Soccer umm... Adventure?

We had such high hopes.

Normally Hyrum would be overjoyed racing around the grass,

chasing a ball with little ones his own size.

We don't know if it was the shin guards, cleats, screaming parents, or restraining rules,

but instead of being enthusiastic like this:

He was usually moping- much more like this:


We did catch him in a few happy moments.

We have HAMMERED certain rules into Hyrum's sweet little head:

SHARE

DON'T PUSH

TAKE TURNS

PLAY NICELY

One day, I hope he'll enjoy throwing the rules out the window the second that whistle blows.

Easter Bunny Comes to Town

Who knew the Easter Bunny had so many names...thanks so much to Grandma, Parvana (our adorable and kind neighbor), the Mackays, and the Walkers for helping us celebrate Easter!

We have enough candy for next year's town egg hunt, it'll stay fresh for a year right?

We spent a fun day with the Mackays hunting for eggs and sharing fun times with good friends.

Easter Sunday:

The kids have started sleeping in on the weekends and what kind of mother would I be if I stopped that trend? So, they're not in their nice Easter outfits (we'll have to do a fashion photo opp in the future).

Our backyard isn't the softest, most luxurious place to find eggs. I like to call it the mud pit. Bry has a break in a few weeks and we are planning on sodding and planting and pretending like we are master gardeners even though we kill everything we touch. So exciting!

We made "edible arrangements" for our great neighbors.

I think they turned out pretty cute and I know our friends appreciated that we didn't give them candy!

Walking and Riding

Hyrum and Ivy have both reached fun milestones in the last few months. I know the Grandmas will love to see our silly home movies.

Ivy is the cutest little walker. I'd been waiting and pining for her to walk so we could spend more time outside without scratching her hands and knees (not to mention staining all her clothes with mud and grass). Now I really can't decide which is worse: a crawler who depends on you for mobility or a toddler who understands that if she wants to walk over and throw all of the apples out of the bin, she sure can! It has been an adjustment to have two kids running in different directions, but Hyrum has been a wonderful help.

Hyrum has graduated to a big boy bike and has only fallen THREE TIMES. Who gave him the clumsy genes you ask? Yes that's right, ME.

Warm Weather Regrets

There's only one depressing part about the warm weather... Ivy can't wear her hat anymore! We received HUNDREDS of compliments on this hat and I agree- she looks adorable in it! Thanks Aunt Traci!

OBX

When we moved out here I couldn't figure out why SO MANY people had OBX bumper stickers on their cars. I finally found out that the letters stood for Outer Banks, North Carolina. So of course I had to see what all the hype was about!
We rented a beautiful house with 9 other Dental School families and became professional beach bums for a week.

The drive down was surprisingly fun- thanks to Raffi. Bry and I even busted out "The Wheels on the Bus" and "Old MacDonald" (about one hundred times- who knew Old MacDonald had elephants and snakes and dinosaurs on his farm?)

The house was great. Really beautiful, tons of room for everyone, and it was like a 3 minute walk to the beach.

Ivy LOVED the beach. She just giggled with joy the entire first day.

Anytime we're near water Hyrum has to cast his fishing pole (even if it's a puddle). He's gotta keep practicing his form right? His Grandpa Webb should be proud.

Our little glamour queen.

I wish you could have seen Hyrum's cute little legs chugging along trying to keep his kite in the air. It was adorable. Bry and I were both surprised how fun it was to fly the kite... something about the inner child... maybe we should try out a hula hoop sometime.

When we weren't at the beach we were doing some serious touristing.

This beautiful lighthouse was closed for the winter. It would have been awesome to see the view from the top. Who's idea was it to have SPRING BREAK in March?

We walked through a "wet land" and onto this peer. It was fun teasing Hyrum about "little boy eating alligators". I'm sure he'll seek his vengeance when he's a teenager.

Bry had surprising natural talent for the drums and guitar when we played rock band. What isn't he good at?

Look at those adorable faces. These were very rare moments of calm.

We were VERY lucky to have warm weather for the first half of the week. But, the cold weather was a great excuse check out the aquarium and do a little shopping.

This guys was hilarious. He reached into the ray tank and pulled out this Horseshoe crab for Hyrum to touch. It was a cool little creature.

Hyrum wouldn't touch the crab, but he loved the snake. Uncle Golden anyone?

Very rarely is something worth all the hype, but this place really is special. I can't even fathom how fun it would be in the spring and summer when everything's open. I can't wait to go back. Maybe we'll even get a bumper sticker next time.

Leprechauns on the Loose

I don't know why we celebrate St. Patrick's Day, but it sure is fun!

Hyrum and I baked some yummy green clovers. He loves to help in the kitchen and this was a perfect project for him. THANK YOU Pillsbury!

After a dinner of green ravioli we were visited by an actual leprechaun who left us a potion that turns green, and teeny tiny footprints leading to a special surprise...









He was in such a hurry to leave he dropped a bag of delicious gold. (I'm glad we still had some from Christmas... shhh.)

It was hilarious to watch Hyrum try to catch the Leprechaun. He's in such a fun, magical age.


Happy St. Patty's!

Ivy Walking

Ivy is SLOWLY becoming a walker. She seems to prefer being upright rather than crawling, so she gets very frustrated when there are no hands available to support her. I'm trying to be patient while nothing gets done so I can walk around the house with her... all day.

The Storm of '09

The world is standing still for a precious day here in central Virginia.

Yesterday our Bishop announced that his wife has been praying for a snow day and she got it! All the schools and most businesses are closed. We spent a fun day playing nerf gun tag and stomping in the snow. Hyrum had to be (literally) dragged inside before his legs needed to be amputated due to frostbite. We have never seen this kind of snow (not even close!) since moving here so we were a little unprepared. He wore four pairs of socks with plastic grocery bags in his wellies which lasted about 20 minutes before everything was soaked.

It has been a real treat to have a mini winter vacation- especially since we'll be back in the 60's by next week!

My Old Man

I can't believe I'm married to a 27 year old!

I congratulate myself every day for snatching this guy up before another girl discovered him.

Even though he's such a distinguished scholar he's constantly making us laugh. Who knew you could be so intelligent and so silly? Hyrum, Ivy, and I are so lucky to have him.

Happy Birthday Bryan!

Poor Baby

Ivy has been sick for about two weeks with a cough and runny nose. I wasn't very concerned because she's so happy and sleeping well. But, I was chatting with my sis and she informed me, if a runny nose lasts longer than 10 days, it might be a bacterial infection. So I decided to take Ivy in to just make sure- turns out she has a double ear infection! Later that day I also discovered her first tooth! She must have been in so much pain and I would have never known! What a tough baby! Thanks Luci!