Memorial Day Weekend

Nate is on his ER rotation, so he had to work through the weekend. On Saturday, my friend called and invited us to go out to Vermilion and check it out.

Such a cute little town!!

And the drive was beautiful! We drove along the Lake Erie shoreline all the way there, and I had to keep forcing myself to quit looking at the houses for fear that I would run off the road. I need to talk Nate into driving out there with me so I can get a better look!

We got into town and looked around, here are some pictures of what this fun little town looks like...

View from a bridge in town.

We stopped and ate a snack at this cute little picnic table near the river.

In front of the bridge.

We found a fun little ice cream shop and the kids had their own cute little ice cream cones!

Cute girl pose!

View of some houses. These people can park their boats in front of their house. It was such a pretty place!

Playing at the beach.

Doing his usual sand throwing. He didn't like to touch the water.

Houses along the beach.

On Sunday we went to church, Nate was at the hospital. It isn't easy to take the kids to church on my own. I was the only primary teacher that showed up, it was an interesting day! Gracen isn't too fond of nursery. He screamed when I left him and when I walked down to check on him my wonderful friends had heard him from across the hall and went in to sit with him. He was doing good until they had to leave. Then the primary president ended up going in and taking him out for a walk to calm him down. Funny, cause he doesn't even know her. He would much rather leave the nursery with toys and friends to go walk the halls with someone he doesn't know. She had to take him out a few times, but he wasn't crying and was all smiles when I walked down to pick him up. I'm hoping he starts to do better soon!

Nate finally had the day off on Monday!! Here are some highlights from the day...

• Pancakes for breakfast
• Memorial Day parade. The kids got lots of candy.
• BBQ at the park with some friends.
• Gracen took a bite of dog poop while we were at the park(very gross). We cleaned out his mouth and Nate asked him if it was yucky and he shook his head no. Then Nate asked if he liked it and he nodded, yes! He now knows that dog poop is "ucky"
• It was really windy and cold so we left and went to our friends house to hang out and let the kids play.

Watching the parade!

Saying Goodbye

Rewind just about 3 years...we were packing our things and saying our goodbyes. Leaving Utah behind was one of the hardest things about starting our medical school adventure. It was so hard to say goodbye to our family and friends in Utah and head East into the unknown. I had no idea that this would be the beginning of so many goodbyes. Each year around this time, we have had to say goodbye to many of our friends...it doesn't seem to get any easier. The greatest thing about being on this little adventure is the amazing friends and memories we have made!

It seems like I just start to get used to the way things are and it is time for more of those dreaded goodbyes! The time flies by so fast, and before I know it, another year has gone by! This past week we said goodbye to our good friends Mark, Heather and Kimberli. We got to know them our first year of school, said goodbye to them once after a year in Iowa, and then a year later we ended up here in the same place with them again! It has been so much fun and they have been great friends to us! We will surely miss having them around!

Last Sunday we had a little(last minute) get togther with some friends in our ward to tell the Schwendimans goodbye. We had sundays and they were delicious!

Owen, Kimberli, Gracen, Lauren, Emily, and Brynlee

Dave, Eric, Mark, and Nate

Me, Leanne, Heather, Brandi, and Susan

The best part about saying goodbye is that it means we are a year closer to being done with medical school!!! 3 years down 1 to go!! Oh, how I CANNOT wait until graduation!! We officially only have 1 more year to go...now that is exciting news!!

Cruisin the waves of Lake Erie

On Saturday there was a lot going on around here! We got together with some friends and went out to the the kids safety fair. It was also May Day, and Museum Day. Part of the fun (and the highlight of the trip) was a boat ride on Lake Erie.

The rain came pouring down about half way through the ride, it was a good thing Brynlee came prepared! We had to finish the ride standing up after the seats got all wet.

It was kinda tricky trying to stand while the boat was hitting the big waves!

We passed this sailboat on our way out.

Trying to get the pinwheel to blow in the wind.

Brynlee and Gracen walked away with quite the loot! We were having a hard time carrying it all and we lost the cute bear Gracen is holding. They were giving out toys, books, bubbles, coloring books and crayons...the kids got all sorts of stuff and thought it was fun. Too bad the weather didn't cooperate so well, I really wanted to send Brynlee down one of their inflatable slides.

Can't get enough

...of Gracen's contagious laugh! I love this!

I could live here...

...or it could at least be the spot for my future summer home! ;) I love going to Lakeside! It's a small summer community that is just so cute and sooo fun! I love just walking around looking at all of the little houses! They have fun little activities going all summer, cute little shops, shuffle boards in the park, lots of old people driving around on golf carts...who wouldn't want to live there!?

Stopping for a picture on the walking path along Lake Erie.

I love these two kids!

The new playground that Brynlee and Gracen enjoyed!

It was really windy out on the pier, waves kept splashing Gracen.

Cute girl!

18 Months...

On April 23rd, Gracen turned 18 months!! This is such a fun and exciting age! I love watching his personality shine, I think we have a little comedian in the making. He is such a fun little guy, and adds so much joy to our family!

A few random things about our little man:

• He is "Fuuuunnyyy!" He loves to laugh at himself and say funny! I was putting him to bed a couple of weeks ago and singing the song about the alligator that snaps the monkey out of the trees. When I clapped my hands together, he giggled and said, "funny, gain(again)." Ever since, if he hears laughing or thinks he is being funny, he lets you know!



• When we take Brynlee to dance, he LOVES to watch the big, high school girls dance. One time, I was talking with my friend, Susan, and hadn't seen him for a few minutes so I got up to check on him. He was sitting just inside the door of the studio on one of the small chairs with about 3-4 girls surrounding him. When he saw me he grinned and just looked up with his hand near his cheek and waved and said "bye", his way of telling me he was fine and to leave him alone! The girls kept telling me he was such a ladies man!



• Occasionally, if I get after him for doing something and he is feeling a bit sassy, he will look at me, roll his eyes up, stretch his face and move his lips as if he is mocking me. While I find it very difficult not to laugh at this, I also wonder where, at this age, he has learned it. Not so much the action, but more the timing. Could it be his big sister!?



• When Gracen was a few months old, I bought him a 20" square blanket that we called his "lovey" to help him when it was time to say goodbye to the binky. Now, anything that is cuddly is a lovey. We were reading a book together and I pointed to a picture of a teddy bear and asked him what it was, he said "Lovey!" When we tried to teach him to say, "I love you" he would only say "lovey". When daddy leaves for the hospital in the morning, Gracen says to him, "lovey"!



• He loves animals! If we see a dog he gets really excited and wants to see it. When he can see birds outside he makes a bird noise and watches until it is gone. A couple of weeks ago we were at a park, and he went down a slide. I couldn't see the bottom so I was watching for him to come around the side. When he wasn't coming I started looking around for him when my friend told me that he was running out of the playground. When I looked over to the grassy area, he was out chasing after birds!

Another great thing about being 18 months, is that he gets to go to nursery!!! We had stake conference and were away visiting friends on the last 2 Sundays, so he will be in there on his own this Sunday!! We'll see how he does!