My brother must have missed picture day in boot camp or something (which isn't that surprising) because he does not have the standard military head shot. My mom had my good friend Staci take some pictures when he was in Utah for the 4th. You put a handsome guy like Pete together with a fab photographer like Stace and you get these. Aren't they great?
Our actual Fourth was a bit of a bummer, but overall we had a great Fourth of July weekend. Friday night we were invited to a BBQ and enjoyed all the standard Fourth of July fixins...hamburgers, hot dogs, watermelon, and corn on the cob. Sunday evening we had plans to go to a nearby park for a big fireworks show (put on by the Larry H. Miller company actually). Instead, my morning or evening sickness hit full force around 4:00 p.m. and I was in bed for the night at 5:00. Seth and Taft went to the park by themselves. I was really sad that I missed it. I could hear the fireworks though and they sounded spectacular.
I have a doll of a friend named Melanee. She was the "head teacher" when I taught English in Russia. She's the same age as me, but she was like our mom while we were there. She had taught English there the semester before so she knew the ropes and guided us through our semester abroad. She and I single handedly kept Twix and Snickers in business in Russia. I don't believe a day went by that one of us didn't buy a candy bar. She's one of my favorite people in the entire world and you should get to know her too. She's started a blog called "Mirror Health" which will be her journey to accepting, liking, even loving the image she sees in the mirror. She's a certified yoga instructor and is offering FREE, yes FREE yoga classes in the Orem/Lindon area. I highly recommend you go to her class if you're in the area. Click here for more details.
I might start a weekly post called "What Weird Stuff My Neighbor Gave Me This Week". Yesterday he knocked on my door and asked if I could take some house plants off his hands. I didn't know what to say so I said yes. I had to go into his very smokey, very stinky, and very dog-hairy apartment to get two almost dead house plants. The soil has dog hair in it. Gross.
Taft has rather long phone conversations with who knows who and what about. I wish I could understand gibberish.
Spokane had a big 3 on 3 basketball tournament this weekend called Hoopfest. I think I heard it's the biggest 3 on 3 tourney in the nation. For several city blocks they had hundreds of basketball hoops set up on the street and 3 on 3 games were happening everywhere. It was pretty impressive to imagine all the work that must have gone in to setting everything up. It looked like it would have been a nightmare. We went down last night watched and watched a couple of games and walked around the rest of festivities. AND we went to Pita Pit (shout out to D & L Herway).
Spokane Tidbit: Father's Day was started here 100 years ago. (At least that's what I heard on the radio.)
We started off Father's Day with Seth sleeping in (he is usually the one to get up with Taft) and then having P-Pans for breakfast, his favorite. P-Pans are "Power Pancakes" from the Eating for Life cookbook. They are healthy if you have the recommended serving, but Seth usually eats the entire batch. They are really good though.
When we got back from church Seth had some mystery flowers waiting for him. Attached to them was a note that said "Happy Father's Day To: Seth From: Taft". Obviously Taft did not do this himself and I did not do it. Other than our landlord so far we only know 2 people in our entire building, a young college guy who smokes weed from time to time, and a old guy who has long hair with a dog named Joe. The old guy gave me some grocery coupons the other day, so I'm figuring it was him. (This may or may not have been a reason for going private)
We finished Father's Day calling our Dads, having a yummy salmon dinner, followed by home made ice cream cake, then a family walk.
We had nice weather yesterday and it was Seth's last full weekend before his real work starts. He'll start on Pediatric Surgery this week and will only have one day off a week. Bummer. We ventured out to a nearby state park for a bit to enjoy the sunny, warm weather.
My babies, both in-utero and out, seem to really love white trash food. When I was pregnant I CRAVED Doritos. Salsa Verde Doritos to be exact. I ate a lot of them. I also craved Taco Bell. I would get a bean and cheese burrito and, don't hate me, nachos. I know, it's disgusting. However, I will have you know that Taft did not have to see a doctor for being sick his entire first year of life. No cough, ear infections, high fevers, nothing. You bet I attribute that to the nutritionally packed Doritos I consumed during pregnancy.
This round of pregnancy I'm craving potato salad like no other. I'm also really in to potato chips. Especially Maui Onion. And I cannot for the life of me eat raw vegetables. I can kind of choke down cooked ones, but even that's a little hard. I think this is one of the reasons pregnant people are supposed to take prenatal vitamins. (and I am, fyi.)
We made it to Spokane. We got here Friday and unpacked most of our things. Mid-unpacking we realized we didn't have the single most important item essential to our happiness. Bumski's crib parts. Oh we had the crib alright. Just not the screws to put the thing together. Bumski slept (kinda) three nights straight just on a mattress until we got the screws shipped to us from Sandy, where we left them.
Did you know the sun rises at 4:00 a.m. here? It's cruel. Especially because that's when our darling child thinks it's time to get up.
Other than those two complaints, things are going pretty well. I found the Target today so that's cool. It was 50 degrees and raining today and that's not cool. But I hear the weather in Utah isn't all that great either.
We went to church on Sunday and people were super nice. There are a bunch of little kids and a playgroup that meets every week so maybe Bumski and I will make some friends.
Seth gets free food practically everyday and since we're so close to the hospital he comes home and shares with me. Free food rocks.
We have high hopes for this week to be nice so we can get out and enjoy our new town. I think we're going to like it here. Although Seth did describe the people as "Seattle Chic meets White Trash" then someone we were talking to today added "Slash Nirvana Grunge Scene". Spokane = Seattle Chic/White Trash/Nirvana Grunge.
While we've been unpacking and getting settled Taft's been honing in his dance skills. Looks like he takes after his dad.
p.s. Seattle Chic = High class outdoorsy. People wearing Patagonia and North face jacket vests, Chacos or Dansko clogs, drive Subarus, and drink Starbucks coffee.
We went on a trip this past week with my family. We rented a minivan so we could all drive together and have extra family togetherness time. I've never really wanted a minivan in my future and as much as I hate to admit it, minivans are pretty rockin. This video pretty much solidified my new opinion that minivans are dope.
