dayton summer

 I was watching the weather earlier today and I am SO SO SO glad that we are in Dayton and not in San Antonio. Or in half the other states across the country!  our highs have been mid-eighties with low humidity here and it has been pure heaven. This is what summer should be like!!

We've been playing like crazy this week and I have just a few pictures.

Kent and the rugrats love throwing around  boomerangs in the backyard!  Our backyard has it's own little jungle.  Half is shaded- half is not. We have the greatest deck and patio.  It's perfect, really.

 Unless, of course, you aren't any good at boomerang tossing. And then you are constantly searching for the mis-thrown ones!

We also have a fabulous splash pad less than a mile from our house.  Splash pads are fabulous inventions.

Tomorrow starts Kent's first 'real' day of residency.  And because of the holiday- he actually gets a four day weekend. This residency thing isn't too bad so far :)  not a bad way to start residency!  Hopefully we'll get some good pictures this weekend.

did you see a goat born this weekend?!

This past week we got the sicks at our house.  A little vomiting- diarrhea-some fevers- sore throats-headaches-sinus pain- you know. The regular.  Everybody got it in some form. I was thankfully spared everything but the minor headaches and sinus issues.  And it's about stinking time. I'm the one who's had the throw-ups the past THREE TIMES!

Friday night Kent was still sick so we decided to get some Papa Murphy's pizza (I'm so happy they have it here!!!) and stay in.  But then I just couldn't take it. They were doing constant flyovers of cool planes that we could see from our yard and that night there was going to be a huge fireworks show on base. Since Kent is working during the 4th of July fireworks- I decided we HAD to go and watch the base fireworks!!  We left our house at 9:30- saw the ten o'clock fireworks and made it home by eleven with the boys fast asleep in their carseats.

We just put out or blankets on a grassy hill and enjoyed the show. They were actually pretty good fireworks and I think we made some family memories.  Kent keeps reminding me that Zeb is going to be remembering stuff we do from here on out so we have to make good memories :)

 Ike was adorable with his 'bobo'.  He kept hugging him and telling him about the fireworks. and then he threw him in the road.  Such a little turkey right now.

Saturday was even better. I taught my first bootcamp class here and loved it.  We went to a church service activity, did some of our own yard work (it's taking some adjusting getting used to having our own yard!!), and then had an adventurous afternoon with friends.

We took a short drive out to the 'Young's Jersey Dairy' in Yellow Springs, Ohio, with some friends and had a blast.
I'm sure we looked like quite the spectacle with all of our kidlets running around- but we loved it. And the weather was perfect.  Warm and sunny but not hot or humid.

Our boys have no fear when it comes to animals. I think we actually cured them of the fear when we tortured them at the Safari last year.  If you haven't read that post- you must. Our kiddos loved feeding the goats and letting them lick their hands and arms.  It totally grossed me out.

Everybody (including the dads) loved riding the 'moovers and the shakers' train.

Here's our party of people :)

Zeb was so excited to be in the plane caboose.

Then we played a round of 'putt-putt'.  That's miniature golf for all you non midwesterners.  This is where we looked most like a zoo.  The kids had so much fun and did astoundingly well until about hole 14.

Ike chose a pink ball and a pink club.  It's his favorite color right now.

I think this is hole 14.  All five kiddos trying to play the same hole at the same time. We went straight to 18 after this.

To end out the afternoon we got ridiculously large ice cream cones and made an insane mess. The ice cream was really good and really fresh.

Just before leaving we decided to take one last look in the animal barn- and stumbled upon quite the experience.  We spotted what appeared to be a VERY uncomfortable goat in the corner. The goat started writhing and bleating loudly- and then her belly started heaving. She was totally in labor and we saw the whole thing from start to finish.  The goat gave birth right there in front of us. It was really really amazing to watch. 

Don't mind the graphic pictures :)

Thanks for the great afternoon, Stewarts!!

We can't promise anything that exciting for visitors but we'd still love to take anybody to the dairy :)

adventures in the new neighborhood!

Kent officially started residency the Monday after graduation- but the real stuff (long hours/nights/etc.) doesn't start until July 1st- so for now we are just enjoying a month of easy hours and a real paycheck :)

Yesterday I made a quick trek back to Toledo to take care of a few unfinished things, return a library DVD, pick up left items, and see some friends.  It was fast and short- but really nice.

Tuesday Kent got off super early and we spent the afternoon checking out our new neighborhood.

We've got THE greatest neighborhood pool!  There's a kiddie pool, lap pool, diving board, and regular pool area!  It's AMAZING.  Too bad I don't love to swim!  But I do love the  kiddie area and we'll be going frequently- as long as the constant thunderstorms let up!

There's also a playground down by the pool area.  Zeb found himself in a precarious situation on the monkey bars.  They are in a giant arc and he got to the top with no way to get down.

We also found a very cool 'hidden passageway'- according to Zeb.  He LOVES things like that right now and insisted on going exploring into the woods! It was a pretty cool little area- although very hot and muggy.

The kids LOVED throwing rocks in the water and 'hunting for cool things'.

So far so good here in Dayton :)  I really miss the good friends I had in Toledo but I realize it takes time to start over and get into those types of relationships again!  I'm just doing everything I can to stay busy! Just today I went in and signed the papers to start working at the YMCA here!  I'm super excited and teach my first class on Saturday!!  I'm addicted to being busy and I'm glad I've got stuff started up to keep me going.

last few days.

Here's a SUPER belated zeb and henry birthday post !  Zeb's birthday was june 1- and henry's was june 6th- so we had a little party for the two of them when the Hawes came in to town!

Nothing more fitting than a race track for these two crazy boys. They both adore trains/cars/trucks/planes, etc.  I really wanted to do a fancy fun cake for Zeb's b-day but all of our stuff was packed by the time I remembered!

I'm not entirely certain why I decided to get black frosting on a toddler's birthday cake- but they did love it.

We made a last great trek to the zoo for the kiddos' party and they loved it. 

I have no idea what Laney and Henry are touching here.  It looked like a ginormous rat.

Ike dropped his popcorn on the road and would not budge until every last kernel was picked up.

Kent's parents took the little rascals on the train and had a blast. Not once while we lived in toledo did I ride the train to see the 'African Safari'. I guess I'm just too cheap!

I had a bunch more pictures- but our computer is being looney and I can't access them right now. 

Here are three last pictures of our Toledo adventures!  I got way too stressed and busy the last two days to get too emotional about leaving- but when I had to say goodbye to Roxanne- there were some tears. She is the most amazing lady EVER.  Every day in the winter she'd scrape my car windows AND shovel a path from the door of our apt to the car! She'd always leave treats for the boys hanging on our apartment door and on the car.  She really is one of my favorite things about toledo!  and Ellen- the most amazing manager ever.  We were so well taken care of there. I really really miss them.  We love you Roxanne and Ellen!!!!!

The last morning looking out the window of our apartment. I miss toledo a lot.  I even miss our cramped apartment :)

And the HUGE truck that BARELY fit our stuff.  My goodness. Every packing calculator I tried said our stuff would fit with extra room- but it was mighty tight- and this thing was a BEAST!!!

he's a Captain! oh- and a doctor, too!

Graduation!!!

The big day came and went in a giant whirlwind of chaos!

The seven military graduates wore their dress uniforms instead of the typical grad gowns and I think they looked pretty impressive.  This is their 'military face' picture.  Kent's military face isn't too intimidating :)

I'm a pretty big fan of the dress blues! and it was nice to have Kent stand out a little so I could see him amongst all of the graduates!

During the ceremony all of the grads are 'hooded' with colored hoods (all doctorate programs hood their grads. it's some sort of weird scholarly tradition)- but the hood was placed over kent's arm instead over his uniform because it's against military rules to alter the uniform in any way.

They did get their own special part of the program where they were all commissioned to the rank of Captain.  It was pretty cool. 

Here's Kent with his four other friends from BYU who all did school together here. We were all in the same ward and they got to know each other pretty well.

Kent's parents came out for the big event and were a humongous help with moving and cleaning and watching kiddos!  Thank-you!!!

After graduation we went out to dinner with Kent's parents and Laney and taylor and it was great.  Laney and taylor missed out on the actual graduation (although I don't think they were too upset about not having to sit through three hours of hearing 200 people's names they cared nothing about!) to watch our kiddos.  It would have been torturous to wrestle Zeb and Ike for the three hours- so thank-you Laney and taylor!!

Dinner was delicious and I'm really sad that there is no Elephant Bar and Grill in Dayton!!

I realize that I make this face in quite a few pictures- but I do it so you can all sense my enthusiasm and excitement about things.  :)   Here I am pointing to Kent's Captain bars. I got to put them on him. I'm told it's tradition for the wife to do it.

The day was pretty bitter sweet. So sad to think about this chapter of our lives coming to an end. I really have loved living such a crazy/busy- yet pretty simple life. I can't even begin to try and write about how much I have loved Toledo- but the past four years of blogging have partially shown that!!  It's also so crazy and exciting to think about everything that Kent (and I) have done in the past four years.  We took a HUGE and ridiculously heavy tub full of kent's school notes to the dumpster the day we left and Kent told me that's what his brain feels like sometimes.  I can't even begin to understand the amount of information he's piled into his brain. It's unimaginable.  Kent's amazing and I couldn't have found a more perfect person to be with forever :) Thanks for your fabulous brain capacity, kent!!  Way to go муж! тебя люблю.

we're back! and I ran 26.2 miles!!! ahhhhhhhh.

I've got so many events to blog I'm not even sure what to do!

I'm going to start with the most recent events and go backwards- so don't get confused :)

Post numero uno.

The Beast. aka the Marathon. what an experience.

I must start out by stating that I am 100% positive that I was blessed with two miracles. thank you for all of the  prayers.

#1- my hip made it through the race and didn't flare up terribly until the end.  It had prevented me from putting in my last two longest runs and was bothering me constantly.  The day of the race it performed like a champ :)

#2.  the weather.  The midwest was struck by a heat wave and was breaking records like crazy for temperature and heat index.  The entire week or two before my marathon was CRAZY hot and humid.  Some days were absolutely unbearable.  The day before my race- Carmel Indiana was 94 degrees with terribly humidity.  I do NOT do hot. and I guarantee that I would have NOT completed my race in those conditions.  Race day the high was 77.  The coldest day in weeks.  I know it was a miracle.

To make a long story short- I really wanted to run a marathon back in April with a bunch of friends I'd been training with since January-- but it was on Sunday (I don't work out/run races on Sunday because it's the Sabbath) and so I found this Saturday June race to run in Indy.  I'm so grateful that all of the conditions came together to make it possible- and I know it wasn't simply by chance.

We did have one minor mishap the night before my race that threatened to cause some problems- but that was fixed by a quick trip to the ER and a few staples.

At 10:30 PM our little monkey decided to climb out of his pack n play and then climb up onto the bathroom counter in the hotel where he proceeded to fly off backwards and gash his head open. There was a lot of blood and a gaping wound so something had to be done. Kent told Zeb and I to stay home and go to sleep and he took Ike to the nearest children's hospital. Little RASCAL.  This is his fifth visit to the ER/urgent care since he started walking/climbing/jumping.  He's a slow learner I guess.

The race itself was pretty typical - I'm assuming :) Long, hard, and exhausting.  I've never been so happy to be finished with something in my entire life.  The first half was great. I made some good friends- enjoyed the greenery and parks- and just had fun. I hit an unexpected mini wall at 14. The sun came out and was pretty intense- but then the clouds came back out it cooled down a bit again!  Miles 18-21 weren't as hard as I thought they'd be (especially considering that 18 miles is the longest I'd run in training!)- but 22-26 were brutal! one of the hardest things I've ever done for sure. the humidity was at about 80% by then and the sun was starting to shine so it was just plain exhausting.  and my hip was getting tighter with each step I took.  But I finished with a smile and it was a fabulous experience! 

 The last portion of the race I just kept reminding myself over and OVER: it is good to do hard things. The last few miles I wanted to just sit down and stop.  I just kept thinking- why does a marathon have to be 26 miles?!  can't it be 22 or even 24?!?  and honestly- those last few miles were as anxiety ridden and exhausting as dilating to a 10 and going through transition with no epidural during Ike's labor. And we all know how bad that was for me.  But that's how we grow. We do hard things and we get through them and we are made stronger through their accomplishment.

 Here I am talking to Laney right when I finished.  I just think she wanted to know my time. yes- she beat me (she ran the st. george marrathon a few years ago). By five minutes. I finished at 4:20:45. I was hoping between 4 and 4:15 but I am not disappointed!

After the race we went straight to our pals, the Dockter's, house. Thanks for the hospitality, Lindsay! I used her shower- we ate- and the kids played on the slip n slide. I thought I got some better pictures of these two pals- but no such luck.  They laughed and laughed all afternoon.

and then they cried when we had to leave! On the way home we stopped for a bathroom break (I drank so much powerade and gatorade and water I was peeing every hour for three days!) at the world's largest candle outlet.  The boys loved it!

I wasn't nearly as sore as I thought I'd be that night- or even over the past few days!  I may just do it again sometime :)

 Oh- toledo- I already miss you and I'm not even gone.

Last night we had a big farewell pool party for all of the departees! There are so many of us leaving!  and it's just plain devastating.  I didn't get pics of everyone- but thanks everyone for coming!! 

 but we had lots of delicious food.

 I'm so so sad for Zeb.  He is really really heartbroken about leaving all of his friends. He cries when we talk about it.  I can't believe that a FOUR year old (Happy birthday TODAY! buddy) can have such strong love for friends.

 Here's one of his pals, Matthew. 

 The entire night was wonderful- besides the crazy humidity!!!  The boys loved every second in the pool. Kent is the best dad.  Honestly. He played with them all night and they were in heaven.

 This kid is SUCH a water baby.

 I'm not sure how we got to this point so quickly. Only three more days left in this amazing place!! It's KILLING me.