The Fenwicks: Happenings

Well, 3 weeks out and I'm still pregnant. But I figured that since this boy still hasn't come, that gives me time to update our blog. Ok, so I'm not really doing this of my own accord. Once again family is pestering me for pictures.

So, to start off, this was Sunday. 37 weeks and 2 days. I feel huge and am SO ready for this kid to come. Unfortunately, with Sterling starting classes again this week, this would be the worst possible week for him to make an appearance. My mom gets into town next Monday, so hopefully he'll wait at least until then. We're really hoping for Memorial Day weekend (which is when I would have an induction scheduled anyways) because then Sterling would have a three day weekend to be with me. But we'll see what happens.

Speaking of Sterling, his first term of PA school is over and done with and, of course, he got great grades (As and two A-s). He started again yesterday and so far it seems like it should be alright. Busier than last term, but okay just the same. So far there's not too much busy work, just reading in his monstrous books.

In other news, Austin turned two! It's been fun to listen to him start speaking a little bit more. He'll mimic several animal sounds and says 'mama', 'dad', 'come' and things like that. Cami was a late talker too, so I'm still not worried. Here's a few pictures of his birthday. We had Grandma and Aunt Ruth on skype so they could enjoy the party as well.

A few weeks later my mother-in-law, Joyce, came into town from Utah to visit us. It was great having her here. She really seemed to enjoy spending time with two of her grandkids. She was here for General Conference and Sterling's birthday. She stayed for two weeks and it still didn't feel long enough. Thankfully, she's coming back in August or September.

My husband is now 28! Only two more years til he hits the big 3-0. And right after that, he'll be graduating from PA school and entering the real world. What an exciting time! Here's a few pictures of his party. He got two cakes this year because I wanted a fruit pizza and he wanted a chocolate cake, so I made both.

The following day, Joyce and I had the opportunity to take the kids to an Easter Egg Hunt. A lady in our church puts one on every year for all the kids in our church group and other people she knows, perhaps from work, but I'm not sure. Anyways, there were perhaps 40 kids there, and 10-15 teens and another 20 adults or so. All of us were allowed to hunt for eggs. They were scattered across the grass in her front yard and in her neighbors front yard, all over her back yard, and in a little forested area next to her house. Quite the extensive operation. Don't know how or why she does it, but the kids had a blast. I felt bad because they easily picked up more than their (and my) share of eggs, but they had so much fun. Both Austin and Cami just walked around and picked up everything they saw and stuck it in their little basket.

The lady also had some of her neighbors bring food and they had a full breakfast buffet going as well as cookies to decorate, fruit, muffins, and more. It was fabulous!

Every year in Albany they have the Tulip Festival in Washington Park, which is just a block away from where we live. Everyone we've talked to since we arrived here has told us that we need to attend. Usually the tulips bloom just in time for the Festival in May, however, this year, it's been warmer than usual and the tulips bloomed almost a month early. We stopped by the park to see them all before they were gone. When we went to the Tulip Festival this last weekend there were only one or two patches of tulips left, so I'm glad we went when we did and took pictures.

This statue is in the middle of the tulip beds and the fountain goes whenever it's warm enough. We're not sure if kids and dogs are allowed to play in it, but it doesn't stop anyone. I imagine they're not supposed to, but I've never seen anyone tell them to stop. Now, if I may draw your attention to the figure at the top, we think it's Moses, and the item dangling off the end of his staff. Look closely. Yes, that's a ghost.

I took that first picture and then turned to take pictures of the tulips and when I turned around again, a strange lady (strange as in she was stranger, not that anything was weird about her) was standing by my kids, a man I didn't know was holding onto my dog and my husband was no where to be found. I panicked for half a second until I caught a flash of yellow up on the statue. The groundskeeper was an old guy and Sterling could tell that he didn't want to try to climb that statue to get the ghost down, so Sterling jumped in to save the day. My hero!

Here's a few pictures of the actual tulip festival which was much like a regular state fair in Utah, only on a much smaller scale and without the rodeo afterwards. They had pony rides for the kids and face painting and big blow-up bouncers. We're too poor for them to do much of that, but we did enjoy just walking around looking at the booths and everything. Sterling was such a trooper carrying/pushing both kids while I just walked around trying not to go into labor.

On May 1st, Sterling and I took a trip north to Glens Falls to see a Riverdance performance. It was part of his birthday present this year. He's always wanted to go - he's talked about it since I've known him - and I've never seen them, so I bought tickets. It turns out it was their farewell tour. Riverdance is completely retiring from US touring and going overseas for a little while before being done-for forever. It was a one night only performance in New York and then they have maybe three or four more stateside shows and that's it.

We weren't allowed to take pictures there, but I found a few on the internet. The first has the same female lead dancer that was at our performance, but the main lead guy is different. The one at ours was insanely tall and had hair that reminded me of Johnny Depp in Edward Sizzor Hands. I'm sure the dancer would be flattered to know I thought that about him. They had a tap-off competition between the guys in the last picture and the main guy. It was crazy and I'm very impressed. It was a great night and I'm glad we got to go.

This last Saturday, the day before Mother's Day, Sterling and I celebrated our 6th anniversary. It's crazy that it's already been six years! I doubt anyone remembers this post, but I make it a point to take pictures of us each year on or around our anniversary. Sterling was once again, very helpful this year.

We didn't get to go out to eat this year (yet - we plan to once my mom gets here), but we had a nice dinner at home, interspersed with having to check on the kids and then putting them down for bed. It was hectic, but nice enough. Then Sterling went upstairs into our attic and lit candles in a circle, recreating the night he asked me to marry him. We danced for a bit to some music, then he presented me with a beautiful diamond ring. I haven't been able to wear my wedding ring for several months because the store that we bought it from went out of business, so it has no warranty on it and the prongs are starting to wear thin, so I don't wear it because I don't want to risk losing any of the diamonds, but now I have a wonderful alternative. I couldn't be happier! I have the most wonderful husband and I look forward to another blissful six years of marriage. (And many more after that, I hope.)

On Mother's Day, we were able to get online with my whole family and talk to Ryan, who's on his mission in Chile. We all got to talk to him at Christmas while we were all at my grandma's house in Colorado, so it was fun to do it again. We weren't able to do video this time, but it was nice nonetheless. This was last Christmas.

I just have to say that the internet is amazing. Between the six of us we were in New York, Chile, Hungary, Alaska, Utah, and Missouri (in order from left to right). It's amazing that we can all get on wherever we are and be able to talk to one another. What would we do without modern marvels?!