lately

Life has been pretty standard lately - just trying to beat the summer heat and get things ready for number two to come along!  Everyone seems shocked to hear that I'm due so soon - even my doctor says I'm very small for being this far along. That in no way makes it less real though! Only two more weeks and then we will be a family of four - crazy to think about!!

Ryan has one more week of being a 3rd year medical student and we are extremely excited for this week to be over! Then 4th year begins with lots more adventures and challenges, but we are looking forward to them all. Ryan has a lot of really great things planned for 4th year rotations that will help gear him towards Emergency Medicine which is the specialty he will pursue as a career.  Applications for residency are this fall, followed by interviews in the winter, and then match day in the early spring to determine where we will spend the next three/four years of our lives while Ryan receives additional training. Amazing how time flies!

Here is a little glimpse into our lives this past week - lots of fun outside!

summer lovin'

We've been hit with a heat wave! Honestly - we went to the bunny fountains at about four in the afternoon and stayed for 2 hours and were STILL sweating. It's been hot lately!

You can tell L was excited to play!! We had such a blast - definitely a common thing we'll be doing this year! LOVE IT.

best friends

Meet L's cousin "Baby A" - although she's not much of a baby anymore!

These two are about 3 months apart in age and are absolute best friends. It has been such a treat to have my sister and her family live so close this past year, especially for these two! Her name was L's first word! Even before Mama! He knows EXACTLY how to get from our house to her house, and if we go any other direction he gets sad and says "no, this way! A's home!" pointing the other way. And whenever we see a Toyota Sienna (the vehicle my sister drives) he immediately yells, "A's car!" - and he nails it every time, even before I see it or can tell what kind of van it is. This kid has great attention to detail, especially when it involves his cousin.

Their relationship has evolved from complete admiration with only physical means of expressing it to continued admiration with the ability to play together. In the beginning he would talk and talk about her and get so excited to see her, then walk right up to her and shove her onto the ground! It took a good couple months to teach him to not push her - but that just evolved into him giving her these huge bear hugs and clobbering her onto the ground still trying to 'love' her. It felt like her petite little figure just begged L to physically crush her!

{L's not scowling - I promise. They were both really happy, he just happened to be looking a different direction and chewing at the same time ...}

Later it changed to L telling Baby A what to do and getting mad at her if she wasn't playing with him. He would tell her "no" if she played with something (or someone) else, and tried to control whatever she did. She just seemed content to do whatever, but L was very adamant and demanded her attention. I babysat Baby A a few days ago, and was able to watch the two of them interact without anyone else around. They were amazing together! Kids their age should still be doing parallel-play, but these two specifically play WITH each other and it is so fun to watch!

My sister's family will probably be moving within the next two-three months, and L will miss Baby A. I'm not sure how the transition will go, and I'm terribly nervous to drive anywhere in UA once they're gone for fear of L crying because we're not going to Baby A's house. How do you explain someone moving away to a two-year-old?! And as much as I'd like to blame the move for being hard on L, I have to admit that it will probably be harder on me. But for fear of breaking down and crying too hard, I'll keep blaming my worries about the move on him ... sometimes it's easier to hide behind your kid. And when it comes to the emotions of a pregnant girl, it's definitely easier.

So here's my tribute to L's favorite cousin: Baby A. You are absolutely perfect and we love you a LOT. And that goes for your brother, sister, daddy, and mommy. We need to play a lot more before you move! 

rain drops keep falling on my head

ohio adventures

On Tuesday of Ry's break Cynthia came to visit! We love having family visit, and tried to get out and see a little bit more of Ohio this time around. We hung out at the house on Tuesday, unpacking from our Smokies trip and doing laundry, catching up, etc. Then Wednesday morning (err ... afternoon rather) we headed up north with Geneva State Park as our destination and a bit of Amish Country as a side step. It ended up being a LONG side step, and the timing really didn't work out quite like we had hoped, but we still had fun. 

We enjoyed sampling lots of cheese, fudge, and other tasty treats at a cheese factory and nearby bakery. We ate lunch at a quirky little diner (not typical Amish style) and had a fun time just driving through the country-side. We definitely need to try Amish country again, because we did not get to see very much, but oh well!

We kept driving up to Geneva which is right on Lake Erie and we checked into the Geneva Lodge where we were staying for a couple nights. It was a beautiful sunshiny afternoon and we enjoyed lots of running and playing together. 

Pure joy! I love this picture! 

We had a great time up next to the Lake - we enjoyed a cute little town nearby where everything was shut down. Honestly. Everyone kept saying we came just a month too early - it's a super happenin' place after Memorial Day! We actually kind of liked it that way - we had seen enough mini-golf and kiddie rides to last us a long time in TN! 

We explored a little bit of the surrounding area, and hung out at the lake for a while within the state park. L loved watching Ry skip rocks and quickly caught on. It was so cute watching them both play together! 

I'm pretty sure there was a boat out there somewhere ...

We loved just playing together and having all the time in the world to enjoy one another's company. L picked up on the fact that Nonnie would pay a lot of attention to him whenever he wanted and he definitely took advantage of that! She said she enjoyed it, but I worried that he was wearing her out! Thank goodness for grandparents! 

On Friday we packed up and started our drive back home, stopping in Kirtland on the way. It was so special being there and seeing these buildings and places where the early saints lived. We loved feeling the spirit and learning more about the what life was like back then. 

We did the tour through the temple, which was very interesting and I would love to share my thoughts, just maybe not in this form on our family blog. We had a great time in Kirtland and it strengthened my testimony of the Prophet Joseph Smith and my Savior Jesus Christ. I am so grateful for the sacrifices the members of the church went through back then so that I can enjoy the gospel today and have it be such a foundational part of my life. 

We came back home and had more fun with Cynthia just hanging out before she had to leave on Saturday. It was a quick trip but we had a blast together! It's hard to believe that she'll be here again in less than two months when this baby girl arrives. Crazy to think that so much is happening soon! We can't wait! 

on top of ol' smoky

Ryan had a week off in between rotations, and we really wanted to take advantage of it! The only other break he greats is when I am 39 weeks along, so we aren't really expecting to do much then! If you have ANY suggestions of things to do close to home then we would greatly appreciate it! I don't want to just sit around all week long, but am worried that's what will end up happening! 

Anyway, I digress. So right after Ry took his exam we finished up packing and were on the road driving down to Tennessee! We wanted to explore the Great Smoky Mountain National Park, and we had such a great time! We stayed in Gatlinburg, TN in an awesome condo that we got for a good deal. The seven hour drive didn't even seem that bad, and we are so grateful for that! True to form, we arrived at our place in the dark and had some funny moments of trying to find where our unit was and unloading our car while leaving our bikes and trailer in the car locked for the night. Very interesting, and would have gone much smoother had it been daylight! 

The first day there we went on an 11-mile bike ride along what's called Cades Cove Loop. It's a paved road that people can drive on, but they closed it in the morning to vehicles to allow more bicyclists to enjoy it. It was beautiful and really fun to use our new bike trailer! There were only two super steep sections where we were 'forced' to walk our bikes, and then many other smaller hills where I took the liberty of walking because my stamina was completely gone! We got rained on about mid-way through, but it was an awesome cold rain through the trees, so it felt like those misting fans and loved it. Then at the end it started pouring just in time for us to get close to the car and be able to load up and go. Sadly, we didn't take one picture while actually on the road - only once we were in the car and loading! Sadness, but lots of memories!

After our bike ride we drove through more of the park seeing beautiful rivers and mountains. We were forced to take a detour due to an accident on the small roads within the park, so we ate lunch in Wear Valley at this cool BBQ place with a very common decor of Christian and mountain-lodge-bear combinations.  L fell asleep in the car so we continued driving for a while, got to see a little bit of Gatlinburg, and stopped at a really yummy ice cream place to get some waffle cones.  I can't remember what we did in the evening at all and if we even ate dinner! I'll have to ask Ry when he gets home tonight and update this if I'm leaving anything cool out! 

This was the view from our condo's patio. Beautiful! We had fun letting L run around before we headed off to church on Sunday. We had a wonderful picnic lunch at the park's visitor center and decided to go home and let L nap and try a small hike later in the day. The whole afternoon was beautiful and we sat outside in the sun reading and talking. Loved it! 

We chose to hike up to Hen Wallows Falls, which was about 5 miles round-trip. It turned out to be a little harder than we were expecting, but we absolutely loved it! We hiked through hemlock and rhododendron forests and I couldn't help but long to come back in June when all those rhodies would be in bloom! They looked spectacular! We started the hike around 6pm, and loved the feeling of being away from the world and touristy people who frequent the park.  

We played at the falls for a little bit, and headed back to the car just in time for dusk to settle over us. Evening hikes are so peaceful!

For being 7 1/2 months pregnant I felt like super woman being able to do an 11-mile bike ride and a 5-mile difficult hike the next day. Honestly I felt great! I would definitely get shorter on breath than I'm used to, but Ryan was so incredibly considerate and sensitive to me the whole time. I laughed at one point when I realized we were both hiking "with child" and that Ryan by far had the heavier load! 

The next day was Monday and our final day in the area. We planned on seeing a little bit of the city and went to Ripley's Aquarium of the Smokies - so fun! They had such a huge shark exhibit where we walked under the water and felt so close to everything. L was a little afraid of the scuba divers cleaning the glass, but yet not afraid of the sharks, interesting, eh? We also loved watching divers feed their huge stingray population, playing inside the penguin exhibit, letting L run around a big kid area, and beating the weekend crowds by saving it till Monday. It also ended up being rainy and gloomy that day, so we really had planned well! 

After the aquarium we stopped by a really yummy pancake house for lunch and had the best cinnamon syrup ever! We all took naps in the afternoon and then visited a few stores just for fun and grabbed some pizza to eat while watching a movie back at the condo. Such a fun way to stay warm and dry and end the weekend!

We hit the road Tuesday morning and got back to Columbus just in time to pick up Ryan's mom at the airport for a fun visit from her! More pictures coming soon!

dude

We are slowly adjusting to normal life again after a great week off and lots of traveling. Pictures still to come, but this was just a little too fun to pass up - L's new favorite movie is Finding Nemo, and now every turtle he sees is called "dude."  I love it! 

outside fun

L is at such a fun age right now and just like every other day of his life, he LOVES to be outside. He constantly is asking me to do everything "ow-si" whether that's eating snacks or meals, watching a show ("Neemoi moo-ie ow-si pease?" translation: Nemo movie outside please?), pushing our stroller, playing with toy cars, etc. It's fun on the days when we get to meet Daddy at the park on his way home from work. Thank goodness for spring and warm weather!

If you couldn't tell from my examples, we are struggling with consonants! Every once in a while he'll throw one in there, but most often it's just a slur of vowels that I'm supposed to understand. Pretty dang cute! 

flowers and love

My favorite people in the whole world.

Lucky me! 

it's done!

I am finally finished with L's first-year baby book!! I am pretty dang proud of myself, even though I'm an entire year late! My goal is that the rest of his childhood albums will be digitally scrapped, so that's a little bit easier. Now I can finally move onto a new project and feel no guilt whatsoever! :)

Front page

A few random favorites. I have a LOT more favorites, but couldn't post pictures of all of them! 

Last page. Might be one of my "more favorites."
I'm done!! Yay!

memory sake

Things that I loved about today (which was actually a few days ago):
- Driving along a stretch of the river slowly trying to soak in these early signs of spring on the trees
- Eating lunch outside at a park on a swinging bench with my favorite little boy
- L taking a bite of his sandwich and then running off to go down the slide again and again
- L was playing with a new friend, and right in the middle of it he ran up to me and gave me a hug and a kiss. I love how he's not old enough to be embarrassed by that.
- When far away on the other side of the playground, I heard his little voice out of all the other kids calling out to me. I looked for him, and when our eyes met he smiled real big and proceeded to climb the steps to the slide. He just wanted to know that I was watching
- Watching L fearlessly climb to the top of the big-kid playground to go down the biggest slide over and over again
- While sitting and eating grapes together, L would continually scoot closer until our legs were touching side by side and keep eating. He did this every time he came back to sit down after playing.
- L running as fast as he could down the ramp and into my arms for a big hug
- Listening to him say 'swing,' 'slide,' and 'fast' over and over again
- When it was time to go, watching him turn around and wave to the playground saying "bye play"

a little bit of the birthday

Practicing with L before the song

He loved it! It took him a long time trying, but he finally got both candles.

Fuzzy, but super cheesy grin. 

Hooray for the birthday boy! 

L turns two!

round two

Saturday morning L got lucky enough for a second Easter egg hunt with some neighborhood friends! This time around we didn't have to help him as much, and he kept saying "more eggs!" over and over again. So stinkin' cute! And we even had to take some out of his basket to make it fair for the other kiddos - so he definitely caught on to the idea and will make a killing at the egg hunts next year! :)

Some-what of an awkward looking picture that doesn't quite show the baby bump. I promise, I really am six months pregnant - that's just a bigger shirt so you can't tell. 

Walking home with the loot.
Happy Easter!!

Here's L counting his eggs. He can count to ten on his own, but under the pressure of the camera we only got up to six. He still wins my heart! 

round one

Friday night we had a little get together with some family and friends. Oh how I love this boy!

We ended the night with L's first Easter egg hunt! He was quite distracted with eating the candy, and we had to coax him for a long time to keep looking for more eggs. Other kids actually had to take eggs out of their bucket and "hide" them for L to find because he was taking so long and had missed 'em all! 

These two were the youngest ones there, and it was so funny watching them learn the ropes. You can tell they enjoyed the results!
SO FUN!