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!

~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~

{GREATS}

One of my favorite things about going out to Utah is being able to visit Nate's and my Grandparents.  I love the excitement that Brynlee has about going to see her Great Grandma's and Grandpa's now that she is at the age to be able to remember them better.  Brynlee and Gracen were able to see 3 Great grandmas and 3 Great grandpas!

 It is such a blessing to have them in our lives!

Great Grandma and Grandpa Fackrell's house was the first one we went to.  Brynlee and Gracen went outside and found walnuts and acorns with Grandpa Thompson while we were there.  They also got to see some deer that had wandered onto Great Grandma and Grandpas property!

Next we went to Great Grandma and Grandpa Thompson's house.  They have a lot of old toys for the kids to play with and Brynlee always remembers the toy kitchen that is down in the basement.  She is always excited to go play with it.  Gracen found this little pull horse and loved it.  They don't make toys quite the same anymore, and the kids always seem to love the old ones they find at Great Grandma and Grandpa's house!

Great Grandma and Grandpa Thompson.

Brynlee felt the need to be a little silly and ran outside to smash her face into the window.

Goodbye kisses from Gracen!  He loved seeing his GREATS!

Old picture of Great Grandma and Grandpa Bill with all of their Great Grandchildren.  Taken in May 2008.

My Grandma and Grandpa live down in Arizona.  We were able to see them the 2nd week we were out there and so any of the pictures I may have taken are lost on that SD card.  It was fun to see them!  I love being able to spend time with my Grandma and Grandpa!  They were visiting my aunt and uncle up in Preston Idaho so the kids and I drove up and visited with them for a few hours.  Grandma took the kids and me on a walk down and around the farm.  Brynlee and Gracen got to see some cows, a duck and a dog.  Being out on the farm like that reminded me a lot of my childhood when we would go to my Great Grandpa's farm and visit.  I loved being there, and there was always something fun to discover!

I am so happy that we were able to spend time with our Grandparents and feel very blessed that my children are able to make fun memories with their Greats!  We love them all!

A Few Summer Memories

We had such a great time in Utah this summer!!  I was so excited to have so much time to spend with family and friends out there!  In total we spent 2 1/2 months there and it was great!  During that time we did so much, and I documented most of those things on my camera.  When I got somewhere near 500 something pictures my card memory was full.  With about 5 weeks left to go, and no computer to put them on, I switched out the card for another one and carefully placed it in my camera bag.  I thought it would be safe in there, no big deal, I would just put them on the computer when I got home.

Last week when I got to the part on my list that said, update blog, I thought I would get to it.  I got out the SD card and put it in the computer and NOTHING!  Stuck it in the camera and NOTHING!  Panic started to sink in at that moment when I realized the card wasn't being recognized.   I tried a few trial versions of some recovery programs and still...NOTHING.  I have given up for now until I have the time to figure out if there is someone out there who can fix this problem and get all those pictures back.  I am hopeful that one day I can find that person and get all those pictures and memories back.  Until then, I wanted to post on here a few of the things we did while we were in Utah so that even if I don't have the pictures to remember it by, I will have it written out on here!

In no particular order with a few pictures I found online:

• My mom invited us to the Summit County demolition derby.  Growing up we would go to these in Morgan quite often and it was always fun.  Watching cars crash, snow cones, and the crazy crowd that comes along with a derby makes it what it is!  I had a babysitter for Gracen and took Brynlee with me, hoping she wouldn't be afraid of the loud, crashing cars.   She loved it!!  When the cars first came out into the arena it was loud and she had the best look of uncertainty on her face.  It didn't take her long to warm up to it.  When the cars would crash, she would just laugh and laugh, she thought it was great!!  Between heats they played songs and let the kids run out into the arena to dance.  Brynlee didn't make it out the first time, but on the next song, which was the chicken dance, she had help climbing the fence and went out into the middle with Shyley and learned the dance.  She had so much fun!!  I loved watching her laugh and smile throughout the entire night!  It was a pretty good derby and the drivers in it put on a good show!

(I'm not even sure if this is from the same derby, but I added them anyway!  It's fun to see the cars go up over the bank or catch on fire, etc...)

• Grandpa Thompson took Gracen on his first 4-wheeler ride!!  He wasn't too sure of it at first, but once we got him on there he LOVED it!!  Brynlee and Gracen both got spoiled with lots of "fweeler rides" while we were there!

• My sister and I wanted to go to Bear Lake and take the kids swimming.  We headed out on a day that wasn't really hot, it was actually a little cool for being the first part of August, found a beach and let the kids have fun!  We made sand castles (aka...little piles of sand that don't really look like much of anything), buried my niece Shyley and my sister in the sand, jumped in the water, collected shells, and had lunch!  And of course, you can't go to bear lake without stopping for a fresh raspberry shake, so we did that too!

• We went with Grandma and Grandpa Thompson, and uncle Jason and my nephew Bracken to Golden Spike.  This is the site of the driving of the last spike of the first transcontinental railroad.  The kids all loved seeing the trains, as long as they weren't blowing their loud horns!  When the first locomotive, Jupiter, came up it blew it's horn and scared all 3 kids pretty bad!  It was kinda funny to see their reactions to it!  All 3 of them had to cover their ears, and when the second locomotive, 119, came in Bracken and Brynlee went inside the building with Grandma to watch where it was much quieter!  Brynlee and Gracen loved seeing the trains!!

Jupiter

119

• We went to the zoo with Grandma Woolsey, aunt Amy and Shyley.  Brynlee and Gracen love the zoo and Grandma spoiled them with slushies and a toy to take home!  Gracen called just about everything a camel and we rode the train!  When we saw everything, we walked outside to find that a guy in a big truck (with no insurance!) parked his lisence plate right into the hood of my mom's brand new car.  So we got to spend about and hour waiting for a police officer to come and write up a report.  While we were waiting the security guards came and gave us 6 free zoo passes!   Too bad that doesn't equal the couple hundred my mom had to pay to fix her car, but I was still excited for free passes!

There are so many more things that I am sure I have forgotten....

LESSON LEARNED...

Don't procrastinate updating the blog!

Look who's 2!

On this day, 2 years ago, this sweet little boy joined our family!  We are so blessed to have him in our lives!  He brings us so much joy and happiness!

Gracen has been so excited about birthday's since Nate had his back in September.  A few nights each week since, he has requested "Happa Birtday" for his bedtime song!

A few things I love about Gracen:

• He is always so happy.
• He loves to laugh.
• He plays really well by himself and with others.
• He loves his big sister.
• He talks really well, I love asking him to say big words just to hear him try it.  He usually will.  My 2 favorites are "ephalunt" (elephant) and "helditopter" (helicopter).
• He loves wearing his cowboy boots and his yellow rain boots, sometimes one of each.
• He loves trains, airplanes and helicopters!
• He is very loving, always gives hugs and kisses and when he says "I luvoo mommy" it melts my heart!

Happy 2nd birthday Gracen!!  Love you!!

And...We're back!

So I had big plans this summer not to get behind on my blogging...it didn't last too long and we got super busy and when I wasn't busy, I just really didn't feel like bloggin!  Now I have a lot to catch up on.

The drive back to Ohio...


We made the long drive back to Ohio last weekend.  I'll tell ya now, I would prefer not to ever have to make that drive again...EVER...unless, of course, it is to move back!

Nate was in Colorado Springs finishing up his rotation there, he had our car so his parents were going to drive me and the kids to meet him in Rawlins, Wyoming.  I drove up to their house on Friday and we had planned to leave Saturday morning at about 3:30 a.m.  I had a weird allergic reaction to something at about 8 that night and by midnight the back of my mouth had swollen up huge.  I woke up with 3 hours to go until we had to leave and felt like I had a ping pong ball stuck at the back of my throat!  It was awful!  I have always suffered from seasonal allergies, but never had anything like this happen!  Luckily, I had taken 2 benadryl before I went to bed.  I got up and got some ice and a popsicle to try to get the swelling down, and because of the benadryl was able to sleep a little before we had to get up.

Saturday was the worst of the drive because of the swelling in my throat.  The kids actually behaved really well and watched their movies the whole day.  I was happy to have Nate along for the drive to help, I really don't think I could have done this one on my own!  This time it ended up being 17hrs Saturday, we stayed with some friends in Des Moines on Saturday night and finished off the rest of the 9 1/2 hour drive on Sunday.

Although it is great to be home, and have Nate around again, I miss Utah and my family!  We had such a great time and were so grateful to everyone who let us stay with them!  My sister was awesome and let us spend most of our time living at her house!

Since we've been home:

• It was like Christmas for Brynlee and Gracen when they walked in.  They were so excited to see their toys!  They have both been playing really well this week!
• We got unpacked and everything back in it's place.  I was gone so long, I actually forgot where some things went and where other things were!
• Nate started a rotation in family practice.  He is with our family doctor and I don't think he likes rotating with the doctor that his wife and children see.  He seems to like him though!  The schedule is pretty nice too!
• Brynlee started back into preschool!  We had a bit of a dillema that day.  I got a phone call that morning that it was yellow day, and the kids should wear something yellow.  Brynlee doesn't have any yellow shirts, so I told her she could wear a yellow hair clip.  She was not happy about that!  With it being her first day back, I decided we could run to Target and get her a shirt really fast before we went to school.  We were still running on Utah time and that really fast trip didn't go as planned and Brynlee was about 10 minutes late for school...whoops!  Her teacher didn't seem to mind!   The following picture is before we ran off to target.  That's all I got!  I planned to take one at school too, but once I saw we were running late, it didn't happen!  

I can't believe this cute girl starts Kindergarten next year!

Gracen wanted to be in the picture with his big sis!  Notice the yellow rain boots...he hasn't taken them off since we got home!

• Nate had an interview in Cleveland.  When he came home he said, "I think they are going to be last on my list!"  He wasn't too impressed.  He said that a lot of the doctors had foreign accents that were very hard to understand and that one of them was actually implying that he shouldn't be going into pathology because most people don't see them as real doctors.  That is definitly something I would say if I wanted someone to be interested in my program!
• We played with friends!
• Brynlee started dance!  She loves it!  She has a different teacher this year, I think she will do great!

Now What...

• We're headed to Columbus tomorrow to pick up Nate's car and see some friends!  I'm excited, I haven't been there yet, but I've heard it's great!
• Catch up on my blog.  We had so much fun in Utah and lots to post! 
• Nate has lots of interviews set up.  We'll be going to Wisconsin, Tennessee, and Kansas with him.   I'm excited for these trips, it'll be fun to get out and see some new places!
• Gracen's birthday!
• Nate has a test in Philadelphia at the end of the month.  We'll be going with him out there, and visit some historical sites!
• Finish some projects.  Somehow, I have a million projects going all at once.  I need to get them finished before I start anything else!
• More interviews in Texas.  I can't go this time!
• Christmas shopping!  I can't believe Christmas is already almost here!
• Nate's parents come out for Thanksgiving!  We're excited to have them here!
• The list goes on and on...but that's enough for now!

Funny kid sayings...

Since we have been out here in Utah, my kids have had a few funny comments that I wanted to get on here before I forget them.

I'll start with Gracen:

Grandpa Thompson(Nate's dad) took Gracen for a walk down the street one morning. They live in a really small town with lots of big fields. Gracen has loved seeing all the tractors out in the fields. Grandpa Thompson decided to walk down the street where a combine was parked so that Gracen could see it. As they walked up to it, a couple of deer started jumping out and into the field. Gracen thought that was pretty neat!

When they got back, Grandpa told Gracen to tell me what they saw on their walk. He looked at me and said, "Camels" and laughed a little in the excited way he does. We all had to laugh at that response. Then he said, "Jumping" He was so excited that he saw "camels jumping."

Funny thing is he knows they were deer, and I am sure Grandpa told him they were deer. I don't even know where camels comes from. When we went to the zoo in Des Moines we saw a camel for about 30 seconds. That is his ONLY experience with camels...so I'm not sure where he got it!

Every time we talk about him going for that walk and ask him what he saw jumping out, his story changes back and forth from camels to deer. When we went to the zoo here a week ago, we missed seeing the camels, and when Grandma and Grandpa Thompson asked him what he saw at the zoo, he answered...Camels!

Now for what Brynlee has said:

We had just left my sisters house and I stopped at a stop sign. Brynlee looked out the window and said, "Look mom...a grape tree!!" I looked over to see what she could be talking about and what she thought was a grape tree, was actually an apple tree. The apples were still kinda small...I can see where she's coming from! I had a good laugh at that one!

Not the exact tree, but it looked just like this one...

When we got up to Nate's parents house for the first time on this trip, Grandpa went down stairs with Brynlee and Gracen. He has a big gun safe sitting down in the hallway, and asked Brynlee what she thought was in it. She said, "Cookies?" Grandpa said, "No." She said, "Blueberry muffins?" He said, "No." Then he told her what was in it! Could you imagine a big safe full of cookies and blueberry muffins...she must have been a hungry girl!

My grandparents live down in Arizona, and were up in Preston, Idaho visiting my aunt, so I decided to drive up and see them. On the way, we passed a few fields and Brynlee was watching out the window. She noticed a big field with a few cow's and only one horse. She said to me, "Look mom at that field with a whole bunch of cows and only one horse...they must've invited him over for dinner!" She was very serious about this! Such a sweet girl to think that the reason there was only one horse was because he had been invited to dinner with the cows!

That's all for now! I sure do love these two kids of mine! Without them, my life wouldn't be the same!!

More updates to come...lots of them!