Taking a breather

I have been packing a little over a month now. I'd pack a couple boxes a day and then take it easy. The number of boxes I pack each day has risen, and so has the idea that I never want to pack this many boxes again. I have a sense that my life will be a nomadic one and I need to become a minimalist ( I have moved every year for the past 8 years). And, I think I'm okay with the idea. I only wear about three shirts, one long pair of pants, and a couple pair of shorts all the time...I have tons of other clothes, but I just don't wear them enough to count.

I love travelling and Lyndon wants to move to Australia after med-school, so that is reason enough to get rid of most of our possessions-no? Of course this minimalisting will get tougher as Claire and possibly other kids to come decide that they can't part with their possessions, but I'm willing to negotiate with them- "Claire you can keep that barbie or go explore the jungles of Thailand to discover medicinal properties in tree bark, it's up to you.." She'd go for it, I'm sure...

Sweet land of Liberty

This year in the provo parade when the Army trucks drove by I got a tug at my heart. The back of the huge trucks are usually chuck full of service men and this year they were empty or contained only about two guys. - Thanks, for fighting for freedom, everyone's freedom.-

Our day in pictures

Lyndon and I took a little trip up to Stewart Falls with his family. I naively thought it would only take us about 2 hours, but I forgot to take into account our little nephew. So it only ended up taking us 4 hours to go up and back, but we truly had a great time!Here's little Tookie getting ready for the bing hike.
She chewed on Lyndon's camel-back the whole time.
Yes, still chewing...

So would you visit us here?.......

Hanover, New Hampshire- home of Dartmouth College Medical School.

Lyndon got accepted there today and we are both stoked! He's been stuck on the waiting list for a couple months now and had been calling the admissions office every week to let them know he was still interested in their school (we had nothing to lose by annoying them) and it worked!!! We already got into the near campus student town houses (we did it even before we were accepted) and now all I have to do is change our moving truck reservations from Wauwatosa Wisconsin, to New Hampshire!

Claire is 1 year old!

It's amaizing how fast time has gone and how deep this little one has placed herself in my heart. I never thought I would love being a Mom as much as I do and I definately never thought I would be such a worrier over her either.

Those family members who live in close proximity know this and may judge me for it too, but what can I say, she's my first. However, after the next kid comes along, I'll let you know if that really is the case, or if I really have become something I never intended...a worry-wart.

Some of the reasons why?

-I want to avoid certain parenting methods others practice and think I should practice.

-I have the oddest dreams of forgetting to feed Claire, or locking her in the car......etc.

-She's my first and I have the time and energy to worry about a lot.

-Don't trust certain people (which is one I never thought would be my "beef" before-at least not in the way I am experiencing it)

'nough said

So, not to sound negative, despite that I texted my parents 10 times during the movie Lyndon, Rich, Xav, and I went to see last night (Prince Caspean - awesome, loved it, makes you feel good movie) I am getting better, a little better, about leaving my 1 year old!

Happy Birthday!

HAIR

Little Miss Claire Roxy doesn't always let me do her hair (she always pulls out whatever I've attempted to do immediately after it's done), but on those occations that she lets her "doo" be or actually not be, I of course have to take a picture.

Sweet car, nice day, and a fun adventure.

So my parents went off on a cruse with all my Dad's siblings and parents, but kindly left their cars at home (Dad's Nissan has a lot of get up and go, not to mention better gas mileage than our truck). So what did Lyndon and I do? Well, we took a nice little drive around Utah Lake and the surrounding areas of "home explosions". He also had tons of fun taking random pictures...

As we drove through Goshen, we noticed this odd abandoned mine on the face of the mountain, so we took a detour and strolled up there.

The ponds were beautiful, but contaminated with mining residue, so what did I do? I stuck my hand in to see how warm the water was (it was called Warm Springs and it was very warm).There was also a lovely dead skunk, so we of course took its picture.

Too bad Lyndon and I forgot to bring a can of spray paint, so that we could express our feelings all over the falling apart building as well. I'll have to remember to keep some in my bag for our next random trip.