000-05:00

It is hard to believe that is has been one year since Addison was born. It has passed so quickly and she is getting big so fast. She is a wonderful child and we adore having her in our lives. We will add some photos later when we have her birthday party, but for now I put up a little video of her from one year ago, and from today. Happy Birthday Addison!

Christmas/Dec slideshow

2008-01-06T22:30:00.001-05:00

It has been so long since we posted that I don't know where to begin. Too much to write about our month of December and all that we did. We went to Utah for 2 weeks for Christmas and New Years, and while we were there we had so much fun and got to do so many things. I put together a slideshow so that you can see some of the photos from our trip.

They include: Jayda dressing up with cousins, lots of playing in the snow, making gingerbread houses, Christmas Eve dinner at the Roof Restaurant followed by seeing the lights on Temple Square after, Christmas Day fun, then we went to Anna's family cabin in Wyoming and played in the snow there before returning to Utah again and getting ready to fly back to Michigan.

Now we are home again and trying to get back into the swing of normal life. We had such a great time seeing all of our family and friends and Jayda keeps asking when we get to go back again.

Keep 'em coming

2007-12-16T14:41:00.001-05:00

We love this time of year because we suddenly get a large influx of mail and Christmas Cards. We love to see all the pictures that people send, and read the cards and letters. We post them on our wall so we can see them all month long. Thanks to all who have sent us a Christmas Card this year.

Let it snow!

2007-12-16T09:47:00.000-05:00

We finally got a good snow storm here in Ann Arbor. Last week it rained, then froze, then frozen rain. It has been cold enough to snow, just not the right storms. Finally last night it snowed about 6 inches, and is still snowing all day today.

This morning Jayda and I went out to enjoy the new snow. It was windy and blowing all over, but it is a beautiful white covering to everything.

Here is what it looked like yesterday. We were getting ready to run (hobble for me, run for Anna) with the kids. It was 23 degrees outside, no snow, just cold. It was a lot of fun for all of us though.

Some of our neighbors and Jayda's friends came out to play with her this morning. It was cold and Jayda got wet legs and hands, but she never wanted to come inside. When we finally did get her inside, her boots were full of snow, her legs wet, and her hands freezing, but she was so excited she didn't even notice.

Anna and Addison decided to watch from the warmth of the kitchen. I think they may have been the smart ones.

Early Dec update

2007-12-10T16:56:00.000-05:00

Time for an update from the Allen blog of life. I know you have all been checking daily and anticipating our next update. Well, here it is.
Life is good here in Michigan. It's cold, but that is normal for December here. Not much snow to report, a little storm here and there, but mainly ice and cold. Todd finishes school this week and has almost 3 weeks off! (last time that will ever happen, better enjoy it now!). Todd also has finished interviewing at his pediatric dental programs. 5 interviews total, and he is glad to be done traveling and scheduling interviews. We will submit our match rank list in January, then on the 28th of January our fate will be determined by some fancy computer that will tell us if, and where we will be going....

For the cold weather here we have to bundle up the girls extra warm, even to just run to the car. Here is Addison in her snow suit. We were on our way out the door one day and we looked to find Addison had fallen back and was unable to move . She can't roll over, crawl, or move much at all, but it sure does keep her warm.

Jayda got a new hat and scarf this year. The scarf has little pockets on the end so she can tuck her hands in them when outside. It works pretty well and she won't leave the house without her hands in her pockets.

Even though we won't be in our apartment on Christmas this year, we (Anna) decided that we should have a Christmas tree for the girls to decorate and enjoy. We got a small 3 foot tree and set it up, let Jayda help decorate it, put lights on it, and now we get to enjoy it until we are gone. Todd is a bit of a scrooge with tree's for some reason, but Anna talked him in to it and he likes it now.

No Christmas season would be complete without some gingerbread houses. Jayda made one at pre-school and was so excited to bring it home and show it off. She was also excited to have left over candy that she could bring home and eat. This picture was her showing off the house, but it was so cold she could barely stand still long enough to take the picture.

Jayda has finally showed a desire to sleep "up top" on the top bunk bed. We were washing her sheets from the bottom bunk one day, so we let her sleep on the top for her nap- now she won't go back. She loves to climb up "by myself" and pull up her blankets. She does great getting in and out by herself so we don't end up helping her at all.

In this one you can see her tucked in on top, but even better is that she has her "babies" tucked in on the bottom bunk now. I guess they took over the lower when she moved up.

Thanksgiving Report

2007-11-26T20:09:00.000-05:00

Just a quick report on our Thanksgiving last week. We took the kids to Richmond, VA to visit Anna's sister Marcy. Anna's Dad and step-Mom were also there making it a fun visit for everyone.

Tues- I had an interview with Michigan's pediatric program and spent the day in Flint, MI seeing part of the program up there. I got home at about 3pm and helped Anna finish packing and getting everything ready. We left Ann Arbor for our 10 hour drive and obviously didn't get to Richmond until very late (or early Wed morning).

Wed- Hanging out and Jayda and Addison played with all of the cousins. Here is a photo of Jayda and Addison with their cousins Mya and Megan.

Thursday/Turkey Day- Big dinner at Marcy and Taylor's house. Great food, fun times to visit, football on TV, games for the kids. Of course I forgot the camera that day and so have no pictures of the actual dinner of anything related to it. After dinner Grandpa Craig took all of the kids swimming at the hotel. Jayda loved the water of course and especially the hot tub (not very hot, so she did fine in the water). Addison went to bed so she didn't get a chance to play in the water.
Here is Jayda and Grandpa Craig in the hot tub.

Friday- Anna woke up early and went with Marcy to do the Black Friday 6am shopping routine. I stayed back with the girls and slept in a little. Anna found some good deals of course, and enjoyed shopping in a short sleeve shirt as the weather was so warm in Richmond. (70+ degrees for two of the days we were there). The rest of the day was spent playing at the park, seeing "The Bee Movie", and just hanging out.

Me with Addison and Megan playing at the park.

The kids (Addison, Megan, Jayda, Mya, and Preston) piling up on the slide.

Saturday- We went with Grandpa Craig and cousin Mya to Colonial Williamsburg (about an hour from Richmond). It was absolutely beautiful with so many trees that still had fall leaves on them. Williamsburg is a fun place to visit with a historic area of town that has fully restored houses, shops, streets, horse carriages, etc.... People walk around dressed up in the colonial period and there is so much to see.

Sunday- A VERY LONG drive home. Heavy traffic, hours of driving, stops for kids to play, stops for bathroom breaks, more stops for kids to play and eat, and a total of 14 hours of travel later we arrived home! Long travel days on both ends of the trip, but an overall very fun trip.

Thanks to Marcy and Taylor for hosting us all for Thanksgiving. Thanks to Grandpa Craig and Grandma Meg for the hotel room to share, and for all of the fun visits and playing with the kids.

Mid November

2007-11-18T08:05:00.000-05:00

Sad day at our house after Michigan lost to Ohio State yesterday. We didn't really expect them to win since they haven't beat Ohio State once in the 4 years we have been here, but there is always hope. You Ohio State fans out there can go ahead and rub it in now....
At least Utah won, that is what really matters. Utah will have the same record or better then Michigan depending on what happens next week against BYU. (Go Utes!)

Anyway, enough sports for this week. It's almost Thanksgiving! That means fun times with family, friends, and of course no work or school for a few days! We hope everybody has a great Thanksgiving week. Anna is teaching Jayda's preschool class about Thanksgiving and it is fun to hear what 3 year olds are thankful for. Always thankful for simple things like parents and siblings.

Weather is cold here now, but earlier this week Anna got some photos of the girls playing in the leaves. There is no shortage of trees or leaves around here, and it makes it very pretty in the fall and spring. Lots of leaves on the ground for the kids to play in and crawl in right now..

Early Nov. Update

2007-11-10T09:57:00.000-05:00

So it is past time to update our blog, and I don't really have much to write about today. We are all sick with the same cold- coughs, runny noses, and not enough sleep. Addison has had it for about 2 weeks, Anna for about the same, Jayda and I have had for about a week. It isn't terrible, but it won't go away either.
The weather is turning into late fall/ early winter now. It is pretty and I don't mind the temperature now, but I know it is only going to get much worse for the next few months. We will survive though, we have every other year.

I have been busy with school and interviews for my potential pediatric residency. I have had 2 interviews recently, and have 3 more to come.

My first interview was in Buffalo, NY at the Children's Hospital there. It was a good interview and a good program. Only problem is they interview about 70 people for 5 spots. I liked it though and would be happy there if it worked out that way. First impression of Buffalo is snow and cold, but also I know of a good children's hospital there now.

My second interview was at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. It too was a good interview and has better odds- they interview about 20 people for 5 spots. A very different program then Buffalo, and they both have their pros and cons. When I think of Minnesota, I think of cold and colder. All of the residents seemed to really like living in Minneapolis though, so I guess it can't be too bad.

I have 3 more interviews- here at Michigan, at the Denver Children's Hospital, and Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond. I already know a lot about each of these programs ( I spent a week in Denver and Richmond already) and so I know that they are great programs that I would enjoy. The big question will be where (if anywhere) I will match and be accepted. It could be any of these programs, or none at all. I won't know until Jan 28th, so we all just have to be patient I guess.

Pumpkins and such

2007-10-28T21:10:00.000-04:00

So it is the end of October which means it is time for pumpkin carving and of course Halloween. We posted last week about our trip to Greenfield Village, and now the fun just continues.

Jayda had a fun pre-school class on Thurs where they decorated cookies, learned about Halloween, learned songs, etc.... at the end they all put on their costumes and had a little parade around the house. Their favorite part was singing/screaming their new Halloween songs so all could hear them.

Today we decided to finally go out and get some pumpkins of our own from a real pumpkin patch. Last year we went and Jayda loved it, so we figured this year would be even better. Problem is we waited until 3 days before Halloween so most of the pumpkins were gone. Jayda still had a lot of fun running around looking at each one and trying to decide which one was just the right size for her- "no Dad, that's too small" or an occasional "no Dad, that one's yucky" until we found just the right one for her, for Addison, and for each of us.

We learned something new this week about squirrels- they like to eat pumpkins. We had a few small pumpkins on our porch steps earlier this week. One of them, about the size of grapefruit, just disappeared one day. We assumed it was just some child that took it and didn't think much else of it. Then one day, we found the guilty party, caught him red handed and even have the photo to prove it. A squirrel! He took our small one, then came back and ate half of a larger one. He made a huge mess all over the porch and sidewalk, and when we moved the pumpkin to the grass, he just kept eating it. Here is the photo to prove it. And yes, it is a squirrel and not a small cat, they are huge here and have very long tails!

Halloween in Greenfield Village

2007-10-21T14:49:00.000-04:00

So we have started the Halloween season out already with a little trip to Greenfield Village last night. For those of you who don't know what Greenfield Village is, it is a historic town that is part of the Henry Ford Museum near Detroit. They have old style homes and neighborhoods (from Thomas Edison and such), old Model-T car's driving around, etc... During halloween they set up a trick or treat path that winds through the village and lets you see everything they have decorated. All along the way the path is light by Jack O' Lanterns with candles in them, and there are people dressed up in famous costumes, and also scary ones too. They give out candy to the kids and adults as you pass them on the road and make it all quite a fun adventure. Most of the people that attend are also dressed up and it was fun to see so many costumes. The weather was perfect and not too cold even when the sun went down.
Here are a few photos....

Special thanks to Anna's mom who helped make the poodle skirts. Jayda has been soooooo excited this week to finally get to wear her special poodle skirt!

All the kids that we went with- Jillian holding Kara, Jayda, Hayden, and Addison in front

A few of the dressed up people along the way for you to see:
Marie Antoinette with the kids.

Headless Horseman

Help! Where are my hands?

2007-10-17T19:44:00.000-04:00

So Addison had her 9 month check up this week. We have noticed lately that she has started to suck her thumb at night. We have been tempted to sew on some closed sleeves onto her sleep sac, but felt like it was child abuse so we didn't. Anna asked the Dr. this week if she had any suggestions, and the Dr. said that sewing sleeves on her sleep sac so she can't suck her thumbs was a great idea. Here is a photo of what Anna made for her. She seemed so confused at first, but slept just great with the sleeves on. Her sleep sac was soaked this morning where her hands are from her trying to suck on them, but she didn't suck her thumb last night!

Other then that Addison is a healthy 9 month old child. She is around 50th percentile in height and weight, she is right on track with all of her growth development, and all is well for her. She and Jayda both had flu shots. Jayda went first and took it like a champ, didn't even flinch. Addison on the other hand screamed and cried. We are next, I am betting that Anna will scream and cry too.

Running and Crawling

2007-10-07T20:53:00.000-04:00

Jayda is not really a big fan of races we decided. She has run in little kid races before, and is always excited ahead of time, and afterwards, but when it is time to run- she seems to hate it. We have participated in the Red October Run for the last few years with Anna running a 5k last year and the year before. This year we decided to let Jayda run the kids 1 mile fun run and see what she thought of it. There were 5-6 other kids from our neighborhood running in it so we thought she would just have fun running down the street. We knew she wouldn't run the full mile of course, but we didn't know that she wouldn't want to run at all. When they yelled "on your mark, get set, go!"....she just started whining and wanted Anna to hold her. I think the crowd of people may have been overwhelming to her, so we let her wait for the end of the pack. She then wanted me to hold her, and I told her she had to catch me first. I then ran backwards and about 10 feet ahead of her while she tried to chase me and catch me. It is the only thing that worked to get her to run, but of course it didn't last very long. I then picked her up for a bit, and then she got to ride with Addison on the stroller. After the race she was very happy and excited to show off her red ribbon. She even asked Anna today if she wanted to run a race with her. Funny how kids are sometimes.

So it's official- Addison is now crawling. She has been pushing backwards for sometime now, but could never quite figure out how to move forward. Suddenly it clicked for her on Saturday and she crawled forward a few feet while we just happened to be watching. She seem to quickly catch on to it and now she can pretty much move where she wants. She crawled all the way across our apartment today to see the vacuum on the other side of the room. Exciting to have her crawl, but also it makes us have to "crawl proof" our house again. Jayda is a good helper and now watches to make sure Addison doesn't get into too much trouble. She ran all the way across the room when Addison was still 15 feet away and made sure that the door to the basement was closed even though Addison wasn't moving. It is fun to watch Addison's little hands and legs shuffle across the floor while she is exploring a new world.

Haircuts, Borders, & Boards

2007-09-30T14:40:00.000-04:00

So it has been awhile since we last posted. We are just busy I guess, or nothing exciting has really happened. Fall is in the air and we are enjoying our September. The weather has been absolutely wonderful and we can't complain at all. If only it would stay like this for the next 6 months....
Speaking of 6 months.... in just over 6 months from now (mid-April) Todd will be done with dental school!!! Clinic ends the middle of April and graduation is May 2nd. We aren't really counting down the days, but as we look at the calendar we realize it is approaching rather quickly. Where will we go? we don't know.....

The girls are both doing very well. Addison is getting bigger everyday and is now pushing herself from laying to sitting. She crawls backwards, and gets very frustrated that she can't go forward. Her favorite thing to do now- take off her socks and eat them!

Both girls got haircuts from the Anna Salon of beauty. Addison can now see again, and Jayda doesn't look so raggedy!

Every year the Borders book store here in Ann Arbor has a huge tent sale. They put out all of their discounted, or returned items. They have thousands of books, and also thousands of kids toys. We went this weekend and scored big time on deals! We were there at the start of the sale and it felt like the day after Thanksgiving! People running, diving, yelling, fighting, etc.... Very protective of the items that they grabbed first, and one lady even tried to accuse us of stealing one of our books after we had already paid for it! Overall it was actually fun to go and we got tons of things for very cheap (most are about $1 or $2, when they were originally $20). It works out great because now we are done with our Christmas shopping for the girls (or at least close to being done). Best deal of the day: 4 packages of finger puppets (16 puppets total) and a puppet theatre that normally sell all together for $100- we got it all for $8. Many other deals too, you can see in the picture just some of what we got.

Todd took the first part of his regional dental board exam yesterday. The whole exam is broken up into three parts.
1) a clinical part that he does on a manikin head on plastic teeth- (what he did yesterday)
2) a 6 hour written exam that can be taken anytime between Sept and March.
3) a 3 part patient exam with fillings and deep cleanings that takes place in March.
Yesterday he did the manikin portion at school. There was a fake head that was mounted to the dental chair with teeth in it that he had to to 2 root canals on, and then also prepare 3 other teeth for crowns. All went well, and he feels pretty good about it. He doesn't get the results for a few weeks so we won't know until then what happened. We hope he passed because it costs $850 to retake it!

Marathon blues & Grandma's visit

2007-09-17T20:37:00.000-04:00

So bad news on the St George marathon scene. Anna is out. Due to an overuse injury of her IT band (the fibers on the outside of your leg from your hip to your knee), she can't run for a few weeks. She went to see a doctor about a month ago and he referred her to a physical therapist. She worked with the therapist for a few weeks, but the pain while running was unbearable and she couldn't even run a mile without lots of pain! How would she do 26.2 you ask?- she won't be this year. She made the difficult decision to withdraw from the marathon with just 4 weeks left of training. Very sad for her and hard to withdraw, but she knows it is the right thing for her body and she needs to take care of the problem before it becomes a chronic issue. So good luck to you runners that are in the St George marathon, you won't be blessed with Anna's presence this year.....

I (Todd) was gone last week to a small town in northern Michigan called Oscoda. I was there working at a dental clinic for a week as part of my last year of school. While I was gone, Anna's mom came to visit for the week and helped her with the kids. They were very busy doing fun things (riding in a Model-T car at Henry Ford Museum, shopping at the outlet mall....) and then they spent the evening doing crafts! (good week to be gone huh!!!). They made halloween costumes for the girls, made halloween calendars, made more crafts, made messes, made more crafts,....you get the idea. They had a good time though and it worked out very well that her mom could come visit (Thanks Jane!) Here is a picture of them in the Model-T.

Other then the above things- life is good here in Michigan. We finally won a football game (Go Blue!). The Utes won an even better game against UCLA, and BYU lost! The perfect weekend for college football if you ask me. Jayda and Addison are doing well. Addison is almost crawling, sort of. She pulls up on all fours and then looks at you like "what do I do next". She is very cute, except for waking up 2-3 times a night to play. She isn't hungry, or wet, or anything else, she just wants to play at 1am, and 3 am, and then 6am again. She wakes up and sings, then it becomes a cry, then a scream. We are putting an end to it tonight though, if we are lucky.

We had our neighbor (professional photographer) take some pictures of the girls a few months ago. We finally got copies of them and thought we would share one. They are the cutest.

Jayda goes to school...

2007-09-06T20:15:00.000-04:00

So Jayda started "pre-school" this week. It isn't really school, but more like a structured play group that gets together 2 days a week. It has 4 kids in it, all close to her age. She got to put on her backpack and walk over to the neighbors house and thought it was pretty exciting. She looked pretty cute. She was a little upset that she didn't get to ride the yellow bus that comes to pick up the big kids, but she still thinks it if fun to "go to school" and play with the others.
Each of the parents (the Mom's) takes turns each week to plan a lesson and have the kids over at their house. Our turn is in a few weeks, we will see how fun it is after that...

Strange infections

2007-09-04T14:59:00.001-04:00

What is it with me (Todd) and getting strange infections? Back in April of this year I had to submit some proof of immunity to a dental clinic, I realized while filling out the paperwork that I had never had the Chickenpox as a kid. I ended up having to get an immunization to the Chickenpox at age 31 since I had never had it before. Two weeks after the first shot, I woke up with red bumps all over my body. It wasn't a bad case, and they say it is rare but possible to get the chickenpox from the shot, so of course I got them and had to deal with that for a week or so.

So now I wake up on the morning of Labor Day with a red and itchy eye. I assumed just tired, or irritated from the sun. As the day goes on it just gets worse, and when I wake up this morning I can barely open it. Turns out I have "pink eye"- what a pain. Now I have to put anitbiotic drops and cream in my eye for a week. What is it with me and strange infections?

Family visit

2007-09-01T20:27:00.000-04:00

Anna's sister Marcy is here visiting us with her huband Taylor and her 2 girls Megan and Mya. Megan flew here last week to help with Jayda and Addison while I was away working at a Dental clinic in another part of the state for the week. It was nice for Anna to have Megan here to help her and to spend some quality time together. They went to the zoo in Toledo one day, picked raspberries one day, went swimming, etc....

Marcy, Taylor, & Mya arrived on Friday afternoon and we have been enjoying our weekend together so far. A BBQ on Friday night, then the Michigan football game for Todd, Taylor & Marcy. Even though Michigan lost, it was a fun game for them to come to and always fun to spend some time in the Michigan Stadium (today's crowd was over 109,000 people). Dinner tonight, then a trip to our favorite ice cream spot.

Happy Birthday Anna!

2007-08-26T08:14:00.000-04:00

Yesterday (Aug 25) was Anna's birthday! (go ahead, sing a little tune of Happy Birthday in your mind). She started the day waking up at 6am to do a 10 mile run (sound fun to anybody?). I had surprised her by hanging up the birthday banner the night before after she went to bed. She had a nice long run through what felt like a sauna with 94% humidity. When she came home from her run a yummy breakfast was waiting for her that out neighbor Amy had made, then she opened her gift with a hand made card from Jayda, Addison and me. We took a little trip to Costco in the afternoon, then last night we dropped off the kids with some friends and went to dinner and saw the movie "Hairspray". Anna loved the movie, the movie theater had so much energy with teenagers who were dancing and everyone was clapping, a little much for me but Anna thought it was fun. Overall it was a nice day for her and a good birthday celebration.
As part of her birthday celebration, several of her friends took her out on Thurs night to get ice cream. Our Michigan friends are so good at making birthdays a special time and making sure there is a celebration.
Anna wants to thank everyone that sent cards, e-mails, or called to wish her a happy birthday.

All shook up

2007-08-26T08:00:00.001-04:00

It has been a very rainy and thunder filled week here in Michigan. It seems like it has rained almost every day for at least a week, some days very heavy! In the last week we have had one flood warning, numerous severe thunderstorm warnings, and on Friday night there were actually 3 tornadoes that touched down about 30 minutes north of where we live. It is such a crazy experience here- you can look outside on a cloudy day, and within minutes the sky turns dark gray almost black, the rain just starts to pour out of the sky, and then comes the lightning and thunder. It seems like the lightning strikes are all around your house, and the thunder shakes your house just to make sure you know how close this storm is. It is scary, and you want to run and hide in the basement. Sometimes they last for quite awhile, and other times it is over in 5 minutes.
That has been what our week is about this week. Hard to plan anything outside, or let the kids out for too long- it is just soggy and wet all the time.

Kids say the funniest things...

2007-08-24T07:49:00.000-04:00

Kids say the funniest things sometimes, and every time Jayda says something funny I mean to write it down, or I think that I should hurry and put in on our blog....but I usually forget and then it is too late. I did have two experiences this week that I thought were entertaining- one was cute, and the other very funny. So I am going to share them both with whoever is reading our blog these days.

I wear scrubs to school almost everyday. There are several reasons- comfort, easy to wash often and not iron, cool temperature in summer, etc... I put on my scrubs the other morning and came walking down the stairs. Jayda looked at me confused for a second (I guess I haven't worn them in a few weeks) and she said to me "Daddy, what are you wearing?". I replied "these are my school clothes, it is what I wear everyday." She then smiled and said "Oh yeah, those are your school pajamas!!" and then walked away. I thought it was funny, and kind of true at the same time. She must realize that most pajamas are very similar and that they are just as comfortable.

The other story is the funniest of all. I was in our upstairs bathroom waiting for Jayda to come up for her bath. I was watching her walk up the stairs when all of a sudden she stopped, looked to her side and behind her and said "whoa" with a very confused look on her face. I thought nothing of it and just waited. She took a few steps more, and then the same thing, she stopped walking, looked to her side and behind her and just said "whoa" with a bewildered look on her face. This time I decided to ask her what the excitment and confusion was about. She looked at me with sweet little innocent eyes and told me "Daddy, my bum is talking!"- I had to control myself from bursting out in laughter, I looked at her and just asked her "well, what is it saying". "I don't know Daddy" she replied in confusion, "but my bum is talking to me". I couldn't keep it in any longer and just started to laugh. Such a cute little girl trying to understand what her bum is saying to her.

Clapping, School & Running

2007-08-19T19:16:00.000-04:00

We have two exciting things to share about Addison this week. The first is she has started to clap! It is so cute to watch. It almost looks like it’s an accident and then she will do it again and again, so I am convinced it is purposeful movements. She keeps one hand still and moves the other hand to meet it. So fun to watch her discover a new trick, you can tell she is so proud of herself by the smile on her face.

The second bit of exciting new about Addison is that she finally took a nap longer than 40 min.! She actually had a two-hour morning and a two-hour afternoon nap today. I know this is probably not very exciting for most of you, but if you have ever had a short napper you can understand my frustration. I was just about at the end of my rope with her naps and she shocks me with 2 two-hour naps. I feel like that happens a lot in parenting, kids push you until your just about to throw in the towel and then they surprise you by doing what you have been asking for. I’m just hoping that we continue to have success with her naps tomorrow.

Todd starts fall semester tomorrow. Part of me is dreading it and the other part is like bring it on, lets just do this and get it over with. It will be a busy and stressful school year for him. He is in his last year so things are good, but he has a lot to do for graduation requirements, national board exams, and applications to Pediatric programs. I think it is going to make it all go by fast though. It makes me sad to have summer end, I love fall but I know winter will be here soon after.

I fell like a lot of my time lately has been spent training for the St. George marathon and recovering from my runs. I ran 16 miles on Saturday, when I think about it I’m amazed that I was able to go that far, but then I think to run the marathon I’m going to be adding 10 miles onto that! I just need to take it one-step at a time, I’m sure everything will be just fine. My goal this week is to be able to walk down the stairs forward not side ways griping on to the handrail for dear life. I’m so sore!

Crazy Pictures

2007-08-18T07:02:00.001-04:00

Just having a little fun with the built in camera on out computer. Jayda absolutely loves it! She will sit on a chair and make us turn on the camera so she can make funny faces, or see two of herself, or see us in funny colors, etc...

Niagara Falls

2007-08-12T15:28:00.001-04:00

We took a trip to Niagara Falls this week for a few days. It was a fun trip for us and one we are glad we did. Todd hasn't been since he was very young (and doesn't remember it). Anna went 6 years ago with her sisters and dad, but they just spent one day there. Our original plan was to camp, but as the time got closer we changed our mind due to the fact that it was supposed to be so hot during the day. It was going to be upper 80's to low 90's with 80% humidity, and no relief at night. We decided that would be too hard for sleeping and no chance of the girls getting naps during the day. So, we got a hotel on the Canadian side and spent 2 nights there instead.
Niagara Falls is very pretty, and also very touristy we decided. The streets on the Canadian side are full of large hotels, casinos, and tourist traps. We felt like we were visiting a combo between Las Vegas and Disneyland. Once you get to the view of the falls it is all very pretty though and worth it.
Our trip had varying weather- from a torrential downpour while we drove through Canada, to blistering muggy heat the next day, to more rain the day after. Luckily our one full day there was the only day it didn't rain.

Our trip included a stop at "Journey Under the Falls" where you take and elevator down to some tunnels that are under the Horseshoe Falls and get a close up view of them. They give you some sweet yellow ponchos to wear so you don't get too wet. You can even take them home as a souvenir if you want to. Here are two photos of us with the yellow ponchos. Jayda loved having hers on.

Later the same day we also took a trip to the Butterfly Conservatory. They have literally thousands of butterflies flying around the room and landing on you while you walk. You are not supposed to touch them, but if they land on you it is ok. It was amazing how many varieties there were and how close to you they would fly and land. Addison was pretty tired and took a little nap before we went inside, I couldn't resist taking a picture of her sleeping in the backpack.

A nice group shot of us overlooking the American Falls.

No trip to Niagara would be complete without a trip on the Maid of the Mist boat ride. Jayda kept seeing the boats go up and back for 2 days and kept begging to "go on the boat". We finally took the trip and it was very wet and fun. We put a poncho over Addison in the backpack (making sure she could still breathe)- and we got a lot of comments and some strange looks. We all enjoyed it and Jayda thought it was pretty cool to wear poncho and get rained on by the waterfall.

After a 2 hour line to cross the border back into the US, we went to see the American side of the falls. Much less touristy and much more State Park nature reserve feeling on the US side. You can get much closer to the top of the falls, but get less of an overall view.

On our way home we decided to take the "scenic" route and stay in the US. Anna wanted more adventure (not sure it worked out that way) so we drove and stayed a night in Erie, PA., then the next day we stopped in Cleveland at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum. It was fun to see, but not sure if worth the extra "adventure" time of driving with tired kids.

Our week

2007-08-05T11:13:00.000-04:00

Our week was mainly filled with swimming everyday since it was quite a warm week here. Summer temperatures have been very mild so far this year and we have loved it. 70-80 degrees all summer, low humidity, and perfect to be outside anytime of day. That all changed this week with 90 degree temps and 70% (or higher) humidity. The only way to play outside was to go to the pool and swim every afternoon. Jayda absolutely loves it and every morning when she wakes up now she asks if we can go swimming. Addison also loves it, but she just likes to splash and doesn't really know what is going on. We didn't take any pictures of swimming this week though, sorry.

Jayda got a cute dress up skirt from our friends the Burns. She loves to wear it around the house (in her pajamas too) and talk about her pretty skirt and how good she looks.

Jayda got to play with her friend Eve Bryner this week. They had a lot of fun playing inside and outside. They were in the basement playing, and suddenly were giggling out of control. They both walked up the stairs with these baskets on their heads and thought it was the funniest thing ever. They also loved riding bikes outside and taking turns being the leader on the bike.

We taught Jayda to play UNO this week. She kind of understands the game, but only plays it for a few minutes before she looses her attention. She wants to play it all the time now, maybe we shouldn't have taught her about it so early.

Anna went to a movie this week for her friend Jan Parker's birthday. They went to the famous Michigan Theater here in Ann Arbor and saw "Becoming Jane". They are all big Jane Austen/Pride and Prejudice fans so it was fun for them to see the movie together.

Todd finished summer semester this week and has a break for 2 weeks. He had finals last week, and then just a few more days of clinic until Wed when he finished. He is now home for a break and it is nice to have him around. Once he starts up again at the end of August, it is a busy year with a lot going on, so we will enjoy the short break.

This week we are going to Niagara Falls for a few days. Should be a fun trip and good weather so we are excited. We will make sure to add some photos to the blog after we get back.

Todd in Oregon

2007-07-29T20:46:00.000-04:00

I just got back from a trip to Oregon with my 4 brothers. The 5 of us did a "brothers only" trip to the Columbia River Gorge area just outside of Portland. We went from Thurs night to Sun and had a fantastic time. We stayed at a nice lodge in the area, went golfing, went canyoneering (hiking and rappelling down a river and waterfalls), hung out together, bonded as brothers, and just had a great time. Anna was totally awesome and stayed home with the 2 girls while I went and played. She was very supportive of the trip since it was a "brothers" trip and she wanted me to go and have a good time. She is now expecting some serious payback though....

Here are some pictures of us golfing and canyoneering.

The group of us overlooking the Bonneville Dam in the Columbia River

Golfing at Skamania golf course

Rappelling down Punchbowl Falls (this is my brother Dave in the picture).

My brother Chris at Metlako falls. We had about 10-15 feet of rappelling on the rock, then we got to the edge where he is and the next 80 feet are all a free fall on the rope.

A great shot of the full length of the Metlako Falls with one of us on the rope next to it. Very cool experience and incredible to stop halfway down and just look around you. The waterfall is very loud and sprays mist all over you, it is quite amazing

Me sitting on the rocks after rappelling Metlako. The water is very cold and you have to wear long underwear or a wetsuit to stay warm.

Group shot of us hiking back down the river to get out. You can see all of our unique outfits to keep us warm.

Best picture- a group shot with Metlako falls behind us (on the right), with another fall on the left, and just greenery everywhere around us.

Art, 24th Parade, and pigtails

2007-07-22T07:50:00.000-04:00

So we haven't update much in the last few days, so we will have to pile it all into one entry. A fun week for us and some events that were unusual.

Art Fair: "The Ann Arbor Street Art Fair is the Original of the now four award winning art fairs which together attract over 500,000 attendees from across the nation". We have never been before, even though they hold it each year. It was huge, quite a bit larger then we expected. It was fun to walk by the booths and see the variety of art/sculptures/etc... Of course it was all very expensive and we didn't buy anything. Fun to walk around though, interesting to see all of the different booths and the people that run them from all over the country.

Addison's first hair do- pig tails! She has always had enough hair to pull it up, but we never have done it before (as compared to Jayda who didn't have enough hair until she was about 6-7 mos old). More important then the hair though, her Utah T-Shirt finally fits her!

Many of our neighbors are LDS and know about the 24th of July as a holiday in Utah. They decided to celebrate it here in Michigan this year. They put together a parade for the kids to ride their bikes, or scooters, or wagons in, then they had a variety of Pioneer crafts and activities for the kids to participate in. We decorated Jayda's bike knowing she would love to ride in the parade. She also loved the activities more then we expected and it made for a fun day for all of us. In the picture you can see the other two older girls that Jayda just loves to follow around and play with. They are very nice and take good care of her too.

Other events of the week:
-Anna tried sushi for the first time and enjoyed it.
-Thurs afternoon the tornado sirens went off and the sky went totally black in a matter of minutes. I was at school with a patient and they told us all to hurry to the basement, Anna was at home with the girls (Addison was sleeping). She was also ready to head to the basement when the darkness went away and the weather channel stated that the tornado danger was over.
-Anna's mararthon training is still going well. She ran 12 miles on Sat (longest she has ever run). She was a little sore and tired, but she had fun and is ready to run more this week. She has several friends who are also training, so they get up early almost everyday and run together.

That's all for now, thanks for reading.

Lunch farewell

2007-07-17T16:02:00.000-04:00

So I hosted a farewell lunch for my friend Talli Poulsen today. Her husband just finished his medical residency program here and they are moving to Fresno, CA this week. We are excited for them though since they have been in graduate school for 8 years and are now finally moving on into "real life". This will be the last of many families we have said good-bye to this year. I have had 6 close friends move out in the last 3 months. Sad to see people leave but encouraging knowing that it will be our turn next year.
The lunch was going to be outside, but it rained today so it was moved into our apartment. We had 13 kids and 6 of my friends here. Amazingly all the kids played well together and nothing was broken. I made Cafe Rio pork salad and everybody pitched in bringing parts of the meal. It was delicious and all went well. Todd is jealous since he didn't get to enjoy the wonderful Cafe Rio meal (just leftovers for dinner).

Crib Invader

2007-07-17T15:52:00.000-04:00

So Addison was sleeping peacefully in her crib this morning for her nap. She began to make some noise and was starting to wake up. I was downstairs with Jayda and made a comment like "ok, Addison is waking up, let's go get her Jayda." Jayda then gets all excited and runs up the stairs ahead of me. As I reached the top of the stairs Jayda was already climbing up the side and into Addison's crib. She has never climbed in or out before (even when it was her crib), but she just kept climbing this time and jumped right in with Addison. I grabbed the camera and got it on film.

A few days ago I was also downstairs with Jayda while Addison was sleeping. Addison woke up and started crying and we could hear her on the monitor. I commented on how Addison was awake and we needed to go get her- Jayda then snuck over to the monitor, turned it off, and said "Mom, Addison not awake, stay downstairs" in an attempt to keep playing with me and ignore Addison. Cute stories, and funny how different Jayda can be towards Addison depending on the day or the occasion.

First dentist visit

2007-07-14T15:11:00.001-04:00

Jayda had her first trip the the Dentist this week. Of course I have been giving her home ckeck-ups every night when I brush her teeth, but we thought it would be good for her to see a dental office and see what her Dad does everyday when he goes to school. I took her to the Pediatric Clinic at the Dental School and had one of the residents there do an exam and cleaning on her. She did great and let the resident use the mirror in her mouth, and even the rubber cup toothbrush to clean her teeth. Jayda was a little uncertain about it all at first, but no tears or problems and by the end she was very excited to say "I went to the Dentist". No cavities either in case you were wondering!

Speaking of Pediatric Dentists and residency, I just finished all of my applications this weekend for my attempt at specializing in Pediatrics. It is a long process full of paperwork, online applications, school transcripts, letters of recomendations, money, etc.... I submited my application to over 20 programs hoping to at least get interviews at a few of them, and then match into one of those. I applied to programs all over the country, from Washington State to Florida, Texas, Utah, Colorado, and several programs in the mid-west. Now it is just a waiting game- interviews aren't until Oct & Nov, then the day that I find out if I match is not until the end of January. (can only match into a program you interview at, so if no interviews-no match). I have over 6 months of wondering if and where I might get in. We will just wait and see what happens I guess....

6 month old Addison

2007-07-10T21:14:00.001-04:00

Addison is 6 months old today, can't you tell how happy she is about it! She is growing up fast and it is amazing to watch. These 6 months have gone by so much faster then they did when Jayda was a baby. I guess having 2 kids just makes you that much busier and time flies. She is a good baby and very happy (most of the time). Her list of tricks now includes rolling over both ways, eating rice cereal and avacados, and almost sitting up by herself. She loves her sister and loves it when Jayda is around to entertain her.

Summer Time Fun

2007-07-09T20:08:00.000-04:00

Funny Jayda story- Every night after dinner we go outside and water the flower and the grass while Jayda plays. Todd was watering the other night while Jayda rode her bike back and forth on the sidewalk. Every time Jayda would ride by, Todd sprayed water into the air so some of it landed on Jayda’s head. She kept looking up at the sky trying to figure out where it came from. She saw dad, but he was watering the flowers so it obviously wasn’t him. Anyway, after a few times she finally saw Todd do it and caught on. Then, every time she rode her bike past Todd she would say in the sweetest little voice- “Daddy, don’t water me, okay!”

If she has been a good girl during the day, and if she eats all of her dinner we have been giving her a popsicle at night. For the last 2 nights she hasn’t eaten much, so she didn’t get a popsicle. Finally last night we made Mac & Cheese for her (and of course she ate that no problem) so we gave her a popsicle. She loved it so much she made a huge mess all over her face, hands, dress, sidewalk, chair, etc… Fun to watch her try and eat it though, especially when she started licking her arm to catch the melting drops.

The heat from the west is starting to make its way to us here in Ann Arbor. Todd came home from school today and we decided to go swimming in the 95 degree weather. The girls both loved it and thought it was so fun. We enjoyed cooling off and watching them play. They have twin swimsuits and we thought a picture would be cute.

The girls

2007-07-08T09:43:00.000-04:00

So, for those of you who don't know it, we have 2 little girls- Jayda and Addison. Jayda is now 2 1/2 years old, and Addison is 6 months next week.

Addison in her favorite "Bumbo" chair. Addison wakes up every morning with crazy hair, it stays crazy for most of the day even if we try to comb it.

Addison with her first taste of cereal. She actually liked it, but doesn't know how to swallow and just pushes it all back out with her tongue.

Jayda's 1st time for fireworks- she stayed awake long enough to be able to watch us light off some small fireworks, and she got to play with some sparklers too. She was so excited every time a firework went off she would just jump and yell!

Jayda ran a "kids dash" in downtown Ann Arbor on the 4th of July and loved it. Anna ran a 5k earlier so Jayda loved running like her mom did and having a "number" pinned onto her shirt. Jayda also got a bucket and shovel as a prize and now she talks about it everyday.

They are both very good kids and love to play with each other. Jayda is very good with her little sister and enjoys making her smile. Addison is getting bigger each day and rolls around all the time. These pictures are both within the last month, and you will probably see many more of them soon.

Our new blog

2007-07-08T09:30:00.000-04:00

So since we just realized that many of our friends have blogs and update them often, I thought we would try one too. It seems like a easy way to update others on your life, and also post some pictures of us and our kids. So, we are going to be posting things on here over the next few days as we learn how to use the blog, check back later for more.....