Soaking Up The Sun...

Making Memories Along The Way

So now that Spencer is on break we have to take every opportunity that we can to hang out and take in the attractions. We had less then a week with just our little family because school dragged up 'til May 18th and we had Spencer's grandparents (Bamma and Bop) coming on the 23rd of May. Then for the last week of the break we were going to Vegas for the national PA conference. To say the least we didn't have much time but boy did we take advantage of what we did have. 

On Friday the 20th of May we packed a picnic lunch and headed up to Mystic, CT to visit the aquarium. Ethan was more interested in the other kids at times but he did love the beluga whales. We could not get his attention for the life of us to look at the seals. He did okay with the penguins and by the time we left the aquarium Ethan was ready to go. I think we wore him out pretty good. 

After the aquarium we drove through the town of Mystic and stopped for some dinner at Mystic Pizza. For those that don't know, the movie Mystic Pizza was filmed at this restaurant and is the movie that Julia Roberts got her start of fame in. It was actually really good pizza. 

On Monday the 23rd of May we knew that we would be going into New York to pick up Spencer's grandparents so we figured we would just make a day of it and we headed to the Bronx Zoo. This zoo is MASSIVE!!! At one point we didn't think that we would make it all the way through the zoo and had everything been open in the zoo we likely would not have seen everything there was to see. Again, Ethan was at times more interested in the other kids but I would have to say that his favorite thing at the zoo was the polar bear. He was laughing and smiling while he watched the bear playing ball with itself. At one point you could tell how worn out we got him because he past out for a quick cat nap and then joined us again to finish looking at everything. I LOVED taking him in to see the reptiles and rodents in the glass cases because these animals were so easy for him to see. I would say that Spencer and I enjoyed the seals and polar bear the most and of course spending the time with Ethan. It was so fun to introduce him to new things and see his response. I love watching him grow and develop!

We are looking forward to having many more opportunities and much more time with Spencer in clinical rotations to experience even more attractions that surround us. 

Birthday Worth Remembering

Cameron, Ethan, and Spencer celebrating Spencer's birthday.
May 18, 2011

Spencer couldn't have celebrated his birthday on a better day this year. If you noticed in the previous post, the semester ended on the 17th of May (the day before Spencer's birthday). He woke up on his birthday without a care in the world. He got to sleep in. He didn't have to study. He didn't have to rush off to class. He got to just relax for a change. We had his best buddy (Cameron) out here and another classmate over for breakfast. I was even nice enough to make waffles for everyone (I don't cook!). Spencer played some Wi, then we went to lunch with Cameron, and finished the evening driving Cam down to New York so he could catch his flight home for the break.

It really was a relaxing day and we enjoyed having no responsibility (Other than Ethan of course) for the first time in a long time.

Dreams Becoming Reality

IT'S HERE, IT'S HERE, IT'S HERE!!! Spencer is done with his first year of PA school. It has been a long and emotional roller coaster of a year but I am so proud of him and what he has accomplished this past year. I am looking forward to what this next year will bring as he starts his clinical rotations but in the meantime I am just going to focus on the break he has and the time we can spend together.

He has been studying nonstop, having two to sometimes five tests a week, getting much less sleep than I have ever seen him run on before, and fighting to maintain a 3.2 in order to keep his scholarship. Well, he did. He is done with that for the time being! He snuck through this last semester with a 3.202 and starts clinical rotations on June 6th.

On Tuesday May 17th, Spencer participated in his first white coat ceremony. He was given his name badge and stated the hippocratic oath. Once all the official business was done, the students were given their first three rotations. Spencer will be doing Primary Care in West Hartford, Surgery in Bridgeport, and the third rotation was listed as pending. He received an email during the break letting him know that his third rotation would be Pediatrics in Westport. He also found out that his two four week electives would start on January 2nd. Spencer is looking to go back to Utah to complete his electives in order to start networking and examine the possibilities of career opportunities. He is so excited to start rotations and began putting to use all this material that he has been learning. He is also looking at what the next set of rotations will bring him. I have a feeling this is going to be a good year for him. He truly is making his dreams become reality.

"Happiness comes of the capacity to feel deeply, to enjoy simply, to think freely, to risk life, to be needed." ~ Storm Jameson

'First' Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day!

This is the first year that I can hold a child in my arms on mother's day and know that he will call me mom one day. What an incredible feeling! I feel so blessed to be a mom but there is so much more to it for me. I have mentioned this before but I see so many other mom's or women that struggle at becoming a mom for one reason or another. Sometimes the baby has health issues, the mother might have health issues, or maybe the mom is just struggling at trying to even get pregnant. It all came so easy for me. I didn't have any scares. I had NO trouble becoming pregnant or maintaining the pregnancy. Now, I have an extremely healthy handsome baby boy. 

First Mother's Day Photo

So because I feel the need to be on a 'soap box' for a moment... here is my mother's day blessings for other women out there:

The joy of Mother's day (to me) is not that someone acknowledges us, its that we recognize how blessed we are to be moms because there are so many other women looking to be a mom but can't or are struggling for some reason to make that dream a reality. May all you moms be blessed this Mother's Day and may those that long to be a mom experience the joy one day. HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!! 

A New Church To Call Home

When I moved to Connecticut there were a number of things that I left. One of those things was our church home. I love my church family in Utah. I feel spoiled because I just don't think that there is many churches that can offer the amazing worship that we have at the Fellowship. That was one of the hardest things that I had to give up. 

However, I knew that if I was going to get to know anyone and have relationships with others in Connecticut I was going to have to find a new church home. It took me some time (almost 6 months) to get off my butt and start searching but once I did, God didn't make me have to look far or long. 

We have a new church home. Now, I still very much feel connected and a part of the Fellowship, so I say we have two church homes...

We are attending Frontline church and it is only a short mile from our house. I love it. I get to ride my bike all the time to get to and from there. I am helping in the nursery and participating in 'care cells'/bible studies. It is a smaller church and so we have gotten to know many people already and are making friends quickly. There are many, many, many things that remind me of the Fellowship so I kind of have a feeling of home and that has been really nice. 

We are looking forward to getting to know everyone more and meeting many others, as well as growing within the church and our faith regarding God. Thankful for the blessing of having more than one 'home' to worship our amazing father. 

1, 2 buckle My Shoe...

3, 4 Shut The Door

To Another Year of Marriage!!!

Yes, it is true, Spencer and I are celebrating our 4 year wedding anniversary today! It was a quiet day again, like usual, because of Spencer's schooling but we made the best of it.

Thursdays are always his long day and today was no different. We will go to the Cheesecake Factory this weekend to celebrate and of course there was the little gift exchanges but student loans don't allow for much more. However, as lame as this sounds, I am just grateful to share in the journey of my life with him. I couldn't imagine doing it with anyone else by my side.

"I don't pretend to know what love is for everyone, but I can tell you what it is for me; love is knowing all about someone, and still wanting to be with them more than any other person, love is trusting them enough to tell them everything about yourself, including the things you might be ashamed of, love is feeling comfortable and safe with someone, but still getting weak knees when they walk into a room and smile at you."

I couldn't have said it better than this. Spencer knows my imperfections, my disappointments. He knows that I can struggle and yet, he loves me anyway. He treats me so well and I am so blessed to have him as my husband and the father of our child(ren). Thank you, Spencer, for everything! I love you!!!

Happy Anniversary!

No, Not Eggs...

but... PACKAGES!!!

Ok... So there were eggs and a basket for Ethan and Spencer got a pair of shorts and a swim suit from the Easter bunny but for the most Easter came in packages this year!

The first arrived on the Wednesday before Easter from Spencer's family. They told us not to open it 'til Easter Sunday. Not very often lately is there something to REALLY look forward to for me and Spencer, so we got a little anxious waiting. We opened it about noon on Easter with Spencer's family on Skype. We were blessed with toys for Ethan, as well as some pajamas and a huge cuddly bunny. Spencer got girl scout cookies and a good looking Utes shirt. I was excited for a Sudoku booklet and a box of numerous puzzles. (I felt really special that Shelly and Kevin remembered how much I LOVE puzzles like sudoku, cross numbers [like crosswords puzzles but with numbers], and hitori.) To say the least we felt VERY blessed and VERY loved! 

The second package came on the Friday before Easter from my family. I was really excited to open this one partly because even my parents were really excited for me to open it and oh man I had no idea how excited I was going to get! There were lots of pajamas and an outfit for Ethan, along with a little wooden plane and some movies. There were lots of books for Spencer and I to read. ...BUT the BEST part was the container that held... 

TWO LESLIE'S MINI CAKES!!! 

Yep, its true, my parents love us! :) This is the first year ever that I have not had a Leslie's cake for my birthday and as sweet as my dad is, he tried to find out if there was a way he could bring a cake with him when they came to visit just before my birthday but we all know that wasn't going to happen with the airport security. My mom packed the cakes really well, sticking an ice pack in with them and when i told her that it worked amazingly and everything stayed nice and cold. She was happy to hear that and said she would try sending some eclairs for Spencer next time since everything stayed nice and cold. The cakes were by far the BEST package I have EVER received!!! THANKS MOM (AND DAD... he said it was mom's idea) FOR BEING SO INCREDIBLE! 

Easter egg hunt our church family put on
for the community.

Now, I had a long serious talk with the Easter bunny and told him that Ethan was only to get ONE thing from the bunny and I wanted it to be a biblical item but when me and the bunny went out shopping to find this item I picked up a few items that were on the necessity list and realized there was no reason the Easter bunny and I couldn't go in on Ethan's basket together. So it was agreed, The item from the bunny and all of my stuff would be Ethan's Easter present. All I can say is that Ethan was SPOILED!!! He got a couple swimsuits, some flip flops, clothes, an umbrella stroller, and because they were having a buy one get another item free sale on the biblical toy the Easter bunny found Ethan was blessed with TWO toys! (The biblical toy was a Fisher Price Little Peoples Noah's Ark.) 

Ethan's Easter Basket

I know that we were really blessed with lots of fun gifts but before I rap up this post I just want to stress how much I appreciate what this holiday really represents. I am so grateful for the fact that I can stand here today and ask for forgiveness of the mistakes that I make. I know that God lives in me and I know that I am given that forgiveness because of the sacrifice that He made. Praise God that He died on the cross and rose again three days later for ALL of us.

Happy Easter Everyone!

Locked... IN!!!

We get locked out of houses and cars. There are lock outs in sports, but rarely do you here about people getting locked in. 

Well, we had TWO lock ins in a matter of only 24 hours! 

It was April Fool's. Started like any other day with the added "I'm pregnant!" April Fool's jokes. (I only throw that in there because many thought what I am about to tell you was a joke... IT WASN'T!) I had been doing the house chores, just moved onto the laundry. Everything was folded or on hangers and just needed to be placed in the closet. Now, our closet is so short that I have to crawl in and out of it to put things away. There is no way to open the door from inside the closet, so I always leave one foot hanging outside the door (until I have to turn around to get out) in order to keep it from closing on me. Ethan, of course, was hanging out with me having a ball. I got everything put away and as I turned to get out of the closet Ethan reached out and pushed on the door... LOCKING ME IN THE CLOSET! He immediately realized what had just happened and began crying. I was able to calm him down through the door as I sat inside trying to think up a solution to the current situation. I knew that my bedroom door was open and there was no gate set up at the top of the stairs... AHH!!! 

I sat in the closet thinking of all the things that he could get into that might hurt him, as well as trying to figure a way out. I was pushing and pushing with no luck. It felt like if i pushed too hard I was going to break the door. The door is not a perfect fit so I even tried pulling the door towards the hinges to get it out of the lock only to be disappointed. I tried bending a hanger but couldn't get the hanger up high enough for it to be of any use. All the while I am pushing my face into the ground trying to watch Ethan from underneath the door. I am talking to him and banging on the door to keep his attention in the room.

Praise God that he listens to me for the most part. From the time he was six months old (two months prior to this) I had been working on him listening to me and have been receiving promising results too. I came to the conclusion that as long as I could keep him in our room I had time to try and find a way out of the closet without breaking the door, especially considering we just don't have the money to be intentionally breaking things around our home. 

I have to say that I probably had every emotion except maybe anger go racing through me during my time in the closet. I had to laugh at certain points because well, my 8 month old managed to lock me in my closet. I was heartbroken at times because Ethan would see me stick my fingers out from under the door to let him know I was still with him and it would cause him to cry. Frustration ran through my body because I couldn't get out and I was praying up a storm that Spencer would come home between pre-clinicals and class, only to realize as time passed that Spencer would not be coming home before class. UGH!!! 

About 45 minutes into this ordeal Ethan started to get really antsy wanting to leave the room. At this point I began making as much noise as possible only to create a bigger problem (one I was afraid of). My noise attracted the dogs... Ethan LOVES the dogs. My sweet Miracle was not my miracle worker this time around though. She actually bailed on me leaving the room. Blessed as I am Faith, thankfully, kept Ethan's attention and she stayed in the room with us. She was so sweet sitting at the closet door crying because she couldn't get to me (She likes to cuddle). 

After an hour of crazy ideas and no luck getting out of the closet I made the decision to break the door if I had to but I was getting out! I felt up the door to find where the lock was. Placing both my hands over the location of the lock, I stood up as much as I could and began shoving! After about the 7th shove I came FLYING (not exaggerating) out of the closet. Made Ethan jump but he immediately began laughing. 

An hour earlier I had just finished the household chores. Now, an hour later, I had a whole new chore... picking up my room after Ethan had free rain to anything and everything he could get his hands on. We said a little prayer praising God for keeping Ethan safe and helping me escape my dungeon. Then we took pictures and called Grandma Leonard to share our story and laugh a little at the humor of it all. 

The lock ins don't stop there though! The very next day, Spencer, Ethan, and I went out to run some errands. We ALWAYS put the garbage and the dog food in the main floor bathroom because Miracle has a way of letting us know she doesn't like to be left at home while we go out. I guess this time we didn't get the bathroom door shut all the way because when we returned home we had a few surprises to greet us. Spencer was the first in the door and all he could hear was crying. He was able to locate Faith but Miracle was nowhere in sight. He checked to see if she had knocked the gate down to get up stairs but found the gate still standing. Spencer began to panic as he came to tell me but stopped dead in his tracks at the bathroom door, realizing crying was inside the bathroom. However, I think it is fair to say that a feeling of annoyance set in as he opened the door to the bathroom finding the garbage (including bad fruit) ALL over the floor and Miracle sitting in the shower. We have no idea how she managed to lock herself in there or how long exactly she had been there but were grateful it was in the bathroom rather than scattered through three different rooms. Spencer cleaned up the bathroom and we had to sit back and laugh wondering who would be next to get locked in somewhere. 

Lesson to learn: If you are ever at our house and you hear a crying or banging coming from the other side of a door, you might want to make sure a Hill hasn't gotten locked in on the other side of the door. ;)

A Special Birthday

I have to start this post by saying that I have one absolutely amazing husband. He is so good to me and I couldn't feel more blessed to share my journey in life with him.

This is the first time that I have ever celebrated my birthday without my family (my parents and brother). Though I missed them, Spencer and Ethan did an incredible job at making me feel special.

My birthday was a pretty quiet day considering Spencer had class all day but at 12:00a.m. March 23rd Spencer and Ethan surprised me with some flowers, a card from Spencer, a card from Ethan, a scratch card, a book, and a cake.

The book was really special because Spencer has never been the type to remember things people mention that would make good gifts and he is not the time to come up with fun creative ideas either. However, he has been getting so much better at it! I have been doing a LOT of reading with all of my free time and I have been talking about specific books too. Spencer is the last one that I thought would remember let alone get one for me but I was quickly put in my place when I saw the book. Doesn't stop there though... We are on a tight budget AND there is not a Leslie's Bakery in Connecticut so a tradition that is big in my family had to get placed over this year. I was really bummed about it but what I got in its place was just as amazing.

Spencer came home from school the night before my birthday and told me that he was going to cook dinner (nothing new, he does all the cooking in the house). He let me know when dinner was ready, we ate and then he went up to give Ethan a bath. I decided to be helpful and I put all the leftovers away and cleaned up the kitchen. As I was going to turn off the light, I noticed on a second glance a pan sitting behind Spencer's computer. The cake!!! Spencer secretly and as quickly as he could while making dinner baked (his first ever) cake for my birthday. Now, I had been in and out of the kitchen a couple of times while he was cooking dinner, I noticed a really yummy smell and was confused because it didn't smell like fajitas but let it go because there was nothing to suggest anything other than fajitas. Spencer came down from Ethan's bath and told me that I wasn't suppose to find the cake 'til midnight but "You just had to clean the kitchen up." I turned 25 this year, so he got candles to put on the cake and him and Ethan sang to me ringing in my quarter of a century milestone.

Last but never the least, CHEESECAKE FACTORY!!! Once the weekend hit we headed up to Hartford and I got my birthday dinner! Mmm, how I LOVE that place! :) It was definitely a special birthday and made me appreciate my amazing husband that much more for the man that he is!

Spring Break...

I think the only break we actually had was at 'break'fast and if I remember right some days I didn't even get that! BUT... It was one amazing week full of lots and lots of fun spent with both Spencer's parents and my parents.

No, no, no... both sets were not here at the same time... Man, that would have made a packed car! 

Spencer's parents got here on Thursday March 10th and we were able to hang out with them until Monday March 14th. Spencer didn't start spring break until after school on Friday so it felt like we lost some time with Kevin and Shelly due to that but we made the best of it. We spent our time visiting the surrounding malls, going to downtown New Haven, Boston, and just hanging out around home. Some of the places worth mentioning are the Yale bookstore (reminds us of home being surrounded by all the blue and Y's AND of course we always go wearing our UTES clothing), duckpin bowling, trolley touring Boston, Cheers for lunch, touring Fenway stadium, P.F. Changs (Kevin and Shelly's first time), and we took them on a tour of Spencer's campus. The weather didn't really cooperate with us so we didn't get to do all the things that we had hoped but we really enjoyed our time with Spencer's parents.

We dropped off Spencer's parents at the airport on Monday evening. However, we were picking up my parents on Wednesday evening so there was no time to waste. We spent Tuesday and Wednesday cleaning, preparing for our next visitors. Spencer also spent a LOT of time studying because as soon as he went back to school he had two exams! 

My parents arrived on Wednesday March 16th and we enjoyed their company until Sunday March 20th. It was a go, go, go kind of trip with them. We had lots planned and worked hard to get it all in. Thursday we headed up to the Basketball Hall of Fame and the Yankee Candle Flagship Stores. We weren't really sure how much of a hit this trip would be but it was a total success! The hall of fame allowed for a lot of interaction and my mom feel in love with one of the stores in the candle shops. Friday we drove up to Boston, pulled out the stroller, and did the 3 mile Freedom walk. It was amazing and we took in a LOT of history. Once we finished, we did the 3 mile walk back to the beginning and headed over to Cheers for Lunch. Saturday we made our way up to Hammonaset beach and Newport, RI. We took in the 'Ocean Drive' in Newport, which is one of my favorite things so far. We spent the evening in New Haven duckpin bowling. We also visited the Yale bookstore, Quinnipiac bookstore, and Spencer's campus for a tour.

To say the least, come Sunday night Spencer and I were EXHAUSTED!!! We would do it all over again too if we had the chance. Being able to have spent that time with our parents was worth it and we are grateful for the memories we gained from the week.

Thanks for visiting, family!!!

Home...

RENTED!!!

Its true! Our home in Utah is officially rented out! YEAH!!! I can't begin to tell you how much of a relief this news was. I LOVE that we have managed to hold onto our home because I do have a clear understanding that it is an investment but on the other hand it was becoming a big stress for me. I was really worried how long we were going to be able to continue paying the mortgage with my out of a job. 

Other good news received about our home is that the new washer and dryer are in and running. We also have a newly designed bathroom up and running. Now as you look at the pictures of the bathroom something to keep in mind is that before it was remodeled there was only a toilet and sink in it. Now it is tiled and has a tub!

Praise God for coming through just when we need it, like he always does, and thanks again to our families for everything that they have done to help us out. We truly couldn't make all this possible without them. Lastly, THANKS TO OUR NEW RENTERS for picking our home to call their own for the next little while!

Super Bowl

Super Party

When Spencer and I lived in Utah we often tried to have parties and gathering at our house but lets be honest... we are not interesting people and we really don't have much to often that would be classified as cool so we ALWAYS had horrible turnouts. 

However, if you fall off the horse you are suppose to get back on and try again, right? While that's just what we did. Spencer and I decided to through a super bowl party and invite his classmates over. The party planning was put into action and to our surprise everyone took to the idea really well. Spencer even began to worry that we wouldn't have enough room for everyone.

It took some reorganizing of the house and the lay out of certain rooms but we were very pleased with how everything turned out. We loved having everyone over and we hope that everyone had a good time. Everyone was so amazing about helping us clean up too and it was greatly appreciated. Once everyone left Spencer looked at me and started throwing out ideas/reasons to have another party. I had to laugh. I am happy that he had such a great time. 

Dedication to Half Birthdays or...

Half Birthdays to...

So January 22nd was Ethan's half birthday! We were in Salt Lake to celebrate it and really enjoyed being around family and friends. With Ethan being 6 months I am excited to give everyone an update on the progress that he has made and what we plan to see in the next 6 months. 

~ At 2 weeks old Ethan began sleeping through the night. 

~ At 5 weeks old he was rolling over and pretty holding holding his own head up without help.

~ At his 2 month check up his pediatrician told me that he was acting more like a 4 month old. He was also able to shake a rattle on his own.

~ At 3 months he made his first road trip and it may possibly be the longest one he ever makes.

~ At 4 months old he began eating rice cereal.

~ At 5 months Ethan was able to stay in a sit up position on his own, saw snow fall for the first time, reached for mom and dad consistently. He also began eating fruits and vegetables. He has his own personalized crawl. He began pulling himself to a stand with our help. He was walking while holding on to our hands and trying to 'talk'. 

~ At 6 months he is pulling himself to a stand on his own. He can take a few steps while holding on to objects (ie coffee table, couch, stationary toys). He has mastered the crawl. 

Dedication

My faith is extremely important to me and I want it to play a LARGE role in how I raise my children. With that said I planned to have Ethan dedicated but my plans just never seemed to work for anyone else. I first feel in love with the date of November 14th because that is the date a year earlier that we found out we were expecting but my dad was going to the Utah v. Notre Dame  football game and my brother was planing to drive to Denver for the Broncos game. Plus Spencer was worried that it would be too stressful to make such a quick trip home while in school. Well, that date went out the window. My next pick was the weekend of January 22nd. I particularly wanted it to be on the 22nd because Ethan would be turning 6 months but the 22nd was not a Sunday! UGH! The point of a dedication is not only to recognize that you are making a promise to God to do everything within your power to raise your children in a godly way, prayerfully until they can make the decision on their own to follow God but to outwardly express that promise, which means dedicating your children with the love and support of your community (ie Your family, friends, and church family). On top of the fact that it was not a Sunday Spencer was again worried about a quick trip home just before going back to school... "REALLY?! My my wishes are being put off again!? No! Not this time! Both Spencer and I compromised. Spencer made a quick trip home just before school to help please me and I decided to dedicate Ethan on the 23rd without a party afterwards. In the end it turned out perfect and we felt so blessed by how many people took the time and made the effort to attend such a special event in our lives. 

Home Sweet Home

We headed home to Utah for a quick visit with family. Oh my word it made for an eventful trip too. We were suppose to be home in time to see Jeff Dunham on January 19th. My mom had bought us tickets for Christmas but that is not how things played out.

We were suppose to to fly out on Tuesday Jan. 18th but that morning all flights got canceled due to ice storms. However, it turned out to not be such a horrible thing because I had come down with the flu and was sick all day. The only problem that we ran into was that we would not be flying out until 4pm on Wednesday (Jan. 19th). There was no way that we would make it home in time for the Dunham show and we were so bummed! Then to add to the chaos our connection flight was in Chicago and because our first flight took off late in Connecticut we almost missed our connection. The problems didn't stop there. We RAN to our connection (Mind you, we packed all carry-ons and it was the first time traveling with a child... Lesson learned). Once at the connection flight they told us that we were too late. They said the flight was too full and that we would have to stay in Chicago for the night. UGH!!! They shut the gate started trying to make arrangements for us for the next day. Then they came back and said we can send one of you on this flight and the other can catch a plane in the morning... REALLY! You want to split us up now!? Just as we started to make calls to tell family that we would not be making it until the next day the desk staff called us up and said that we WOULD be getting on the flight right then and we needed to grab our stuff quickly! They opened the gate and Spencer and I made what felt like the 'walk of shame' onto the flight. Oh can I tell you how nice it was to land in Salt Lake and be done with all of that.

Our house has not been rented yet, so we were able to stay in our own home and wow, we were in for some surprises! Our families are seriously just so amazing! They put new floors down in the front room and kitchen. They FINISHED the entire basement, putting two rooms in, one with a walk in closet, the other with a standard closet, and a storage room. They had insulation put in the attic to help with the heating bill. They also worked to get all the odds and ends fixed and DEEP cleaned the whole home! WE LOVE OUR FAMILIES!!! When we left to come home to Connecticut the only things left on the 'To do list' was to redo do the main level bathroom and get a new washer and dryer.

We just really want to thank our families again for everything that they have done to help us out. We can't begin to tell you how much we appreciate everything. You guys have truly helped us reach many of our goals while maintaining so many of our previously reached goals. THANK YOU!!!

Making a Difference

One Service Trip at a Time

Spencer applied to be part of a medical service trip to the Dominican Republic through his school. There were about 12 individuals that got to participate in the trip and Spencer was blessed to be one of them. The trip was from January 2nd - 8th. 

I didn't expect to have ANY contact with him but by the second day he missed me! :) I am not going to lie, I felt so loved and important when I saw the call come through. We only got to talk for a few short minutes but then the next day and a few other days he found a way to get on and chat through messenger on Skype. 

Some of the comments that he made about the trip were that he is grateful to be an American, it was an eye opening experience, and that he loved medicine before but now he has an even greater love for medicine. He learned a lot and is super excited to get back to school and learn even more. He also stated that he really wants to done many, many more trip like this one in the future. 

Out with the old and...

In with the New Year

WOW!!! 2010 is over and man was it a crazy year! I can't believe how much we experienced and it all seemed to come then go so fast.  Here are some bullets of the old news from 2010. Hope you enjoy reminiscing with us!

~> April: I graduated with my bachelors!

~> May: Spencer began his road trip with his brothers across the country to Connecticut and started graduate school. 

~> June: I got the opportunity to fly out to Connecticut and see our new home in person for the first time, as well as spent some quality time with Spencer. We also found out that Spencer was receiving a scholarship towards his tuition for the duration of graduate school. 

~> July: Ethan arrived!!! Spencer was able to make it make it home in time too! Spencer was actually the one that delivered Ethan. 

~> August: Spencer came back to Utah for fall break, giving us our first chance to really 'play house' since Ethan was born. 

~> September: Spencer found out that he was accepted to travel with some classmates to the Dominican Republic for a medical service project. 

~> October: Spencer and I put our home up for rent. My family and I hit the road to reunite Ethan, the dogs, and I with Spencer in Connecticut. Spencer and I begin the new journey in our lives thousands of miles away from all of our family. 

~> November: We had our first set of visitors and for the first time celebrated Thanksgiving with friends rather than family. 

~> December: Celebrated Christmas as just our own little family and took in all the memories we could of Ethan's first Christmas. Looking forward to teaching him what Christmas is really all about as he grows.

The new things 2011 is set to bring us...

~ Spencer's trip to the Dominican Republic. The end of Spencer's first year of graduate school and the beginning of the last year and a half of his schooling. He is looking forward to being COMPLETELY done with school. 

~ Hopefully the renting of our home and the news of me getting a job. 

~ Ethan's first birthday!

I know there are more but I guess you will just have to stay tuned in to find out the rest! Hopefully we have at least gain your interest with these three.