Hooray!!!

We are celebrating around here tonight because we just found out that Josh passed that huge comprehensive test he was studying for over his break and took last week!!!!  We have been talking about and praying with Shane for weeks for daddy to pass his test, so when we told him tonight that he passed it he started doing his happy dance and saying "That's so exciting!" 

So how do you celebrate in the frozen north?  You get ice cream of course! 

It is such a relief to have this done with and know that Josh is one step closer to becoming a doctor.   This test basically gives us an idea of how he would do on the boards right now, and he will take the real boards in May or June.  For now, he will spend his extra time this semester studying for them and trying to make his score as competitive as possible, and enjoying this little victory:)   (Here he is learning how to scrub into surgeries- don't worry, they encouraged them to take pictures :) )

    We're proud of you Josh!

Snow Fest

Yesterday we bundled up and headed to Frankenmuth for the Snow Fest.  (Me at 30.5 weeks)

(My cute little marshmallow)

It is a cool little festival where they have all kinds of snow sculptures around to look at.  Here are a few of my favorites

They had ice sculptures too.  I made Josh pose by the one for the hospital he'll working with.

There was also a little petting area for the kids.  Shane liked looking, but not so much the touching.

"Ah there are puddles here too!!!"  With a little swaying from mom and dad he realized that cold puddles are not the same deal.  Wait til spring buddy.

A little glimpse of the town.  After checking out the snow sculptures we walked down main street and browsed the shops.  The hardest part of the day was choosing which candy shoppe to get fudge from!

Then we went to the Bavarian Inn to warm up and have lunch.  It's the same place Pat and I went, but a different area.  This one had waitresses dressed up in cute little German costumes and my personal favorite, an accordion player.  Not to mention, a gluten free burger for Josh- with a bun! 

It was festively cold but not unbearable, and it was nice to just be together and do something fun.  Josh's semester is the most relaxed he's had, so we are enjoying doing things with him while he has a little time to do them! 

Baby It's Cold Outside

Well, Michigan is showing it's true colors and it has been COLD this week!!  Today we had a high of 9 degrees- yep, that's right, I said high.  But we knew what we were signing up for!  It is as cold here as it was hot in Dominica, but at least here we have respite in our house.  And an excuse to cuddle ;)

Pretty much the greatest aunt ever.

A definite perk to us moving to Michigan is that we are now only 2 hours away from my Aunt Pat and Uncle  John!  (The same ones who braved the elements [and volcanic ash] to come see us in Dominica).  Pat drove out to hang with me and Shane on Thursday and we had a blast.  She is always so thoughtful and brought me some extra sheets and kitchen stuff I needed and brought Shane a bunch of Discovery Toys.  He LOVES these trucks and wants to be carrying all 3 at all times.     

She also brought him these letters and some puzzles that are just the right step up for him.  Happy boy= happy mama, he has been busy playing for days! 

We drove to Frankenmuth, a cute little Bavarian town next to us to have lunch and check it out.  We split a delicious steak sandwich and chicken salad.

Shaners had yogurt and cheerios and, of course, his truck came along (thankfully Pat has a 2 year old granddaughter too and understands they have meltdowns because he definitely had one when I told him he could only bring one...)

The company was great and the town was very cute, we will be going back soon with Josh.  This little restaurant was at an inn that had a few different restaurants and shops inside and the best part- a bakery that sells some gluten free goodies.  Pat didn't want Josh to feel left out on all our fun so she brought him back some breadsticks and cookies. 

We are so glad to be so close and to be able to see the Durhams more than once a year!  I must say, it was a little weird seeing her in a sweater and coat and not a beach cover-up!  Thanks so much Pat, can't wait for the next adventure!

Shane Speak

Shane is at such a fun age right now where his language is really exploding and we are getting a  kick out of the things that come out of his mouth.  Here are a few things that are probably not near as funny to you but I wanted to make sure I wrote down before I forgot:

- (While taking a bath and playing with his foam letters) "Hey T!  Hey Y!  What's going on T?"
-While we were in transit at grandparents houses and hotels, he would sometimes ask for things and I would tell him that they were in the suitcase.  Now when he doesn't know where something is he'll get a sad look and say "_____ in suitcase."  Today was Josh's first day back to school and he kept saying, "Daddy go to school.  Daddy he'll be right back.  Daddy in suitcase."
-He was playing by the window a couple days ago and we heard a loud gush of wind.  He looked around and then said, "Scuse you birdie."
-He will walk into the room and say "Hi handsome!" (about himself)
-Whenever we go to the store and get in line to check out he will grab stuff out of my purse (his sippy cup, airplanes, etc.) and say "Gotta pay for it!"
-When he falls down or drops something or gets upset about something he will say, "No!  That's not niiiice!" 
-He has learned what the heater is and today he heard it kick on it said, "Heater say peekaboo!"
-His most painful times of the day are when he is hungry and waiting for his oatmeal or for dinner to be ready.  When I am making dinner and he is hungry he will sometimes say "I'm ready!!"  in this cheerful little voice and then burst into tears when he realizes that the food is not.  Ah, life is rough for us fatties.

Home Sweet Home

It's been two weeks since we moved into our place and I am finally feeling like it is in order.  We really like it a lot, and it is starting to feel more and more like home.  Now that it is mostly clean and set up (don't look at the pictures too hard though, ok ;) ) I will give you the grand tour.  This is our building, there are 12 apartments in it and there are probably 15 or 20 buildings in the complex with large grassy (well, snowy...) areas around them. 

The hall/stair wells.  We are on the third floor so I am getting my exercise in! 

When you first walk in there is a coat closet and to the left is the family room, to the right is the kitchen.

Kitchen- and yes that is a mirror over the sink, kinda fun huh?  The best part is the dishwasher though.  I haven't had one my whole married life and I am loving it!

The family room.  I love this room- it feels nice and cozy to me, there is a big window to let in lots of natural light during the day, and there is a patio out there.

The dining room

Hallway leading to the bedrooms

First right is our bathroom.  With a tub!  We've never had one of those either, and man is Shane enjoying it!

Our bedroom is the second on the right.  Oh how I missed our bed!

The best parts are the walk in closet and the half bathroom.  Let's just say it's nice to have two toilets in the house if you know what I mean...

The office is the first left, it has been so nice for Josh to be able to stay home and study and have his own space.  Here's an action shot of him doing practice questions

Shane's room is the second left.  We're thinking Marissa will end up in there too after a little while in our room.

Every bedroom has these big closets too, even our bedroom, and I am loving all the extra storage space!  They even give us a little storage unit downstairs.

The only real drawback is that we don't have a washer/dryer in our apartment, but there is a laundry room on the first floor of every building.  Anyway, now you just need to come visit so you can see it in person!  We would love visitors!

Pregnancy Update

Sometimes I feel stupid posting belly pictures, but I do love seeing them of other people and a few people have asked, so here they are!  The first one a few weeks ago at 25 weeks,

and this one is now at 28 weeks.

I am now just into my third trimester, and I can't believe it!!  It has gone by so fast especially with all the craziness lately.  It is starting to sink in a little more now that we are in the states and I am seeing a real doctor that this baby is really coming, but it still seems like a dream or something.  I am feeling great and really can't complain about anything, I'm just getting more awkward trying to carry Shane or have him sit on my lap.  She has really been an active little thing and I have loved feeling her move and kick (most of the time anyway!)  I am getting excited to meet her but pretty nervous about how Shane will feel and how I will juggle two kids and still give him the attention he needs.  As of right now when I try to bring it up he says, "Don't want it baby."  Oh dear.  I know these are all normal feelings for moms to have and that Shane will adjust and will love his sister eventually, but for right now I am pretty content having her stay in there for a little bit! 

Big Boy Bed

Have you ever seen a kid so happy to be in bed?  He was pretty much doing the happy dance in there.  I guess the secret is to have your kid sleep in a pack and play for the first two years of their life so a real bed feels so comfortable they never want to get out!  (Not that we'll be doing that for Marissa, living in Dominica calls for some hard measures!) 

We decided to just go ahead and put Shane in a big boy bed when we moved here since we sold our pack and play in Dominica and I didn't want to deal with trying to get him out of the crib when the baby came.  And so far (fingers crossed!) it's gone off without a hitch.  I will tuck him in and he will say now to me, "Night night.  Love you!  Be good!"  His only problem is that he is a crazy roller (like his mother), and has gotten himself caught in a few precarious places in the middle of night.  At least we had him on a crib mattress on the floor for a couple nights while we were waiting to get him his mattress, and I realized when I would find him rolled off or like this that I needed to get him a guard rail!

I am very relieved that this transition has gone so well, but I know he's secretly just saving all his ammo for when I try to potty train him!

4 Years in Ornaments

On December 27th Josh and I celebrated 4 years of marriage.  It has been a great 4 years and definitely full of adventure!  We only thought it was appropriate in keeping with that theme that we spent our anniversary driving to Provo to get our moving truck and packing all our things from storage into it to move across the country the next morning.  We did manage to sneak in lunch at one of our favorite restaurants, PF Changs, and it was good to just spend the day together while Josh's parents watched Shane.  Josh and I have a tradition of giving each other an ornament every Christmas and since our anniversary is so close to Christmas it is a fun way to look back and see the different stages we've been through every year.  Our first anniversary we were living in Provo while Josh was going to BYU and I was teaching,

We had Shane just before our second anniversary,

We had been living in Dominica during our third year and Josh got me my new camera,

and now 4 years later we are expecting another baby and "re-entering civilization" as Josh would say by moving back to the states.

Who knows what other ornaments will grace our tree in the years to come?  I am excited to find out and excited to have Josh at my side to experience all of it.    

1767 Miles

Well, Josh and I survived the long drive from Utah to Michigan with our two year old in tow.  I give all the credit to the portable DVD player my mom gave Shane for his birthday, a slew of new books, Marshmallow Mateys, and peanut m and m's.  And most importantly, Josh's dad for driving our Penske truck with our second car on the trailer so that one of us could sit in the back and entertain Shane.  On our first day of driving we left Manti at 5 in the morning on the 28th, drove through Colorado and stopped in North Platte Nebraska for the night. 

I had every intention of documenting the places we drove through,

but in the end only ended up with pictures of Colorado because I was busy keeping this dude happy.  But let's face it, it all pretty much started looking the same after awhile anyway!

Shane did very well but was definitely excited to get to our hotel each night.

The second day we drove through the rest of Nebraska, then through Iowa and stopped near Chicago for the night.  We pushed it the first two days so that the last day we would just have 4 or 5 hours to get through the rest of Illinois, a little bit of Indiana, and then Michigan.  We were all very glad to get to our new home and be done with driving for a little while! 

We Are Family

Well, we are pretty much unpacked and settled, I just need to hang some pictures and then I will take some pictures of our place.  I have a few things I wanted to make sure I posted first though.  We were so lucky to be able to see everyone in both of our immediate families except for my sister Shannon and her family.  (We missed you Yoders :( ).  That is no easy task when there are 4 kids in my family and 7 in Josh's!  We had such a good time with everyone, and so did Shane.  He was definitely a stinker sometimes and we're glad that certain male members of the family (ahem, Jake...) were persistent enough even when one of Shane's token phrases became "Ah!  Don't want it!"  We are glad to be so much closer to everyone now and to be able to call them whenever we want!  We love you guys!