Back in the Groove

Home again, home again. I am getting back into the groove of being home and not being on vacation. I have been in Utah or Idaho for one and a half of the past two and a half months! We are actually going back for Griffin's Wedding in a few short weeks. We are excited to have Ashland become part of the family!

This group was full of doctor's appointments, dentist appointments, and other kinds of appointments. Brag moment: The Doctor said that Evelyn is very very smart for her age! She is amazing at figuring things out mechanically and finding new ways to use her toys. The doctor also said she was a very curious baby. Yes. I agree Dr. Boyd. I love it!

I am also very close to having a new front tooth! Only three weeks to a month left (that may seem like a long time, but I have had no front tooth for over 9 months!). My new student doctor and best friend, Logan Hazard, made me a brand new Essex tooth to wear until then. No more cracked falling apart piece of junk that I have been living with!

My baby doctor had some good news and some not so good news. The babies are doing great! That is the important news... The not so fun news is that they are in the worst possible position for their Mama. Our little boy has his head down by my right hip and his body strait across toward my belly button. Our baby girl has her head by my belly button and her body strait out toward my other hip. Both babies are transverse. Having one baby transverse is hard, but two will reek havoc on the moma's back and lower belly. I can attest to the truth of this. The good news is the doctor said they will eventually move to an up and down position... eventually.

On Thursday I had a wonderful dinner with the presidency of CADA. We had members from last years presidency and the incoming presidency. I have loved being the secretary for the last two years, but this year is going to be pretty hectic as it is. I am still excited to help plan, volunteer and participate in upcoming events.

Pictures will be posted soon.

Relaxing Vacation

I have realized that when you get behind on one week it is very difficult to catch up. Three weeks later...

Our vacation was great. We visited the Almond's for the first week and then we went to see the Hazard's for the second week. We had a very laid back and relaxing trip with both families. With the Almond's we had a good time doing fun projects around the house. I love doing things like that! We had some alone time with Marissa and with Shannon. We also had time to 'hang out' with Brandon. I loved spending time with my mom too. Hooray for family!

Time with the Hazard's was a lot the same. We saw some VERY good basketball games! We also went to Yellowstone National Park for a day.

I don't have pictures from the trip on this computer... We haven't posted because Logan's computer has been MIA for the last week and he has all of the pictures. As soon as it returns I will post some.

Romantic Getaway and Baby News

I have an amazing husband! Logan surprised me this week with an anniversary trip. Next week is actually our anniversary, but it just happens to be finals week as well. Logan booked us a night in a romantic cabin nestled deep in the woods. We arrived at a very 'quaint' cabin and were very pleased when we opened the door and saw the cutest little cabin either of us had ever seen. Inside, the cabin looked brand new. There was a kitchen (complete with everything except an oven), a little living room nook, a bedroom and a large bathroom with a jacuzzi tub. The back door led us to a deck with two cozy chairs and a woodburning stove. Logan and I cooked our BBQ dinner and had a romantic and relaxing evening.

The next day we went hiking to see all of the nearby attractions. There were about seven caves, waterfalls, natural bridges, and beautiful landmarks that we could hike to. These structures kind of reminded me of Zion National Park without the sheer walls. Also, unlike Zion, these structures were surrounded by lovely forests. I would recommend the Hocking Hills Cabins and surrounding areas to everyone that lives here. We had an amazing time.

We arrived home on Wednesday night. Our big eighteen week ultrasound was scheduled for The next day. We were finally going to find out the genders of Noodle and Twitch!

We gave them nicknames a long time ago, and Twitch has always lived up to her name. She is the one that constantly feels like a centepede or small earthquake in the left side of my belly. Noodle is the calm and collected baby that wiggles and kicks just enough to know that he is OK. We are VERY excited for our little boy and our little girl. When we found out I was pregnant, we talked about wether we wanted a boy or girl. We both immediately said boy, but then we also decided that it would be nice for Eva to have another girl close to her age. Well, problem solved.

On Saturday we had a neighborhood/ward yard sale that was mostly for the people that are graduating and moving. Logan and I set up a table and we made a bit of money. Hooray for yard sales!

We are headed out for a Sunday family bike ride!

Here are some pictures of the week.

This was our cute little cabin! Look at http://www.ashcave.com/lb.htm to see pictures of the inside and find out more info if you are interested.

This is a cave we hiked to. There was a group of very young christian singers that were singing acapella in another part of the cave. They had amazing voices!

This was one of the man made caves we hiked through.


I think this pose looks like it should be in a wedding announcement

I decided to be more creative this time with my pregnancy pictures. Here I am at 18 Weeks Pregnant.

Two little baby heads!

I have always thought these ultrasounds were pretty funny! Now I have one of my own!

Our baby girl is walking! Actually, she is marching!

It has been a great week

It has been a fantastic, busy, fun, great week for us here in Cleveland. Unfortunately, our camera broke on Saturday and we don't have a card reader to get the pictures off it, so there are no pictures. [Update- we bought a new camera. There are pictures on the bottom of this post.]

On Tuesday I did my first "real" filling in the dental clinic. It is about time. I have been in school for two years. I have learned a lot of theoretical stuff. Starting now, however, I finally get to apply what I have been learning. From here on out I will be in the clinic nearly every day. Woo hoo! (Except for the required paperwork and protocols, etc. I hear that can be a pain.)

On Thursday I got out of school early because the seniors were doing stuff for their board exams. We took advantage of the time by going down to Cuyahoga Vally National Park. We brought our bikes and rode arond for a while. Then we went to a nice picnic spot where we grilled chicken for dinner and explored the area. We are lucky to live so close to such a cool place. Eva loves it too.

On Friday morning I assisted Tyler, a senior, with his board exams. This looked like a stressful day. That afternoon we went to the beach at Edgewater State Park. Evelyn loves the sand and all of the birds.

Saturday I assisted with boards again in the morning. Again, stress. While I was gone Evelyn and Rachel went to Ethan Wilson's birthday party. Apparently, Evelyn really likes blue frosting. After I got back we went to a picnic for Mark Broadbent's party at horseshoe lake. There were a lot of friends their, and we had fun eating, playing on the playground equipment, playing catch, and just hanging out.

Like I said, it's been a fun week. This next week is looking like it'll be fun as well.

This is at Cuyahoga Vally. It was a beautiful day!

I dug a hole at the beach and put Evelyn in it. She didn't seem to mind...

...until she started eating sand, and then couldn't get it out of her mouth because her hands had sand on them so it just made it worse. What a tragic situation to be in.

And so we rescued her and chased birds. She liked that.

March

This is a post summarizing this last month. This week's post actually ended up under this one. Make sure you check it out too!

Spring Break- We decided to drive to Washington D.C. and spend a few days touring the sites. As we pulled off the exit we recieved the phone call from my mom informing us that my daddy had been in an accident. We found tickets to SLC from Washington. We were blessed to be there because tickets were only $109 for a next day flight. If we had been in Cleveland they were $400 each! That night was our first campout of the season! Evelyn is a natural born camper, and she had a great time! We have some pictures of our adventures below.

Evelyn is also, thankfully, a natural born traveller. We bought her car seat on Tuesday at 10:30 and left for Washington at 11:00. From 11:00 Tuesday until 7:00 Wednesday night Evelyn was in that car seat 99% of the time. She even slept in it in the tent! During all of the driving and flying on Wednesday we never heard so much as a grumpy peep out of her. She smiled and giggled and made a lot of friends!

After we arrived in SLC we went strait to the hospital. The hospital staff was amazing and they helped us in countless ways. We could never thank them enough. We were given a conference room for our family to use for as long as we needed it. We had so many people show up that we packed the room and flooded into the halls. The nerologist was very kind. He came in and explained how to read cat scans, then he explain my dad's situation, and finally he took as long as was needed to answer all of our questions. He was shocked at how many people had come (we had about 35). That evening he volunteered to do his presentation again (this time there were about 60 people). I want to thank everyone that came and supported our family.

I stayed in Utah for almost a month. I took a short trip to Rexburg to visit Logan's family for a few days. I had a great visit with them, and Evelyn had fun too!

When I returned to Utah, I worked endlessly on a book I created for my dad. I included 6 sections; the first was a section full of memories that I had his brothers and sisters, mother, my mom, and all of my siblings write. There are thirty pages of stories about my dad from many different perspectives. The second section consisted of priesthood blessings that each member of my family recieved (these blessings were a great comfort to us and had a lot of amazing information for our family), the second part of this section was a journal from the day my daddy passed away. The next section was my dad's graduation (his funeral). Graduation is when you successfully complete a course of study and move up. I typed up the entire ceremony. The next section is a story that was written by a member of my dad's writing group. It is from the perspective of his guardian angel. The final section consists of memories people wrote in the journal at the hospital, memories from the memory cards that people wrote at the funeral, and memories contributed by e-mail. The book also consisted of sections of pictures. I am so glad that I have this book. I loved making it, and I am excited to share it with my children.

I miss my daddy. The day that he passed away was one of the most spiritual days of my life. I know that my daddy is here with me. The veil is thin and I know he will be with me and my family. He is playing with my kids right now. I will see him again.



Dinner time at the camp site! Hooray for ramen noodles! Evelyn loved them. Is anyone surprised?


Good morning! What a great morning face. Here is Eva, bundled and in her car seat.

This is a picture of Evelyn in a pair of my daddy's shoes. Dad wore a size 18 shoe! I wonder if any of our kids will ever fit those? Hopefully not Eva!

Eva loves to stack and to play the 'in and out' game. She used her shoes to show off the size comparison!

In Rexburg I got to know Ashland a little bit better (Griffin's girlfriend).

Remember to look at the next post as well.

Bring on the Summer!

Warning: There are a lot of pictures on this post.

The other day I was looking for Evelyn. I heard sounds coming from her bedroom, and this is what I found when I went in...

She had completely emptied out her dresser! When she finally realized that I was watching her, she looked so guiilty...
But then realizing what a sucker daddy was for the cute girl act, she decided to turn on the charm...
What a cute girl!

I'm not sure if we've mentioned in on our blog before, but we have started a dating group with some friends. There are four couples, so every fourth week we babysit all of the kids for a couple of hours. The other three weeks we get a couple of hours to ourselves! This week we took advantage of the time to go rock climbing at the indoor wall at the school. It was a lot of fun, but was also a painful reminder for both of us how long it's been since we went climbing. Typing this post is hurting my sore forearms. I have gotten so weak!

This week we also had some good weather and decided to have our first real BBQ of the year. Let the summer begin!

On Saturday Rachel went down to the temple in Columbus with the Relief Society. That meant that I got to have Evelyn to myself all day. After dropping Rachel off at the church we went straight to Cuyahoga Valley for a day of fun. We started out by riding on the Towpath trial for about six miles. This is where big boats used to be towed down the canal- hence the name. There were turtles everywhere! I lost count after 34 but I'm sure we saw close to a hundred! In this picture, there are some turtles on the log behind Evelyn.
After the bike ride, we had a picnic.

Then we decided to go on a hike to the ledges. This is a cliff about 40 feet high, but since Ohio is pretty much flat it means that you have an unlimited view for miles around. When we got there, Evelyn had a great time exploring the terrain.

All of that playing sure made her sleepy!

So that's pretty much it for this week. It was a great week of fun and adventure. Let the next week begin!

By the way, Rachel is also starting up the baby-belly pictures again, so if you're interested in that you can click on the link on the right to see them . Oh- speaking of babies, we had another ultrasound this week. Both babies are doing great and we found out that at least one of them (I think it's Noodle) is a BOY! Hooray!

My Daddy, My Hero

A man that works with his hands is a laborer; A man that works with his hands and his head is a craftsman; A man that works with his hands, his head, and his heart is an artist. -Louis Nizer

My daddy was an artist. He had amazing skill with woodworking, cooking, stained glass, copper work, and metal. He also completed an excellent eleven hundred page science fiction novel (the first in a trilogy). He actually finished everything needed for his masterpiece on March 9th.

My dad decided to make a wedding gift for Logan and me. He took us around to different furniture stores and found out exactly what we liked. He created an amazing entertainment center. This work of art has so many little intricate details. If you look closely you can see that the wood on one side is an exact mirror image of the opposing side. He also lined the entire structure with lighting that can be controlled by a touch pad in the center. The work itself is flawless. I am amazed at his artistic skill and the time he put into creating something beautiful for us. We will treasure this forever.

My dad was 6'4" tall and pretty well built. He could seem a little intimidating to strangers. This was not the case, he was a loving teddy bear. I loved his extra large hands that could comfort me no matter what. My favorite thing of all, however, were his loving bear hugs! I felt so safe when I hugged him.

My dad's calling in life was to become a grandpa. He was so excited when he found out I was pregnant, and he told everyone that would listen that he would soon be a grandpa. I was surprised to learn this, because my dad generally seemed to keep to himself. I have found out recently that you couldn't get him to stop talking when he was telling you about his family.

My daddy showed me the importance of hard work and family. My daddy was a roofer, and he worked extrememly hard to ensure that my mom could stay home to raise my family. He treasured my mom. He knew that even though she was staying home; she needed to develop her own talents. Over the years she has become an amazing painter, and he has encouraged and supported her in that goal.

Whenever my daddy was on vacation he had on a hawaiian shirt. I think this was a symbol for him that meant- I am on vacation, and I have no worries. Three weeks before he passed away he requested that hawaiian shirts and bright colors be worn at his funeral to celebrate his life. This wish was granted. The funeral was very classy, and very bright.

Whenever my dad was concentrating really hard, he would stick a tiny bit of his tongue out and have a little crease appear on his forehead. I remember one day he was outside playing with his whip (he made this when he was a teenager. It was originally 21 feet long, but it got shorter and shorter with use). He came inside with his tongue sticking out and bleeding on the end. We asked what happened and he responded, "I thwipped my thongue." He had obviously been concentrating and the whip snapped on the edge of his tongue. Miraculously it didn't even touch his lips!

My daddy had an amazing talent that I have never before seen matched. He could watch television and read a book at the same time. He could follow both storylines exactly. I don't know how he did it, but he did it well! He had a library in his basement of well over 2,000 books, and if you picked one off the shelf he could tell you the entire book in crazy detail. He could also read a 1,000 page book in two days (while also continuing with his normal life). He taught all of us a deep love for reading.

My daddy was an excellent listener. He would drop everything if you needed something, or if you just needed to talk.

My daddy absolutely loved teaching. He was in his element when he was teaching something, and he was good at it. He taught me many things. I remember going roofing with him when I was younger. I loved being out with my dad, and I learned a lot of really interesting and useful things.

My daddy taught me how to work hard at something and then to be proud of my accomplishments. I loved seeing the pride in his eyes when he was showing us something new, or he was explaining the many intricacies of Jac (information and ideas from his book). He had whole worlds in his head just waiting to explode onto the page.

I will always be a 'Daddy's girl.' I have been for a long time, and I will still be. Logan and I decided a few years ago that our first son would have the middle name 'Kelly' in honor of my dad. I am so proud of my dad and everything he accomplished. I know he is watching out for me and my family.

The day that my daddy passed away was one of the most spiritual days of my life. I know Heavenly Father has a plan and that this event was an important part of it. I know my daddy is right here with me because I can feel him here. I know he is up there telling my children stories (probably The Hobbit, or some story out of his mind), and teaching them. I am very proud of my daddy and I will miss him terribly. I love him so much. I am excited to see him again someday.

This is a video that Logan created to help remember my daddy. If you have a few minutes it is worth the time to catch a glimpse of his wonderful life. The video takes a minute to load, but it does work.