Dr. McKenzie!

This past week school started here and Jonathan officially became a professor, thus fulfilling his childhood dreams (although in his dreams he was at a small liberal arts college in Maine or somewhere like that where it snows a lot, but you know the being a professor part is still the same).

It suits him and he is quite happy!

Welcome to Annika's birthday party...

Here is the birthday girl!

Compared to a year ago: (she's wearing pretty much the same thing)

Annika's best friends were in attendance:

Ezra

Mom

and Dad.

Every princess needs a royal table setting

and a crown (that I totally copied from nienie)

Here was the spread. It was dinner fit for a two year old. (I copied this too)

I think she was excited.

I made Ezra his own party crown so he wouldn't feel left out.

Annika likes her birthdays.

I took a billion photos of her. I just thought she looked so beautiful.

Singing Happy Birthday...

and blowing out the candles. Which she did it all on her own.

I had high hopes for this cake. I thought about Annika's birthday a lot but really didn't prepare much. However, I did spend a lot of time trying to figure out what the perfect cake would be for her, since that is usually the centerpiece of the occasion. I ended up making one from scratch with a recipe that was called The Perfect Chocolate Cake. So although it doesn't look all that great, it tasted really good.

Look how dignified Annika ate her cake this year. It's a little different than last year...

Here she is on her first birthday. She didn't even use her hands. She just dove her face in!

In case you were wondering, Annika got this kitchen set for her birthday. Both of the kids love it a lot.

The end. Until next year.

Coyotes on campus

Yesterday as we were walking back from NKU's faculty picnic we were shocked to see a coyote in the baseball field. It was really scary! As I shouted "Jon, a wolf!" I grabbed Annika and was about to grab Ezra and make a mad dash for the car when Jonathan started laughing at me. "They aren't real" he said. "What? How do you know? Look at it!" I said very confused. Then I noticed it wasn't moving at all and started to calm down a little bit. Jonathan explained that earlier that day he was walking across campus with one of his co-workers and the guy flipped out when he spotted one of the coyotes. They were closer to one and could tell it wasn't real. Even knowing that, I still felt better when we were safely in the car. 

The above picture is exactly what the thing I saw looked like. Tell me that doesn't look real! NKU is one funny place. I wonder how many people are going to be freaked out by these things. 

Want to know why there are fake coyotes on campus? Click here.

Trailing Nature

Today we found a fun trail and took the kids for a little hike. 

Hooray for getting outside!

Ezra had to investigate the portable toilets, which was not pleasant. 

Annika collected leaves. 

Ezra chased spiders. 

Daddy whacked trees with a stick (per Ezra's request). 

Kentucky is beautiful.

A Special Treat

On Saturday, we decided to give the kids a little treat. They wanted to go to Chick-Fil-A (their favorite place to go when we lived in Indiana) so we googled the nearest one to us. We hopped in the car, drove downtown, parked in a parking garage that you will see sometime in the near future on the news. Look for the headline: "Slum parking garage collapses. Several mid-80s Cadillacs with shiny wheels destroyed."

So we walked across the street to a mall that looked like it was pretty sweet 20 years ago, you know, before all the stores left the mall and everything was covered in brown paper. We went down the escalator to the Chick-Fil-A.

Jonathan and Christina had the following conversation.

Jonathan: "Wow."

Christina: "This looks like the kind of place where, you know, stuff goes down."

So we ate Chick-Fil-A next to the fountain that put out soapy water. Ezra said those dreadful words:

"I have to go to the bathroom."

Dad said, "Okay, let's get past the guy carrying all his belongings hacking up a lung and the crew of upstanding gentlemen crowding the ATM and go to the bathroom where, of course, none of the doors will close."

While we were away, a couple of guys sitting a few tables away moved right next to Christina and Annika.

Luckily, something about us says we don't have any money.

We finished our food as fast as we could and left.

For safety reasons, no pictures were taken.

ON A HAPPIER NOTE

We then took the kids to the children's museum, which was a wonderful place. The kids had a blast, and we did too.

The Childrens Museum (and several other museums) are in the old (but still functional) central train station. We were very, very pleased with this arrangement. The station is really cool and the museums look like they will be a lot of fun, too. Our next visit will be to the natural history museum.

Ezra looking regal atop the castle.

Annika gathering vegetables.

The kids trying to figure out how to drive the tractor.

Sandbox Fun.

the last of summer

We're getting all settled in and ready for a new school year to begin shortly.

Unfortunately, it seems as though this area does not have adequate and appropriately priced schooling for preschoolers (on up) so I'm getting a crash course in home schooling. I hope I'm up for the challenge.

Also, I've been getting a glimpse of the hot new professor on campus. Jonathan has started going in full days to the office. He is beaming with joy for his new job. That makes us all happy (and makes the adjustment easier for me).

Ezra is completely thrilled with the prospect of not going to school and staying home all day with mom (this seriously surprised me) but I am glad.

Annika is in the process of learning to use a potty. We are all rooting for her (quick) success.

I am adjusting to "normal" life. It is strange to have to cook dinner every night after going to the dining hall for three years but I am looking forward to the inevitable drop in weight as a result of not utilizing the "all you can eat" dining hall experience. Also, I don't know a soul around so my days are a bit different than before but I've always been a homebody so it's not a huge deal.

All is slowly falling into place.

A Little Help

Moving stinks, but it's always a lot better when you have help.

We had a lot of help. 

We had 10 strong guys from Church to help load our stuff--which only took about 1 hour. And we had 2 strong guys and 3 strong gals to help us move into our new place, which only took about 45 minutes. 

Needless to say, we were relieved and grateful. 

Most of all, we got help from Jonathan's mom and dad, who came out to help us load up, move our stuff, and unload our stuff in Kentucky. They stayed for almost a week helping us arrange and rearrange our house, playing with our kids, and generally making the transition a lot easier and a lot more fun. 

It was great to see our kids spoiled by their grandparents attention. We don't have the opportunity to see them nearly enough, and we were surprised with how quickly our children embraced both sets of grandparents. 

Of course, early birthday presents don't hurt:

For now, it's back to mom and dad playing "pretend Grandma and Grandpa." Hopefully Ezra and Annika will get to see the real deal again soon!

unpacked.

Today I unpacked the last box.

So I guess we're here to stay. 

some more Utah stuff

Well I was going to do posts of everything we did in Utah but I don't have a ton of pictures left so I think this will be the last post about it. 

We were there over the 24th which is a holiday in Utah where you can shoot off fireworks(and also to celebrate the Pioneers). We were able to do this at Barry and Alice's house. By the way it was so much fun to spend some time with them. I haven't been able to do that too much over the years and it we felt we got to know them a little bit better. 

Some other things we were able to do were:

1. Have dinner at Aunt Becky's house. We had a wonderful dinner with their family and was able to visit with Grandma. I really enjoyed that. 

2. We were able to attend the Oquirrh Mountain temple open house and go through a session in the Salt Lake temple the same day. That was way cool.

3. See Casey's painting in the conference center. His was by far the best one there. 

4. Go to the Provo temple with Alan and Anahi. It was awesome they made it. We got there at 6:30am and both parking lots were full. I was impressed. 

5. Have a "weenie roast" up in the Alpine canyon with all the fam (minus Alan and Anahi again). That was really fun. 

6. We got to try several new to us restaurants: 5 guys burgers and fries, Cafe Rio (I think was my favorite), Training table (do not ever get a regular size order of cheese fries--holy cow!)

7. Take the kids to the dinosaur museum at Thanksgiving Point. 

8. Go check out the BYU art museum with Casey and Mandy. That would have been more fun sans Annika. 

9. Spend an afternoon drawing with Casey. He has a really nice studio. He even let me use his good stuff. He's so nice.

10. Check out Brad and Lorrain's new house. I suppose they are probably all moved in now. That was fun. I love exploring houses. 

11. The kids got to go fishing with Grandpa. I hear they weren't in very good moods though. We'll have to try that again next visit. 

12. Get to hear Brad and Lorrain's entire family give talks in sacrament meeting, even Luke who is 3! They did awesome!

I'm sure there were more things I am forgetting right now. But pretty much we had a wonderful time and we were glad to be able to see so much of my family, especially since now there isn't a relative in a billion miles (might as well be). 

I would say anyone can come visit us, but I do realize that Kentucky is not a hot vacation spot for most people so we'll come visit you again soon, I hope!

Utah: The Sweet Tooth Fairy

Some people try on their pants one day and notice they're a little snug. They say, "why did this happen? What did I do to deserve this?" 

Not us. 

We know exactly why. 

The Sweet Tooth Fairy Cupcake Shop in Provo. 

If you're in the neighborhood, get the cake bites. 

They're worth having to buy bigger pants. 

Next time we go to Utah, we're packing Muumuus and that's it. 

more Utah: Owen's birthday & art contest

Another thing we were able to be a part of while we were in Utah was Owen's birthday party. He is about 6 weeks older than Annika so this was his second birthday. Everyone was able to come except Alan and Anahi and we missed them. 

Alex came up with a great idea to have an art contest. We decided that everyone had to draw the same vase, could only use pencil and paper and had one hour to finish their drawing. Oh, and since it was Owen's birthday, it was decided that he be the judge and was to chose the best drawing. 

The masterpieces. Annika's is the colorful one. She marches to her own beat.

It was super fun-- definitely Dan in Real Life-esque (we really love that movie). 

He had a hard time choosing. Click on this bottom picture to check out Owen's face. He will totally grow up to be an art critic. Plus you can check out Casey's sweet drawing in the background. Mine was way better, unfortunately it didn't make the shot. ha ha

Happy Birthday Owen! You sure are a cutie!

Utah: working at Just Sew

While I was in Utah I got to work at my mom and sister in law's fabric store Just Sew. Mostly, it was just an opportunity to hang out with my mom while I was there-- and it was so much fun. Jonathan was so nice to stay at home and be Mr. Mom so I could have this time off. 

I thought these guys were pretty smart to have figured out a way to hang out with your friends all day and do something you love- but get paid for it.

They have the most amazing fabric in the store and while I did get paid for being there, I didn't see a dime since I couldn't resist getting fabric for several projects. If you are ever in the Salt Lake area and like to sew definitely go check it out!

Oh- and I should add that right next door to Just Sew is the Blue Lemon and they have the tastiest sweet potato fries I've ever eaten. I can't wait to go back just to eat some more. Yum!

Utah: Climbing the mountain

We had so much fun during our time in Utah. We don't get to go very often so we crammed as much stuff as we could into our two weeks there. The first thing we had to do when we got there was "climb the mountain" as Ezra insisted over and over. 

Here are our pictures from climbing up the mountain behind my Aunt Lynnette's house. Having lived in a completely flat state for the past 6 years, I've come to really appreciate something like the mountains you see out west. I never remember noticing how stunningly beautiful they are before! 

We made it.

Well, we are here in Kentucky now. The last month was kind of a whirlwind for us with lots of ups and a few downs. We'll try to update as much as possible everything we've been up to. We've already been asked to speak in church this week so our time now is spent on getting ready for that. 

We miss our Lafayette friends and especially our family that is now even farther away but we have been getting a kick out of Kentucky. We will say this: people are a lot friendlier here than anywhere else we've been. So...so far so good. 

The kids are mostly happy but act up more than usual so I think it's a hard adjustment on them. This is their first move. We'll add some pictures and stories later.