Lake City, CO 2015

We try to get up to the cabin every summer but have had to miss the past two summers because of various things....like having a baby (Hi Annabeth!) So, when we finally had some time free to go this year we decided to spend two weeks. Lyle really needed a nice long break from work before starting fellowship and the kids and I definitely needed time with him so we were very excited about it! Since we were going for two weeks we decided to drive to Lake City which is only 16 hours from Little Rock so we knew breaking it into two days would make it pretty easy. Our family really likes road trips so we were all kind of excited about the idea of driving and letting the kids see some new terrain. Also, getting this new car a couple days before we left made the drive even better!

We left early Monday morning and stopped at our uncle Jimmy and aunt Kathy's house in Amarillo, TX for the night. They took us out to eat and we let the kids run around in the green space in their neighborhood to burn some energy. It was so great having a comfortable place to stay the night! Thanks so much to sweet Jimmy and Kathy!

We left around 8 the next morning after a wonderful breakfast fixed by Kathy and began our last day of driving.  On our drive we played a scavenger hunt and the license plate game. The kids played ipads and Lyle and I enjoyed some rare conversation just the two of us. Annabeth was absolutely perfect! She really couldn't have done any better. As long as we got out and stretched about 4 hours into the drive she was great! We ate packed lunches at parks along side the highway and had a blast! Driving through the mountains was really fun! We saw lots of antelopes on our way through New Mexico.
Around 5 pm we arrived at the cabin. So good to see it and know we would be hanging out awhile!

Annabeth's first trip to the cabin meant we had to get her first picture in the rocking chair!

The next day we went exploring the city to see what was new since we had been there last. They built this new area near the Gunnison River which was so so peaceful. I could have sat there all day!

Annabeth and I had the best most relaxing time!

 The kids and I also built a horse shoe pit this year which included a washer toss. It was so fun and got used liked crazy!

 The next day Mims and Pa arrived and first thing on the list was the Annual Duck Derby Race! Kids were dying to do this!

Ella's duck was the fastest this year so she will get her name on the plaque. But the most exciting thing of all is that all 7 ducks actually made it down the stream all the way to the end! We always lose some ducks along the way but not this year!!
The rest of the week was spent taking picnics and long drives looking for animals at dusk. That is my favorite part of the whole trip! We always see elk, deer and moose!

 Lyle, Luke and I also took a bike ride around the whole city. We haven't ever done this before and was one of our favorite things! We will definitely do this again! Every time we go to Lake City we find new things to do!

The next week was really special because our very sweet friends the Battreals came from Little Rock to spend the week with us! Luke and their son Landon are best of friends and in the same class and then they have a super fun little 3 year old Maddie Kate! It was so so much fun having them with us! We spent lazy days watching the kids play by the river, and the playgrounds, drinking good wine and beer every night and driving around the city shopping and eating ice cream.

We had planned to rent the big boat and all of us go out on Lake San Cristobal fishing but the day we went to get the boat they told us it just broke the day before so the boys (Lyle, Jim, Landon and Luke) to the littler boat and went out fishing. They were very successful and we had a great fish dinner that night. Jim and Katie grilled some fish along with veggies and we had a fantastic grown up dinner by the warm chiminea. We let the kids rent a movie and eat popcorn in the down stairs bedroom so we could have some quiet time. It was the perfect night!

We drove over to Creede one day and stopped at Windy point to get a great picture.

We are so thankful the Battreals decided to come spend a week with us! It was so so great! We love you guys!!
We had one night left at Lake City and Lyle wanted to get a little more fishing in so here are a couple beautiful pics of the last night:

Saying "Til Later" to some sweet friends

We have been so lucky in Little Rock, making friends with some really sweet people. We feel so blessed to have found them. They are all parents of kids in our kids' classes and are just really great people. Before leaving for SF, they threw us a little "Til Later" party. It was really fun and a great way for the kids to say goodbye to some of their best friends.
Here are some pics from the party. Despite not having any pics of Ella, she was there too having a blast with friends!

An end to Residency!

Its been 5 years and Lyle is saying goodbye to residency! 5 years! Although at times, it seemed to creep by, it general I guess it went really fast. When we see how much the kids have grown that's when it seems to have flown by. I can only tell you what Lyle has told me, residency was hard but he learned a tremendous amount, made lots of friends and has become a much better surgeon. He was so glad to have it over though, like really really glad!!
Here he is on his official last day taking the kids somewhere with me.

Each year there is a big celebration for the senior residents and fellows. This year, because Lyle is finishing, we got to take the kids with us (AB stayed with uncle Craig). We had a nice family pic that included AB and I but some how we lost that photo:( We have been waiting for this for 5 years! So excited that the kids got to go with us, Lyle especially, he wanted to show them off and let them meet some of the people he works with.
He they are all dressed up.

Here they are trying to keep themselves entertained during cocktails.

And then acting goofy while waiting for food.

After that, things went downhill fast. Luke was so hungry that he act two slabs of butter off the table (trying to make his sister laugh) before the food got there. This caused him to get sick, so I spent the rest of the night running him back and forth to the bathroom. He ended up not eating at all and laying on the floor in the corner until the event was over. Ugh! Typical kids! Why do they have to be so hard sometimes! Anyway, back to Lyle. His attendings said very nice encouraging things to about him. He received two awards, one research award and resident of the year award. Lyle gave a very nice speech and even choked up a bit....he is a pretty sensitive guy. He is going to get so mad when he reads this;) In the end it was a fantastic night. We are so proud of you Lyle! You have worked so hard and accomplished so much! Thanks for letting us be a part of it. We love you!

We got a house in San Francisco!

Lyle and I made a very quick trip to San Francisco with the intention of hopefully finding a house for us to live in when we move in July. We were very stressed about this and prayed we would find something. We hired a realtor (her daughter just happens to be the current Miss America..haha!) to help us because the rental market in SF is crazy. To be honest there really isn't that much to consider....at least not in our price range. So, we left late Thursday night and met with our realtor early Friday morning. She lined up several places for us to look at that day. The first one was in a nice quiet neighborhood. It had 3 bdr and 2 baths with a private wash machine and dryer and a garage. It was pretty dated in the inside but clean so we liked it. Sadly, the owner wanted way more than we expected for a deposit so we thought it was out of our budget. We took an application and quietly left. We continued to look at houses for the next 4 hours or so....it was grueling. By the 6th house I was in tears. Everything was terrible and I would absolutely not put my children in any of them. I am serious. All of the but the first had the owners living underneath us where we had to share laundry and the back yard if there was a back yard at all. It was crazy.....and did I mention expensive! Why anyone would pay that much for the dumps we looked at is beyond me! So, we ended up calling the first house back and asking if we could negotiate price. He told us to come back to the house to talk. We did and what happened next was nothing short of divine intervention...I kid you not. Thank you Eve! The owner came down $4K on the deposit, $1K on the monthly rent and allowed us to not pay for June! We couldn't believe it and felt so so lucky! The house was perfect for me and the kids. And it is only a mile away from both their school and Lyle's hospital! Great Great neighborhood and plenty of space. By the end of Friday we had a signed contract! We were not going back home until Sunday so we had Friday night and all day Saturday to really relax and breath a bit knowing the biggest challenge facing our  move to SF was over! And it happened to be our 12th wedding anniversary!
Here are a few pics of the house...not fancy in the least but really great! This move is really getting real now!

And the neighborhood and great park at the end of our street:

Ella's Piano Recital

Ella had her piano recital last week. She played one piece and then had a duet with her friend Grace. She is doing so well! I love to hear her play! Going to miss Mr. Anthony. We will have to get her going again in SF.