Catch Up

I've been meaning to get around to an update, but haven't been able to until today. First of all, we're back in Arizona until April. We found a house in Goodyear and are super close to my parents, which will be great when I go into labor. (we can just drive 2 minutes and drop Zane off)

At the beginning of November we went to Orlando, FL for the interim AMA meeting. We had a lot of fun. Kendall finally talked me into taking Zane to Disney World on the 4th day we were there. He happened to have a whole afternoon free so we bit the bullet. I wasn't too keen on going, but once we got there I was so happy we did. Disney is such a different experience when you have a 3 year old with you. I was about 12 the first time I went to Disneyland and although it was great, it had lost some of the magic by then. Zane was in heaven. It was so fun to watch his face as we went through all the rides. He hated the one roller-coaster Kendall took him on. It was the first ride he rode and it was a Goofy coaster, but he got off and said, "Mama, I am NOT doing that again!" He liked the rest of everything though. He got to "drive" the Indy cars all by himself, twice. This is the highlight of his existence I think. He kept asking to go again and again and now that we're back in AZ he asks to find some race cars for him to drive about once a week. The best part was watching him meet Mickey and Minnie. He was so excited and when it was finally his turn he just walked up and hugged Minnie. He was really shy, but he couldn't wipe the huge grin off his face. They asked him to make a silly face for a picture, and Zane, the kid who won't take a normal picture, very slightly stuck his tongue out. That's it! It's a Small World was a totally different experience. It's always been the ride that you have to go on because it's tradition but its really kinda creepy and boring. Not anymore, we got the most reaction out of Zane on It's a Small World. He kept grabbing our faces and turning them this way and that to show us everything. He was all smiles. We're really glad we went. Zane got a big Pooh Bear that he sleeps with now as a souvenir.

Other than that, Orlando was just Zane and I sitting around the pool waiting for Kendall to get a break. It was a lot of fun to see all our friends, and Zane was really excited to get to hang out with Steve and Alisa after 2 whole weeks of missing them. When we got back home, he thought it was time to move again and suggested we move in with some other friends who live in Chicago. Poor kid, he still asks us every once in a while if we're going to get to stay in our house for a "long time."

Kendall's been busy interviewing for residency. He's been gone all week and gets back on Saturday, he'll be back for 2 days and leave again. We have a busy month. He's also taking Step 2 of the US Medical Licensing Exam on the 30th so he gets to hit the books and never look up for a few weeks. Everything's going to be super busy until March then things will calm down until the baby's born and then we'll be looking for houses where-ever we match for residency. Okay now I'm freaking out a little, I need to just think about getting through today. :)

I almost forgot. While we were in Portland we were able to go out to Cannon Beach aka Goonies pirate ship sailing scene. Yeah, super cool. We also went up to Mt. Hood and had a snowball fight with Zane and built a snowman. Zane has surprisingly good aim and nailed me many many times. We had a blast. We were able to go to Sauvie Island and pick pumpkins for Halloween, and Kendall and Zane each carved a jack-o-lantern. Ahhh. The good times. I really hope we match in Portland. It really is the land of wonderfulness. :)

New Car

We were driving the other day and Zane pipes up, "I think we need to get a new car." (I completely agree.) Keep in mind, it's a really sunny day in AZ. We asked why and he said, "I think we need a new car without a windshield." Kendall and I smiled at eachother and asked why. "Because then we won't have to try so hard to wipe all the rain off." Okay, makes sense to a 3 year old right? So I said, "But if we don't have a windshield we'll all get wet." Giggling, Zane replies, "I won't get wet, just you guys will." HAHAHA He's so my kid.

Fun in Portland

We love Portland more and more every day. It's so beautiful we just can't get over it. We took a little trip on Kendall's day off and went to Multnomah Falls. We had a lot of fun. We took the "sceanic highway" and stopped and took a lot of pictures. We had a great fun day together as a family, which seem fewer and farther in between lately. We're hoping to do some more site seeing at the end of the rotation. We decided to stay a few extra days so we could have some Portland fun. I added a Portland slideshow to check out.

It's a Jungle out there

The condo we live in backs up to a hill and the stairs to get to the front door wind around the back of the building.  The other day we were walking up the stairs and zane said, "I want to go for a walk in the jungle!"  I asked what jungle and he responded, "the one right there!"  Oh...my kid has never seen woods....he thinks its a jungle.  Funny, but sad.  So I told him that it wasn't a jungle that it's woods.  The next day we were driving somewhere and zane excitedly said, "I want to go on a walk through that jungle and find all the monkeys."  Kendall and I laughed and told him there weren't any monkeys in Portland to which zane asked what kind of animals lived in there.  I told him probably some bears and maybe some wolves.  The disappointment was evident, "why do only scary animals live in  there mama?"  Seriously, what do you say to that?  The quick and easy answer, "that's where Jesus wanted them to live", which is always followed by the infamous why?, or the long drawn out explanation of the climate and why certain animals live in certain places, which is again, always followed by why?  

I'll post some pics soon.  I need to take some first, I'm not really sure where the camera is, although I do know it needs batteries.  I'll try to get more on top of things.

The Land of Wonderfulness

We moved to Portland this weekend, and yes, I call it the land of wonderfulness. It's so nice! The weather is awesome, it's so cool! I want to find a park to take zane to tomorrow. It's that wonderful you can wear a jacket if you want, but you don't have to weather (non-existant in AZ). We were driving around today (I was totally lost thanks to bad iphone directions) but it was gorgeous and ever neiborhood I drove through I just kept thinking, "I definitely want to live in this neighborhood." Then I drive a little more and think the same thing.

I found a house for us to rent back in Litchfield for when the Portland rotation is over. I've been trying to get that squared away today so we can move straight in when we get back. Hopefully we'll get it. If not, I guess we're going to have to rent a house based on pictures off the internet, yuck!

By the way...

We moved again... a week and a half ago. We're in Tucson now for another two weeks and then we're off to Portland woohoo!!! I have a bunch of pics to update, but I haven't uploaded them yet. A little anticipation never hurt anyone... :)

Off the Chair!

Kendall and Zane were leaving to go swimming and as I was working in the back of the house I yelled, "Bye Ziggy!" Zane's reply? "Bye Mama. Have fun. Don't fall off the chair!" I must say, normally this would make sense as I am a clutz, but I don't think I've fallen off a chair in quite a while. This kid comes up with the funniest random things to say. I guess he is a lot like me...he has an extremely vivid imagination and a really random mind.

Newport, Oregon trip

After much schedule swapping and negotiation, we were able to go to Steve and Alisa's wedding on the Oregon coast this last weekend. We're so happy we were able to go. It was absolutely beautiful and freakin' cold. Portland was in a hot spell and drawing all the cold weather off the ocean into the coastal towns. Basically it was really foggy and cold and we did not have the right clothes for it. Luckily I had checked the weather patterns and we took the warmest clothes we had, but it was still pretty cold. Friday we flew into portland and then drove the 2hours and 45 min to Newport. We went and hung out with Steve and some of the other guys until the rehersal dinner. We froze at the rehearsal dinner until they finished rehearsing and moved the dinner indoors. Later that night we went to a bon-fine on the beach. Zane's first. He had a blast. At one point he did try to jump in the fire but we caught him. We got to eat s'mores and just relax. Saturday we hung out in our room and then went and played at the beach w/ Steve and the rest of the non-getting ready wedding people and zane of course got soaked. We went to the wedding, which i must say, is one of the coolest weddings I've ever been to. Woke up at 3am and drove to portland to catch our flight at 7. All in all, it was a really quick trip, but totally worth it. We really needed a little vaca. Here are some pics from the weekend. We're even more excited to go to portland for kendall's rotation in september and we're going to be living w/ Steve and Alisa so we're going to have blast, as long as they can stand living with a prego and a 3year old. :)

The view from our hotel balcony.

At the bon-fire.

Zane having a blast, he's up to his knees in sand. :)

I think Zane might have taken this, we gave him the camera to keep him quiet.

View from our hotel room the second day after the fog dissipated a little.

Zane playing with his new best friend, although he can't tell you her name.

There's Steve-O (as Zane calls him)...

and Alisa.

Good News

So as some of you know, and most of you don't, I'm pregnant! Whoohoo! I'm about 8 weeks, the due date should be around March 10th or so. We've actually known for a while, but at my first check up they didn't think "things were developing as they should." So we were finally able to get someone to give me a one time ultrasound here in Denver and there's a little baby with a big head and a heartbeat. Yeah! It's so exciting. After the miscarriage in April and then my ob's nurse practitioner doing a crappy ultrasound we were pretty worried. It's kinda funny though, it finally feels real and I'm thinking, crap, I'm going to have another baby, can i handle that? I guess that's why the Lord made a 9 month gestation period...to get you ready for the baby. We're really excited though. I'm not really having morning sickness like I did with Zane. Kendall's hoping that means it's a girl. We'll see. I got my way with Zane, kendall wanted a girl then too. Maybe he'll get his little girl.

We moved again!

We're in Denver now. We live in this quirky little house/apartment thing. It's one of those huge old houses that's been turned into 6 apartments. Since it's been turned into so many apartments, it has a really weird layout and has some funny "updates." In the one bedroom upstairs, there is a toilet and teeny-tiny shower in a closet, and the sink is on the other side of the room, just out in the bedroom. It totally cracks me up. The best part is the downstairs bathroom. The shower was installed under the stairs, so it's only about 4 feet tall, you'd have to be a midget to shower in there. The sink is so low that zane can wash his hands without a stool. It has a much larger kitchen than I expected, but the dishwasher is one of those hook up to the sink kinds. I didn't even know those existed, but I must say, it's the best dishwasher I've ever used. It's a great apartment though and it's fun. It has all these really funny cabinets and tiny doors in the most random spaces. It was built in 1906, and I've got to hand it to those guys, they know how to get storage in just about anywhere.

Zane's having a blast with all the stairs, and loves to go into the basement to do the laundry. We have to go down the "old stairs" as he calls them to get to the washer and dryer. He keeps asking me, "why are these stairs so old?" I just keep saying, "this whole house is old." "But why Mama?" The "why" question. He drives me nuts asking why. Hopefully he'll grow out of it soon, or maybe I'll get some patience with it. I never seem to be able to give him a good explaination of anything.

Back to Phoenix --- Chicago Trip

Well we moved back to Phoenix. We're living in Litchfield with my parents right now. Zane is starting to show some wear from moving around so much. He's been an absolute terror for the past two days. Hopefully he'll calm down while we're living here...then we'll move to Denver in 3 weeks and start the process over again. Zane's having a blast swimming in Mamar's pool and having the undivided attention of his Mamar.

Well the Chicago trip. We went to Chicago from Jun 10th to the 18th for the AMA's annual meeting. We had so much fun. The little slideshow above is all the pictures from that trip. Zane and I were able to go to the Shedd Aquarium, Sear's tower (although we didn't go to the top, it was an hour and a half wait), the Lincoln Park Zoo, a boat tour, and lots of AMA events and great dinners.

The Lincoln Park Zoo was so cool. It's the only free zoo in America. It had gorillas! I had never seen a gorilla in person. It was really eerie. It felt like I was looking at a caged human, their eyes are just way too human. It made me sad, but Zane loved it.

I absolutely loved the boat tour. I got to learn a little about Chicago's architecture and history. Zane thought it was pretty cool at first but he was done the last half hour. I ended up getting the "she must be an abusive mother" look because zane wouldn't stop screaming, "that's not nice mama" at the top of his lungs. I still haven't figured out what I did that wasn't nice, I think it was just the first thing that popped into his head.

The Shedd Aquarium was a little disappointing to me. They had some beluga whales and some dolphins. Zane thought the sharks were cool. He also liked it when the dolphins jumped, but most of the dolphin show was educational and there weren't many big tricks.

As a family, we were able to go to a cubs game at Wrigley field. I even thought it was awesome. It's so different from a diamondbacks game. Everyone, and I mean the whole stadium stayed until the game was over! To top it off, everyone in the stadium stood up at the end and sang this country cubs song together. It was crazy. The stadium was still full 15 minutes after the game. Those are some die hard fans. If I lived in Chicago, maybe i would be, too. Who knows.

We went to a white sox game, too. That was okay, not nearly as fun as the cubs though. We went with a bunch of medical students and all wore matching voice for the uninsured shirts. I felt like I was in 3rd grade on a field trip, but it was for a good cause.

I was supposed to go home on Sunday, without Kendall and woke up sick so we changed my flight to just fly home with Kendall on Wednesday. I'm so glad I was able to stay those few extra days. I was able to go to the inauguration of the new AMA president. That was so cool. Zane actually slept through it so I was able to pay attention. The president, Nancy Neilson, is a great speaker and seems like she has a great plan for where to have the AMA headed over the next year. Kendall's really excited to work with her on the board. It was also great to hear Dr Davis (the president last year) speak. He's a wonderful speaker and once again Zane slept through it so I was able to listen.

Overall, it was a great trip. We had a lot of fun dancing, eating ridiculously expensive dinners and just checking out Chicago. I can't wait to go again. It's definitely on the top of my favorite cities list.

Catchin' Up -- Zane's Birthday

Zane turned 3 on June 5th. It was a fun day. I made him a completely eatible Spongebob cake. He wouldn't eat any cake (he had an unfortunate eposide on kendall's birthday of coming down with the flu right after eating birthday cake), but he really was excited to look at his cake. After we let him play with his presents for a while we headed to Phoenix so kendall could be at an Arizona Medical Association meeting the next day. After that meeting Kendall and I went to a super fancy dinner at the top of the Chase building so Kendall could receive an award for a "Distiguished contribution to Medicine." He was one of three to receive it and the other two were companies. Yeah Kendall. It was a really fun evening and Kendall was really honored to have been nominated and chosen for the award...especially since he isn't even a doctor yet. After that we headed back to Safford for a day to pack for Chicago...to be continued in the next post...

Mama Zane day

Kendall had to be in Tucson on tuesday for lecture, so Zane and I went with him to save on gas, (instead of driving to safford the night before and then kendall driving to tucson the next morning). Zane and I had a few hours to kill so we went to the Internation Wildlife Museum that's over by our old house in Tucson. It seriously is 2 minutes from our old house and we never went there while we lived there, go figure. Anyway. We had a blast. That place kept Zane enthralled for 2 hours! It was so much fun. Zane was able to pet a stuffed lion (like a real taxidermy lion) and a bear rug, a giraffe, and an alligator. They even had poop samples of different animals (thankfully in a glass case) that Zane thought was hilarious. He's such a boy. Here are some pics....

Such as scary roar!

This is an extinct type of elk. It was so huge. The antlers were about 9ft across and it had to have been about 8ft at the shoulder...so huge!

And last but not least...the wooly mammoth.

Happy Birthday to ME!!!!!

It's my "Happy Bir-gay!" Or it was on Saturday. Fist off, I started calling my birthday "my crappy happy birthday." We spent from 5:00am to 4:00pm cleaning out the house and putting the rest of all our crap in storage. You'd think that would be a really crappy birthday right? Well, it wasn't. One of my birthday presants was 70 degree, slightly cloudy and rainy weather while we had to take all those loads to the storage unit. Usually it's at least 100 on my birthday, so if it had been hotter, it would have been a crappy happy birthday, but instead, it was just a happy birthday. Once we were FINALLY finished, my mom made me a filet mignon dinner and got me a cheesecake (my childhood pick) for my birthday cake. Zane sang me his own rendition of Happy Birthday that completely made my day. To top it off, kendall got me the new Zelda for DS!!! He actually thought of it himself. I think it was the first presant he's ever given me that he thought of. I'm so proud, it's only been 6 years. My parents also got me a new makeup brush (super exciting for me, i won't go into details, although it is a sable brush... so i did go into details, whatever). They also got me a new dress, which i accessorised and got two pairs of shoes to go with it. Kendall's parents got me a gift certificate for an awesome mexican restaurant here in Safford that I'm super excited to use. I really brought in the haul. Some reading this may think it's weird that I'm documenting my presants, but that's just me. I did it to Jared everyday while he was on his mission much to his and his companions entertainment. :) (yes i wrote him everyday and even drew pictures of my daily outfits like i said in a previous post...I LOVE CLOTHES). Here's a picture from my big day.

Mini-me

My mom took this video of Zane and sent it to me. Jared actually thought it was me for the first 20 seconds. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree, I swear my mom has videos of me that are exactly like this.

So we live in Safford...

So we moved. It took freakin' forever. Kendall and I just hadn't had the time to get everything really packed before saturday, so it basically sucked. We almost have everything in storage now, but we gave up and still have a load or two to take this saturday. It's really strange going from 3 people in an open 1800 sq ft house to 5 people in a 1100 sq ft house...we're figuring it out though. Kendall and I finally found places to put all our clothes (the love of both our lives) but we have yet to figure out the shoe situation...me having the necessary 20 pairs and kendall the necessary 10 (we really did weed a lot out and put a HUGE box of shoes in storage). Zane is finally settling down again and getting back to a normal schedule!!! Yea, he's been a mess the past week with all the craziness.

So i went to the grocery store today, in safford, called thrifty. They do have some normal chains, but i went to this one. I actually thought of a quote from Cars, "Help me!!! I'm in hillbilly hell!!!" It's really not that bad, I think I'm going to really like living here but the thought did cross my mind. It's only 6 weeks right? It's going to be fun.

Kendall and I are excited because he doesn't have to be at work until 8 Woohoo! AND, it only takes 3 minutes literally to get to work. That just boggles my mind. (Kendall was on his way out the door this morning when he realized he still had 30 minutes before he needed to leave.) So since kendall gets to go in so late, he's going to run with me every morning!!! Yea! I'm so excited. We haven't worked out together since the first year we were married. I'm going to kick his butt now though because for once I'm in better shape than him...it's going to be great. Hey, maybe we'll push eachother and I'll finally lose that last 10 pounds I've been trying to lose for 6 months. We'll see....

Mother's Day

I had a great Mother's Day. It started w/ Zane having a 103.3 fever! Whoohoo! It wasn't too bad though, he was really cuddly and once we got some motrin in him, he was his normal self. Kendall got me a beautiful gardenia corsage to wear to church. Normally, since Zane was sick, I wouldn't have gone to church, but I had to wear my corsage, so we went to sacrament meeting and then went home, no sense infecting all the nursery kids right? Zane was really ticked that he couldn't stay and play with his friends but oh well.

So I got to wear my gardenia for a total of 1 hour, not nearly enough time...so I put it in my hair when we got home. Zane walked in while i was putting it in and said, "Oh Mama, you look like Aunt Kellie!!!" It cracked him up the rest of the day because i had a flower in my hair and looked like aunt kellie.

Hey, i dont mind looking like her, she's beautiful and has great style. Thanks for the compliment zane! My mom came over for dinner and we had a nice afternoon. Overall, it was a great mother's day. Happy Mother's Day to all you other mothers out there.

By the way, why do still look like I'm 15?

The past week

Well, I found out I was pregnant on april 24th, and then I miscarried on the 29th. We're okay with it and it went about as well as a miscarriage can. We are disappointed but it's not like we aren't going to still be able to have more kids.

On a happier note, Zane is doing better in swim lessons. Kendall took him last week and said he cried the entire time, i thought he was exaggerating, he wasn't. I took him today and he screamed the entire time, but he still is improving in his actual swimming skills. He floated on his back with his teacher just holding his head...HUGE improvement from the vice grip he used to have. He also jumped off the side into the water by himself!!! Yea...he didn't even choke when his teacher pulled him up out of the water. I was so proud. He's doing better with going underwater...he will actually hold his breath and kick a little. It's too cute. When he gets back to the side to sit on the steps and play with toys while the other kids have their turns (you know, the part that is supposed to be fun and non-stressful) that's when he screams. He looks at me and holds onto the handrail for dear life (like maybe if he holds tight enough he won't have to swim...haha) and he screams "mama, get me out! I don't like swim lessons, no, i don't." It's pretty funny.

We're moving in two weeks.... AGHHHH!

Kids don't learn from mom...my kid anyway

Last week I started trying to teach Zane how to swim. I quickly learned what a HUGE mistake it is to teach my own kid. I suggested to Kendall that we have him take swim lessons from a private school where I used to teach. His response? "Why in the world do we have to pay someone to teach our kid, when you have taught so many?" My answer, "He just SCREAMS!"
Well, yesterday Zane had his first official swim lesson with mama no where in sight, or so I thought. At the swim school, parents aren't allowed on deck, because children generally respond better if their parents "aren't watching." Anyway. Zane made it 20 minutes without a tear! I was completely shocked...then he got some water in his eyes. Personally, I don't get it. I've never had a fear of water and I've always thought looking around underwater was fun. Zane, however, freaked out. It was actually pretty funny, but then right after he calmed down, he looked at me, in the room that I thought had mirrored glass. Yup, he could see me alright, and started the "Mama save me" scream. I blew him kisses and his teachers diverted his attention (good job!). He finished his 30 minute swim lesson with only minor screaming and says he hates it and never wants to go back. He'll be back next week and swimming by summer...there has to be a little of my fishiness in him right?

MOOOO!!!

Yesterday Zane and I were driving and Zane had his cellphone with him. (one of my old broken ones) He kept "calling" me and I'd have to pick up my phone and talk to him from the front seat. So we were driving past some cows (lots of dairy farms where we live) and Zane said, "Mama, I want to call the cows." I said, "Okay, pick up your phone and call them." Zane then giggled and replied, "No, Mama, not like that, like this..." And he yelled MOOOOO at the window. I guess he knows cows don't have cellphones, silly mama, what was I thinking?

the original...

So Kendall wants to start a family blog...which means I get to start a family blog! Yeah! I really don't think I have anything to write about worth reading, but hey I guess there are some really bored people out there.