The past 5 months

(pic courtesy of my orphaned child, Addi)

Sadly, this picture sums up the last 5 months perfectly.

For those of you who still read blogs and don't have a Facebook account (no one), I am PREGNANT. And it has SUCKED. Like, really really bad. I didn't enjoy my other pregnancies and always proclaimed that I have the WORST pregnancies ever, but I'm here to tell you that I had no idea what I was talking about until this one! Now I can truly and honestly say that me and pregnancy DO NOT mix. It's awful! 

February 17th was the day I saw two pink lines on the pee-stick and I was OVERWHELMED with joy and gratitude. Dave and I were so excited to be adding a new little human to our family. 

I had dinner plans that night with a group of gals to celebrate some birthdays and, being the open book that I am, told 2 of my friends that I was expecting. I also told them that we'd have to live it up the next month because then my life would be over. 

My life ended much sooner than anticipated. Within a week I felt like I was at death's door. And I was only 4 weeks! What the heck?!

It is now July and I am feeling much MUCH better (even though I have a whole other list of super appealing pregnancy "symptoms"), so now I am playing catch-up. 

My parents and Jess were in town 2 weeks ago for Tolman's baptism (more on that later) and one night my kids pulled out our published blog books. We looked at them forever and had such a great time taking a trip down memory lane. That night I was inspired to start blogging again. I LOVE my blog books and so do my kids and Dave, surprisingly. It's our only family scrapbook/journal. So what wasn't even on the original list of "things to catch up on after I'm over the 'feeling like I'm dying garbage' phase," is now at the top of my list. All the other things will have to wait while I blog.

With that said, the next bunch of posts are going to be a hodge-podge mix of... something. It could be interesting as I don't really have much of a memory these days- and I have to remember back to the beginning of the year (cause that's where I left off). Pressure.

And for the record, we really are all SO SUPER EXCITED for this little one to be joining our family in October. 

And IT'S A BOY!

On the road again...

The time too quickly came for us to say Goodbye to Sunny AZ. As sad as we were to leave the warm weather, we were super EXCITED to be able to visit UT on our way back to MN!

However, we got off to a SsssssssssLLLOOOWWWWWW start. We hit some serious traffic! It turned out that there was a major car accident. BUMMER! What was also a major bummer (and I really do feel bad for feeling that way) is that OUR CAR was the one that was stopped for life-flight to land. We had front row seats to all the action. We also had to sit there for over an hour. After hearing details of the accident from the officers (it was a motorcycle accident and it seemed the guy had sustained pretty severe neck and head injuries), Dave got out and talked to the paramedics wondering if they needed help securing the patient's airway. Being in Anesthesia, that is one of Dave's main responsibilities in the hospital. Of course he has to intubate his own patients in the OR, but if there is ever a time where an airway can't be secured anywhere in the hospital then an Anesthesiologist is called. Supposedly it can be super tricky. They didn't need Dave; the patient was breathing just fine. But it was pretty cool knowing that Dave had the training necessary to possibly save a life out there.

The helicopter was finally off after loading in the guy... 

and a few minutes later so were we!

On the road AGAIN...

 That long in the car made for some serious BED HEAD for Addi. Such a great look for her!

The kids were amazing troopers during the car ride. They were happy, got along and were pretty good at entertaining themselves. Dave loves road trips. He loves to explore different places and take in all the scenery and different cities and cultures. I, on the other hand, am NOT a fan. I'd much much MUCH rather fly. With that said, I was so proud of my little darlings. They might just be talking after their father in the road-trippin' department. But I have to say that this trip wasn't bad- even for me.

CHRISTMAS!

 What we left for Santa...

Tolman's Christmas List 

*Cars 2*matchbox cars*motor scooter*dippin' dots machine* F150*

Questions for Santa

"Santa what is your favorite part of Christmas?

Santa please tell Nunu if he could come visit us?"

He came!!

What Santa left for us:

 Santa left a note and answered our questions!

 He filled our stockings!

Presents galore!

Addison's favorite present was her EASY BAKE OVEN

Tolman's favorite present was his SPARKING MOTOR SCOOTER

 

I think Santa wanted the suspense to build for Tol because his scooter was in the bathroom! After all the presents under the tree had been opened, I needed some lotion so I asked Tol if he'd grab me some. Lo and behold, there it was. Tol originally thought he got jipped, but was still super grateful and a good sport, but was SO HAPPY to see his scooter waiting for him!  

And don't Addi's EASY BAKE OVEN cupcakes look so appetizing?! Addi made them pretty much all by herself and was so proud of her quarter-sized treats. 

 

After opening presents and eating breakfast we got ready and headed to church. Sacrament was the only meeting held because of the holiday and it was one of the best meetings I've been to. ever. It was so nice to have church on Sunday and really be able to focus on the REAL meaning of Christmas and worship our Savior in a formal way.

This Christmas was one of the VERY best I can remember. Even though it would have been nice to have extended family to spend it with, it was super nice to be with just our little family. It was simple and perfect.

Arizona

One of the major perks of doing residency at The Mayo Clinic is the AWAY ROTATIONS.

Basically, the resident goes to The Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale AZ, Jacksonville FL, or one of it's few sister-hospitals and does a rotation (or two). The kicker is that it's all on Mayo's dime; they pay for travel, housing and a rental car. You actually end up making money in the end. It's an all-around WIN-WIN!

 So anyway, we took advantage of this and Dave did a rotation in Scottsdale during the entire month of December. He ended up driving out there by himself and was able to spend some time with his sister and her family who live in Texas on his way.

 The kids and I flew out and met Dave out in AZ a couple weeks later.

Our time in Arizona was short, but AWESOME! It was so nice to get out of the cold and go somewhere WARM! I mean, swimming outside during the month of December?! It was so great!

The pool & hot tub at the apartment complex we stayed at was so nice! The temps were only in the high 60's so we pretty much had the pool all to ourselves. The locals thought we were crazy swimming when it was so cold, but for us it felt so nice and warm :)

We went hiking on the North Trail on one of Dave's days off. 

Here's Addi {and part of Tol} ready to go into church. This is the birthday outfit that Grammy Shar sent.

The first week we were there, a speaker in Sacrament Meeting was a wife of a newly hired anesthesiologist at one of the practices in the area {which happens to be the 4th largest anesthesia practice in the nation}. We tried to catch up with her husband after the meeting, but weren't able to. So the next week {which happened to be Christmas Day} we tracked him down. He was super nice and ended up taking Dave around a few days later and introduced him to some of the head-honchos in the practice.

It's pretty ironic that I really discouraged Dave from interviewing at Mayo Scottsdale for residency {so he didn't}. I'm NOT a fan of the heat and thinking of living there for 3 or 4 years seemed unbearable. But while we were there I was excited about the prospect of Dave getting a job and living there long-term. Let me just throw in that this whole finding a job thing is STRESSFUL!

MINIATURE GOLFING

Addi was quite the pro for her first {real} time. She got a hole-in-one and came pretty close, as you can see by the picture, to getting another one.

The CHILDREN'S MUSEUM of PHOENIX

The kids and I had a great day at the museum. I decided to go on the day we did because the crew from the Broadway musical 'STOMP' was there to perform and I thought the kids would be totally into it. I was wrong. They got bored but I loved it!

Christmas Tree shopping. It felt a little weird to be buying a Christmas Tree when it was so nice and warm outside.

The ornaments that the kids picked out at Target to put on the tree :) 

We went to see the Christmas lights at the Mesa temple. 

My cousin Michael and his cute family live in the area so we met up with them for dinner one night {no pics} and the moms and kids went to the zoo together a few days later. The kids LOVED the zoo!

CANNONS & NIEDERHOUSERS

A couple other families from Rochester were also in Scottsdale doing away rotations. We all went out one night to the Railroad Park where they had quite the Christmas celebration. We went on a carousel, drank hot chocolate, played on a playground and went on a train ride through a CHRISTMAS WONDERLAND.

Like I said, we were there for Christmas but I'll save that for a separate post. We LOVED our time in Arizona! It was so much fun to get away for a few weeks and have ZERO responsibility outside of family. We get to do another away rotation next year and WE CAN'T WAIT!

Back to Attack... with a BIRTHDAY!

Miss Addison's BIRTHDAY was clear back in December and I'm just getting around to blogging it. That's how I roll lately. And I'm going to make it all better in my mind by saying, "better late than never."

Addison's actual BIRTHDAY was packed full of fun and catered just to her. That morning she woke up to her presents {which wasn't a huge surprise because her main gift was her AG doll, that she already got}. She also got a "hair chair" for her doll that she is completely in love with.



 

After presents we had a birthday breakfast of glazed donuts- her favorite!


Then is was time to get ready and off to school we went. It also happened to be Addi's "special day" at school {which meant she got to be the 'star helper'} so I was able to go along and help celebrate. We played, sang songs, showed a poster we put together with pics of Addi and made a Christmas tree craft. It was such a fun day at preschool for both of us!
And I have to say I have LOVED the school Addi is attending! Thanks Andrea for converting me ;)

After school we were off to CARROLL'S CUP! What would a celebration be without the one-and-only?

Oh man, this part was THE WORST! Addison has wanted to get her ears' pierced for some time now. What seems like forever ago, we decided that her 5th birthday would be a great time for the big event. I told her it would hurt and had been gearing her up for it for months! She still wasn't prepared. She picked out her earrings {which unbeknown to me were the very most expensive ones, of course} then hopped into the chair and that's when the nerves kicked in. She got super scared but still wanted to go through with it. I was hoping they could do both ears at once but since there was only one girl working, she had to do one ear at a time. TORTURE! Addi started bawling after the first ear but was brave enough to do it again to the other ear. It took a few hours to recuperate. Poor thing! After all was said and done she said, "I would NEVER do that again but I'm sooooo glad I did it!"
Addi has loved having her ears pierced so it's all been worth it.

That night the Wooten's came over and we had cake and ice cream.

You think she's excited?!

See, she recovered from the earring drama.

 

It was the perfect day and I am the luckiest mom to have spent the ALL OF IT with the birthday girl!

 

HAPPY 5th BIRTHDAY, ADDI!

Random Addi

after reading scriptures "I love Jesus. He is one of my favorite characters in heaven."

P P P P Pink Pajama & Pancake Party

For Addison's 5th Birthday we had a 

PINK PAJAMA & PANCAKE PARTY!! 

the invite...

  the set-up...

and finally, the PARTY!!!

We invited Addi's closest friends and ate Pancakes, Painted Pillowcases, Played 'Hot-Pillow,' 
and opened Presents.
All the friends got to take home a Pink Polish, a Pink Pop (sucker) & their Painted Pillowcase. 
It was the PPPERFECT PARTY and Addi definitely got sPoiled!

GIANT Gingerbread

The kids LOVED this GIANT life-sized gingerbread house that was in the lobby of a local hotel during Christmas. I loved it because Carroll's Cup is in the subway level of this hotel. Let's just say we were there A LOT ;)

American Girls!

 Welcome our newest member of the family, Kit!

Some of my very best friends and I took our 3 little birthday girls to the one and only (okay, not the only) AMERICAN GIRL DOLL STORE in Mall of America to buy each of them their very first American Doll! I don't know who was more excited, the girls or the moms.

We ditched school and every other responsibility for the most amazing day EVER!

We spent lots and lots of time picking out the perfect doll then had a BIRTHDAY BRUNCH in the American Girl Bistro.

The girls and their new dolls all got the most adorable birthday hats...

and after lunch we got our very own birthday cake. Isn't it cute?

 

The happy moms! I LOVE these girls!

And here are the very happy girls with their dolls!

This was the BEST day and the BEST way to start Addi's week of Birthday Celebrations!

He's Back!

Our Christmas Elf, NUNU, came back this year!

This is one of our FAVORITE TRADITIONS of Christmas. 

We LOVE Nunu!