Surprise!

When Sterling got home from work today, he set his lunch cooler down on the counter and told me to look inside. It seemed innocent enough, so I decided to do as he asked. 

Now, I was imaging that the two blue ice packs he uses every day had burst and that the inside of the cooler would just be a mess of blue.

If only.

I leaned in close to the cooler, popped open the lid and was met by this:

I'm proud to say that at least I didn't scream. But I yelped. Just a little. And jumped back. It was definitely not what I was expecting. Frankly, it freaked me out.

Once I'd recovered from the initial shock, I opened the lid again and peeked in. Only to see that the fish was still breathing.

That got me again. IT WAS STILL ALIVE!

I yelped again and jumped back. Thanks for the warning. Sterling laughed pretty hard both times. He says he wishes he had gotten that on video. 'Priceless' he called it. I see nothing funny here.

It was the first catfish that Sterling has ever caught. He was so proud. He let it live for a little longer (while I tried to finished eating dinner.) Then he took it outside, along with Cami and our niece, Beca, and taught them a little about anatomy. Nice, huh? At least it wasn't hands on - for the girls, that is.

I've heard that catfish is good eating, so we'll cook it up in a few days and see. Oh the joys of having a husband who likes to fish.

And terrorize his wife.

Third birthday

Yes, I know I said I was going to post yesterday, but things got busy. I don't need excuses, I'm a mother.

In June, Cami and I were able to go to Lagoon's Family Day with my brother-in-law and his wife and their little girl, Beca. We went mainly for the kids, so we didn't go on many adult rides, but we had a good time anyways.

When we first arrived, we went to Lagoon-a-Beach, but it was so cold that neither of the little girls lasted very long. So we dried off and went on rides instead.

 We took Cami and Beca on a dinosaur ride that drops you (like the Rocket, only miniature) and to a Haunted House ride, as well as on Puff the Magic Dragon roller coaster. Through every single ride, Cami maintained a very bored look on her face. On Puff she even cried because she was just so tired. Tired! Not afraid. Tired! I'm hoping she'll enjoy roller coasters when she gets bigger because Sterling and I love them.

My sister-in-law, Alisha's, sister Jamie was working there at Lagoon, so we stopped by her ride (in Kiddie Land) and rode it several times. It was this one.

I think the girls both had fun, but it was so hard to tell. I think they're still a little young to really appreciate all this. But it was fun just to watch them.

  

 In July, Cami turned three!! I echo the comments of every parent that I can't believe it's already been three years. We traveled up to Midway where my family was staying for her party and when we got there, were greeted by this.

It says 'Happy Birthday Cami'. So sweet.

My sister and her two girls had undertaken to decorate the sidewalk for her.I didn't do any sort of theme for her, apart from the princess cupcakes I bought. We also had a cake for those who don't like chocolate (shocking, I know, but there are people - weird people, I might add - in Sterling's family who just don't like chocolate).

It was fun to have both sides of the family there. The kids made a mess with their cupcakes and Cami got to open all her presents. We got some great gifts from everyone.

 

 

Happy Birthday Cami!

Hiatus

Now that a third of the year has passed without a single post from me, I feel it's finally time to start catching up on what has happened in our lives this past, eventful summer. If all goes according to plan, I should be doing one post a day for the next week or so. That's if my kids will let me be on the computer for that long.

First things first, we have some big news in our family that most of you likely already know about. 

WE'RE MOVING TO NEW YORK!

Sterling applied and was accepted to Albany Medical College's Physician Assistant Program. Classes start in January, so we plan to move out there within the next few months (second week of November or so). For any of you who don't know what a Physician Assistant is, go here. This particular program goes for 28 months, so Sterling will graduate in April 2014. When he's finished, we are (tentatively) planning on moving back out west to be closer to family, unless we happen to love New York.

When Sterling first started applying, he talked to a PA who told him that on average, if you apply to 10 schools, you'll get interviews to 5 and you'll get accepted into 2 or 3. Sterling applied to 8 schools and so far has gotten interviews to 7. (We still haven't heard from Duke.) I guess that PA didn't realize how smart Sterling is. He only went to the interview in Albany and because he was accepted, that's where we're going. I wanted to go to a school in Arizona, but it doesn't start until next June, and the interview wasn't until January anyways. 

C'est la vie.

It's very strange to be in this situation. For the past two years we've constantly thought we'd be moving. First for the Marines, then to a house, then down to Price, then Marines again. Now it's not just a 'if' we move, it's finally a 'when'. We're going to start packing up in the next month or so and my parents bought us a trailer that we're going to pack our whole life away in and drive across country to New York. It's roughly 2000 miles. We plan to make a few tourist stops on the way, so if any of you have any recommendations of where we should go, please pass it along. We're excited.

So that's it for today, but since this post is nothing but talk, I'll add a few pictures on here of, who else, my kids.

 

 

 

And That's All Folks!

Tune in tomorrow for 'Lagoon and Cami's Third Birthday'!

5 Years

I was talking to my mom awhile ago and she noted that I hadn't updated my blog recently and I told her that was because nothing was happening. She said that was the best time to update the blog. Just post anything. So, I thought I would update weeks ago with the 'anything' she talked about, but then holidays came along. So, now I actually have something to post about, right? Well, sorta.

First, holidays.

1) Birthday. My other brother that is at BYU had his birthday and we had a party for him on my other brother's birthday (the one who is on his mission). Cami had fun playing with her uncles while they were over.

If you can't hear in this one, Cami is saying 'wake up' and 'ni-night'. We play this game with her frequently.

2) Easter. We didn't do anything for Easter. I mean nothing. Nada. Zip. We didn't even take Cami to a park to hunt for Easter eggs. We will next year, I promise, she's still just a little young. Oh wait, we had my brother over for dinner. That's right. We did do something. Sorta. We're kind of a boring family when it comes to holidays.

3) Mother's Day. I got flowers for Mother's Day and a hug from Cami (that I had to ask for). Sterling told her repeatedly all day long to go give me a hug and kiss and she would just stare blankly at me and him. Guess she either just doesn't understand or just doesn't like to give hugs. Sad.

4) Anniversary. Yesterday was our fifth anniversary. We've been married Five Whole Years! Wow. We're so blessed to have family close by (grandma and Uncle Ryan) who are willing to watch our kids for us while we spend time together kid-free. It was nice not to worry for a little while. At dinner, Sterling asked me what my favorite part was about the last five years. I have to say it was spending time with him and getting to fall in love with him over and over again each year. Sterling, I love you so much.

Our wedding day. Five years ago yesterday.

 Our first anniversary. At Chef's Table.

 

Our second anniversary. I think we were at Red Lobster.

About the time of our third anniversary. I apologize to those who don't like beards (mom and Gigi), this was the only picture I had from around that time.

Near our fourth anniversary. Yes, I know you've seen this picture before.

Looking through pictures just now of trying to find ones of us together for this year, our fabulous fifth anniversary, I realized that we have NONE of us together at all this year. So I took my phone camera outside and got a few. This is what we both look like at this very moment.

This was the first try. I took it and then asked why Sterling was scowling. Also, my self portrait skills with a camera could be better.

 

 The next time, Sterling made this face. Isn't he helpful.

 

Finally, we got a winner, more or less. I don't think I look great with no make-up on, but c'est la vie.

 

As for the 'nothing' news. I really enjoy taking pictures of my children when they're sleeping. Mainly because they fall asleep in some of the strangest positions. You'd think that it would be uncomfortable. Maybe it's just that they're so tired because they stay up and play in their room until 10 at night. (We put them to bed at 7:30.)

The other day I let Austin play in his and Cami's room alone. Awhile later I went in there to discover this. He'd climbed up on Cami's bed and fallen asleep on her pillow. Guess he was tired.

 

 

Later he moved himself to this position.

 I had a movie on for Cami awhile back and when I went downstairs to check on her, she'd fallen asleep folded in half. Doesn't look comfortable to me.

This last one, I took just today. Again, Austin playing in their room. He's very much a tummy sleeper and likes having something balled up underneath him. Usually it's his blanket in his bed. Today, it was a giant teddy bear.

The rest are pictures of them just being them.

Cami in Daddy's boots.

 Cami and her cousin Beca.

 Cami's blanket-pirate look.

Yum. Lunch.

 Just relaxing.

Here's a video of Austin playing fetch with Sterling. He was doing it with Cami earlier today and played with me last Sunday. So much fun.

This is Cami and Austin dancing. Whenever we turn music on, they both just go crazy.

This one is long, but I LOVED Cami's hip action during the first couple seconds. Worth looking at.