Lentil Festival

Soon after arriving here in Moscow, we found out that a lot of the farming around here is lentils. In case you don't know what lentils are (because I wasn't sure) here is a definition courtesy of Wikipedia.com: "A lentil is a bushy annual plant of the legume family grown for its flat, lens-shaped seeds."

Lentils are a big deal in this area. So much so that the city of Pullman (about 10 minutes away from Moscow) dedicates an entire week to the Lentil Festival. Apparently it is attended by the whole valley. We decided we couldn't miss it.

The highlight of the festival was the Lentil Parade, featuring Tase T. Lentil. We caught up with Tase T. right after the parade for a picture.

After our photo-op with Tase T., we sampled Lentil Brownies, which really are pretty good. (After looking at the recipe, I guess you can pretty much hide anything in something with that much chocolate.)

It was a fun day spent with family, friends, and a big brown bean.

Our Little Reader

Last week I heard Lainy chattering in her bedroom, so I went to investigate. This is what I found:

I thought it was so cute! Now it's a tradition. Every afternoon, she crawls into her bedroom, climbs up into her chair, grabs a few books, and "reads".

Happy, Happy Birthday Lainy Dear

Here are Lainy's birthday pictures. I hope she had a fun day because we sure had fun spoiling her for her birthday!

My attempt at a birthday cake. Brad is afraid Alaina is going to get diabetes because she LOVES anything with sugar in it, so I tried to make her cake healthy-ish. (By healthy I mean sugarless whipped cream and fruit for toppings, ha ha). Here's a funny story: Brad was the one who wrote "Happy Birthday" on the cake. The first time around he wrote "Happy Birthay" with no "d". I thought it was funny - how many times has he spelled "birthday"?! I guess his mind was occupied with anatomy terms or something.

Alaina enjoying her cake. We stripped her down to her diaper, set her on a tarp, and let her go at it! She was very clean and proper until the very end when she smashed the whole thing into her mouth. She loved it!

Opening Presents

Thrilled with her new toy from Grandma and Grandpa Smith

She looks excited about this gift doesn't she? I think she looks way too big.

Thanks to all our family and friends who celebrated with us! We love you all!

What's In a Year?

Happy Birthday Alaina!

And So It Begins. . .

Brad now has one week of medical school behind him, and he's feeling pretty good. He came home from his first day of class Monday a little overwhelmed. He said they'd covered enough material in one day that would have taken weeks to cover in under-grad. Fortunately most of it is review right now, but Brad still had to settle into a pretty rigorous study routine. We're lucky that our neighbor is Brad's study partner, so they can go in the clubhouse and study instead of back to campus. It makes it feel like he's sort of home.

Brad also found out this week who his preceptor is. (A preceptor is assigned to each first-year medical student. The student spends at least four hours a week working with the doctor in his clinic, so it gives them some really great exposure and hands-on experience early on in their education). Brad has been assigned to Dr. Pennington, an Orthopedic Surgeon (and also our stake president). He's really excited to start working with him.


Among the things Brad did this week was learn how to "scrub in" for surgery. One of his peers took these pictures. I think they're really great!

Lainy and I have been keeping busy too. We love our apartment complex because there is almost always someone outside to talk and play with. We've spent a lot of time with our neighbors the Millers (they're the other WWAMI family, Juliann and her two boys Reese and Benson). We also got together and met the other WWAMI wives, and they are really fun too.

So we're all doing great! One week down, four years (at least) to go. We're glad to be started!