Lake Michigan and Indiana Dunes (lots of pictures, not a lot of words)

This last week our little family went on a two day trip to Lake Michigan and the Indiana Dunes. The boys had such a fun time climbing and rolling down the dunes. The water is still pretty cold, but the boys really didn't seem to notice.

I can't believe how big these guys are getting, where does the time go?

They had a lot of fun jumping into nice soft sand. I was surprised they even tried let alone did it again and again! It's a pretty high jump for a little guy!

Austin's favorite way to get down:

All my boys

How cute are they?

I love that you can see his splash.

Goofy Caden. Again, when did he get so big?

As for me. 4 1/2 weeks left, that's all I have to say right now!

Lots of fun stuff!!

Ok, the last few weeks have been full of a ton of stuff. Where to start? I guess first, Dave's sister and her family moved from Virginia to Indianapolis (and brought Grandma with them). Eric graduated from Med school and is now an MD. He will spend a year here and then 3 years at the Mayo clinic to become an anesthesiologist. Cool hua? We are very excited to have them so close, even if it is just for a year.
The day after they got here was Caden's graduation from pre-school. He had great teachers and never complained about going to school, he loved it!! The program was extra fun because Grandma was able to be there! I can't believe he is going to be starting kindergarten in only a couple months. He is so excited and ready though!

The next day was an awards ceremony at Austin and Taylor's school. Unfortunately we have no pictures, it is all on video. Oops! The fun thing is that the boys got all the awards they could have received, from honor roll (all year) to perfect attendance. Pretty neat if you ask me!! After their ceremony we took them to a qualifying race for the Indy 500. They loved it and now want to be race car drivers...we'll see about that!

Taylor's favorite was the monster truck.

Caden absolutely loved seeing "the real" Bumlebee.

We had a lot of fun while Grandma was here. We played guitar hero, went to the zoo, went on a surrey ride around the canal downtown, went to Stir Crazy for dinner and Krispy Kreme for a treat, and had a BBQ with the cousins.

Please excuse my largeness, 8 more weeks to go, Wahoo!!!

The boys really enjoyed using chopsticks!

The best part of the last couple weeks for the boys I think was just being able to play with their cousins.

All the boys had such a fun time while Grandma was here, but I think Caden liked it the best. When he woke up and Grandma was gone he started to cry. He only got better when we told him she would be back in a few weeks when the baby is born. So sweet!

Ok, 3 more things:

Taylor found a great prize outside (it's a worm) he was thrilled that Dave actually let him "play" with it.

Dave finished up 2nd year! I can't believe how fast the last two years have gone! He did really well this year, and is now, as we speak, studying for the National Board exam, YIKES!! I know he will do great though.

During the last week of school the students participated in what they call "stab lab" can you guess what that entails? Basically they practice giving each other numbing shots, OUCH! I guess they have to learn somewhere! This is Dave giving a shot to his friend Adam. From what I hear, he did a great job!

Oh, and a little update on me:

That about covers it on my end!

Happy Mother's Day!

Mother's day has been a hard day of sorts for me for many years now. Tomorrow it will be 18 years since my own mom passed away after a good fight with cancer. As I have been thinking about her and mothers in general I realised how blessed I have been in my life. I have had four women in my life who at different times have been my mother.

The first is of course my birth mom Elizabeth. I am grateful to her for bringing me into this life. She was not in great place in her life when she had me, but through looking at all the pictures and small amounts of video, I know that she loved me. She loved me enough to make the difficult decision to let me be adopted by Anna and Bill, my wonderful mom and dad! For this I am eternally grateful to her.

The second but the one who means the most to me in this whole world is my mom, Anna. I sit here in tears thinking about what a magnificent women she was. She was older when she married my dad, and was only able to have one child, my sister. She opened her home to me when I was 4 at a time of need in my life, and never hesitated in the idea that I was meant to be in her family. She worked extremely hard for our family. She never complained. She was the most talented seamstress I have ever come across. The students she taught loved her because of her strictness and more for the love and concern she showed each of them as she taught. In the short time (8 years) that I was blessed to have her as my mom she taught me things that I still reflect on and use today. She was a beacon of strength and hope to me. Even after eighteen years without her here there are many days where I wish I could call her and get her motherly help, support, and advice. I know she was there watching over Austin and Taylor while they were in the hospital. We have special experiences that testify of that. I know that she watches over me and cries when I cry and picks me up when I fall. I am so grateful for the knowledge I have of eternal families, that I will get to see her again, some day.

The next mom to me is my aunt Maria. Maria has given her whole life to serving others. During the war in Germany when given the opportunity to marry, she chose to stay and take care of her family. She served as a housekeeper to a wonderful family that adored her in Wyoming for many years. After my mom passed away she stepped in to help my dad and I in our daily lives. I did not appreciate her as much at the time as I should have, I thought she was trying to replace my mom. I know now, and have known for many years, what a selfless act of charity and love she displayed to me and my dad.

The fourth mom is my dear mother-in-law Kerrie. Kerrie has always been a huge support to me. I feel very blessed that I can honestly say I love my mother-in-law. I know there are those who can't. Kerrie has been more like a "real" mom to me than a mother-in-law. She is always there to listen, I feel I can tell her anything and she will not pass judgement. She is loving, caring and genuinely concerned when it comes to me. When Austin and Taylor were born she was at the hospital as much as Dave and I were to show her love and support of our small family. When Austin came home a month before Taylor, and I couldn't be there every day with him, she was, and was more than happy to be there. She is an inspiration of a faith promoting women of God, who I aspire to be like some day.

Happy Mothers Day to all the wonderful women in my life.

Listen to this!

Do you like Taylor Swift? Well I don't. Do you like Coldplay? Well I do. Have you heard of Jon Schmidt or Steve Nielson? This is a really neat performance by Jon Schmidt and Steve Nielson. It is an instrumental performance mixing Taylor Swift's "Love Story" and Coldplay's "Viva la Vida" They both went to Highland High, Jon a couple years before Dave and Steve a couple years after. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!!


http://

Well...

It's going to be a girl!!

A little from this last week

The roller coaster is open at the zoo. Austin and Taylor loved it last year and were very excited to get to ride it again, this year they are tall enough to ride it together. Click on the first picture to make it bigger, their expressions are pretty funny! Caden was to short to ride it last year, which was probably best because he really didn't want to anyway. This year I talked him into just trying it once and if he didn't like it he wouldn't have to ride it again. Needless to say it was all he talked about the rest of the day.

All the animals seem to be more responsive and active. The polar bear is swimming around, the walrus loves to play with you at the glass, the baby bears are wrestling and are so cute, the tigers and lions are up and walking around. (I don't think I had ever seen the tiger at Hogle Zoo move) If you can't tell what Caden is looking at it is a stick fish, it is his favorite fish with exception to the tiny jellyfish.

And of course Easter was yesterday. I know these aren't the best pictures, especially the last one, but I just can't get over how big the boys are getting. Where does the time go?

Oh! Stay tuned, I am hoping that on Wednesday I can get a another peek at the gender of the baby.

I want my brain back!!

There is no reason I have to be so dumb right now! Is there? I mean come on. Here is a little list of the things I have done recently that I can't explain.

-put away clean dishes... in the fridge
-folded and put away dirty clothes...right out of the hamper
-I seriously can't remember which name goes with which boy. "Caden, I mean, Austin, I mean Taylor can one of you please help me?"
-ran into the wall with my pinkie toe (a couple times)
-tripped down stairs that I normally can run down without thinking about it
-mixed the wrong ingredients at the wrong time and the wrong amount. 1 cup flour and 3 eggs, not the other way around.
-threw away papers I needed and kept the ones I meant to throw away
-drove right by a store I was going to (a couple times)

Well, that list will have to do. My brain is not working, so much so that I can't remember the others. Yes, there were others. What am I going to do?

This is neat!!

I saw this on my friend Jayne's blog this morning. She is in Utah so for those who don't have access to her blog you should check this out. It totally put a smile on my face and even made me cry a little.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UE3CNu_rtY


Have a great day!!

Dave's Spring Break

Well we just finished a nice week with Dave at home. We took the boys to the museum (and forgot our camera) the zoo and to Chicago! Earlier this week I had my ultrasound. The baby is growing and has all it's parts, at least the ones we could see! This baby is either very stubborn, or very modest. It had it's legs locked closed the entire time! I was quite sad, and even started crying...pathetic, I know. I blame it on all the extra hormones floating around in me! Dave got to be there, so it made it even harder to not find out. My doctor is going to try and come up with an excuse to get me in again next month, so keep your fingers crossed for me! I know some people love the element of surprise, but I am not one of those people. I like everything ready to go!!

Below are a bunch of pictures from our week.

For some reason the boys all wanted maps at the zoo, they have never wanted them before, but they loved looking at the animals on the map and telling us where we should go!

The boys loved riding the huge ferris wheel on Navy Pier.

Chicago is a really neat city, we had such a nice time just walking around looking at everything. The boys really wanted to go swimming in the lake, and I finally got to try Garrett's popcorn, SO yummy!

If you are Dave, or a member of his family you can't go somewhere that has a Del Taco and not eat there at least once...we ate there twice. Luckily we all love it!!

We spent a good amount of time at Millennium Park, Caden could not get enough of the huge "jelly bean."

We had to stop by and look up the Sears Towers. We heard a lot of WOW's from the boys.

We had such a nice time being together as a family. It really made me realise how fantastic my three boys are. They get along so well together and are so kind and thoughtful. I think they are just wonderful and I am so grateful I get to be their mom. I also remembered how nice it is to have a hubby around! However, I am also very grateful to him and all his hard work in school. We are both doing what needs to be done for our family right now, and it feels good to have such a great companionship where we both understand that!

A little Hawaiian update...

Some of you have been asking me how things are going in Molokai with my in-law's restaurant, and how Rod is doing after his accident.

Well, The restaurant is finally open. They have be super busy which is a great thing. There are a few kinks that they are trying to work out, but they are hopeful and things are going better than expected.

Rod's accident was scary. We really didn't know the extent of his injuries until after they transported him to Oahu. By some miracle they didn't have to do surgery and Rod was actually released the next day. He has some nasty open holes in his arm that have to be packed with gauze and changed often to prevent infection, and a grapefruit sized nodule in his thigh that has been giving him some discomfort. Both are starting to heal though. Rod sent us this picture of his truck. It looks like one that has been sitting out in a junk yard for a while, but this really is, or was, his truck. Our family knows that he was being watched over and protected!

Thanks to all you great friends who know how great Rod and Kerrie are for keeping them in your prayers and asking about how they are doing. It is nice to have such great support, even when we don't get to see each other very often!