Guess what?!

I'm updating our blog! Although, I don't have a new name for it. We've made the move to Boise, Idaho and Derrel is well over half way finished with his first year of residency in Internal Medicine. We're so happy to be near family and we pinch ourselves every once in a while to know it's real! We do miss our dear friends in West Virginia and they will always have a special place in our hearts!

Here are some updated pictures of our family. Hopefully there will be more to come soon!

Austin's first birthday:

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Christmas Eve:


Christmas Day:



Look at those faces;)






Kate lost her first tooth!

Update. . . . .FINALLY!

Well, it's been a while. We've been really busy with callings and kids and callings and school! But I feel that I have much updating to do=) I should be outside enjoying the beautiful weather here in between conference sessions, but it's as hot as sin outside. We had feet of snow on the ground 4 weeks ago and it is in the 90's today!!! I should have knocked on wood when I wished for warm weather.

Derrel is almost done with his 3rd year of medical school. We apply to residencies by September, which is just C-R-A-Z-Y and exciting! We have no idea where we will end up. We feel differently every other day. But we are crazy excited for the next phase, not that residency is exciting but it just the next step closer to being done with school forever!! Lydia asked Derrel one day what grade he was in. After figuring it out, he is (brace yourselves) in 21st grade! Holy cow, that's a smart guy if you ask me! He is doing well and LOVES being able to work with patients. He is SO good at it, too! He was just called to be the Ward Mission Leader and is so excited to work on missionary work here. There is so much to be done!

I am in my 3rd year of medical school, too. Maybe not going to school, but supporting it nonetheless! I am still Young Women President in our little growing ward. It's challenging but so incredibly rewarding. I LOVE my YW! I am getting geared up (physically and emotionally) for a 2 month hiatus to Utah/Idaho. I am a home body and I like my bed and my house and my kitchen. I don't deal with long trips very well so I'll apologize to anyone beforehand that I am a little basket case when traveling. At least I don't have to worry about pregnancy hormones on a trip like this=) All in all, I am doing well, running as much as I can. I have finished 3 half marathons in the last 6 months and have plans for two more in the next 4 months. I just can't kick this 8 lb holiday weight gain. Urgh. At least I can run a half marathon right?

Lydia has some big news! She won first place in a writers contest in the 1st and 2nd grade level for our county. They have submitted her story on the state level and she has been invited to go to the West Virginia Young Writer's Day in May for her accomplishments. She is extremely excited and is so bright and loves to read and write. I'll have to post her adorable story she wrote. She's really been into drawing, too. She is taking piano lessons and catches on SO quickly! She amazes us everyday! When she gets her mind set on something, she will do it until it is accomplished. I wish I had a little bit of that in me. She must have taken it FROM me and that's why I don't have the drive she does=). She'll be 7 in June and has had her birthday party planned out since January.


Kate is the heart of our family. She'll be 5 in September and much to her chagrin will have to forgo kindergarten for one more year. She will do preschool at Lydia's elementary school and is SO excited. She follows Lydia and wants to do everything exactly like her. She is the kindest little girl and has become so spunky. Everyone in her preschool class loves her-little miss popular. It cracks me up! Kate is so imaginative and can play by herself contently for hours! It's really helpful when I have a lot to get done. She is so excited for our trip out west and to see all of her cousins and friends.


Grant is our little man, or should I say BIG man. He'll be two in June (where has the time gone?!?) and he is a mover. You have to keep your eye on this one. He's not a big talker, just too busy looking for cars and trucks and sisters to tackle. He's almost 32 lbs and growing. I LOVE LOVE LOVE having a boy. Boys are so different than girls. Grant is such a goofball. He loves to make the girls giggle and they are so patient with his crazy boyishness. He gets a little upset everyday about the same time and sometimes the only thing that calms him down is putting on the movie Cars. He stops whatever he is doing and watches, mesmerized. It's amazing!

(watching Cars)

Well, we are still alive and well. Life is busy but we are so happy and all healthy and loving every minute of being here in West Virginia (just not the snow). But we do look forward to the day that we might be back closer to family! But for now, we'll just enjoy where we are.

HAPPY EASTER!

Bathroom, toilets and crawling

Well, with our tax return, we have decided to remodel the main bathroom in our house. It was REALLY outdated with an avacado green fiberglass bathtub and sink (if you want to see the tub, look at the picture of Grant in the tub below). The vinyl floor was speckled with gold. It was a sight to see! We have totally gutted it (these pictures don't show the sheetrock and floor boards ripped out). It's very exciting and we have a LOT of plans for it. I'll post after pictures when it's finished.

The next great news is that Kate is officially potty trained. It took 3 days and a 1 1/2 accidents (no poop accidents). If I had known it would be so quick and easy, I would have done it months ago. She is so excited to finally be able to go on the big girl potty. Yeah!! No more of these saggy DIAPERS for Kate!

Thirdly, our little boy is giGRANTic!! He is crawling and has been crawling for a few weeks now. This kid is HUGE! His hands are garGRANTuan. I LOVE it. He loves his big sisters. They make him laugh all of the time. He's adorable and has such a special place in our home. Here's a few pictures and videos of Grant. Just so you know, too, Grant just got his FIRST TOOTH. YEAH, what a fun age he's at!!!! Here's a few pictures and videos. Enjoy.

Kids, kids and more kids

Here's a post with lots of pictures and videos.  These kids are growing like weeds!  No one told me they were going to do that!  Grant had totally recovered and not once did his weight go down while he was sick.  He just keeps eating and eating and eating.  He is so happy and is almost crawling.  Kate is happy to be the oldest sibling at home while Lydia is away in Kindergarten.  She's a big help and is SLOWLY learning how to potty train (very very SLOWLY).  Lydia loves school and is learning so much.  She comes home with new knowledge every day.  We love listening to what she learns from her teachers and her classmates.  It's pretty colorful sometimes=) Hope you enjoy the pictures.

Kate

I've been meaning to put a post up about Kate. She is now three and well into the three stage of life, if anyone knows what I mean=). She cries about everything but doesn't even realize it. Poor girl is just having a hard time. She is still cute as ever. Grandma and Grandpa Walker came to visit in the beginning of October and about 3 hours after they left, I gave Grant a haircut. I accidentally left the clippers and scissors out and went downstairs for a brief few minutes to do laundry. I came back and noticed a few clumps of hair all over the living room floor and realized she had CHOPPED her hair on the sides in the front. Luckily she only got up to her chin and no short bang action. I put the rest of her hair in a pony tail (it was really getting long-half way down her back when it was wet) and chopped her beautiful curly ponytail off. I was a little mad at first but the second I looked in her eyes, she started balling. I couldn't be mad, she was so sad for what she had done to her hair. The minute I finished cutting her ponytail off, she begged me to watch Rapunzel. Poor girl. I think the old sweet loving Kate was cut off with her long curly locks=). She can still be sweet but she's got A LOT of SPUNK!! And a new haircut to go with it! Check it out:

before:

during:

(look at how HORRIFIED she is)


after

Birthday #3

Sorry this post is so late but I have lots to post about coming soon and I had to do it in chronological order. First order of business:

MISS KATE'S Birthday!!!!

What a big girl we have now. Big girls with BIG EMOTIONS! Wow, I thought that Lydia was emotional but Kate is out to prove me wrong. We celebrated Kate's third birthday a few weeks ago. We let her choose her favorite place to eat. We found that she really didn't care too much (Lydia cared more than Kate). Her three choices were: Chick-fil-a, Chili's and Cheddars (Cracker Barrel came in somewhere at the end). Needless to say, she changed her mind every 10 seconds so Lydia chose for her: Chili's. It was a fun little family celebration. We sure love our sweet and spunky Kate! She has been having a blast at home with her little Grant brother. She loves to play with her princess dolls and a little castle. She is a princess at heart-she won't take off her play dresses for anything.

We love you, Princess Kate.

Sisters

Kate has been very cranky lately. She has had a few very intense "episodes" with a capital E. Especially at church. I should have known it was coming for a while because she has been sweet, perfect little Kate up until now. Well, Lydia is VERY patient with her and is always trying to help her out of her episodes. Today, she was so sweet to write Kate a note all by herself:

Interpretation:
To Kate
Please be nice because I love you, Kate.
Love, Lydia
She proceeded to hand her this note with her favorite toy to cheer Kate up--it didn't work. It's the thought that counts.

Trampoline

So, we decided to buy something that I swore I'd never buy for my children. A TRAMPOLINE!! And I swore up and down that those silly lookin' nets for it were even worse lookin' than the trampoline itself. Well, lo and behold, we succumbed to my children's LOVE of trampolines and bought one. It has literally been heaven itself come down for my two girls. With spring and warm weather here, there isn't a day (unless it's really cold and rainy) that they don't get on the thing. I LOVE IT and it gets in a little exercise!

Hospital

I hate to admit that I wish it were me going to the hospital to have a baby (which would be horrible at 32 weeks) but it wasn't me this time. Kate was really getting sick since Sunday. She was wheezing and breathing really fast with a fever. We called her doctor after hours and she said to take her into the ER just to be safe. Derrel and I debated for a few minutes who should go and I decided that I should take it for the team. He is in such a hard time at school right now, it wouldn't be good for him to get behind in his sleep. So at 12:30 in the morning, I went to the hospital with Kate. They gave her a breathing treatment and took a chest x-ray. She has acute bronchitis and the doctor said that it always could be a little of RSV but we didn't want to put an IV in her to do lab work. So we need a little rest and relaxation around here I guess. It just surprises me because the weather has been so nice. But it is all of a sudden really cold and wet. Well, she's doing a little better now. I'm sure she'll be just fine soon enough! She's a tough one and she likes to play with Lydia too much to be sick.

No nap? Go figure. . . .

This is what happens when Kate doesn't get a nap. You'll notice that, at times, I am laughing uncontrollably while trying to hold the camera still. Doesn't really work that well. You'll also notice that throughout her "sleep" she still manages to get a few bites in.

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

There was a little house in the middle of the wood. . . . .

Lydia is our little singer. Here's one of our family favorites.

Kate is 2!

So Kate had a birthday, her second to be exact. She LOVED her cake! It was perfect. We made a huge chocolate chip cookie (she LOVES chocolate chip cookies). She had two friends over for her birthday. It was great. Notice how she blows her candles out. She blows through the gap in her front teeth. What a doll.

Sisters

Lydia and Kate have been playing so well together lately. I LOVE it. They are best friends. They give hugs and kisses every morning when we drop Lydia off at school. Kate gets so excited to see Lydia when we pick her up.
"Having a sister is like having a best friend you can't get rid of. You know whatever you do, they'll still be there."
Amy Li

School Pictures

Sorry about the pause in posts. Lydia started preschool. She even had a "picture day." So I took pictures of her in the morning so that when she took her picture after lunch and recess, I'd have a half way decent picture of her. I'm so happy that she let me cut her hair. The tangles in her hair were causing rifts in our relationship!=) Well, Lydia's in school, Kate misses her during the day and I am getting so much done around the house. Fall is soon approaching here. I'll definitely send you some pictures of the view. It's beautiful here in the fall!
Kate misses Lydia while she is gone but she finds things to occupy her time. This is one of Kate's friends, Elijah. He is a ball of energy and we love him lots. His dad just started medical school so we've been getting to know his family.