short years

After we matched, I knew that our move was going to come faster than we thought, so first thing was first and we found a place to live in Salt Lake. (Check.) Then I was mostly focused on our trip to Rhode Island. (Check.) Then I was making Katie's Easter dress. (Check.) Then I mostly focused on our trip to Quebec City. (Check. Post and pics to come.) Now reality is sinking in and I am realizing that Dave graduates in 3 weeks. And then we move. What the heck? And what better way to review the passage of time than by our Easter pictures from the last 4 years.

 2010. 3 months before we moved. Ages: almost 2, almost 4

2011

2012

2013

2014. Photo credit: our good friend Eli

Crazy. My kids looks so big. When did this happen? I am in major denial about this phase of my life ending so I will just stop now.

shout it out with joyful voice

About a year ago, I got a phone call from a good friend who happened to be serving in the bishopric at the time. (The Bishopric is the local leaders of our church, comprised of three men, a Bishop and his counselors, who lead the congregation. For more information about our local organization see HERE or just ask.) He asked me to speak in church on Easter Sunday on how the Resurrection has blessed my life.

Though I have a firm belief in the reality of Christ's resurrection,  I never really applied it to my life now. Studying for the talk deepened my testimony of not only the Resurrection, but also in his Atoning sacrifice. I learned that time after time in the Bible, Christ testified of his mission to heal us spiritually by healing others physically.  "For whether is easier, to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Arise, and walk?" (Matt 9:5)

A year has passed, and with it experiences that have taught me more about the amazing power of the Resurrection. That same friend and his wife, Christy, lost there little girl in November. I have thought of them so many times this week as I have thought about my Savior. The reality of the Resurrection has become so much more real for them. It means that they get to see their little girl again. Jane will live again and they will see her and hold her! Even though my heart still aches for them and their two little boys, I am so happy for them that they have Hope in Christ. The sting of death is swallowed up in Christ.

For all who have lost, the Hope is the same. Christ lives! Though I have spent my week sewing Katie's Easter dress and dying eggs, the glory of this holiday is the glory of the Lord.


Hallelujah. He is Risen!

great things come in small states

We officially crossed the last of the New England states off of our "to visit" list this weekend with a trip to Rhode Island. We left after PTCs Friday morning and headed to Providence. We didn't really know what to do expect. I had looked a few options online, so we had a plan, but we didn't really know what to expect.

We started off walking down Benefit Street, which has a ton of really old (Colonial) buildings. One of the coolest was the First Baptist Church in America. And not just the "First Baptist" that you see on half of the baptist churches in the country and you jokingly say, "oh, hey, this is the first one. Haha." No this one actually was the first Baptist Church in the United States.

Then we walked up the State Capital and then into an enormous and ritzy mall right next to it so that Ana could go to the bathroom. While we were there, though, Ana and I walked into Tiffany and Co to look around and they gave her a bracelet. I told her she was a lucky girl to get a bracelet from Tiffany's. (It is a blue plastic blank armband bracelet, but still.)

 

We headed toward the car, but we decided to walk around Brown University for a minute on the way. There is something about University campuses that I love. There is an atmosphere of energy and excitement and hope for the future and it feels like there is knowledge just hanging in the air waiting to be grasped. So we started down a street hoping to walk across the quad but due to a concert we couldn't cut across. And then it was about 5 blocks before we could cut across towards our car. By the time we could, we were all starving and there just happened to be a little burger joint on the corner. The streets were swarming with college kids, but the place looked good enough so we decided to go it. Best. Decision. Ever. The burgers and fries were delicious. The obviously don't get many kids in there because they gave us a free huge cookie and when we ordered a nutella shake (which was DIVINE) they gave us two small ones for the kids in addition to the normal size one.We made it to our cars full and happy and headed to our hotel. (Of course, the kids favorite part of the trip was swimming in the hotel the next morning.)

Saturday we went down to Newport, RI. We had heard it was a cool place and to check out the Mansions. These turn-of-the-century homes were the summer "cottages" to wealthy families, including the Vanderbilts. We went to two (think Pride and Prejudice home touring) - The Breakers (the biggest and most grand) and the Marble House (the most lavish.) They were super impressive. The former had 70 rooms and was actually considered "simple" compared to other Victorian era homes, though they had platinum panels in one room and everything was ornate. The other was incredibly opulent, almost gaudy. A shrine to wealth. An entire room was gilded in gold. There was 500,000 cubic feet of marble used in its construction. The tours (self-guided audio tours that our kids really enjoyed) talked a lot of the women of the house and it was interesting that though they were sisters-in-law, they were so incredibly different in personality. (I am still deciding what I think of them. I will have to discuss more of this later.)

We also spent some time driving around Newport, walking the streets and looking in shops. We ended the day playing at the beach. The air by then was chilly, and the water was freezing (I am told.) But it was a good way to get the kids last few wiggles out before the drive home. Ana and Dave put their feet in the water. Jack chased the waves. Or rather they chased him. Katie mostly shivered and was very worried about the waves lapping on the shore, but it was still fun. We got as much sand off as a could and loaded back in the car, headed up the smallest state through farms and vineyards, got a quick bite to eat, and the kids drifted off to sleep.

At one point during the weekend, Katie exclaimed, "This is the best day of my life!" She probably got it from Olaf, but still, it does make a parent feel good. Here's to wholesome recreational activities and small states.

keepsakes

Ana, April 2010. I came across it today. It's one of my favorites.

As part of my "40 Bags" challenge (which has really morphed into a 40 areas challenge because I don't really fill a whole bag every day) I pulled out some files out of my filing cabinet tonight labeled "keepsakes." Surprisingly, most of what found its way all the way into the folders were actually things I wanted to keep, (unlike the "to file" drawer of my desk that was 3 years full of random things, only a handful of which were actually keep-worthy) so my throw-out pile was small.

I am not very fast when it comes to these things. I look at every picture. I read every card. (And then I decided to move all my cards to a shoebox to make the folder a little flatter.) I am a collector and I am hopelessly nostalgic. As I was going through these treasures, a few things came to mind.

1.) I really need to be better about writing thank you cards. Those little notes of thanks mean a lot to me. I keep many of them.  I am touched by the sincerity and vulnerability it takes to express such heartfelt thanks for my small, seemingly insignificant contributions. I should do that more often for others.

2.) I have such wonderful people in my life. I have friends and family all over the country. I have been influenced and inspired by friends and neighbors and even acquaintances. I have had times when I have given and times when I have received. I read cards of sympathy during a surgery or miscarriage, cards of congratulations for milestones and baby births, cards of thanks for small things I had done, and cards and letters just to say "hi." I am so incredibly blessed.

3.) My kids are growing up way too fast. Ana is becoming so tall and thin. Katie has a full head of hair now. Jack was younger than Katie when we moved here. Time has flown by. Each picture is just a fleeting moment, but seeing them all together in one place weaves a story of a life. There were even a few pictures mixed in of me and Dave when we were young. Time flies by so quickly. I can't even remember my 4-year-old self at all, and even Ana's 4-year-old self is quickly fading from my memory as life moves on.

Life really is all about relationships. We are all children of God and how we relate to our brothers and sisters here is the most important thing on earth. I found a list of 50 things I want to do in my life tucked away in one of my files. Most of them I still want to accomplish, like "get a master's degree." But even if I do, I hope that it never becomes more precious than a shoebox full of cards, or a love-note from my husband, or a painted hand print of my daughter.

spring has sprung ...

And by "sprung" I mean, slowly creeping upon us. The snow is slowly melting during the day and refreezing at night. The ground is soft and squishy and the grass that is emerging is barely starting to take on a light green color.

But we had 2 beautiful sunny days this week and that is more than I could ever hope for. I felt so happy with the sunshine on Tuesday that I was giddy.  Wednesday after school we walked down to our housing office to give them our move-out notice. We dawdled our way down and back, thoroughly enjoying the almost-50 degree weather. The kids ran ahead or lagged behind. Sometimes they walked through puddles and sometimes avoided them. They carried sticks and smashed snow. And we all got a big kick out of breaking ice that had a river of melted snow running underneath it. Even when we got back to the house we stayed outside and watched the water run down our road like a small creek. The kids threw rocks, we built mini dams, and we visited with neighbors who emerged from their homes after the long, cold winter.

not so terrible

playing train

I love having a 2-year-old. I suppose 2 gets a bad rap because of the mess-making, tantrum-throwing, and hitting/pinching/biting/whatever-other-thing-your-toddler-does and somehow they get the title "terrible." Surely, Katie does have all of those "terrible" behaviors, but in my 7 years 8 months 11 days as a parent I have learned that ALL phases of childhood has its "terrible" things.  (And they all have their wonderful things too, for sure.)

But 2 (up to about 4) year-olds have the biggest pay off for me. I love how they learn and grow at this stage. They change and figure things out and learn to talk and express themselves and their personality really emerges.  One of my favorite things is the funny things they say.

Some of my favorite Katie-isms:

*Upon seeing her nightlight flicker a bit: "My nightlight has gone haywire!" (I didn't even know she knew this word. I guess she learned it from her favorite show, Paw Patrol.)

* "You the best Mommy ever!" (always accompanied by a big hug and kiss and said several times a day.)

*"Yoohoo! Hi, Family!" (quoting Frozen, her favorite movie.)(She is quite the movie/TV-quoter by the way. She quotes Paw Patrol, Frozen, and even occasionally Princess Bride.)

*"What I can do for you?" She says this frequently. She said it the other day for Jack and he didn't really hear her, but she said looked up at the ceiling scratching her head and then said, "I know. A drink of water." Then she ran to me and asked me to get her a drink which she promptly took to Jack. She felt very proud of herself for doing something nice for her brother.

*When she wears her puddle-jumper around the house: "I have big muscles!"

She also insists Dave shave his face before she will kiss him (not a fan of the whiskers), is known to say, "Its not fair!" anytime she doesn't get her way (something she learned from older siblings) and she frequently wants to wear her spinny-est church dress during the week. (I let her.) And she won't go potty by herself, which is somewhat annoying.

I can't imagine my home without a little 2.

match day

Friday might as well have been Christmas. Dave and I couldn't sleep the night before, I woke up a few times in the night and then as soon as the alarm went off I was awake. The kids were excited too. They were wondering when we would know and how we would find out. We got them off to school and then fussed around the house for a bit until it was time to go up to the school. Heather took pictures of the event for us and I am so glad she did.

Every school does Match Day a little differently.  After a couple brief remarks by the Dean and the UVM president, they began calling up students randomly to open up your envelope and announce it to your classmates. It was fun to see everyone's reactions. It was TORTURE waiting though. Dave was called up almost at the end.

Woohoo! We waited a long time for this day.

The class's grand entrance.

Waiting. We were trying to decide where to stand. Dave can't stand in the front, but I can't see in the back. A common problem in our relationship. :)

Here we go... Where is it going to be?

Nervous

"Hi, I'm Dave. This is Erin. I am going into Pediatrics."

UNIVERSITY OF UTAH - Primary Children's Hospital

Hooray! Our #1 choice.

They gave the class these signs to hold up. Of course Dave chose the one with the LeBron reference.

Dave had 4 other classmates (2 couples) that matched at the U. We are so excited to be going there with them. One of them will be in Pediatrics with Dave. They are all awesome.

When we told the kids after school they were so excited to hear that we will be by grandparents, cousins, and get to see so many of our friends that travel to Utah. They want to help us look for houses and everything. We are so excited!

2 days more

Want to hear a story?

Yeah, me too. Truth be told I can't form two coherent sentences. I am so anxious for match day on Friday, when we find out where we matched for residency. I am wandering around my house thinking that I probably should be cleaning house and doing laundry but then I walk past the big map of the United States in our dining room and all I can think is "Where?" So then I compulsively look up houses in various places so that on Friday morning when we open that envelope I can have some peace of mind knowing that we will find a place to live that will be wonderful for our family.

In other news, Ana has attended school 1 1/2 days in the last week due to a snow day, a teacher in-service day and now she is sick. She is now watching Frozen for the 2nd time. I love that movie!

This is how we waited out the snow storm

If you want to watch the Match ceremony, you can follow this link. It is Friday at 12:00 Eastern time.

https://www.uvm.edu/~comvideo/podcast_folder/show.php?fn=/2014.03.21_MATCH_DAY.mp4

stories

"Tell me a story." I think this was the basis of my courtship with my husband. We would be sitting on a couch - in his apartment or mine or in a student lounge somewhere - with his legs stretched out over mine and he would ask for a story. And then I would tell him of something that happened when I was little, or past boyfriends, or whatever experience came to mind. He would tell his stories too. We both had relatively light-hearted and happy childhoods, so the stories were usually happy. And then we decided to have to same story for the rest of forever. And I think we are just about to the point where we know all of each other's stories. Once in a while, though, a story will come out that we don't know. I like it when that happens.

I am currently reading this book. It was recommended to Dave by a doctor and after he was done I picked it up. It is a collection of stories by a pediatrician turned grief/cancer counselor and it is full of beautiful stories of life and hope and faith and truth and, mostly, healing.

Everyone's life is a collection of stories. We all have painful stories. We all have triumphant stories. We all have stories of turmoil and stories of peace. We have stories that teach us obvious things and stories that we wonder what the lesson is for decades. As we share these stories, we connect to others. We bless their lives and our own. We give and receive and learn about ourselves and others. We learn to love - truly and deeply. We become less judgmental.

In this era of social media, I hope we don't forget to tell our stories. Blogs are wonderful for sharing stories and that is one of the reasons that I love them.  In fact, sometimes I get so caught up in strangers' stories that I forget that the people in my life that I love the most have wonderful stories that I am not hearing.

Recently we have started sharing stories around the dinner table. Dave and I take turns telling the kids things from our past. There have been a few of Dave's stories that I haven't heard yet. I love it when he tells the kids his stories, even the ones I already know. They love it too. When I tell Ana that I know how she is feeling, she wants to hear the story about it. Often it helps her deal with her emotions. 

When I was young I used to beg my mom to write down her life story. She always said that there was nothing to tell. But the stories I have heard over the years have brought a lot of strength to me. Like the time when she was pregnant with her 5th kid and my dad was writing his master's thesis. My dad had never learned to type, but Mom had so she would stay up late with him while he wrote it out by hand and she typed it. While he was writing she would lay down on the couch and sleep and then wake up to type some more. That is love. Or the time she had such a rough time handling the kids in sacrament meeting while my dad was in a bishopric or overseas or something and so afterward she went home and skipped the rest of church. I was shocked to hear that from my mother, but also relieved because she always seemed like she could handle anything and I was so far from that. Suddenly I felt like I was probably doing just fine.

I love the subtitle of the book: Stories that heal. Sharing our stories, around the world and around the dinner table, can heal our hearts, our lives and probably the world.

musings of math, mars, and moving

It is still very cold outside. I am so ready for spring, but I know it is still weeks away. I can get through this. ... Two things have been occupying my spare time the last 2 weeks, both of which will probably just prove how big of a dork I am.

1. I have been meticulously going through the World of Math challenge over at Khan Academy. Basically I am brushing up on my Math skills to see what I remember and what I never learned.  And I really really like it. I spend about 30 minutes or more a day doing it.  I am not even going to pretend that I am naturally good at it. I make a lot of really simple mistakes. But I feel good doing it.

2. Dave and I over the last 2-3 weeks have been going through Veronica Mars on Amazon Prime. He started it and I was skeptical but after a few episodes we were both hooked. We just finished a couple days ago, just in time for the follow up movie to come out next week. And we will be watching the movie.


I pulled up all of my bins of kids' clothes to go through. I am working towards getting rid of 40 Bags in 40 Days. I have always liked the tradition of Lent, though we don't officially observe it, and I was trying to think of what I would give up for Lent this year when my sister pointed me in this direction. It goes perfectly with what I wanted to do to get ready to move, too. Do you know how weird it is to know you are going to move but not to know where you are moving but you know the exact date on which you will find out where you are moving and that it is now out of your hands? It's crazy.  Maybe that's how my Mom felt all those military years. I have a new appreciation for her and my sister who is currently doing that. Anyway, I now have 2 large garbage bags full of kids' clothes that are either worn out or I don't love and tomorrow they will be removed from the house. Dave and I also went through our own clothes and found another garbage bag full of clothes. Yay for getting rid of stuff so we don't have to move it! Here is a crappy iPod photo of my view of my living room. 

Also, today was my last day watching little Zach. I can't believe how fast time has gone. On Monday his mom is having another baby and won't be going back to work. He is such a sweet little guy and I have really loved getting to know his parents better. They are such a great family and we will miss them so much!

And that is my last two weeks. In two more we will know where we are moving. Time flies.