Merry Christmas!

We had a wonderful day. It all started too early (just before 6am), but other than that it was great. We honestly thought that our kids were too tired and young and to wake themselves up early on Christmas morning. I guess the days of sleeping until a normal time (7-7:30) are over. It hasn't happened in the past, but this year, they sure popped awake bright and early.
After a morning full of present opening and playing, we had a very nice sacrament meeting in church. The Spanish branch (which we attend) and the singles' branch (of which my dad is the branch president and my brother and sister attend) were all combined with one of the wards (my mom's), so for once we were all together at church. My dad spoke and my mom sang in the choir. They each did awesome.
We returned home and cooked a little, played and read some more, ate a lot, and the kids were passed out in bed a little after 8pm. I hope that you all had a wonderful and merry Christmas too!

The Cutest Kids

We had a fantastic Thanksgiving on Saturday, November 26th because Dan worked on Thursday and Friday. The group was: us, my parents, my sister, my older brother and his family, and my cousin Matthew and his family. It was perfect! It was the first time that I can remember needing two tables for a meal at my parents' house. (I did not grow up living near any extended family.) I'll add more pictures later, but I wanted to quickly post a few of some seriously cute kiddos.

Elena and the three 2 year olds. It took some work, but at least we can see all their faces in this picture with Frosty at Busch Garden's Christmastown.

Back row: Claire and Carolyn (my cousin's daughters).

Front row: Ari (my brother's oldest) and Kevin and Elena

Keira

This was so funny. For a solid 5 minutes, these sweeties dumped armfuls of leaves on me. Each time, Carolyn (on the left) would take the time to brush every leaf off my lap before she went back for more.
Awwwww! I love these guys!
What a funny dad/uncle!

Our Little Vacation

I have to say that for a family that doesn't get out much, we've had a pretty great 6 months. Graduating medical school and moving on to residency has been the best! We truly miss NC, the friends that we have there, and our home, but we love Dan's job. Have I mentioned that before? :) The hours are demanding and we don't see him much, but that would be true at any residency program anywhere. They need to work so much in order a lot of experience in only a few years.

We really like the program director and everyone in the office. Awesome people. There are more than 60 pediatric residents in the program, and they are all super warm and friendly people. So, you can understand why I was looking forward to getting to spend time with this group. One weekend a year, the attendings completely take over the hospital (so cool of them) and ALL of the residents and their families come to a (free) retreat.
I'm not lame enough to post a lot of pictures of the suite, but I am not too cool to put up one of the kitchen. It was stocked with (not food) pots and pans, dishes, silverware, etc. We were lucky that there was a washer/dryer in the suite too because we actually ended up needing it! The office sent over a complimentary mini box of detergent and we were all set.
There was a residents only scavenger hunt Saturday morning and a meeting Sunday morning for them, but other than that the whole weekend was very family oriented. We bowled, relaxed, swam, ate amazing food, went to a park, and danced.
The kids loved the shuttle that we took from our room to the main building where the pool and the meals were. We had to take a picture of them on it. It's not exciting for you guys, but it'll bring back good memories of being in a vehicle with no car seats for them.
The bed was super comfortable. I didn't want to leave it behind! Here is a picture of Elena watching a movie during Kevin's nap on Saturday. She's such a good little mommy to her baby dolls.
The next bunch of pictures were taken at the dinner/dance. Our table was close to the hallway, so the kids spent some time out there running around and playing with some other kids. They also really enjoyed dancing and the food was so good! The theme was The Roaring 20's, so the kids enjoyed wearing the pearl necklaces that were part of the centerpieces.
We took a walk Sunday morning around a couple of the holes at the golf course and I had the kids pose for some pictures with some friends (the children of another resident).

It was fabulous weekend and we look forward to going back next year.

Why I Love My Husband: Reason #312

At Dan's work retreat (I will put up a super long post about that later), he and all of the other residents had to go on a photo scavenger hunt. When he got back, there were lots of photos like these on the camera. :)

Fire Station Field trip

Earlier in the month, we took a field trip with Elena's preschool and some friends to the fire station in my parents' neighborhood. I was really excited about this trip for a couple of reasons:
We took a field trip to this same fire station when I was in kindergarten, so I thought it would be cool for Elena to have the same foggy memories as me 25 years from now. Also, since I couldn't remember very much from my first fire station visit, I was honestly interested to see what it was like. They gave us a tour of the living quarters, gym, office, etc and then we went downstairs to the garage and they showed the kids all the features of the truck. The firefighters were so great to take the time to answer all the kids' (and moms') questions and to give some safety tips too.

This was, of course, all of the kids' favorite part. Apparently this is the only station in the city with a pole because almost all of the other ones are only one story.

Trick or Treat

Let me just jump right into things since this will be long.
On Friday, My mom and I took the kids to Busch Gardens. It was the last weekend for Howl-O-Scream. I found out at soccer practice Thursday that two of the kids on the team were also going to Howl-O-Scream on Friday, so we met them there and had a great time!

Mia and Elena:

Mia, Drew (Mia's brother), Matthew (also on Elena's team), Elena, and Kevin:

Kevin was a little scared of the count and wouldn't get in the picture:

Elena's first roller coaster. She was so brave (and so was Granny)! We have the most hilarious mid-ride pic. We actually bought it from BG because it was too awesome to pass up. I'll have to scan it in later. Elena said that she'll go again when she's 5.

We had a great, laid back day. It was cold and drizzled at times, but we enjoyed lots of shows and a few kiddie rides. We left just in time for Kevin to have a late nap on the ride home.

Saturday, Dan actually had the day off and we went to a Halloween party in the afternoon. It was very fun, with wonderful company and great food.

The whole family: Isn't my husband fun?! :) (Side note: He's in a tie because he had a church meeting right after the party). Elena is a fairy princess and Kevin is Super Why (from the show on PBS with the same name). I was so excited about my inexpensive costume (a 25 cent hat) because I was going to go crazy with my makeup and do lots of shades of green all around my eyes. Then I remembered that nearly all of my makeup is in storage, so I did a much more reserved version of witch makeup.

Some kids enjoying the dry ice:

Freeze dance:

Elena the mummy:

Sunday was Sunday. :) We relaxed in the morning, had church in the afternoon and Dan had work. The kids (with help) had carved pumpkins at the party on Saturday and I carved the big one Sunday night.

Elena's pumpkin on the left, Kevin's is on the right:

My blurry pumpkin pic:
Monday, we went trick or treating around the block. We skipped the trunk-or-treat at church because it was also on Monday night. The city only allows trick or treating from 6-8 and the trunk or treat was at 6:30, so I was worried that we wouldn't have time for both. I was sad not to see everyone in their costumes, but I am a huge sucker for tradition and nostalgia. There is just something that I really like about neighbors united by a holiday: Opening their doors and giving out treats to cute little kids.
The first house that we went to was Aunt Bethany's:

Right before this we visited a friend of the family at an assisted living center, so that was their first official spot, but I didn't get a picture there. It was so sweet! On our way out we passed a room where several of the residents were sitting and hanging out, and they called the kids over to give them mints and sugar-free candies that they happened to have in their purses.

Here they are with their treats at the end of the night:

We had a great time and got back to the house just a few minutes before Dan got home from work. Dan dressed up as Dr. Frank N. Stein. I know that if you want to get picky, it's actually Dr. Frankenstein's monster, but that is much harder to fit on a custom-made hospital name badge. Oh, yes, he did. If you look closely you can see his handiwork. Dan said that about 1/2 of the staff (and kids) were in costumes and that it was a really fun day. The pediatric program director actually filled the hallways with those giant blow-up decorations that people put in their yards. We love his job and the people there too.
Bonus pictures:

The kids in their Halloween pajamas. Since Elena was a pirate, she wanted boots and Kevin wants whatever Elena has.

And here is Granny as a witch: