que preciosa

We bought this dress on our honeymoon in Mexico, and we love forcing our Addycita to wear it.



Next step? Getting her to Latin dance.

sherando lake

Not my picture, but gorgeous, eh?

During Doug's time off we camped at beautiful Sherando Lake in the Blue Ridge Mountains. We had the pleasure of going with the Miles family, and we enjoyed smore-making, lake-ing, fishing, and having close encounters with wildlife.

Brit camped 8 almost 9 months pregnant. Give that woman a medal!

The lake is seriously so pretty... it's really well kept and it was so great to see mountains again (they ain't the Rockies, but I'll take it).

We saw lizards and tadpoles swimming in the lake, but when we saw this snake we decided we were done. Yikes.

The weather was great except for the earth-shattering thunderstorm that came through in the night. We really tested our tent's capabilities. Miraculously, the kids slept through it all so it could have been much worse.

This picture doesn't do the view justice. Plus, our faces kinda ruin it... but believe me, it's breathtaking.

We had a fabulous time, but I couldn't help thinking again and again, "Camping is a lot of work." Oh well, it's worth it in the end!

PS- How cute are these kids?! Their laughs kill me.

discoveries

Pigtails,

new seats,

fake reading,

bubbles,

and scowls.

bored with boards

Today Doug finishes his last written board exams. You don't take these exams until your fourth and last year of dental school. He technically started his fourth year last week, so he decided to take advantage of his time off and get them over with.

It's made for some boooring weeks because he's been so diligent with studying (yay for diligence, but gag for being MIA). He's so glad he's almost done. He'll take his practical boards next spring right before graduation, and then I guess he'll be a dentist or something.

We're proud of you, Doug!

eastered

We had a long Easter weekend with two of my sisters and their fams up in NJ. We dyed, we hunted, we played, and we ate all weekend. It was divine.


Addy is finally reaching an age where she can play with the cousins (instead of just staring at them like a stalker), and I absolutely love it.



We had a blast!

other happy, tornado-free alabama moments

(I love how Addy is resisting everything all 3 of us were doing trying to get her to smile)

We really did have a great time! Love you, Mom and Dad.

car shopping bites

We're on the hunt for a second car to help Doug in his last year of school. We're opting for a cheap-o car that really only needs to last us another year. It involves a lot of Craigslist stalking, phone calls, emails, and test driving... again and again.

You know when you catch yourself considering a car that has the bumper attached with a rope that you're headed in a good direction. Keep your fingers crossed for us.

bottle baby no more

I get along well with Addy's doctor. At her 1-year appointment, he gave me one recommendation: get her off bottles as soon as possible.

Did I do it?

Nah. She'd resisted bottles once she quit nursing and sippy cups made her m-a-d, and I didn't feel like fighting her again to drink. So I tried... sorta. Kinda. But overall, I didn't make it a priority.

This last Tuesday she had her 15-month appointment. The bottle thing came up, and I had to sheepishly tell him she was still on the botella. He shook his head and sarcastically reprimanded me. He wrote really big on her sheet "GET OFF BOTTLES."

And later when we discussed some ear problems she's been having (non-stop fluid and ear infections for the past few months? yikes), he did bring up that the bottles could be contributing to that.

Ay... I totally felt like that Brian Regan sketch, talking about how going to the doctor can make you feel like a kid in trouble.

Doctor: You didn't do what I told you.
Brian: No, no I didn't.
Doctor: What should you have done?
Brian: I should have listened when you were talking.
Doctor: What are you going to do from now on?
Brian: Pay attention when you say things.

And the best part? I stopped giving her bottles the next day and she fussed about it for half a second and then she just took the cup. Apparently she wasn't the one with the issues.

temple flowers

One of the reasons Addy and I went south was to help my mom plant the flowers at the Birmingham temple.

My parents live just a few minutes from the temple, and a few years ago she asked the temple president why there were no flowers at the temple like you see at other temples. Next thing she knew, she was asked to be in charge of planning, ordering, and planting the flowers. And keeping them alive. It's a HUGE project, and she does a great job.

We had originally planned to do the big planting day on the day the storms came through. She had already brought all the flowers to the temple (at least 5 van fulls), so we had to bring all the flats of flowers to their house and protect them in the garage.

(We're pretty sure that's why we were protected during the storms. They plan to always keep some temple flowers in their garage from now on... just as a type of insurance.)

After the storm, planting just didn't seem that important. But she'd already spent all the money on it, that they still had to be taken care of. We were really grateful for the people that came to help plant.

Addy was such a good sport. She hung out in the stroller, in the pack in play, or just toddling around (although the toddling led to a lot of skinned knees).



It took several days, but everything turned out beautiful! I can't wait to see pictures in a few weeks when the flowers have grown a bit.

damage report

I wanted to share some of the pictures we saw of the damage in Fultondale, AL, a few miles south of my parents. What really shocks me is that Fultondale wasn't even hardest hit, but it still looks like a war zone.

Metal roofing wrapped around a telephone pole

A hotel that lost most of that second floor

The trees were thrown around, sheered off, and uprooted like they were nothing

It's hard to tell in this picture because they'd already started cleaning up, but that big tree feel on both of those cars

These light poles along the highway normally stand straight up with the round light fixture at the very top

Here's one of my (very) amateur videos showing the damage along Highway 31.


I also found this crazy video online. Some nutcase recorded the Fultondale tornado as it went by them. It gets really interesting starting at 55 seconds.