More summer pictures...

After Vail we went to Utah for Marie's wedding (Kyle's sister). During their slideshow at the luncheon, the song "at last my love has come along" was a great description for Jason and Marie finding each other. We're all so happy that they did!

A few of the cousins...

We also got to attend baptisms for 2 nephews, and spend a few days in Idaho reunioning with the Ricks clan. For some reason this is the only picture I have of Grandmas house, but Ethan really had a thing for these glasses and this vest from the dress up closet. Hilarious, I know.

We got to see the Ravens in Utah for a bit (so fun!!)

This is Ethan and his friend Breanna whose Daddy used to be in dental school too...

And sweet Naomi--for those of you who hear the legends in Relief Society of the angelic, optimistic, amazing woman who used to live around here, here she is:

and then Kyle stayed with them for a week in Oregon to do his dental externship. Thanks guys!

While I was in Utah with my family, I got to be a volunteer at the "Dash for Donation" race, a fundraiser for organ donation in Utah.
My mom works for IDS (Intermountain Donor Services), a non-profit organization that works with the national donor registry to procure organs and tissues for those who are waiting for them, and to help educate others about what organ donation is (and isn't). She has told me so many incredible stories of the powerful connections people form with each other along the journey of being recipients and donors. Neat stuff.


In Idaho we got to see Grandpa's headstone for the first time.

It turned out very beautiful. Great job, Mom!

And in Colorado we got to visit Lindsay's grave and bench.

I will love this picture as long as I live.
And then, I will keep on loving it.
And them.
And her.



So, now that we're home the boys are growing growing growing! Jake now fits into pajamas that Ethan was wearing when we moved here. Don't you love the scrubs? Just like Daddy!






Ethan has been earning pennies every day to shop at the "good worker store." (the assortment of goodies we lay out each Saturday where items are pre-selected and the prices are subsidized. Much more fun than Wal-Mart, right? My mom did this with us. Great idea.)
Here he is with some "rocket balloons" and a pump to blow them up that he proudly purchased for 25 of his hard -earned pennies.

And, we are enjoying getting our thumbs just a little bit green with our teeny backyard garden. We've had cucumbers and tomatoes, and just today we dug up some carrots! Ethan loved being my helper and taking off the green tops and then washing the carrots off.

He liked the whole thing enough to eat some for a snack! (not typical with store-bought carrots, but there's something about pulling them out of the ground yourself that makes them more appealing!)

Jake may have had more of the ranch dressing than the carrots, but he liked them too. And just for the record, he scarfed down an entire avocado at dinner. Have I mentioned that this kid loves food?

Alright, well, I think I am officially as caught up on blogging as I will ever be.
We had an incredible summer and we are happy to be home, getting back into the groove of Indiana life. A quick note on each of us:
Ethan-- is in his third week of Joy School and we are really loving it. He is really into Bill Nye the Science Guy, Handy Manny, and Sid the Science Kid, and he has collected a whole bin of dress ups which he wears in all possible combinations to create new superheroes and such.

Jake --has started really wanting me to watch him do whatever it is he is doing, and he likes me to be looking at him whenever he makes the effort to say a word. This means an endless plea of "mamamamamamamamamamamammaaaaaaaaaam!" Once I turn and look, he will point to a box of crackers and say, "gackuh," and smile. If I don't say, "good job, Jake! Yes, cracker!" Then he will say mamammamamamamammaaaaaaam! and do the whole thing over again. Mostly it cracks me up, but occasionally it drives me crazy! He still says no to almost any question, even if he means yes, but it's incredibly cute. He calls all shoes "Gock," and requests his favorite lullaby by peering up at me and saying "loo. loo." I love this kid.

I got a cleaning last week from an incredibly handsome dentist--Kyle!! It was fun to get to see what he does all day and follow him into the dark room to develop the x-rays and just kind of go through the process of what his patients do. Gagging on the x-ray chip things and wincing at the probing depths wasn't any more fun than usual, but I was proud of Kyle for knowing how to do it!! He is now in the full swing of his 4th and final year of dental school. Wowee!! We are starting to look for practices and make a plan of where to live and how to transition into the next phase of life. We're looking forward to finding out if income is all it's cracked up to be. We've heard great things about it, but never actually had it, so we'll see. :)

Long winded. That's what you get when it's been a couple months. And when you're me.