I love FAMILY!

A couple of weeks ago we were very lucky to have visits from mine and Nik's families!! It was very fun! My family came first, then the next week Nik's parents came! We loved having them!

It was so nice to have extra hands at Nik's ceremony!


This is at the White Coat Ceremony

Ian will always eat anything Grandpa is eating!

And after they went home I had to buy apples like Grandpa's and tell him that he left them at our house (same with yogurt) or else he would through a fit and not eat anything! =)

Ian loves to swing! We all took turns pushing him!

Ian was Grandpa's little buddy... they did everything together!

Ian even read grandpa to sleep!

The weather was nice and we went to the park!

More swinging!

Ian was excited to ride in

Grandpa's RACE CAR!!

Grandma loves to kiss the babies!

Feeding the ducks at the park!

Aunt Sara did a lot of rocking babies to sleep! They loved it and I loved it!

Ian LOVES Izaak and was so happy to play with him! Izaak was a little bored some of the time, but he was so great to play with Ian!

They arrived really late on Wednesday night, so Thursday morning it was a party in the babies room! They couldn't wait to see them!

Sara's friend Erin was so much fun to have!
The kids loved her!

Miranda loves her Uncle Izaak!
She thought he was so funny!
Sleeping with Grandma!

So a couple weeks ago my mom, sister, brother, and sister's friend came down to visit us! It was so fun having family come! We had a really great time! The slept on the floor in our little living room and we were pretty squished in my little apartment, but it didn't matter! Ian and Miranda loved having so much attention and I loved having so much free time! =) While they were here we went swimming, went to the park, and PLAYED ALOT! My mom brought a bunch of stuff to us that we left home (or just needed) and it was really just great to see (and hug) them!! Thanks guys, I love you!

Happy Anniversary

Last week Nik and I celebrated our 4 year anniversary! On one hand it seems like we've been married a lot longer than that, but on the other hand... I can't believe it has been four years and we have two kids! =)

For our anniversary we celebrated it on two different days... on the actual day Nik had school and we just didn't have a lot of time so I just made a really yummy dinner and we watched a movie. But then the next friday we went on a DATE!!!! We went and played tennis, which was quite the experience.. I've never played before and he only has a couple of times... so as you can imagine... WE STUNK!!! But it was so fun anyways! Then we went and got take-out from Culver's (a yummy restaurant that is like Kirt's Drive-in) and went over to the park and ate by the Lake! It was so much fun just being us (we love the kids, but a break once every two years is VERY needed!) and having fun together! Ian and Miranda did so good with my dear friend Whitney and her husband Tyler... the kids love them and they were so generous to come to our house and watch them! Ian couldn't stop talking about what he did while they were at our house! Thanks guys!!!

Happy Anniversary Hunny!! I love you so much!

Wada

It's official... Ian no longer calls Miranda "mwada"... it is now "mawanda."

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

MY WORLD

So at the request of my friend Lindsey I wanted to share with you what my world is like here in Arizona!

At the park by our house (huge fabulous park) Ian LOVES to swing... seriously he would swing for hours if I would push him that long! My arms get tired though so I have to make other things sound really fun or bribe him with a treat or something to get him to be done!

He is kind of scared to go down slides by himself, but he is getting better! Today we went and he went down really big slides by himself! So this park by our house (about 2 miles away) has this humungous playground! It has places for all ages and includes at least 8 slides in various shapes, heights and colors and has many entrances and exits besides the slides. It is really fun and Ian is getting good at playing without me helping him!

We live kind of by Luke Air Force Base and so we get the jets flying over us all the time! Ian loves it and we are used to the noise now... every once in a while it will be really close to us and Ian will run to me because he is scared, but for the most part... not too loud. We don't mind it at all!

Also at the park by our house is this "Lake." More like a pond, but to us Arizonians it is a LAKE! You can go fishing, or they have a sidewalk all the way around, and there are lots of geese and ducks!

These are the stairs that go up to our apartment! =) I love being on the top floor (although kind of a pain when I am carrying groceries) and we live right behind a grocer store so it is quiet most of the time! I think the thing that I don't like the most is in the early mornings we get big trucks bringing food to the grocery store and when they back up the go BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP really loud, and then they open their doors and that is pretty loud too. I think it is bugging me lately because we have been leaving our windows open at night and so it is much louder.

These are the palm trees I see every day when leaving my apartment! I love palm trees and there are quite a few down here. They don't grow natively here, but lots of people plant them!

This is my pool!!! We love this pool! I think we swam every day for three months when we first came down here! Now we don't swim as much, but it is heated so we are still swimming sometimes!

This is desert landscaping! It is not so beautiful, but it will do! The grass down here is wierd and about this time every year you have to plant winter grass. The summer grass grows back on its own, but the winter grass you have to replant. I think everyone pretty much just does seed and fertilizer, but I still think it is a pain! And it is not soft like Utah grass.

This is the wierd looking duck that lives at the park. Ian's friend Luke calls it the cock-a-doo duck! Ian loves to feed the ducks, however, the geese can get pretty nasty! It even scares me sometimes... they are as tall as Ian... they could peck his eye out or something!

Well that is my world at a glance! Hope you enjoyed the tour!

Nik's White Coat Ceremony

Every year the first year students have a ceremony called the "White Coat Ceremony." It is to congratulate them for getting into school, but also to show them that they are professionals and are to act accordingly.

Ian did sooooooo good during the ceremony, but this is how he felt afterward! =) I don't blame him we were sitting in our seats for about 3 1/2 hours!

This is Nik getting his white coat put on him! They put them on all the students. The guy on Nik's right is the Dean of the Dental School, and on the left the assistant Dean.

These are all the dental students that Nik carpools with, studies with, hangs out with... basically spends A LOT of time with! We love living out here in Surprise with these guys (and their wives!)

Nik's parents were able to come down for a few days and attend his ceremony! It was so nice to have them!!

The ceremony itself was a tad boring (after all they had over 800 students to put coats on from all the different schools Midwestern has (dental, medical, podiatry etc.), but we survived and it was a great opportunity for us to see Nik's school, see who he goes to school with, celebrate that we are here, and of course... take lots of Pictures!!! =)

MILK

So ever since Miranda was born I stopped eating and drinking milk, ice cream, yogurt... anything that had milk in it, because it would make Miranda really sick... throw-up sick. I took her to the Doctor the other day and asked him about it and he said to try and reintroduce milk to my diet by starting with yogurt, cheese then milk. I am happy to announce that I can drink milk again!!!! It doesn't seem to bother her anymore! Yay! I was having a hard time eating breakfast because I couldn't have cereal... I love cereal!

Phoenix Zoo

So a little while ago we drove down to the Phoenix Zoo! It was free with a Fry's card so we thought why not?


These are the girls we hung out with at the Zoo... what a fun bunch!


Ian had a lot of fun!

This is the funniest part... Part of the zoo was closed for construction and we had stopped to have lunch by some birds... Ian had gone wandering with Kristin and I look over and he is laying on the ground by the construction zone. I walked over there and he was laying down so he could see the tractors. Pretty soon he caught the attention of one of the workers who came and talked to him, pinned up the tarp so he could see better, and even gave him piece of a huge lug that had broke off the tractor! It made Ian's day! Ian came running over to me and showed me the lug and said it was for his birthday! I think this was Ian's favorite part of the Zoo! (The Tractors)

The habitats at the Phoenix zoo are awesome! The animals seem very happy there!

In the middle of the zoo there is an awesome splash park (and I mean really awesome!) For those of you who don't know a splash park is where water shoots up out of the ground so kids can get wet without being in a swimming pool! They are the best invention ever! Anyways... this splash park has a cave you can go in with some slides and a little river where the extra water drains down.. it is just really fun! Ian loved it! It was nice for all of us to at least get our feet wet! Thanks again Kristin for getting all wet with Ian!

We liked this arangatan... it was keeping cool under a huge palm tree leaf!

Miranda is learning all sorts of new tricks... she is so cute!

The Phoenix Zoo was a blast... although I think I like the Hoagle Zoo better!