SAA Senior Banquet

The night before Jed's graduation commencement ceremony, we attended the Student Advocate Association (SAA) Senior Banquet. The SAA is an organization that was very involved in for the two years that we lived in Missouri. I was the 2nd Vice President our 2nd year of Medical School. Anyway, we had this beautiful banquet in our honor, and it was so much fun to see and visit with all our friends again.

Above: Katherine, Christie, me, Brenda, and Josie

During the banquet, there was an awards presentation. Members of the SAA nominated each other to receive the four awards. I was awarded the Moritsugu Award for being an overall supportive companion to my medical school spouse and his profession. :) I was very honored that my friends and peers nominated me. :) The picture above is of the award recipients and the award presenters.
After the banquet, we released real live monarch butterflies into the sky. Ashley, me, Jill, Aubrey, and Brenda are holding our little cardboard containers with the butterflies inside, prior to releasing them.
Erin, Jill, Katherine, Melody, Aubrey, Tara, Valerie, and Christie. Oh, it was just wonderful to be able to hang out with these girls again. I certainly have missed them the past two years. And now we are going our separate ways again. The whole graduation weekend was like a reunion. It was so fun!

Katherine and me. And to the right, Brenda and me. They are such great friends! I took pictures with other good friends, but my camera wasn't working well, and they haven't sent me their pictures (yet). :)

I know a handsome and brilliant doctor. He's all mine, though, and not accepting new patients. Sorry.

Congratulations to Jed who graduated from Medical School after four long grueling years! Yippee! I am so proud of him! Somehow through it all, he continued to be a fun, considerate and positive husband, and a hilarious and enthusiastic daddy. He is truly remarkable, and I'm so excited that he has accomplished and recieved a doctorate degree. Wow! That's my husband!

Congratulations Jed! I love you!

You worked hard to get this far and I appreciate all you've done for our family!

When we were driving home from the graduation ceremony, Jed started teasing Benjamin and told him that from now on he needed to call him 'Doctor Dad.' Benjamin took him seriously and got a concerned look on his face and told him he did not want to. Jed kept telling him to call him 'Doctor Dad' until Benny said, "No, that's not a good name." It was so funny that Ben thought he was being serious!

After the graduation ceremony, we were driving home and Ben put on Jed's cap and excitedly said, "Look! I'm graduating!" It was pretty cute.
Thanks to A. T. Still University for the first two pictures. My camera wasn't working well, as you can see, and they kindly sent me the professional pictures that a photographer took of us.

I found a note behind the desk that makes me smile.

As you may know, we are packing and moving, and I just discovered a little slip of paper that I had scribbled a few funny things I heard Benjamin say. It was dated Feb 26th, 2009. 

Benjamin found a missing puzzle piece and said, "It's a miracle! I'm so sad for joy, Mom!"

Jed said to Benjamin, "We don't hit Mommy." Benjamin replied, "I didn't hit her. I gave her a love tap. But she didn't smile."

May vignettes

Jed gave me lots of TLC on Mother's Day! After church he let me take a THREE hour long nap, and he grilled delicious hamburgers for dinner. It was our first time using our grill, and I can't wait for more!  He came up with the fun idea to make smores for dessert - using the grill. :)

Eliza is learning more and more every day and getting so cute! She loves 'talking' on the phone; she will put it up to her ear and say, "Hello!" in her little baby voice. She can say "ball" really well and she's getting good at pointing and jabbering to get her point across. She is still crawling and cruising on furniture, and walking cautiously every once in a while.  :)

We had a fundraiser for the Young Women at our church to pay for their summer camp. We held a garage sale in my driveway. Jed helped us a TON, and was rewarded by getting to buy an armchair from the garage sale, which he is excited to put into his study in the new house. (I tease him that he'll go in there on the pretense of studying and actually take a nap in his chair! :) ) He and Benjamin retreated into the garage with a pile of books to try out the new "boys chair" (as they named it).

Eliza has such a round tummy that some of her shirts like to ride up.  That combined with her DIRTY knees and tops of her socks from crawling make her look like a raggamuffin. :)

She is becoming  a little Miss Attitude.  She has perfected the art of screaching and then making a dirty face at us when she is frusterated with a toy or when we take something away. Oh, and she'll do it to Benjamin out of the blue, for no reason. His initial reaction is to be offended and he'll yell, "ELI-ZAH!" But he has been practicing 'turning the other cheek' and making funny faces at her to get her to laugh.  :) She is just a little stinker to try to rile him up!

Reading books in the morning.

Eliza played in the sandbox for the first time this week and absolutely LOVES it! She enjoyed herself so much, it was adorable.  We need to somehow set up another sandbox in the new house (although nothing can beat this awesome sandbox we'll be saying goodbye to!).  When I tried to carry her away to take a bath she screamed and writhed - she did NOT want to leave that sandbox! 

 

an eventful bike ride

On May 1st we went on a bike ride with our friends Jen & Ben to the Metro Park.  It had POURED rain the day before, but it turned out to be a perfect day. 

So we were biking along, and suddenly we came to a big flooded area. Hey, that's cool - so we buzzed through it without a worry (and gave the kids a huge spray - woops!). Then we came to a deeper flooded area. Hmmm... this time we went through slowly and avoided getting our shoes wet. But then, what do you know! We came to a HUGE LAKE in the trail. The river along the path was so flooded that it actually split and was flowing across the bike trail into the lake on the other side. There was a CURRENT going across the bike path. No joke. Yeah, so there was no where to go but straight ahead, so Jen and I braved the rapids, got our shoes completely SOAKED, and I slowed down so much when it got super deep that I nearly tipped right over into the water! At the deepest point we saw a big splash to our left but we were too concerned about making it out alive that we didn't take too much notice. Well, Jed saw it and when he came biking past he looked around in the water and Woah! There was a humungous fish wandering around in there!  It must have gotten lost and was hanging out in the water covering the bike road. I couldn't believe it when Jed told me, so I rolled up my pants and went wading to try to get a look at it. Sure enough, I found it swimming around. It was pretty big! I couldn't get quite close enough to try to grab it, although I wanted to! Anyway, it was such an adventure swimming our bikes through this flood water. I seriously wanted to just run and jump into all the water and wade and splash around. It looked so inviting! But I held back... I don't think any one would have joined me, and what's the fun in that? If it had been a hot day, I bet I could have talked them into it! :)

Check out that water! Isn't it amazing?!  (I'm not standing in the deep part yet in the picture. And you can't see the lake in the picture. All that water is just flood water.)

And here are our cuties. They thought they had it made, being towed around and getting a free ride. But they paid the price when the water reached all the way to their seat and they were sitting in puddles for the rest of the time! They were good sports. :)

When we unloaded, we had to strip them down to undies and diaper.  I had to peel Eliza's wet tights off her legs.  And they had to live with partially wet shirts. The kids got cold, so Ben would get warm in a big sweatshirt for a while and then run and play for a while. I should have brought spare clothes. But then, I didn't think we'd be crossing a river on our bike ride...

What Daddy's do best...

We had a great time, and hopefully we get to do it again on a nice hot day! Water, here we come!

Palmyra, New York

After Niagara Falls, we traveled to Palmyra, New York, to see some church history sites. First we went to the Visitor's Center at the base of the Hill Cumorah. This is where Joseph Smith found the gold plates (later to be translated into the Book of Mormon), by the direction of the Angel Moroni. The Visitor's Center was really neat; there were a lot of different stations with multi-media presentations and videos to watch. 

We then walked up the Hill Cumorah to the top. I was surprised by how steep it was. 

At the top of the hill there was a monument depicting the Angel Moroni appearing to Joseph Smith.  On top of the monument there was a statue of the Angel Moroni. It was so neat to be there. All the events that transpired here felt very real as we were standing in the place where they happened. 

Here we are at the printing shop where the Book of Mormon was published. 

When we walked into the log home where Joseph Smith grew up, Benjamin immediately ran over to the fireplace, got on all hands and knees, and began prying at the bricks in the hearth. He excitedly repeated, "This is where they hid the gold plates!"  At first I was really confused as to how he knew that, but then I realized that at the visitor's center we watched a movie about how Joseph Smith protected the plates from being stolen, and in the movie it showed him hiding them under the bricks in the hearth. Benny immediately recognized the place and was SO EXCITED, as if he was going to uncover them himself!  

Lastly, we went to the Sacred Grove.  I felt awed that God the Eternal Father and his Son, Jesus Christ, actually condescended to appear to a young boy, in an obscure wooded area on this land. It seems unfathomable and yet I know that it happened. I am thankful for the gospel and how it affects my life and my family. Happiness really does come from following God's plan for us.  Our trip was great and I'm glad we were able to be at these holy places.

Niagara Falls

I have actually seen Niagara Falls with my own eyes.  And I have to say it is incredible. The Horseshoe Falls are amazing. You can't even see where the waterfall lands because there is so much water spraying up from the impact. It was so neat!  These pictures were all taken on Jed's birthday, which was a cool way to spend his 30th.  :)

In case you need a closeup on Benjamin's goofy face...

Below is a picture of Eliza and I in front of the horseshow falls. There is so much water going over those falls; it is incredible! Benjamin wasn't that impressed. He just kept asking when we could go back to the waterpark...

Our favorite thing about our trip to Niagara was the FUN indoor waterpark we spent all our free time at. It was SO FUN! fun fun fun!  There was a big playscape for children with lots of paths and slides and water toys every direction. Benjamin had a BLAST. and that's an understatement. 

There was a little baby area too, with heated water where we played with Eliza. She liked to just sit in the water and slap the water around her. It was fun to watch the simple pleasures of a baby.  :)

Let's see... there were also a ton of tube and non-tube slides for adults that Jed and I went on, while Gage and Christina watched all our kids. Jed succeeded in sneaking Benjamin on the tube slides a few times before getting caught and turned away.  :)  And lastly, there was a big wave pool that we hung out in. It was so much fun. I can't wait to go back. 

At the end of the day we went out to the Rainforest Cafe. It is a restaurant with animated animals in the jungle all around the tables. It was a fun atmosphere, and the kids loved it! (which made up for the food I guess! :P) 

The restaurant was located on the coolest tourist strip. We stayed on the Canada side of the Falls, and there is a street going down to the water that is completely touristy, with flashing lights and wax museums, Ripley's believe-it-or-not museum, moving theaters, multiple haunted houses (for some reason - must be a popular past time year round?), Guiness Book of World Records museum.... It was so fun to walk around! 

flashback to Easter

Here we are showing off our loot at the Marshmallow Drop this Easter.  Luckily it wasn't freezing cold this year like it was last Easter. Instead of trudging across frozen tundra, we sludged through mud to get to the Marshmallow Drop this year. Of course it was worth it! We saw the big helicopter drop loadfuls of marshmallows. After we went last year, when Ben was 2 1/2, he thought helicopters dropped marshmallows all the time - like it was just what all helicopters do. He eventually outgrew thinking that. But it was pretty cute. 

We did Easter baskets on Saturday morning, which is our tradition. Benjamin was so excited to discover his Easter basket, I couldn't get ONE focused picture of him.  :)  

MOVIE!  Clip of hanging out on Easter Saturday morning...

I gave Jed a kid's toy in his basket, knowing that he would have a blast playing with it that day. Sure enough, he enjoyed his ball popper and quickly set up a competition of who could get the most balls in the basket at the end of the hall. It was actually pretty fun!

He's concentrating... giving it just the right angle and amount of pressure...



This year I hosted my traditional Easter Egg dying party, and had a whole bunch of friends and kids over to dye Easter eggs, a few days before Easter. I think there were 8 women over here and 14 kids or something like that. It was a blast. A little crazy, but a blast. 

We still dyed Easter eggs as a family, though. We couldn't let Jed miss out on the fun! Before dumping out the dyes, Jed showed Benjamin how colors are made... Here he is showing him how yellow and blue make green...

Later in the day I put on Benjamin's new Bob the Builder movie from his Easter basket. I came back in the living room to see Benjamin about two inches away from the TV screen.  What a silly kid! (As you can see, he's sucking his thumb while rubbing his belly button, which he has done since he was a baby.)

Happy Easter!

Toledo Zoo

We went to the Toledo Zoo this week with some friends, Jen & Ben, who just moved to Michigan. It was such a fun and summery day! Benjamin and his little friend Daxton had a great time running around together. The highlight was the monkey exhibit. The boys laughed and laughed at theorangutans and Eliza actually started to cry when Jed carried her away from the glass. Too funny! 

Instead of pictures, I have a video of a bunch of tiny little clips from the adventure. I lost my camera this week (I know it must be somewhere in this house...) so I used the video camera in its place and, as it turns out, all the little 'picture' clips made a fun video. 

We are going to Niagara Falls and the Sacred Grove tomorrow morning with friends. We're pretty excited.  :)

Eliza's first steps!

Museum of Natural History

In March we went to the Museum of Natural History in Ann Arbor. We went with a few girlfriends and kids, and it was a fun adventure. The dinosaur exhibit was pretty cool.  

Ben wasn't thrilled with the idea of pretending to be eaten by the T Rex. :)

Benjamin must have been listening...

General Conference today was great. Of course with kids I think I actually comprehended and internalized about 25% of what was said. Nevertheless, it was really neat to listen to our prophet, apostles, and church leaders and feel the Spirit as they testified of Christ and motivated me to 'stand a little taller and be a little better'. 

I think Benjamin internalized some of it too (thankfully, since part of me missing what was said was because I was helping him with General Conference related activities).  I came to that conclusion after his bedtime prayers, which started thus:

Dear Heavenly Father, 

Please bless that President Monson can be blessed for his faith. 

Please bless that we can go to bed and be inspired. 

He comes up with the funniest things. Have I ever mentioned before how he describes the feelings of the Holy Ghost? When he feels happy as he listens to his Scripture stories, or articles from his Friend magazine, or when he feels extra loving towards me or Jed, he says, 

"Mom, I'm sad for joy!"

It's so cute. He picked it up probably about a year ago when we read about how Jesus in the scriptures wept. He was concerned, so we explained to him that Jesus cried because he was full of joy - because he was so happy. From then on whenever we read about people crying in the scriptures, (or if I get choked up reading something from his Friend magazine - which happened a lot when I was pregnant with Eliza!) he will say, "They are sad for JOY!" or "Mom, are you sad for joy?" It's one of those funny Benjamin-isms that I just love.  He will often get this sweet smile on his face, cock his head a little, and say, "I love you, Mom. I'm sad for joy." It's so cute. 

Anyway, a few things stood out to me today during General Conference, that I'll briefly share. Firstly, how blessed I am that I have Jed, Benny, and Eliza. Trials may come, but I can never complain because I still have my incredible husband and my sweet sweet children with me. (That was from Elder Scott's talk - when he talked about the deaths of his children I thought 'how can I ever complain?') Secondly, I realized the importance of "hallowed be thy name" in the Lord's example of prayer. It's respectful, and it reminds me of WHO I am talking to. I mean, with that in mind, how can I honestly let my mind wander when I am praying to and addressing the Eternal God of heaven and earth? (I'm embarrassed to admit how often that happens to me... Jed teases me about my 'long prayers' because he knows how I daydream... yikes.) (Elder Nelson's talk.)

Can't wait for General Conference tomorrow.  :)