Love and Marriage

Fun Pics from January

2012-02-13T21:59:00.000-08:00

One morning, Eric woke up before Joe and I did, turned on the movie "Cars", situated himself on the couch with a blanket and a toy, and stuffed as many Nilla Wafers into his mouth as possible until we woke up and caught him.

Everyone always has cute pictures of their babies falling asleep in their highchairs...my kids have never done it! Until now...

Joe felt sorry for her and let her snuggle with him on the couch :)

This also happened before we knew the kids were awake...

San Francisco Zoo. This was Wendy's first time actually noticing things so we took her out of the stroller for a while. The penguins are always a favorite.

Grizzly bear...

Eric also appreciated the water fall in this exhibit...

The zoo has a playground.

Eric inspecting my teeth with a little mouth mirror with a light on it...

Definite cookie monster....possible future dentist?

NEWSFLASH:

Wendy walks!!!!!! Woohoo!!!!!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olIweIDM2zI&feature=share

New Years in Oak-town

2012-01-04T14:12:00.000-08:00

We are constantly grateful that our families live close to each other so we can split our holiday breaks with both of them every year. After we spent Christmas with my family, we headed on up to Joe's family to spend the next week including New Years with them. We had such a fun time! Eric was pretty sick the whole week with croup. Poor little boy, he was such a trooper and was so sweet and tried to have fun. This caused us to have a pretty relaxed week...thank you Grandma and Grandpa Keyes for being so patient with us!

Luckily Eric didn't spread his sickness to Wendy even though they were in close quarters and even sneaking sippy cups to each other. Such a blessing! So of course, Grandma Keyes put Wendy to work. Her job was the dishes and she loved it. :)

Not very flattering picture but it was a time when Eric wasn't lethargic. He sure loved playing with all of Uncle Dallin's fun toys.

From time to time Wendy felt a little home-sick so we got creative with ways to occupy her.

With the kids feeling so tired and Eric being sick, we thought it best to not take them out into the cold to watch the fireworks where they would just complain and get sicker. From time to time Eric would come out to the window and enjoy the cool fireworks. Otherwise, they were very happy snuggling in our bed and watching Cars 2. This is from when I checked on them. Neither of them moved an inch. (peeking through the door. :))

Thanks Keyes Family for conforming to our needs and vegging with us! We had a great time just hanging around with you!

Christmas in B-town

2011-12-28T13:14:00.000-08:00

We spent Christmas with my family this year and it was so much fun. LIke usual, there were times when the kids got a little homesick so we had to do things like watch Wendy's all time favorite movie Tangled with her favorite blanky.

Dancing.

Eric did so well and loved all of Grandma and Grandpa's fun toys.

Fell asleep and slouched over.

Christmas morning being embarrassed my his mom's enthusiasm.

Loot.

Wendy found the good stuff. Not only is it chocolate but it's chocolate fro Eric's stocking. Way better.

Sneaky girl. She must be our child. She likes martinelli's.

Caught in the act of playing in Grandma and Grandpa's fancy living room in a glass table with their Christmas decorations.

They are blocks after-all.

Tis the Season

2011-12-10T13:41:00.000-08:00

Yup, this is our Christmas tree this year. First of all, we needed an advent calendar, and second, we will be gone for half the month. Hence - our fun Christmas tree! We love it.

We're excited for Christmas!

I have to document the first time in a very long time when Eric and Wendy are in arms reach of each other and aren't at each other's throats. :)

We are constantly amazed by how snuggly Wendy is. Seriously. It's so nice. Btw, Grandpa Pitcher, she also loves when we stroke her back.

2011-11-03T12:33:00.000-07:00

Forcing it...

2011-11-03T12:26:00.000-07:00

These were all taken with-in 5 seconds of eachother. Love you, Wendy!

Trick-or-Treat!

2011-11-01T11:04:00.000-07:00

Halloween was so fun this year! We started the festivities by dressing up in our costumes and visiting Joe at school for lunch. Eric is a ninja but when he holds this little light stick toy he's a jedi, and Wendy is a princess. The kids were so happy even though it was their nap-time! Last night we met up with some friends for trick-or-treating. We went to a well-to-do neighborhood in the presidio and boy, did it pay off! The decorations were amazing and the candy was awesome. They gave out huge candy bars and some even gave out toys. Some of the decorations were pretty traumatizing for Eric but he did really well with the "nicer" doors. Wendy fell asleep right off and stayed wrapped up in the stroller the whole time anyway since it was so cold. I think she enjoyed peering out at all the crazy stuff, though. Again, we were amazed and grateful that both kids were so happy the whole time. I still need to replace the batteries in the flash so....all the good pictures are of the kids enjoying the loot later.

p.s. Eric has been doing so well with potty training this last week. He's only had one real accident! We even put him in a diaper for trick-or-treating (where would he go to the bathroom there??) last night and he kept it dry the whole time - 3 1/2 hours and said he needed to go potty when we got home! We're so proud of him!

It's pretty dark but there's our little guy being a jedi for this door. :)

He sees something that he isn't too sure about...I think it was some sort of light show with scary sounds.

Begging Dad for more.

All-in-all a very fun Halloween!

Pumpkin Patch

2011-10-15T19:38:00.000-07:00

We went to the pumpkin patch that Lance and Melissa took us to last year. We love this place. It's not crowded, has a corn maze, every size of pumpkin, and rides. When we got there, we asked Eric which pumpkin we should take home with us. He then sat on some pumpkins and smiled so..I took pictures of course!

He got embarrassed... :)

I tried to get some cute pumpkin patch pictures of the kids. This first one is my personal favorite. It was a total accident and I still don't know how I made it look like this but it's kinda different so I like it.

Examining the pumpkin...

No matter what, Wendy would not stop talking. Her sharp, stoccato "ba! ba! ba!" is so cute but I wanted a normal face...

She's happy in this one because she is about to bully her brother...

"Ba! Ba! Ba!"

Blowing kisses to Daddy...

...spitting...

Corn maze. We followed Eric.

After a while he was pretty frustrated with all the dead-ends and asked to be lifted up over the wall.

He gave up...

Time to pick out our pumpkins! Eric picked them all out.

Of course. We love our truck boy...

Nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh Batman!

2011-10-14T19:37:00.000-07:00

Puddle Stomping!

2011-10-12T09:57:00.000-07:00

We love our gigantic puddle in our carport after it rains!

...and planes...

It was Wendy's first time....

They both got so soaked...Eric's boots didn't help at all but it was worth not ruining his other shoes...

He found the only rock in the puddle...

I think this picture accurately depicts Eric's feelings of both playing in the puddle and having a sister to play with...

They both screamed so much for so long when we finally brought them inside. I think we found a new favorite family activity.

2011-10-08T18:31:00.000-07:00

We haven't blogged since Wendy's birthday (2 months!), so it's time to catch up!

Playing at the park...

The only time Wendy was happy in the swing was when she spotted Eric having fun.

Trying to push the swing away from her...

Joe said I have to put this one in. She's just so cute.

One of the many cute things Wendy does is poke things...

Wendy's first time going down a slide without Mom or Dad holding her!

You can tell by her face (and Joe's for that matter) that it wasn't Wendy's favorite thing...

Of course here's our little dirt boy. :)

He loves loves LOVES walks...

We were fortunate enough to have a long weekend for Labor Day so we packed up our little family and headed up to Washington for Joe's little brother's baptism, the Ellensburg Rodeo, and the Crosslin family reunion!

Eric's favorite part of the rodeo, hands down, was all the tractors...

He was in little boy heaven...

Putting rocks in the front loader...

Speaking of trucks, Eric is still very attached to his little truck. It is such a sturdy little toy. It's been thrown and played with so much and none of the little pieces have broken. This picture is of when I found him out front playing in our dirt pile before dinner...

He sleeps with it every night...

Funny girl. I wonder what she's thinking...

Daddy's Late Birthday Present

2011-08-11T10:04:00.000-07:00

Joe's been stopping by this cute baby boutique just about every day for the past week to see if they have tutus in stock. They did yesterday! Happy Birthday again, Wendy!

This one didn't focus right but I love that playful smile of hers!

We love you, Wendy! You make us so happy.

Happy Birthday Sweet Wendy!

2011-08-09T18:39:00.000-07:00

Our sweet Wendy girl turned 1 yesterday! I can't believe how fast this year has gone by. She is such a little sweetheart - always giving kisses and snuggling with us. It sure has been fun for me to have a little girl to dress up and talk about sparkles and bows and princesses with.

Her favorite toy is this cute little teapot that sings songs about manners and makes pouring sounds when you tip it over.

Sharing with Mommy.

I just love her!

We found the perfect balloon for her at our local grocery store. It is a tiara. She is our princess and it's become one of our most used nicknames for her.

The party started with some sprinkled fun-flecked cupcakes and singing Happy Birthday. Easy enough, right? Always a fun, simple part of the day. Well... we started singing the song and wendy quickly pokes the cupcake. It tips over and she gets hot wax on her hand. Poor girl.

Eric has always been a little wary of flames. The fact that it just hurt Wendy didn't help.

Everyone still screaming, Eric starts hitting Wendy. Over and over again. I think he blamed her for making the fire even scarier.

After everyone recovered and filled their bellies with pizza it was time for presents. We got a little dolly for Wendy. We knew she might not understand or even like it now but she'll grow into it. What little girl doesn't like baby dolls?

She liked the box and the wrapping paper the best.

She did pay attention to it long enough to try and feed it a ball. What a nice girl. :)

Joe has wanted to get Eric this truck for a long time and what better time to give it to him than a birthday party? He was absolutely amazed with it. He has slept with it for every nap and bedtime since.

Well all in all it was a fun, exciting, hilarious day. We are so grateful for our Wendy and we couldn't love her more. She melts our hearts with every sweet sound and cute thing she does. So happy you're our's Wendy!

P.S. Wendy had her check-up appointment today and she's in the 60th percentile for weight and 50th for height! Just perfect!

2011-07-20T15:45:00.000-07:00

Alcatraz

2011-07-02T20:14:00.000-07:00

As we toured the cellhouse Eric noticed all the potties "potty" "potty"...gross.

Solitary Confinement...the audio tour had a former prisoner that said that to entertain themselves in the pitch black, they would throw a button on the floor, then try to find it. Then they would do it all over again. ..

Apparently being in a maximum security prison bring out the crazy in our kids...

Mmm...ferry bagel.

View of San Francisco and the Bay bridge...

Grandma and Grandpa Pitcher...

2011-06-26T16:08:00.000-07:00

came to visit! The kids bonded almost instantly with them. Wendy fell asleep in Grandma's arms within 20 minutes of arriving and Eric loved showing off and playing with them...

Only a couple hours after they arrived, we walked across the Golden Gate Bridge and back. It was so fun to take them for their first time...

The next day we took them to one of our favorite places - the zoo. Grandpa made this an extra special visit, though, with a ride on the little puffer train! Eric wasn't too sure about it at first...

He just hated it...

Once the train started going, it was one of the most amazing, awesomest things ever!

In fact, he didn't want to get off. :)

Thank you so much for visiting us, Grandma and Grandpa Pitcher! Eric and Wendy, especially, are going to miss you so much!

2011-06-22T11:08:00.000-07:00

Yay we moved! Wendy is out of our room! During the moving process there was a ton of random junk everywhere including in Eric's room. One day while we were unpacking I decided to go check on what Eric was up to....

Our new place has a fun deck!

There is a sandbox/small playground area in our backyard. This particular time was not Wendy's favorite...

I don't think she appreciated getting dirty while she was this tired...

It's been so fun having Joe at home during his summer break from dental school...

Yeah...it was time for a bath. It sure cheered up Wendy.

2011-06-10T10:43:00.000-07:00

Wendy really doesn't care which way her binky is. It could be upside down, crooked, or sideways even though it smooshes her nose.

Wendy is such a good girl when daddy is clipping her nails. She stays so still for him.

I don't know how she finds things to put in her mouth. I think the house is clean then she finds something like paper, carpet lint, cords, or a phone to eat.

Funny girl.

Talking...

After Joe was finished with his finals (yay, he's done with his first year of dental school!) we went camping with Lance and Melissa and their kids, and Jake and Ellisha (Joe's sister and her husband). This was Wendy's first camping experience. She did wonderfully! She slept better than she does at home! I wasn't able to get a picture of our actual sleeping arrangements since Eric woke up before us..at 5:30. Here is a picture of our little camping girl. She didn't have any warm pajamas so we dug up some of Eric's old ones...

I guess the outdoors wear them out or something because Wendy slept in then took a nap and Eric took two naps before we left at 2 pm.

It's been so fun to have Ellisha and Jake in town!

Eric loved following Joe around and "helping daddy".

Eric is a true explorer. We were constantly finding him walking off to check something out or just go on a walk.

Tired girl. Her eyes look like they're already rolling back into her head in this picture...

I don't know how she does it but she sucks on her binky - and her bottle for that matter - with her upper lip and not her bottom lip but her tongue...then her bottom lip goes under that. There's almost not enough room for her bottom lip to be behind it.

Wendy gets even sweeter and snugglier when she's super tired.

Ready to play after her last nap.

Fun Week

2011-06-04T11:38:00.000-07:00

Sunday afternoons are the best. Having already gone to church and taken naps, the kids are in perfect moods to have fun as a family. Their current favorite game to play together is for Eric to run screaming from one end of the room to the other while Wendy is waving her arms and laughing as hard as she can.

After they play together Eric always thanks her for being his fun little friend.

We've been trying to spend a lot of our time with Lance and Melissa and their kids before they leave. It has been such a blast living close to them. What are we going to do without you??

Lately when they're over at our house, the kids go upstairs and play in Eric's room....SO. nice. Grandpa Keyes gave this scary dinosaur to Eric for Christmas this last year but Eric has a love/hate relationship with it so far. I'm sure he'll warm up to it soon, though. He loves it from a distance. He thinks it's absolutely hilarious.

He backed himself up into a corner and couldn't get away when it got a little too close. He was also really really tired, which made it both funnier and scarier.

We celebrated Joe's birthday on Wednesday!

This year he requested lots of cupcakes with gummy bears on top...

This is right after he blew out his candles. He just blew them out without a song or a wish or a second to get the camera ready. Oh well, you can tell that he's having fun.

Yesterday we went on a fun, long, perfect walk to the bridge, across, and back. The kids were absolutely perfect....

miscellaneous (sp?) pics...

2011-05-27T17:29:00.000-07:00

Eric's new way to convince us to help him when he's supposed to be napping. He says "stuck! stuck! stuck!"

A boy after his mom's own heart:

Picture Catch-Up

2011-05-23T12:37:00.000-07:00

No, we did not throw a ball at Wendy. Eric's holding it in front of her.

We always have to stop when a cool truck passes by...

"woooaaaahhhh!"

These two are really sweet together...

Daddy getting the hair out of Wendy's eyes...thanks Joe.

The zoo was pretty relaxed. All the animals were just lounging around...

They have a new sea lion exhibit.

Every five seconds or so one of the sea lions would make the weirdest grunting noise. It was pretty funny....

Of course we stopped by the big water fountain....

Devil's Gulch Update: Lance, you might want to read this

2011-05-15T18:25:00.000-07:00

Sarah's mommabear instinct went into overdrive today when I made a positive ID on this little brown dot she noticed in Eric's hair:

Here it is after she pulled it out:

In it's cage. It's our prisoner for 2 weeks so we can make sure there are no complications.

2011-05-14T23:42:00.000-07:00

Eric loves washing his hands.

Wendy can do the splits...

Our 3rd wedding anniversary was on the 10th so I made joe the same cake that we had at our wedding..except smaller...

Today we went on a walk with Lance and Melissa at Devil's Gulch...what a beautiful place.

Don't worry. He did this for about a second and yes I was worried...

2011-05-01T22:35:00.000-07:00

Yup. We like bubbles. Oh, by the way, you can click on the pictures to make them bigger...if you want....k..

Sunday walk with Lance and Melissa and their kids...

First knee scrape. I'm surprised he lasted this long.

Easter

2011-04-25T17:41:00.000-07:00

I couldn't pick which pictures were my favorite so prepare yourself for a lot of them!

"open?"...

"What's this?"...

We had a fun easter egg hunt and dinner which Lance and Melissa...

Yes, he was obsessed with eating candy...

"Open it?"...

P.S. Wendy apparently likes daddy's leg...a lot.

One of Our Favorite Places...

2011-04-23T15:51:00.000-07:00

...the zoo!

Again.

To our surprise, they were handing out free Nesquik chocolate milk today so Eric's day started out pretty well!

Then we played in the zoo playground, which we've never done before.

Last time we were here, this baby koala was only three weeks old. Today we were able to see it snuggling with it's mommy. :)

(That is the baby's face and the mom's body)

Eric enjoys the simple things in life...

He actually noticed the cool animals this time! It was so nice! He especially liked the polar bear today (it was actually pacing around)

The grizzlies put on quite a show...

We tried to get Eric posing as a spider but he just wanted to run around of course...

I don't know why he likes the signs so much...

He was a little wary of the bronze lion sculptures...

Dad trying to have him pose with one...

Another Mom and baby :)

It was fun watching this little baby gorilla. He is the same age as Eric. In this picture he was wrapping the vine around his back just like how Eric wraps blankets around himself.

Since tomorrow is Easter, there were random eggs all over the zoo.

We were there for almost 3 hours and Wendy only woke up for the last 10 minutes or so...

P.S. Funny kids

kids

2011-04-17T22:50:00.000-07:00

i thought i'd post a couple funny kid pictures

wendy

DinnER!

This is wendy and eric's food dance to appease the giver of all things sweet and edible (mom)

Eric got stuck in Wendy's chair. I have no idea where his right leg is in this picture. This was a struggle.

Arthur: I have no quarrel with you, good sir knight, but I must cross this bridge.
Eric: Then you shall die.

Dad is this ok?
NO.

Bike Ride to Fisherman's Warf

2011-04-09T17:44:00.000-07:00

Today was such a nice day that we thought we'd bike down to Fisherman's Warf for some Fish n' Chips! Ok so let me admit something. This was my first time on a bicycle in 12 years....way out of my comfort zone. But Joe was so patient with me and re-taught me in the parking lot before we left. I'm glad we went. It was an adventure for me.

It was also a new experience for the kids to be in a bike trailer (thank you Lance and Melissa for lending it to us!) luckily we had a little dvd player to avoid any fighting since they were in pretty close quarters.

I think Wendy knows what kind of dangerous situation this is...

We took a little break and stopped to play at Crissy Field.

You can kind of see that Joe is putting Eric up in the tree...apparently he didn't like it.

This is the "Bush Man".....he hides behind this bush and jumps out and surprises people passing by on the sidewalk. Yeah. Creepy. But he's one of the most popular sights at Fisherman's Warf.

Eric's first curly fry

One of the dangers of eating outside at the warf....

Poor Wendy. She was a trooper...

P.S. Random photos from various walks...

Eric's Birthday Party!

2011-04-07T15:43:00.000-07:00

We started with present opening just as a family after dad came home from school...

Grandma and Grandpa Keyes got him this little basketball hoop! Thanks guys! My brothers and I had one of these growing up and I have fun memories of shooting hoops with them in their room. Way. Fun.

Eric was pretty amazed.

Dad got him his own little UOP sweatshirt! But you know how little kids are when they're given clothes as a present....they just say, "Thanks" and throw it aside no matter how awesome it is.

Mommy gave him a 72 oz bottle of bubbles. Yes....it's half his size. It'll also help refill the cool bubble gun Grandma and Grandpa Pitcher sent him. Thank you!

Haha. I think one popped on his face.

You can kind of see that Wendy got a bubble...

Modeling his cute UOP sweatshirt while stomping on wrapping paper...

Later that night Lance and Melissa's family (who, by the way, gave him an awesome Hot Wheels car balloon!) came over for a cake and bubbles party. We forgot to buy some candles for the cake so we just used one from around the house. I think I taught him to be afraid of fire a little too well. We couldn't get him to look at it let-alone blow it out.

Then he noticed the cake...

and the world was right once again.

Meanwhile, Wendy was pretty tuckered out so she hung out on the couch for the duration of the bubble party.

After the cousins left and it was time to wind down for the night, Eric showed us how watching Peter Pan has paid off. He would stand on the arm of the couch and say "Fly, fly!" or "I'm flying", then dive onto the couch cushions. He did this for about 30 minutes.

All-in-all I think Eric had a pretty great birthday! =)

Happy 2nd Birthday, Eric!!!

2011-04-06T09:12:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday, my big 2-year-old! I can't believe you're growing up so fast! It feels like yesterday that I labored 13 hours (haha I won't hold that against you ;) ) with 3 c-section threats and your heart beat wasn't doing well. We are so grateful you got here safely. Your Daddy and I love you so much. What did we ever do without you here to tickle and wrestle with and make us laugh??

We have gone on so many adventures with you. Including Yellowstone, a hike in the Narrows, at least 10 plane rides, Hawaii, Watson Lakes, ward overnight campouts, hikes up to Stewart Falls by the family cabin, and so many walks and hikes since then.

Playing in the playground at Grandma and Grandpa Keyes' house when you were 1.

Now you're 2! You are even more adventurous, fun-loving, sweet, funny, and loving than before!

You enjoy discovering new things, walking for miles and miles, your little sister, cars, trucks, and you can go down the slide by yourself! You are such a big boy!

We can't tell you how much we love you and are so proud of you! Ok, now it's time to stop growing up. :)

Blackie's Pasture

2011-04-01T23:10:00.000-07:00

saying "woooaaahhhh!" on the way down...

Eric loved throwing sand in the sandbox...

He got flattened.....is was REALLY sad!

Baker Beach

2011-04-01T22:57:00.000-07:00

We are lucky enough to live just up the road from Baker Beach so when we had nice weather this week, we had to take advantage of it!

Joe and Eric loved playing in the waves...

while Wendy and I had our own fun in the sand.

Wendy found a new favorite food group...

Eric finally decided he was done and ready to go home when a wave took him by surprise when he was building sandcastles.

Worn out :)

P.S.

We figured out who's been breaking into our fridge at midnight.

Father-Son Campout

2011-03-26T13:15:00.000-07:00

We went camping at China Camp state park. It wasn't raining when we got there but then it started raining right after we got to sleep then pretty much the rest of the time, but it was really fun.

Here's our campsite:

Eric helping me with dinner. We had these angus beef hotdogs. Gourmet.

Thank you Grandpa Pitcher for buying stuff at REI on my membership. The rebate bought Eric this coat for his birthday!

The next morning:

I think he has a banana in his mouth in every picture. He ate like four of them.

Playing in the mud right before we left:

I guess water fountains are hilarious. This one was super-charged and would hit the wall.

Walk to Golden Gate Bridge

2011-03-25T11:45:00.000-07:00

Joe's mom came to visit during his spring break so we thought we'd take advantage of the nice weather and walk to the Golden Gate Bridge. Good thing we did because it was pretty much hurricane season the rest of the week!

Lance and Melissa went on their own little vacation (lucky) so we had fun with their kids all week!

He came back for me :)

Mom, are you coming??

I think this is a blue heron??

I was trying to teach Eric to walk on the white line just for fun. He just looked at me like "Mom, what are you doing??"

It was so fun to have you here Grandma! Come back to visit soon!

P.S.

Cute cousins

NEWSFLASH:

Wendy can sit up!

For the most part.

She likes soft blankets :)

Princess and the Pea

Father-Son Talk (recording put on a picture...not a video)

2011-03-22T00:06:00.000-07:00

We have always loved how Eric runs around the house babbling all day long. Today I caught Joe and Eric thoughtfully looking out the living room window having a deep conversation . Oh just to warn you: the heavy breathing is when Joe was fogging up the window to draw on it.

We can't play this around Eric because he gets embarrassed. We love you, Eric!

P.S. He definitely knows real words. He just likes to babble sometimes.

It's all downhill from here

2011-03-21T22:30:00.000-07:00

UOP dental school's infamous 3rd quarter is over for me. Forever (as long as finals didnt go TOO bad). When I was 15 years old, I decided on dentistry. For the last ten years, I've worked hard in HS, BYU-I, and then UOP to make this happen. It seemed like school just kept getting tougher and tougher. It definitely did. Then I got into UOP (on my 4th application cycle) and everybody told me how hard the 1st year was. They said that the 3rd quarter of 1st year would be the toughest quarter of my entire education. It was. Now, that's what I'm very glad to say. It WAS, with an emphasis on the past tense. Now that my whole life's upramping of educational difficulty is over, I think that it's time to have a new goal in life. Here are a couple of my ideas.

Celebrate

slack off

become a cynical old man

probably not an option

watch TV (I was in her way)

wait for my big break

punish my son for throwing dirt

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

2011-03-17T11:48:00.000-07:00

Ever wonder why I don't have photo shoots of Eric? It's because this is the best I can get. He is such a rambunctious boy! :)

Trigger-happy

2011-03-16T18:49:00.000-07:00

Yes, this is a ton of pictures of basically the exact same thing. But I just like them all for different reasons. She is our pretty little princess girl. What am I supposed to do? :)

(sorry about the hair stuck on her face in the first two pictures...I didn't notice it till now.)

P.S.

That boy sure loves his Martinelli's.

Inspiration Point

2011-03-13T12:15:00.000-07:00

Joe especially loves the Eucalyptus trees around here because they remind him of his mission.

I was lagging behind to take some pictures so my sweet little boy came back for me. :)

We forgot our flash so the next couple pictures have unusual sources of light.

Street lamp:

Flash Light:

P.S. Eric and Wendy are such cute friends. Wendy is even learning how to play with him (grabbing his face and hair, rolling after him) and Eric is always so sweet to give her toys and books.

San Francisco Zoo ...again!

2011-03-11T19:08:00.000-08:00

We have a year long pass to the zoo so we can go whenever we want! Which is great because the once-a-month free days are so crowded.

When it's nice and open we can just spend the day following Eric.

Joe was so sweet to carry Wendy (when she was tired of the stroller) AND push the stroller so I could play with the camera. Thank you, honey!

There is a Tropical South America exhibit where there are supposed to be a couple Monarch butterflies...

but they had an encounter with an air vent above the exit door.

Eric's favorite things about the zoo, surprisingly, aren't the exotic animals. He enjoys random construction cones...

walking on railroad tracks (luckily due to the tsunami warning, the "Little Puffer Train" wasn't running that day)...

any body of water (puddles, ponds, pools, fountains)...he even asked to take a bath with a hippo...

and throwing rocks and bark into exhibits...

no matter how big or stuck the rock may be.

Since Wendy was actually awake this time, we had to do a little photo shoot of her. She is our sweet little princess and is so quick to smile!

Um....I don't know what to say about this one. This picture reminds me of an ewok?

When our children throw themselves to the ground in a crying fit it means we've had a fun day and it's probably time to go home.

He was asleep within 5 minutes of walking through the door.

So was she.

My New (used) Camera!!!!!!

2011-03-09T12:51:00.000-08:00

Joe bought me an old, used Canon 5D!! Thank you!!!

I will have to try really hard to put the camera down and tend to my responsibilities. It is so fun to take pictures with this camera! Thanks Joe! (by the way, Joe, thank you for not getting an un-used camera...i like being able to pay our bills. Love you!)

P.S. I don't think Eric appreciates my new hobby.

Buddies and Bubbles

2011-03-06T16:22:00.000-08:00

Eric loves bubbles. We cleaned out his toy box when he got bored today (he's sick) and found some. We couldn't resist.

I think they'll be a popular thing with the whole family.

Wendy almost got a couple

Fighting over the helicopter toy

They're good friends. I couldn't get a clear picture of it, but Wendy was laughing and grabbing Eric and trying to pull him in for a kiss (munch) in the next picture.

Kids' First Bath Together/Wendy's First Bubble Bath

2011-03-04T19:10:00.000-08:00

Eric was splashing quite a bit so we ended up taking Wendy out pretty early. She loved it while it lasted though!

San Francisco Zoo

2011-03-01T18:53:00.001-08:00

(Trying to break into the carousel building)

Eric and the Peacock

At first he was a little shocked because he didn't notice it until they were this close. He stopped in his tracks.

A little nervous

Still nervous but starting to kind of like it.

Keeping his eye on it.

....still keeping his eye on it. His feet were planted there till the peacock was well out of his "danger zone".

Wendy didn't even know we went to the zoo.

"Mom, is that crazy monkey going to get me?"

Monterey Bay

2011-02-19T23:44:00.000-08:00

My sweet sweet husband took our little family on a trip to Monterey Bay for my birthday this year! We stayed at Hotel Abrego (its nice look it up) for two nights (that had a swimming pool. I regret not taking pictures of Eric and Joe swimming).

The first thing we did was go explore the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

There was an exhibit where you can actually pet a ray. Here is when Eric spotted it. I'm impressed that it didn't scare him.

Watching it swim around the pool:

This is the splash room. Generated waves crash against the walls and ceiling simulating the oceans waves. It looks pretty real. Eric loved watching from out in the hall but it took some convincing for him to go in with Dad.

Then Eric started getting tired and all he wanted to do was run around free and push any buttons he could find.

Eric held on pretty tight when we showed him the sharks.

I thought I'd do a little photo shoot of Wendy. She's 6 1/2 months and is getting to be such a happy, fun little baby girl. Here she is doing raspberries:

We walked through a room where the fish swam up in the ceiling.

I couldn't get the camera to have the jellyfish be bright and pretty at the same time as Joe and Wendy. I still have a lot to learn. But you can see that Wendy is still doing raspberries...

There. Here's what these amazing jellyfish looked like. Aren't they beautiful!

Walking back out. I just thought this was a cute picture of Joe kissing Wendy's hand.

By this time Eric was so ready for a nap. Luckily we came across these penguins. Apparently they are the most hilarious things in the world. Eric loved them. He was doubled over cracking up the whole time we were there.

Joe thought I should document Eric's first happy meal. To my defense: Eric is teething and so has been very picky about what he eats. He hadn't eaten anything all day (by now it was 3:00 p.m.). I know he loves french fries. Desperation brought us to McDonalds. Anyway. He ate them. Really fast.

These next couple are just cute pictures of wendy reading stories with daddy.

long time

2011-02-16T22:38:00.000-08:00

NO, this is not a charlie impression. Eric is thinking, "how far can I stick this in before mommy says no?"

This is how I pass the time: playing with my navel while watching the washer go 'round.

It's been a long time since we posted, so I figured I would. The last 2 quarters of dental school have been very draining on Sarah and I, and everything is very off schedule and under developed. However, the worst is over and I am pretty sure that it's downhill from here. I'm going to be a dentist after all!

My Sweet Babies

2010-08-21T23:49:00.001-07:00

My sweet babies:

Eric about 16 months ago in Provo:

Wendy at a week and a half:

We love them!

take home outfit

2010-08-09T19:58:00.000-07:00

eric has a new friend

2010-08-09T17:47:00.000-07:00

(To poke and) snuggle with
she's hairy

you can see my awesome backpack

wendy madeline keyes

2010-08-08T23:52:00.000-07:00

seven pounds five ounces, 20 inches long at 11:16 PM on August 8th. Scored a nine. her middle name comes from sarah's late aunt madeline.

San Francisco

2010-07-04T21:47:00.001-07:00

We have moved to the Presidio of San Francisco, a WWII military housing community (decommissioned) so I can go to dental school at University of the Pacific. Sarah and I are really excited to be on our own again after living with my parents and attending WWU's MBA program for the last year or so. Thanks mom and dad, it was a blast. So first, here are some pictures of the city and house.

Eric likes sea lions. This is at Pier 39.

Here is our living room when we first moved in. It's changed.

evelyn, adelle, and eric playing on the couch we had in Utah (we sold it!)

In front of the tacoma narrows bridge

Eric will miss his best friends, Trace and Connor

So the second part of this post is about the dental school I will be attending for the next three years. That's right, three years, not four. It's the only 3 year school in the US for dentistry, so I don't get summers and it's kind of intense. But I get one more year of practicing dentistry, and one less year of school. I'm in the class of 2013, and that really doesn't seem that far away. The full name of the school is University of the Pacific Arthur A. Dugoni School of Dentistry. It's website is dental.pacific.edu and it has a reputation for being the most friendly dental school around. It's also an incredibly clinical school, not that it lacks in research, but the emphasis is on producing clinically competent doctors. The students that I have talked to love to talk about how clinically focused the school is, and how their residents are better clinicians than the graduates from research universities, or really any other university out there. It is also one of the most expensive schools, with tuition and fees around 100K per year. That is a lot of money, but the students have an average loan payback time of 8 years. So they must be pretty good doctors, to make all of that money back. The school's admissions averages for the DAT are in the top 5. Here are some pictures of the school:

This is Dr. Peters. He's the world's most cited/quoted endodontist (wow. how much cooler can you get?) If I specialize, it'll be endo.
"At Pacific, we grow people and along the way they become doctors." Arthur A. Dugoni, Dean emeritus. Every other school I interviewed at used this quote and said something along the lines of, "we really want to emulate the educational model at University of the Pacific..." so I thought, why not just go to UOP? My older brother, Lance, is a third year here so its kind of a no-brainer.
eric likes it

Awesome. I know.

Friday Harbor

2010-06-17T14:06:00.000-07:00

May 10, 2010: Our 2 year anniversary!!!

Our wedding cake was so delicious that we have been trying to get the recipe for months and months. I finally got it just in time for our 2 year anniversary. I was a little worried how it might turn out since I've never made anything so complicated before but to my surprise it turned out perfectly (it doesn't look like much but it tasted delicious). Joe loved it so much that we've made it a tradition to have this cake every year.

We decided it would also be fun to go to Friday Harbor to celebrate. The ferry ride there is about an hour and then we just walked around looking at the shops. We also had a picnic in a nice park where Eric could ride this seal.

Friday Harbor:

It was a beautiful day and we had tons of fun.

A couple days later we went to Ellensburg to visit Joe's grandparents and to see their new house. It was in the middle of beautiful rolling green hay fields and the bluest sky you could ever see.

Eric was getting pretty tired by the time we left and did not like our innovative idea of a portable high chair....

All in all it was a really fun week and we enjoyed reminiscing about how fun our wedding reception was 2 years ago. I love you, Joe!