News

We've had a lot going on in our house over the past two weeks! Here is an update on each of us.

Brad:

Now done with both parts of Step 2 of the medical school boards (Part 1, a 9 hour multiple choice test taken last Monday, and Part 2, an 8 hour clinical skills test taken Thursday in LA). It was a long week for him and for us, but he did it! It's such a relief to have that over! Bring on 4th year of Medical School!

Traci:

Did I tell you that I am now a nanny (of sorts)? It's true. I babysit the daughter of one of Brad's classmates. Her name is Addie and she comes over three days a week. Addie is the sweetest, most easy-going baby ever, which has been a blessing both to me and to her mom. We have had fun with her! I feel so blessed to be able to bring in a little bit of money and still do what I do at home with my girls.

Here is Addie (obviously Leah has already taught her some tricks, including emptying all the cupboards in the house)

Leah:

 Now 18-months-old! She has gone to Nursery for the past two weeks and loves it. She practically pushes me out the door when I drop her off, but is happy to see me when I pick her up. I peeked in at her last week during singing time. Instead of sitting in a circle with the rest of the kids, she was dancing by herself in the middle of them all. It was awesome. I love that baby girl!

Lainy:

The other day Lainy presented me with this:

I think I'll frame it and keep it forever and ever.

The only thing that is wanting in our lives right now, is a little bit of sunshine. While the rest of the country is experiencing a heat wave, we have cloudy, cool days with occasional rain. Come on Seattle! We want to go to the beach!

Pirates Ahoy!

Last Saturday (while Brad was busy studying) the girls and I went to see some real, live pirates. It was pretty awesome.

Some background: There is a big festival in Seattle during the Summer months called Seafair. It begins in July and ends in August. Every weekend there is some event/carnival going on in the Seattle area, all in the name of Seafair. The event that kicks it all off is the landing of the Seafair Pirates on Alki Beach. The Pirates come and take over the city during Seafair.They land on the beach claiming to seek the treasure they left the previous year.

Like I said, it was pretty awesome.

We got there early enough to get all the free stuff they handed out: pirate hats for the girls, a pirate sword for Lainy, a pirate squirt gun for Leah, and plenty of Pirate Booty (snacks and treats).

Picking her nose or saying "Aarrgh"? You decide...

We also had plenty of time to look around. There were pirates roaming the beach, booths, games, and more. Elliot Bay was full of boats: some just normal speed boats, some real-looking pirate ships. They shot off canons and fireworks all morning.

This pirate was escaping from his captors. Do you see the bombs in his hands?

But eventually the bad pirates caught him again.

A cool boat shooting water

When we'd had our fill of checking out the booths, we picked a spot on the beach and settled down to wait for the pirates. More and more people came until we couldn't even play in the sand anymore. But that was okay, because soon enough, the pirates came!

We saw their ship coming from across the bay. They shot off canons and left a trail of smoke behind them.

Here they come! See the boat with the smoke behind it?

They landed on the beach in this big boat borrowed from  the Coast Guard

Finally, they were close enough to jump off their ship and storm the beach. We couldn't see them very well because of all the people, but I did find this picture on the internet:

My favorite comment of the day from Lainy (said while we were playing on the beach and waiting for the pirates): "Mommy, aren't pirates bad?"

My favorite new thing Leah learned: to hold up her pirate gun and say "Arrrgh!"

Thank you, Seattle, for giving us such a fun way to spend a Saturday morning!

Tea Party

I took the girls to their first official tea party this week. It was hosted by the Pottery Barn Kids store near our house. We were invited to come, dress up, and bring our favorite doll or teddy bear. Too fun!

Lainy's baby (Eva) was in dire need of an appropriate outfit for the occasion, so we went shopping and got her a little dress.

 

 Doesn't it look fun?!

Birthday Boy

Last night I got to thinking and realized that Brad's birthdays have been pretty crappy since we've been married. Seriously. Maybe the worst birthdays ever. One year his birthday was on Sunday and almost everyone in the whole family (except me) forgot. He didn't get any presents until a few days afterwards (we were too poor to buy him something). Another year Lainy and I went to take Brad breakfast in bed, but instead of a nice breakfast he got Lainy puke all over him. She threw up for most of the day and we didn't do much celebrating. The other three birthdays have been less than memorable.

So, I think it's safe to say that he was due for a good birthday. And even though he's still studying like crazy to prepare for his boards next week, I was determined to make the day fun.

Last year my mom gave me a cookbook called The Worldwide Ward Cookbook. It's full of recipes submitted by members of the LDS Church from around the world. The other day I was flipping through the cookbook and found a recipe called Real West Virginia Hot Dawgs. It caught my attention because Brad served his mission in West Virginia and has talked about the "Slaw Dawgs" a member of his ward used to make. I showed the recipe to Brad, and was surprised to learn that it was submitted by the very same man who made Brad "Slaw Dawgs" while he was in West Virginia. Isn't that crazy?! We decided to make them for Brad's birthday dinner.


The recipe included not only hot dogs, but "Grandmaw's Special Cole Slaw", and a special "Dawg Sauce". I admit, I was quite skeptical of putting cole slaw and "Dawg Sauce" on my hot dog, but it was actually really good! You'll have to try it.

We had a fun day. The girls and I enjoyed planning little surprises for Brad, and we all had fun celebrating our favorite guy! Hopefully this makes up, in part,  for the not-so-fun birthdays of the past few years!

After our birthday breakfast of stuffed french toast. Yum!

As you can see, Brad had a lot of help opening his presents!

Talking to his parents

 

Brad's gift from his Dad

Grilling hot dawgs

Leah didn't want to wear her party hat...

Making a wish...

Opening Lainy's gift

 

Chocolate dipped pineapple sent by my parents. Delicious!

Happy Birthday Brad! We love you and love you!