Keira's First Birthday

Yum! That is good. Ever since her first sugar taste she lets us know if we are eating cake and she isn't.
Why do brothers have to be so mean? (Really Keira, he was only putting the pacifier back in.)

I have never seen someone so excited about a doll. She was bouncing and giggling and would not let it go.

All children have an attraction for the dishwasher.

December Snow

Yes, I shoveled the driveway and sidewalk all by myself.

Last Tuesday we got a lot of snow. How I was wishing for 4 wheel drive. Yes, I got stuck in the Church parking lot. A nice family, in a mini van pulled me out.

I told Jeremy I think I win the wife of the day prize. Then yesterday he shoveled. He let me know that he was husband of the week because the snow was heavier when he shoveled, he shoveled the sidewalks (which I didn't), and he only had an hour and a half sleep that night. Of course, I humored him. I let him know that I just couldn't make it without such a strong and giving, not to mention handsome husband.

The picture is slightly blurry, but yes, Matthew lost his first tooth. It was on a Sunday and Jeremy was on call. The "poor" tooth fairy had to scramble. She had little on hand, but the next morning (5:30 a.m.) a little boy was very excited by what the tooth fairy had left.

Halloween

The clinic Jeremy works at, had each year of residents as well as some faculty decorate the different rooms. The kids got to go trick or treating there. Ryan was a bit nervous of a couple of rooms.

The first snow fall, and boy are my boys excited.
We'll see how long Matthew likes to shovel snow.

Ryan told his dad how to carve his pumpkin.

Matthew drew and cut out his own pumpkin. Jeremy helped cut all the way through.

Jeremy's pumpkin is the "green" one.
Kids wore their costumes to a family story time at the library last night.

I had a nice birthday. Jeremy had the morning off and sent me out shopping alone.

Keira playing.

October

Well, I have finally taken a few pictures, so I am updating our blog. We have done several fun things lately, but did I remember the camera, NO! We took Keira in the stroller (which was a little bit of a workout) and the boys, Jeremy and I hiked to the Y. It was a lot of fun and beautiful. I love the Fall. There was a tree that was bright red, and that is when I remembered I had forgotten the camera. Jeremy's residency has a family retreat each year. We stayed for a night in a lodge in Midway. They had a nice resident and spouse dinner. They provided a room with a movie and pizza for all the kids. The older kids and a few adults kept an eye on things. Once again I forgot my camera.

We went to a play at Hale Center Theatre with my family this weekend, and then Jeremy and I had tickets for the BYU homecoming game. We lost big, but I had a nice time. I haven't been to a BYU football game in 4-5 years. We are taking the boys to one in November.

Today is the first day I haven't had a fever. Lucky us, we got the H1N1. I have not been sick that bad in a long time. It felt like I had a cold, a sore throat, the flu, and the stomach bug all at once. It started with Matthew over conference weekend. Then Jeremy got it. Matthew was out of school a week, and Jeremy out of work for a day. We didn't know what we had, but by the time it was all over we are assuming it was H1N1. I got it a week after Matthew, and then Ryan and Keira got it a little. Although, Ryan kept saying, "I not sick." It has taken me 2 1/2 weeks to completely get over it. The cough and a small fever just keep hanging on.

We are all better, and the kids are really excited for Halloween. We carved pumpkins last night. It was extra fun because we grew them in our garden.

Keira crawling!

Matthew thought he would be helpful and put all Keira's toys in her crib.

He had the right idea, she stopped crying.

Keira stood for the first time a couple weeks ago. I am a little behind. She is now crawling also.

You may also notice the pears that I canned. I am quite proud of them (ha,ha). Thanks to my mother and mother-in-law, I now know how to can. I did 25 quarts of pears with Bonnie's help, and then my mom came down and we canned 57 quarts of peaches and 8 quarts of applesauce. It was a lot more work then I realized. I was really impressed when I talked to my mother-in-law and heard how much she and Hilary had canned. The pears and apples are from our trees. Our peach tree didn't do very well because of a late snow in the spring, so my mom bought a couple bushels. I have learned a lot this summer about growing fruit and vegetables and preserving them. I have really enjoyed it.

Yea, Ryan is potty trained. That means he seldom has accidents, and he tells me when he needs to go potty. He is still wearing a pullup at night, but he has been dry for the last 3 or 4 nights. He threw his underwear (aren't we all surprised that Ryan threw something) up on the wall between the livingroom and dining room. He thought he was pretty funny.

Learning Experience

Jeremy had the week off, so after a lot of begging from our children, we decided to go camping. We had a great time. That is if you don't count not getting any sleep. Neither Jeremy nor I got much sleep. I remember camping without having a pad underneath. We must be getting old. We will not go camping without one again. Also, Utah gets a lot colder at night than Texas, and we were not as prepared as we should have been. Our children had enough blankets though. To top it all off, someone, and I won't name names, woke every 20-30 minutes. For some reason she didn't like sleeping in a laundry basket. I thought it made a great crib. (We only have a 4 man tent, so we needed a small bed).

It is now a year later, and I am officially starting this blog. I promised before leaving Texas that I would become a blogger.

We miss Texas and all our friends. We are finally settling down in Utah. Between dealing with fruit trees, family, and a home that is bigger than our 1000 square foot apartment we keep busy. Seeing family at least once every couple weeks has made our move easier. Our boys have made several friends along our street. Few days go by without someone knocking on our door to see if they can play.

Our garden is growing. We have been enjoying zucchini, yellow squash and green beans. We were excited about our broccoli, it looked good, but tasted awful. After some google search. I found that a lot of heat makes broccoli taste gross. Our tomatoes are getting close as well as the carrots and peppers. We even have a tiny cantaloupe and pumpkin growing. This has been quite the learning experience.

Jeremy is enjoying residency. He finished his first rotation in Labor and Delivery, and he started Sports Medicine rotation today. Hope all our fellow resident friends are settling down in their new homes.