Catching up

Or at least, trying. Everyone else seems to be doing it. I stopped the Gratitude Days, only b/c it was really hard to blog every day, not because I ran out of things to be grateful for. Man, those people who are able to blog everyday are my heroes. They must be the ones that used to be able to write in their journals everyday before blogging was invented.

We had a GREAT break. We spent quite a bit of time trying to finish up house stuff in preparation for putting it on the market. That wasn't the great part. We had a FUN New Year's Eve and New Year's Day. I'm still waiting for Kiley to post pics from New Year's Eve-I'm waiting, in particular, for a sexy New Year's kiss picture of Dave and I :) We played games, ate lots of good food, and laughed a lot. Then the next day we went bowling and afterwards headed to the church to let the kids go wild with the nursery toys while we played more games. It's amazing how long your kids can be entertained with other people's toys.

But, for posterity's sake, we need to post this picture of Dave's bowling game. WHAT A MAN! He's the 3rd row down. Notice, if you will, the 2 strikes, an 8, a spare, then FOUR STRIKES IN A ROW. I messed him up the next frame b/c I was bowling next to him and was trying to be funny. It ended up not being funny when he didn't get another strike. But I got one! His final score was 208 (I think). He had it printed out.

We also had a fun night playing Wii with the Hatch's. I hadn't ever tried playing before, just because I don't know why. But, MAN, that was a blast. We played Ultimate Band and let me just say that Brian was hilarious being the front man. That was so funny to watch. Can we please set up a video camera next time? So now I know what all the Wii hype was for.

Monday, the 5th, was our EIGHT YEAR ANNIVERSARY! We made it through the 7 year itch. Kyla was awesome and baby-sat for us and Dave endured watching Twilight with me (yes, I just now finally saw it-topic for another day). What a great guy. I only had to punch him a few times as he rolled his eyes in exasperation.

Doesn't my man look SMOKIN' in a tux? Ya, he's hot.

Proof that there ARE fall colored leaves in San Diego-some don't believe it...

Hawaii-Seven Sacred Pools

Bear Lake

Old Faithful

Yellowstone

Kayaking with manatees!

Blessed graduation day. One more to come then we're DONE!

That's all BC-Before Children.

Now we're back into the daily grind of school and stuff. I actually kind of like it. While Dave was home and around all the time Bree hated me. I couldn't touch her, get her out of her bed in the morning, feed her, get her in and out of her carseat, put her to bed-you name it, she hated me for it. Every time Dave left she had a meltdown. When he went back to school on Monday she was totally fine and we figured it out-the scrubs are a SIGN! He's allowed to leave the house if he's wearing those. And she loves me again.

So Bree loves me and Emma hates me. Yep, I didn't think it would happen this early, but Emma has already pulled the "I hate you!" and "I'm going to go live with Grandma!" When she told me she was leaving to live with Grandma I said okay, to which she "huffily" replied-I can't drive, you have to take me. That was a rough day. But now that she's back in school and not bored all day long she's happier. She likes going to the gym and playing with the kids there. And she always wants to watch PBS-anyone else have a kid addicted to PBS? Oh ya, and she GREW! This is a BIG DEAL in our house. I knew her pants (that I JUST bought-grrr) were looking too short, but with her track record I just thought they shrunk too much. But no-TWO whole inches in the last 6 months. There might be hope for her! She keeps talking about when she's taller than me and we just laugh and say IF she's taller than me (and I'm barely 5'2"). And Bree is so cute and funny. She had her 2 year check up and she grew too! I'm really not used to this whole "buying clothes that last only a month" thing. I've been a little concerned about her speech and the doctor thought she should have an analysis done. Apparently a stranger should be able to understand half of what a 2 yr old says. And let's just say he heard daddy and that's about it. We haven't started yet, but just in the last 2 weeks her speech has really taken off. She says the funniest things, which are made even funnier with her cute lisp. And now that she loves me again everything she does is that much cuter. She takes such good care of her babies, and she loves to pretend sleep and wake up with us. And she loves to make a mess with everything. Food, water, toys. She's the tasmanian devil. She leaves a path of destruction in her wake.And she's always going going going. Before, all that stuff drove me crazy. But now that she's understanding things a little better and speaking better, all that stuff isn't as bad. I just love these little girls.

We also got some snow this week, and this was the VERY FIRST TIME Bree has played in it. Two years ago, a newborn, last year, not walking. She loved it. I shoveled the driveway (ya, I know. I rock.) while they played. What's weird is Emma handles the cold really well-her face never gets red and her hands and feet aren't ever cold. But Bree's face was totally red and when I pulled off her gloves her hands were like ice. Kind of makes me worried to send her out to play. But the more I think about it, Dave totally is fine in the cold-he never needs more than a long sleeved shirt and a jacket, while I have to be bundled up in a million layers. So maybe the girls are just like us. Do I need to be worried about Bree? Any snow thoughts? Although I lived in Utah for 7 years I never "lived" in the snow. I was 12 before I saw snow for the first time. And let's just say I was totally fine with that. And I'll be fine if I never have to see snow again. I told Dave a few days ago-Hawaii, Southern California, or Florida. Those are his options. I think I was REALLY spoiled to have grown up in the mild climate of San Diego. Never too hot, never too cold. Just PERFECT.

And on to other news. Dave and I are flying to Kansas for an interview with a clinic. It's so nice that someone PAID for us to fly. Dave lived a good chunk of his life in Kansas, so it's not totally random. It's a year contract, and it's something we feel good about. If we knew where we wanted to eventually end up, then we wouldn't be doing this. But we're still unsure of where we want to be, so this is a good place to start. The clinic offers 26 vacation days a year, so that'll give us plenty of time to travel to different places and see where we want to go. And hopefully by then the economy will have picked up a little more to the point where dentists are doing more work and need associates.

So that's us in a nutshell. All updated. The end.