Catch Up

Before Ella and I headed to Florida and the Domincan Republic we spent an afternoon at the Farmer's Market downtown. Ella had fun waving to the doggies and smelling the flowers.









Then we went to Quest to say high to Uncle Mike



I'll post more about our trips soon...

Dad's Latest Adventures

I figured Father's Day would be an appropriate time to give a summary of Brad's week. Last weekend he went dirt biking with a friend and ended up spraining his ankle. By Sunday morning he couldn't walk on it so we found a friend who had some crutches he could borrow for a couple days until he could walk on it again. He still limps a little but it's much better. Then on Wed he came home from work feeling sick, went straight to bed and I didn't see him again until morning. Then on Friday he was in the garage working on a new rack for his dirt bike which involved grinding metal. I was upstairs when he walked in with this annoyed look on his face and said he had a piece of metal in his eye. He was even wearing his goggles (I saw them on before I went upstairs). He tried some more to get it out in the mirror and then I called the nurse hot line who said to hang up and call 911 right away. Ella was asleep and Brad didn't want me to wake her up so he insisted on driving himself to the ER. Thankfully he made it there and back safe and sound and they were able to get the piece out of his eye. He was fine as soon as he got home, I am so thankful to God for preserving his eye!

Anyway, on Friday he also went for a ride with our neighbor in his plane. He snapped some nice pictures.





Here's a picture from his trip to Seattle over Memorial Day

Home Sweet Home

It's been so good to be home for a while! The weather is finally nice and I remember why I live here. Brad spent Memorial Day in Seattle camping with his friend Chris and Ella and I hung out and did nothing!

I've gotten my camera out and tried taking some pictures. These were about a month ago.



And these I took last weekend. I like this picture because it's her "uhh ohh" face



Ohh yeah, did I mention Ella is walking? She figured it out a couple weeks ago and has finally left crawling behind. Just in time for summer. She's still not much of a risk taker. She stops at cracks in the sidewalk and asks for "help" to get over them. She didn't get that from her dad who sprained his ankle riding his dirt bike this weekend.



She can even drink and walk now.

Ethan's Graduation

My next to youngest brother Ethan graduated from high school a couple weeks ago and Ella and I went to Texas for the ceremony. It was a quick trip but so much fun to see family and help Ethan celebrate. This year represents my mom's 25th anniversary of homeschooling. 5 down and 1 to go!




Ella passed out on my mom during the ceremony


Ella had fun playing with her cousins who were visiting from the Domincan Republic. Here's my brother Isaac and Adeline racing down the driveway



My mom and Ella



We also made a trip down to Huntsville, Tx to see my brother Caleb. It was so nice to be able to see him and give him a hug! My other brother, Clayton is in North Carolina so I didn't get to see him but I snapped this picture of Caleb and Clayton's hats hanging at my parent's house. It reminds me of them.

Happy Belated Birthday

To my favorite husband Brad. I meant to write this before I left for Texas so I could post it on his birthday, which was Monday. Anyway, better late than never right?

Brad has been a busy guy since we moved to Idaho. I'm so proud of all the things he's accomplished. Not only has he gotten his DER (Designated Engineering Representative for the FAA), his PE (Professional Engineer) license, Airframe licence and managed to take several difficult classes, he's also been pretty constructive around the house:

A couple months ago he took the shed in the back yard and turned it into an office/extra room



Then he created this nice implement of obstruction for Ella (which she can now climb over)


Then he built us these nice bookshelves


An with all that to do he's also figured out how to be a pretty awesome dad and great husband. I guess I can put up with him another year.

I'm Free!!

I took my last actuarial exam on Friday. It was a long miserable process, but it's over now. If I passed it will only be because all my family and friends were so kind and let me ignore them for a couple months and took care of everything for me. I won't find out the results until July, but either way I'm never taking it again. I figure if I announce that for all the world to read it will prevent me from even considering it again in the event I don't pass.

So, what to do with all my free time?? I don't know, maybe hang out with Ella and Brad, read, do a Bible study, cook, take pictures, hang out with friends again, go hiking, mountain biking, finish a quilt, catch up on organizing pictures, etc.. Even cleaning the cars sounds fun.

I've started making my own yogurt. My mom had a yogurt maker from 1975 which she gave to me and I can't believe how easy it is to make. All you have to do is boil some milk, whisk 1 Tablespoon of yogurt in and poor it into the yogurt maker. 10 hours later you have 4 cups of delicious yogurt. I mix it with cottage cheese, fruit and nuts with a little jam or honey and that's my breakfast almost every morning.

On to the pictures. We had a fun time at Claire's wedding in California. It was a beautiful wedding and we all had a blast! I didn't get any pictures at the wedding, but here's one of Claire and her husband, Ian.


Here's Ella at the same spot


The night before the wedding, Ella and I walked down to the beach and she went on her first swing. She couldn't stop laughing!


She also loved eating the sand and putting rocks in her mouth.


After L.A., we spent a week in Phoenix and then the weekend in Tucson where we got to see Aunt Sarah's piano Ensemble.

Traveling and Easter

We had a nice, laid back Easter at the house. Ella enjoyed her first Easter basket although the "grass" annoyed her. She's still very comfortable crawling around with no interest in walking (except on her knees which must be less scary than the 4 inches higher she would be on her feet).



This bracelet was my mom's when she was a baby in Egypt!


Her hair is long enough for pigtails now.


Brad was nice enough to watch Ella and let me go to LA for the weekend before Easter to Claire's Bachelorette party. We had a great time and it was so nice flying all by myself! I missed them though and was happy to be back.

Ella was invited to Sarah's birthday party last month and had a great time on her first slide.


Now that the weather is not freezing (I was going to say warmer, but thought that didn't adequately describe it), we have tried to start doing a little hiking. This was taken on Goldhill.


Finally, my mom, Ella and I spent a week in Chicago for a seminar I had. We were able to see my friend Rachel and her family while we were there which was a lot of fun.






Whew, I think that gets us pretty much caught up. This week we head to LA again for the wedding and then to Phoenix for a week for work.