This week seems to have been a very busy week filled with exciting news and good fortune. That, at least, is how it seems. Reality is that this week hasn't been that much different from the normal routine. This can mean either one of two things: Either we are just imagining that our lives are great in a last-ditch psychological effort to cope with our tired lives, or our lives really are wonderful and every week is full of unforgetable experiences with each upcoming week bringing forth untold amounts of happiness.

The second of these options seems to discribe us perfectly! We love living out here with the changing Fall colors and the nice people, the fun experiences we each have at school or work, and the countless hours we spend just "hanging out" together wondering how things could get any better.

The highlight of the week was the Psi-Omega campout on Friday and Saturday. Psi-Omega (or Psi-O) is a dental school fraternity that I am in and it consists almost entirely of young families (over half of them are LDS) who enjoy having good, clean fun together. We all went to West Branch state park after school on Friday and it was a good way to meet people outside of their "dental student" roles. Rachel had fun holding all the babies that were there and daydreaming of the day that Wiggle Bean will be cooing in her arms. We had cornhole tournaments, which is a strangly popular and competitive version of the bean-bag toss. We took walks by the lake and enjoyed the fresh Autumn air. Overall, it was a very enjoyable weekend.

Also, we finished reading another book. This one, "A Thousand Splendid Suns" was by the same author of "The Kite Runner." We really liked both books, but we both agree that this one was better. Both are heartwrenching stories of Afghanis who go through unimaginable circumstances and somehow find happiness in the end.

Besides that, we have both been busy with school and Rachel has been working. This week she received several complements from her boss and her various teams regarding her mad interpreting skills. She also got a raise-Hooray!

We hope everyone is doing well and we enjoy staying in touch with each of you. Have a great week!

Hey everyone! I (Rachel) thought I would add a few comments about the changes that are happening with Wiggle Bean. On the way to the Psi-O campground I felt Wiggle bean actually kick for the first time (maybe second, but I am not quite sure :). It felt like a tiny finger softly poking me from the inside. Later that night as I was falling asleep, I felt Wiggle Bean actually become active for the first time. I felt little movements all over and this lasted for about three minutes. Since that time I have felt our baby become very active at times when I am very relaxed. I am absolutely loving it! My belly is beginning to expand more rapidly, but is still not noticeable to other people. From the last few days I am beginning to wonder if Wiggle Bean is trying to grow toward my back because I have been having awful backaches. Whatever the case, I am still happy and excited to be pregnant!

I hope everyone has a wonderful week!

Here are some pictures of the state park where we went camping. We forgot to bring the camera, so we aren't in any of them. Sorry.

Monkeying around!

Logan always keeps me on my toes, and our home is never boring! While I was making dinner tonight I noticed that Logan was moving the flower (He brought me flowers yesterday!) centerpiece off of our table. I walked in to see what he was doing and he climbed on the table and bent his head over the end and proceeded to maneouver his body underneath the table and back up on the other side without touching the ground. I had the camera close by and was able to get a few good pictures that I just had to share. Logan is so much fun and I love being married to him!

After he was finished he told me about a game he plays with himself when I am not home and he is bored. He starts at one end of the house and navigates himself through the entire house without touching the ground. He also sets limits for himself such as making kitchen chairs off limits.

I am not sure if his monkey tendencies are from climbing, or if he loves climbing because of it! Many of you may have not seen this side of Logan, but he is great fun to live with!

Logan later told me that he set a limit for himself to not use his hands and instead use different parts of his body for balance (in this case it was his forearms).

I hope this made you smile! Have a wonderful day.

Loving every minute!

Hey! I hope everyone is doing great with whatever they are doing. I know we are! This week was a fun week for Rachel and me. There are two "highlights" that need to be mentioned about the week.

First of all, we had a visit to the doctor for our baby. Everything is going perfectly- Rachel is healthy, and the baby is healthy, and it doesn't even look like Rachel is pregnant yet even though she is already at the half-way mark for the pregnancy. We still don't know if the baby is a boy or a girl, but we a scheduling an ultrasound soon (sometime in the next couple of weeks) and we'll be sure to let everyone know what "shows up".

The second highlight is that we were able to go rock climbing at a place known as the Logtown Quarry. It's an old sandstone quarry that has close to a hundred established routes. The rock was a little different than we were used to and made for some interesting climbs and moves. We met a cool lady there, who was probably in her late 50s or early 60s. She had started climbing when she was 47, and had established a lot of the first ascents in the area, some of them up to 5.12 in difficulty. She came over and watched us climb for a while, and even coached me through a difficult move on a 5.11 I was leading. That was pretty awesome!

Besides that, life has been pretty great to us! We made a friend with a chipmunk that lives under our front porch. We named it "Ace" because of its fearless nature, and we enjoy watching it. Also, I had a fun experience on Friday when my class went into the public schools around Cleveland to teach the kids about teeth. I know that teeth aren't the most interesting things to learn about when you're in 3rd grade, but I think the kids had fun, and I know I did! I was nervous at first to be left alone with a group of little 2nd-3rd graders, but they put me at ease pretty quickly.

Logan was actually doing a dyno move upwards, but this picture gives the illusion that he is falling.

Fall is here!

A chill is in the air

The leaves are changing colors

School bells ring

And the air smells of...Apple Cider

(And the Hazards are Happy)

Autumn is officially here in Cleveland, and we love it! The leaves are starting to change their colors and evening walks are perfect in the crisp air. We have been taking full advantage of this wonderful changing season. This Saturday we spent the afternoon at the annual Johnny Appleseed Festival enjoying the sights, smells, tastes, and sounds of the fall season. The festival took place in a quaint town (everything around here seems quaint) on a small hill overlooking acres and acres of apple trees. There was a small pond near the bottom of the hill next to a corn maze and people standing in line for hay-rides and pony rides. Near the top of the hill were several booths selling everything from hand-made crafts to delicious home-made foods. Rachel and I tried our first apple dumpling with fresh hot spiced cider as we sat and took it all in.

Also, on Friday night we had a Mexican Fiesta at our house! We made mexican dishes, sang La Cucaracha, and watched the first few episodes of 24-season 2 (we were going to get a movie to match our theme, but we've wanted to see 24 for a while now).

Besides our fabulous weekend, we had a busy week. Rachel was all over the city with her interpreting job, and she was also at the school on a couple of days selling Indian's tickets for a CADA fundraiser. School is starting to get busier for me and we are starting to have tests. So far it hasn't been terribly overwhelming though and most days I still get done with everything by 3:00.

We are anxiously looking forward to our doctor's visit next week where we will finally schedule an ultrasound to determine if Wiggle Bean will be wearing pink or blue PJs.

Yet another good week

With only four real "work-days," this week seemed to fly by without us even knowing it. My classes are starting to actually require some work now (but not too much) and that makes the time go by fast as well.

Rachel has been sort-of busy with her classes and her walking group. Also, she has started to design the baby's room. She spends a lot of time over at a friend's house sewing curtins. She also continues to find great deals on Craigslist for things we need/want (this week she got a couple of $3 maternity shirts, and 9 Disney movies for $15).

In our free time we have been reading "The Kite Runner," which is an excellent book that makes Rachel cry a lot. We finnished it this week and we would reccomend it to all (except for small children, and those who want to think that no problems exist in the world).

Other than that, it has been a pretty normal week. There were some other random events, like the missionaries comming over for dinner or a CADA dinner party for Rachel, but overall it's been pretty relaxing.

Labor Day Madness!

Hello Everybody. I hope you all had a great Labor Day weekend. I know Rachel and I did. On Friday afternoon after I was done with school we packed up the car and headed South to Kentucky and the Red River Gorge. Wow! What a wonderful place that is!

We camped the whole time in the gorge where, for only $5 you can pick up a permit to camp anywhere in the canyon for three days. The campsites were actually fairly well developed, and some even had bathrooms. Not bad.

Early on Saturday morning we went to a local gas station and asked about where we might buy a climbing guide. The gas station attendant looked at us like we were a little bit crazy and said that they didn't even know you could climb 'round these parts. Another guy in the gas station told us to check up the road at Miguel's Pizza, "where 'bout five hundred cars are parked." We went up there, and to our utmost joy found a camp-four-like setting with literally hundreds of climbers meandering around through the camp behind the pizza parlor. We gathered what information we could about the area and drove off to the cliffs.


The climbing there was nothing short of wonderful. The rock was sandstone with a lot of good iron ledges and pockets. Also a lot of good, near-perfect cracks splitting the walls of the gorge. We climbed all day on Saturday, taking only a little time to eat lunch in between climbs.


Sunday was our day off and we decided to relax, read, and do a little bit of hiking in the mountains. The hiking turned out to be beautiful, and we got to see many natural arches and expansive vistas. It is so green here that the mountains look like giant broccoli sticking their heads up out of the ground.

On Monday we hit the crags again and climbed until early afternoon. The drive home was uneventful other than a crazy lady accusing us of running into her car (we didn't) and then driving off. Also, it should be mentioned that there are a few Taco Bell's around here that serve Chili Cheese Burritos, and we have learned to plan our trips accordingly (for those of you who don't know already, Rachel has a not-so-mild infatuation with Chili Cheese Burritos).



Here are some pictures of our great weekend:

This is me in front of "Blue Runner," a beautiful 9+ trad line that I did.

Rachel, getting ready to do some serious climbing.




Us at Natural Arch. This was a pretty cool hike. The rock behind us is actually a big arch.




This was a very busy climbing area we went to on Monday. We actually had to stand in line for the climbs! Rachel is in the bottom right of the picture.



Here is where we camped the first night. Rachel is eating breakfast in our makeshift kitchen.