We made it!

We're out in Utah for the next week -- we drove (yes, really) out with the kids a week ago. Everyone made it. In one piece. We only watched Clifford approximately 40 times and went through 2 pounds of Twizzlers. But we made it. We'll have tons o' pics and blog posts when we get back. So far we've seen the badlands (now every moutain is "the badlands" to Luke) and Mount Rushmore, dug for fossils, hiked up Y mountain, celebrated my Grandpa's 80th birthday, hung out with cousins and grandparents. Tomorrow we're in for a spa day up at Sundance. Aaaah.

A few (unedited) pics from the way out:

Luke at the Badlands

Mount Rushmore

Happy Day

I finished my residency today.

Hooray!

Post Blitz #3: How to eat an Oreo Cookie

1. Notice mommy eating oreo cookie. Run to her yelling "mamamamamam! aaaaahhhh!" at the top of your lungs until someone hands you said cookie.

2. Pull oreo apart, discarding the offending non-creme side into nearby measuring cup. Perfect fit.

3. Suck all the creme off of creme-d side.

4. Shove entire half of cookie into mouth once creme is sucked off.

5. Bask in your messiness and then wipe your mouth on Daddy's clean white shirt.

Post Blitz #2:18 months

I can't belive my little peanut is already 18 months old. She has definitely found her -- well -- independent streak! I can sense that 2 is going to be oh-so-fun.

-- She loves people. She is happiest talking to people, smiling at them and telling them everything and anything she can think of. She spends a good chunk of church meetings wandering around and sitting with our different friends.

-- She loves to sing. She sings all the time (mostly when you're not listening to her). And she's pretty good - she can sing "Itsy bitsy spider," "twinkle twinkle," "B-I-N-G-O," "Skip to my Lou" and a few others. She even knows most of the words (ok some -- but they sound close enough to tell what song she's singing).

-- She loves to dance (aka stomp, bob head, all with big ole' grin). And she's got rhythm.

-- She adores her big brother. Worships him. Follow him around and does everything he does.

--She knows a ton of words now. Daddy, Mama (finally -- though this generally means "I want it!". And she still calls me "daddy!" everytime I pick her up from day care.), "ink-ee" (binky - her favorite), "baba," "wah-ooh" (water), "tank-oo" (thank you), "ing ee!" (spring me - ie "get me out of my high chair!"), "ow-syee" (outside), "hiii," "bye-bye!," "doggeee"

-- She wants to do it all herself. Walk, eat with a spoon, drink from a glass, go up stairs, etc. She is even more independent than I remember Luke being at this age.

-- She is still my loving, snuggly girl. At least when she's tired. Then I get her to fall asleep cuddled up in my arms.

Post Blitz #1 - Happy Anniversary!

We've now officially been married 6 years. Happy Anniversary to us! We went out for Teppanyaki (yum, yum, yum - never done this before, and believe me - I will again!). Frankly, any date night is good! I like this boy.

The requisite (and never cute!) stick-the-camera-out-and-take-it-yourself picture: Posing with our chef:

6 years-and still smiling:

Pretty, no?

I've gone tons of new pics from our camping trip this weekend so I'm sure there will be tons more posts to come. We've never decorated our room. Really. Mismatched furniture off of craigslist, the same bedspread I've had since college. So, with a little birthday help from my mom, I finally found (and got!)and bedding set a set I love. Pretty, no? I'll post pics when the room's done . . .

See it here.

I heart football

When you do something, do it with style, right? I went to my first (ever) NFL game on Friday night. Vikings vs. Seahawks. And I love (love) football. It's one of my favorite things about fall. But I digress. However, I did not watch from the stands, like all those other people. I was on. the. sidelines. Aaaaaahh. I'm still a little starstruck.

I had a chance to tag along as a resident (exactly 2 weeks left to go, thank you) for our first game working as the airway docs for the Vikings. We were stationed about 10 yards off the sidelines. I was literally 5 feet from the players' bench. I got almost run over by Bernard Berrian (okay, he just ran by me but his shoulder pad hit my shoulder!), saw Adrian Peterson and T. Jack. Plus Hasselback and Holmgren and the other Seahawks who were there. Any time someone got hurt, we walked right out the sidelines (no, no one needed us). And we were on TV.

My impressions? The players aren't as big as I was expecting them to be (well, okay, some of them ARE that big. But not most of them. And even the ones who are my height have biceps the size of my thighs). The 80,000 fans are kind of hazy and far away so you really can forget that 80,000 people are watching you. The NFL players are FAST. That was amazing to watch. The players look like real people in their street clothes. And that really was one of the coolest things I have done. Here are some pics frozen from the game (we weren't allowed any pics of the game so these are frozen from the TV broadcast). Of course, you can only see my hair (and my purse, which is how Ken recognized me!). But it's me, I promise.