Daddy-daughter Date

Recently we got a Lowe's built near our home. In the past month, we've already been there 4 times dreaming about our future home and how we would customize it, and what colors we would use, etc. We've also been dreaming for Blake's sister as she is doing some improvements on her house. Thanks Dionne for letting us use your house to dream about since we don't have one yet. It's been really fun! I LOVE LOVE LOVE interior design so these have been fun little outings for me. During one of our excursions Blake noticed a schedule of events for children. So this past Saturday Blake took Kelsey to do a wood project. Apparently it was the cutest thing ever and she thought she was quite special. She even got her own apron and googles to keep. Each time she finishes a project she gets a patch to sew to her apron--sooo cute! Mylee and I went to a bridal shower and had loads of fun. When we both got home, Kelsey ran to get her project to show me.

If you can't tell it is a basketball hoop. It goes perfectly with March Madness going on. She was even allowed to use a hammer to hammer in the nail herself. Too bad Blake and Kelsey weren't in the picture together.

We're Starting to Thaw Out!!

The weather has been so WONDERFUL lately. We are finally starting to thaw out. Today the girls were outside for most of the day and were exhausted by the day's end--which was great!! It's so freshing to be able to sit on my porch and soak in the sun and not FREEZE to death! Mylee is quite found of this hula, for some reason only she knows. It is so funny, she'll just walk up and down the side walk with this hula hoop around her waist.

Kelsey found a little ice pond to play in. Thankfully it is not there anymore. We're even more grateful that it didn't spill into our basement :)

Blake has really been enjoying his schedule and the warm weather too! He's been out about 3 or 4 times this past week! Saturday he took a 42 mile bike ride--crazy huh? It's so exhilerating to him though. He comes home from those rides all smiles. The time he is away is worth it because he comes home so happy. And me, I'm busy being a mom. That's good enough for me right now.

Happy Birthday Blake!

Yesterday Blake had his 28th birthday!! I sort of ruined it though, don't worry--I'm making it up to him today. I went to the grocery store to get him a cake because that is what he requested. Hey, I couldn't complain, less work for me. I also had visions of making him a nice meal. I picked out slices of cake (you can do that at the bakery) for him to try a variety of different cakes. I thought I was being so clever and was excited to see the smile on his face. Well when we got to the check out and after everything was totaled. I reached in my purse to pay and what do you know, I FORGOT my wallet! I had updated the budget earlier and had left it on the desk. Sadly, we left the store empty handed :( and I didn't make it back to the store before he got home. So we ended up having a regular meal, but we still sang happy birthday and he got to blow out some candles on top of ice cream.

Today however, I didn't forget my wallet and I got the cakes he wanted! And I have chicken cordon blue, rolls, chef salad, and funeral potatoes planned for dinner. I think this will redeem me. Me and the girls love Blake!! Here are SOME of the reasons why:

He is extremely wise and teaches us things. (He's teaching Kelsey to play her game)

He does activities with us.

He snuggles with us. Mylee's personal favorite (she LOVES to snuggle with Dad!)

He works hard and doesn't complain about it.

He takes care of us and loves us.

He makes the time to do fun things with his family.

He's adventurous

He's just plain fun and happy about life despite the challenges it comes with.

He's well-rounded and accomplished in many areas.

We love you Blake and Happy Birthday!!
Love, your girls :)

Kelsey's 4th Birthday!

Kelsey had a birthday February 24th!! She is now 4 years old!! I can't believe it, she is getting so big. Kelsey had a bunch of her friends over and we had a great party! For over a month she has been telling me she wanted a pony party, so I did my best to accomodate her wishes. With the help of the Family Fun magazine, Kelsey and I were able to create a beautiful pink horse cake. Kelsey was thrilled that it was ALL pink and especially liked the pink bubble gum hair.


Here's the whole troop! Kelsey and I had made pony headbands for everyone to wear at her party. Except for Mitchell, he got a pony tail made out of blue yarn. The kids either came dressed up as cowgirls or pony princess owners (yeah, I know that's pushing it, but Kelsey wanted to wear her princess dress, so this is what we came up with. She was QUITE satisfied!)


At the party they played horse, horse, pony (otherwise known as duck, duck, goose). When they got tagged, they were to prance like horses around the circle. The kids also played pin the tail on the pony and colored some fabulous pony pictures. The games were quite a hit.


Of course we had cake. Kelsey even put the candles on her own birthday cake. I had left the room for a moment and I came back and she had very carefully placed all four candles I had set out. Way to be independent Kelsey!

Kelsey's friends were sweet and brought her some presents and I think they ALL enjoyed that!! Can you tell? Thank you friends!


This was our birthday party invitation.


This is what Blake and I got her.
Kelsey with her new ponies!! It was a wonderful day and Blake was even able to be there for the whole thing. He arrived from school just as all our guests arrived! Thank you all for thinking of Kelsey on her special day, she felt VERY special!!

One More Month!!!

Exactly one month from today we will find our where we are going for residency! We are extremely anxious to find out. Our top choices will either take us to Texas, keep us here in Vermont, to Arizona, or to Pennsylvania. We're excited about the possibily of purchasing a home and starting a new chapter in our life!! We've already calculated how much it will cost to go to each place, checked out the homes for sale, made a budget for each place, etc.--we have to keep telling ourselves to STOP!!

As far as how match goes. We make a list of programs we would like to go to, the various programs make a list of what students they would like to have in their program. All those numbers go into a computer and wa-la! we are assigned a spot--HOPEFULLY!! There are instances where students do not match, where if that happens they try to scramble into a program that has an open spot where they didn't have a student match. In Orthopaedics, that's virtually unheard of, so we are crossing our fingers that we will match!

Valentine's Day Fun!

For playgroup, we had a Valentine's Day party. The kids decorated a valentine's box or bag and then they brought their own valentine's to give to one another. It was a lot of fun! We also had yummy rice krispie treats and popcorn. Kelsey was completely enamored with her valentine's and the box she decorated. It's been a few days since valentines and she still asks for her box and enjoys looking at the valentines she received. It's really funny.

Here are the valentines Kelsey brought. They are heart flowers with a sucker in the middle. They turned out really cute! I of course had to cut out the hearts. I guess she could have done it, but she has a perfectionistic mom and I wanted them to look good. She was able to punch holes in them and put the hearts on the sucker. She was quite thrilled with herself.

As for Mylee, she was sort of MIA. She didn't care too much for the festivities, she did however enjoy the treats--of course. Mylee is my good eater. Kelsey has even learned this and will give Mylee her leftovers so she doesn't have to eat them. Uh huh, tricky tricky.

Kelsey Skiing

I Forgot to upload this video a while ago, but I thought it was cute. Kelsey loves her skis! She thinks she is pretty cool. Maybe Blake will get a skier for a daughter :) She did have some better runs, we just didn't get it on video, oh well. Humm, and someone want to tell me why my video is sideways? I'm confused.

Class of 2009 Party!

To celebrate the end of interviews and our friends' Andrew and Michelle's match into Urology we had a desert party. It had been a while since we had done something all together because our schedules have been so different, so we took advantage of the opportunity and had a party. It was so much fun to get together and talk. Us 12 have really become close and I consider them my family. For those who don't know, all of us moved here the same year to go to medical school, all of us happen to be LDS, all of us live in student housing together, and we all have children around the same ages. Mix all those things together and you have one really tight knit group! When we first arrived, all of us together had 5 kids, now we have 12 with one on the way.

We are missing one in this picture because he is sleeping.

Trip to Cousins'

We are so glad we have family close to us now!! Blake's sister Dionne moved to Boston this summer after her husband Matt accepted a job there. Blake had two weeks off and Blake's mom was going to visit Dionne, so we made it a trip and went out to visit for a few days. We had such a great time!! Matt and Dionne had been wanting a pantry in their kitchen, so Blake used his manly skills and helped Matt build them one. It turned out great and it was so satisfying to help them out. Kelsey and Mylee had a great time. When we pulled up to their house, she quickly ran up to the door without us and ran inside to find Grandma Clifton. Even though we live so far away from our parents, it makes me feel really good that Kelsey feels so close to her grandparents. Blake and I got to go to the temple, which was fabulous by the way!! While we were at the temple, Kelsey and her cousins had quite the princess party! Being that these cousins are all boys (5 of them), they had never had a princess party, but Kelsey was very much obliged to show them how to throw one. Mom and Dionne gathered together some clothes for them to dress up in, but Kelsey was quite dissapointed her cousins didn't have a princess dress. Mom came to the rescue though with a white garbage bag and all was good! She was quite satisfied in fact I heard. Mom also made crowns out of disposible pie tins, so creative!

I heard that at one point in the party, Kelsey said, "This doesn't feel like a princess party." And then Dionne asked, "What do you do at a princess party?" She said, "We twirl like this."

and this...

Trey then joined her for a dance. How cute is that?!!!

Later that day, we also had a be-lated birthday for Mom because we missed it and an early birthday for Kelsey because it is coming soon, Feb. 24th! Dionne made a popcorn/marshmellow/M&M cake. It could not have been more perfect! Kelsey loves popcorn and marshmellows and M&M's! The boys also gave her a little bag that she now calls her make-up bag (she takes it with her every where!) with a whole bunch of first aide items in it. Her favorite are the rainbow bandaids and the lipstick. I've been finding bandaids on her dolls, on Mylee, on the bottoms of my socks, etc. She loves them, and I think she especially loves that she doesn't get in trouble for using them. And the lipstick, she has a daily ritual of putting it on at least once if not many times. Then she talks very carefully so the color doesn't come off her lips. One time she put it on right before dinner and she told me she couldn't eat because it would take her lipstick off. Wow, that girl is nothing but girl!! Of that though, I don't have a problem with. I LOVE LOVE LOVE my girls!! They are so much fun.

Kelsey goes to a Birthday Party

Kelsey's friend Niah turned four this last week and Kelsey went to her birthday party. It was a Barbie princess party so she was to go dressed up like her favorite Barbie. Being that she only has one, thanks to Sister Sessions who gave it to her for Christmas, she dressed up like her Ballerina Barbie. Kelsey picked out her tights. She had so much fun at the party. Thanks Natalie for hosting it and making it so much fun for the kids!! Apparently they played pin the crown on the Barbie, colored a page, watched a movie and of course opened presents.

PS. I AM STILL GOING PRIVATE, I just trying to allow enough time for people to look at it to get the message.

Frigid Temps!

While we were gone to Philadelphia it was freezing!! In fact the day after we got home, Burlington hit at record low at -21 degrees F. That was without the wind chill. Blake had decided our car needed washed to get all the salt off. He took to the car wash because our faucet was frozen. When we got to the car wash he opted for the cheaper (didn't I say cheaper is not always better, read previous post) wash and sprayed the soap and water on himself. As he was spraying the soap on, it completely froze! So then he preceeded to power wash off all the soap that had frozen to our car. Ha Ha, he did get the salt off though. Next time, he admits, he will use the drive through.

We also had some sprite cans in the mud room that had exploded because it got so cold. See how one of the cans is split in the middle. The other one was on the verge of exploding. Now were're up to the single digits, yes!!

Philadelphia Trip

WARNING!! THIS IS A LONG POST!

Last week we went to Philadelphia for Blake to complete the second part to his Step II board licensing exam. We had a good time, but it wasn't without some mishaps. Our trip there went very well, the girls were great, the roads were good and we got out early. I had hoped to get to Philadelphia before dark so we could tour some of the national landmarks. Luckily we got to Philadelphia before dark and we succeeded in finding the building where Blake was to take his test, but unfortunately I was driving and we never made it to see any landmarks. Some may not realize that I am directionally challenged!! When dating Blake, I once got lost in Provo--yeah, he still won't let that one down. Fortunately we invested in a GPS about 3 years ago, and that did help a little bit, but it isn't fool proof. Okay, so maybe it helped A LOT, but it still isn't enough to treat my handicap though.

We eventually made it to our hotel, after having to switch with Blake in driving. I was so excited because I had found this awesome deal online, way cheaper than anywhere else, it was much to my chagrin though when we arrived at the hotel. The place was a dump! Also, I thought the room was already paid for when I made the reservation online, nope, the reservation online didn't include the taxes and what I was actually charged was a reservation fee. So in the end I paid just as much for this dumpy hotel as I would have a much nicer one. Lesson learned!! Sometimes it's not worth it to go cheap. Well, at least dirt cheap.

The good thing about the hotel is that it had a microwave, so I was able to cook the frozen lasagna I had brought for my family to eat. The bad things were that the mini fridge it came with was covered in black mold, the bathroom had toilet paper stuffed down the facet that had browned and dried up, and the sink wouldn't drain. To make things worse, that night Blake got really sick and went to bed as soon as we walked in the room. Luckily he was well enough the next morning to take his test. I didn't sleep the whole night. I was worried about bed bugs and other little critters that were living in this room. The next morning we packed everything up and left. Before we had planned for me just to take him to his test and then return to the hotel and check out at noon. But I wasn't going to stay in that room any longer. I dropped Blake off at about 7:15 A.M, then I was left with two little girls still in their jammies in the middle of Philadelphia by myself. Wha-hoo!!

I found this while I was lost, pretty cool huh?

To make this post a little shorter, I drove around for an hour looking for the Indepedence Visitor Center where I was hoping to park and maybe see some sights with my girls. I found it, but didn't realize how expensive parking was until I had gotten to the bottom of the garage and couldn't back up. I parked for 30 minutes. Giving us enough time to get the girls dressed, their hair done and got me spiffied up a little bit and left paying $8.00!! I gave up the Independence Visitor Center and I left for the Please Touch Children's Museum. Luckily I found this without any glitches!! The museum was wonderful!! I am so glad we went. We were there for 5 hours until Blake called for us to come and pick him up. The girls were in heaven and they had the cutest things for them to do. Here are some pictures.

This was a place where they could build their own place and launch it off to fly it.Kelsey doing the balance beam, look at that future gymnast!They had a great water area with all sorts of fun activities
This was part of the space area

Kelsey dressing up like Alice in Wonderland
They had a mini shopping store, Kelsey is checking out here and a little boy is her cashier. He is asking for money here and Kelsey is giving to him. I was cracking up this part. My girls were in heaven!!
Mylee shopping. I couldn't stop laughing!! She was in HEAVEN!! She looks so big!

Kelsey and Mylee cruising

Mylee giving us her cheeser!

Our way home was pretty seemless too, except when we were about an hour away from home and Blake wanted a break from driving and pulled over so I could take the wheel. Just as he pulled off to the side of the road we started SINKING!! The side was the road was plowed up with snow, but underneath was a little ditch. Well, we got stuck and it was so cold outside that the roads were completely frozen and our tires wouldn't grip the road so we could get out of there. This was at about 12 in the morning by the way. Blake worked the 4-wheel-drive for about 15 minutes and we were eventually able to get out. What a relief!!!

Now we are done with our travels and are looking forward to staying put! Just a few days prior to our trip to Philadelphia, we were in Betheleham, PA for an interview. So in about a week's time we traveled about 1400 miles, totaling about 27-28 driving in the car with two little girls. They were champs though!

Going Private

After getting hits from many different countries where I don't know anybody among many other places I don't know people, I am going private. Please leave a comment and leave me the email address you would like me to send you an invite.

Please note however that if you do not have a gmail account, you will only be able to access the blog for 30 days using another email account. I know it is really annoying! However, it is really easy to sign up and I have been really pleased with gmail and it's features. You can sign up for free and only use it to sign into blogs if you like. I personally have two email accounts, one for personal and one to receive adds and other stuff. You know like those things you sign up for on the internet that require an email address. That is where I put in my other email address.

To sign up for gmail just go to www.gmail.com and just follow the instructions. Sorry to make looking at my blog more of a pain.

Kelsey's First Day of Primary

Kelsey is now officially a Sunbeam. I can't believe I have a child old enough to go to Primary. Since it was a special day, we of course did her hair extra-special. She was thrilled by that. And without a doubt, she believes she is a real princess. I of course, know that she is.

Mylee Likes Caramel!

The other day, I went upstairs to get some chores done, leaving Mylee in Blake's care. The only problem was that I assumed Blake would take care of her after noticing I had left. Well you can see what happened. Blake fell asleep and Mylee went to town! We bought these little containers of caramel to dip apples in for snacks and Kelsey had some for lunch, but apparently had left it too close to the table's edge. She got it EVERYWHERE. It could have been worse though. Blake said she came into the livingroom and woke him up saying, "ma ma, ma ma" (that's what she says when she is trying to tell you something). He opened his eyes and quickly jolted out of his chair and took her straight upstairs to the bathtub. Mylee thought it was great of course.

Since we are talking about Mylee, I wanted to jot a few more things down about her. I laugh my head off at her every day!! She's hilarious! EVERY TIME she hears some music she moves her little body to the beat and gets a beaming smile on her face. I'll have to get a video of it on here for you to see. She's also become quite good at saying thank you. She still loves peek-a-boo, but LOVES playing tickle the most. Usually she'll chase either Kelsey or Blake around and say, "Ticka ticka ticka". You have to hear it though, it's this high-pitched all-run-together sound. So cute! Mylee also loves taking care of the many babies (dolls) we have around the house. She'll find one and say, "baby, baby" then pat it on its back and say, "Shhh." Then she'll usually laugh, throw the doll and find something else to do.

Yesterday for dinner I made manicotti which is a huge hit at our house. My girls gobble it up, well usually! Mylee just was not interested. She wouldn't even taste it, very frustrating. But when I wouldn't offer it to her she would ask for it again, "ma ma, ma ma...." So then I would try again to feed her, but again she refused. Then I figured it out. She wanted to feed herself. I gave her the fork and put some food on her tray and she ate the whole thing!! When I gave her the fork she gave me a little giggle and got very excited. It's so fun to see more and more of her personality coming out.