Summertime

Blogging isn't always a family strong point but every once in a while we like to throw a couple of things up here to show that we are still alive. Here are some random pictures from the summer. Things have been crazy just like summer should be. 4th of July
Who doesn't want their uncle to throw them into a waterfall?
The one and only time I have ever seen my dog stay still.
Just kind of pretty
Camping, water, mud Lizzie is in heaven.

And...............

If you do something right you might as well keep on going right? So here comes #3!

June catch up

Sam and Taryn were here to visit a couple of weeks ago. It was really good to see them and we already miss them again. Here are a couple of my favorite moments from their visit.

Frosting fights with Nana
Celebrating Nick's birthday with his family

Sam, Nick, Sara, and Rhett all went hiking up to Lake Blanche.

Who doesn't love riding ponies? Oh wait Nick

For Sam's birthday we went to the batting cages and played minature golf. Addie thought the whole thing was pretty great.

Turns out the whole thing was pretty great. There aren't many pictures of the visitors on here because, as it turns out, we didn't have that many but it was great to see them and spend as much time with them as we could. Houston is way too far away.

4Runner Details

For those of you asking; the third accident was getting rear-ended on the freeway by a huge RV pulling a trailer. It was OK and just the back door was damaged but it was the day before we were going to post the car for sale. Kind of a bummer. In the end we sold it as-is and collected the money from the guy's insurance company. As I said in my comment on the last post though, I did shed a tear or two. I now notice every '98 4Runner on the road.

good-bye

Some people remember the first time they met their husband I don't, but I do remember his car. I rode on the running boards up a dirt hill and couldn't tell you if I ever talked to Nick. Well the car has been good to us and it is always hard to say good-bye, but after almost 170,000 miles, some really cool trips, and the third accident it was time.

Our Little Trip

So to start out, I am 30. Yep, a little weird. One, I don't feel like I am 30. Two, I definitely don't look like I am 20 yet. Anyway, for that big day Natalie planned a big surprise. Behind my back she bought plane tickets to Washington DC and booked a hotel. A little scary if you ask me. She picked me up from work the Friday before Memorial Day and gave me a picture of the Capitol. That was my first indication of what was going on.

While we were there we traveled in typical style which is we ran around and saw anything and everything we could and didn't rest so much. It took me about a week to rest up after the trip until I was feeling somewhat normal again. I had never been there so the history and feeling of the place was amazing. Highlights include, well pretty much everything. The "Star Spangled Banner," Air and Space Museum (All of it), Lincoln Memorial, and Jefferson Memorial were definitely up on the list. Also, because we are nerds, we went to the zoo. We kind of like zoos. On top of all of the sights and experiences we got to hang out with the Derrs which made the trip that much better. Thanks for the tour guide and taxi services through Arlington and the Monuments. Not to mention the tasty dinner. I guess the company was OK too.

To get a little philisophical it really struck me how much those men and women beleived in what they were doing and how much potential there is in every person. The problem is being able to let it come out, being able to channel your efforts into the noble and good. Having the discipline to look past the distractions all around (like blogging.) I think the other thing is being able to recognize the nobel and good in my life. However mundane those tasks seem it is exactly those mundane tasks that those generations of men and women fought and died for. Anyway, that is about it on the philisophical side. Now some pictures.

Nat and Brigham in the Capitol

A quote from the WWII monument.

OK, I can't figure out how to rotate pictures.

Definitely a highlight.

Mr. Jefferson

Trust me when I say there is much more than this but this blog post is already too long. It was an amazing trip and an amazing surprise. Not a bad way to start out the next ten years. Until forty...? Really? Yikes.

Lizzie's Little Trip

We seem to be good at attracting late night visits to Primary Children's Hospital. Those visits used to consist of me bringing food to Natalie at work. Now we just bring sick kids. Lizzie had been struggling with a cold for about a week but it wasn't too bad. Then she woke up on Wednesday, May 2oth (Addie's birthday) really late around eleven and went back to sleep. She didn't really move all day. Nat says that she did get up off the couch once while watching the Backyardigans and spin around, once. She then promptly got back up on the couch. Anyway, after visiting Doctor Lisa, another prior employer for Nat and an awesome doctor, we were on our way up to Primary Children's. Note that this is the night of Addie's second birthday party. I missed the first one because of work, lame excuse. So I missed the second one while Lizzie scared everyone in the Emergency Room triage center and we got pushed in front of a whole lot of very unhappy looking people. After a lot of concern from the doctors and a lot of fluids it came out that she had RSV, in May. For those of you without kids, that is as likely as snow in Vegas; it happens, but it is very weird. That all sounds well and good but it took about three hours to get that tidbit of info. All the while they were pumping fluid into Lizzie like a water bed and she was getting more and more awake and less and less excited about sitting still with all of the tubes and wires on her. Anyway, after a very long discharge we took a happy, and fully hydrated, Lizzie home at around 12:00. All of this was complicated by the surprise that Natalie was preparing for me at the time. More on that later. Here are the pics of my sick kid. Yes, I took pictures in the hospital. No, I don't think that is weird.

Lizzie pre-fluids. When Lizzie can't even play with a phone you know something is wrong. Frighteningly enough, she was looking a lot better in this picture than she was before.

Let's just say she didn't love the IV thing. Fluids are a wonderful thing though.

Post-fluid Lizzie with her popsicle. The popsicle made her happy but mainly worked in hydrating my shorts.