Feels Like Home!

This is not only the song Kevin and I danced to at our wedding reception :), but it is also how we feel right now! We had such a wonderful time visiting with family, well, mostly the kids and I had more of a chance to do that, but as we drove home, and then finally arrived, we realized just how much St. Louis feels like home to us. I am not sure what confirmed it most. Maybe it was during our Saturday morning jog when we heard someone open their front door and yell out "Hey, Shut up that Dang Dog!" Or maybe it was the car with the missing mirror that had been ingeniusly replaced with a few rubber bands and a handheld mirror that we saw next to us at our local gas station. No, I think most of all it was Jillian who put it so well when she said "I love mine house. I love our house." These little apartments have been our first homes as a family and we're sure going to miss them. Well, most things about them:) The kids are adjusting really well to sharing a bedroom and Peter is loving his new "luxury" crib mattress. Jillian has taken to waking up in the middle of the night and relocating to the hallway for the rest of her beauty sleep, where she sleeps for the rest of the night if we don't hear her, but hopefully that's a quickly passing phase. Anyway, it's felt so good to be back and to feel like we're "home," for now anyways. And guess what? No more smoke smell!!!!

Family Fun in Raleigh

The last two weeks of our hiatus from the real world of school and housework were spent in Raleigh, with Kevin joining us the last week. He was still working hard studying for his Step 2 Boards so that's why he is still not in any of these photos! The kids and I got to spend some time with Grandma and our Chapel Hill Cousins! We had a blast and miss everyone now that we're back in Missouri!

We went on several adventures while we were in NC. Here we are at a pumpkin patch/ farm/ fall festival type place. Jillian and Hunter loved this slide that was so slippery it shot them off the end if we didn't slow them down! Jill, of course, had to include Baby in her fun, and wear her sunglasses upside down. It's so much cooler that way!

Jillian and Hunter on the hayride

My gorgeous sister-in-law Doreen and her kiddos!

They had a fake cow with fake utters that the kids could practice on. The kids thought it was pretty fun, until they found something more fun...filling the bucket with rocks:)


Already so good at being the big sister!

Funny expressions

Have you ever played the laughing game? Peter doesn't look like he gets it yet but Hunter is enjoying himself.

Our big fan in front of the "Biggest nut ever," a line from a favorite book and a subject she obsesses over a lot. In Raleigh, this huge acorn is dropped every New Year's Eve.

Gayle and I after we participated in the Run for Autism

Jill sat so still to get her face painted afterwards!

Playing in Grandma's stream. I'm sure we'll have many of these fun pictures in the future as the kids grow up.

There's just something about putting your feet in a cold mountain stream! I have always loved this- it reminds me of going up the canyon with my grandparents for hikes or Saturday morning breakfasts when we were visiting them in Utah. This reminds me of that.

Rescuing Mr. Penguin after his courageous dive.

My book lover

Jill loves to walk like a penguin ever since watching the March of the Penguins about 400 times with Dad. Here she is using Peter's toy as her egg and making her joke face. Classic Jillian!

Children have such bright eyes! I just wonder what he's thinking and what he knows about heaven!

Here's our sweetie hanging out on Grandma's front porch and spoiling us with his sweet smiles.

Sweet Mason

The whole gang, minus Kevin who was studying hard, outside the Tarheel Basketball Museum, which is right down the road from Matt and Doreen's place.

Here's our future baller! This kid has had HUGE hands and feet since birth. He's also grown almost an inch each month he's been alive. He's just got to play basketball!

This one is for Grandma! Here's our Chapel Hill girl:)

Apple Picking and More on the Gorgeous East Coast

Since we were out East for a little bit of Summer and Fall, we got to enjoy VA to the fullest. We spent some time downtown at the Sculpture Garden, see pictures below, and the Natural History Smithsonian museum. We went apple picking, to a local farm and park, enjoyed having a yard to play in all the time and even pulled out some of my old doll clothes (memories came flooding back) for Jill to play with. We love Virginia and we love visiting my parents in such a neat place, full of history and endless fun things to do!



My Babydoll lover

If only I could fit this whole apple in my mouth!

Jilly and Grandma finding just the right apple!


Reminescing about those Visitor Center days! The Mesa temple grounds were covered with citrus fruit trees and we got to go out and pick fruit when it was in season. Just a fun memory!
Here's my little team! I get to spend my days with these adorable little dudes and I love it!

Here's the view as we picked apples by my Mom and Dad's house. It looked like something out of a Jane Austen novel. Living in the Midwest has helped me to appreciate the rolling hills from where I grew up. It's so gorgeous! And man do I feel it when I go running there verses the flat area where I live now!

Peter's first food - Grandma Powers' Applesauce. We didn't realize until later how much cinnamon was in it:)

This is our little collector of fine treasures! Some might call her a pack rat but I like to think she just appreciates things and then carries them around with her wherever she goes for the next few days. She just loves stuff! Too bad it's Peter and not her that is named after my Dad and Grandmother.

She's all talk!

As Jillian learns to communicate, she makes the cutest errors and keeps us constantly on our toes. As Kevin was about to leave for his last week in Charleston last Sunday, Jillian's eyes welled up with tears and she said "No, not leave me Daddy." Well, of course he had to leave but she almost convinced him. She's obviously having issues with feeling left behind because one night my mom was taking Hadley to soccer practice and Jillian didn't realize until the last minute that she wasn't going with them. She sobbed for about three minutes and then said "Treaty, Momma? Need a treaty!" Quick thinking, you little sneek! She is also obviously obsessed with candy. The other day I was singing "we're going on a bear hunt, we're gonna catch a big one..." and she started to sing "We're going on a candy hunt, gonna get it in the drawer!"

One of her emerging talents is singing and song writing. Kevin calls her our little Mariah Carey and she is constantly singing little songs she's made up, or that she's learned from someone else, while she plays.

She still loves to play with Baby and, while at my mom's house, she came up from the basement after "puttin' Baby down [for a nap], her grumpy Momma." She also breastfeeds her much of the time that I am feeding Peter.

Watching this little girl grow has been the most amazing experience. She is so full of unconditional love and so anxious to learn and be a part of our family. She also knows how to make you feel like a million bucks. The other night I was reading in bed using my head lamp. (She was sleeping with me while Kevin was away.) She started out on the other side of the bed but before long I noticed her inching closer and closer. Finally she was two inches in front of my face making shapes with her fingers in the light. When I looked up at her, she scrunched up her face and shoulders like "Isn't this awesome, Mom? We're having so much fun." So funny!

Come what may, and love it!

I'm borrowing this from Holly's blog but it's definitely one of those sayings (the title of this blog) you hear, plan to cross stitch because you love it so much and then promptly forget it! Elder Wirthlin's talks always inspire me so much and this General Conference was no exception. He always talks about virtues like forgiveness, charity, being positive, overcoming adversity "One Step at a Time." I wonder if it is because he has had many occassions to face much adversity and learned to overcome with grace? I assume so, seeing that he's an apostle. Anyway, his words are always gentle and kind and patiently consistent, as seen in the recent conferences as his health has declined, conveying his message even more powerfully. You can tell he practices what he preaches in an non-self serving and unselfrighteous (is that a word?) kind of way. My mom's good friend has a neat quote on her fridge that basically says "How we treat other people is the reflection of our discipleship of Christ." I have a long way to go but I'm sure grateful for Elder Wirthlin's example, as well as those of other good people of many faiths that I meet. Borrowing from another friend's conference notes (thanks Tara - I don't know how I completely missed this) it gives me so much hope to think that the gospel is unlike other man-made institutions that ebb and flow, sometimes work and sometimes don't, and only work for certain people or even types of people. The teachings of Jesus Christ are all-inclusive, never exclusive and "work" for everyone. If it feels otherwise, it's imperfect people trying to live his teachings. (I'm adding on to this, by the way.) But whew, what a relief. Holly used the word unique in her blog referring to life's experiences. This is so accurate! And it struck me! We've definitely had a unique time, visiting for over two months with our families. It's been a blessing for our kids to be around some of their amazing Grandparents and Great-Grandparents and other relatives (they're all amazing, they just didn't get to see all of them:) . And there's nothing like the first year of a child's life to remind one that the time we have is so brief. My sweet little Peter! Sometimes I get frustrated when I'm the only one who can quiet him! What, am I crazy!? How lucky is that? And tonight I realized that Kevin and I are Jillian's favorite people in the world right now! How long will that last? Tonight she was "quietly" looking at a funny picture book while I nursed Pete to sleep and she kept tapping me on the shoulder to show me another hilarious drawing! What a girl! This trip has allowed me to forget other responsibilities and spend time with my kids. I feel like these past weeks have been such a progression and I have gained a whole new appreciation for them, and learned a lot of things about mothering them. (I think that's the first time I've used Mother as a verb and I like it:) I'm so grateful for this time. Come what may, and love it!

Peter, Peter, You BIG Eater!

Our boy loves to eat...and eat and eat. While at my mom's house last week, we let Peter try some applesauce and then some cereal. Backward maybe but he LOVED it. Now he tries to convince us he needs to eat big boy food everytime we sit down for a meal! And when we do give him something, he SHRIEKS between bites and grabs the spoon as though life depended on it! What an awesome and pleasant surprise after our first child, who was a most picky eater! This whole eating thing is going to be SO much easier with him! P.S. Jillian is getting a whole lot less picky and even ate shrimp on our trip to Charleston! Hallelujah!

Give me that spoon, Grandma!

Charleston, we hear you calling...or is that Atlanta?:)

Well, Kevin sure hears Charleston (MUSC) calling even if there isn't a song about it! He loves the faculty there and continues to boggle me by saying "There are just positives and negatives to every program." What does that MEAN? "We'll just have to see." What does THAT mean? Your guess is as good as mine folks:) For those of you who may be losing hope that we're not picking your state...never fear! We have applied to 46 OPHTHALMOLOGY programs! And they are all across the nation so it's anybody's guess at this point. We're just glad we can say with confidence the Lord is in the details of our lives and wherever we end up will definitely be great for our family. We've learned so much in St. Louis and grown leaps and bounds as a family. We know it is where we were meant to be, even though it took us a while to figure that out!
Jillian also LOVED Charleston and was slap-happy that we were staying in a hotel. (She definitely wins the good attitude of the week award! The hotel we stayed in certainly was not luxury - toward the beginning of the week we got some neighbors that refused the flush their toilet, we think, and the place really started to stink. Anyway, my attitude failed me at times.) A favorite of the week was definitely the water taxi where we saw about ten dolphins (well, we're not sure if they were the same ones or not) just in the harbor between Charleston and Mt. Pleasant. We also went to the South Carolina Aquarium and touched a Sea Cucumber and a Horse Shoe Crab and some Anemonies (such a fun word), and even saw some sharks and a Nemo look alike! We strolled down King Street and pretended we were shopping. To end the week we ate at Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. and Jillian even ate shrimp. See, good attitude again! It was beautiful by the water and who wouldn't want to live by the ocean? So, I guess we ALL loved Charleston! We have a few fun photos to add later!

We walked a ton and got to see a lot of the streets in Charleston, until we got too pooped to go on!

Peter, the knight, and Jillian at a neat hands-on museum in downtown Charleston

Unfortunately the only picture of me in Charleston, but now we have a photo of us feeding our babies together.

Jillian looking for dolphins in the bay

Grandma Champion, Matt's White Coat Ceremony and Hunter's Second Birthday

We had the privilege of seeing both Auntie Em and Grandma Champion when we were in Raleigh recently. Unfortunately we didn't pull out our camera too often. We'll have to wait until the 2009 Champion Family Reunion to get a picture of Jillian and Peter with their GREAT Grandma Champion (emphasis added on purpose!). Kevin's Grandma is such a neat lady and it was a wonderful time for me to spend the week with her and Gayle while Kevin was in Charleston. Grandma Champion really is so gracious and such a Christ-like example of unselfishness and service! May we all be more like she is! Here are some fun photos from Matt's White Coat Ceremony and Hunter's birthday.The kids LOVED the pinata that Grandma Gayle bought for the party and eventually seemed to get the hang of the fact that we were whacking it to GET THE CANDY OUT!

Here's part of the crew at Matt's White Coat Ceremony at UNC Medical School, minus our little bunch because the only picture with us in it is SUPER unflattering of yours truly:) We are so proud of Matt and glad we could share in this neat day!

Cute Birthday Boy- Yeah for two-year-olds! They're so fun!

Future Basketball Star...it all started here! Thanks for sharing your new bday toy so well, Hunter!

Whack it!

Just hanging out!

Cutie Pies!

A serious Sunday game of checkers!