Who would have thought...

None of my children have ever been the type to pull everything out of the cupboards and drawers and not once have I ever caught any of them pulling ALL the toilet paper off the roll. Of course what child doesn't do that?? Well, today was our first and with our third child of all things. Now that Emma is very good at using the toilet, she wants the freedom to use the toilet paper when she is done. She was in the bathroom for literally 2 minutes and this is what happened. Of course I grabbed my camera and laughed a little as I made her roll the paper back up. I'm sure there will be many more sneaky moments coming from this one. Oh the JOYS!

Back into Running

FINALLY! I guess life has slowed down enough for me to get back into running. Seriously I don't know why it has taken me this long. Abigail is three months old and I finally feel comfortable putting her in the jogger. The biggest change for me this year other than having a new baby is Peter's afternoon Kindergarten. I am more of a morning person and prefer to exercise in the morning. Running after we drop Peter off to school will be something that I will have to get used to.

Today was one of those running days to document. It was a blue sky day with big white puffy clouds, a bit breezy, but lots of sun shining down to warm us up. I thought I might be a bit cold but as I started to run I could feel the sun warming my legs and my back. I LOVE THAT! Who said that Washington doesn't get sun! I ran 2.5 miles in about 24 minutes...not bad to start I guess. As we were turning to head home down our street I could hear Emma say, "I want one of those puffy heads." WHAT? I had to stop the jogger to look to see what she was looking at. She saw the fluffy dandelions and wanted to blow them. What a funny girl. It's fun to see how she views the world. To an adult they are just ugly dandelions, but to a little girl they are so much more....they are puffy heads that you can pick apart and blow away. Oh to be a child again.

Of course there is always a reward for being so good. Emma loves fruit snacks and waited patiently for them until we were done with our run.

Rainy Conference Sunday

We had the most relaxing and enjoyable Sunday watching General Conference on TV. Our only sadness was that Mike could not be with us because he was on call up in Seattle. We stayed in our pajamas for most of the day until I decided that we just must get out of the house and go for a walk. It was sprinkling but no one really cared about that. One of my favorite talks from General Conference was from our Prophet President Monson. He talked about having JOY in the journey of life and not letting important things (family) pass us by. My children and husband bring me such great JOY and I am so glad that I have them. I am going to make an extra effort to truly not waste any moments that I have in being with and loving them.

I am so glad that my children don't mind the rain. I personally love it! Of course no one likes a down pour but when does that ever happen around here?? We are trying to soak up as much outside time as we can before the weather turns too cold.

P is for Potty

If this doesn't just make you laugh...well it should! Emma is finally potty trained and many thanks must go out to my mom in helping. Before leaving for Chicago Emma was showing more interest and motivation to use her little potty. While I was in Chicago my mom really helped her. By the time I got home she hadn't had an accident in three days. Go Grandma!!! We continued and by the weekend she was out of diapers and in big girl underwear. Her favorites are definitely her princess ones. So what did the trick?? CHOCOLATE! She is a girl after my own heart. Everytime she goes on the toilet she gets a couple of chocolate chips. She has a memory like no other because she will not let you forget her chocolate chips. Whatever it takes! I can't believe how fast it all went. The boys seemed to take forever to finally figure it all out. Now that we have mastered this milestone we are on to the next one...a big girl bed. Tonight will be her first time sleeping on her mattress on the floor. We still have to purchase her bed. After leaving her room and saying goodnight she fell asleep and I didn't hear a peep from her room. She is a real dream. I am so excited for the morning when she can get out of her bed all by herself and go to the bathroom. Lately I have been hearing her call for me to get her out of the crib because she has to use the bathroom. I can't believe she is my big girl now!

Chicago

I was fortuntate enough to accompany Mike to Chicago for the Academy for Otolaryngologists -Head and Neck Surgery Annual Meeting and OTO Expo. Mike was asked to present one of the cases he had worked on and written a paper for. Thank you to my mom who so kindly flew up and watched the kids for five days. She is a trooper and a wonderful grandma! Here we are at the Expo in front of his poster. It was an honor for Mike to be asked to join the conference this year. Usually only the chief residents and staff go to this meeting. I have to brag a little about some of the events that occured there. Before we headed home Mike was awarded second place for his poster in the military sector and was also awarded for his paper that he presented in Orlando during the springtime. I know how hard he worked and I am so proud of all his accomplishents. It was also nice that they awarded him with not only two plaques but a nice check! He was kind enough to let me buy something special with his award money!



Of course we walked the streets of Chicago during most of our trip sightseeing and shopping and just having a great time. Little Abby was such a good traveler and was so happy. It was such a joy to be able to spend so much time with her and Mike without any distractions. I think Mike especially enjoyed the time he had with her.



One of the first things we did was take a River and Lake Tour of the Chicago River and Lake Michigan. The weather couldn't have been better the entire time we were in Chicago. Although referred to as the windy city, Chicago during our stay was warm and sunny. It was in the mid 80's the entire time we were there all the while raining back at home. One of the things I didn't know about Chicago was how much fog they get. It was pretty hazy looking at the skyline from the boat. We loved being able to see all the sailboats. They are such beautiful boats. Here we are with our friends The Crawfords. We had a blast spending most of our days there hanging out.

One of the other touristy things we did in Chicago was visit Millenium Park. What a cool place! Right in front of this fountain was a decent sized grassy area. It was nice to see that in the middle of the city.

The first thing we went to see was what is known as the Cloud Gate. It was designed by the British artist Anish Kapoor and is among the largest of its kind in the world. It is a 110-ton elliptical sculpture forged of a seamless series of highly polished stainless steel plates, which reflect the city's famous skyline and the clouds above. There is a 12-foot-high arch in the middle that acts as a "gate" to the chamber beneath the sculpture. It is pretty crazy to look up.

Also at Millenium Park are these two 50 foot glass block towers known as the Crown Fountain. In between each is a shallow reflecting pool and water is constantly flowing down these two towers to the water below. The towers project video images from a broad spectrum of Chicago citizens. It was pretty cool to see someone's face up on the tower, watching them blink, and then to watch water flow out of a spout so cleverly positioned in the middle of the persons mouth. Pretty cool stuff.

It was so grateful for the time I had to spend and talk with Mike one on one. Of course we love good company and were so happy to be able to spend a lot of time with our friends shopping, talking, eating Garretts popcorn, and just hanging out. It was also nice to be pampered by all the Pharm reps and get some really great free dinners! Of course my favorite places we ate at were PotBelly's Sandwhich and Ghirardelli's for dessert. YUM YUM!!

This is Marissa and I in front of the Cloud Gate.

Ok so I have to explain this picture. As we were walking along the Magnificent Mile (so named because of all the great shopping) we came across the Chicago Tribune building which in itself is a neat looking building. One of the coolest things about this building is the various rocks and stone from all different parts of the world that are embeded into the stonework of the building. This particular stone is one from Mt. Rainier...a place that is very memorable to us Northwestern folk.

This is a unique building some refer to as the popcorn building.

We stayed at the Palmer House Hilton which is one of the oldest hotels in Chicago. It was renevated to look like it did when it was first built. It was gorgeous inside and this is my crude attempt to capture its beauty. It simply does not do justice to how amazing it was.