Spring Break+Good weather=Good times!

After a week and a half of non-stop playing, we finally had to come back to real life in Wisconsin. When I say real life, I mean the cold weather, the studying, being poor, and no grandparents to send Jaycee to when she's being naughty. It's always fun to be able to spend time with family, and unfortunately, I didn't take near enough pictures of all that fun. I'm sure glad Brittany (my sis-in-law) had her camera, or all I would have are pictures of Jaycee in the hot tub. Lance lived up the life of a fly fisherman by going fishing almost every day with whoever would go with him. He only had one successful fishing trip in Grace, Idaho at Black Canyon (at least 28 fish caught and released). They, as in Lance, his dad, my dad, and Corby, had gone to Oneida Narrows that morning to knock the fish dead, and ended up wanting to die themselves. Both Lance and his dad got flu-like symptoms and could barely stand up, let alone eat. We'll attribute their lack of catching fish to the sickness. They didn't want to admit defeat, so they drove to Black Canyon. When they got there, they saw the tire tracks of the fish truck (meaning the fish and game had planted tons of fish in the river that very morning). Needless to say, those poor young fish were too hungry to resist artificial flies. Lance was still sick, but couldn't resist fishing if they were biting. He actually threw up that night after everyone was asleep, so he really was sick. All the other trips left a lot to be desired. I don't like jumping the gun on fishing season, so I opted to stay at home and wait for the fishermen to return. Besides, I am at a very awkward phase in pregnancy, which means I'm very off balance. I'm pretty sure I would have fallen in the river if I would have gone. Jaycee and I had fun visiting cousins and relatives, and doing a lot of eating. Okay, maybe it was mostly me doing all the eating. You know how toddlers are. Anyway, I have to apologize to Lance's family for the extreme lack of pictures of any of them. We did hang out with them, too, and had a ton of fun.


Here are three of the cutest little girls I know. They had a blast hanging out with each other. Jaycee would randomly smile and say, "I love Kynzee and Kambrie." Then she would go and give them hugs and kisses.

This is the last time these girls will see Corby for two years, so they will be quite a bit older. I can't believe he's leaving on Wednesday (tomorrow), but it's just to Provo for two months. Then he goes to Mexico, which seems like a scary place to be at this point in time.

You'd be surprised how hard it is to get three little girls to walk across the street and to a park. They all had their own route and their own pace.

She didn't get up in the tree by herself, but she tried. My brother Chase helped her. Then she didn't want to get down.

I just had to put this picture of Kambrie on because of the cute face she was pulling. She was so daring. This slide was fast, so when she got to the bottom she flew off and landed hard on her bum. We were laughing, but she didn't think it was very funny.

This is my mom, Corby, and Grandpa Young in the background. We were lucky enough to go to Red Lobster with my family, thanks to my mom. The food was amazing, as always, and I was glad to see my grandparents and Aunt Sandee.

Jaycee got extremely tired at the end of lunch at Red Lobster, and couldn't resist falling asleep. We were trying to tickle her, and blow in her face, but nothing worked. Thanks, Chase, for holding her. I'm sure his arms were extremely tired by the time we got to the car.

Here's a picture of the whole group at Red Lobster. From left to right: My dad, Kendra, my mom, Corby, Stef, Sandee, Grandpa, Grandma, Lance, me, Danny, Chase, Jaycee, Kynzee, and Kambrie.
These are pictures of Jaycee in the hot tub at Lance's parents' house. She was in there almost every day.

Well, that was not all, but enough that you don't want to read anymore, I'm sure.

Vacation!

Well, another test week under our belts, and we were lucky enough to be able to travel home for Lance's spring break. We are grateful that our parents wanted us home as much as we wanted to come home. We left on Saturday and got into Salt Lake at 7:00. Our flights weren't near as stressful as last time, and we even ended up sitting in first class on our flight to Minneapolis. It was luck of the draw, there's no way we could have actually afforded it. I just thought I would give a little update post (no pictures, unfortunately) and say that I probably won't post until we get back home because we're on vacation.

I will say that we were lucky enough to make it in time to attend my brother Corby's mission farewell. He gave an awesome talk, and I know he's going to be an excellent missionary. It's going to be sad to say good-bye, though. He leaves on the 25th (next Wednesday).

I hope all of our friends from the medical school enjoy their spring break to the fullest. It's so nice for Lance to be free from studying for a week or so, and I'm sure all his classmates feel the same way.

Bathtime

The other night Jaycee decided she had to take a bath, and there was no convincing her otherwise. She has this trick-or-treating bucket from Halloween that works wonders for bathtime. She loves dumping the water, and also loves sitting in it. She discovered the other night that she could make it sound like she was letting major stinkers. By the time we got the camera there, she wasn't laughing quite as hard, but it was still pretty funny. There is seriously never a dull moment with a toddler around. Don't forget to pause the playlist at the bottom, or it will be really annoying.

I just had to put this one on, and don't worry, she was all right.

Children's Museum

Today we went to the Betty Brinn Children's Museum with some of our friends. I actually got free admission for a year back in October, but haven't gone back until now. Jaycee had a really fun time, and didn't want to leave (of course).

Jaycee had a really hard time sharing with other kids. When any kids would come up to the toy she was using, she would yell, "No!" She was quite rude. I finally got her to share with Caleb, one of her friends that we went with, and got a picture of it. It didn't last very long, though. The big golf ball cart roller was her favorite thing.

This is the end result of our fun day. I tried to just let her skip her nap, but she fell asleep on the couch. It's okay, though, because she was quite ornery.

I just thought I would post this picture I took today of her lunch. Take a good look, because my toddler is eating spinach. She loves it. I couldn't believe it when she ate it the other night. Then she asked for leaves (our pretend name for spinach) for lunch. She is way more daring with food than I am. What a good girl!

Birthdays galore!

One of the reasons I haven't posted for so long is the mere fact that there's not much for me to blog about. Jaycee won't sing her ABC's on the bed anymore. Lance doesn't ever give me ideas of stuff to blog about, and the winter/snow is getting really annoying. It's no fun knowing that we will probably be inside all day because it's too cold. We really haven't been doing much lately. Jaycee's favorite thing to do right now is play kid games on the computer (it's actually quite fun and educational), but nothing worth writing about. With all that being said, I totally spaced the fact that a lot of people in our families are celebrating birthdays this month. I don't have pictures of everyone, but I am stealing some from my sis-in-law's blog.

The first one to celebrate was Kammi, whose birthday was on the 14th. What an easy way for her husband to take care of two birds with one stone. This picture was the only one of her on her own blog, so it's the one I'm going to post. She looks way cute anyway. She was pregnant with their now 5-month-old son, Gehrig.
The next celebration was for my grandpa, who had his 80th birthday on Sunday. The whole family celebrated on Saturday at Golden Corral. I really wish I could have been there, especially after I heard that my aunt sang "Happy Birthday" and had everyone laughing. I'm really intrigued wondering what she did. Sorry about the picture. It's a picture of a copy, and that never turns out perfectly.


The next people to celebrate are my twin brother and sister, Corby and Kendra. Their birthday is today, the 24th. They're the babies of the family, but they're definitely not babies anymore. They are both holding Kynzee (our neice).

Corby's looking like he's ready to leave on his mission. Okay, not really, but it's coming so fast. He really has had his bags packed and ready to go since Christmas. It's a good thing we get to go home for his farewell talk in church, and to say good-bye. He's leaving on March 25th for those of you who don't remember.

The other person celebrating his birthday today is Lance's Uncle Kevin. We don't know how old he is, but maybe it's a secret or something. I know he's a couple of years younger than my dad, but that's all. He's the one that I don't have a picture of, and I have no idea where to look for one.
These are the only February birthdays I know of for our families, but that's quite a lot. I hope everyone was able to have fun, even though it isn't a great party until we get there. JK.

Hide-and-seek at Monkey Joe's=Not funny!

On Wednesday we, as in Brooke, Marissa, Amy, and I decided that our kids deserved to go have a fun playday at Monkey Joe's. It's about twenty minutes from where we live, and has all these blow-up slides and bouncing things. Jaycee was independent at first, and played in the toddler area, but when she saw the bigger toys she got nervous. I sent her in one on her own and she stopped at the top and started yelling "Mom!" She wouldn't go by herself after that, and it was very awkward for me to go with her on the slides. She did like running around, and leaving the toys before I could catch her. She found the arcade and enjoyed the bright lights and interesting toys, but I wasn't about to pay any money for her to play. I was just keeping Jaycee from climbing onto everything. I started talking to Brooke for a brief second and turned around to where I thought she would be, and she was not there. She had done this a couple times, and I had just found her at another toy. I started looking around and behind the arcade toys and she wasn't anywhere in the arcade. I thought I had heard some bumping sounds, but couldn't locate where it came from because it is so loud in there. Amy started walking around and helping me look. After about five times circling the whole place and each time I was hoping Amy had found her, but she was nowhere. I had even asked one of the workers if she had seen a little girl in an orange shirt. Just when I was starting to panic and start screaming for everyone to help me find my little girl, I looked at Brooke and she was telling me to go over to this toy (below).
Do you see that little door by Jaycee's arm? She had crawled in there and got stuck. When I got there Brooke said, "Jaycee's in there and she's stuck!" Her daughter Katelyn was trying to open that door, but it wouldn't open, and that's how they found her. It is like a little doggy door. I had to push her way to the back, then pull her legs under so her head would fit. She was really sweaty and hot when I pulled her out. Everyone was laughing and shaking their heads in disbelief, and I was trying not to cry. I asked Jaycee if she was scared afterward and she said she wasn't, and she was in there for almost ten minutes. All in all, we had a great time and want to go back, but I hope she doesn't do that again.

And the baby is.....

A Boy !!!
In case any of you were curious, we just found out that our baby is definitely a boy. We're so excited. As soon as the ultrasound showed between his legs we could tell it definitely was not a girl. From the pictures the technician took, everything looked normal and healthy. We saw ten fingers and ten toes. When she would try to get a head measurement he would shake his head "no" every time. It was funny. He moved around a lot during the ultrasound because it was an invasion of his space. This first picture is a profile of his face. The thing above his nose is his leftarm. The second one is of his feet (one resting on top of the other). The third one is him waving "Hi", and the fourth one is a profile of most of his body. The bubble-looking things are just weird shots of body parts (in the third and fourth pictures). We're excited to bring this little guy into our family, but it's new territory, so I'll be looking to Kammi (Lance's sister) for advice since she has four boys.

The Golden Weekend

Test week finally came to an end on Friday, and we had to celebrate to the best of our ability. We started off by attending Eliza Odell's birthday party. She was dressed up as Cinderella, and had a Cinderella theme. It was so cute, and Marissa had some cute activities for the kids. The first picture shows the activity where they waved a wand at Cinderella, said "Bippety-Boppety-Boo" and they would get some candy and bracelets. They also fed us dinner, which was awesome. Thanks for a good party Dan and Marissa.

Poor Drey, who is in the orange shirt. He's the only boy in our group of friends and children. He doesn't seem to mind too much, though. We won't tell him when he's older that he actually attended a Cinderella birthday party.

Jaycee's putting the crown on Cinderella's head in this picture. We spun them around, but they didn't get very dizzy.

On Saturday we went with our upstairs neighbors and other friends to Cedarburg to celebrate Brad's birthday. We packed a lunch to eat on the way, and Jaycee asked me for some chips. I handed her some, and looked back ten seconds later and this is what I found. She had zonked out and not even eaten a chip. Cedarburg, which is a town just North of us, was having a winter festival that we went to. A lot of the fun events were over by the time we started looking for them.
Lance put Jaycee in a tree, and she didn't want to get down.

Camels in Wisconsin? It's true. Jaycee really wanted a ride, but she probably would have chickened out after we forked out the money to pay for it.

She got to feed a goat. She wasn't scared a bit.

One of the cool things was all the ice sculptures. This was the best one we found because most of them were all melted from the heat wave we've been having. It has been so nice to have warm weather after the cold spells. Our snow is almost all the way melted.

Test week...ugh!!!

The dreaded test week is here, and we have made it through 3 of the 5 days of rigorous studying/testing. Well, I really haven't done much as far as studying or testing, but I'm definitely there for moral support. I cheer when Lance gets home and tells me he's done with one more test. Us wives have actually figured out that if we get together a lot during the week, it helps us survive much better. This is one of our get-togethers that happened on Saturday to welcome test week (thanks, Kaitlin). The girls chased each other around and around, then decided to hide under the table. From left to right are: Jaycee, Natalie, Myleigh, and Katelyn.

Jaycee's large head totally hides Natalie in this picture, but this shows Katelyn's face.

We also had an ice cream party on Tuesday night (thanks, Byrdie), and of course I couldn't pass up ice cream. I just didn't get any pictures. This next one is just of Jaycee being silly. I was getting her ready for bed and she ran off. It was really funny because it smashed her eyes and she looked like a puppy dog, but this picture doesn't show it very good.

One night Jaycee went into my room and decided to take her clothes off and try my pants on. She takes her clothes off frequently, and it is so exasperating finding her in her birthday suit at any time of day. She has to take her clothes off to get warm in her blanket. I try to explain that leaving her clothes on would only help her get warmer, but reasoning is of no use to a two-year-old. As you can see, the pants are rather large. It kind of looks like a strapless shirt (or whatever), and she gave a weird smile for the picture.

Just FYI--On Feb. 9th I will find out if I'm having a girl or boy and will post the results as soon as possible. I guess I carry my babies very compact because everyone tells me I'm not showing. I can tell a difference, but can hide my belly pretty easily also. When I get a baby bump (and don't just look "thick" as Lance has put it so dearly) I might post a picture of my belly, but don't count on it.