Monday, November 9, 2009

~Primary Presentation~

Yesterday was Brynlee's first primary presentation.  She has been practicing the songs all year long, and this last week she was given a scripture to say during the presentation.  She didn't fully understand what she would be doing, but I had her work on it all week and we read it a few times a day.

Wednesday night was the practice for the presentation and all week Brynlee had been telling me about the ice cream sundaes they were going to have.  She, Lauren and Emily all picked sprinkles for their topping and Zach and his brother picked M&M's.  I waited out in the foyer with some other parents while they were in practicing and toward the end, someone told me that once they were done with the practice Brynlee raised her hand and asked, "Do we get to have ice cream now?"  That's my girl, gotta love the ice cream!  I have a hard time believing that my quiet little Brynlee actually raised her hand and asked about the ice cream, but then again, she had been talking about it all week!

 Brynlee worked hard and got most of her scripture memorized and I asked the primary president to let her try to say it on her own and just help her if she needed it.  I wasn't sure if she'd get up there and see all of the people watching her and freeze up.  She got up and did a great job!  She only had help with one little part that she always seems to skip right over.  She didn't talk quiet or act shy at all!  It was good to see her be involved and enjoy it!

When we got home, we were talking about it and she said, "The Holy Ghost helped me to remember."  I love seeing her apply the things she is learning about the gospel.  She knows that the Holy Ghost will guide her and help her!  It is so fun to see her little testimony starting to grow!





Can't decide which hat to wear...


It seems the only logical solution would be to wear them both!

Gracen has had a big obsession with both of these hats lately, he chooses to wear them both most of the time.  He also likes to wear one cowboy boot and one yellow rain boot.  If you like them both...might as well wear them both!

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Indianapolis

A week after visiting Wisconsin, we were able to go with Nate to another Residency interview in Indianapolis, Indiana.  Whenever I think of Indiana I think of country.  I really didn't expect to see such a huge city.  Nate told me it is something like the 13th largest city in America.

We headed out with our trusty mapquest directions, which turned out not to be so trust.  When we got to a place we were supposed to turn, we did, and then I read on the directions to continue to follow US6-E.  We just came from there, and were trying to go west.  With a quick stop, we just decided to hope we were going the right way and continued on the same road.  Later we ran into some construction and a detour sent us off on some other road, we just kept going hoping we would eventually figure out where to be.

Off subject for a second, we decided that Indiana doesn't do very well with marking their detours.  On our way home from Wisconsin a week earlier, we had just crossed into Indiana and somehow I missed the turn to go to I-80.  I realized we were on the wrong road when I saw a sign mentioning something about Detroit.  At that point we exited the freeway and stopped to try to figure out where to go.  Long story short, we ended up lost due to a detour in some ghetto town at 9:00 at night.  Nate pulled into a scary looking gas station to ask for directions and luckily we were able to find our way back to I-80.   We've thought about a gps, but decided we really wouldn't need one if we move back west, so we are waiting.

Back to Indianapolis, we finally made it into the area we were suppose to be, heading south into Indianapolis and we see a big sign flashing a warning that the freeway we needed to take next was closed due to some traffic hazard.  We had no other way of knowing how to get to our hotel other than that freeway.  We stopped for dinner and checked another map and decided just to drive on to the exit and see if we could figure it out.

We get there and the entire southbound freeway is shut down and it sends us north instead.  We exited and found a wireless internet connection at a mall, but we had lost all sense of direction.  Neither of us knew north from south or east from west!  With the map pulled up on the screen, we drove around for 1 1/2 hours until we finally found our hotel!  What a drive, we later found out that the" traffic hazard" was because of a tanker that blew up on the freeway earlier that day!

We had a nice hotel, courtesy of Indiana University.  It was right on campus and really close to an awesome walking path!  Nate's interview was only until 1:30 so, for fear of getting lost again, the kids and I just walked around to check things out!

















Gracen thought this "tractor" was pretty cool!








Throwing leaves!


Indiana Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument.


Dedicated in 1902 to Indiana's heroes who died in wars before WWI.


I got this picture off the internet to show a better view of what it was like there.  You can also go to the top to get the view from inside, but it was closed.  It was a really neat monument.  We walked around what is also called Monument Circle.

It was fun walking around and seeing so much!  Nate really enjoyed his time here!  They took him out to breakfast, and also to lunch at some fancy restaurant.  He liked the program a lot, and they have a lot to offer.  They have just about any fellowship he could want, and if they don't offer it, they would work with him to get it.  It's harder to tell what the area outside of campus was like because it was dark when we got there and I didn't want to venture out to far.  Most of the residents live west of the hospital about 20 minutes and housing is really affordable.  Seems like a nice area with lots to do, they have the largest children's museum, a zoo, and so much more!

  If location didn't matter, this would probably be #1 on the list right now!  It's going to be a hard decision for us to make in a couple of months!

Wisconsin

A few weeks ago we traveled up to Brookfield, Wisconsin with Nate to do an interview for their pathology residency.  I was a little nervous to go there, I really have no reason to think it would be ghetto, but I did.  It is about 15 minutes west of Milwaukee and 2 hours north of Chicago.  We had to drive right through Chicago, which is the closest I've ever been to Chicago, and traffic was awful!  It took us close to 2 hours just to get through.  I don't think I would ever want to live in Chicago.   Too many people for me!

So we got there, spent the night in a hotel, and in the morning Nate took off to have his interview.  The kids and I had about 6 hours to kill, so we went exploring a little.  It really looks like a nice area, and after the interview, Nate was feeling pretty optimistic about the program.  Here are some pictures from a park Brynlee, Gracen and I found while we were exploring...












All of this was in the same park!  I loved the pond and all of the walking trails.  Brynlee and Gracen loved the playground, searching for colorful leaves and acorns, and chasing geese.  It was the perfect time of year to be there, with the colors just starting to change it was a perfect mixture of green, yellow, red, orange and brown.

I always get a little nervous about moving to a new place, so I am glad I'll at least know that this place is somewhere I would be happy living.  The people were nice and the city seemed so clean, it wasn't too busy and I think there would be lots to do with the kids!

I am still rooting for Colorado or Utah, but this would be nice too!

Sunday, November 1, 2009

~HALLOWEEN~

We've had a great Halloween WEEK!  It all started with a trip to the Honey Haven Farms pumpkin patch last Saturday.  It was a bit cold, windy, a little rainy, and muddy but I don't think the kids minded too much!  We saw some farm animals, rode a horse drawn wagon out to the pumpkin patch, ran through a hay bale maze, and ate some delicious pumpkin ice cream.

Gracen found a cool looking gourd!
     
Brynlee and Gracen running through the maze!

On Thursday Brynlee had a Halloween party at preschool and got to wear her costume to go trick or treating with her friends at school!  She was a little upset when I picked her up because everyone kept calling her a princess.  I told her it was because she is dressed up like one and she said, "but I'm not a princess, I'm just Brynlee!"

I think she makes a cute little princess!

She also had a Halloween party at her dance class. Thinking it would be a little hard to dance in, I didn't want to dress her up in her princess dress so I talked to my friend Susan (Lauren's mom) and she suggested we dress the girls up in their tutu's (I made them both matching tutu's last year) and they could be twins!  Great idea...and that's what we did.  Due to some issues at dance, I didn't get a chance to take a picture of the "twins" but they sure looked cute in their matching tutu's!

On Halloween, we got a pumpkin and had the kids help their daddy decorate it.  I thought they would love it and dig right in, instead, I got...


"EEEWWW GROSS!!"

And...

"I don' like dat!"

And...

"No, YUCKY!"


Brynlee finally gave in!


Gracen poked at the seeds that were already out.


He finally decided it would be okay if he could use a spoon to dig!


Nate did an awesome job carving, even though it was supposed to be my job!

Then we got all dressed up to go trick or treating with some friends...


The beautiful Princess Brynlee!


My little scarecrow Gracen!





After trick or treating we spent the rest of the evening with friends, and ate some yummy chili!

~HAPPY HALLOWEEN~