Congraduations!!!

When we moved out here for school, we met another family with kids our girls age who had also moved here for a doctorate. And Since Rob was finishing his post-doc and Dave was finishing his Ph.D. Tamra, Rob's wife was kind enough to throw the boys a movin' on and 'yeah they survived' party. Dave told me I wasn't allowed to do a party, but for some reason, Tamra was able to get permission?! Guess he likes her more. At the part though, Rob obviously won the popularity contest because I brought two cakes for the boys and well as you can tell in the picture, Rob's went first!

Jeana biking

I love my life and have to say, I really don't have much to complain about. Yes, I have a spouse that has chosen a difficult and extremely busy career path, but most of the time, I'm okay with that. I feel like he is putting his ability to good use and because he loves what he is doing and I am a fairly independent person, I am okay with this, most of the time. However, there are a few moments where I feel a little bitter, one of those is the picture below. I remember when my neighbors moved in I was shocked their 9 year didn't know how to ride a bike without training wheels. Well, my eight-year-old still can't. There are two reasons for this: 1. She is an extremely cautious person 2. Her dad hasn't had the time to teach her. (insert bitterness.)

Her uncle gave her a quick lesson on this particular day, but she gave up pretty quickly. If her dad had the time, which he hasn't, he would have made her keep trying. Where am I in this equation? Well, currently almost 8 months pregnant and well, there are somethings I really believe are just Daddy jobs, there aren't many, but on my list, teaching a kid to ride a bike is.

In Dave's defense, this was the hardest summer and though next summer will still be busy, Dad will have a little more time and as motivation, I have already decided to give her a bike for her 9th birthday... to think this all came about because I was judging my neighbor for not being able to ride a bike at age 9.

Haircuts

Since school is just around the corner, I decided to give the girls a pretty new hair-style. I decided I wanted to practice layering and had fun doing it! Abby kept begging for me to go shorter, but I didn't have the guts.

Jeana wanted long layers (even though there looks like a longer piece on the left, I promise it's just the picture...) I got to do 4 haircuts that day, but sadly enough only my kids have come back?! :) I had fun, but could use a little more practice, any takers?

Niagara Falls

Since we made the kids tag along for a history rich tour through Kirtland and Palmyra and since we did all now have passports, we decided to end the quick trip with a more kid friendly atmosphere and headed to Niagara Falls. We stayed in Canada, had a good time and spent one afternoon playing at an indoor waterpark. It was a great family trip.

Since it was August and the air was hot and humid, we decided to pop into an old-fashioned soda shop for a little ice cream float.

Before we all got 'mistified' from the falls.

Cute.

I still have a hard time believing this candy bar really only weighs 7 oz...

Fireworks over the falls. Fun.

And the first and probably last time we will take the girls to a Hard Rock Cafe, wasn't as fun as Dave and I remember and for being so overly priced, it was quite disappointing.

Oh How Lovely Was the Morning...

Alas...David had finished his research, finished his dissertation, stressed, aged 10 years and finally defended! It was a great defense, probably the best one I've ever been too (okay this time I'm not being bias because he's my husband, it's actually just the only dissertation I've been too, so he wins the best award from me.)

His P.I. was fantastic and had so many wonderful things to say about him she really did a lot of research on Dave and our family and probably spent way to much time on putting together a presentation of him, I only wish I would have recorded it, because she was quite thoughtful and really put in a TON of work in his behalf over the past four years.

Anyhow, we had a few days between his finishing of his Ph.D. and starting his 3rd year of medical school, so we tried to think of some place we'd like to still visit while out here since we could be back out west in a couple of years, so we opted for New York, but not New York City, we headed to upstate New York to view a little LDS church history.

Joseph Smith, the first prophet of the restored Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, was living in Palmyra when he fourteen years old. He went into a grove of trees by his home to pray about which church to join, in the end he received a revelation to not join any of them, but that he would be directed by God to restore the gospel the way it was in times of old, with proper authority. He spent the remainder of his days, spreading the gospel, serving others and sharing his experiences with everyone he met. He was eventually killed by an angry mob because of his beliefs. And since we are mormons, this is a special and sacred place for us and one we really enjoyed visiting.

The day was extremely hot and humid, but it was still fun to take a walk in the woods as a family, visit the replica of the Smith's family farm and beautiful home they built, but only lived in for a few months.

This was Joseph's room as a young teenager.

There are no complaints on the size of our house after seeing this 'somewhat' two bedroom hosting way more family member than I could ever imagine having under one roof everyday.

And though we didn't get to go through the temple on our visit since we had the girls with us, it is still so fun to see how beautiful they are.

This is the Hill Camorah where we believe Joseph Smith found an ancient record, that with help, he later translated into the the Book Of Mormon.

Since we were already facing about an 8 hour drive, we decided a 30 minute detour in Ohio on our way to New York would be acceptable. So, we stopped for a few hours in Kirtland, Ohio.

David's brother was living in Indiana when Jeana was only a couple of months old, so along with the young babe, Grandpa and Grandma, we went to visit their family and visit Kirtland, Ohio, which is also a place heavy on history of our church. Little did we know someday we would live close enough to visit again! Anyhow, lots has changed in 7 years, but it was still fun to visit with our now older, kids. And since I was 7 1/2 months pregnant, technically all of us got to visit the Kirtland temple.

Kooie Formerly known as Annie Formerly known as Tink Formerly known as ?

As my pregnancy and summer was drawing to an end, we finally decided it was time to say good-bye to our furry friend. Yes she was cute, for a dog and yes she was sweet, for a dog, but lacking any interest in being a dog lover, or any pet lover for that matter, the only really hard part was requiring my children to give up their pet. Especially Abby, though she was a little overbearing for Annie at times, she really loved the dog.

However, there were a few instances where she had previously bit two babies, mostly in defense, but with a busy husband and since I prefer to admire animals from a distance, a really large distance, a baby and a dog were not two tasks I was willing to combine. Luckily, shortly before listing her on craigslist, a good family friend offered to take her. So, she not only went to a better 'pet' friendly environment, but honestly a huge weight was lifted from me as well and her name changed once again, hopefully for the last time. Because she went to a friend's house, my girls still get to visit her, although visiting with these friends doesn't seem to happen nearly often enough, like it used to, but life just seems to get in the way...

Their smiles and farewells.