hawaii

We are incredibly blessed and got to go back to where we spent our honeymoon as a graduation trip! This time around R's parents watched the kids, and it was just the two of us enjoying the beauty of the island. Oh my goodness it was great! We definitely missed the kids, and I am counting the days until we can take them there with us, but it was awesome to have it be just us! {I know we are incredibly spoiled by having not one but two full weeks of "couple retreat" time this year! I consider it an investment on our residency years}

 We started off by overlapping our stay with R's grandparents and we had a BLAST! We ate delicious foods, had wonderful conversations, played fun games, went to awesome restaurants, watched some wind-surfers, spent a morning at the beach, and loved feeling the relaxed lifestyle that Hawaii offers. 

These two people are amazing. I had immediate love and respect for them the very first time I met them, and it continues to grow. They constantly give of themselves in service to others, and have the natural ability to bring out the best in everyone. They are so aware of others - G gave me reports on every grandchild and what is going on in their lives {I was asking her tons of questions!}. While we did get to go see and do many things with them, my favorite was just sitting and talking. Those conversations were by far the highlight for me and I will treasure the memories. It was truly special to have so much one-on-one time with them, and I wish will all my heart that we get that privilege again soon. I look at this picture and I just try to breathe in their goodness. They are refreshing and such a positive influence on us! 

 Thank you G & C for such an amazing time together! I will treasure it always!

 This was our breakfasts while in HI. Ooohh those mangoes and papayas were divine. And the strawberries. And the watermelon. And the pineapples. And bananas. And everything. 

With amazing family, good food, and this scenery it really is paradise!

We even got a chance to skype with the kids! Definitely fun to see them and hear L tell me all about his new dragon and the fun they were having with Nonnie and PopPop. What a blessing it is to have such good family!

 After G & C left, we still had a few days to ourselves, so we enjoyed quite a few beach visits. 

And we did the famous Road to Hana trip. It took an entire day, and we definitely didn't see everything. There were a highlights to remember: getting carsick (not terribly, but it was my first time ever experiencing that and I am definitely not a fan!), seeing countless waterfalls, drinking a fresh smoothie and fresh banana bread from a local village along the way, seeing huge lava rocks sprayed with the waves crashing on them, hiking through bamboo forests, exploring a black sand beach (and no I did not saturate these photos!), swimming (kind of), Seven Sacred Pools, kissing under a 400 ft. waterfall, and enjoying God's beautiful creations. It was a-maz-ing. 

And this is the 400 foot waterfall that we kissed under. It was huge, and yet was only mid-thigh deep in a few spots walking out to it. Freezing and thundering - awesome!  It flows down a beautiful river that leads to more and more waterfalls and ultimately the ocean.  Beautiful! 

 This was our view for most of the afternoons we spent there. We would do a beach trip in the morning, and pool lounging in the afternoon (or vice versa, or anything we wanted to do). I had a thing for those mini-palm trees. They were my favorite. 

 And of course we sampled Local Boys Shave Ice a couple times during the week. Definitely our favorite! We also loved Cafe Ole - a new favorite.

 Another beach trip. This is my new favorite photo of us together.

I convinced Ry to do some beach jumping pictures with me. We had a few out-takes. :)

Thank you, beautiful Maui, for a fabulous stay and reminder of our honeymoon. And thank you to our wonderful parents and grandparents who helped make it all possible. What a fabulous way to celebrate finishing medical school!! 

may wrap-up

Still backlogging my blog trying to remember the main events over the past few months. We had stayed in UT the entire month of April, then flew to CO the first of May (and sadly my mom's birthday. really should have timed that differently!). We stayed with R's family for almost a week, and then had a huge graduation celebration in Hawaii while R's parents watched the kids. That deserves its own post though, so more details to come. A lot happened in May, and here are just a few snapshots to help us remember!

 Witnessing a few signs of Spring. UT was still getting snow, then CO was just starting to turn green. By the time we got home to OH Spring had already happened! We would have missed it completely had it not been for these gorgeous and yummy-smelling flowers in front of my in-law's home. I could drink in their deliciousness. It felt so good to be outside without a coat on!

 Playing a lot with kids, and trying to capture a photo of LE's little hands. I love how little she still is, and wanted to remember it. Ever try to snap a photo, and nothing can quite do it justice? While I do agree with the saying that a picture says a thousand words, I just could not find a good enough way to freeze time in a photograph to help me remember these little baby hands. Oh how I love them. 

Our visit overlapped with one of C's sisters and her two daughters from CA, and it was fabulous! So fun to see family that we hadn't seen in a while, and we spent a good portion of the day at the Zoo which is always a favorite. Feeding giraffes is the first exhibit you see and the kids loved it. I'm sure the giraffes did too.

 Cousins and more cousins. And a hungry giraffe. 

 Some other fun Zoo pictures. Such an awesome Zoo. We love feeding the birds as well, and seeing bears, eagles, tigers, and lots of other animals!

R took photos of me with L feeding the birds and it got me all sentimental about the last pictures I have of him doing that! Oh how time flies and babies change {and my hair style doesn't! haha}.

L loved playing with his cousins and G & C - such a treat! We ate lots of pretend food, read lots of books, played outside, got some ballon animals, and continues teething. It was a very productive stay! :)

After coming back from HI we celebrated G's birthday, and then loaded up and said goodbye. We started the drive home to OH, and just had to stop in Kansas to visit our other favorite cousins {we have a lot of favorites in this family!}. 

 We only stayed with the L-family one night, but we tried to make that night last as long as possible and kept the kids up until almost midnight! Oh man it was so fun. 

 We ate yummy food, and roasted mallows outside. Then we read books together and laughed and talked for hours. L loved being with these cousins again, and it just reminded us of how much we miss them living close to us! The next morning went slowly, and we got a late start to the drive but it was worth it to spend just a little bit more time together. 

 By the time we pulled into our parking spot in OH it was around 2am, and we walked in to find we had been ambushed! Our entire house was plastered in fellow med-student business cards. A huge message written with them on the floor read "welcome home" with our last name intentionally spelled incorrectly. And these cards stuck in every nook and cranny possible. They would literally drop from out of nowhere all week long. We later came to learn that it was a contest among these three friends who pulled the prank to be the person with the last card still not found. As we've unpacked in our new house I am still finding these cards and am amazed at their creativity. R and I see pranks with these in the future ...

 {sorry for the date stamp - used it for a different purpose and saved it that way. whoops}

The kids had a lot of self-entertainment time while R and I continued to pack our house up and get ready for graduation celebrations and moving. This is L throwing the frisbee around the back patio and LE laughing as she watched safely behind our screen door. 

 And L joining in on Lady-LE's fun. 

 Saying goodbye to a favorite park during a ward breakfast there. Such amazing friends and beautiful places. We will miss them all!

 I feel like we should be going to some horse races or something, don't you? :)

We tried packing and getting as ready as possible to move by the end of this month. We had family in town for graduation and did not want the focus of those few days to be us moving. Surprisingly I only went through a few stress-induced moments, but overall felt really calm and ready with all of the changes happening and closing in on us. We did manage to take a new favorite photo of mine during the last week we lived in OH though:

We copied some dear friends of ours and created our own O-H-I-O picture. Four years of medical school at OSU and two buckeye babies -- definitely converted to the great state of O-H-I-O. 

april wrap up

Um, it's been a while. I was starting to look back through my pictures and realized the last everyday-moment I blogged about was L's birthday back in April! Holy schmoly a lot has happened since then. So in an effort to catch up, here is a quick {or not so quick} recap of the month of April.

R did an away rotation this month, called Wilderness Medicine. Although it was in SLC, the kids and I chose to come out and stay with my parents who live in Logan - a good hour and a half away. 1.5 hours is a heck of a lot closer than 36 or whatever it would have been staying in Ohio, so we figured it was worth it! We crammed a lot into one month. Here are a lot of pictures to show just what I mean.

Enjoyed a fun double date with my little brother - barely home from his mission. We went rock climbing, and it ended up being completely free. Love it. And love my brother - it was SO good to be with him again! 

Took a quick family trip to SLC to see some friends from undergrad. I am completely in love with this little boy! Thanks D & S for having us!

Celebrated my little sister's 16th birthday by taking her and her friends out to lunch at Cafe Rio. So yummy. And fun to feel like I was in high school again with her. She is way cooler than I was at 16, that's for sure! :)

 LOVED having all of my siblings together for the first time in six years! Oh man it felt good, and we had a lot of fun together. We drove down to visit with some family on my dad's side and see some cousins we don't get to very often. It was great to catch up!

 Then we stayed in a hotel and let the kids be wild. L & B loved jumping back and forth between beds - so cute!

The next morning we all went skiing together while Mom and Dad watched the grandkids. WOW! Such a fun day. We laughed and cried and make some awesome memories.  Thank you Mom & Dad!

This picture will forever be one of my favorites: my brother D set up a ski-pod to hold the camera to get a big group shot. The wind starting picking up and the ski was swaying back and forth. All of us were freaking out about the camera falling, and the timer finally went off right when D was running to grab it before it faceplanted in the snow. Perfect timing. 

Then a nice girl volunteered to take a picture for us, and we still got a group shot. Sweet.

Then we crashed a cousin's baby shower and basically took over. She now has a sweet baby girl and we are excited for her! 

{I was battling a sinus infection, hence the tired look. I really did love the pyramid-crash-turn-into-sisters-together scenario though, promise!}

And of course we had to take a gazillion family pictures the last night we were all together. Love it!

My dad is building the shop of his dreams, and it's so fun to go out there and watch him work or have him describe all that is still in the process of being built. This guy is amazing. And these hands have a thousand stories to tell.

And to top it off, he's cute with kids too. :) Both my parents are wonderful with them, and we counted our blessings every day we were with them. 

Had fun taking quasi-senior pictures for both my younger siblings. They are the best of friends and I LOVE them for it. This is their "smolder" look. Pretty good, eh?

{of course a picture of my darling Lady-L while walking outside}

My brother and R working on roofing the shop. There always seems to be a project around for these guys and it's awesome to watch them get to work. Love that about my family!

Trips to the park to ride scooters. B & L are best buds - couldn't ask for anything better! I hope they remember the fun times they have together. And I hope that I can remember how gorgeous these mountains are. Seriously?! I miss them. {and of course the adorable cousins to play with}

My two brothers and R took a little alpine touring trip up Logan Canyon together. R was in heaven. Have I mentioned before how he is like best friends with my brothers? It makes me so happy and I love it. Honestly.

And of course I had to document my little sister's first date. Her date was a little embarrassed, but I had to! :) Thanks K - love ya! 

Easter Weekend was busy! We had more cousins come up to stay with us and the kids had a great time together. We did an egg hunt that was crazy packed and lasted for .5 seconds {literally!}.

L & cousin SC.

Then we had fun playing outside and coloring with sidewalk chalk. 

We took Easter pictures in front of my parent's house. They turned out great! What beautiful people, right?

After lunch we had our own Easter egg hunt and played around all day outside. R's brother and family drove all the way up to have dinner with us, and it was great getting even more cousins together! Fabulous, I tell you. Fabulous.

R and his brother with the boys in matching pajamas. I promise we did not plan this! 

Later we enjoyed our own trip down to Lehi to visit R's brother and family again! We spent the night with them and had a blast playing Dominion {if you haven't played it, then you should. It's awesome}. There was a moment the next morning when L and I were the only ones awake, so we decided to take a little walk outside to the neighborhood park. It was beautiful with the flowers and sunshine. I love this guy. He makes every day special.

We visited an awesome pool together and the kids loved the water. And us adults loved it even more. It was such a fun treat being able to spend time with R's brother and fam - so glad we got to see them! 

We kept trying to get Lady-L to crawl. No such luck. 

My mom and I went to one day of BYU Women's Conference and I LOVED being on campus again. That place is amazing and one of the most special places to me. The building in the bottom right is what has taken the place of my first college home. Sure looks better than DT, but I sure was sad to see it replaced nonetheless. Life just keeps moving, and I guess that's a good thing. :)

Our last night in UT was spent packing and kicking tennis balls around the cul-de-sac. Doesn't sound too crazy, right? Well. try soaking the tennis balls in gasoline and lighting them on fire. Then kick it around like a soccer ball and tell me what you think. It was awesome. :) 

We had such a great month being with family, and it was a blessing to be able to be there for so long. Thank you Mom and Dad for giving us a roof over our heads and food in our bellies, thank you S for giving us your room for the entire month, and thank you K for playing with me every day. There are a thousand more things to say thank you for - it was definitely a month to remember.